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Could anyone give me feedback about my 1st game?

A topic by Diguifi Studios created Apr 16, 2019 Views: 713 Replies: 17
Viewing posts 1 to 5

I made a simple demo for a bigger idea I had for a game, but I didn't get much feedback, I have very few karma at reddit, almost no one found my post. It's really important for me to get feedback, since it's my very first demo and I must know what to change, what to improve and what to keep as it is. I already have a simple notion of things to change, such as:

  • Easier level 3
  • Add some game juice (more sounds and effects)

here's the game page: https://diguifi.itch.io/dudes-quest

Thank you very much in advance.

(+1)

Hello I'm just in the middle of playing your demo and the one thing i do notice is that the jumping feels to floaty and i don't know if you have so if hold down the button you jump higher. I would also like to see like 3 health system if possible i don't know that what you after but i feel like you die to quickly to the enemies . And sometimes the jump is not as responsive as i would like it to be. I will keep updated as i play though

Thank you so much for this great feedback.
About the floaty jump: I tried to make a jumping mechanic very similar to the old Mario Bros (NES) in which he jumps really high, and the more you press the button, the higher he goes, and as you release it, he falls. Is it too bad? At first I felt like you have to get used to it, it doesn't feel so natural, but I kept it that way despite of this. Do you think it's better to change the jumping mechanics?

About the health system: Indeed it's very hard to play, and if you die (it can happen easily) you return to the begining, what might be a pain in the a** but I felt like it rewardade players who were very persistent, and also added a rouguelike feel to the game. Do you think I should change it? Maybe have a health bar that drops each time you get hit, and when it reaches 0, you lose a heart. Would this be better?

About non responsive jumping: Could you specify a little more? Maybe draw on paint what you mean.


Again, thank you very much.

(+1)

First with the non responsive jumping i mean by  when i jump and land i cant jump again for second or 2 now that would not be so bad if the enemies weren't a tad faster then you or if you weren't cornered as it when i got cornered i would be mashing the jump button hoping the key press would resister in time.


for the type of game you looking at developing if you fell a bit faster after a jump it would be easier for you to then jump again to say jump on enemies or get away from them. because at the moment i find it difficult when i miss jump and their enemy almost under me that i hit and die on.

in terms of health  the heart system is good but adding a health then losing a heart would be better suited for this type of game. The other way you could do is just by decreasing the speed of the enemies slightly or adjusting the jump mechanic slightly

(+1)

About the jump: Agreed, i'll remove the jump delay, maybe the game even feels smoother without it!

About lives: Here'sAndyTV also addressed these issues, and suggested a very good approach for the health system, which is: when get hit, just lose a heart without returning to the begining, but after losing all hearts, there is a number of main lives that decrease and then you returning to the begining of the level. Obviously, after all main lives are gone, its game over. Sounds way better, doesn't it?

(+1)

Yes that's sounds much better and more enjoyable and forgiving for the player. I would done something similar in my game but being a platformer that takes you back to the beginning of the stated level their no real need because they also rather short.

(+2)

I love it, keep it up. About jumping, yeah maybe one should be able to jump again without delay but maybe it's an element that contributes to game's difficulty. Balancing enemies speed or jumping should sort that out but for now i really can't tell with just 3 levels. Also this was a tense moment (i was still in the air). Nice game all in all. One question as i didn't have time to test it. If i push that cube to the right so that it falls down and then i die, would cube spawn again or would my chance at picking that red crystal be missed? :D

(+2)

Thank you very much for this great feedback! I really appreciate the fact that you enjoyed the gameplay experience!

About the delayed jump: "but maybe it's an element that contributes to game's difficulty", indeed, it was intentionally placed, but, as K-Crow Studios pointed, this could difficult too much in certain parts of the game, I really don't know if I should keep it or not, what do you think?

About the grass lump question: It respawns on its original position everytime it is outside the camera view, unless its resting on top of a switch platform.

You enjoying the game absolutely makes my day, thank you very much for the feedback!

