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[Josh Yaxley]

Faerie is a fantasy platformer game that takes you on a charming adventure through a world filled with fairies, spirits, and spikes. With lush pixel art, light touches of humour, and carefully designed levels, Faerie will at once delight and challenge you.

I've been working on this game for half a year, and it feels awesome to be able to finally share what I've done with anyone who wants to play. I don't think I've left my house in a week - I've just been sat coding and trying to fix all the bugs so that I can get this out there and see what people think of it.
 
I've done my best to flesh it out as much as possible, with proper menu screens and options, saving/loading, online leaderboards, cutscenes, and more!
 
Please let me know what you think of the game! And if you know anyone who you think might enjoy it, don't hesitate to send it their way! In fact, if anyone could take the link to this news post and tweet it / share it / carve it into a tree that would be great!


Download links:

Windows (IndieDB)
Android (IndieDB)

Windows (GameJolt)
Android (GameJolt)


Here is a trailer I made for the demo, for people that want to see what the game is like:



And here is an Imgur album of full-size screenshots.

And here are some scaled down:

My vision for Faerie:

• Simple controls
• Non-complex mechanics
• Well-designed levels
• Adventure in an interesting fantasy world
• Retro pixel art graphics
• Different modes to cater to a wide variety of players
• Unique storyline with philosophical elements balanced by touches of humour
• Optional procedurally generated levels for masses of content
• Collectable artifacts for a journal
• Achievements that encourage trying different playstyles
• PC Controller support so you can relax on the sofa
• Local co-op so you can adventure with a friend
• Online leaderboards to encourage competition
• Full support for mobile devices

What kind of feedback do I want?
- Is it fun?
- Is it too hard/easy?
- Did you encounter any bugs?
- Is there anything you would change/add?


Thank you for your time!

[Quicksand-S]

Your download link has a random "title" attribute attached to it, which is messing up the URL.

Anyway, the GIF kinda turned me off of the game (made it look like a "dangerous things come out of nowhere and kill you in annoying ways" game), but the gameplay video made it seem a lot better.


-The splash screen just looks like a big, black rectangle. Is it supposed to be an image? Even when I view the PNG directly, it's just...nothing.

-It was a bit disappointing that the name entry didn't allow for spaces or hyphens.

-Using different resolutions for ground, backgrounds, buttons and prompts is really unappealing to me.

-I wasn't a huge fan of the difficulty levels. I wanted checkpoints, but having obstacles removed as well seemed like too much.

-I would really prefer for the game not to automatically use my gamepad just because it's plugged in.

-A deadzone for gamepad input is pretty important. My character kept walking left whenever I let go of the thumbstick.

-I have a lot of issues with the gamepad control, actually. It seemed to detect Right and Up as the same thing, so I'd walk right and then climb the vine without moving my thumb at all. If I jumped off the vine, I'd almost always jump left or right instead of upward (which I think was at least partially a deadzone issue).

-Keyboard control worked a lot better, but I still really disliked jumping. It seemed like every time I tried to jump over something, it took two tries because the first jump always got the character caught on something.

-The momentum when jumping also feels really strange to me. I feel like either it should have momentum and little or no air-control, or it should let me control my jump entirely. Right now, it just lets me fling myself left or right while in the air and feels overly sensitive.

-The boulder got pushed up against the tree, so I had to reset the level. It might be a good idea to add some sort of short obstacle to stop the boulder from going that far right, or to maybe have it "bounce" off the tree whenever pushed that direction, so the player can get behind it.

-The button doesn't stand out as a button at all to me. Spikes don't really stand out either.

-Later, when you get to a pile of boulders, it's weird that you can go through some while others are solid, and the shade of grey has no bearing on which is which.

-The game crashed just after I hit the final chest in the first area with my sword. The Windows error popup said something about ntdll.dll or something, but I didn't think to write it down before closing it.

-The menus are pretty nice, but I'd like a fullscreen toggle.

-I really liked that boulders could go through portals. I didn't expect that.

-Some of the dialogue in the second area got cut off by the left side of the screen.

-The spikey balls bouncing up and down in the second area are really annoying. They're so random. They'll be bouncing really high for a while, then barely bounce at all. I jumped when the ball was low and it suddenly bounced extra high and hit me. It seems completely unpredictable and irritating.

-I saved a fairy and then died. It wasn't there anymore when I respawned. Do I just completely lose my chance to get extra health if I die?

-Sometimes flower spores are destroyed by wooden floors and other times they aren't?

-While I don't like the music much, I do enjoy the character's sound effects.

-A lot of the dangers don't look dangerous at first glance. The jumping white and grey things? I thought they were just harmless critters. The bumpy ground on a branch? Didn't hurt me when I walked on it, so it seemed fine. Then I fell on it and died because it was apparently a row of spikes. I'm not a big fan of that sort of trial and error, and the spike balls that come out of nowhere without warning don't help matters.


I quit up in the trees in the third area after dying to things that didn't seem like they'd be dangerous.

Overall, I really hate how the character feels to control, but I kinda like the world and find the deer stuff intriguing. Level design seems decent, although maybe with a bit too much focus on portals. If I didn't find it so frustrating to control, I think I'd play more.

[Josh Yaxley]

First of all, thank you very much for taking the time to play my demo, and thank you even more for the detailed critique you've provided. This is all really useful stuff and I appreciate the time that you've taken to write this up.

I'll reply to each of your points in turn below


Your download link has a random "title" attribute attached to it, which is messing up the URL.

Thank you! I completely derped somehow. Fixed now.


Anyway, the GIF kinda turned me off of the game (made it look like a "dangerous things come out of nowhere and kill you in annoying ways" game), but the gameplay video made it seem a lot better.

I have tried to minimise the number of things that 'come out of nowhere' because I feel that that's just a way for designers to increase game length without adding anything to the depth. I know there are a couple of instances where Spike Boulders do drop on / roll at you but these are indicated with a ground effect. I don't want to make a memory game where people have to remember where every trap is in the level. I know you didn't ask a question, I just wanted to share my philosophy on that aspect of the game design.


