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TIGSource ForumsDeveloperPlaytestingBiodrome - Competitive Exploration
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PeteHuf
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« on: January 26, 2014, 09:33:45 PM »

Hey guys, I'm looking for feedback on my game Biodrome. <Link removed for now.>

Here are a couple gifs:



Biodrome is a "competitive single-player" experience. Players compete to find new areas in short procedurally generated platformer adventure games (represented by planets). Players explore the planet finding powerups and getting points for being the first to reach new locations. Once the existing planets are sufficiently explored, a new one is generated for players to explore.

Lately I've been working on lowering the learning curve for new players. I'd love to get some feedback!

What I'm looking for
All feedback is greatly appreciated. There are still tons of rough edges (ex. some objects look untextured, that is because they are using placeholder models), but I'd like to start gathering more feedback.

- How is the game's performance? (If poor, please give me what system specs you can.)
- By the end of the play session do you feel you understood the UI?
- How do you find the game's controls?
- What are your general impressions, likes/dislikes?

Since the game is connected to a server, I'm able to record testers' play session. If that's all working I'll hopefully be able to learn a lot just by watching the recording!


The game is unoptimized right now, and is a bit of a memory hog--it uses about 568 MB of RAM right now. I've tested the game on Vista, Window 7 and Windows 8.


Website: biodromegame.com
DevLog here: http://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=38384.0
YouTube here: http://www.youtube.com/user/Ubrasaur

Thanks for your time!
« Last Edit: September 27, 2015, 09:40:54 PM by PeteHuf » Logged

Biodrome Devlog! Competitive exploration in procedural platformer adventure worlds.
frik
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« Reply #1 on: January 29, 2014, 08:45:31 AM »

- How is the game's performance?
It works great, about 50fps on my notebook (you probably record the specs already anyway)

- By the end of the play session do you feel you understood the UI?
I think I understood most parts, but a tutorial level or info screen would be nice to have.

- How do you find the game's controls?
The controls are fine. I like the right/left hand shooting.

- What are your general impressions, likes/dislikes?
It looks a bit like Infiniminer with some even more crazy colors. Do you plan to add some bots? As the server was lonely and it would be cool to play with someone.

Is the level procedural generated? If so can you explain it a bit?

The start point for beginner and for best items is on the same map, I thought I would get a new generated map. For the later spawn point I found myself in the "void" or so and had to walk to the level boundary to start jumping around, the beginner spawn point is very near anyway.

Please add a loading screen, as the loading makes the game process unresponsive and it acts for a short time like it hung up (Windows mouse cursor spinning, etc.).

Hint: Execute the XNA setup in your launcher update process with the "silent" flag.

Also (sadly) according Wikipedia XNA is no longer actively being developed, at least since 31 January 2013. A few years ago, XNA was great and was used a lot (e.g. Infiniminer)

I just saw you explained several things on your dev log, please add some basic info to the game too: http://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=38384.0
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PeteHuf
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« Reply #2 on: January 30, 2014, 12:17:47 AM »

Thanks for the through feedback frik!

- By the end of the play session do you feel you understood the UI?
I think I understood most parts, but a tutorial level or info screen would be nice to have.

I'd really like to tutorialize with a light touch. That said I indefinably want to improve in the "player training" department. I would like to make the player feel like they are discovering the mechanics rather than being taught however. (Unless the read the manual equivalent I plan to make.) I think I just need some more testing to help me see when player of different backgrounds pick up on the flow of the game. I'm trying to hit a sweet spot.

So back to your comment, I'll be including in the tame a more involved set of info like you would get from a manual from an NES/SNES era game. I'd really like to avoid popping a lot of text during play though.

Quote
- What are your general impressions, likes/dislikes?
It looks a bit like Infiniminer with some even more crazy colors. Do you plan to add some bots? As the server was lonely and it would be cool to play with someone.

The player-to-player interaction is actually limited to score, chat, and seeing their position when they are on the same planet as you. Given that, I don't think adding bots would add a lot. I could be wrong, but I expect that most of the time there will only be one person on a particular planet at a time.

Quote
Is the level procedural generated? If so can you explain it a bit?

It is procedurally generated. I'm a little flattered that you had to ask to be sure, since I'm basically trying to make a "smart" AI map designer. I've been thinking of posting some more details about how I have it rigged in the devlog, so stay tuned on that. Smiley

Quote
The start point for beginner and for best items is on the same map, I thought I would get a new generated map. For the later spawn point I found myself in the "void" or so and had to walk to the level boundary to start jumping around, the beginner spawn point is very near anyway.

I can see how it would be confusing that they take you to the same place. Right now there is actually only one planet to explore. Once that planet is sufficiently explored the server will open up a new planet. The buttons just sort the list of planets differently.

I'll have to watch your replay to see your later spawn. That "void" area is unfinished right now. I'm thinking of enclosing the exterior areas in a glass case or in force fields so running around out there isn't an option/issue. I plan on putting backgrounds like mountains, rock formations, stormy clouds out in the void area.

Quote
Please add a loading screen, as the loading makes the game process unresponsive and it acts for a short time like it hung up (Windows mouse cursor spinning, etc.).

I must have faster load times as I haven't seen a spinny. I definatally plan on moving map generation (that's what its doing during load) to a separate thread so it doesn't block the UI thread. I might even be able to predict which room you will go in and pre-generate it for faster load (assuming it doesn't impact performance while playing.)

Quote
Hint: Execute the XNA setup in your launcher update process with the "silent" flag.

Also (sadly) according Wikipedia XNA is no longer actively being developed, at least since 31 January 2013. A few years ago, XNA was great and was used a lot (e.g. Infiniminer)

I thought about putting it on silent install, but I thought it was safer legally for now to show their dialogs. At some point I'll look into the specifics of their EULA and silent installs.

It is very sad about XNA. I've been working on this for a while, so XNA was alive and well when I made the tech descision. I've been evaluating other options, and even quarantined my interaction with XNA into a separate VS project, so it will be easier to move off of it if I need to. The main reason I'm still with it is the content pipeline. It still works for now and I feel I'm not digging my self any deeper at this point as far as being able to move off it later. I'm keeping a close eye on my options though.

Quote
I just saw you explained several things on your dev log, please add some basic info to the game too: http://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=38384.0

I'm hoping intro cinematic, in-game manual, and improved new-player nudging will do the job (all of which I plan to do.) What bits of info in particular would you think are most important to explain right away?


Thanks again for testing it out. Hopefully most of your concerns will be addressed with already planned tasks. I would like to dig a little deeper on the bots comment though if you don't mind. Mainly around how players interact with eachother. Maybe it would derail the feedback thread. I'll probably post about it on the devlog. Or you could if you want to talk about it while it's top of mind.
« Last Edit: January 30, 2014, 12:24:02 AM by Ubrasaur » Logged

Biodrome Devlog! Competitive exploration in procedural platformer adventure worlds.
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