itch.io

Hm that's unfortunate. Do you have problems with other Unity builds for Windows? 

I usually make web builds of my games, but this requires low level audio processing which is not available on web, so it's Windows only (for now).

"...Asset, tool or comic"? Well, this might be my first and only opportunity to share my music visualizer! So let's go:

https://paulsgames.itch.io/ink-blob

A demo video is here:

Well I guess I got the ultimate high score again! It's just not in the list: 

:-)

:-(

The problem still is that the performance of the game becomes terrible before the game becomes hard... This was wave 82.  The end game scaling is still off...

This is a sort of tower defense game, but with a moveable character. It makes it more or less a cross between Vampire Survivors and tower defense games: https://dino0040.itch.io/grimstone 

I've played it a lot last year, but now it got a major update, changing the game play. Let's see if I can still get to the top of the leader boards. Or can you beat me...? :-)

First thoughts about the game play changes: man do I miss the high towers and doors... But I understand they had to go: they were the key to the basically "infinite" strategy that allows you to play until your computer crashes (which got me to the top spot of the leaderboard last year :-) ). 

The new wizards still seem very dodgeable, though I haven't had the time to experience 50+ waves. I can imagine that without high walls, there is a point where it just ends (which is good). 

I miss the doors; they added a lot of depth to the game play. However the new roots seem interesting too (more interesting than crowned colons), though not that powerful. My two favorite crown targets have been removed, now crowns seem a lot less powerful, though skulls seem a good target now. 

Mechanically, the jester is just a combination between the bandit and pirate, right? It moves fast, and don't get too close. I still think it would be cool if there's a very rare enemy that can actually destroy your walls or towers.

I'll probably add more thoughts later, once I have time to reach the higher waves...

I was playing on my (really) old laptop, so that's some integrated GPU, Firefox and Linux Mint (Cinnamon). The frame rate was still decent though for a browser game (close to 40). If you need more details let me know and I can look them up later.

Yes, a new update for one of my favorite free games!  I can already see that the game play changed quite a bit.

However it's currently a unplayable for me because of a bug  (I'm currently playing the browser version):  sometimes enemies stop their path finding, and just move straight up on the screen. The wave only continues when I move up to lure those stuck enemies back down.  However when those enemies are pirates or bandits, they tend to kill me quickly when I get too close.  Am I the only experiencing this bug?

I don't think there are special search functions, but you can create collections to sort your game library. For instance, I have collections for bundle recommendations, arcade games, local multiplayer games. 

If you make them public on your creator page (like I did), you can even help others with your recommendations. :-)

If it hits the same quality level, then I'm in!

(I'll already posted my suggestions elsewhere.)

I haven't played many of them yet, but here are my current thoughts:

Cosmic Express is a fun little puzzle game.

Fuzz Dungeon is very weird and wonderful.

I'm looking forward to finally playing Tunic!

That's it (for now). What are your recommendations, or games that you look forward to?

Here's the link btw: https://itch.io/b/2863/california-fire-relief-bundle

Hey this looks cool

Ostark & Didi  (a free browser puzzle/action game for one or two players)

Thanks! Did you play single player or with two players? Feel free to keep me updated about your progress!

All that's needed is a tiny UI update, right? 

Anyway, let me know if you have an arcade machine build, and I'll put it on there.

Cool game! 

...and did I notice arcade machine compatible controls...?

Thanks! Unity can easily build for MacOS, so there shouldn't be any problems, but I don't have a way to check the MacOS build myself. If you want I can still try it, and ask others to check, and post it if it all works.

I made a music visualizer! Chill out and listen to your favorite music, while staring at abstract, fractal-like visuals that evolve and react in real time to the music.

It works with microphone input, or you can play mp3 / ogg / wav files from your computer with it.

Download it here: https://paulsgames.itch.io/ink-blob

I just made a major update again. Have fun, and let me know what you think!

Ostark and Didi

Hello, and welcome!

Typically everyone here recommends their own games, but I'll try to refrain from that... Are you looking for free or paid games?

If you look at my creator page, I share a couple of collections: the arcade games collection contains free, short and fun browser games. The bundle collections contain some of my favorite paid games on here.

Considering your preferences, if you're looking for paid games: I can really recommend Hypagogia Boundless Dreams (weird, atmospheric), Pikuniku (narrative, simple puzzles, very funny) and Micro Dash (exploration, puzzles, retro) - you can find the links in my collections.

Um... How do I enter a cabin? I'm just wandering around aimlessly for minutes...

That's awesome. I'm a bunny spider chicken!

Hello Howard,

Your game looks interesting! I'm interested in play testing it. The need for creating an account and another player is a bit of a hurdle, but I'll try it later this week and let you know how it goes.

More feedback is still welcome!

I created a gameplay video which shows some of the gameplay as it is in the later, more challenging levels:

Thanks for the feedback! Yeah I was in doubt about this level. I think I'll put it a bit later - it's always good to let the player practice new abilities in a safe environment (I have known and preached this for years - just didn't apply it myself...).

By the way there's no standard "one player presses button, other walks through door" mechanic in this game. The core cooperative mechanic has a similar function, but is a bit more original. It's only introduced in Level 8 however...

I thought so too about automatic fire. Fortunately, it's one of the first upgrades that's available in the skill trees. Buy it! :-)

Okay I have some feedback.

Here's what I like:

- it's all very "juicy" and alive: lots of particles, screen shake, everything is animated (tweened).

- in principle, there's a clear tutorial that takes you through everything.

- the game play is fast.

Here's what I don't like:

- The downside of all that juice is that it's visually very "noisy": it's hard to understand what's going on.