-The splash screen just looks like a big, black rectangle. Is it supposed to be an image? Even when I view the PNG directly, it's just...nothing.

Splash Screen is work in progress For a reason I couldn't determine, every time I tried to implement one it would get stretched and mangled in horrible ways. Trust me, the black screen is better until this is fixed


-It was a bit disappointing that the name entry didn't allow for spaces or hyphens.

I originally had issues with allowing certain characters for the user id because these were sent to a php script using a GET request, which limits some of the characters you are allowed to use. Now they are sent completely differently, so I think I can lax the restrictions. I don't really like the idea of people putting symbols in their name, but I can definitely make room for " " and "-". Will be an easy fix too!


-Using different resolutions for ground, backgrounds, buttons and prompts is really unappealing to me.

Yup. I need to fix that. I am not a very good artist by any means, but this is something that others have also picked up on that should be improved, and I'll make sure to. Thank you for re-affirming this


-I wasn't a huge fan of the difficulty levels. I wanted checkpoints, but having obstacles removed as well seemed like too much.

There could potentially be room for an "includes checkpoints but keeps all obstacles" difficulty, but I feel like that might bloat the game somewhat. Maybe there should be checkpoints in 'Hard', too.


-I would really prefer for the game not to automatically use my gamepad just because it's plugged in.

I suppose it could be an option you enable/disable, though I would also think that some people would like the responsiveness of being able to plug their controller in and play with it straight away without having to set anything up. Not sure on this one.


-A deadzone for gamepad input is pretty important. My character kept walking left whenever I let go of the thumbstick.

There is a deadzone, but I think I need to increase it! Second report of this. Sorry that I didn't pick up on this beforehand, but I didn't pick up on the problem so I just assumed my deadzone was fine.


-I have a lot of issues with the gamepad control, actually. It seemed to detect Right and Up as the same thing, so I'd walk right and then climb the vine without moving my thumb at all. If I jumped off the vine, I'd almost always jump left or right instead of upward (which I think was at least partially a deadzone issue).

This is probably something that would be fixed by increasing the deadzone, as you mentioned.


-Keyboard control worked a lot better, but I still really disliked jumping. It seemed like every time I tried to jump over something, it took two tries because the first jump always got the character caught on something.

The collisions could do with being more... 'slidier'. Currently when you jump into a wall it kind of vanishes your vertical momentum, which I think is what you're talking about. I have a fix for this, but then there's a chance your character gets "stuck" in rocks and such, and then you can't move at all. I spent a lot of time trying to get the perfect collisions, but they're not their yet, unfortunately. I will be working more on this.


-The momentum when jumping also feels really strange to me. I feel like either it should have momentum and little or no air-control, or it should let me control my jump entirely. Right now, it just lets me fling myself left or right while in the air and feels overly sensitive.

Currently, the left/right movement while in the air should be the same as when on the ground. Maybe I should increase 'air resistance' to make it harder to change direction while in the air. I'll make a change and do some tests!


-The boulder got pushed up against the tree, so I had to reset the level. It might be a good idea to add some sort of short obstacle to stop the boulder from going that far right, or to maybe have it "bounce" off the tree whenever pushed that direction, so the player can get behind it.

This shouldn't be able to happen Did you try jumping over the boulder and landing inbetween the boulder and the tree?


-The button doesn't stand out as a button at all to me. Spikes don't really stand out either.

This is great feedback. I obviously know what everything is supposed to be, so I find it hard to pick up on these things. I'm not sure how to make them stand out more but I'll give it a go.


-Later, when you get to a pile of boulders, it's weird that you can go through some while others are solid, and the shade of grey has no bearing on which is which.

The darker grey boulders are completely solid, while the lighter grey ones should be able to be moved through but also be able to be landed on. If you've found any where this is not the case, please tell me where so I can fix it! I'm pretty sure they all have the right collisions though.


-The game crashed just after I hit the final chest in the first area with my sword. The Windows error popup said something about ntdll.dll or something, but I didn't think to write it down before closing it.

I'm not sure what this one is. Never had the error and can't think why it could be caused. I'll do some research into it. I hate these bugs that are basically impossible to reproduce 


-The menus are pretty nice, but I'd like a fullscreen toggle.

You can get more or less the same effect by setting the resolution to your screen resolution in settings. I can add the toggle though. I originally removed it because I couldn't detect which monitor the game was currently running on and it would always fullscreen on the main monitor. I suppose this isn't a massive issue though.


-I really liked that boulders could go through portals. I didn't expect that.

Most things should be able to go through portals Except bats. That would be horrible. I considered making some horrible spider-portal level where spiders would just leap everywhere and get teleported all over the place, but I thought better of it.


-Some of the dialogue in the second area got cut off by the left side of the screen.

Should be fixable, thanks for pointing it out!


-The spikey balls bouncing up and down in the second area are really annoying. They're so random. They'll be bouncing really high for a while, then barely bounce at all. I jumped when the ball was low and it suddenly bounced extra high and hit me. It seems completely unpredictable and irritating.

I find the best strategy is to go under them. This is definitely one of the harder bits of the game though. I'll do some work to make them bounce more predictably.


-I saved a fairy and then died. It wasn't there anymore when I respawned. Do I just completely lose my chance to get extra health if I die?

The fairy gives an increase to one of your three main stats (Max health, agility, and strength). This increase persists through death, so, if the fairy gave you max health and then you die, for the rest of the game you should respawn with 1 more health than previously.


-Sometimes flower spores are destroyed by wooden floors and other times they aren't?

This is intended, though it will be consistent which branches the spores pass through and which ones they don't. I suppose that's inconsistent, but I guess you could think of it as some flowers being angled a certain way such that their spores miss the branches, will some aren't. Not sure if I want to change this.


-While I don't like the music much, I do enjoy the character's sound effects.

The music is all placeholder at the moment, taken (royalty free) from Incompetech.com. Out of interest, what music would you like to match a game like this?


