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[Blackcorn]

Hi guys,

Since we have released Galaxy Jumper four months ago, we have thought a lot about our game. We received many comments on different websites where we submit it such as Kongregate or Newgrounds, most of them raised topic about difficulty. But actually, we didn't really get full feedback or have a chance to share a constructive discussion with other people.

Now we would like to take time with some of you to share feelings, ideas and critics about Galaxy Jumper. During the creation process we wanted to respect a deadline in order to release something simple but fun and pleasant to play. When we worked on the game, we thought about different features but we chose to not integrate them in this first version.

For instance, one of those features was special items that you could found in some levels. These items was meant to provide temporary or permanent bonus such as invisibilty, weapons against beholder, speed booster, armored suit that allows you to survive to one or two collisions.

We even think about a shop instead of collecting items during a level. However our main problem for a shop was to use the coins that player was able to collect in each level. If we had implement a shop using coin to buy items, it would have created a real imbalance because coins are used to open new level. If one spend all its coins at shop, it could bring a deadend situation where player could not afford new level to continue the game. For us, such a situation was not an option so we prefer to not integrate a shop and items in this version in order to keep our game system simple.

Nevertheless, we are sure there is another way to integrate these features, but we need an objective point of view, a zoom-out on the project.

If some of you have some creative ideas to solve this problem or even new concepts to improve the player experience in game, we are very eager to listen to you.

We are also wide open to any question related to dev, system design or art concept.

Here are links to the game : Kongregate & Newgrounds

And here are few screenshots of it :

Thank you all for your time and your precious comments about it!  

[RandyO]

this is very cool, graphics and sound are nice, but it's certainly a challenge, as I only made it 8 levels before starting to have considerable trouble.

BUT I don't mind that, I like the challenge of it. can't comment at all on the later levels, but it does ramp up quickly.

having items in the level could certainly work, but a store would work too. you could get an "item point" for each level you complete, and different items cost so many points.  beat 5 levels and you can get the speed booster.  but you need to beat 10 levels to get the shield. save up or spend them quickly.  it does add more resources, but not within the level.

[porousnapkin]

I really liked the art and sound a lot. The gameplay was also fun and satisfying, but I agree with Upriser in that the difficulty spiked a bit too early. I played through and enjoyed the first 11 levels and plan to come back later for more.

It's possible that if I play more levels and get more mechanics under my belt I can see where an item system might be an interesting addition, but as it stands one of my favorite parts of the gameplay is its stark simplicity. Adding items might add unnecessary complexity to the game.

One thing that would be nice would be some sort of life system. The one that comes to mind is Sonic style: If you pass through a laser and you have coins, they all scatter about you (some of them will probably become impossible to reach in the process). If you hit a laser with no coins, then you die. Because of the unlocking system, players still need to make sure they get coins to the end of the level, but this would add a bit more lenience to mess-ups. Might just make things too easy though...

[Fyren]

I played for a while and fully completed the first 20 level besides 19 (I think).  I didn't find it very difficult and overall it was fun.  But after 20ish levels I didn't feel like playing more, at least in one sitting.

I enjoyed the more puzzle-like levels the most.  I also liked the stars that flared up if you stood on them too long and the rotating lasers; both were effective in making me feel like I had to move quickly.

I really did not like the little aliens that chase you around.  I found them more annoying than interesting, especially when they wander at random when not chasing.  The only level in 1-20 that look me many tries to fully complete was the level with the alien that would always chase, no matter the distance.

I also dislike that the exit would pull you in from a fairly large distance if you have it opened.  A few levels, I exited by accident just because I got all the keys and got too close while trying to get more coins.  Also, the flashlight "dot" isn't totally accurate, and you will sometimes latch onto an object on your path before reaching the dot.  It would be nice if this could be fixed up.

As for coins and a shop, you can just track both total coins ever collected and also "current" coins not spent yet on items.  Instead of paying some number of coins to unlock a level, make them require some number of total coins collected.  Then you're free to spend as many coins as you want in a shop.  Like a poster above, I'm not sure if items are a good idea, but I don't know what kind of things you're thinking about.

Thanks for making the game.

[Christian Knudsen]

Haven't played it yet, but just noticed that it says "Mouve your mouse to aim".

[Blackcorn]

Sorry for the delay of my reply. All your comments are very appreciate guys, thanks you! (We wait for more if you have other feelings & critics to share of course! ).

my favorite parts of the gameplay is its stark simplicity. Adding items might add unnecessary complexity to the game.

