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[Rat Casket]

This is something I'm working on. I played Velocity 2x and was totally sold on the teleport idea. I was going to have a multidirectional teleport that lets the player pass through walls (literally Velocity 2x) but, because of camera issues, I didn't think it felt very good. Also since this game has so few colors and a black background it was hard to gauge the direction you were going, how far you had traveled, etc. I even tried the teleport line exactly like you have. Still wasn't working for me. The most jarring thing about it was the snappy camera.

Anyway this feels nice and has a lot less ambiguity to the movement. You always know where you are going, how far you have traveled blah blah. Granted its mission some visual information.

Long story short. Short dashes or teleports are cool. And look nice.

[Blademasterbobo]

the screen wrapping was the only remotely interesting mechanic. if you just have a dash, you're making a platformer that explores dashing with nothing else. tons of platformers have dashing.

honestly if you gave up that quickly on figuring out a way to make it work then this is a lost cause

i mean come on, you almost gave up on the non linear camera movement before you even tried changing the multiplier. 

[joseph ¯\_(ツ)_/¯]

This might sound kinda shity/condescending but I mean it good naturally:

This devlog is so absurdly aimless.

Do you give serious thought to mechanics before you implement/decide against them? Like, think through: What about this works? What are some obstacles to this? Superficially, how interesting is this? In depth, what kind of level designs does this enable/disable? Hacking and just implementing features is awesome, and theory in the absence of making a fucking game is totally useless, but in the context of making a game thinking ahead can help a lot.

Like, for example: short teleport that includes vertical port. okay. What's a general list of obstacles/terrain shapes that vertical teleport will traverse, but not jump?

Here's what jumped to mind for me:

Jump into open space, port up, port sideways to walljump. Okay.

Jump into open space, port up, port sideways to a platform. ok.

Jump into open space, port up through a jumpthrough platform, ala double jump... ok...


Are any of these interesting? Can you think of any more? Do vertiports encourage or discourage the kind of platforming that excites you? etc.

[Blademasterbobo]

honestly at this stage you shouldn't even have art / assets like you do. you don't even know what game you're making.

that this thread has 40 pages is a testament to hunter's artistic prowess and literally nothing else

this reads like some kid who thinks that once he gets 3 grand together and buys a copy of 3ds max he'll suddenly become an industry veteran 3d modeller

[Zack Bell]

I think it's perfectly normal to question something that you're working on. I thought about the design pitfalls and that's why the game was headed where it was. My problem right now isn't "does this mechanic work or does this other one?"

My main issue is that I have two sets of similar mechanics that I enjoy, which one should I commit to? And we've made a decision, as far as I'm concerned.

We didn't question any of our mechanics. A few people on a forum, in the outskirts of the internet questioned them. Hell, I got twice as many messages from people saying, "Uh, that thing in the devlog. Don't change anything". We said they we enjoy open development, so we bit. I tried several variations mentioned throughout the past couple of pages. I do appreciate all of the feedback. You guys certainly helped a lot. At least to stir the pot and keep ideas flowing. I'll post builds, ASAP.

[Bobert]

this has already been said but i'm wary of the short teleport, especially if it means ditching the screenwrap altogether. it basically just turns this into a vanilla sidescrolling platformer with airdashing

[battlerager]

We didn't question any of our mechanics. A few people on a forum, in the outskirts of the internet questioned them. Hell, I got twice as many messages from people saying, "Uh, that thing in the devlog. Don't change anything". We said they we enjoy open development, so we bit. I tried several variations mentioned throughout the past couple of pages. I do appreciate all of the feedback. You guys certainly helped a lot. At least to stir the pot and keep ideas flowing.

Spoken like a man 

[Lo-Fi]

For what it's worth, the stuff you were showing earlier seemed wayyy more interesting than the stuff you've been showing recently. Of course, I'm more likely to lean towards screen wrap 

Take this with a grain of salt, especially since I think luck had a large part in our Kickstarter being successful: It seems like you're not sure what game you're making yet, which is fine. I think prototyping a ton of different mechanics is great. But when you're running a Kickstarter, you should have a pretty good idea of what the base game is going to be. What, at the very least, can players expect from the final product? If I was a backer, I would have no idea what the final game would be like, and not in a good way. As soon as I saw the most recent gifs I wouldn't be a backer anymore.

