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gerbotha
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« on: November 16, 2014, 09:49:16 AM » |
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The latest play-test version is available for download here: http://www.covertengine.com/ce/?page_id=114If you like games like Marble Madness and Monkey Ball then this one is for you! Please help me out by testing the game, any feedback would be greatly appreciated.   |
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« Last Edit: November 16, 2014, 01:24:07 PM by gerbotha »
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TriPIXILE
Level 0
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« Reply #1 on: November 16, 2014, 01:35:54 PM » |
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Okay first off. There are a few bugs when it comes to the menu screen, specifically when pressing the esc button. sometimes it will go to a black screen with the covert engine website in the corner. Another issue is that when you die and you have to restart the level completely it loads only the sky box.
Other than those issues
This game is nice and fluent and I can see why its called dexterity ball.
It's sort of hard and sometimes when you reset the ball it will still posses momentum from when it fell of the platform and that leads to more falling at the beginning. I think somehow locking it in place for 1 or 2 seconds when re-spawning the ball should fix that.
Graphics are really good. especially the textures.
I noticed that all the platforms that have only the beams in them are
amazingly detailed and this game is unlike many games in the fact that it has more than 4 colors to it.
Be like nintendo and give your games color, I like that concept.
But seriously. I think this game has alot of potential and could become something big as not many games have done a concept like this that I know of.
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gerbotha
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« Reply #2 on: November 16, 2014, 06:56:07 PM » |
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@TriPIXILE – Thanks for your feedback, it helps a lot! I will take your advice to mind. I played on a non-development PC and managed to repeat the issues you point out. I have addressed all of them (I hope) I’m not sure about the menu screen issues. I managed to fix an issue related to pressing ‘Esc’ on the main menu, not sure if it was the same problem you had… I updated the downloadable version to version 0.8.3 and I also added a changelog over here: http://www.covertengine.com/ce/?page_id=212Version 0.8.3 can be downloaded here: http://www.covertengine.com/ce/?page_id=114 |
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debugchicken
Level 1
Out of the sky, into the dirt.
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« Reply #4 on: November 20, 2014, 06:36:37 AM » |
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Played it.
- The application created the a gif O.o it was weird haha
- I didn't see the point in having lifebar.. I mean i can go real slow if I want, picking the cristals.. its not hard.. it just takes time. Its not something challenging thats wht I didn't felt like picking the cristals. I was curious to see what happens when the ball "dies" and there was like an evil laugh... wat ? The game is about a ball that runs, and evil laugh was uncalled for.
- The camera needs beter adjustment. I don't think the zoom that is does on the ball is good when you go below it. Just make a one-way-ground or prevent the camera from getting on a low angle.
Good luck!
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gerbotha
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« Reply #5 on: November 21, 2014, 05:50:01 PM » |
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@mirrorlink - Thanks for the feedback.
The camera motion still needs tweaking, agreed.
The health-bar will come into play for 2 reasons,
1. Levels will become more difficult and you'll be forced to make jumps over platforms which will decrease your health, so you need to be accurate and cannot make too many mistakes.
2. It is basically a race against time, so yes you can take your time but then you will not rank high. Also certain levels has timeout components, forcing you to speed things up.
I'm not sure which level you played, I simply added a very simple beginning level so that players can familiarise themselves with the ball control dynamics. Maybe play some of the other levels and see if you can post a time on the leader-board other than the first level.
Finally, the points you make are certainly valid and I will take them to heart, thanks again for spending the time testing my game, it is much appreciated.
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BSKgames
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« Reply #7 on: November 23, 2014, 06:32:09 AM » |
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I have weakness for game like this, like a lot. As for me hi-res quality skyboxes, more dzen music and it's perfect. And make IT or hideable, or appearing when it needed or make it smaller so you can enjoy the view :D Keep it up, looks amazing!  |
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gerbotha
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« Reply #8 on: November 23, 2014, 11:25:05 PM » |
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I have weakness for game like this, like a lot. As for me hi-res quality skyboxes, more dzen music and it's perfect. And make IT or hideable, or appearing when it needed or make it smaller so you can enjoy the view :D Keep it up, looks amazing! Thanks for the feedback! |
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gerbotha
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« Reply #9 on: November 23, 2014, 11:29:06 PM » |
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Version 0.8.6 is available here - http://www.covertengine.com/ce/dexterity-ball-3d-pc-download/Fixes crash within the menu system when returning from a (sub) menu to previous (parent) menu. I will refine the leaderboard look and feel as well as functionality (hopefully) in version 0.8.7 |
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Quicksand-S
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« Reply #10 on: November 24, 2014, 12:26:21 AM » |
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I've downloaded three versions and only finally got around to playing it. Glad my bandwidth limit's higher than it used to be.
