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[PapaCheech]

Hey all,
This is a game I am currently working on. I am looking for some feedback on all aspects of the game, as it is still in its early stages of development. I first made this game for Ludum Dare 30, and have been working on it since the conclusion of the competition.

With this one, I tried to create an organic experience, where the gameplay is not taught to you, but discovered slowly as the it progresses. My main focus has been in creating a mood, a sense of loneliness amidst the chaos.



Some ideas I would like feedback on are:

Is the gameplay itself fun?

Are the enemies fun? Why or why not? Any way that they could be improved?

Do the core mechanics make sense and are they understandable through the gameplay alone?

How does the game run on your computer?

Character movement: thoughts? Did it seem smooth to you or is the square-by-square movement too jerky?

Difficulty: Too difficult? Too easy? How far did you get  

And anything else that comes to mind when you're playing it.


Also, I am looking for an artist who might be interested in helping to improve the sprites in this game. They are currently a little simple, and I would like to add some animations as well.


Here's the link!
papacheech.itch.io/flicker

Cheers,
PapaCheech
  


Some screens:

[Quicksand-S]

That was surprisingly cool.

-I liked the music

-I liked the graphics. I didn't mind the simplicity because everything I saw was consistent. That said, the star-field in your screenshot doesn't fit at at all with the low-resolution sprites.

-The gameplay felt tense while not actually being that difficult most of the time. I think of that as a pretty impressive accomplishment. I do wonder if the enemies are as random as they seem, though. I'm pretty sure I've seen some turn around just as they started in a new direction. If they can't be predicted, that would be a negative in my mind.

-I really like the swirly background.

-It ran great.

-I thought the square-by-square movement was ideal for this sort of game.

-The collisions with the yellow goal were sometimes a bit weird. I could often touch it by entering the square above it, but other times it seemed I had to be centered on it for it to activate.

My very first experience with the game was negative/worrying. When I started playing, the sound in my left ear cut out after the title-screen and I thought my headphones had finally broken (ie. I wiggled a broken wire too much and the left earbud no longer worked). That was not a great way to start off. I'd recommend setting up a minimum volume, so you'll hear at least a little bit of sound on the quiet side at the beginning.

You might also notice that I said "left ear". The first time I played, my stereo channels were reversed for some reason. The problem sorted itself out after I died.

Anyway, on my next attempt I got to "level" 12 without having to try too hard. I'm not sure it's a game I'd personally go back to often, but it was fun while I was playing.

[tjcbs]

Great! How did you come up with the music and sfx? They are awesome and add so much to the game.

Runs great. Turn based is perfect, don't change it. I got to 19 after getting over the initial difficulty hump, which didn't take too long. Difficulty seems perfect. Overall I think its awesome.

Only "criticism" so far, and this is really just my preference, but I think the game looks good in spite of the pixel art. I don't like that pixel art has become the default choice. But that is a trend I never really got in the first place.

My personal metric for a good game is how many times it makes me gasp or say "shit" or "fuck". You did well

[tjcbs]

Man those creaky arrows keep getting me for some reason! I can't get past level 19. Forget what I said about the art, it looks great, I was just fed up because looking through the playtesting forum just about *every* game is using pixel art!

[tjcbs]

Wow, in 1 game my best went from 19 to 50! Keep those yawning abyss things, I think they work great. Do they just kill you when you step in?

My initial assumption was that the dark sperm would be repeating your moves from the previous levels. Maybe it would be interesting to have a few of your previous incarnations show up now and then. I'm not sure how you would differentiate their level number from the "hit points" of the other enemies.

[PapaCheech]

That was surprisingly cool.

-I liked the music

-I liked the graphics. I didn't mind the simplicity because everything I saw was consistent. That said, the star-field in your screenshot doesn't fit at at all with the low-resolution sprites.

-The gameplay felt tense while not actually being that difficult most of the time. I think of that as a pretty impressive accomplishment. I do wonder if the enemies are as random as they seem, though. I'm pretty sure I've seen some turn around just as they started in a new direction. If they can't be predicted, that would be a negative in my mind.

-I really like the swirly background.

-It ran great.

-I thought the square-by-square movement was ideal for this sort of game.

-The collisions with the yellow goal were sometimes a bit weird. I could often touch it by entering the square above it, but other times it seemed I had to be centered on it for it to activate.