-A lot of the dangers don't look dangerous at first glance. The jumping white and grey things? I thought they were just harmless critters. The bumpy ground on a branch? Didn't hurt me when I walked on it, so it seemed fine. Then I fell on it and died because it was apparently a row of spikes. I'm not a big fan of that sort of trial and error, and the spike balls that come out of nowhere without warning don't help matters.

As a general rule of thumb, there are no harmless critters. Except the butterflies.
The jumping white and grey things are supposed to be giant spiders (I have limited pixels to work with :p).
The spikes on the branches are supposed to be thorns. Maybe I should make them bigger to be move dangerous.
The spike boulders that come out of nowhere should always be preceded with a warning graphic on the ground that you can watch out for!


I quit up in the trees in the third area after dying to things that didn't seem like they'd be dangerous.




Overall, I really hate how the character feels to control, but I kinda like the world and find the deer stuff intriguing. Level design seems decent, although maybe with a bit too much focus on portals. If I didn't find it so frustrating to control, I think I'd play more.

There are a lot of portals in the 2nd level (3rd level if you count the tutorial). Sorry, I got carried away! I will work on making the controls less frustrating, are the two main things (1) left/right motion while in the air, and (2) getting caught on things while jumping so having to jump again?

Sorry for the long post! I do really appreciate you spending the time to provide this great feedback I've made a note of it all so that I don't forget any of your points! Would you mind if, once I've pushed a build that will work on some of these issues, particularly the controls, I sent you a PM letting you know in case you want to try again?

Thanks again!

[Quicksand-S]

There could potentially be room for an "includes checkpoints but keeps all obstacles" difficulty, but I feel like that might bloat the game somewhat. Maybe there should be checkpoints in 'Hard', too.

This is just my personal way of thinking about it, but I feel like lack of checkpoints doesn't make a game any harder, just more tedious.

I suppose it could be an option you enable/disable, though I would also think that some people would like the responsiveness of being able to plug their controller in and play with it straight away without having to set anything up. Not sure on this one.

I tend to just check what the player tries to use (maybe just on the menu or title screen, but I suppose you could check at any point). If they haven't touched their controller at all, then I won't use its input for anything.

There is a deadzone, but I think I need to increase it! Second report of this. Sorry that I didn't pick up on this beforehand, but I didn't pick up on the problem so I just assumed my deadzone was fine.

It may just be that my controller is older than most and the sticks are a bit too loose. An INI setting might be enough for me, personally, but a menu option would be nice.

The collisions could do with being more... 'slidier'. Currently when you jump into a wall it kind of vanishes your vertical momentum, which I think is what you're talking about. I have a fix for this, but then there's a chance your character gets "stuck" in rocks and such, and then you can't move at all. I spent a lot of time trying to get the perfect collisions, but they're not their yet, unfortunately. I will be working more on this.

I learned about movement and collisions from looking at the "Grandma Engine" for an earlier version of Game Maker. It used loops in such a way that collisions were checked pixel-by-pixel and the movement was still "slidey" when you jumped against walls or ceilings. I'm pretty sure it's essentially the way most people handle things these days. It's very easy to implement the basic version of the code and not that hard to optimize quite a bit, either. If you can't track it down, let me know and I'll give you more info about how it works.

Currently, the left/right movement while in the air should be the same as when on the ground. Maybe I should increase 'air resistance' to make it harder to change direction while in the air.

If I press "right" on the ground and then release it, I stop moving right. If I press "right" in the air and then release it, I continue moving right until I hit the ground. I personally feel like air resistance after a key release is most important, because makes precise landings a bit easier if the character slows down when you try to stop.

This shouldn't be able to happen Did you try jumping over the boulder and landing inbetween the boulder and the tree?

Yep. With a later boulder, that worked fine. It was only the very first boulder that had that issue for me.

The darker grey boulders are completely solid, while the lighter grey ones should be able to be moved through but also be able to be landed on. If you've found any where this is not the case, please tell me where so I can fix it! I'm pretty sure they all have the right collisions though.

It's possible. At that point, it hadn't been made clear that I could drop down through certain boulders, so I didn't try. Maybe the player should be forced into a situation early on where they have to drop through one, or jump up through one, in order to progress.

You can get more or less the same effect (as a fullscreen toggle) by setting the resolution to your screen resolution in settings. I can add the toggle though. I originally removed it because I couldn't detect which monitor the game was currently running on and it would always fullscreen on the main monitor. I suppose this isn't a massive issue though.

It seemed to run in full-screen for me. The reason I wanted a toggle was so that I could play in windowed mode. Are you sure you removed full-screen?

The fairy gives an increase to one of your three main stats (Max health, agility, and strength).

Ah, I didn't catch that or even realize that I had stats other than health.

This is intended, though it will be consistent which branches the spores pass through and which ones they don't. I suppose that's inconsistent, but I guess you could think of it as some flowers being angled a certain way such that their spores miss the branches, will some aren't. Not sure if I want to change this.

That's a bit weird, but at least players can easily see whether or not they're going through specific platforms.

Out of interest, what music would you like to match a game like this?

Good question. I have an idea of what I'd expect...but can't figure out what game I'm thinking of. I do think Elliot Quest has pretty fitting music, though: https://michaelchaitmusic.bandcamp.com/album/elliot-quest-soundtrack

The spike boulders that come out of nowhere should always be preceded with a warning graphic on the ground that you can watch out for!

I don't remember seeing any warning graphic. Maybe it isn't noticeable enough if the player doesn't already know it's coming. It would probably be a good idea to have the warning show up in an area that the player's eye is already likely to be drawn to. It may also make sense to first teach the player about that mechanic in a safer environment, but if players see the warning that's probably be enough.

Would you mind if, once I've pushed a build that will work on some of these issues, particularly the controls, I sent you a PM letting you know in case you want to try again?

That's fine with me. I won't promise that I'll be able/willing to give it another try when the time comes, but it seems likely.

[Josh Yaxley]

I collated the feedback I've gotten so far and thought I'd push another build with a lot of the fixes that have been suggested. The download link is the same.

