Your game is very cool. The design makes I visually appealing. I like all the different obstacles. They were done very creatively. When I first did the course I didn’t know where to go at times. I don’t know if that was intentional or not. IF not, I would maybe put little arrows around the course telling players where to go. For the experimental controls, the camera angle seems to act a little weird when you hit an obstacle or press the “S” key.I agree with Dalton that the game could be harder. maybe make more obstacles closer to the edge and move faster to do this. I would also put less time on the timer as Dalton said
Agree with the previous comments! As a prototype, this is very good! Clear instructions, eminently playable, even relaxing (which, if that's not what you're going for, maybe consider some of the other suggestions!) I finished with 5 seconds left, and I was meandering. And the timer is pretty high to begin with, so it left me wondering if that's the feeling you want to create. One possible way to frame this is to have an unlimited timer but have time goals (e.g. bronze, silver, gold), so that I don't just get reset when I'm about to finish (I'm assuming that happens, but I didn't actually check).
I definitely prefer the experimental version, even with the weird camera issues, because it addresses one complaint about the standard version, which is that it's very hard to understand where to go next, especially in more spacious areas (I'm thinking specifically of the area just after the maze). In the standard version, having an object attached to the camera that is always pointing towards the exit would be helpful.
Some feedback on project organization. Generally good in the project area, but I'd definitely suggest clearer naming of objects in the hierarchy, and maybe even some object grouping via empty game objects (you can really treat them as folders). Keep in mind when doing this that objects become positioned relative to the parent, but as long as you do that you'll be fine.
Finally, a question: In the experimental version, the horizontal movement of the camera is bonkers fast when the ball is not moving, or moving slowly. Why do you think that is?
Thanks for the feedback! I love the idea for the unlimited timer with bronze, silver, and gold rankings. I feel that would definitely work better than the timer I have now. I made the timer so high because I wanted all players to have a chance to win even if it took them long, but looking back if that's what I wanted then there was no need for the timer to begin with. Having the rankings would add more replay-ability and allow players to decide whether they want to go fast or not. I made the course pretty easy to complete on purpose because I wanted to really show off the proof of concept rather than actually making a challenging experience. I could definitely move obstacles around and speed them up if I wanted to provide more challenge for the players. As for your question, I believe the camera moves so fast while stationary because I tied the camera movement with the ball's velocity. That is also why I believe you are unable to move the ball before rotating the camera left or right. The velocity of the ball dictates how fast the camera moves to keep up with it, so since the velocity is 0 at the start I think the camera has no constraints to how fast it can move at the start. I think I could definitely improve on this movement using what we've learned since this project.
I love the Super Monkey Ball Concept. One thing that I think really stood out to me was that the aesthetic of this game really does look like Super Monkey Ball, even with just the default assets. I could tell you spent a lot of time trying to make that look right. I also really appreciated how the timer worked perfectly and reset correctly, and so did the gate message, disappearing after a few seconds. I played the experimental build because I thought it might introduce a more interesting mechanic with camera movement. It is definitely more fun and responsive to steer the ball by turning the camera, but I think there's definitely some ways to make it so it doesn't freak out on collision or when the player tries to go backwards, so take another look at that. I also think the game needs more challenge, the obstacles don't provide any challenge and the player can go right around all of them. I think if you simply made some bigger, or added more, this would help your game tremendously. The maze is the best part of the current game because it provides the most gameplay. Lastly, I think I might give less time on the timer because it's very generous. Perhaps finding the best route to complete the level is the challenge of the game and the player needs to run out of time a few times before they can actually beat it. Another thing I found very successful was the checkpoints and resetting of the ball, they functioned really well. With a rethink of the obstacles and some fiddling with the camera, I think this would be a really fun game!
Hey Patrick! I thought your game was a really great prototype! The level design was really cool and colorful and I liked the obstacles you put in. I played both versions and I could really see the Monkey Ball inspiration in your mechanics. Something you could have done was make the ball a little more slippery using physic materials - I found that the game was actually really easy even with the weirdness of the experimental movement. I managed to dodge almost every obstacle. Still though, I thought it was pretty fun and I liked moving around with the experimental version of the controls. With some better textures and maybe more physic materials, it could be a super fun obstacle course game.