-The default resolution is too tall to fit nicely on my screen in a window. I imagine it's possible to detect screen resolution, but if not then I feel like it would probably be good to go with something that will fit into 1920x1080 in some way.
-Navigating the menus is really slow. I can deal with not having mouse control, although it felt wrong for a game like this (especially since mouse control is in the actual game). My main issue is that everything takes a few seconds to happen. Each screen takes a while to load and the music resets every time. Changing resolutions took so incredibly long that I just gave up on reaching the one I wanted. What is it doing when I select a resolution? It doesn't actually change anything until I apply it, but it still freezes for a second or two every time I hit Left or Right.
-Press A button to continue? I'm playing with my keyboard and mouse. Is that because I have my gamepad plugged in, or is it always going to show a gamepad prompt? (Btw, that prompt covers up the bottom line of the leaderboard) What's more strange is that it shows keyboard controls on the the loading screen.
-I hit Escape to open the menu and it quit to the main menu. If you're not going to have an in-game menu, it might be a good idea to have a confirmation dialog so people don't accidentally lose their progress.
-The numbers in the game look horrible compared to the actual graphics. Everything else has this sort of "clean" look, while the numbers have this skinny, ugly outline (at least in the resolution I was using) and look pixelated. They just don't fit at all, in my opinion.
-The ball's shadow wasn't under the ball. It was what looked to be a few feet away, as if the ball was floating, even though it wasn't.
-The "reflection" of the sky in the ramps just looked like a glitch for a long time. I thought I was seeing through the ground slightly. The objects in the sky weren't actually being reflected, so it didn't occur to me what it was.
-In terms of gameplay, I really liked how it felt to roll around until I realized how many of those tiny crystals there were. It felt like a chore because if your trajectory is even slightly off, it takes so long to get lined up again.
-I also kept bouncing every few seconds for some reason. I couldn't tell if that was to simulate bumpy ground or if it was a physics glitch.
-I felt like the ball picked up speed too quickly. There was no sense of weight. I was just flying around everywhere (and that certainly didn't help with aiming at crystals).
-The music was nice but kept popping and crackling for some reason. It wasn't peaking or anything. The crackles happened when the sound was quiet as often as when it was loud.
-It seems a shame to have jumps in a level but discourage their use because the ball gets damaged so easily.
-The "Stage Cleared" music is so much louder than anything else. I had to turn my volume way down.
-Track 2 just gives me a black screen with a HUD and an endless buzzing sound. I could go back to the menu, so it wasn't frozen. It just didn't load any track for me.
-I tried track 3 with my gamepad. I couldn't rotate the camera, so playing like that was impossible. I did end up shooting a grappling hook into the sky and flying out there endlessly, though, which seems like a bug.
-It would be nice if the game remembered which track I selected last.
-It seems weird that the timer starts long before the ground is even loaded.
-I tried a second time and the text saying "version 0.8.6.0" was glitched up as if there were two copies of the text overlapping. Maybe you've got text built into the loading-screen images?
-There doesn't seem to be a button for resetting with the gamepad. I can shoot, though?
-Playing with the gamepad was pretty much impossible, even just when it came to moving around. I seemed to build up speed even faster than with the keyboard, no matter how little I moved the thumbstick.
-Going back to the keyboard, I could appreciate the design of track 3 although I didn't find it enjoyable because my ball was still flying all over the place (and rotating endlessly even when stationary). There's something weird going on with the rotation. If I rotate the camera clockwise, the ball rotates with it to some degree. If I rotate counter-clockwise, the ball keeps spinning as it was.
-The asteroids in track 3 flickered as I fell past them.
-I like the sound the ball makes when moving. The collision sound is decent too.