At first, simplicity was our main goal, that's why we didn't add more features, at least for this first version. Adding items and/or shop has been rejected at the end of the project in order to keep the simplicity and the strength of the core concept.

One thing that would be nice would be some sort of life system. The one that comes to mind is Sonic style: [...] Because of the unlocking system, players still need to make sure they get coins to the end of the level, but this would add a bit more lenience to mess-ups. Might just make things too easy though...

Oh man... talking about simplicity, you just raise a great point here. We totally forgot to think about such a life system and yet, it is just obvious. Sonic style is a really nice example and we will totally consider this trail!

BTW, at first glance, I don't think it might just make things too easy for the player. If you are an hardcore collector profile, so you will take time to collect every coins and do your best to keep them (that means avoiding collisions and enemies as if it would have kill you). For the other players, it will be like a second chance and that is not a bad things according to the number of people who find the game pretty hard...

As for coins and a shop, you can just track both total coins ever collected and also "current" coins not spent yet on items.  Instead of paying some number of coins to unlock a level, make them require some number of total coins collected.  Then you're free to spend as many coins as you want in a shop.

That's not a bad idea, though we wanted to keep the opportunity for the player to reach any level anytime they want. Actually, a player might collect 15 coins during the 5 first levels, then reach level 30 and unlock it. This freedom to unlock level in any order was a crucial in our concept. If we put a gauge-like system to track total coins ever collected, we will have to change the required coins system to access new level.

having items in the level could certainly work, but a store would work too. you could get an "item point" for each level you complete, and different items cost so many points.  beat 5 levels and you can get the speed booster.  but you need to beat 10 levels to get the shield.

Two kind of ressources was the last idea we kept in mind before to decide to not integrate items in the game. That is probably the simplest mechanism to add in order to integrate a shop items. But in this approach we will certainly need to create an achievement bonus in order to "reward" players who will hunt every coins in each level (there is something like an amount of 50 useless coins in game if you get them all and unlock every level).

Like a poster above, I'm not sure if items are a good idea, but I don't know what kind of things you're thinking about.

Items integration would be for a sequel of Galaxy Jumper. The idea behind items was to create a feeling of evolution beside of the progression between each new level player will unlock. Moreover, these items would have been something like these basic examples:

Armor: (passive) You can survive to one hit damage by level.
Speed: (passive) An upgrade of your jump speed.
Weapon: (active) You can shoot one enemy.
Watch: (active) Freeze every moving object for a short period of time.

Haven't played it yet, but just noticed that it says "Mouve your mouse to aim".

That's what we call the "french touch" my friend. It looks smart isnt'it? 
More seriously, that's a mistake we didn't change yet. 

[jotapeh]

This is really cool.. I dig the style and the jumping mechanic is quite awesome. I like that it shows me where my jump will be, so there is nothing left to random chance, it's purely my skill (or lack thereof)..  

A lot of good points have already been made regarding the coins/items system. One thing I don't think has been said is that if you feel you must continue to use coins for the unlocking of levels, it should be a trivial task to loop through the array of 'locked' levels and find the lowest cost. Then when a player enters the store, set aside this amount from their total coins as the minimum they must retain to open a new level.

What bothers me about this though is the fact that coins are finite in the game, and expendable items means a limited number of total purchases possible throughout a single play. This sort of flies in the face of conventional video game stores, where if you go and kill enough enemies or find enough screws or whatever you can purchase as many items as you need. At its core, a store in a videogame is a means to reward a player who puts in a lot of effort but cannot seem to overcome the challenges, thus they are compensated with purchasable 'handicaps' for their dedication to the game. Finite purchases would put a hard cap on effort vs. reward.

Just my 2¢, all that aside as I've already said, I find this really fun as it is

[wilbefast]

Fantastic 

Love the art, very cute  This game, like many online games, is a great example of the "show don't tell" approach: there isn't any tutorial, but the controls are simple and difficulty curve is such that new enemies and mechanics are gradually introduced and the players learn all by themselves. We downloadable game developers would do well to pay attention! I also liked the way the menu/level selection was incorporated into the gameplay.
More platformers should use the mouse! It makes control so much more precise and, as a result, allows for much more epic challenges! Anybody played "Wik and the Fable of Souls"?

My only minor niggle is that the ray-cast "preview" of where you will end up next isn't always correct, because the character is bigger that the ray. In other words you can have you ray on word asteroid but brush another on your way and so not actually land there!