Comments
Your game is very cool. The design makes I visually appealing. I like all the different obstacles. They were done very creatively. When I first did the course I didn’t know where to go at times. I don’t know if that was intentional or not. IF not, I would maybe put little arrows around the course telling players where to go. For the experimental controls, the camera angle seems to act a little weird when you hit an obstacle or press the “S” key. I agree with Dalton that the game could be harder. maybe make more obstacles closer to the edge and move faster to do this. I would also put less time on the timer as Dalton said
Agree with the previous comments! As a prototype, this is very good! Clear instructions, eminently playable, even relaxing (which, if that's not what you're going for, maybe consider some of the other suggestions!) I finished with 5 seconds left, and I was meandering. And the timer is pretty high to begin with, so it left me wondering if that's the feeling you want to create. One possible way to frame this is to have an unlimited timer but have time goals (e.g. bronze, silver, gold), so that I don't just get reset when I'm about to finish (I'm assuming that happens, but I didn't actually check).
I definitely prefer the experimental version, even with the weird camera issues, because it addresses one complaint about the standard version, which is that it's very hard to understand where to go next, especially in more spacious areas (I'm thinking specifically of the area just after the maze). In the standard version, having an object attached to the camera that is always pointing towards the exit would be helpful.
Some feedback on project organization. Generally good in the project area, but I'd definitely suggest clearer naming of objects in the hierarchy, and maybe even some object grouping via empty game objects (you can really treat them as folders). Keep in mind when doing this that objects become positioned relative to the parent, but as long as you do that you'll be fine.
Finally, a question: In the experimental version, the horizontal movement of the camera is bonkers fast when the ball is not moving, or moving slowly. Why do you think that is?
Thanks for the feedback! I love the idea for the unlimited timer with bronze, silver, and gold rankings. I feel that would definitely work better than the timer I have now. I made the timer so high because I wanted all players to have a chance to win even if it took them long, but looking back if that's what I wanted then there was no need for the timer to begin with. Having the rankings would add more replay-ability and allow players to decide whether they want to go fast or not. I made the course pretty easy to complete on purpose because I wanted to really show off the proof of concept rather than actually making a challenging experience. I could definitely move obstacles around and speed them up if I wanted to provide more challenge for the players. As for your question, I believe the camera moves so fast while stationary because I tied the camera movement with the ball's velocity. That is also why I believe you are unable to move the ball before rotating the camera left or right. The velocity of the ball dictates how fast the camera moves to keep up with it, so since the velocity is 0 at the start I think the camera has no constraints to how fast it can move at the start. I think I could definitely improve on this movement using what we've learned since this project.
I love the Super Monkey Ball Concept. One thing that I think really stood out to me was that the aesthetic of this game really does look like Super Monkey Ball, even with just the default assets. I could tell you spent a lot of time trying to make that look right. I also really appreciated how the timer worked perfectly and reset correctly, and so did the gate message, disappearing after a few seconds. I played the experimental build because I thought it might introduce a more interesting mechanic with camera movement. It is definitely more fun and responsive to steer the ball by turning the camera, but I think there's definitely some ways to make it so it doesn't freak out on collision or when the player tries to go backwards, so take another look at that. I also think the game needs more challenge, the obstacles don't provide any challenge and the player can go right around all of them. I think if you simply made some bigger, or added more, this would help your game tremendously. The maze is the best part of the current game because it provides the most gameplay. Lastly, I think I might give less time on the timer because it's very generous. Perhaps finding the best route to complete the level is the challenge of the game and the player needs to run out of time a few times before they can actually beat it. Another thing I found very successful was the checkpoints and resetting of the ball, they functioned really well. With a rethink of the obstacles and some fiddling with the camera, I think this would be a really fun game!
Hey Patrick! I thought your game was a really great prototype! The level design was really cool and colorful and I liked the obstacles you put in. I played both versions and I could really see the Monkey Ball inspiration in your mechanics. Something you could have done was make the ball a little more slippery using physic materials - I found that the game was actually really easy even with the weirdness of the experimental movement. I managed to dodge almost every obstacle. Still though, I thought it was pretty fun and I liked moving around with the experimental version of the controls. With some better textures and maybe more physic materials, it could be a super fun obstacle course game.