-When I quit, I got an error window, "COM object pointer is null"
Personally, I think the game would be much more fun if each track had an ending so you didn't have to get every single crystal unless you really want to be on the top of the leaderboard. 142 on track 3? That seems really excessive to me, but maybe this game just isn't for me. I don't know. I've enjoyed ball-steering games in the past, so I thought I'd like this one. It seems my main issues are the sudden acceleration (lack of weightiness) and the crystal requirement. Apart from those two things, I think I could enjoy this game if the bugs are fixed. The level design seems pretty decent. It could use a little more visual variety, but the actual layouts seem fairly interesting. I briefly tried the last track and it was kinda cool even though I kept flying off platforms. It seems a shame that the ball has so much speed but in order to actually play the levels, you can't really use that speed most of the time.
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gerbotha
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« Reply #11 on: November 25, 2014, 05:49:03 PM » |
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I've downloaded three versions and only finally got around to playing it. Glad my bandwidth limit's higher than it used to be.
-The default resolution is too tall to fit nicely on my screen in a window. I imagine it's possible to detect screen resolution, but if not then I feel like it would probably be good to go with something that will fit into 1920x1080 in some way.
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... @Quicksand-S - Thank you very much for your detailed feedback, it is much appreciated and really helps me a lot. You make very valid points and I'll take them all into consideration. I have already started addressing (just about all) the issues you pointed out and will upload a newer version once I'm done! |
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Quicksand-S
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« Reply #12 on: November 25, 2014, 08:49:18 PM » |
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@Quicksand-S - Thank you very much for your detailed feedback, it is much appreciated and really helps me a lot. You make very valid points and I'll take them all into consideration.
I have already started addressing (just about all) the issues you pointed out and will upload a newer version once I'm done!
Oh wow. I didn't realize just how much I'd written. It's no wonder you had to cut it off in the quote. Anyway, happy to help. Lookin' forward to seeing what the next version is like. |
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Jonsm
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« Reply #13 on: November 26, 2014, 12:04:32 PM » |
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Looks really good, wish I could playtest it but I have a mac...
One thing I noticed in the video is that the textures are extremely detailed, but the platforms are very simple and flat. I think adding a little bit of depth to your platforms (maybe this just means making them thicker) would help make them match up more and make the world more detailed. Otherwise, looks really good!
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gerbotha
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« Reply #14 on: November 26, 2014, 06:04:04 PM » |
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@Quicksand-S - I can deduce from your post that the game is glitching on your system. The timer running (or freezing) for a long time with no level in the scene as well as the excessive wait times on menu actions happens on certain feature level 9_3 gfx cards in fullscreen mode as far as I can tell. I have been able to repeat this behaviour. I just added a known issues & troubleshooting section on my blog - http://www.covertengine.com/ce/dexterity-ball-3d-pc-download/known-issues-troubleshooting/ Please have a look at it in order for a potential workaround. |
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gerbotha
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« Reply #15 on: November 26, 2014, 06:11:55 PM » |
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Looks really good, wish I could playtest it but I have a mac...
One thing I noticed in the video is that the textures are extremely detailed, but the platforms are very simple and flat. I think adding a little bit of depth to your platforms (maybe this just means making them thicker) would help make them match up more and make the world more detailed. Otherwise, looks really good!
A Mac version is possible as it is using MonoGame for parts of the render stack. If this game ever goes anywhere I'll probably release a Mac version as well. I haven't put in any exceptional effort towards levels yet. I'm hoping that someone in the community will throw their hat into the ring in order to get some cool levels done for the game. In fact I need artwork all round, the whole look and feel is in dire need for an overhaul (anyone???  ) What you see at the moment is what you get if you let a programming developer lose on his own! |
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gerbotha
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« Reply #17 on: November 30, 2014, 07:32:17 AM » |
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gerbotha
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« Reply #19 on: December 04, 2014, 03:04:34 PM » |
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This is what happened after my 7 year old daughter got her hands on my game engine and decided to direct and design a level for Dexterity Ball 3D... I just discovered this again whilst cleaning out my workspace folders and thought I'd post it!  (Video link is now fixed!) |
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« Last Edit: December 04, 2014, 03:44:07 PM by gerbotha »
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Developer
