You mixed sonic, excitebike and a 2d skate game almost to perfection. I love goin' fast, I love the gimmicks to keep everything fresh, I love the madness of the 'story'.
I just don't like the artstyle, because it reminds me of those shitty rage games streamers played back in the day. But since my taste is pretty distasteful you'll probably got a success on your hands. You trick normies to buy the new shitty rage game and instead you give them an actual game with gameplay and mechanics.
I suggest to add a button for wheelies, it would make a controller setup possible and easy.
bugs I found:
- in moon base lv1 there is a point where you need to rocket downwards and left because the road is bloacked by some spikedwall, in that zone if you hit the spikedwalls from the not-spiked side you die anyways
- in moon base 2, at level start the long purple river that teleport you is bugged in may points. if you go in near the shore from the left side you can get totally blocked
The Bad: I understand why many don't like the rocket and the gimmicks from moonbase. Personally I'm conflicted for one simple reason: rocket as a gimmick don't build on speed. So far every mechanic was implemented to go fast (speeders from sonic, jumpers, tricks, rails, grapple etc). With rockets you don't build on speed as mechanic so they feel meh; also going though colored rings like superman 64 also don't build on speed but precision. Tubes are fine when used like a puzzle to choose where to go, but loooong tubes are not 'fun' because you don't do nothing while inside, you can't overuse them. My suggestion overall is to think what road you wanna take with your game, because the first section on earth feels like a different game from moonbase forward.
wow thank you so much for this feedback!! It is super helpful, really. I agree with everything you’ve said, the rocket isn’t fun when it’s precision-based. I think I can solve for this with level design, in online levels there’s “Grizzly Grandpa 9000” which I experimented with dropping the rocket and adding it in to make it more momentum based and fun. It’s the turns that are not fun.
I’ll get around to playtesting your game in a week or two, but seriously thanks for this feedback, I’m gonna be addressing it all right away
Hmm, I wanted to test the new spaceship levels but I seem to get stuck on moon base act 2, it just won't let me progress past the goal flag. I can't find where the logs are stored, maybe I can send you those to help figure out what's happening?
Ah, but I got to see the tubes in the grizzly grandpa online level, nice, yeah they feel pretty good. Also I like the rocket feel, I'm not sure if the feathering explanation instructions are new, or if it only took me until this demo to get it, but with feathering I think it's pretty precise (while still trick to control).
Thanks for letting me know about the bug, the logs should be stored in one of the following locations. If you could email it to me at david@alvariusgames.com it would be appreciated.
It's nearly 40 minutes long. The link is going to expire in 3 days. It's just gameplay, no commentary.
The top save was of a 9 year old. I did not record it, but he got to the moon base in under 20 minutes.
As for me, I was familiar with your game from previous DDs, but it was my first time playing it. In fact, I never played a game like that before. I don't think this is supposed to be a rage game, I am just not that good at it. I got filtered by the flying mechanic, but I look forward to seeing someone better playing the game on stream.
I am sorry I cannot really give any constructive feedback. I don't know how I would improve it.
It was fun, and I can see the game being popular with kids and streamers.
Thank you for playing!! The gameplay video was super helpful, would you mind re-uploading the video for just a day, I went to download it right now to my computer but it must have expired. I'll playtest your game sometime this week when I have time, thank you so much!
Played it for the first time so I'm afraid I can't give you much feedback on anything new.
It's a very fun game though. Feels like a mix of those old Flash dirtbike games and Sonic which I'd assume is exactly what you're going for.
Two things I particularly like is how rotating actually impacts your momentum and how the music is dynamically adjusting to speed/lighting meter (not actually quite sure which one it is).
I couldn't really get the wheelies to work on controller. I tried holding a direction on the stick as well as double tapping it but the bike just seemed glued to the ground.
Controls in general take some getting used to but that's a given in this genre with the 2D rotation.
Menu controls on gamepad need work. It should be possible to do menuing using the d-pad and the online menu doesn't seem to be usable with controller at all. For the level editor I think it's excusable for it to be mouse and keyboard only.
Loving all the new collectibles and stuff, but those swinging grappling hooks frustrated me. I don't understand how I'm supposed to control my direction or momentum with them? The arrow keys seem to have some sort of effect with my grappling hook being pulled in or my momentum being affected but I couldn't figure out what the recipe was and gave up.