For example, with our Kickstarter for Four Sided Fantasy, we are trying to ensure that, at the very least, the game will be about the ability to turn screen wrap on and off. We are showing other mechanics/abilities that might make it in, but if those get cut, we still have an interesting base mechanic that backers signed up for.

Of course, I'm not saying your game needs screen wrap, but when your Kickstarter launched, I was under the impression the game was mainly about two things: screen wrap, and teleporting under specific, unique rules in a reflex-based (rather than puzzle) platformer . The teleporting seemed more interesting than the screen wrap, but they combined to make something even more unique.

Now, I can't really tell what direction you're headed in.

I hope this doesn't come across as mean-spirited, I'm really just trying to give constructive feedback.

[premonster]

@Lo-Fi: I suggested Zack to stick with the screen-wrap as his main mechanic, but also suggested that it should be used on the same screen the player is currently viewing (not moving the camera when teleporting). allowing for bigger levels without losing the gimmick. While the screen-wrap certainly is his game's main mechanic, you're right about it being an action-oriented game instead of puzzle-oriented, cause that's the kind of game he likes to make, so my suggestion wouldn't really work (as its better suited for puzzle platforming). I think he will keep the initial game format if he continue developing it.

@Blademasterbobo: Agree with the art part of it, it shouldnt really have any art at all at this point.

Super III and Vagante reinforces my thinking that indie development is definitely not a bussiness. We should make games in our mean time without expecting nothing from it. You cant hire people and invest a ton in it, cause we usually dont have the power to market it enough to bring the money back (read super risky). People must fall in love with the game and buy it even if it has "bad graphics", like The Escapist.

[Lo-Fi]

@Lo-Fi: I suggested Zack to stick with the screen-wrap as his main mechanic, but also suggested that it should be used on the same screen the player is currently viewing (not moving the camera when teleporting). allowing for bigger levels without losing the gimmick. While the screen-wrap certainly is his game's main mechanic, you're right about it being an action-oriented game instead of puzzle-oriented, cause that's the kind of game he likes to make, so my suggestion wouldn't really work (as its better suited for puzzle platforming). I think he will keep the initial game format if he continue developing it.

Oh! Well, if I understand correctly, that would pretty much be my game, Four Sided Fantasy. Not that I have a problem with people using other developer's ideas, but yeah, I agree that that's not what this game is about.

Edit: I'm seeing some suggestions for how to handle doing larger levels while still maintaining the screen wrap. Might I suggest something similar to VVVVVV?



This way, you can keep the screen wrap, but it changes to a new area/screen when you go through an exit that has no logical place to screen wrap to.

[premonster]

Oh! Well, if I understand correctly, that would pretty much be my game, Four Sided Fantasy. Not that I have a problem with people using other developer's ideas, but yeah, I agree that that's not what this game is about.

If your game mechanic is like that, then i hope the puzzles are well designed. I dont know your game.

Edit: I didnt understand your suggestion...

And remember, everything is a remix:
http://everythingisaremix.info/

[Lo-Fi]

Oh! Well, if I understand correctly, that would pretty much be my game, Four Sided Fantasy. Not that I have a problem with people using other developer's ideas, but yeah, I agree that that's not what this game is about.

If your game mechanic is like that, then i hope the puzzles are well designed. I dont know your game.

And remember, everything is a remix:
http://everythingisaremix.info/

http://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=41905.0

I like to think they are! It's based on one of my student projects, so I have a whole games' worth of experience designing levels for the game.

P.S. I'll quit schilling my game in this thread!

[premonster]

Oh, ive seen your devlog now. Your game doesnt have teleportation, it has camera locking... Which is even cooler for puzzle-oriented. It looks like you know what you want from it. And wtf is that multiplayer?  

[ink.inc]

if you wanna talk about your game, do it in pms

super 3 relevant discussion only thanks

[premonster]

Its not like hes promoting it here or anything.

Both games have similar mechanics and he was giving his experienced opinion about it, since Zack showed he's not sure where to go with it.

[Zack Bell]

I've been going back over some of the tutorial-ish levels from World 1.

[gggfhfdh]

today was a fun day

[Rat Casket]

so are those gifs option a or option b

[Zack Bell]

so are those gifs option a or option b

Haha, option A. From the original build.

[Blambo]

you know what could be interesting

a mode where you play as a super fast character in a series of time trials. if you start to feel that there's no gameplay challenge or variation in simply finishing levels, you can make an alternate goal like speed and design around that.