Post by gamebalance in Melkhior's Mansion comments

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So. I played several times. And I think the game is ruined for general public. Maybe hardcore players can enjoy this.

Here is what I think. Just like lots of games in the past the game is made with a player in mind who already knows the game really well. Not for a first time player who have no idea where to go and what to do and why and how.

For a general player here are some things that blocking good game experience:

1. Respawning enemies. I don't know what would be best to do with that. It also ruins fun of exploring the maze.

2. Timer.(health going down) it's just one of the worst things in games from the past.

3. no map access. Why not give a map like all the best games out there do?

4. opening closing doors. I understand it goes from the urge to increase difficulty, because when developer plays his own game he doesn't feel it the way when first time player playing. So he thinks, oh it's too easy and adding something to add difficulty that he could feel.

5. items unresponsive to take. I had problems to pick up items.

6. Also the items gotta be visible on the map. As we have to drop some of them.

7. Maybe save points. Not sure tho.

I am not some unskilled player, by the way. I played and beaten many NES games. Their difficulty is way above average of todays games. Spectrum? Not so much. I did not had one at home.

If you want to bring in all those frustrating things - just add a hard difficulty and throw all that challenging stuff in there. Why not give general public to enjoy the game on a normal mode?

BitGlint Games2 years ago(+1)

Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts. It's clear that you don't like the game, and that's absolutely fine, we all have different tastes. The feedback we've had since releasing it has been overwhelmingly positive, so I think that "the game is ruined for the general public" is a bit on the strong side. However, that's your opinion, you're entitled to it and I'm happy you've shared it with us.

I took the time to check out your game on Itch and I have to say it looks superb. All the best with future projects. :o)

gamebalance2 years ago

I don't know why you think I did not liked the game. I did not liked the mentioned items. They block a great game experience for me.

BitGlint Games2 years ago

Oh, you said, "the game is ruined". That kind of led me to believe you didn't like it. I'm not saying that's a bad thing, that's just how I interpreted it. :o)

gamebalance2 years ago

"ruined for general public". It means the game is too hard for general public. And stuff like accessible map at any time is more player friendly and also most common these days.

BitGlint Games2 years ago

There are map consoles on each floor. Essentially though, I wanted to keep the essence of the original game. I think I've achieved that, although I appreciate that doing so will put people off. It's a free game anyway, so you don't lose anything for trying it! :o)

gamebalance2 years ago

And by the way. The first game I ever made was on ZX spectrum. And it was a very simple version of the game you saw on my itch.io
Was around 1996

BitGlint Games2 years ago

Cool, what was the Speccy game called? I don't remember anything like that.

gamebalance2 years ago (1 edit)

It was just a small game I made at home when my friend gave me speccy. It was not released anywhere. And it was just a several levels with squares. Later I made also newer versions on ZX emulator, Pascal, QBasic, and only in 2004 first time it was something I posted to the web. In 2005 English version which called Orbox.

BitGlint Games2 years ago

Ahh sorry, I misunderstood. I've made the same little games for various platforms over the years, it's good practice.

alber992 years ago

I disagree, and I will try to explain it in a reasoned way.

1- The game is inspired by Atic Atac, respecting its essence and mechanics deeply. It's like reliving that game 40 years later, in 3D style, with beautiful music and a really wonderful art style. And adding, in a very inspired way, new game modes. It would be meaningless without the frenetic pace, opening and closing doors, constant appearance of enemies, life drainage, etc.

2- The map is available on the consoles. There are 5 floors, and you have one map per floor. When you have discovered a complete floor, take a picture of it with your mobile phone (or a screenshot) and you have maps forever, if you wish so. Other players prefer to play without a map.

3- I don't think it's a hardcore game, not even close. My son, who had never seen a game like this before, saw it on Monday and immediately asked me to install it for him. He played two test games with Stamperlot, understood the objective perfectly, and the next game he won the game in 17 minutes (Andrew13 at the score table). I was surprised how well he knew the map after a few games, and he was more familiar with the main paths than I was. He made one more comment: Dad, it's too easy to refill the life bar, there's food everywhere.

After that, he won it twice with Lester (one of them didn't enter due to server error) and once with Zouch (was also not registered for the same reason). And although he usually plays Fortnite and League of Legends, he also loves Melkhior's Mansion.

So, as you can see, for some it is easy, for others it is hard. You have to ask yourself whether you really like it or not, it won't suit all players. In my opinion it's a marvellous game, a gem. And on top of that, it's free.