List of changes from previous build:

• The cursor is now only shown during menu screens.
• "Less Hard" has been renamed "Normal", and its description now recommends it as the starting difficulty.
• The deadzone for Xbox controllers has been increased.
• It is no longer possible to get the first boulder in the tutorial level stuck under the branch of a tree.
• A temporary splash screen has been added, to replace the 'black box' of before.
• Rejoice! Players can now use hyphens and spaces in their leaderboard names.
• Resolution of sky and fairy dust backgrounds have been adjusted. Trees and bonfires will be adjusted in a future build.
• Xbox controllers will no longer vibrate if they have not been used for any controls in the current session.
• Players should less often get caught on walls when trying to jump over them.
• Proper air resistance has arrived! Horizontal movement of players will now decrease much quicker when the player is in the
• air and there is no left/right input.
• Buttons have been made more button-y.
• Spikes now have a slight 'shining' animation to make them stand out more.
• It is no longer possible for in-game dialogue to get cut off slightly by the edges of the screen.
• The spike boulders on the second level, that are thrown up and down by the wind, will now travel more predictably.
• Thorns are now 100% more thorny… thornier… more thornsome… they're bad!
• The ground graphic that warns there is a spike boulder nearby is now more opaque and visible.
• Save slot buttons will now say "Start Game" instead of their usual label if there is no existing save data in that slot.
• Arrow keys can no longer be used for player movement. WASD is the way forward… literally!

[Quicksand-S]

I didn't try the gamepad control, but my gamepad is plugged in and didn't cause problems, so that's good at least.

Handling feels better, although in certain situations I still seem to fly sideways when falling. I think there's also an issue with some of the level design. A lot of the floating platforms are close enough together that I can't just hold left/right and jump from one to the next. I have to let go and then move slightly backward in order to line up properly. It takes a lot of the enjoyment out of jumping around.

The bridges are really irritating to walk on because the character often can't walk up the slanted sides.

The blind drop above the huge fire in 1-3 was annoying. I know I can drop down branch by branch, but even then I can't actually see the branch when I'm up above.

The spikes at the beginning of 1-4 don't really stand out at all.

If I fall from a high height, my character stops a few pixels above the ground before actually dropping to the ground properly.

It's showing me XBox button prompts instead of keyboard keys. Might want to tie that to the same code that says it's okay to vibrate the controller.

I hope the boulder-pushing sound is temporary. I'm pushing a rock on grass and it sounds like it's scraping along metal.

My character is sliding down a hill as I write this. It's not even steep. He just moves a couple of pixels every second.

There's no warning about the spiky boulder in level 1 that rolls down the hill toward you. I thought that was one of the places that would have a warning. Personally, I think it should be visible before it starts rolling.

That tree that the boulder rolls from behind is 1px above the ground (one actual one, as opposed to a scaled-up pixel). The main tree sprite is also somehow misaligned with the lighting layer on the tree by 1px.

Shortly after that hill, there's a boulder you have to jump on, then you jump left to a branch, and right to a higher branch. It's frustrating that if I jump straight up while on the boulder, I'm maybe a pixel away from reaching the branch above. Why not make it higher so it's more obvious that it's not just broken?

The changes to the big rock pile are good. It's much more clear now.

Buttons are a bit more button-y, but still don't stand out because there's already a lot of pink in the world.

The dialogue doesn't interest me in the slightest and at the start of the game, I find it really annoying. It just goes on far too long and I can't do anything while they're talking. In 1-3, I was able to move during one bit of dialogue and it felt much better.


I rage-quit on 1-2 when, once again, I just tapped "A" lightly while dropping from a falling platform and went flying sideways into spikes with no apparent air resistance as I let go of the key and wondered what had happened.

It's certainly a big improvement over the last version, but I'm hoping you'll overhaul the movement/collisions at some point because if moving in a platformer doesn't feel good then it diminishes everything else in the game.

[Josh Yaxley]

I'll respond to the rest of your points in the morning, but just before I go to bed:


The blind drop above the huge fire in 1-3 was annoying. I know I can drop down branch by branch, but even then I can't actually see the branch when I'm up above.

You can hold shift or left trigger to look below you.

There's no warning about the spiky boulder in level 1 that rolls down the hill toward you. I thought that was one of the places that would have a warning. Personally, I think it should be visible before it starts rolling.



The circled bit is the indicator. The ground is supposed to be fractured.
(Ignore the weird colours and background - doing some playing around)


The changes to the big rock pile are good. It's much more clear now.

There were no changes


The dialogue doesn't interest me in the slightest and at the start of the game, I find it really annoying. It just goes on far too long and I can't do anything while they're talking. In 1-3, I was able to move during one bit of dialogue and it felt much better.

In options, you can enable "Skip Cutscenes".
EDIT: Oh, and you can Right-Click or Right Trigger to speed up cutscenes


It's certainly a big improvement over the last version, but I'm hoping you'll overhaul the movement/collisions at some point because if moving in a platformer doesn't feel good then it diminishes everything else in the game.

I'm currently using the in-built physics engine in Game Maker (which is based on Box2D). It's not been as helpful as I first thought it would be tbh. A complete overhaul would take a *lot* of development time, though (obviously worth it if it's a widespread concern, but I think need to hear some more reports on how people feel the controls are and such).

[Quicksand-S]

You can hold shift or left trigger to look below you.

Oops. Forgot about that. Ok.

The circled bit is the indicator. The ground is supposed to be fractured.
(Ignore the weird colours and background - doing some playing around)

Wow. I would not have noticed that in the image if you hadn't circled it.

The changes to the big rock pile are good. It's much more clear now.

There were no changes

That's...strange. The first time I played, I'm almost positive I was jumping on solid boulders. This time, the ONLY way up was by jumping up through the non-solid ones.

In options, you can enable "Skip Cutscenes".
EDIT: Oh, and you can Right-Click or Right Trigger to speed up cutscenes

I know I can right-click but it takes forever. I didn't realize I could just turn them off. Anyway, my main point is that dialogue needs to draw people in and if players get bored during the very first cutscene, they probably won't pay attention to what comes later (like what happened with me), and then all the work you put into the story and writing is wasted.