My very first experience with the game was negative/worrying. When I started playing, the sound in my left ear cut out after the title-screen and I thought my headphones had finally broken (ie. I wiggled a broken wire too much and the left earbud no longer worked). That was not a great way to start off. I'd recommend setting up a minimum volume, so you'll hear at least a little bit of sound on the quiet side at the beginning.

You might also notice that I said "left ear". The first time I played, my stereo channels were reversed for some reason. The problem sorted itself out after I died.

Anyway, on my next attempt I got to "level" 12 without having to try too hard. I'm not sure it's a game I'd personally go back to often, but it was fun while I was playing.

Thanks for the feedback!
With regards to the starfield being 'different', that was kind of what I wa going for... as if a tear has been opened from the 'game' reality into a new reality - ours.

However, thanks for the info about the audio issues - I guess I was blind to them but now that theyre pointed out, I totally see it. It's an issue with the 3D sound system, and I will work on it before full release.

I'm not sure it's a game I'd personally go back to often, but it was fun while I was playing.

Interesting you say that. I am thinking of adding a level system, with different enemies, background, and spawn patterns, that unlock as you get far enough in previous levels. Would that add a bit more longevity do you think?
Thanks for playing!!

[PapaCheech]

Great! How did you come up with the music and sfx? They are awesome and add so much to the game.

Runs great. Turn based is perfect, don't change it. I got to 19 after getting over the initial difficulty hump, which didn't take too long. Difficulty seems perfect. Overall I think its awesome.

Only "criticism" so far, and this is really just my preference, but I think the game looks good in spite of the pixel art. I don't like that pixel art has become the default choice. But that is a trend I never really got in the first place.

My personal metric for a good game is how many times it makes me gasp or say "shit" or "fuck". You did well

Thats my metric too and something I was going for haha.
I made all the sound effects on a micro korg synthesizer. Glad you liked em.

And with regards to the art, I kind of like it too... I just think with a skilled pixel artist they could make it amazing. I get what you mean by pixel art being too prevelent, and everyone using it... but in my cases (and others) I can either use pixel art that looks pretty good, or make actual high res art that looks like shite.

Yep the black holes kill you if you go in. The good thing about them is they thin the board a little, because some of the black shadow guys fall in, but any shadow you create after the black hole comes wont fall in , because they follow your path.

[Danny Hayes]

This is pretty good. It definitely has some elements of the "tetris flow" here.

Here's a few pointers:

I got to level 17, based on the feedback you're getting, it seems a lot of people start dying when the 4x4 enemies appear. They're very difficult to evade when they get close, and I found it difficult to keep track of all the enemies on the screen. When a new enemy appeared, I didn't have much of a chance to learn the new behaviour because I was still concentrating heavily on staying alive.

Something like Bombs to clear away an enemy or two could be nice. Other powerups/debuffs like faster/slower movement for enemies, turning all enemies into the little dark ones, shrinking/growing the playing field, etc. This could be balanced by awarding the player less score for the amount of time it takes to reach the goal, or simply because spending time collecting powerups could see you fail.

But I really like the sound effects and style, nothing wrong with pixel art, but I can see this game having a lot of potential and a lot of ragequits followed by "DAMN. Maybe this time... I SHALL PLAY AGAIN!". Good stuff. 

[Quicksand-S]

I'm not sure it's a game I'd personally go back to often, but it was fun while I was playing.

Interesting you say that. I am thinking of adding a level system, with different enemies, background, and spawn patterns, that unlock as you get far enough in previous levels. Would that add a bit more longevity do you think?

In my case, I think it's just that it's just not the sort of game I'd generally play a lot of. For people who are really into this type, though, it seems really good.

I feel like separate levels might ruin the nice, uninterrupted flow of the gameplay. Personally, I'd just like to see the background and enemies change the farther you get (and maybe a checkpoint system if you want to let people start from the section where they left off), but I suppose individual levels are probably a lot easier to implement. As I said, I'm probably not your target audience, so I'm not sure my input here means that much.

[PapaCheech]

I got to level 17, based on the feedback you're getting, it seems a lot of people start dying when the 4x4 enemies appear. They're very difficult to evade when they get close, and I found it difficult to keep track of all the enemies on the screen. When a new enemy appeared, I didn't have much of a chance to learn the new behaviour because I was still concentrating heavily on staying alive.

