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[Udderdude]

I just gave it a try, my feedback ..

The save states after every screen make me feel like each level should just be a single screen, and get rid of the save points altogether.

Right at the start it's possible to run really fast past the save point and into the water and never see what happened.

The spikes are difficult to tell from the grass as they're very similar colors.  Make them white and stick out more.

The difficulty is all over the place.  Some parts were easy enough to clear on one attempt, others took several (mostly due to the controls)

A lot of the challenge of the game came from the sloppy controls that move way too fast and have a ridiculous amount of inertia.  Any kind of precision felt really difficult.  You should really consider toning down the inertia and the maximum run speed, which is really a pain to control.

[Zack Bell]

Hey, thanks for the feedback.

The game, if expanded upon, will be more of an open-world and non-linear. That is the reason for the save points. I do agree with that room though. I don't like how you can die before saving. I'll put a block there or make the distance to the water longer.

I really don't agree with the control problems though  

Most others have said that they like the controls. I think that some people just aren't going to like them. Same goes for Meatboy. Some people absolutely love it to death and some people wish they had never tried to play it.

EDIT: I didn't mean to sound like I was hating on your comments. I just don't think that there is any viable solution to the max run speed and the inertia. It's what makes the level design work. The high horizontal speed is needed to complete the jumping puzzles without the extremely exaggerated floaty-ness of Meatboy.

[Zack Bell]

I'm in the process of a slight redesign.

-The world will be more open, and less linear
-On average, 1 in 4 rooms will be the difficulty of the ones seen in the demo

Here's the catch: after each difficult platforming section there will be a fairy. These fairies are used to open doors that let you go to different parts of the map. So you can bypass the hard stuff and explore, but eventually you'll have to pick and choose your challenges until you find enough fairies to progress.

How does that sound to you guys? The door cost will progress as you get further on into the game. the reason why you're stuck in the caves on the demo is because the door cost for the first and last rooms are set to 3000

[Theon]

Just tried the new build (you've got to tell me when you release them, man! :O)!

The bigger areas really let you explore the jumping mechanics, and it's giving me a Super Meat boy-feel. Which is a very good thing!
I just can't get over how delicious the grass looks when you touch it...so smooth 

A downside with having such huge ares visible at the screen at one time, is that those previously mentioned pixels don't get the visibility I feel they deserve, and also, it slightly removes the feeling of exploration..., though that could probably be fixed through just making huge fucking dungeons!

What I'm wondering most of all is, what approach will you take from here?
Will you make a metroidvania, where the focus is exploration and combat, or are you going with the Super Meat Boy speedrun-gameplay which seemed to get spotlight in this last build?

You could of course go in the direction VVVVV took; with a big map to explore, and areas that required precision-platforming to pass.

I, for one, vote for much explorations. My fingers are tingly from hunger after more of this world; I want to see more, and I want to to be a world, and not just an arrangement of skill-based arena maps.

Just my opinions, anyway

Looking forward to seeing more! Let me know!

[Zack Bell]

My plan is to make each area four times larger than originally planned, but only one out of every four (ish) rooms will require the precision platforming. So it will be exploration with traces of the difficult platforming.

Hope that makes sense. 

[todd]

What about exploration "hubs" or exploration geared areas with challenging platform routes to each? I enjoyed some of the more claustrophobic moments.

[Zack Bell]

Hmm, very cool. I'm sketching out a TON of level design right now and it seems to be a good mix of open, claustrophic, easy, and super difficult. Hahaha 

[Zack Bell]

Sorry for the additional bump, but THIS made my day.

Background for the cave levels as well as the first piece of music.
I just plastered them on the original build, so I apologize that all of the mentioned problems are still there.

This one is for your eyes and ears.  
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/29279751/TUNES.exe

EDIT: Doing A LOT of level design tonight.
EDIT2: SHIT, did not notice that I tried some new lighting in the fourth room. Ignore  


Updating Room count: 24 -> 30 -> 41

[Franklins Ghost]

Had a quick play through and really enjoying it so far. Think the spike's need a definite change though, cause died a few times without realising that I was hitting the spikes. Continue save spots wasn't working for me. And think when you add the death animation since it will really help bring the game together.

Great job so far though, loving seeing the constant progress you're making on this.

[thatshelby]

This is looking really nice. I lovvvvve it

[Zack Bell]

Thanks guys 

Adding the background and the music really brought it to life. It gave me a lot of motivation and I'm hitting the level design HARD. Of course, you feedback is motivating as well and I'm glad that people are enjoying this!

And I agree, that the spike colors will need to change now. I have to figure out what to do for a death animation soon! I don't want it to be violent or gruesome in any way, haha.

[Zack Bell]

How do you feel about this background color? More of an olive instead of the straight black.

[Windybeard]

Just played through. Great game! Looks awesome, plays smooth and very challenging

[Ashking]

I don't feel that the olive works very well- is it supposed to be indoors or outdoors? If it's indoors, make it darker and add some more blue- not completely black, but dark.

[Zack Bell]

@Windybeard: Thanks, man! 

@Ashkin: Ok, cool. I'll mess around with darker blues or something. Thanks!