I'm currently using the in-built physics engine in Game Maker (which is based on Box2D). It's not been as helpful as I first thought it would be tbh.

Hmm... You're using it for everything? I wouldn't recommend it for the characters. For things like rolling boulders, it's great, but not for player movement. You don't seem to have enough control over collisions/interactions with Box2D, from my experience with it.

A complete overhaul would take a *lot* of development time

Well, you can write the sort of movement system I talked about earlier in a few minutes. The only thing that's slightly annoying (if I remember right) is making non-Box2D characters interact with Box2D objects, but it's possible. Personally, I avoid Box2D altogether these days.

[Josh Yaxley]

Handling feels better, although in certain situations I still seem to fly sideways when falling. I think there's also an issue with some of the level design. A lot of the floating platforms are close enough together that I can't just hold left/right and jump from one to the next. I have to let go and then move slightly backward in order to line up properly. It takes a lot of the enjoyment out of jumping around.

Is there no enjoyment from successfully timing the jumps/landings?


The bridges are really irritating to walk on because the character often can't walk up the slanted sides.

Yeah this irks me as well. Tried several times to fix it. The player gets an upward boost whenever they're walking up a slope to aid them, however, if I make it too large then they get airtime when they leave the top of the ramp which is also really weird.


If I fall from a high height, my character stops a few pixels above the ground before actually dropping to the ground properly.

This is the character bouncing slightly. I suppose it could be removed, but I kept it in because it seems realistic to me.


It's showing me XBox button prompts instead of keyboard keys. Might want to tie that to the same code that says it's okay to vibrate the controller.

Good catch, should definitely be changed.


I hope the boulder-pushing sound is temporary. I'm pushing a rock on grass and it sounds like it's scraping along metal.

This sound was a really hard one to make/choose. I want them to have a sound effect, because otherwise it feels 'empty' when you push them, but making/finding a good/appropriate one has proven difficult.


My character is sliding down a hill as I write this. It's not even steep. He just moves a couple of pixels every second.

Not massively easy to fix, but also not a huge deal. I don't think players will just stop on a hill for ages to the point that it will make a difference. Aesthetically, it's a bit annoying, but like I said it hasn't been massively easy to fix.


That tree that the boulder rolls from behind is 1px above the ground (one actual one, as opposed to a scaled-up pixel). The main tree sprite is also somehow misaligned with the lighting layer on the tree by 1px.

All the trees are going to be completely redone.


Shortly after that hill, there's a boulder you have to jump on, then you jump left to a branch, and right to a higher branch. It's frustrating that if I jump straight up while on the boulder, I'm maybe a pixel away from reaching the branch above. Why not make it higher so it's more obvious that it's not just broken?

With more agility, you could make a jump like that. However, at that point, you haven't had the chance to gain any agility. Maybe I should make it higher to avoid that. Might also consider reducing the player's jump height slightly.


Buttons are a bit more button-y, but still don't stand out because there's already a lot of pink in the world.

They make a noise when you walk on/off them as well, which should help. Not sure what I would recolour them to if I was going to.


I rage-quit on 1-2 when, once again, I just tapped "A" lightly while dropping from a falling platform and went flying sideways into spikes with no apparent air resistance as I let go of the key and wondered what had happened.

Is this the bit where you need to land in the portal that's just above the spikes? If so, I'm going to make this portal sideways so that it's easier to land in. I'll also test with some higher air resistance, but it gets to a point where it just doesn't seem realistic (I know the height of the jump and being able to change direction mid-jump is already unrealistic, but there should be a line somewhere).


I know I can right-click but it takes forever. I didn't realize I could just turn them off. Anyway, my main point is that dialogue needs to draw people in and if players get bored during the very first cutscene, they probably won't pay attention to what comes later (like what happened with me), and then all the work you put into the story and writing is wasted.

I haven't had much feedback about the story really. I think most people are just ignoring it, which is a shame. Action platformers don't generally have that rich a story - people mainly want to play them for the gameplay. I really want to be able to bring story elements to Faerie without interrupting the gameplay too much. Out of interest, have you been checking the journal at all?


Hmm... You're using it for everything? I wouldn't recommend it for the characters. For things like rolling boulders, it's great, but not for player movement. You don't seem to have enough control over collisions/interactions with Box2D, from my experience with it.

Pretty much everything uses it, but I have a lot of my own code that tailors it in certain ways. The thing is, I have some feedback saying that they found it really good to control and such. Hesitant to change things to please one half and then upset the other half in the process. Not too sure what to do about it to be honest. Same with other things, some people like the graphics, some don't. I suppose with graphics I can probably find something that everyone likes.




Thanks again for all the great feedback, you've been so useful!

[Quicksand-S]

Is there no enjoyment from successfully timing the jumps/landings?

Not for me. I do enjoy running and jumping straight through a hole in a tree, but when it comes to adjusting my character for every single jump between tiny platforms, I just find it tedious. I feel like I'm fighting the controls. If it was only once in a while, maybe I wouldn't mind so much.

The bridges are really irritating to walk on because the character often can't walk up the slanted sides.

Yeah this irks me as well. Tried several times to fix it. The player gets an upward boost whenever they're walking up a slope to aid them, however, if I make it too large then they get airtime when they leave the top of the ramp which is also really weird.

One of the many issues with using a normal physics engine for characters in a game like this, I guess. Maybe you need to simulate a walking motion with invisible objects or something (ex. blocks rotating around the character's central axis that would catch on the slope and lift the character up).

This is the character bouncing slightly. I suppose it could be removed, but I kept it in because it seems realistic to me.

It would probably seem all right to me too, except that I never see the character hit the ground before they bounce. They just stop in mid-air, which looks more like a collision bug than a bounce.

I hope the boulder-pushing sound is temporary. I'm pushing a rock on grass and it sounds like it's scraping along metal.

This sound was a really hard one to make/choose. I want them to have a sound effect, because otherwise it feels 'empty' when you push them, but making/finding a good/appropriate one has proven difficult.

