Post by gravelblock in Dream Hook comments

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Thanks! Means a lot :)

I usually use this website when I want to create smooth transitions for things like the save icon. So it's some easing function for the scaling + a sine wave for the rotation.

I've thought about your second paragraph troughout the day and I'm thinking I can't really remove the slowness and the potential frustration of the first levels. I think because the hook is not intuitive to use right away, the first levels are going to be slow no matter what. Currently, any level can be finished pretty fast; even the third level. It's a matter of getting used to the physics and discovering how to take advantage of it. Like you said, the second time was less frustrating because you got used to the momentum. I don't want to be completely dismissive though. Obviously I'd prefer if people didn't feel bad playing my game :~) I'll try to figure out something. Very helpful comment

I added that restriction to the reel in/out keys to avoid getting reeled in if you want to aim diagonally while swinging. It's a decision I took without even testing with and without, and now that you bring it up I'm not sure it was the right call. I kind of find it annoying too, but I'm so used to it that I don't notice the restriction anymore... I'm going to test without it but I think you're right :~)

I probably binded the up and down key like that because that's how Umihara Kawase does it. I took a lot of inspiration from that game.

I left a lot of intentional shortcuts , but that one isn't lol. I wonder what you mean by "I wish there were more opportunities for me to do that again". You mean cheesing the level, or stretching the grappling hook to shoot yourself? Either way there's probably gonna more of both in the final game :)

yeah.. I know about that bug while shooting down. I don't know if it's going to get fixed. It doesn't bother me that much and doesn't break anything. Let's ignore it for the moment.

Again, thank you for your help and nice comments :)

torcado7 years ago

What i meant by the save icon being so nice is how it rotates without distortion. if you have a pixel sprite, rotating it will almost always cause some sort of jaggedness. I was going to make an image showing the difference, but while doing that i noticed that it actually is just a normal sprite rotation. probably because the icon uses pretty much only straight lines it looks fine. so my original point is meaningless haha
probably the reason i thought there was something unique was because it matched most of the other game (such as the black waves at the top or the checkpoint triangles rotating), but neither of those are sprites (i assume) so just drawing them wouldn't introduce those artifacts.
of course you could also just use higher resolution sprites and downscale them and it would have the same effect so i guess there isnt a technique im missing after all

I definitely saw the Umihara Kawase inspiration, which is great because it's an incredible game and like nobody knows about it? so one of the first things i was looking out for was a place to test if the hook wraps around objects. i was juust a bit disappointing to see it doesn't, but honestly that mechanic is so complicated, i don't think i would even be able to implement it. and it doesn't really add much to the game unless you specifically design the levels around it

and yeah, i meant just more opportunities to use the stretching grappling hook to shoot off things. the ability to cheese levels will come naturally ;)

gravelblock7 years ago

I considered making the hook wrap around platforms, but i'd have to give up moving platforms and yeah it wouldn't have added alot. It isn't worth it I think. It's a nice challenge i'd like to solve someday though

itch.io

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