Thanks for playing! I originally had the swinging grappling hooks work as a swing would work: lean back to move forward, lean forward to move back. I found through playtest feedback that this was too busy and it confused people, leaving them with little to no momentum. So now it will start leaning for you in the direction you would swing, meaning in practice you just need to press/release `Z` to interact with it during most cases -- no leaning with the arrow keys required.
What could I do better to communicate this? What would you recommend I do to fix it so you wouldn't have given up?
Ok I played again and as long as I didn't touch any arrow keys while swinging I could make it through. But this time I think I went a different route through City 2 so I didn't hit the part that frustrated me before.
I think the issue happens because I like to hold the up arrow the entire time I'm driving to keep momentum. But the swinging seems to lose momentum when I'm still holding up arrow.
I got to the end, the story is getting wild! I feel like mechanics get introduced really fast, each world could have way more levels to explore the mechanics more. Also now that I have a rocket it feels like the game changed from a trials type game to a rocket booster type game? Like the rocket mechanic overrides all the other mechanics.
Thanks for allowing me to play from previous save.
I said I don't like the rocket and the amount of context sensitivity? I still don't like it. At this point I'm not even riding the bike, just rocket boosting into pipes that will eventually take me to the end of the level. I wonder if playing for the score instead of casually would change my perspective on the levels, since there actually is a lot going on with intertwined paths.
thanks for being honest! Critical feedback is appreciated, really. I know the rocket boost is polarizing, it is a big departure from the traditional bike riding mechanics of earlier in the game. My goal is to keep the gameplay fresh, not overstay my welcome on any one mechanic.
What do you think I should do instead? I have been experimenting with part of a level using a rocket, part of a level not using it (see Online Levels “Grizzly Grandpa” for an example). Would that type of level be more enjoyable to you?
Yeah, Grizzly Grandpa is definetely better. The problem with rocket boost is that it actually has big potential to synergize with riding, but is used for flying with sudden turns and spikes, and in that situation it doesn't control well since it's a bit hard to aim.
Awesome, I’m glad to hear you think that’s an improvement. I think I understand your critique better, I have some ideas of how to tweak the level design.
If you’re curious, my level design philosophy for is kishotenketsu, outlined well in this video about Mario 3D world design: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dBmIkEvEBtA
that type of level design works well when introducing new mechanics like spring, rail, and grapple in first 3 levels. But the rocket booster needs some special care — as you said, it synergizes with riding well. So it shouldn’t be treated as an individual mechanic, but as an addition to what the player has learned already.
Thank you so much, this was really helpful feedback. I will playtest your game soon!
thanks for the feedback! Glad you enjoyed it. About controlling turning with the rocket — What types of turn are the most enjoyable and fun, and what types of turning feel the most weird?
cool cool yeah I think I know what turns you’re talking about. I’ll update it next release. It’s hard to balance when I spend so much time playing it, i definitely use the rocket booster differently then the average player.
Using the rocket booster in the pipe causes the cycle to become disjointed if the pipe gets too long. Also I'm still getting my points robbed when I cartoonishly faceplant after beating a level.
Otherwise the pipes and push zones play great. By their nature they're much more forgiving than any of the other mechanics which leads to the spaceship being significantly easier than all of the other stages. Not necessarily a bad thing, it just stands out from the others as forgiving.
thanks for the feedback!! I’ll update the post-level wipeout logic soon. And yes the pipe is definitely a forgiving mechanic, it’s unfortunate its placed near the latter levels. Glad to hear you think it’s fun though. Maybe I’ll try to up the difficulty of the spaceship level (and/or lower the difficulty of the moon level).
Thanks so much for playing!! Do you have a game you want me to playtest?
Comments
Sorry for the delay:
You mixed sonic, excitebike and a 2d skate game almost to perfection. I love goin' fast, I love the gimmicks to keep everything fresh, I love the madness of the 'story'.
I just don't like the artstyle, because it reminds me of those shitty rage games streamers played back in the day. But since my taste is pretty distasteful you'll probably got a success on your hands. You trick normies to buy the new shitty rage game and instead you give them an actual game with gameplay and mechanics.
