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TIGSource ForumsDeveloperPlaytestingFrauki's Adventure!
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Author Topic: Frauki's Adventure!  (Read 1075 times)
Preece
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« on: July 24, 2015, 12:25:42 PM »

Frauki's Adventure is a melee combat platformer where you explore down to the mysterious center of the world. The whole world is one big map where you unlock shortcuts, discover secrets, and fight tricky baddies. Inspired by Dark Souls and Mega Man X. You can play directly in your browser:

preece.github.io/Frauki

Controls:
Arrow Keys - move
Space - Jump
Z - Attack
X - Roll

If you have a gamepad, I suggest using that. It is meant to be played on a gamepad. It doesn't yet natively support it, so you might need to use something like joyTokey, which is really easy to set up.











My current focus is on three things:

1. Level design. The whole world is one map, skinny and long. You start at the top of the map every time, and the goal is to get to the very bottom. To do so, you have to learn how to navigate the world, it's secrets and quirks and traps. As you go down, you move through "strata", which have different themes and looks to them. My goal right now is to get the first strata done, and then start iterating on it and adding detail and exciting events. I'd say I'm about 80% there.

2. Enemy design. This involves adding new kinds of enemies, and refining the behavior of each one. I like enemy designs where they are complex and smart, but also very coherent. So, a  beginner might be able to brute force a win, but an experienced player can efficiently defeat the enemy without taking any damage.

3. Combat refinement. All the specifics of combat are subtle and will make or break the whole thing! Stuff like, how far does the enemy fly back when you hit them, how long does it take, how quickly can you attack, how much damage you do/take. And so on.

I've been working on the project for about a year in my spare time. I worked with a pixel artist for a while, but he had to move on. You can see his awesome animations in the game. I am looking for another pixel artist to help me bring this game to the finish. I'm not sure if i'm going to sell it or just give it out for free. PM or email me if you're interested.

I'll be posting occasional updates here, along with some footage and images.

Some WebMs:

http://w.webms.org/m/jB9q1Q2P.webm
http://w.webms.org/m/S76aeGk3.webm

Thanks for reading!
« Last Edit: July 30, 2015, 05:27:32 PM by Preece » Logged
Quicksand-S
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« Reply #1 on: July 25, 2015, 12:30:17 AM »

-I've always liked the idea of layers of different environments. Sounds good.

-I really dislike the sound effects, but the animation is pretty decent. The world and enemies look pretty good too.

-Jumping feels all right and movement speed is about what I would've hoped for.

-There's an incorrect sprite on the ground when I go all the way left from the starting position.

-The pillars near the start really didn't look like I could walk through them. I jumped over the top and then briefly wondered how I'd manage to get back. A different shade of grey, or some enemies/critters going back and forth through them might make it more clear.

-When I went through the first door, I jumped into a hole and smashed my head into the ceiling as I did. That room with the door just feels too small to me.

-It's always nice to see a game where pressing against a wall doesn't make my character continue their running animation.

-The first battle with wasps made me think I won't enjoy this game. Not only did my super-powered downward thrust attack not seem to do any more damage than normal, un-powered-up attacks did, but I had to hit them far too many times. I disliked the combat enough that next time I encountered a wasp, I just avoided it completely.

-I also just got no feedback at all about how well I was doing. Every time I hit a wasp, it looked like it was dead but then it just got up again, over and over and over so I started to wonder if maybe they were invincible.

-Does dodging have invincibility frames? It didn't seem like it worked too well for escaping sticky situations, but I didn't try it that much.

-It was unclear where my health was. I guessed it was the pink bar on my power meter, but I wasn't sure.

-The game just froze when I died, but pressing keys still made sounds.

-There seemed to be quite a few things that got in the way while moving around, like little blocks that you have to jump over instead of just running forward and ceilings that are low so you hit your head even with a low jump.

-I feel like killing enemies should maybe replenish health a bit or something, because there's really no incentive to deal with the combat if I'm just going to lose both power and health when I do. Is there any benefit at all?

-Sometimes the combat system seemed weird. At one point, I used an upward attack after my double-jump and reached a high ledge. It felt really cool to use an attack that way. Then, when I tried it later, I didn't have that upward attack and had no way to get enough power for it again so that made navigating the world less fun. It just seemed odd to limit the player's options like that.

