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[Regniwekim]

Hey guys... I've decided to try to finally get serious about developing, and finishing a game.

My game is called Switch Blocks. It's a Puzzle Platformer where the player activates switches that turn various blocks on or off throughout the level.

Here are some screenshots





Here's a brief gameplay video.

You can download a mechanics preview from IndieDB here.

You can follow my progress on:

Twitter | Facebook | Tumblr | IndieDB | Steam Greenlight Concept

Any likes, favorites, shares, etc. would be hugely appreciated. As would any comments, feedback, or critiques you may have.

[Quicksand-S]

I gave the "Level Progress" build a try. It runs very well. I don't think I had any huge issues.

I did have some small and medium-sized ones, though:

-The camera lags behind a lot. If it were just a bit faster, it'd probably be fine.

-Releasing the jump button early causes upward velocity to get instantly set to zero, which looks really unrealistic/jerky to me. I recommend cutting upward velocity in half instead, so that the character still takes a moment to change direction.

-The way the yellow blocks are handled doesn't seem ideal. I was able to force a pushable block down through them by just pressing "Down" while the block was sitting on them. I would've expected to just move up and down through them without them needing to open up.

-The yellow blocks also seem to react to the "Down" key no matter if I'm above or below them. I would've expected them to only react if I'm standing directly on top of them.

-If you're not going fast enough, the side of a switch can block your movement.

-It looks strange that I push blocks without quite being in contact with them.

-Sometimes, if I try to switch directions, I end up sliding in the original direction until I hit something and only then do I switch direction. This happened multiple times, and in both left and right directions.


Is there a way to end the first level? I got into the blue area, but wasn't sure if I could actually do anything.

Anyway, it's a decent start. It works quite well and, even with the slow camera, feels fairly good.

[Regniwekim]

The camera speed is pretty easy to adjust. I had some people say it was too jerky before, so I'm trying to find a happy medium. I'll keep tweaking it.

I'll have to try your suggestion about the jumping thing. I couldn't think of an effective way to implement something smoother, but you gave me a great idea.

The pushable blocks are supposed to be able to go through the yellow blocks. In my latest build, I actually made it so that not all yellow blocks trigger on the down push, but just those near the player.

I'm working on adjusting the collision on the switch blocks to make it more of a ramp instead of just a straight up wall.

There will eventually be a particle effect between the player and a block when you're pushing it, to simulate a kind of 'magnetic' effect.

I think I know what is causing the problem with switching directions. I believe it is related to way I'm faking acceleration and friction. I'll check it out and try to find a fix.

To go to the next level, you have to stand in front of the door object, and press Z. When I do a more complete release, there will be a tutorial level that covers all the mechanics.

Thanks a lot for the feedback, I really appreciate it!

[monsterkillu]

Plays really good ... Although i found it lacking in smoothness.

I played the level progress Build.

Here are some of my humble suggestions.
- Restructure the block colors, something people could easily understand what it may imply. (Player's color is a bit bland)
- Some way to player know about Double Jump.
- Make a Slow transition of camera when changing directions
- Where did the top most block came from ??
- Didn't understand at first how i got through yellow blocks. Same with going down.

Anyway looks promising. Looking forward to some interesting puzzle mechanics.

Good Luck .. 

[Regniwekim]

Thanks for the feedback.

The player is going to be given a more complex texture that stands out from the background.

There will be a tutorial level. I may try putting that out today.

The camera has been smoothed pretty significantly I think.

I'm working on level structure right now. So I'll try to make it more obvious where things are. That top most pushable block is held in  a box at the top of the level, and it is released when you step on the blue switch.

This will be addressed in the tutorial level.

[Regniwekim]

I've set up a sort of generic tutorial level, and made a few fixes based on feedback

You can check out the tutorial level at http://www.indiedb.com/games/switch-blockz/downloads/tutorial-levels