Yeah, I agree that they need a sound effect, but something that involves grass would probably work better. Maybe a "walking through long grass" sound could be altered to loop nicely. You could also potentially add a "scraping through soil" sound to it.

With more agility, you could make a jump like that. However, at that point, you haven't had the chance to gain any agility. Maybe I should make it higher to avoid that. Might also consider reducing the player's jump height slightly.

Reducing the jump height would probably require you to change a ton of stuff, because holes in trees during the early levels are already often near the maximum height of the player's jump.

On a related note, is there somewhere that I can see my stats? I haven't actually checked because I keep forgetting that I have them.

I rage-quit on 1-2 when, once again, I just tapped "A" lightly while dropping from a falling platform and went flying sideways into spikes with no apparent air resistance as I let go of the key and wondered what had happened.

Is this the bit where you need to land in the portal that's just above the spikes? If so, I'm going to make this portal sideways so that it's easier to land in. I'll also test with some higher air resistance, but it gets to a point where it just doesn't seem realistic (I know the height of the jump and being able to change direction mid-jump is already unrealistic, but there should be a line somewhere).

Yep. That's the place. As for "realism", I tend to think you should pick a style people are already used to and try to make it similar to that. Doing your own thing when it comes to handling has the potential to throw off players, and in a simple platformer (as opposed to some weird, artsy game) there's no reason for that.

I haven't had much feedback about the story really. I think most people are just ignoring it, which is a shame. Action platformers don't generally have that rich a story - people mainly want to play them for the gameplay. I really want to be able to bring story elements to Faerie without interrupting the gameplay too much. Out of interest, have you been checking the journal at all?

If people are ignoring it, that might be because it's a slog to go through. Personally, I probably would have read more of it if the text for each character appeared all at once instead of character-by-character.

Journal? If that's accessed through the menu, I don't really go into the menu until it's time to rage-quit.   If it's accessed some other way, I haven't looked at the controls so I haven't checked it.

The thing is, I have some feedback saying that they found it really good to control and such. Hesitant to change things to please one half and then upset the other half in the process. Not too sure what to do about it to be honest. Same with other things, some people like the graphics, some don't. I suppose with graphics I can probably find something that everyone likes.

You think so? I'm pretty sure you're never going to please everyone when it comes to personal preferences. The main issue with using Box2D for everything is that it's not working properly in a lot of cases. If players get briefly stuck on things or can't walk up certain slopes, that's not really a matter of preference. Those are actual problems. People might like how the jumping feels or something, but you can get the same feeling a number of ways so their statements can't necessarily be taken as an endorsement of Box2D itself.

As far as the graphics, they're personally not appealing to me but as long as I know which things are solid and which things are dangerous, I don't really need to comment on the style (although resolution issues bug me enough that I always have to mention them).

[Josh Yaxley]

Yeah, I agree that they need a sound effect, but something that involves grass would probably work better. Maybe a "walking through long grass" sound could be altered to loop nicely. You could also potentially add a "scraping through soil" sound to it.

Fixed.


On a related note, is there somewhere that I can see my stats? I haven't actually checked because I keep forgetting that I have them.

On my to-do list to include your stats in the Pause menu.


As far as the graphics, they're personally not appealing to me but as long as I know which things are solid and which things are dangerous, I don't really need to comment on the style (although resolution issues bug me enough that I always have to mention them).

Fixed most of the resolution issues in the new build. However, I'm a bit unsure on what I should do about the menu buttons and the fonts. Personally, I think they look fine and fit in. The buttons have twice the resolution of everything else, as does the "old scrawl"-type menu font. If I reduced the resolution of the font it would lose readability.





The new build is available from the same download link as before:

And here is a full list of changes in the new build:

•    Boulders have remembered that they are heavy.   
•    You can now only drag the game window when in the menus or the game is paused.   
•    You can now play without a mouse! 'Q' will attack, while 'E' will skip dialogue and interact.   
•    Xbox controller tutorial messages will now only show up if the controller has been used.   
•    Boulders have also remembered they are on soil, and will make sounds appropriately.   
•    A couple of teasing branches in 1-1 that were just out of reach have now been told off and will now be definitely out of reach.   
•    More air resistance! Less awkward falls.   
•    The 'down' on the left analogue stick of Xbox controllers is now less sensitive, so that players will no longer accidentally fall down from branches.   
•    Spike boulders will no longer magically appear out of nowhere, and will now magically appear out of portals.   
•    The sound of a crackling fire or rushing wind will no longer sometimes persist between levels.   
•    Bats have remembered that they need to flap their wings to stay aloft.   
•    The background has been replaced with more fitting trees of an appropriate resolution.   
•    The portal in 1-2 that is just above the spikes has been turned on its side so that it is easier to land in.   
•    Fires and large boulders now have more pixels.   
•    Spikes are now one pixel sharper - watch out!   
•    The Shadowdeer has installed an extra branch behind him.   
•    It is now darker in the Fairy Grove (tutorial level).   

If you haven't had a go yet, then I would love it if you could try it out and let me know what you think

[CarbonHack]

Hi Josh,

first of all, really nice input, grats! My first impressions, after about 30min gameplay session are definetely positive. The game has delightful atmosphere, soft and simple sync music mixes really well with sweet retro-pastel art style and lighthearted story. Dialogues are well written, with nice dose of wit and light humor, and I loved small satyrical winks to gender aspects of adventure games. Levels are entertaining, not too simple but also not too hard - ideally suits "soft" and "light" style of the game. Also, portal mechanics is great, with a lot of cool, imaginative ideas of how to use it in challenging way.
 
If anything, I would maybe change something in dialogue text visibility. Sometimes it blends with the background, making those dialogues little difficult to read.

But overall, I enjoyed your game pretty much! Good job!

[Josh Yaxley]

Thank you for the feedback CarbonHack, I'm glad you enjoyed playing Faerie

I'm going to try having a semi-transparent textbox behind dialogue and see what that looks like.



Anyone who downloaded Faerie between yesterday and now, might want to re-download it. Yesterday's version was broken and won't connect to the leaderboards. Updated the download links with the working version. Oops.