Great idea. Perhaps I will slow down the enemy spawning at first, so that you have a chance to learn each enemy. In the demo, I sort of just spawned them all pretty early (by level 25, all the enemies have spawned once). The other thing I really want to work on is enemy balancing (speed vs spawn rate), etc. Perhaps the 4x4 enemy should come later and move a little slower.

Something like Bombs to clear away an enemy or two could be nice. Other powerups/debuffs like faster/slower movement for enemies, turning all enemies into the little dark ones, shrinking/growing the playing field, etc. This could be balanced by awarding the player less score for the amount of time it takes to reach the goal, or simply because spending time collecting powerups could see you fail.

I was thinking this! I wanted to wait to make sure the core game, enemies, etc are working and well balanced, so that I can organically find what powerups would make the game better. Just got to make sure that the game doesn't get too complex in the process. Bombs are an awesome idea, and maybe they could work like they do in bomberman so you have to sort of lure enemies into the trap.

Thanks for the feedback this was much appreciated. Great ideas.

[PapaCheech]

In my case, I think it's just that it's just not the sort of game I'd generally play a lot of. For people who are really into this type, though, it seems really good.

I feel like separate levels might ruin the nice, uninterrupted flow of the gameplay. Personally, I'd just like to see the background and enemies change the farther you get (and maybe a checkpoint system if you want to let people start from the section where they left off), but I suppose individual levels are probably a lot easier to implement. As I said, I'm probably not your target audience, so I'm not sure my input here means that much.

Thanks for that. The biggest design quandry I am at right now is exactly this: Do I add different levels, which would add more content in the users mind, or focus on having a deep, single level experience that changes with every play.
My intuition is telling me to do what you suggested, make the gameplay flow organically each time. This is the most natural way to do it and would keep the game simple. However, my fear in going in this direction is that people will play it once, think they've seen all the game has to offer, and drop the game, even though theres much more under the surface than it seems on first play. levels give the player a feeling of having a goal, a destination while playing. Perhaps it is less organic but it could keep the player playing the game for longer.
So I am still undecided, but your suggestions have been taken to heart. They would definitely provide for much more organic gameplay. Thanks.

[Quicksand-S]

However, my fear in going in this direction is that people will play it once, think they've seen all the game has to offer, and drop the game, even though theres much more under the surface than it seems on first play. levels give the player a feeling of having a goal, a destination while playing. Perhaps it is less organic but it could keep the player playing the game for longer.
So I am still undecided, but your suggestions have been taken to heart. They would definitely provide for much more organic gameplay. Thanks.

With We Want YOU, this is something we did wrong. A lot of people never saw the second stage or an unlockable game mode because they thought the first stage was endless. It's not even that long (10-15min) but as soon as people start to think they've seen everything, many of them won't feel like continuing.

I think what you need to do if you want to have the whole thing be one level is always change things in a way that is obviously designed (as opposed to a potentially random change like a background selection) and has not been seen yet in the game. WWY changes enemies, ground types, etc. but only every in-game "year" which means that during a year it can seem like not much is changing. If you can keep adding new things with every stage of your level, then maybe it'll be clear that there's more to the game.

Having a level/checkpoint-select screen would probably help as well, because players could see exactly how much they have yet to experience.

[PapaCheech]

With We Want YOU, this is something we did wrong. A lot of people never saw the second stage or an unlockable game mode because they thought the first stage was endless. It's not even that long (10-15min) but as soon as people start to think they've seen everything, many of them won't feel like continuing.

I think what you need to do if you want to have the whole thing be one level is always change things in a way that is obviously designed (as opposed to a potentially random change like a background selection) and has not been seen yet in the game. WWY changes enemies, ground types, etc. but only every in-game "year" which means that during a year it can seem like not much is changing. If you can keep adding new things with every stage of your level, then maybe it'll be clear that there's more to the game.

Having a level/checkpoint-select screen would probably help as well, because players could see exactly how much they have yet to experience.

Exactly. I gotta find some way to communicate progress while keeping the gameplay  similar... I'm gonna give your game a play so I can better understand what you mean. Thanks dude!