(1 edit) (+2)

I am glad and looking forward to see your progress, you have a tester :D

(+1)

This game is brilliant! :D Still playing the demo at the moment but I will record my observations here and then my suggestions afterwards as I do:

Observations

- During the introductory scene, Dude's speech clashes with the background, making it harder to read.
- The dialogue during the scenes sometimes progress too fast for reading fully (Not the best eye sight).
- Volume level of music transitioning from scene to game play is abrupt and disorienting.
- Being reset to the start of the level every hit seems disorienting and interrupts the experience's flow.
- The jump mechanic seems too sensitive as it is very accurately based on how long I hold the up key.
- It was not obviously clear to me at first that I had to carry on moving off screen to progress to the next level.
- There are no ways in game to control the volume level or key mapping.
- All enemy kills progress is safe yet when I move back after moving a block, it resets.
- As was mentioned previously I believe, Level 3 is way too difficult due to the lighting and lack of opportunity to kill the bats as if you jump at them, you are usually damaged.
[Apologies I stopped playing at this point as it was a tad too frustrating for a nice side-scroller :P]

Suggestions

- Here I would suggest that you use some form of outline on the text or speech bubbles so that the user has a good surface to read easier against.
- As for the dialogue being too fast at points, I would suggest either text speed options or the ability for the user to click to progress dialogue at their own pace?
- Keeping the overall music levels constant throughout the game would help to preserve the suspension of disbelef and immersion of the user :).
- I would suggest that you allow the user to get attacked and lose 3 health before then resetting their position on the level using a separate "lives" system :).
-  RE The jump mechanic, I would suggest two or three specific jumps depending on how long the key is held? 3 defined jump heights :).
- In terms of the movement at the end, I would suggest some form of marker or specific terrain indicator that the user should move off screen?
- Volume & Key-mapping controls definitely would help :).
- I am not sure if the block was intended to re-spawn hen it moves off screen, yet that in itself seems not to flow with the rest of the game :S.
- With regards to level 3, I feel the narrow view point of the light spot, as well as the user in-obvious ability if there is one to defeat bats, is what heavily needs to be addressed. I would suggest by returning the view to the entire view port by eliminating the light spot until a late time, or by designing a cleanly achievable way the user can defeat the bats :).

PHEW! Sorry I know there is a lot to read there, but I hope this all helps! :)

It is a very good game design with a promising future as a good, solid game :)

(1 edit) (+1)

Man, I couldn't ask for a more complete and well organized feedback, thank you very much for taking this much time to play and formulate your feedback, means a lot. I'll try to address each topic.

- About the color of the text on the cutscene: I had noticed it too, its a little annoying indeed. I will sure change it, thanks for the suggestions!

- About the speed of the dialogs: thanks for the suggestion, I would suggest the same, something like "pokemon" text transitions where you click a button to read the next sentence.

- About game volume: This is a very good observation, I have a really loud headphone, tried it on a less powerful one and the music really changes the volume too abruptly! Will make it smoother for now and add volume settings in the future.

- About being reset when hit: It was a "temporary" mechanich that ended up on the final demo version xD I also don't think that is the best way to react to a hit, but I thought it might enhance the "rouguelike" feeling. But it should be more polished and your suggestion sounds perfect, thanks! I'll sure change it.

- About the jump: As I told K-Crow Studios the jump on Dude's Quest was heavily inspired by the old Super Mario Bros (NES). I think that the one thing that ruins the jumping mechanics is in fact the delay for next jump, i'm thinking of removing it, as was also pointed by JohncoBalonco. Do you really think the whole jump should be changed, or just removing the delay is enough?

- About the next level call: Great suggestion, something like a little sign on the ground, with a drawn arrow, would be nice?

- About game options: Indeed, I though maybe it was not necessary for the demo, since it's not a very simple thing to implement, but was planning to add "pause" and ingame options on the full release.

