Remarkable: I think it's interesting that the game uses such a varied layout. There are many different obstacles of different shapes and sizes, and I think that's neat.
Needs Improvement: Almost immediately I found a major bug that completely breaks the game. If you use WASD instead of the arrow keys, the camera gets really wacky and shoots off the stage. I'm not sure what causes this, but I was able to reproduce it multiple times, and it effectively softlocks the game. Additionally, the way the level resets is overly punishing and very jarring. For starters, there are no checkpoints, so it feels really bad if you happen to lose close to the end, only to get sent back to the beginning. There is also no actual "level reset", as the ball's position is simply moved back to the start. This means that all of the obstacles you broke are still gone, which removes any element of overcoming the difficulty of a particularly challenging obstacle. Theoretically speaking, you could simply brute force your way through the game, clearing a trail of obstacles only to respawn and do it again.
Successful: I think the overall concept of the game is pretty solid. While it lacks polish, the fundamental idea of falling through different levels and dodging moving platforms is really fun. Reaction based games are something I really enjoy, and I even challenged myself to get through an entire section without hitting a single block. This was the main reason I disliked the lack of checkpoints and hard resets, as it meant I had to restart the game whenever I wanted to try this again. That said, the core gameplay loop is fun, which is ultimately the most important thing.
General: Overall, I feel this is a solid foundation for a game, but it is in desperate need of further tweaks to make it feel more fluid. One other thing I wanted to note is that your unity project seems really disorganized, with materials, prefabs, and scripts strewn about in one place. I highly recommend creating specific folders (Prefabs, Scripts, etc) to help organize the different elements of your game. As your game increases in size it will become far more difficult to navigate a maze of different elements to find the one that you want.
What I found remarkable was actually the camera angle. The over-the-shoulder angle isn’t the most obvious way of going about a game like this but it adds excitement. I was wondering why the ball wasn’t in the center of the screen at first but I see that the angle it’s at now helps the player see where they are better.
The main improvement I would suggest is to show the lives the player has in the UI. The reset button didn’t work for me. I don’t know if it’s on purpose but the obstacles don’t reset after the player dies. The doors are still open when the game rests. Maybe make it so that one button opens all the orange doors? Like the game, checks to see which door is open and then opens the next door.
I thought basically the whole thing was successful. The game feel was great. The increase in velocity rewards players for playing well while also increasing the challenge at the same time. The courses became more interesting with new kinds of obstacles as the game goes on, which is something I appreciate.
The notes I had on the improvement section I would consider minor and overall I would call this a very successful project. I think this is a very viable game concept and could be built upon to make a real product. Also, consider making each section longer so that an increase in velocity can really be felt.
What I noticed was the feeling of speed - the game does a remarkable job creating a frantic feeling of falling! However, I agree with josh that the camera sometimes makes it hard to see what's coming. That might have something to do with the fact that the game was designed initially from the side; perhaps it would have been more open with more space to move if initially designed from this perspective? The feedback through the Debug.log statements was mostly successful, but I did find myself sometimes wondering how many lives I had. (We haven't covered UI, but it's something to think about - changing the color of the sphere to indicate health, or something else on the screen...)
This game was really fun to play. The goal is to fall to the bottom of the level without hitting any obstacles along the way. Something remarkable about the game would have to be the way the game handles your lives. When you interact and collide with the obstacles you lose a life but you still continue along with falling to the next level. It doesn't penalize you that much by hitting something so it makes it really easy to continue on without much trouble. My biggest critique would definitely have to be the placement of the camera. It makes it pretty hard to see where the ball is going to end up as well as see what obstacles you may be approaching. Possibly raising it and centering it a bit more could help with this problem. The biggest success of the game would have to be the introduction of new obstacles as you progress through the different levels. It really keeps you on your toes and forces you to adapt quickly as you progress the game. Overall I really enjoyed the game and it is a very solid concept. I think if the camera were changed a bit it could be pretty successful and it would definitely bring me back to play it again.
