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[Lappin]

Angry Cubes 2 - Fair & Square


"You were a prisoner of the Angry cubes, but have managed to escape. Now you must begin journey home to the Sphere Land. But the Angry Cubes might be one step ahead of you..."

This is the latest game I have published! It is a 2D platform game with puzzle and exploration elements. It has 20 levels and 55 keys to collect. It comes with a (complicated) level editor and has over 20 music tracks. It is quite challenging and quite long, but I hope you would like take the time to at least try it.
It got a few different enemy types, a gun-thingy, non-linear gameplay, 4 worlds and a dumb semi-progressive story line.
Angry Cubes 2 is a sequel on my last game ("Angry Cubes,") but you do not have to play them in order (the first one is not as good).

The game has a free download here:
http://marvik.umea.riksnet.se/Angry%20Cubes%202.html
And here is a trailer:






What Kind of feedback do I want?

Any kind of feedback would be great.
But the main kind of feedback I want is opinions on the game itself:
Was it too hard?
Was something unclear?
Was it easy to get the game running?
What was the best/worst aspects of the game?
Did you manage to complete it?
If you find some annoying bug I might make a patch, but it's not the most important kind of feedback right now.
I have already published the game. The reason I want feedback is to I know what I should think about when making my future game(s).

[Quicksand-S]

I think I played the original game, but I'm not sure. Anyway, I realize that you're mainly looking for feedback on future projects. Most of my points are just things to watch out for next time around. I hope that this will come across as constructive and the length won't be too horrifying.

I'll start off by saying something positive, though. In terms of game structure and pacing, it seemed pretty decent. I felt like maybe the key requirements were a little high (I didn't really feel like going back to previous levels) but that aspect of the game still worked quite well.


Features I Think Are Fairly Important

-Variable-height jumping would be very nice in future games. By that, I mean if I tap the jump button and don't hold it, I shouldn't jump as high.

-Without having a sound and/or effect when I kill enemies, it's not satisfying in the slightest.


Weirdness

-Jumping feels terrible to me, mainly because the gravity isn't gravity (no noticeable acceleration).

-Starting the game with no ammo, while still aiming a visible gun with my sprite, felt weird. The first thing I did in the game was try various controls to figure out what did what, but I couldn't determine my attack key (although it seems easy enough to guess). If I'd started with even one bullet, then I think it would've been fine.

-The bar at the top is apparently a health bar, but I get killed in one hit by most things anything, so I'm not sure why it exists. Also, why do I start with less-than-full health?

-This may just be me being picky, but when I see that a character's feet are partially inside the ground, it instantly makes the game look unpolished to me.

-On the subject of polish, I think the HUD elements could be aligned better. For example, you have a nice space above the word "Ammo" but no space beside it to match.

-The "jump-through" platforms feel strange. I feel like I'm teleported at least 16px or so in order to land on them, which is a little extreme. You shouldn't need to do any teleporting at all.

-Some elements of the game felt really inconsistent or just strange. Some frogs, for example, don't require me to press Up for them to talk and some ground blocks are more round than others for no apparent reason.



Bugs/Glitches

-I like the music for the most part. When it loops, though, it makes a high-pitched squeak/shriek for a moment before starting over.

-Because of the foot-alignment issue, I got killed by the first angry cube, even though I was standing one level above it and should have been out of reach.

-I liked the blocks that could be activated/deactivated and the way that you made them stand out. It's possible to hover in mid-air next to one that's part of a wall, if you just press against it.

-The vertically-moving platforms needs a lot of work. When moving up, I hover above it and then get pushed inside it briefly when reaching the top of the level. On the way, down, I just shake violently (or the platform does sometimes). I would recommend not using moving platforms like that in a release until you've got them working smoothly.

-Checkpoints don't save the ammo you had before you died, which seems like it could cause problems.

-While moving up after a bounce, I pressed Right and moved onto a ledge I was about to pass by, as if I was suddenly stuck to it. I think that I should only stick to the ground on the way down, not when moving up. It makes for much smoother movement.

-Bullet collisions are...weird. I jumped, shot at an octopus that was on a platform and it did absolutely nothing. My guess is that the bullet was destroyed by the platform, but it shouldn't have been. In the next level, I had to shoot an octopus about six or seven times before it died when earlier ones died in one shot.