- About the block reseting: It was a safety measure, to ensure the block doesn't get stuck, nor lost. It works like this: everytime it is out of the camera AND its not on top a switch or platform, it resets. I don't know how I would implement this safety measure in a simple way yet without disrupting the game flow :/

- About level 3: man, no need for apologies, I completely understand, It's the first thing I'm aiming to change, it's really difficult, I released it that way because I got used to it, as I played many, MANY times during development (also I know exactly where are all the bats, which gives me a huge advantage). Heres an issue I created to make the bat's eye glow, as one improvement (tho I must think of other things to change in order to balance the difficulty): link

I'm also thinking to not make the minimum light so small, and maybe, in order to get bats killed more easily, make them swing up and down as they chase you, to make it easier to jump on them, would this be good?

Again, thank you so much for the kind words and for this absolutely amazing feedback!

(+1)

Heya! Sorry I went for the night to sleep but am back :P Absolutely no problem RE the feedback! I prefer clear, workable feedback myself too :P I hope it proves of use! :)

- With regards to the point in response to the jump mechanic, I can see that now that you mention it! :) I would think that with tweaking of the motion and smoothing the falls and peaks of jumps to emulate gravity, it would communicate better to the user? :)

- Regarding the grass block I can see what you mean RE the flow of the game being interrupted if it is stuck :thinking: What about a level reset mechanic should the user get the placement wrong? Good for voluntary / compulsory puzzle solving as it allows the user to take a good few cracks at it without getting stuck or losing life / enemy progress / collectable progress :)

- Regarding the level 3 predicament, YES! :) At least increasing the user's field of view as well as modifying bat paths so that the user has a clearly observable opportunity to jump on them safely would help SO SO MUCH! :P

(+1)

Hi man! Thanks again for answering.

- Jump: Yes you're right, I'll try to polish the jump so it feels more responsive and natural

- Block reset: Would a floating "R" button above the block everytime it gets stuck be good? Then after pressing "R" the block respawns. The only problem with this is calculating whether the block is stuck or not :/

(+1)

All good pal! :P

Hmmm would you need the ability only when the blocks are stuck / lost though? :) If you think about it, the possibility of the user being able to reset the block whenever they want if they are within a certain range of it at the time could help facilitate new forms of puzzles should you want to ;)

(+1)

I'm a big fan of your art style. I'm also going to bring up the jumping as it seems everyone else did as well. It feels like the character has a bunch of balloons tied around him when he jumps, especially with the long jumps. Here's a short list of other things I noticed while I was playing:
(played through twice, died on level 3 to the bats both times) 

-Perhaps increasing the speed the character falls to be 1.5ish times faster than it is now, I think it would feel a bit more natural. -The death mechanic is a bit too harsh for my tastes, I feel like if I have a pool of 3 health, I shouldn't die and get reset to the start of the map once I get hit. I should just lose some health and then get reset when I die. (which may have been your intention, but it kinda bugged me a bit while I was playing)

-The bats are waaaaay too broken. The fact that they can start chasing you before you even see them really sets you up for failure, especially when they're coming at you from multiple directions and you only have the ability to really dodge one of them. Perhaps slowing them down or not letting them notice the player until they're illuminated by the light could go quite a long way in making the level feel a bit less unbalanced.


And here are a couple little suggestions I thought of while playing:

-It would be cool if there were hearts or something that you could find in somewhat difficult to reach areas that would restore or even add an extra heart to your health.

-The shield item that you get in level 2 would be cool as a permanent upgrade for your character. Perhaps it could just bump an enemy off it and make them walk in the opposite direction and then have a cooldown before you could use it again. I dunno... just a suggestion. I think it would be cool if you could do something like that and then bump an enemy off your shield to make it walk over a switch or some other similar puzzle.

All in all, I'm interested in seeing what you have planned for this project. I'll definitely keep my eye on it!

(+1)

Hi, thank you very much for taking the time to play through and writing this feedback (sorry about the bats, must have been frustrating).