Comments
Remarkable: I think it's interesting that the game uses such a varied layout. There are many different obstacles of different shapes and sizes, and I think that's neat.
Needs Improvement: Almost immediately I found a major bug that completely breaks the game. If you use WASD instead of the arrow keys, the camera gets really wacky and shoots off the stage. I'm not sure what causes this, but I was able to reproduce it multiple times, and it effectively softlocks the game. Additionally, the way the level resets is overly punishing and very jarring. For starters, there are no checkpoints, so it feels really bad if you happen to lose close to the end, only to get sent back to the beginning. There is also no actual "level reset", as the ball's position is simply moved back to the start. This means that all of the obstacles you broke are still gone, which removes any element of overcoming the difficulty of a particularly challenging obstacle. Theoretically speaking, you could simply brute force your way through the game, clearing a trail of obstacles only to respawn and do it again.
Successful: I think the overall concept of the game is pretty solid. While it lacks polish, the fundamental idea of falling through different levels and dodging moving platforms is really fun. Reaction based games are something I really enjoy, and I even challenged myself to get through an entire section without hitting a single block. This was the main reason I disliked the lack of checkpoints and hard resets, as it meant I had to restart the game whenever I wanted to try this again. That said, the core gameplay loop is fun, which is ultimately the most important thing.
General: Overall, I feel this is a solid foundation for a game, but it is in desperate need of further tweaks to make it feel more fluid. One other thing I wanted to note is that your unity project seems really disorganized, with materials, prefabs, and scripts strewn about in one place. I highly recommend creating specific folders (Prefabs, Scripts, etc) to help organize the different elements of your game. As your game increases in size it will become far more difficult to navigate a maze of different elements to find the one that you want.
What I found remarkable was actually the camera angle. The over-the-shoulder angle isn’t the most obvious way of going about a game like this but it adds excitement. I was wondering why the ball wasn’t in the center of the screen at first but I see that the angle it’s at now helps the player see where they are better.
The main improvement I would suggest is to show the lives the player has in the UI. The reset button didn’t work for me. I don’t know if it’s on purpose but the obstacles don’t reset after the player dies. The doors are still open when the game rests. Maybe make it so that one button opens all the orange doors? Like the game, checks to see which door is open and then opens the next door.
I thought basically the whole thing was successful. The game feel was great. The increase in velocity rewards players for playing well while also increasing the challenge at the same time. The courses became more interesting with new kinds of obstacles as the game goes on, which is something I appreciate.
The notes I had on the improvement section I would consider minor and overall I would call this a very successful project. I think this is a very viable game concept and could be built upon to make a real product. Also, consider making each section longer so that an increase in velocity can really be felt.
What I noticed was the feeling of speed - the game does a remarkable job creating a frantic feeling of falling! However, I agree with josh that the camera sometimes makes it hard to see what's coming. That might have something to do with the fact that the game was designed initially from the side; perhaps it would have been more open with more space to move if initially designed from this perspective? The feedback through the Debug.log statements was mostly successful, but I did find myself sometimes wondering how many lives I had. (We haven't covered UI, but it's something to think about - changing the color of the sphere to indicate health, or something else on the screen...)
This game was really fun to play. The goal is to fall to the bottom of the level without hitting any obstacles along the way. Something remarkable about the game would have to be the way the game handles your lives. When you interact and collide with the obstacles you lose a life but you still continue along with falling to the next level. It doesn't penalize you that much by hitting something so it makes it really easy to continue on without much trouble. My biggest critique would definitely have to be the placement of the camera. It makes it pretty hard to see where the ball is going to end up as well as see what obstacles you may be approaching. Possibly raising it and centering it a bit more could help with this problem. The biggest success of the game would have to be the introduction of new obstacles as you progress through the different levels. It really keeps you on your toes and forces you to adapt quickly as you progress the game. Overall I really enjoyed the game and it is a very solid concept. I think if the camera were changed a bit it could be pretty successful and it would definitely bring me back to play it again.