[jthespacec]

Hey.

There's a lot of solid stuff going on the game. Good humour. Charming style.

By way of general feedback, I'd say it's lacking an 'x-factor' though. Nothing is making me want to keep going for more, really. Something like satisfying kills or (in games in general) a fun core mechanic would be important to nail and figure out for yourself. Just if you ask me. Honest feedback is more helpful I think.

For me, I got stuck on the game around the very tall tree with the portal on its right side. Couldn't get past it and I gave up. Obviously I just didn't figure something out, but there's your stopping point to look at.

It was there I noticed that your parallax was doing something strange. Your far back layers are moving quicker than your nearer layers. This is the opposite to normal so seems strange. It's what you want if you want to convey that your character is turning inside the world, but generally you don't want that because it can be disorienting. I actually got a bit dizzy moving around the high point of the tall tree and looking at the layers moving in unexpected ways.

Hope that's helpful
Kevin

[Quicksand-S]

Yeah, the parallax is pretty weird and it's more noticeable with the new graphics.

In level 1-4:

-Jumping from a slope over a spike ball is terrifying because the physics often don't work properly in that situation.
-The armadillo things are no threat at all. Also, I think their hit-boxes stay tall when they roll, which is a bit weird.
-The two reanimated fairies, right after the dialogue about them, were at the same coordinates so I hit one and then was surprised there was another one in the same spot that hit me.
-The part with the vines attached to a branch you can't jump up to is a bit clearer now, but there's a weird camera wobble when climbing down.
-Only one in every four or five spiders actually seems to damage me on contact.
-The part with the spikes that move in sort of a wave is incredibly annoying. Most games make it based on the player's running speed. In this case, if I move slowly I get killed and if I move at my normal speed I get killed too.


Other notes:

-The new background trees are similar enough in shade to the foreground that their branches often look like I can jump onto them.
-Some dialogue repeats when I die and play through the level again, while other dialogue does not. It seems like the second method would be preferred except in situations where you need the dialogue in order understand how to progress.
-I like the new sound effects.


I stopped at the wave of spikes in the old version, and stopped at the same spot in this version.

[Josh Yaxley]

There's a lot of solid stuff going on the game. Good humour. Charming style.

Charming and witty is what I'm aiming for, so that's good to hear

By way of general feedback, I'd say it's lacking an 'x-factor' though. Nothing is making me want to keep going for more, really. Something like satisfying kills or (in games in general) a fun core mechanic would be important to nail and figure out for yourself. Just if you ask me. Honest feedback is more helpful I think.

Since I read this, I've been racking my brains thinking about what the 'X-factor' is or could be. My aim has always been "simple mechanics but level/enemy design gives gameplay with depth" - that's not exactly a 'WOW' thing though. I'm excited about the procedural generation I'll be adding in the future, though I suppose that isn't a very unique feature.

For me, I got stuck on the game around the very tall tree with the portal on its right side. Couldn't get past it and I gave up. Obviously I just didn't figure something out, but there's your stopping point to look at.

Yeah several people have mentioned they didn't know what to do at this point. The idea is that you roll the boulder backwards which then enables you to reach a portal that you previously couldn't, and this takes you to the last part of the level. I've just fixed it to make it less confusing (I've added an extra portal at that point which takes you backwards for you, so you know where you're supposed to be going at that point). This fix will appear in the next build

It was there I noticed that your parallax was doing something strange. Your far back layers are moving quicker than your nearer layers. This is the opposite to normal so seems strange. It's what you want if you want to convey that your character is turning inside the world, but generally you don't want that because it can be disorienting. I actually got a bit dizzy moving around the high point of the tall tree and looking at the layers moving in unexpected ways.

Yeah, the parallax is pretty weird and it's more noticeable with the new graphics.

I can't work this out then. Here's a gif of the parallax:



The thicker trees of a darker brown are the closest trees, and these move quicker than the "greyer", thinner trees, do they not? Is this how it is supposed to be? I definitely got confused when I was implementing it - I thought I had it backwards at one point, so then I changed it to this. Weird - can't work it out.

- Jumping from a slope over a spike ball is terrifying because the physics often don't work properly in that situation.

I'm not sure what you mean by this. Jumping/walking on slopes should work as expected.

-The armadillo things are no threat at all. Also, I think their hit-boxes stay tall when they roll, which is a bit weird.

I suppose they're not a threat as you can just jump over them and continue on your way. You get treasure for killing them though!

When they are fully rolling their hit-boxes are adjusted, when they are curling in or out they have the standing hitbox. Will be changing it so that the hitbox updates frame by frame.

-The two reanimated fairies, right after the dialogue about them, were at the same coordinates so I hit one and then was surprised there was another one in the same spot that hit me.

Annoying when this happens. Most objects activate when they become within a certain distance of the view/player. So the two skeleton fairies start off apart, but when the player gets close enough to one of them, that one will activate before the other, meaning that they can "join up" depending on how the player moves at a certain point in the level. It doesn't seem to happen to me often. Annoying though.

-The part with the vines attached to a branch you can't jump up to is a bit clearer now, but there's a weird camera wobble when climbing down.

When you climb down a vine, the camera automatically looks down for you. This means if you climb down bit by bit in steps, the camera will go up and down as it turns "look down" on and off. Is this what was happening?

-Only one in every four or five spiders actually seems to damage me on contact.

I can't seem to emulate this. Were you recently damaged when this happened? When you take a hit and start flashing, you have a grace period of invulnerability, where you can't be damaged (unless by 1-shots) and you can move through enemies.

-The part with the spikes that move in sort of a wave is incredibly annoying. Most games make it based on the player's running speed. In this case, if I move slowly I get killed and if I move at my normal speed I get killed too.

It used to be that you could run through them at normal pace and be fine. I'll see if I can tweak something to make this the case again. I normally start by 'jumping' into the gap in the formation (before the closest spike is fully up so it can actually be jumped over), then there isn't much further to move before you're out of it. I've also seen people to the "move a bit, wait a bit, repeat" method too.