-Angry cubes with their sprites flipping upside down looked really strange.

-I fell right through one of the jumping yellow enemies.


Misc

-I like that you included the ability to look up and down. I think it should be maybe delayed slightly, though. It's easy to unintentionally do it when, for example, pressing Down to drop through a platform. It also seemed really unpredictable. Sometimes I could do it and if I moved just a little bit then I couldn't look around anymore.

-The menu after finishing the first area seemed like it should have something selected by default. I thought it was broken at first, until I hit one of the arrow keys.

-The sound for getting killed is just terrible, in my opinion. There's also an issue with volume balance. The music was really quiet, while the jump sound is medium volume and the death sound is too loud.

-For the most part, the text was fine. In the first part of Area 2, though, the frog says, "Get omboard!"


It seems my main issue with the game is just that it's really unpolished for a game that's considered "finished". It's got some decent level design and I kind of like the ground and tree-leaf sprites but most of the gameplay mechanics are just really buggy/strange. I think the biggest thing to do differently next time is just the gravity and how you're snapping the player to the ground in certain situations. Any platformer really needs the jumping to feel good.

[Lappin]

Thank you for the feedback, the longer the better! You surely played the sequel, as the first game was in 3D. (Play the first one if you want to play something really unpolished and way too hard!)
I'll go through your points:

"the key requirements were a little high" - True, it's hard to know what is reasonable if you are the one making the game.
"Variable-height jumping" - I was too lazy to be honest, and thought double jumping was just as good. Tunrs out many people had a problem with it. It is noted.
"sound and/or effect when I kill enemies" - Was on my to-do-list, I don't know why I ignored implementing it. It wouldn't have been hard...
"gravity isn't gravity" - I see
"Starting the game with no ammo, while still aiming a visible gun with my sprite, felt weird" - True, I also have no explanation to how he got the gun.
"health bar, but I get killed in one hit" - Only by the Angry Cubes
"why do I start with less-than-full health?" - At first you were supposed to start with only one health point, but it was to hard and I changed it to 2. I thought 3 made it less challenging, but I understand what you mean.
"character's feet are partially inside the ground" - I thought it looked cool 
"HUD elements could be aligned better" - Maybe, I'll have a look at it if I make an update.
"The "jump-through" platforms feel strange. I feel like I'm teleported at least 16px or so" - There is no teleportation. I'm not sure what you are referring to.
"Some frogs, for example, don't require me to press Up" - True. I just thought short messages shouldn't stop the flow of the game.
"it makes a high-pitched squeak/shriek for a moment before starting over" - I'm glad you noticed. I have spent hours trying to figure out how to fix it without success.
"I got killed by the first angry cube, even though I was standing one level above it" - Noted, though it doesn't happen to non-moving harmful blocks.
"It's possible to hover in mid-air next to one that's part of a wall, if you just press against it" - I've noticed that, but didn't think of it as a huge problem. It exist because I reused code from the moving Angry Cubes and they had a smaller hitbox on the x-axis to compensate for the difficulty .
"I would recommend not using moving platforms like that in a release until you've got them working smoothly" - Remember that it's a free game though...
"Checkpoints don't save the ammo you had before you died, which seems like it could cause problems." - I've actually made sure that there were ammo-fillers near any check point that required ammo. Also I didn't want you to suddenly get less ammo after respawning.
"I think that I should only stick to the ground on the way down, not when moving up" - I actually have a puzzle built around that bug.
"I had to shoot an octopus about six or seven times before it died" - I have an explanation for this; there were several "octopuses" in the same spot! It doesn't justify the issue, but I at least didn't deliberately make enemies with more health.
"Angry cubes with their sprites flipping upside down looked really strange" - Haha. The reason that I even have it is for the level editor, so you can see what direction it is moving without watching it move.
"I fell right through one of the jumping yellow enemies" - You are invulnerable after taking a hit, and then also loose the ability to jump on enemies for a short time.
"I like that you included the ability to look up and down." "Sometimes I could do it" - You couldn't look down if you already were at the bottom of the level.
"The menu after finishing the first area seemed like it should have something selected by default" - Noted
"The music was really quiet, while the jump sound is medium volume and the death sound is too loud" - Noted
"the frog says, "Get omboard!"" - Whops! Thanks for letting me know. I have tried my best to eliminate the spelling mistakes.


