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879099 Posts in 32961 Topics- by 24353 Members - Latest Member: kanki

May 23, 2013, 09:22:12 AM
TIGSource ForumsCommunityCompetitionsOld CompetitionsAssemblee: Part 2Higher Still... :: [FINISHED] ::
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Author Topic: Higher Still... :: [FINISHED] ::  (Read 4469 times)
SirNiko
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« Reply #15 on: January 03, 2010, 04:29:37 PM »

I'm liking this so far. The concept, the level design, and the wackiness of the flipper icons are all appealing. My comments:

The pause between starting the game and waiting for the first platforms to spawn is a little long. I was left wondering if I was supposed to do something to get out of the first room, until the ledges appeared. Maybe reduce that time?

When you jump towards the princess and the screen flips sideways, I got stuck on the wall in the next room for several seconds. I mashed some buttons, lost focus on the game, and when I focused on the game again I'd somehow become un-stuck.

At the top of the tower I got the punny message suggesting I was about to encounter a boss, but nothing ever appeared. I actually have the game running in the background while I type this post. Is this a bug, or is that the end of the demo?

The controls are a little too floaty for my tastes, and I wish the second jump in the double jump had a little more oomph to it, but that's just personal preference.

The game is really shaping up nicely so far. The careful graphical craftsmanship makes what could be a plain platformer in other cases into a lot of fun. I find myself looking forward to seeing what comes with the next ledge.

Hoping to see a new version sooner than later!

-SirNiko
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Kazerad
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Should really make more games.

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« Reply #16 on: January 03, 2010, 06:33:49 PM »

Same here, got to the top ledge where I eagerly awaited the boss fight. Graphical representation:

 Grin ...  Smiley ...  Droop ...  Concerned

Also, it started lagging pretty bad after a bit of waiting for the Dragon That Never Came?
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J. R. Hill
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« Reply #17 on: January 03, 2010, 09:45:22 PM »

The pause between starting the game and waiting for the first platforms to spawn is a little long. I was left wondering if I was supposed to do something to get out of the first room, until the ledges appeared. Maybe reduce that time?
Ditto to this, maybe put a button or something...

Other than that I had fun while it lasted, though it took me a long time to figure out I could double jump.
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Aquanoctis
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« Reply #18 on: January 04, 2010, 07:28:26 AM »

Thanks for playing and thanks for the feedback. I think I will add a switch at the beginning to spawn the blocks. Currently (and rather studpidly now i think about it) they are triggerd by touching an invisible block. God knows why I thought that was a good idea Smiley

@SirNiko. Thanks. I'll try and fix that bug with the wall sticking business.

@Kazerad. Not sure why the dragon isn't spawning...I'll have another look at it but it seems to work fine for me. probably a file I've forgotten to include in the download...
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Aquanoctis
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« Reply #19 on: January 10, 2010, 01:36:02 PM »

Okay it's finished! Jesus christ that took a long while. My fingers are numb from typing. Anyways here's the download:

Download HS - Tigsource.zip

I'm pretty sure there aren't any bugs left, but again if you find any I'll try to fix them in the limited time left. Thanks.
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SirNiko
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« Reply #20 on: January 10, 2010, 02:38:32 PM »

I really like this game, so I've taken the liberty of trying to break it for you. Here are my results:

If the player attacks the rose on the first floor from the right while jumping, one of the blocks spawns while the player is inside of it. This freezes the game. I'm guessing that the same thing can happen if the blocks after the dragon spawn over top of the player. For the first screen, I suggest getting rid of the rose altogether and making those first blocks be visible by default. I like the way how you delayed the music, though. Perhaps you should just move the command to start looping the music for when the words "save her!" appear?

When the castle turns sideways (upon rescuing the 'princess') it is possible for the player to move sideways far enough to not teleport to the next section of the tower (where the blue spark turns the tower right-side up). In one run, I pressed left and fell off the screen without teleporting. I was then able to hold right and continue "up" the tower until I passed the second rose. At this point I had to kill the game to exit.

Also, when the screen is sideways, text and and the 'lives' portraits are also turned sideways. This isn't a glitch, but it is unattractive. Given time, you might consider fixing that.

There's nothing to stop the player from being right in front of the dragon when it spawns, so it's probable that the player will be killed suddenly on his/her first playthrough. Possible solutions: lock the player in place (ignore commands for a moment) until the dragon spawns. Start the intro message before the player reaches the dragon, and have the dragon visible before the fight.

It's possible to kill the dragon by standing behind it and stabbing it repeatedly while it's can't fight back. Not a glitch, but probably not intended behavior.

The dragon takes a lot of hits. It'd be nice if there was some visual hint regarding how close the dragon is to death. Adding a life meter, or making the dragon flash red as it gets weaker could do this. This isn't a glitch, but just a suggestion.

During the second part of the tower, you hit a spark to flip upside down, and fall down one of two shafts, one has spikes and one does not. There's a spark to flip right side up here, but there's no reason to hit it. Skipping this allows the player to avoid fighting any of the monsters in the next section. Not a glitch, but maybe unintended behavior.

The next spark (the one that flips you right-side-up before the arrow shooter) can result in the player getting stuck and freezing the game. This only happened one, and it's pretty far in for me to test reliably.

This is a very enjoyable game so far, and I like the concept of climbing the tower. The second half of the tower seems a little more bland than the first half, but this is probably due to time constraints. I'd recommend you work on patching bugs up until the deadline, and afterwards spend some time polishing this up for a final release. This is definitely a game I want to see more of!

-SirNiko
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Aquanoctis
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« Reply #21 on: January 11, 2010, 08:25:26 AM »

Thanks for the reply and for testing it for me. I never seem to find as many bugs when I test (probably because I know how to avoid them  Smiley ). Glad you liked it.
Deadlines passed now though...I'll probably polish the game up a bit after the compo has ended just to iron out the bugs.

Didn't really turn out how I originally envisioned, the ending section feels a bit empty to me too. Thanks for playing though.  Grin
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Oddball
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« Reply #22 on: January 26, 2010, 03:57:26 PM »

Liked: The flipping mechanic, it took me totally by surprise and adds a lot to the game.

Disliked: The lack of checkpoints. I got really far before I died, but when I realised I had to do it all again I decided to leave it.

Conclusion: This is really good. Given checkpoints I would have played this a lot more. You should definitely consider continuing to develop this.
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