I suggest to add a button for wheelies, it would make a controller setup possible and easy.
bugs I found:
- in moon base lv1 there is a point where you need to rocket downwards and left because the road is bloacked by some spikedwall, in that zone if you hit the spikedwalls from the not-spiked side you die anyways
- in moon base 2, at level start the long purple river that teleport you is bugged in may points. if you go in near the shore from the left side you can get totally blocked
The Bad: I understand why many don't like the rocket and the gimmicks from moonbase. Personally I'm conflicted for one simple reason: rocket as a gimmick don't build on speed. So far every mechanic was implemented to go fast (speeders from sonic, jumpers, tricks, rails, grapple etc). With rockets you don't build on speed as mechanic so they feel meh; also going though colored rings like superman 64 also don't build on speed but precision. Tubes are fine when used like a puzzle to choose where to go, but loooong tubes are not 'fun' because you don't do nothing while inside, you can't overuse them. My suggestion overall is to think what road you wanna take with your game, because the first section on earth feels like a different game from moonbase forward.
wow thank you so much for this feedback!! It is super helpful, really. I agree with everything you’ve said, the rocket isn’t fun when it’s precision-based. I think I can solve for this with level design, in online levels there’s “Grizzly Grandpa 9000” which I experimented with dropping the rocket and adding it in to make it more momentum based and fun. It’s the turns that are not fun.
I’ll get around to playtesting your game in a week or two, but seriously thanks for this feedback, I’m gonna be addressing it all right away
Hmm, I wanted to test the new spaceship levels but I seem to get stuck on moon base act 2, it just won't let me progress past the goal flag. I can't find where the logs are stored, maybe I can send you those to help figure out what's happening?
Ah, but I got to see the tubes in the grizzly grandpa online level, nice, yeah they feel pretty good. Also I like the rocket feel, I'm not sure if the feathering explanation instructions are new, or if it only took me until this demo to get it, but with feathering I think it's pretty precise (while still trick to control).
Thanks for letting me know about the bug, the logs should be stored in one of the following locations. If you could email it to me at david@alvariusgames.com it would be appreciated.
Windows:
%APPDATA%\Godot\app_userdata\bearcyclemacOS:
~/Library/Application Support/Godot/app_userdata/bearcycleLinux:
~/.local/share/godot/app_userdata/bearcycleGlad you think the rocket booster can be precise! Its sort of like the Rocket League booster, feathering does help a bit.
This game ain't shit. It broke.
lol, thanks again for playing on stream
I recorded myself playing your game for the first time
https://litter.catbox.moe/fm2zqd.mp4
It's nearly 40 minutes long. The link is going to expire in 3 days. It's just gameplay, no commentary.
The top save was of a 9 year old. I did not record it, but he got to the moon base in under 20 minutes.
As for me, I was familiar with your game from previous DDs, but it was my first time playing it. In fact, I never played a game like that before.
I don't think this is supposed to be a rage game, I am just not that good at it. I got filtered by the flying mechanic, but I look forward to seeing someone better playing the game on stream.
I am sorry I cannot really give any constructive feedback. I don't know how I would improve it.
It was fun, and I can see the game being popular with kids and streamers.
Thank you for playing!! The gameplay video was super helpful, would you mind re-uploading the video for just a day, I went to download it right now to my computer but it must have expired. I'll playtest your game sometime this week when I have time, thank you so much!
Sorry for the late reply. I re-uploaded the video
https://litter.catbox.moe/bt2odr.mp4
expires in another 3 days. I hope you will download it this time.
I'm going to upload new version of my game tonight, so I hope I make it in time before you try it. If not, then that's ok.
Played it for the first time so I'm afraid I can't give you much feedback on anything new.
It's a very fun game though. Feels like a mix of those old Flash dirtbike games and Sonic which I'd assume is exactly what you're going for.
Two things I particularly like is how rotating actually impacts your momentum and how the music is dynamically adjusting to speed/lighting meter (not actually quite sure which one it is).
I couldn't really get the wheelies to work on controller. I tried holding a direction on the stick as well as double tapping it but the bike just seemed glued to the ground.
Controls in general take some getting used to but that's a given in this genre with the 2D rotation.
Menu controls on gamepad need work. It should be possible to do menuing using the d-pad and the online menu doesn't seem to be usable with controller at all. For the level editor I think it's excusable for it to be mouse and keyboard only.
Loving all the new collectibles and stuff, but those swinging grappling hooks frustrated me. I don't understand how I'm supposed to control my direction or momentum with them? The arrow keys seem to have some sort of effect with my grappling hook being pulled in or my momentum being affected but I couldn't figure out what the recipe was and gave up.
