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[Hplus]

http://www.kongregate.com/games/Hplus/zone


Something I put together in a night and tinkered with over the next couple of days. I've been feeling like I need to be putting things out there and getting feedback so I can move forward as a designer. I'd love to hear any game-design related criticism you can offer!

Thanks

[johnki]

Okay, first off, I'd like to say it was an interesting idea, having lines come from both sides to knock you backwards as you get hit by them.

However, in actually playing the game:

1. It wasn't apparent that hitting a line wouldn't be the end of me. Actually, when the first line hit me, I wasn't entirely sure anything had happened at all.

2. Between the auto-correction towards the center, the tiny amounts of knockback and the fact that the lines knock you in opposite directions, the game was incredibly easy. I actually had missed the fact that collecting lines gives you points (I was given points for every line that passed me, it seemed), but the game was less of an exercise in dodging, and more of an exercise in figuring out which lines to hit to stay on screen. Furthermore, I actually had to try rather hard to get myself knocked off the screen. It seemed that every time I'd get close, a huge wave of the opposite type of line would be near.

[Hplus]

Thanks for the feedback, johnki!

I uploaded a new version to try to respond to the problems-

1) I changed the amount the player is moved from 30 to 45, and made the movement stretch over 3 frames so that it is harder to miss it when it happens.

2) I made the periods where lines come from just one side longer. Hopefully this, along with the movement increase, makes it a little bit more interesting.

Also, I want to say that I wasn't trying to make a game about dodging, but was actually trying to make a game about figuring which lines to hit to (1) stay on the screen, while (2) getting the most points.


Thanks again for taking a look!

[johnki]

Also, I want to say that I wasn't trying to make a game about dodging, but was actually trying to make a game about figuring which lines to hit to (1) stay on the screen, while (2) getting the most points.

Ah, well, in that case, it works. The only issue was it took a massive amount of effort to get knocked off screen rather than to stay on heh. Hopefully the modifications fixed that.

[PompiPompi]

The lines going from right to left are so dark I can barely see them, not to mention evade them. :/

[Hplus]

The lines going from right to left are so dark I can barely see them, not to mention evade them. :/

Thanks for pointing that out... I guess I didn't think enough about different monitor contrast, and was worrying too much about making it look the way I wanted.

I updated the lines to be similar brightness, with more of a difference in hue. Hopefully they're all visible enough now?

[Destral]

Neat idea. I'd like to know why you decided to make it so that the lines push you in the direction they are coming from, instead of the direction they are moving? Did you try it the other way around before?

[Hplus]

Neat idea. I'd like to know why you decided to make it so that the lines push you in the direction they are coming from, instead of the direction they are moving? Did you try it the other way around before?

Thanks for checking it out!

I did try it the other way first, but it made it very difficult to lose, since you are more likely to get hit by a line coming from the side you are closer to. Changing it made it so that being hit by lines increases tension/risk rather than reducing it.

[RamSteelwood]

not bad.  it took a little while for what i was meant to be doing to click, but once it did it's an interesting idea.
not sure if i just stopped paying attention or the difficulty spiked suddenly, but i was cruising along hardly under threat, then it seemed to suddenly get fast and i got thrown right across the screen to 'die'.  think i had 631 points.
if it isn't just me being rubbish, then maybe a more gradual increase in speed as you progress? it could even flash a message when you 'level up' so you know everything's going to get a bit faster....sort of tetris style

[Hplus]

not bad.  it took a little while for what i was meant to be doing to click, but once it did it's an interesting idea.
not sure if i just stopped paying attention or the difficulty spiked suddenly, but i was cruising along hardly under threat, then it seemed to suddenly get fast and i got thrown right across the screen to 'die'.  think i had 631 points.
if it isn't just me being rubbish, then maybe a more gradual increase in speed as you progress? it could even flash a message when you 'level up' so you know everything's going to get a bit faster....sort of tetris style

And now I feel like an idiot for not understanding before why games use discrete progression systems instead of continuous!

I'm already moving on to new experiments, so I won't be implementing a leveling system for this game I don't think, but thank you for the suggestion. It definitely makes a good deal of sense.

[Makai]

Pretty interesting, but I do have to say I'm getting an awful amount of tearing on the screen. It doesn't necessarily affect game-play but it does make it a bit uncomfortable on the eyes.

[Garthy]

Interesting mechanic. Initially I started dodging all of the lines, then figured out that sometimes it is to your benefit to hit the lines, and then it is better to hit as many lines as you can safely, rocking back and forth around the middle as you do. The risk increases as you end up closer to the sides, which means the more you mess up the more dangerous it becomes, but you're not alone in this mechanic- it's the same with Tetris.

[zoq]

I enjoyed this. The challenge level was good, neither too easy or too hard. I think it would be an interesting idea if the direction where the lines come from would be less discrete, so even if most of the lines are coming from left at some given time, there would also be an occasional line from the right.

I was also thinking that maybe lines that move with different speeds could be fun, instead of all of them moving in sync.

Another thing, which is maybe a more personal opinion, is the direction where hitting a line moves you. I initially thought that it would be more intuitive if the lines "pushed" you to the direction they move (instead of the opposite). This would of course change the game significantly and maybe make it too easy, I don't really know.

[Hplus]

Thanks everyone for playing and for the feedback! It's really helpful for me to have a sustained conversation about something like this.

@Makai:
Yeah... I'm not sure exactly what caused that, but I used a different frame-rate setting on Flashpunk than I usually do for this game, and I'm going to be avoiding that in the future. It definitely bothers me.

@Garthy:
Awesome! This is exactly what I was going for, so I'm glad someone had that experience.

@zoq:
Thanks for the suggestions. I know the pulling is non-intuitive, but it really worked a lot better mechanically. I agree that the direction of the lines should be less discrete, since one of the more interesting aspects of the game is the ability to grab lines to pull you out of danger. I may actually go change that, even though I said I wasn't going to update this anymore...

[kamac]

 

Pretty tough. I've got sucked back.