Truly a triumph. I am awarding you the much-uncoveted -

This game is so much win!

- award. Wear it with pride!

[Alistair Aitcheson]

I normally try to make constructive criticism when I test out other people's games, but I'm really struggling to think of anything with this one! This is such an elegant little title. It's a simple enough concept, but it's very fresh and makes you think a bit, which is spot on in my eyes. Really easy to pick up and makes sense right away, yet it gives space for all kinds of puzzles and solutions. A lovely little game there. Also music and visuals are excellent - very stylish and wonderfully muted.

I can only make a couple of suggestions. Firstly, I don't like the way I have to press enter to buy a level. Most of the game's done with the mouse, so it would be more natural as an interface to use the mouse to click on a "start level" button.

Also, perhaps you could add a sound effect for when the frog lands on a planet. Anything that makes the planets seem hard and tangible would just add a little extra something aesthetically.

Other than that I don't know what to suggest. This is a really lovely game!

[Blackcorn]

At its core, a store in a videogame is a means to reward a player who puts in a lot of effort but cannot seem to overcome the challenges

I'm not convinced by your vision of the store core-concept in videogame, even if your definition fit to some games. I don't think there is only one way to use store in videogame. In some games it is there to help some player to overcome the challenge, that's sure, but in others games it is a mandatory path to be able to face the challenge because store = upgrade = in game progress.

Finite purchases would put a hard cap on effort vs. reward.

That's a good point that we will take into account not only for a potential Galaxy Jumper 2 but also for future projects!

My only minor niggle is that the ray-cast "preview" of where you will end up next isn't always correct, because the character is bigger that the ray. In other words you can have you ray on word asteroid but brush another on your way and so not actually land there!

We will try to think about it and see if a more accurate preview target might be design and integrate. I'm not sure it will be very easy to change this feature without major changes (For instance, to integrate a full ray of light that indicates your jump path will be too much change in term of experience). We rarely have this kind of comment so thank for raising this one!

Firstly, I don't like the way I have to press enter to buy a level. Most of the game's done with the mouse, so it would be more natural as an interface to use the mouse to click on a "start level" button.

Yes, you are right and we agree. For a second version, we will certainly create a more intuitive interface such as a "start level" button each time you reach the gate of a level.

Also, perhaps you could add a sound effect for when the frog lands on a planet. Anything that makes the planets seem hard and tangible would just add a little extra something aesthetically.

Visual and sound feedbacks are very important for sure. In our case, I'm not sure adding a sound effect each time the avatar lands on a planet would be a good idea. I'm affraid that this kind of feature might be noisy, annoying or mind-numbing after a couple of replay. By the way, do you have any sound sample to suggest? It would be nice and interesting to try. 

Anybody played "Wik and the Fable of Souls"?

I never had a chance to try it. Do you recommend it?


Well, as usual, feedbacks on TigSource forum are constructive and very relevant. Many thanks again to all of you for your time and your interesting comments. The thread is still open to any comments, ideas and/or suggestion to improve the game experience for a sequel.

[wilbefast]

Wik is a good example of a mouse-controlled platformer. Definitely worth a look - get the free demo if you're as poor as I am: you'll probably have had more than your fill before it runs out 

[Alex May]

All I'd say is that there's no need to employ the enter key when you could have the user keep one hand on the mouse the whole time. Find a way to unlock/select levels using a mouse click!

Nice graphics, music and sound, I liked it.

[wilbefast]

All I'd say is that there's no need to employ the enter key when you could have the user keep one hand on the mouse the whole time. Find a way to unlock/select levels using a mouse click!

I concur   

[tzachs]

What a fun game to play, I really enjoyed it.
I also played for about 20 levels and then stopped.
One thing that made me stop, was that I didn't know how many levels there were.
Had I known, for example, that there were 25 levels overall, I would have made that extra push.
So this is one thing I would change, giving the player the knowledge of how many levels there are.

One other thing that would have helped keep me interested, is some back story. It doesn't have to be
something huge, it could just as well be a small story, with a new one liner given to you each time you complete a level.
This would raise my interest in completing more levels to see the rest of the story, and also make me identify more with
the main character & his goals.

About the shop, another way to go about it, would be to reset the coins in the levels you already completed,
this way you can always go back and get more coins and never reach a dead end.
If you don't want to do that, you can also supply with some mini games that can supply you with coins (and diversity in the gameplay).
One minigame that comes to mind for instance, is a circle of planets that you're inside and the coins are jumping around and you have to
jump quickly to get them, you can make it so that the minigames will be unlocked if you're low on cash, or something like that...

