EDITED POST

 Since it's basically impossible to get proper feedback on these things, I'm setting up an exchange system: A review for a review.  Post your game here and I will give an honest, extensive review of it, plus constructive criticism where applicable.  However, my computer sometimes has issues with running downloaded games so I can't promise that I will be able to play it unless it's browser based (but I will try).

Specifically I'm looking for constructive feedback on the world editor, to help me improve it and make it more accessible.  I want it to be easy for players to create a simple world, even if they don't have experience with in-depth level editing.

ORIGINAL POST

I'm looking for feedback on my game...level building...creation...thing.  Let's call it a game to make it simpler.

BoundWorlds is sort of what you'd get if you took something like Game Maker and turned everyone's project into a single, cohesive multiverse experience, with a main character who can jump from world to world by passing through portals.

The "base" game style is a retro action-adventure type game (kind of Zelda-like), and the editor tools are built around easily creating cutscenes, dialogue trees, combat stats, and other things you'd expect to find in a story-based adventure game, but the editor is ridiculously flexible - you can pretty much reprogram everything.  You can also export your objects and use objects created by other players.

Try it out and play a few worlds - they vary in length from less than a minute to about a half hour.  (I'd recommend anything by me or Kamani, who has been adding content since the game was in early Alpha).  Keep in mind that anything you see in-game can be reproduced in the world editor.  "Devs cannot make anything that players cannot" is one of the main design philosophies behind BoundWorlds.

I'm mainly looking for feedback on the editor, though.  My goal is to make it as intuitive as possible for players looking to create something simple, without sacrificing flexibility for those looking to make something more advanced.

You can play it in a browser, either on BoundWorlds.com or on indigofenix.itch.io/boundworlds.  (The former lets you play in fullscreen.)

I did make a tutorial series, which starts here.  My objective, though, is that the tutorial should not actually be necessary.  (The older videos are from earlier versions so they look different - new versions are much more polished - but the mechanics have not changed significantly.)

I really appreciate having a build you can instantly try in your browser! 😁 Note that I have not watched the tutorial video, so that I can test the software's intuitive-ness.

LEVEL

I started with the level "Trial of the Great Desert" by Kanami. (I checked all the checkboxes including "Story start only".) It was interesting, but somewhat overwhelming. Do all the levels share one story? The plot at the start made me unsure as to which level I should have chosen first. The characters talk a lot about unrelated lore pretty much unprompted, and I very quickly forgot where I was supposed to go (Maybe that's just me though...I'm tired today)...of course, I soon figured out I needed to go north to start the level. To make the initial experience be less overwhelming, consider adding a dedicated tutorial level easily located on the menu. It could introduce the lore and characters, but leave the unrelated details to be revealed when they become important, which would make the conversation feel more natural.

Side notes...

* It's really charming how awkward Autem the dragon is, like catching himself using contractions ("I'm") in order to sound more dragonlike and then abruptly leaving like..."Bye!" 🤣

* I didn't do much of the actual combat gameplay, however.

* It can be tough to make dialogue advance quicker. When I press the spacebar while the character is still speaking, I expect the text animation to finish instantly, like in other games. (I'm a speed reader.) Then, ideally, I can press it again to see the next dialogue. The way it works now still leaves me feeling impatient, since the text only speeds up a little bit as you hold the spacebar. Due to my muscle memory, I found myself repeatedly pressing the spacebar, making it easy to accidentally choose options before I can read them.

EDITOR

...I'm using it now, and to be honest I'm pretty lost!

* I feel like requiring an account login could be a barrier to getting people to test your level editor. Maybe it's just me -- even though it's not a lot of work, I don't like having to keep track of yet ANOTHER account. Fortunately, this game requires just a name and a password, though; no email or any personal info as is the norm for user accounts. However, others may assume you'll want their email or something just to try the editor, and tune out.

* The Important Starter Resources screen was rather confusing. What does that "C" button do? It's also not clear that you must double-click the starter package to continue. Perhaps put checkmarks next to each resource and an "Import" button next to the "Cancel" button. That way you can easily import multiple packages.

* The main interface is overwhelming. I should have read the intro text better (I tend to skim, since I use a lot of game dev software and usually have a vague idea how it works, apart from tutorials) because it explains "Create a new room and edit it in the Rooms tab." Without that knowledge, I thumbed through the other tabs wondering how to get started. There seem to be an impressive amount of features, but my instinct is to start putting tiles and objects down ASAP, and I'm not able to do that.

* Besides the menus themselves, there is little visual indication (large headings, etc.) whether you are in "edit whole world" mode or "edit room" mode. That could be confusing for newcomers not used to editing software, who may wonder how to return to the former. (You have to click the small X.) Further playtesting can check whether this is a problem.

* Just by looking, it's not clear which items will spawn tooltips and which will not.

* Even after figuring out how to create and edit a room -- perhaps the software should create the first room for you, and start you off editing it! -- I have no idea how to put tiles on it. There's just a black canvas where stuff could be.

...And that's where I'm stuck right now 😮 I don't know how to start putting down ground tiles or objects.

Still, this is a cool idea for a game. And it's clear that cool things can be done with the editor, such as story scripting.  For the editor, I would look at well-designed interfaces such as Super Mario Maker or the well-loved free tilemap editor "Tiled" for inspiration. (There's also OGMO editor, which I've never used, but it's by Celeste devs and it looks stylin'!)

Read up on User Experience design as well as User Interface design...those are two separate things! Try to make things more visual and easy to understand. Reduce the amount of unnecessary decisions beginners have to make before they can get started. For example, you could pre-load the game with a starter pack of tiles by default, while allowing users to also add or choose custom ones.

Good luck!

As requested, I have added an option to test the World Editor without logging in.  You can sign up from inside the World Editor itself to publish, or you can download the world's file to your computer and re-upload it later to continue building.

I've also made a number of other UX tweaks which should hopefully make things clearer for new players.

Anyone want to give it another go?  At the very least, I'm hoping it should be clear enough to build something using the Legendary Dungeons package.

Another update, made some general QOL improvements to the world editor and added a bunch of tooltips in the aim of making it easier to build using pre-packaged assets.

I'm aiming to cater to two main level building players - basic builders who just want a straightforward level editor with a ton of importable objects, and power users who actually create new objects.  In the past I've mainly aimed for flexibility over  accessibility, but I'm focusing on the first group now.

Okay, I'm starting a review-for-a-review system, since getting new feedback is a chore.  Details in the opening post.  This will remain open until I decide I have enough feedback.