It just needs to be sped up a bit. The character animations and scoring tallying take a little too long. I also agree with the others that a timing based throwing would be more fun. Intro animations should be skippable.
From a google search the shuffleboards are suppose to have gutters on the side but I think it would also be cool to have extra boards with walls / obstacles so you can bounce the pucks off stuff. The main gameplay is already fairly solid so I'm looking forward to how it develops. Keep it up.
It's sort of fun, but the pace is slow. I just wish the scoring went faster if you pressed a key or something. There's quite a bit of potential here, especially if you give the players more personality through gameplay and add more game mechanics.
I got a few comments on the pacing of the game, which will be a priority for the next demo day. Also I'll be improving the AI so the opponent will attempt different types of shots. After that then I can add more personalised shots that the AI will make (eg the muscle-bound character will make stronger shots to knock pucks out of the way).
A very cool game, I absolutely love the graphics. The physics work great, and the sfx are nice. The only thing missing was the bg audio. However, I've had trouble with window size - it went nuts on my default resolution and was too tiny, had to change monitor resolution to play.
And it's really easy once you understand the AI. The AI plays very carefully, I won't even call defensive. Even a bit of aggression is enough to defeat it. And it seems both enemies use the same AI.
Thanks for playing the game, I did see your steam when you played the game and saw the strange window resolution issues and uploaded a fix for that particular issue. But its something I need to work on further too.
The next big challenge will be making the A.I more competitive and each character behaving more individual. I'm currently working on the calculations needed for the opponent to be able to knock the player's puck off the scoring area. That will be the aim for the next demo day.
(I did enjoy the stream you did during demo day, your voice projection is good and your overall sense of humour)
Cute game. Shoving the pucks turns out to be very satisfying!!
I wouldn't know how/what to add to this game - wonder what you have coming. Keep it up!
Contrary to other posters, I quite enjoyed the infinite time shooting system. There's quite a bit of strategy, it turns out, in how to shove out opponent's pucks - how much speed, which angle - these already need to be predicted, so choosing the right parameters needs skill even if no reflexes.
I did indeed shove a puck. Controls were not explained so I kinda had to figure out how I actually do shove the puck. Once I managed to shove the puck properly it was alright. I did think the power bar as the classic automatic one where you time it would be more fun. I'm also sad that I cannot do wall bounces, but I think that's intended.
Nice simple fun. Very satisfying sound effects on game start and new match.
Kind of wish the power of the throw was more of a mario golf style, where you had to time your throw right. Of course that will make the game harder, but it could be fun!
I don't really have an criticism other then there's not much to hook people other then the curling gameplay. Multiplayer would be awesome obviously, but maybe you could get more inspiration from the mario sports games and give people power ups and such?
Anyways, idea guying aside, it's a super solid game technically, and fun wise.
The controls did start off as a Mario Golf style system. I decided to go down a more simulation route but I do need to improve the A.I. to make it more of a challenge. Although as a couple of people have mentioned the controls then I may go back to the 'time the shot' system.
Pleasantly surprised with how good the gameplay feels.
The baked lighting (if that's what it is) on the table is too much, it's distracting. I see what it's going for, I think, but it's too extreme. Same story, but less so, with the tables off to the sides.
Counting takes too long, I would like it if they all were counted at the same time, if they have to be counted at all.
IMO the shot power bar should be one of those thingys where it automatically goes up and you press the button to stop it at the time you want, you know? Would make the game harder but would make it feel better.
The first few agdg webms I posted did have the power bar as a timer where you had to stop it. I am going to try to make the game more challenging by improving the AI first instead of changing the power bar controls. Although a couple of comments have mentioned the power bar now, so I may be tempted to change it.
Still fondly remembering Shufflepuck Café from my earliest childhood, this captures the aesthetics really well i think. Theres already a lot of polish for the little content it has.
Now im pretty bad at this game, but i can see it being really fun in a chill way once theres more meat to it and some rough edges are ironed out, which is mostly usability stuff.
The billboard sprite numbers when counting the points are not really visible in the little top right viewport. At the same time, the point counting can drag on for a bit, especially when theres like 5 pucks on the field and most aren't moving. Watching each one be counted gives the player pretty much no new information and takes a long time. Maybe let the player press a key to speed it up or add an option to tell the game how fast its supposed to be.
Options in general are needed, both for display settings as well as for the audio. Control binding maybe too, which might be easy since its just a few ones right now. Even if theres no rebinding, there should be some prompts at first to let the player know what to press. Arrow keys for positioning/turning is intuitive enough, but i smashed my space bar before realizing i had to use enter for shooting.
Pretty sure you are already aware of most if not all of these things, but here you have it in written form by someone else. Keep deving and make a great Shufflepuck successor, my nostalgia demands it!
Thanks for the feedback first and for taking the time to play the demo. Shufflepuck Cafe is definately an inspiration for this game and if I get anywhere near that game's quality it will be an acheivement.
This is the first demo for my game and I agree with what you said that it is missing a lot of usability options (and more). But I've just added what you mentioned to my to-do list (display / audio config, and either a control binding / prompts). I also agree with the score UI, it looks a rough and does take too long time to 'total up' towards the end of the match. I'll think of a way to speed that up, perhaps score the opponent's then the player's in groups
Comments
I like it. Very cute characters.