BitGlint Games2 years ago

Thanks, I'd agree with all of that, but then I wrote it so I'm incredibly biased. Sorry about the server issues, Fasthosts had a big outage earlier in the week, most annoying. Take a look in the log folder, your scores may have been written out to a file, I can manually submit them for you if you like. Contact details are on the bitglint.co.uk website. Oh and I love that your son has been playing it over his usual games, that's a result!! :o)

alber992 years ago

Don't worry about the scores, my son and I will continue playing it regularly. I'll tell you something else that worries me more, and that might be a bug. Yesterday afternoon I finally unlocked all the palettes, I left the last one on (Spectrum dimmed, or something like that). Today I started the game and it's as if my data has been erased: I have all the palettes locked again. Maybe you can figure out the cause. I don't mind getting them again, it can be fun. What worries me is that it keeps happening over and over again.

alber992 years ago (1 edit)

I have discovered the <Setting Key="Palette" Value="0" /> value in the Settings.xml file, but I have never edited it. I don't know why it is set to zero. Maybe after taking them all, the next time it goes back to zero? Or something like that.

EDIT: Never mind: I noticed that this value is the selected palette, not the unlocked ones.

BitGlint Games2 years ago

Yeh sorry about that, it's a bug that other folks have reported too. I'll be looking into it soon. Bit annoying that one.

alber992 years ago

Ok, thank you ;)

gamebalance2 years ago

I suspect there are some hidden details about that you son was playing and found it easy. Maybe he saw someone playing it and realized some easy play tactics. Maybe you explained him something. I don't know. But I suspect there was some details that made it not a blind first play for him.

BitGlint Games2 years ago (4 edits)

The key to the game is getting to know the map. Once you become familiar with it, things do get easier. Kids do tend to pick things up quicker than adults! Maybe he's just better at it than you are? Sorry, but you're starting to sound a little bit jealous of a 13 year old kid. By all means offer feedback on the game, that's absolutely fine, whether it's positive or negative, I don't mind, but there's no need to start having a dig at the kid's gaming skills.

gamebalance2 years ago (2 edits)

Maybe if I knew the way to play easy right from beginning it would be easy for me. I gave feedback from absolutely blind playthrough. You sure his son did not saw something which made some great spoilers for him?

alber992 years ago

I find it a bit absurd to have to answer this, I don't see the point, but since you insist so much I'll do it just once. As I told you, my son saw the game and asked me to install it for him, because he liked it. He watched me play for about 2 minutes, no more. The only thing I told him was the objective of the game (which the game itself tells you), he saw that there were some coloured keys to open doors and I told him that one of the pieces he was looking for was in an attic (which the game also tells you!). From there, he went to his room and managed by himself to find the keys, look for the stairs upwards, go up to the attic, etc. All by himself and no more spoilers. And I assure you that after only three games, he knew the map much better than I did. I hope you'll feel more at ease now that I've revealed the 'hidden details'.

BitGlint Games2 years ago (2 edits)

I reckon he's just good at video games, like a lot of teens :o)

alber992 years ago

And not just in video games, he's a smart and mature kid for his age. By the way, his age is 12. I guess he chose Andrew13 just because he likes it. Su verdadero nombre es Andrés, somos españoles ;-)

BitGlint Games2 years ago

Ahhh, sorry your English is so perfect I didn't realise. Bien hecho André!! My daughter's 13, she's a video game nut, but not interested in Melkhior's Mansion. Oh well! :o)

alber992 years ago

Haha, things that happen...

By the way, the game has crashed twice on my son's computer, the last time a few minutes ago when he was in the middle of a game. The error window said "Melkhior's Mansion encountered the following problem and will have to close: Referencia a objeto no establecida como instancia de un objeto". I have the log files, if you want to have a look at them.

Anyway, you know kids are doing 20 things at the same time on the PC, and they keep changing the focus from one thing to another, watching streams, talking on discord, etc. That may have caused the problem, but I don't know.

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gamebalance2 years ago

So it wasn't a blind playthrough. And seems you don't understand the difference.

hot_piping2 years ago (1 edit)

Ok, many thanks for your input.

BitGlint Games2 years ago

You're being silly now. This forum is for feedback on the game, not a place to have a pop at kids who are better at video games than you are.

Tuna20202 years ago

Honestly, I think you've put a lot of effort into criticising a game you clearly don't "get".

It's a bit like criticising a bullet-hell game for being unrelenting, or a roguelike for permanent death. If it's not the sort of game you enjoy, then perhaps spend some time on other games?

Your criticism also appears rather contradictory - you want it to be easy to explore the maze AND to have a map of the maze given to you?

The fact that this is not like "todays games" is exactly the point.

BitGlint Games2 years ago

Thanks for your support. He's barred now for going off topic.