[tjcbs]

I agree with quicksand, I think that levels would ruin the organic feel. Go with your intuition with this one, I think. I also don't *want* to know how many stages there are, I prefer the mystery. I love the feeling of struggling through a game, finally making to level 100, then "101??? fuuuuuuuu.....". If I knew from the outset that in fact there was 1000 levels, I would get discouraged and give up.

If you want to keep people playing: make it fun! You can't artificially induce people to keep playing (unless you are a mmorpg I guess). And it already is fun! I would continue to add refinements. For example, I *love* the enemies, and how you managed to endow each with a unique personality, largely with sound I think: The malignant and inexorable plusses. The elemental and inexorable big plusses. The erratic and schizoid arrows. The imbecillically hungry caterpillars (a bit louder please, that sound really amused me). I made it to 50, and the last new enemy was maybe 16? Why not steadily introduce new enemies as the game progesses?

A few more (small) suggestions:
Why not try interpolating the wavy background with blending, so it is smooth? It might look very cool.
The player movement is maybe a bit jerky, is there a reason not to interpolate, as you did with the enemies?
Maybe have a faint, ghostly number on the shadows, showing you which stage they are from. (also showing the player that they *are* your previous iterations, which I somehow didn't get for a while).

Also, I think enemies should freeze briefly when you reach a goal. Just now an orbiter(needs a sound, maybe just an eerie, steady tone?) changed course when I got to the goal and ran right into me, and it felt cheap. Also the respite would be an additional reward to the player.

 

[PapaCheech]

I agree with quicksand, I think that levels would ruin the organic feel. Go with your intuition with this one, I think. I also don't *want* to know how many stages there are, I prefer the mystery. I love the feeling of struggling through a game, finally making to level 100, then "101??? fuuuuuuuu.....". If I knew from the outset that in fact there was 1000 levels, I would get discouraged and give up.

good point im going to think on it some more.

If you want to keep people playing: make it fun! You can't artificially induce people to keep playing (unless you are a mmorpg I guess). And it already is fun! I would continue to add refinements. For example, I *love* the enemies, and how you managed to endow each with a unique personality, largely with sound I think: The malignant and inexorable plusses. The elemental and inexorable big plusses. The erratic and schizoid arrows. The imbecillically hungry caterpillars (a bit louder please, that sound really amused me). I made it to 50, and the last new enemy was maybe 16? Why not steadily introduce new enemies as the game progesses?

Thanks that really means alot! The sound was the most important aspect to me.
And yep. others have said that as well. I'm gonna introduce enemies slower, give you a chance to get used to them, and then as you get further into it, it will increase the difficulty and throw different combos of enemy at you.

A few more (small) suggestions:
Why not try interpolating the wavy background with blending, so it is smooth? It might look very cool.

not sure what you mean by this, can you please explain a little more?

The player movement is maybe a bit jerky, is there a reason not to interpolate, as you did with the enemies?

Yep. I need to use integers to keep track of the paths that your shadows walk. I guess I could just convert the whole system to floats and track them based on time and not steps, but I fear that this may be much more memory-intensive. We'll see when I get closer to the end what the best option is.

Maybe have a faint, ghostly number on the shadows, showing you which stage they are from. (also showing the player that they *are* your previous iterations, which I somehow didn't get for a while).

Great idea! Just added it. Then you can track which is which.
With regards to showing the player, that was my intent with the sort of "rewind" they do when they are created. Perhaps I need to come up with a more clever animation or something to illustrate that properly.

Also, I think enemies should freeze briefly when you reach a goal. Just now an orbiter(needs a sound, maybe just an eerie, steady tone?) changed course when I got to the goal and ran right into me, and it felt cheap. Also the respite would be an additional reward to the player.

Good call. I agree, the light should be all-powerful: If you get to it you are guarenteed safe for a short while. Implementing now, this is an easy fix as well.

Thanks for the detailed feedback these are definitely great suggestions that I am keeping in mind, some of which were small enough to implement immediately.

[tjcbs]

not sure what you mean by this, can you please explain a little more?

Sure, it is a technique I love because it is very simple and effective. The idea is to blend the current frame and then next one, based on the current time within the frame. So suppose the current frame A played at time 1.0, and the next frame B is scheduled for time 2.0, and the time right now is 1.2. So instead of simply displaying A, display B with alpha .2 (curTime - startTime)/(endTime - startTime), and A with alpha .8 (1.0 - alphaB).