[Nugsy]

I'm playing this right now and it's great!
The only thing that is annoying me so far is having to press enter to buy a level, then click yes, then press enter again to play it. Just pressing enter to buy then enter to play would be enough.

Edit 1: The atmosphere is brilliant. The music really fits the mood too.
Edit 2: I forgot to mention the graphics! Beautiful. I had to stop playing now because i need to go out, but i'll be coming back to this later.
Well done good sir! A brilliant game.

[Blackcorn]

Wik is a good example of a mouse-controlled platformer. Definitely worth a look

Well, it sounds good enough to me to take a look at the demo and try it! 

Find a way to unlock/select levels using a mouse click!

Alistair Aitcheson, Nugsy, Willbefast and Alex May, thanks for raising this issue. So many indie people can't be wrong! Yes, we will definitely solve this issue in the next version. There will be a full mouse click control to unlock/select a level.

One other thing that would have helped keep me interested, is some back story.

So we need to invest more in the narrative part... I admit it wasn't a priority in this version, but I assume we could think about it for a sequel.

About the shop, another way to go about it, would be to reset the coins in the levels you already completed,this way you can always go back and get more coins and never reach a dead end.

That's a mechanic we really did not want to put in our game. We were pretty sure that it was a bad idea, because infinite amount of coins would have totally unbalanced the concept behind a finite amount of object in a shop we had in mind, and most of all it would have debased the aim of exploration in each level.

you can also supply with some mini games that can supply you with coins (and diversity in the gameplay)

Minigames are a interesting tools but we are divided on this topic and we are not sure of their interest in the actual concept of Galaxy Jumper. Diversity in gameplay is sometimes the better way to waste the core concept of it. 



Thanks again for your opinions and ideas about Galaxy Jumper. It makes us think a lot about it and helps us to continue to work on it. Some of you have talked a lot about the soundtrack of the game, here I found an unofficial release of it on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6zo_RkXp9k 

[VomitOnLino]

I'm a bit late to the game but I'd like to echo what my fore-speakers said basically, mouse controls would be nice for the menu as well, it works in the game so I guess the logical extension is the menu as well.

Other than that I love the artwork, especially the dithering although I can't put the finger onto the exact reason why this is. I also like the generally subdued color and appearance it goes well with the mood of the game. The gameplay flows nicely and I never felt that I was being treated unfairly or that the game was babysitting me through the process of learning the initial concept and later how to deal with enemies etc.

Btw I noticed -- or rather assumed that you, like me, have a knack for typography. Because that's some damn fine typesetting and font choice in the game. Which reminded me that this is an area where my own game is sorely lacking atm, but I probably won't have the time to fix it.

Okay I'm trailing off here: Conclusively I'd like to say - really, really nicely done!

[Blackcorn]

Btw I noticed -- or rather assumed that you, like me, have a knack for typography. Because that's some damn fine typesetting and font choice in the game. Which reminded me that this is an area where my own game is sorely lacking atm, but I probably won't have the time to fix it.

Hi VomitOnLino, I'm glad to hear you enjoy the game. And BTW, it's never "too late" to send some feedbacks!

Thanks for having noticed this font detail. You are right about typesetting, that was an interesting aspect in the graphic design work. For Galaxy Jumper, the team was looking for something very simple and uncluttered that suits well to the graphics environment of the game.

When you want to create a unique atmosphere and an original world for your game, you have to think and design every visual part as a whole piece. My opinion is that it's very common to see games that don't really pay attention to the typo. My modest advice would be, for every game and graphics designer, to spend some times browsing some website such as Dafont, 1001fonts and co...

[Notch]

I didn't play it much, but I love the dithered graphics and the nice, relaxing music!
The most annoying part was accidentally clicking on the overworld map thing, causing a fairly long jump that would always end in a horrible death (with a nice sound effect).

And are those one eyed spider thing spitting the energy balls or pooping them?

Well made game. Collecting coins is fun, and plays right into my OCD.

[Blackcorn]

The most annoying part was accidentally clicking on the overworld map thing, causing a fairly long jump that would always end in a horrible death (with a nice sound effect).

If you do it two times in a row, that is "Murphy's law".

Collecting coins is fun, and plays right into my OCD.

Well, it plays right into mine too!

And about the pooping thing, I will leave it to your imagination! :p