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Steam Greenlight campaign feedback required! Super Ninja Ball Dash

Discussion in 'Works In Progress - Archive' started by StarShipMan, Sep 11, 2016.

  1. StarShipMan

    StarShipMan

    Joined:
    Jan 28, 2014
    Posts:
    91
    Dear all,

    I have launched a Steam Greenlight campaign a few months ago and I have been struggling ever since. I would like some feedback on my campaign and get any suggestions from the community.

    https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=673851963

    Since I launched the Greenlight campaign, I have made numerous improves i.e. I have added powerups, more enemies and faster gameplay. I am hoping to relaunch my Greeblight campaign soon, showing off these new improvements.

    Please let me know your thoughts/suggestions. Thanks.
     
  2. GarBenjamin

    GarBenjamin

    Joined:
    Dec 26, 2013
    Posts:
    7,441
    It's a superb looking platformer. Honestly though to me the game itself just doesn't look like it matches the visuals. Meaning the game itself seems pretty generic, "plain" and boring.

    From what I can see the gameplay consists 90% of slowly moving around and jump-floating. Yes, it's a platformer and moving and jumping are a big part of them. But here the movement seems slow and the jumps are so slow and floaty (a trademark of mobile that I greatly dislike) there appears to be no challenge.

    I think if you gave the character more weight so when he jumps he cannot float around like a balloon that would add more excitement to it. The jumps could become at least somewhat of a challenge.

    Also the enemies... they don't seem to really pose any threat at all. It's like they are just sort of "there" waiting for the player to jump over them or jump-pop them. They don't appear to know the player is there or, if they do, not care in the slightest.

    Finally, consider giving the player a special skill. If you want to keep the floaty jumps for example the player could have a big umbrella or jet pack etc that can be used. And that in turn can be something that power is used up when activated and you need to either wait for energy to recharge or collect "power" for it.

    Or it could be something else even such as simply a double-jump or a dash while in the air or maybe the character sticks arms out to sides and spins rapidly like a propeller and that allows them to slowly float down (as current speed). This would add "character" to the character and make it uniques. It LOOKS unique. Everything looks great in general. But the player character doesn't feel unique.

    Just my 2 cents from watching the 3 videos.
     
  3. _M_S_D_

    _M_S_D_

    Joined:
    Nov 12, 2013
    Posts:
    511
    I gave you a vote, but I do agree with the previous poster. I've always prefered characters that have a bit of weight to them. Overall it does look pretty solid, albeit not exactly my cup of tea, even if I will give it a go if it is greenlit. Good luck!
     
  4. vanz0930

    vanz0930

    Joined:
    Jun 23, 2015
    Posts:
    21
    i have upvoted your project, have to agree with GarBenjamin too, good luck bro!
     
  5. StarShipMan

    StarShipMan

    Joined:
    Jan 28, 2014
    Posts:
    91

    Hi GarBenjamin,

    Thanks for the honesty, that's probably the most honest feedback that I have received thus far.

    Ironically the player character had more weight before however this was changed due to some player feedback. I'll definitely look at changing this again. I added the floaty mechanic, in order to make the game easier to play.

    Some enemies currently only respond to sight then they go into a patrol pattern or a fixed movement pattern. I have added another 4-5 enemies that's more challenging to deal with. Additionally, I've added 3 powerups and you can combine them as well, this I'm hoping would add some excitement and variety to the gameplay.

    I'll seriously look at your suggestions for the player character re the umbrella or propeller!

    Thanks again for the helpful feedback!
     
    GarBenjamin likes this.
  6. StarShipMan

    StarShipMan

    Joined:
    Jan 28, 2014
    Posts:
    91
    Awesome Vanz0930, thanks for the vote! Once I've polished the game some more, ill relaunch my Greenlight with the improved gameplay.
     
  7. StarShipMan

    StarShipMan

    Joined:
    Jan 28, 2014
    Posts:
    91

    Hey _M_S_D_ thanks for the suggestions. I will look at changing the player weight again to reduce the floatyness. Might have to redo all of my 35 levels again! (*_*)
     
  8. GarBenjamin

    GarBenjamin

    Joined:
    Dec 26, 2013
    Posts:
    7,441
    Glad to help out in the tiny way of feedback.

    Also keep in mind this may be exactly what modern gamers want. I think they like platformers to be floaty so the jumps are super easy. So if your target market likes the floaty jumps then keep it. It does seem pretty common these days although I always figured that was driven by mobile design decisions.

    However, if your target market are the people who want the more challenging gameplay with less time to line up jumps and so forth then be good to change it. Really all depends on who your target audience is.

    Good luck!!
     
  9. theANMATOR2b

    theANMATOR2b

    Joined:
    Jul 12, 2014
    Posts:
    7,790
    GarBenjamin nailed it - out of the park. The main character the player will be controlling the entire game doesn't look like he has any weight at all. The controls look 'floaty' and un-fun.
    Though good advice for minimum rework - I think the game will still suffer from negative reaction to the controls and floaty character.
    If the game received some feedback as to being too difficult - I believe there might be too much clutter in the levels. Maybe -

    The answer surely can't be making the controls overly floaty.
    I think reworking the character controls so they are tighter and uncluttering the levels might be a better answer to the feedback of the game being too difficult, instead of making the controls floaty.
    Just one guys opinion though. ;)