Yep. I need to use integers to keep track of the paths that your shadows walk. I guess I could just convert the whole system to floats and track them based on time and not steps, but I fear that this may be much more memory-intensive. We'll see when I get closer to the end what the best option is.

Surely it shouldn't be hard to only store the start frame? You *are* using unity, and I have no idea what kind of constraints that imposes. Small point either way.

With regards to showing the player, that was my intent with the sort of "rewind" they do when they are created. Perhaps I need to come up with a more clever animation or something to illustrate that properly.

The animation is good, and I feel like my brain wanted to make that connection, but it happens so quickly, with other stuff going on to worry about, that I didn't. I could very well just be dense To emphasize the point you could play a clock ticking sound during the animation.

[jay-run]

It is very strange when i opened the webplayer.

-The atmosphere is very inspired

-IMHO the graphics maybe must be boosted with player and enemy in mesh 3d (so they are only a sphere or other simple geometric shape, this is easy to implement and maybe with ones simple animation).

-Grid structure is perfect for this type of game, and movement of enemy in conjuction with player is great features
Maybe when player press key direction IMHO avatar must move more fluidly (i don't remember in what game I see it but I see and it was GREAT)

-I don't know why but maybe the sounds has got some problem... I listen in my earphones one sounds left and other types of sounds right, when with avatar i arrive from left or right the sounds arrive from that parts of earphone, it is annoyng in my opinion (i so that it is a part of gameplay but.....is annoying)!

-The concept of light increment when player take the bulb is perfect and it is one of my favourite graphics features of the game.

[PapaCheech]

-IMHO the graphics maybe must be boosted with player and enemy in mesh 3d (so they are only a sphere or other simple geometric shape, this is easy to implement and maybe with ones simple animation).

Good advice. I think I will work on the sprites and adding animation first though. I don't really have any experience with 3D modelling, and I kind of like the purity of the 2d style.

-Grid structure is perfect for this type of game, and movement of enemy in conjuction with player is great features
Maybe when player press key direction IMHO avatar must move more fluidly (i don't remember in what game I see it but I see and it was GREAT)

Yeah I am trying to consider ways I could implement this. The only thing is, if it takes more frames to move the player to the next square, the enemies moving in from other squares have more chance of hitting you. So it means less response time when avoiding enemies. Any thoughts on how I could make that work?

-I don't know why but maybe the sounds has got some problem... I listen in my earphones one sounds left and other types of sounds right, when with avatar i arrive from left or right the sounds arrive from that parts of earphone, it is annoyng in my opinion (i so that it is a part of gameplay but.....is annoying)!

Yeah. I had been playing through speaker mostly, so when I listened with headphones I really noticed the difference too. Its jarring at points. Working on fixing this for my next update.

-The concept of light increment when player take the bulb is perfect and it is one of my favourite graphics features of the game.

Thanks!
I appreciate the detailed feedback. Cheers.


[/quote]

[Quicksand-S]

I'm not sure a switch to 3D would add anything to the game. It might be good practice if you plan to make a 3D game in the future, but like you I'm a fan of the "purity of the 2D style".

The only thing is, if it takes more frames to move the player to the next square, the enemies moving in from other squares have more chance of hitting you. So it means less response time when avoiding enemies. Any thoughts on how I could make that work?

Maybe only calculate hits when the characters are entirely in a square? That way, if you're moving out as the enemy moves in, you won't both be centered in that grid cell at the same time and it won't be a problem.

[PapaCheech]

I'm not sure a switch to 3D would add anything to the game. It might be good practice if you plan to make a 3D game in the future, but like you I'm a fan of the "purity of the 2D style".

The only thing is, if it takes more frames to move the player to the next square, the enemies moving in from other squares have more chance of hitting you. So it means less response time when avoiding enemies. Any thoughts on how I could make that work?

Maybe only calculate hits when the characters are entirely in a square? That way, if you're moving out as the enemy moves in, you won't both be centered in that grid cell at the same time and it won't be a problem.

ß

wow. I just updated the game with your suggestion and it instantly improved the gameplay. Now, if theres a black shadow in a square you want to go into, you can go into that square as it moves away. Makes it feel much better and smoother.
I updated the files on the site with this change implemented, give it another try if you want!