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[EdFarage]

If it was free to enter then I would enter. When you charge money for a chance to be rejected, I start having my doubts.

According to recent news, you WILL be rejected unless you have some kind of bound with the owners.

[ink.inc]

hhhh

[siskavard]

dont link to that shit here, please!

Craig: Nice!! Im totally down for doing more specific collision animations!!

[Blambo]

If it was free to enter then I would enter. When you charge money for a chance to be rejected, I start having my doubts.

According to recent news, you WILL be rejected unless you have some kind of bound with the owners.

hahahahah that terrible fucking nixon impression

@oatsbarley: that's rad!

[barley]

Should be the last of the core physics stuff done!

[siskavard]

HEY! HEY! HEY!

[Sam B]

He looks like he drinks a lot of Slurm!

[Impmaster]

is this a reference to lol or...

[siskavard]

Futurama

[EdFarage]

Wow, why you're all so upset? It's just a video, calm down.
Also that slurm mackenzie reference is great, nice job

[siskavard]

Not upset, just don't want this thread devolving into rumor mill garbage.

I actually don't know what the Slurm reference is, i had to google it LOLOLOL

[Sam B]

Exposure is exposure...

this is a bad attitude

I was catching up on this thread and saw you quote that, and I agreed with you, then I realized it was quoting me. I don't know why I left it like that. It sounded bad. Even if the game doesn't win, it will create more exposure for people to see it. The game looks so damn lovable, it's got to pick up more fans. I'm not hot on the "any press is good press," especially when it comes to games. So let me try again:

Even if you don't win, you're certain to make more fans out of Cloudface.

[siskavard]

Speaking of festivals, Cloudface is now 100% Guaranteed Indiecade 2014 LOSER!

I thought I'd share the judges feedback, which I found to be pretty helpful & kind, minus the bits where they mention things that we are totally intending to put in.

Entry: Cloudface: 100% Guaranteed Game

-----
Art
I really love the art style and animation for this game! It definitely reminds me of a lot of cartoons I watched growing up. I would just stare at this game for hours if I could.

Gameplay
While I?m not entirely sure how to use some of the elements I?m given, I got a lot of entertainment out of trying each one on the different enemy types. There was a strong compulsion to ?see what would happen next.?

As it stands, I did not find the platforming very interesting. The level felt very thrown together and didn?t really do a great job of showing off some of the fun platforming mechanics (namely floating). There is definitely a lot of potential for some fun platforming, it?s just not quite there yet.
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This is a fun start for what could be a neat retro game. I really like the look and feel of it... you've really nailed that 90s mascot-platformer aesthetic, all the way down to the bouncy jump sounds and the very random enemies (like the evil toasters), so I think you may have some built-in audience once you've gotten further along.

However, I recommend that you think bigger, now that you've proven that you can make a fun base game. I know that your primary goal is not to chart brand-new territory, but I strongly recommend that you consider more ways to make yourselves unique -- to be something more than a solid platformer with retro appeal. You've already got the systems built in for it: namely, a character with a huge number of abilities (including the weather "modes" that affect his powers and the wind-blowing mechanic), and enemies who respond to them in unique ways. Those weren't really being utilized in this demo, but they could form the backbone of much deeper gameplay systems. Now you need to spend some more time with level and enemy design -- sets of puzzles and encounters that force players to get creative with their abilities -- in order to transcend your initial appeal as a throwback platformer. You should check out Super Princess Peach for an example of using a hero's different "modes" in an interesting way, or Waking Mars for teaching the player an "ecosystem" of how creatures respond to different actions.

A couple of other notes:
- Since you want to reward experimentation, I recommend that you remain very forgiving: don't start sending the player back to the level start when they lose a life, don't allow players to fall all the way to the bottom of a tall level (this happened to me when I attempted a "leap of faith" off the purple platforms), and have enemies respond in some way to all the weather effects, even if they just shake it off (for example, when the skull enemies didn't respond to my weather powers, I jumped to the conclusion that the system wasn't implemented yet). Basically, never let the player feel that she's being punished for experimenting.
- In order to avoid overwhelming the player, you should consider ways to roll out the character's powers slowly. That way players can spend time exploring each power in turn. I'm sure you have plans for this later, but I want to stress its importance now.
- I'd recommend developing a more "open" structure for the game, so I can easily return to levels I've previously played. I have a feeling that you'll be adding lots of secrets, and I want a chance to go back and see anything I've missed (even something simple, like an enemy who reacts to one of my powers in an interesting way).


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I was excited to play this from your description of being inspired by the old mascot games. It looks like this is a long way from being a complete game however.

There's something possibly fun in the hover and rain mechanic, but I found the default controls to be unnatural. Holding space, a direction, and the E key all at once feels like more than is necessary. You may want to consider combining hover and rain into a single action. I found there was rarely a time when I wanted to hover and not rain, and that would simplify not only the controls but give you a tightly focused mechanic.

Your animations on the business cloud are beautiful! I didn't feel the same way about the backgrounds or most of the enemies. Spreading the animated love to all aspects would make for an incredibly gorgeous game.

Also, the level design in this demo was basic platforming with some slow moving ground enemies, but I think you'll need to do something special to differentiate. You've got the hover and rain for your hero, so what's special about enemies or the environment that could tie into that? I noticed different precipitation had different effects on different enemies, so perhaps that's what you have planned as the core to level puzzles and challenges.

All in all, keep working at it! Do lots of playtesting, ask about things like floatiness of jump, satisfaction with collisions, all that little tweaky stuff that can make all the difference.

[absenter]

Sorry to hear you didn't get in. But, on the plus side, that's actually really awesome that they would give you such detailed feedback!

[EdFarage]

That was a really good feedback, did you pay to get an entry? If yes, how much?

[eigenbom]

Pretty good feedback, a shame you guys didn't get in, but I want to see this game succeed so start jamming in the time to make it feel great, have awesome levels with crazy characters, and also put moonman in as a playable character. Bye!

[siskavard]

Yes I basically paid $80 for some good feedback.

I don't think I'll enter it again. Probably won't enter it in anything with entry fees. Lesson learned.

[siskavard]

and yes  Moonman will appear in the game in some form!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[DanFornace]

Yes I basically paid $80 for some good feedback.

I don't think I'll enter it again. Probably won't enter it in anything with entry fees. Lesson learned.

That is the best feedback I've seen from a competition or convention. Usually feedback I get if it is a no is "Sorry, we don't think you're game is a good fit. Thanks."

But I think more so than worrying about an entrant fee, you need to give the game a bit of time before entering it into competitions. Let it find its soul a bit per se. You have something REALLY magical here and the animation is such a huge selling point. Don't get discouraged. I'm in a similar place where I was rejected from nearly all the summer conventions. Just keep trucking and power through. Good luck!

-Dan

[siskavard]

Yes I basically paid $80 for some good feedback.

I don't think I'll enter it again. Probably won't enter it in anything with entry fees. Lesson learned.

That is the best feedback I've seen from a competition or convention. Usually feedback I get if it is a no is "Sorry, we don't think you're game is a good fit. Thanks."

But I think more so than worrying about an entrant fee, you need to give the game a bit of time before entering it into competitions. Let it find its soul a bit per se. You have something REALLY magical here and the animation is such a huge selling point. Don't get discouraged. I'm in a similar place where I was rejected from nearly all the summer conventions. Just keep trucking and power through. Good luck!

-Dan

Ya for sure, I think the game still doesn't know what it is yet. I think the early alpha we sent around is too messy anyway. Oh well, live & learn!