-The new background trees are similar enough in shade to the foreground that their branches often look like I can jump onto them.

Yeah I wasn't sure how faded they needed to be. After having playing with them for a bit I think I do need to turn them down.

-Some dialogue repeats when I die and play through the level again, while other dialogue does not. It seems like the second method would be preferred except in situations where you need the dialogue in order understand how to progress.

Yeah I could probably make all the flavour dialogue non-repeating. At the moment I just make sure that the ones that force you to stand still don't repeat.

-I like the new sound effects.

They like you, too!



Thank you very much (as usual) for the feedback. Been getting a lot of useful stuff from this thread

[Quicksand-S]

I can't work this out then. Here's a gif of the parallax:



The thicker trees of a darker brown are the closest trees, and these move quicker than the "greyer", thinner trees, do they not? Is this how it is supposed to be? I definitely got confused when I was implementing it - I thought I had it backwards at one point, so then I changed it to this. Weird - can't work it out.

Two issues:

-The sky moves more than the trees even those it's farther away.
-The background trees move more than the foreground.

Note that I say "more". I would recommend thinking about parallax not as things moving at different speeds, but things moving different amounts relative to one another. Foreground should move more than background unless the whole environment is moving (through space or something).

On a related note, the parallax also looks a little bit "loose" like it takes a frame or two to catch up to the camera movement or something, but that might be my imagination.

- Jumping from a slope over a spike ball is terrifying because the physics often don't work properly in that situation.

I'm not sure what you mean by this. Jumping/walking on slopes should work as expected.

If I move down certain slopes, my character slides and bounces along so when I go to jump I worry that it won't register if I happen to randomly be in the air at that point.

When you climb down a vine, the camera automatically looks down for you. This means if you climb down bit by bit in steps, the camera will go up and down as it turns "look down" on and off. Is this what was happening?

Yeah, but it's in a place where there doesn't seem to be anything below to look at, so I expected the camera to be blocked by the bottom of the level. It's probably more of a level-design thing than a camera issue, I guess.

It might be worth considering a delay before moving the camera down, so if someone is adjusting their position slightly, the camera doesn't go flying downward the instant they touch a key.

I can't seem to emulate this. Were you recently damaged when this happened? When you take a hit and start flashing, you have a grace period of invulnerability, where you can't be damaged (unless by 1-shots) and you can move through enemies.

Nope. I was just walking along or jumping toward holes in trees and the spiders jumped right through me.

-The part with the spikes that move in sort of a wave is incredibly annoying. Most games make it based on the player's running speed. In this case, if I move slowly I get killed and if I move at my normal speed I get killed too.

It used to be that you could run through them at normal pace and be fine. I'll see if I can tweak something to make this the case again. I normally start by 'jumping' into the gap in the formation (before the closest spike is fully up so it can actually be jumped over), then there isn't much further to move before you're out of it. I've also seen people to the "move a bit, wait a bit, repeat" method too.

I did both those things for the spikes that alternate, but the "wave" of spikes that's constantly in motion got me killed every single time, no matter what I tried. It seems the only way I might be able to get through is by pausing for half a second right in the middle, but it's too frustrating to die and have to make my way back there to try again.

[Josh Yaxley]

Ah I think I've got the parallax now. I was moving the backgrounds backwards when I should've been moving them forwards (just not as much as the player is moving forwards).

Does this look right:



?

(Note also that those are the new "more faded" tree backgrounds. Hopefully less easily confused for actual branches you can jump on).

I'm not sure about the "loose-ness" of the parallax that you mention. I can't seem to spot it anyway.


If I move down certain slopes, my character slides and bounces along so when I go to jump I worry that it won't register if I happen to randomly be in the air at that point.

Ah yeah I can see why you'd be scared. Fear not, though, you can jump up to one sixth of a second later after leaving the ground, which is plenty enough for the slight bouncing.


Yeah, but it's in a place where there doesn't seem to be anything below to look at, so I expected the camera to be blocked by the bottom of the level. It's probably more of a level-design thing than a camera issue, I guess.

Yeah, at that point you've gone up-hill from where you started, so there's more space below you than before.


It might be worth considering a delay before moving the camera down, so if someone is adjusting their position slightly, the camera doesn't go flying downward the instant they touch a key.

This is the answer to that then.


I did both those things for the spikes that alternate, but the "wave" of spikes that's constantly in motion got me killed every single time, no matter what I tried. It seems the only way I might be able to get through is by pausing for half a second right in the middle, but it's too frustrating to die and have to make my way back there to try again.

I agree they are far from ideal. Trying to get them to work "properly" now, but they're being annoying.

[jthespacec]

Ah I think I've got the parallax now. I was moving the backgrounds backwards when I should've been moving them forwards (just not as much as the player is moving forwards).

Does this look right:



?

That's a bit better. You should really keep the blue sky perfectly still though, like the guy before said. Also for parallax effect you normally see the further back stuff be darker, not brighter.

As to the Xfactor mentioned way earlier, there's a lot to be said for getting the basics right, and aside from a little parallax tinkering I'd say you have, but everything needs a "selling point", even if you're not selling, if you want to to really stand out.

Your humour could be that point. It helps, but it's hardly unique either. What your "gimmick" is is really up to you. Your game title doesn't imply humour, but humour is probably your best selling point right now, so maybe choose a title to reflect that better..

PS I uploaded my first game in progress. If you want to "get revenge" for my feedback, feel free http://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=49178.0

[Quicksand-S]

Yeah, the blue sky should be moving very, very little or not at all.

As for the dark/light stuff, having the things get lighter with distance works fine (it will appear to be fog), but your current setup looks a bit inconsistent. Right now, the middle-depth trees are pale while the ones behind them are darker. Either make distance cause things to be more white (or pale blue, to fit with the sky), or make distance cause things to get more black/dark-grey.  Doing both just makes it look a bit confusing.


Humor is a good selling point, but only if people notice it. If most people are skipping the dialogue like I am, then it won't work unless you figure out how to make people want to read it.