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I'm seeking some truth about this game, before I finish it, so I fixed a demo for you to play. It has round planets and platforms which you jump between. There's a chance it'll seem strangely familiar ;)

(http://img520.imageshack.us/img520/8342/galaxybrosdemoeq8.jpg)

Update:
Download the game here on Softpedia. (http://games.softpedia.com/get/Freeware-Games/Galaxy-Bros.shtml)

I hope to hear what you think after playing around some.

woah

Wow, that is fantastic! The style, and the sound effects! <3!

I thought the controls felt a little strange. I didn't like it how I could be holding down the button to go one direction and then all of a sudden it makes me turn back the and start running the other way. I think you should make it so that if the player is hold down the right arrow key it always makes him walk to the right from the point of veiw of the player character. I was constantly trying to figure out which direction each arrow key was going to take me.

Yeah, weird controls.

I agree that it should be left/right to move left/right when on top of a world, and left/right to move right/left when on the bottom. It would feel a lot more natural and i got stuck 90 degrees around the side of a planet for quite some time not knowing how to move. Perhaps the jumping felt ever so slightly too floaty also?

Pretty solid overall though. Tough too, i got hit by about every enemy i came across.

Nice to hear! Thank you. I recently realized the sound effects have a distinct feature that some find strange, though not everybody.


That's good to know, it's a really significant issue.

Personally I prefer mapping the control to screen space like now (right key results in moving right on screen), but equally many probably prefer the control being mapped to character space (the point of view of the character).

I think I can do a compromise between the two. I'll try it out!

You're right, it's floaty :)
I want it to give a feeling of flying.

I haven't determined if it's really advantageous yet, it would be great to hear opinions about that.

Why not just make it so you can switch between Character POV and Screen POV at the options menu?

this is pretty cool, i never thought of doing the gravity that way. it's certainly a lot more usable and efficient than the more technically accurate method i've used before.

I agree with that controls lack consistency. another possible thing you could do would be to keep them absolute and include the up and down arrow keys, so pressing right will always make you go right and pressing up will always make you go up, et cetera.

another thing that sort of bothered me was the charged jumping; it's just not what's normally done for variable-height jumping so players aren't used to it and it seems kind of counter-intuitive.

I say rotate the planets and not the character, controls remain consistent that way.. and I've never really liked charge up jumping.

but otherwise, nice work :)

I think the movement is good as it is now, you just need to make sure the character stops once it reaches one of the extremes, instead of start walking back and forth. The jumping might be pushing it too far, as the combination of the circular platforming and the hold-to-jump results in controls that are hard and frustrating, especially in this rather arcade-oriented game. Points for experimenting.

Do you know why that happened? (Maybe because of control, wiggling enemies, or level layout?)


Good question. It sounds like a useful option, definitely, I'll try implementing it. I also believe it's possible to find one control method that most players like as standard.


I think I understand what you mean, and that seems like a possible solution. Thanks for your suggestion ;D


I've always found the immediate jumping in classic games counter-intuitive, since when I jump in reality I have to strengthen my legs before jumping. You're right about players not being used to it.


My current software rendering would slow down too much if rotating such large objects, I'm afraid. I'm glad I got to hear your opinion, still.


That's a great idea! It's much appreciated.

Maybe the controls should only reverse after you let go the movement keys.

I agree, and have been thinking about that too, and it seems like a feasible compromise between the two alternatives. I'm certainly going to try it out, and see if the moment of reverse becomes confusing.

Yeah that's how the sonic games handle it

Interesting game, may I ask what programming language it was made in? (it has a whiff of game maker, but I may be wrong)Pretty fun, and the level?  hmmmm.....I could never gues ;)


P.S:one suggestion for controls:
right=clockwise
left=counter clockwise

that would make things simpler.

I programmed it in C++, and animations and events in a data script language that's eventually interpreted by the C++ code. I've been telling myself to try Game Maker someday but I can't catch up with that day yet, C++ is taking too much time.


Thanks!

And the reason I didn't include music was it would become a "too easy guess" ;D