Thank you for the honest feedback. I am still learning and this was my first c++ game. My next game will be 3D with OpenGL and I already feel that it has better collision detection than this. I'll keep these things in mind, though. Now I suddenly feel like going back to this game to make an update for it. This comment had enough content to make it worth it.
If more people wrote this long messages I could make an "Angry Cubes 3"

[Quicksand-S]

"health bar, but I get killed in one hit" - Only by the Angry Cubes

And anything with spikes. Really, pretty much anything that's actually any sort of threat kills in one hit, which means that all but two of my deaths were in one hit and had me wondering what that bar at the top was because it was "obviously" not a healthbar.

"character's feet are partially inside the ground" - I thought it looked cool 

If you were going for an "angled camera" look or something, then everything that walks/stands on the ground would have to be handled the same way.

"The "jump-through" platforms feel strange. I feel like I'm teleported at least 16px or so" - There is no teleportation. I'm not sure what you are referring to.

Let's say the platform is at the maximum height of my jump and I'm standing under it. If I press the Jump key, I move upward and then suddenly I'm moved much more quickly to top of the platform. It happens somewhere around the point where my character's head comes into contact with it. My guess is that maybe it's the same code that caused me to stick to the ground when jumping up to a ledge. It probably thought I was on top of the platform and automatically moved me into alignment with the top when it shouldn't have.

"I would recommend not using moving platforms like that in a release until you've got them working smoothly" - Remember that it's a free game though...

I'm not sure what your point is. A free game should still work properly. I tend to think that anything you release to the public should, unless labelled as a prototype or alpha/beta, be fully functional and as bug-free as possible. If you don't show that you've tried to do things properly, why should people care about your work or give your future games a chance?

"I fell right through one of the jumping yellow enemies" - You are invulnerable after taking a hit, and then also loose the ability to jump on enemies for a short time.

Ah. That was probably it then. It would probably be a good idea to show the the player is invulnerable and unable to attack (maybe make them slightly transparent or something).

"I like that you included the ability to look up and down." "Sometimes I could do it" - You couldn't look down if you already were at the bottom of the level.

That makes sense, but it seems like all looking is disabled when I'm at the bottom, so I can't look up either.

"the frog says, "Get omboard!"" - Whops! Thanks for letting me know. I have tried my best to eliminate the spelling mistakes.

You did a pretty good job from what I saw. I think that was the only mistake I found, although obviously I didn't go through the entire game.

Thank you for the honest feedback. I am still learning and this was my first c++ game. My next game will be 3D with OpenGL and I already feel that it has better collision detection than this. I'll keep these things in mind, though. Now I suddenly feel like going back to this game to make an update for it. This comment had enough content to make it worth it.

Happy to help. For your first C++ game, this is quite good.

3D brings with it a lot of other potential issues. One big thing that I've seen people get wrong before is wall collisions. If the player presses against a wall at an angle, they should slide along it rather than being stopped completely. If you get that right, have actual gravity and don't leave things in if they're not working, then I think your next game should be good since this one already showed a fair amount of potential.

[Lappin]

And anything with spikes. Really, pretty much anything that's actually any sort of threat kills in one hit, which means that all but two of my deaths were in one hit and had me wondering what that bar at the top was because it was "obviously" not a healthbar.

Really strange. The spike blocks shouldn't kill you in one hit (it doesn't for me, nor did I program it that way). Maybe you already had low health or got hit twice quickly in a row?

It probably thought I was on top of the platform and automatically moved me into alignment with the top when it shouldn't have.

This is correct. I didn't want to make collision from the side of the platform as I didn't know what to do if you got squashed. I felt that it would be unfair if you could die that way. Also it is easier if the platform seams "magnetic" and if there is something this game doesn't need, that is a greater difficulty!

A free game should still work properly.

True. just because you didn't invest money in it, you still invest time. I have no defense except that a) No one is forced to play the game, and b) I don't think the moving platforms were that bad (but I admit I was a bit lazy).

it seems like all looking is disabled when I'm at the bottom, so I can't look up either.

You have a maximum amount that you can look up relative to your position on the screen. When you are on the bottom, you are already as far down as the scrolling allow. Any suggestions how I could change it to make more sense?