- There's no time to learn what everything is or does: if you take it slow and look at the pickups or enemy behaviors, you're dead. The first wave is immediately all out. That's good for experienced players (with full skill trees), but probably there should be a slow training mode where enemies and abilities are introduced one by one. Possibly without gaining XP.

- For such a fast and short game, replaying is frustratingly slow: it's possible that you die after 2 seconds, but then you need to wait more than 5 seconds for the UI animation, to go back to the menu, and to restart (at least that's what it feels like - I didn't time it). There needs to be an immediate restart button - I don't care about my newly gained XP, unless I got very far.

- Some of the tutorial text is absolutely tiny! (When viewed on an average laptop screen.) The smallest fonts need to be at least twice as big, if not more.

REVIEW:

I just finished this game, playing together with my brother, and we had a blast. (Surprise twist: we're both in our forties.)

I think all the levels can be finished when playing alone, but with two players it's easier. Or is it? If you're not communicating and following a plan, you're sabotaging each other just as much as helping, and that's hilarious.

Anyway, there are eight worlds with ten levels each, and a lot of different puzzle mechanics that are introduced and explored nicely throughout these worlds. It's an entertaining puzzle action game, with a lot of variation.

Some small constructive criticisms: there are some difficulty spikes: levels that might have you stuck for a long time, without a way to continue to the next world, so some perseverance is needed. The colors are extremely bright, saturated and mostly primary (like bright red, green, yellow, blue). In some levels this actually hurts the eyes, especially when playing on a good screen like a TV. I don't mind the cartoony, child-like look, but slightly more modest color schemes would have been nice. Finally, starting the game with two controllers is somehow a bit finicky, but we did manage every time.

EDIT:

I just made a new major update, so feedback is again welcome! The major new changes are that the controls are faster (but also enemies are faster to compensate), and a new ability is introduced: laying an egg! If you just want to try out the new ability: in the first level, go all the way to the left with both birds, and then jump simultaneously.

ORIGINAL POST:

I recently updated one of my browser games, Ostark & Didi, a puzzle platformer for one or two players:

https://paulsgames.itch.io/ostarkdidi

One of the recent additions was adding online leaderboards. According to those, only few people manage to get past the early levels, so now I'm wondering:

- is the difficulty curve too steep and are people bouncing off?

- or is the difficulty curve to gentle, and does it take too long before the game gets interesting? (Is "the hook" presented too late?)

- is there something else that's holding players back from enjoying the game? (controls? I don't know...)

So I would love to get some more feedback on this. If you play it, was something holding you back? Was some level too difficult? Or was it boring because new abilities were introduced too slowly? What were your (least) favorite levels?

Also, if you give useful feedback, and you have a browser game that you want feedback on (not NSFW, not horror), let me know - I'd be happy to return the favor.

https://paulsgames.itch.io/ostarkdidi

Here are more than 50 levels of puzzle / action fun. Give your brain a workout, and explore the deep game play created by the interaction between these original player ability and path finding systems.

This game is best with two players (and controllers), but can be played single player as well.

In this new major update, online leaderboards are added, and the graphics have been vastly improved! Can you reach the top of the leaderboard?

All comments and feedback are welcome!

Thanks for the detailed feedback, awesome! I recognize the things you point out. Indeed, the game is mainly designed for two players, only later I added single player mode. I also agree on the tile look. The game has come a long way from its game jam roots, but the tiles are still as they were made in the first weekend. That should be a priority.

Alright, here's one: https://paulsgames.itch.io/ostarkdidi

Questions:

1) Are there are levels that were too hard or frustrating?

2) How far did you get until you were bored?

3) What is the main thing you would you add to make it more attractive?

In 99% of the cases, yes. Just be happy and proud if your game is put into collections.

However you can use collections for anything, and I have seen people use it for instance to keep track of malware: https://itch.io/t/3512426/itch-is-not-a-safe-place-do-not-download-things

Then you can find that game page more easily next time, if you want to play it again (or if you want to check for updates, or give feedback).

You can also create public collections, to show your followers and possibly others what the good games here are (I have three such collections, you can find them on my creator page).

itch.io (most likely) also uses collections to determine the games that should be at the top of their recommendation lists, or on the front page, but the details behind their recommendation system are a secret (for a good reason).

https://paulsgames.itch.io/showtime

This is a short dexterity game, where you need to do tricks and create  combos to get the high score. 

Are you skilled enough to get your name on the online leader boards?

For me too (Firefox), but not in the download version. Both versions still have the "shop close" bug though.

Yay, I finally did it!

How? Mostly by learning when exactly The Bug occurs, and managing to avoid it until getting around 5000 points. This allowed me to build a "double spiral" fort, with an essential door in the middle, that you can use to fool all troops except wizards, to let them run endlessly back and forth. Also, placing some doors at key positions allows for "harvest runs", since colon collectors don't go fast enough to achieve crazy high scores.

In the end, when it dipped below 1 FPS, I decided to end it during a wizard wave, but I think I could have played forever with this strategy... This game is awesome, but the end game still needs to be fixed!

Thanks for the update! I noticed some changes, like the sound effects stopping in the later levels. That is probably a good idea indeed. Maybe keep the most important sounds, like wizards shooting and crowns dropping?

Unfortunately I still had some trouble: in the WebGL version, both times when I reached about Wave 25, it completely crashed now... I didn't see anything special in the browser console log (maybe I didn't look well enough? Also maybe it's my old laptop & browser - I use Firefox btw).

In the download version, the "shop close" bug happened again, each time when I got above Wave 50. The last time was in Wave 55, while quickly placing a whole battery of colons.

About the path finding: GPU path finding and the GIF are really cool, but is that really the bottleneck? If you have 1 player and 1000 enemies, you still need to run the path finding (or "flow map generation") algorithm only once, right?

Anyway, it's great to hear that you're still working on this! I'll be following for further updates.