It just needs to be sped up a bit. The character animations and scoring tallying take a little too long. I also agree with the others that a timing based throwing would be more fun. Intro animations should be skippable.
From a google search the shuffleboards are suppose to have gutters on the side but I think it would also be cool to have extra boards with walls / obstacles so you can bounce the pucks off stuff. The main gameplay is already fairly solid so I'm looking forward to how it develops. Keep it up.
It's sort of fun, but the pace is slow. I just wish the scoring went faster if you pressed a key or something. There's quite a bit of potential here, especially if you give the players more personality through gameplay and add more game mechanics.
Keep up the good work.
I got a few comments on the pacing of the game, which will be a priority for the next demo day. Also I'll be improving the AI so the opponent will attempt different types of shots. After that then I can add more personalised shots that the AI will make (eg the muscle-bound character will make stronger shots to knock pucks out of the way).
Thanks for trying the demo.
A very cool game, I absolutely love the graphics. The physics work great, and the sfx are nice. The only thing missing was the bg audio. However, I've had trouble with window size - it went nuts on my default resolution and was too tiny, had to change monitor resolution to play.
And it's really easy once you understand the AI. The AI plays very carefully, I won't even call defensive. Even a bit of aggression is enough to defeat it. And it seems both enemies use the same AI.
Otherwise - a really cool game, I enjoyed it!
Thanks for playing the game, I did see your steam when you played the game and saw the strange window resolution issues and uploaded a fix for that particular issue. But its something I need to work on further too.
The next big challenge will be making the A.I more competitive and each character behaving more individual. I'm currently working on the calculations needed for the opponent to be able to knock the player's puck off the scoring area. That will be the aim for the next demo day.
(I did enjoy the stream you did during demo day, your voice projection is good and your overall sense of humour)
Thanks a lot for your kind words, I appreciate it!
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2136978294
Cute game. Shoving the pucks turns out to be very satisfying!!
I wouldn't know how/what to add to this game - wonder what you have coming. Keep it up!
Contrary to other posters, I quite enjoyed the infinite time shooting system. There's quite a bit of strategy, it turns out, in how to shove out opponent's pucks - how much speed, which angle - these already need to be predicted, so choosing the right parameters needs skill even if no reflexes.
I did indeed shove a puck. Controls were not explained so I kinda had to figure out how I actually do shove the puck. Once I managed to shove the puck properly it was alright. I did think the power bar as the classic automatic one where you time it would be more fun. I'm also sad that I cannot do wall bounces, but I think that's intended.
Nice simple fun. Very satisfying sound effects on game start and new match.
Kind of wish the power of the throw was more of a mario golf style, where you had to time your throw right. Of course that will make the game harder, but it could be fun!
I don't really have an criticism other then there's not much to hook people other then the curling gameplay. Multiplayer would be awesome obviously, but maybe you could get more inspiration from the mario sports games and give people power ups and such?
Anyways, idea guying aside, it's a super solid game technically, and fun wise.
The controls did start off as a Mario Golf style system. I decided to go down a more simulation route but I do need to improve the A.I. to make it more of a challenge. Although as a couple of people have mentioned the controls then I may go back to the 'time the shot' system.
Thanks for trying the demo.
If you have both, why not make it an Easy/Hard mode option? Then you can satisfy both crowds.
Pleasantly surprised with how good the gameplay feels.
Thanks for trying the demo.
The first few agdg webms I posted did have the power bar as a timer where you had to stop it. I am going to try to make the game more challenging by improving the AI first instead of changing the power bar controls. Although a couple of comments have mentioned the power bar now, so I may be tempted to change it.
i actually like a lot following curling during the winter olympics, so this was pretty enjoyable.
no complaints, solid fun all around
Still fondly remembering Shufflepuck Café from my earliest childhood, this captures the aesthetics really well i think. Theres already a lot of polish for the little content it has.
Now im pretty bad at this game, but i can see it being really fun in a chill way once theres more meat to it and some rough edges are ironed out, which is mostly usability stuff.
The billboard sprite numbers when counting the points are not really visible in the little top right viewport. At the same time, the point counting can drag on for a bit, especially when theres like 5 pucks on the field and most aren't moving. Watching each one be counted gives the player pretty much no new information and takes a long time. Maybe let the player press a key to speed it up or add an option to tell the game how fast its supposed to be.
Options in general are needed, both for display settings as well as for the audio. Control binding maybe too, which might be easy since its just a few ones right now. Even if theres no rebinding, there should be some prompts at first to let the player know what to press. Arrow keys for positioning/turning is intuitive enough, but i smashed my space bar before realizing i had to use enter for shooting.
Pretty sure you are already aware of most if not all of these things, but here you have it in written form by someone else. Keep deving and make a great Shufflepuck successor, my nostalgia demands it!
Thanks for the feedback first and for taking the time to play the demo. Shufflepuck Cafe is definately an inspiration for this game and if I get anywhere near that game's quality it will be an acheivement.
This is the first demo for my game and I agree with what you said that it is missing a lot of usability options (and more). But I've just added what you mentioned to my to-do list (display / audio config, and either a control binding / prompts). I also agree with the score UI, it looks a rough and does take too long time to 'total up' towards the end of the match. I'll think of a way to speed that up, perhaps score the opponent's then the player's in groups