3D brings with it a lot of other potential issues. One big thing that I've seen people get wrong before is wall collisions. If the player presses against a wall at an angle, they should slide along it rather than being stopped completely. If you get that right, have actual gravity and don't leave things in if they're not working, then I think your next game should be good since this one already showed a fair amount of potential.

Thank you. I have actually already (in my upcoming game) implemented sliding against walls (and a maximum slope limit). i have accelerating gravity and moving platforms that can push you from the side. However, there are some special cases in the collision that I'm not too proud of, also there is sphere collision for a non-spherical character. But more about that in some future post, I guess.

[Quicksand-S]

Really strange. The spike blocks shouldn't kill you in one hit (it doesn't for me, nor did I program it that way). Maybe you already had low health or got hit twice quickly in a row?

Maybe I got hit twice at almost the same time (Some invincibility frames might be a good idea). All I know is that I didn't lose and health until something like the eighth "room" but I did die a few times before that to various things. Every time it was what seemed like one hit.

This is correct. I didn't want to make collision from the side of the platform as I didn't know what to do if you got squashed. I felt that it would be unfair if you could die that way. Also it is easier if the platform seams "magnetic" and if there is something this game doesn't need, that is a greater difficulty!

I was talking about the stationary "jump-up-through-the-thin-piece-of-wood" platforms being magnetic, not the moving ones.

As far as the moving ones, though, I find that the simplest way to keep them from squishing players is just to have them change direction whenever they're N pixels from the the ceiling or top of the level (where N is the player's height) and to have them check for the player when moving down and just bounce off. I don't think you should ever have a player purposely set up to pass through what looks like it is meant to be a solid block.

I don't think the moving platforms were that bad

Have you played recently? Maybe one of your more recent updates made the moving platforms worse or something. I can understand a hovering player seeming "not that bad, but I don't think that having the player and platforms shake violently when moving down could be considered anything other than broken.

You have a maximum amount that you can look up relative to your position on the screen. When you are on the bottom, you are already as far down as the scrolling allow. Any suggestions how I could change it to make more sense?

Ah, I see. I guess the way I'd do it is I'd probably just always let the player look up or down regardless of how high/low they are. The other alternative is to set up a "buffer" area at the bottom, so the player's view is never forced up, no matter how low they are.

Also on that subject, it might be a good idea to reset the view after releasing up/down.

also there is sphere collision for a non-spherical character.

I don't think I'd ever use a sphere for character collisions. Spheres cause too many issues with things like ledges. I feel like rectangular prisms are so much easier to work with in most cases.

[Lappin]

Have you played recently? Maybe one of your more recent updates made the moving platforms worse or something. I can understand a hovering player seeming "not that bad, but I don't think that having the player and platforms shake violently when moving down could be considered anything other than broken.

Oh, no! You are right! It must have happened in the last update, just as you said. It didn't behave like that before. I did test the game, but it's easy to miss such things when doing a speed run of your own game. That's why you have the Internet! :D

[Lappin]

Made a small update right now. It should fix some small problems (and maybe add some new ones?)
I'll probably make a bigger update later.

This is what I fixed:

Because of the foot-alignment issue, I got killed by the first angry cube, even though I was standing one level above it and should have been out of reach.

The alignment is still not fixed, but the enemies below you can't kill you anymore.

The vertically-moving platforms needs a lot of work. When moving up, I hover above it and then get pushed inside it briefly when reaching the top of the level. On the way, down, I just shake violently (or the platform does sometimes).

You still hover above them though.

In the first part of Area 2, though, the frog says, "Get omboard!"

It now says "Get on board!"

The update should be up now, on the same download link. Please tell me if some new bug occurred.

[Lappin]

Another update:

The menu after finishing the first area seemed like it should have something selected by default. I thought it was broken at first, until I hit one of the arrow keys.

"Play Next Level" now selected by default.

I think the HUD elements could be aligned better. For example, you have a nice space above the word "Ammo" but no space beside it to match.

HUD text alignment is adjusted.

The music was really quiet, while the jump sound is medium volume and the death sound is too loud.

Sound effect volume decreased. Then all sound was increased slightly. (If you still think it is low, you can change your computers volume.)

Thank you Quicksand-S, for the feedback. I have still not fixed all the issues you mentioned, but I've done more then I thought I would have time for so soon.