Regarding the art style: all the BEAUTIFUL background and grass wasn't made by me, it was made by jesse-m and the gems were made by piclet. I made the rest: moving entities, activatables, items and music. If you have any questions on how I did it, I would be glad to share!

About the floaty jump, everyone noticed it feels weird, I was thinking about removing the delay to jump again after you fall and smoothing movements, maybe it is enough for it to "feel" better. I'm very reluctant about changing the mechanic completely (e.g. by speeding up the fall) because it would break many of the level design based on the jump (such as the large gap on level 2). But if it's still not good after removing the delay, I'll consider speeding up the fall (and modifying all levels aswell :'/ ).

The death mechanic is indeed very harsh, as suggested by Here's Andy TV, I'll modify the death system, only reseting to the begining after you lose 3 health.

About the bats: Yes! They need a lot of changes. I thought about making their movement be a sine wave, in order for it to be killed in a more easy way.  "not letting them notice the player until they're illuminated by the light" man, this is an AWESOME idea, sounds obvious now, but it simply hasn't come to my mind! I'll sure do this.

Regardings your sugestions...

... about the heart items: Yes! I was thinking about it too, maybe add some secret areas too where you can find hearts.

... about the shield as an upgrade: It sounds awesome, but I don't think it fits the game scope for now, If I finish this game and the release makes at least a little success, I would create a sequel with some new mechanics such as this one.


Again, thank you very much for your feedback and suggestions, means a lot that you took your time to try this tiny game of mine!

You're more than welcome! Now I'm rather curious to know what tools do you use to make this game?

I'd also echo the consideration that you should take a look at those levels. If you change a game mechanic, then I think you're definitely going to have to change the levels, and I personally don't think that being reluctant to change your level design is a good idea at all.  In my opinion, you should definitely reconsider your reluctance to change your mechanics and level design. In the process of changing things, you might even find new and more fun ways to use the mechanics you already have or even come out with a whole new concept based off of the changes you made. The possibilities are endless and I'm not a fan of locking myself into having one way to do something. Maybe you don't even need to change the jump at all, maybe you could just make the jumps in the first couple levels less precise and let the player acclimate themselves to how that specific mechanic works before you start throwing pixel perfect jumps at them. Maybe the jump should be half a tile longer or shorter than it is in order to give players a bit more leeway with their jumps in general. I dunno... at this point, I'm just throwing stuff out there to see what sticks.

Level design is my absolute favorite aspect of making games though, so if you want to talk to me about it, then I'd be more than happy to! In a lot of ways, your game has similar movement mechanics to the project I'm currently working on. I make and get rid of levels in my project more often than I change any code at this point... but that's beside the point. Are all of your plans for the levels to be fairly short maps? If so, how many levels are you looking at making for your full game? Do you have plans for boss encounters or anything like that?

(1 edit) (+1)

Man, your point of view about reluctance is amazing, I agree with what you think about it. Its just that this way of thinking must be taken in a very cautious way, because in order to finish a game you *must* have a well defined scope, otherwise the chances are you never finish it because new ideas pop all the time. I talked about this on this old reddit post of mine. But I agree with you that sometimes it's good (and even needed) for the scope to change a little bit. I'll definetely change the levels if the jump is not good, thank you for sharing these great thoughts!


The tools I used to make this game are Phaser (TypeScript), Tiled (for the map), Piskel (for the art) and Beepbox (for the music and sfx). It's fully open source, you can check all the code here: https://github.com/diguifi/Dude-SideScroll

I'm at work right now, but I'm willing to play your game and answer your feedback post since when I saw it! Will play it soon and check your level design techniques! I'll also answer your post with some feedback :)

Yes, I do plan short maps, I plan a short game in general. It was supposed to be just a learning project (never used Phaser, nor TypeScript before) but it got so cool that I evolved the idea and started to make this game.

** MINOR SPOILER AHEAD **

I plan 2 boss encounters, but if you don't play the game "correctly" it will be only one boss.