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[Stoney]

Pleae test the Java Web Start Link again on Mac OS X - I have included a max heap space parameter.

It's working now on Mac OS X. Great! 

[droqen]

Google Chrome 5.0.375.125 on Windows 7

Same! Weird. The downloadable thing works just fine though :]

[TobiasW]

It's working now on Mac OS X. Great! 

The downloadable thing works just fine though :]

 

[belbeeno]

Seems like a game about hugging stars, which is nice.  The gameplay itself was interesting enough to keep me playing for a while.  Catching large groups of creatures is HIGHLY rewarding.  The only gripes I have with the game are probably on your list but aren't implemented for this version:

1. It's not entirely clear when I'm taking damage other than when my notice the health pie change color in my peripheral view.  I had to read the instructions to find out that the end points were my collision points.  Some particle effects and sound would go a long way in helping here.
2. Having a light line between the two dots while you're catching creatures would be nice to show their path back to each other.

[Oddball]

@Oddball,
@Stoney:
Could you please test if the JNLP-Download works (better) for you? (JNLP is really new for me, maybe it doesn't work at all.)

That worked.

This starts out feeling quite fiddly and complicated. Then you hit a point where it clicks and it suddenly becomes a very clever and interesting game. I'll echo the comments about having a more immediately obvious way of telling when you're getting injured.

[TobiasW]

Seems like a game about hugging stars, which is nice.

Haha, that's the best description of the game I've read as yet! Allow me to steal it until I change the name...

The gameplay itself was interesting enough to keep me playing for a while. Catching large groups of creatures is HIGHLY rewarding.

Thank you!

[...] Some particle effects and sound would go a long way in helping here.

A great idea! Sound effects will come in later, particles were just added! Is this what you had in mind?

2. Having a light line between the two dots while you're catching creatures would be nice to show their path back to each other.

Done!

That worked!

Great!

This starts out feeling quite fiddly and complicated. Then you hit a point where it clicks and it suddenly becomes a very clever and interesting game.

Yeah, I know it has a high entry barrier. Any idea how I could ease it? (And how long did it take to "click"?)

I'll echo the comments about having a more immediately obvious way of telling when you're getting injured.

See above

[TobiasW]

Update: Catcher has now mouse wheel support! That means you can, if your mouse has a wheel, play the game entirely with your mouse

[belbeeno]

Those changes really help the game a lot; especially the mouse wheel control which help the game flow feel less clumsy (though it could just be me being clumsy).

[Stoney]

I love the mouse wheel support. I'm getting way better scores than before.

[namre]

Took awhile before I got the controls. But as soon as I did, I was starting to enjoy.

Good job in thinking of this control scheme. Is this a submission to Experimental gameplay's theme for this month? The no buttons one?

[TobiasW]

Great that you like the mouse wheel support!

Took awhile before I got the controls.

Yep, I gotta make a tutorial.

Good job in thinking of this control scheme. Is this a submission to Experimental gameplay's theme for this month? The no buttons one?

Thanks! And no, this isn't an EGP submission, though I'm developing a game for this month's theme. Catcher doesn't qualify because mouse buttons are buttons too, I guess - and it took me FAR more than 7 days to implement it, heh.

[namre]

Took awhile before I got the controls.

Yep, I gotta make a tutorial.

Good job in thinking of this control scheme. Is this a submission to Experimental gameplay's theme for this month? The no buttons one?

Thanks! And no, this isn't an EGP submission, though I'm developing a game for this month's theme. Catcher doesn't qualify because mouse buttons are buttons too, I guess - and it took me FAR more than 7 days to implement it, heh.

Yes, a tutorial would be great. I literally pushed all the buttons on my keyboard just to spawn a new line to catch stuff. Lol, I never thought up of using mouse wheel to do that.

As for the EGP, yeah, i remember you have to click the mouse to drag the catcher around. Still, good stuff, good stuff.

[TobiasW]

I literally pushed all the buttons on my keyboard just to spawn a new line to catch stuff.

Holding X till the ships are together and the holding C till it has the size I want it works nice, too. Still my favourite way to do it

[tesselode]

This game is very interesting! It takes some getting used to, but after that, it's actually quite intuitive.

Some of the enemies are kind of hard to see against the dark background. I think you ought to lighten them up a bit.

Now you just need some snazzier graphics and some nice audio!

[TobiasW]

Update!

I added now some graphical effects while catching. I'm quite content with them, hope you like it, too!
Tip: Go to preferences and change the effect level to "5" to make the game look as nice as possible!

Oh, and now the enemies have a "Glow" option in the preferences, if you're into that!

Some of the enemies are kind of hard to see against the dark background. I think you ought to lighten them up a bit.

They are now a little thicker, that should do be a good first step. I added brightning up to my to-do list.

Now you just need some snazzier graphics and some nice audio!

Coming, coming! Dunnow so much about the graphics, because I want to keep them vector, but awesome audio is underway

[tesselode]

Not so sure I like the new graphical effects. I think they could benefit from something more Geometry Wars-esque.

[TobiasW]

I bet they could! Thing is, I have no hardware acceleration, and that limits my options dramatically.

(I tried to get it running, but I seem to do something wrong, because the framerate actually drops when I switch to OpenGL. Not to mention cross plattform then... Meh. But if I ever do a remake or a next version, I will definitly use something with hardware acceleration, and then you can expect each and every effect I can do )

[Monkeylover]

Hi Tobias

I know this comment is a bit late, since I promised to post one for like two months ago, but better late than never right? 

Though it's nice to see that more people has been trying it out, after all it really is a great game!

I liked that you've enabled use of the mouse wheel for controlling the "force field"
and as it already told you I'm really thrilled about the idea and the gameplay itself (and of course the beautiful code behind it all :handthumbsupR:)

But I think the game itself is a bit too easy.. I'm not at all sure but maybe if you made the movement of the player more "smooth", so that one would slide around more (like on ice or in space), and then if the movement of the player was always to be activated, and not only when one of the mouse buttons is pressed, i think you would archive a more challenging and thereby fun gameplay.
But I'm no expert when it comes to making great gameplay, so i don't know at all if that's the way to go

Also I've found a bug. When I was about to start a new level (I don't recall which one), I somehow, by playing around with the mouse wheel and turning around the player, managed to catch one of the enemies (before the level had actually started), which caused the level not to start at all :/