Thanks for playing! I originally had the swinging grappling hooks work as a swing would work: lean back to move forward, lean forward to move back. I found through playtest feedback that this was too busy and it confused people, leaving them with little to no momentum. So now it will start leaning for you in the direction you would swing, meaning in practice you just need to press/release `Z` to interact with it during most cases -- no leaning with the arrow keys required.
What could I do better to communicate this? What would you recommend I do to fix it so you wouldn't have given up?
Ok I played again and as long as I didn't touch any arrow keys while swinging I could make it through. But this time I think I went a different route through City 2 so I didn't hit the part that frustrated me before.
I think the issue happens because I like to hold the up arrow the entire time I'm driving to keep momentum. But the swinging seems to lose momentum when I'm still holding up arrow.
I got to the end, the story is getting wild! I feel like mechanics get introduced really fast, each world could have way more levels to explore the mechanics more. Also now that I have a rocket it feels like the game changed from a trials type game to a rocket booster type game? Like the rocket mechanic overrides all the other mechanics.
Thanks for allowing me to play from previous save.
I said I don't like the rocket and the amount of context sensitivity? I still don't like it. At this point I'm not even riding the bike, just rocket boosting into pipes that will eventually take me to the end of the level. I wonder if playing for the score instead of casually would change my perspective on the levels, since there actually is a lot going on with intertwined paths.
thanks for being honest! Critical feedback is appreciated, really. I know the rocket boost is polarizing, it is a big departure from the traditional bike riding mechanics of earlier in the game. My goal is to keep the gameplay fresh, not overstay my welcome on any one mechanic.
What do you think I should do instead? I have been experimenting with part of a level using a rocket, part of a level not using it (see Online Levels “Grizzly Grandpa” for an example). Would that type of level be more enjoyable to you?
Yeah, Grizzly Grandpa is definetely better. The problem with rocket boost is that it actually has big potential to synergize with riding, but is used for flying with sudden turns and spikes, and in that situation it doesn't control well since it's a bit hard to aim.
Awesome, I’m glad to hear you think that’s an improvement. I think I understand your critique better, I have some ideas of how to tweak the level design.
If you’re curious, my level design philosophy for is kishotenketsu, outlined well in this video about Mario 3D world design: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dBmIkEvEBtA
that type of level design works well when introducing new mechanics like spring, rail, and grapple in first 3 levels. But the rocket booster needs some special care — as you said, it synergizes with riding well. So it shouldn’t be treated as an individual mechanic, but as an addition to what the player has learned already.
Thank you so much, this was really helpful feedback. I will playtest your game soon!
The new levels are hard. But I enjoy them. It's weird to control for the turns. Outside of that I love the additions from the last time I played.
thanks for the feedback! Glad you enjoyed it. About controlling turning with the rocket — What types of turn are the most enjoyable and fun, and what types of turning feel the most weird?
Generally it was fun to use. But in the second moon level there is a sharp turn to go up and it was hard and felt weird to get it right.
cool cool yeah I think I know what turns you’re talking about. I’ll update it next release. It’s hard to balance when I spend so much time playing it, i definitely use the rocket booster differently then the average player.
I will playtest your game soon!
Using the rocket booster in the pipe causes the cycle to become disjointed if the pipe gets too long. Also I'm still getting my points robbed when I cartoonishly faceplant after beating a level.
Otherwise the pipes and push zones play great. By their nature they're much more forgiving than any of the other mechanics which leads to the spaceship being significantly easier than all of the other stages. Not necessarily a bad thing, it just stands out from the others as forgiving.
thanks for the feedback!! I’ll update the post-level wipeout logic soon. And yes the pipe is definitely a forgiving mechanic, it’s unfortunate its placed near the latter levels. Glad to hear you think it’s fun though. Maybe I’ll try to up the difficulty of the spaceship level (and/or lower the difficulty of the moon level).
Thanks so much for playing!! Do you have a game you want me to playtest?
Naw don't worry about it.
cmon I really enjoyed rapid retort last time I played it! Anything new in it, any new project?
New this release:
- Spaceship zone with glass transport pipes and an alien boss fight
- Brand new Level Editor functionality, including rocket booster, transport tubes, different level themes
- Various bug fixes and improvements
Give honest feedback as always, much thanks. If you leave a review I'll leave a video review of your game.