-Both Mega Man X and Dark Souls are really good at letting the player know what's going on. Enemies telegraph their attacks and generally react in clear ways when hit. It may be worth watching some videos analyzing those games. I've seen some pretty good ones in the past.

-Without fun combat or fun navigation, I stopped playing (in that area with the waterfall that's in the second still shot you posted). I could see it being more fun (for me, anyway) if basic enemies had a little less health, gave me something for killing them, and if I had at least a few different attacks even when at low power.


I'm just one person, though. I'm fairly sure there are people out there who don't have a problem with enemies that take a lot of hits. I'm the sort of person who grinded and farmed for ages in Dark Souls, not because of difficulty but because doing almost no damage to tougher enemies/bosses made combat tedious.

The game ran pretty well for me in Firefox Developer Edition. Jumping seemed a little bit sudden/jerky compared to the GIFs where it looks nice and smooth, but it wasn't too bad. I like the feel of the world. It's got a fairly interesting structure to it, although a few more optional side areas and alcoves might be a good idea. The dirt can be a bit much too, so maybe more of those big dirt clumps/rocks could be spread around to break up the larger areas of dirt.
« Last Edit: July 26, 2015, 02:39:44 AM by Quicksand-S » Logged

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Preece
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« Reply #2 on: July 27, 2015, 02:25:16 PM »

Thanks for the great feedback.


Quote
super-powered downward thrust attack not seem to do any more damage than normal... no feedback at all about how well I was doing... Both Mega Man X and Dark Souls are really good at letting the player know what's going on

I've made some changes that should help make combat more clear. There is more to do for sure, but with this feedback in mind I think I made some nice changes.

- The distance the enemy is knocked back is now a better reflection for how hard you hit them.
- The amount of green energy nuggets that comes out when you hit an enemy is now more clear.
- The duration which they remain stunned has also been made to reflect how hard you hit them.
- Lowered the amount of health the wasp enemy has.
- Increased the lead-in (telegraphing) time for enemy attacks.
- Amount of time player is stunned now varies with the amount of damage taken

Future changes:

- Weak/medium/powerful sounds when you hit an enemy

Quote
killing enemies should maybe replenish health

It does, but it is not messaged well. I plan to add a sound when you collect one of the green energy nuggets (that come out when you hit/kill and enemy). Also, I will make the energy bar flash when there is a change (taking damage or gaining life).

Quote
no incentive to deal with the combat... if basic enemies gave me something for killing them

The game will get harder as you descend. Fighting early enemies will build up your energy, which makes you do more damage and increases your total energy (letting you fight longer).

Quote
quite a few things that got in the way while moving around... smashed my head into the ceiling

As I work on the level, I will put more thought into the relationship between how the player wants to move and the environment. Too many claustrophobic spaces can be obnoxious.

Overall, I will focus more on messaging the existing mechanics better. Thanks again.
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paulisere
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« Reply #3 on: July 31, 2015, 10:25:42 PM »

This game is quite cool.  I played for a few minutes and didn't have sound on so I can't comment on it.

First impressions: When I started it up in Chrome I just got a black screen for around 10-15 seconds before it loaded.  It might be nice to have something that loads immediately and provides feedback so that the user knows that they have come to the right place.

Moving and jumping was ok.  It might be nice to have some feedback on how much life an enemy has left, or if it is possible to kill it.  I was attacking a skeleton for ages before I decided that it mustn't be kill-able.  Is that right?

I managed to get here and pressing up wouldn't let me through the door so I was stuck and had to restart.
I got there by going, from the start, all the way to the right, down the hole, through the door, on top of the platforms over the skeleton, and down the hole.

The jumping was cool.  I was getting frustrated that the platforms were too far apart and then found double jump, woohoo!

After restarting I played again.  I had a fight with one of the beetle things and died.  When I respawned I had been put inside a wall:



I had to refresh again to get a new game.

Also, you might be able to see from that image, the game didn't fit in my browser properly.

Good effort.

Paul
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Preece
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« Reply #4 on: August 01, 2015, 12:42:55 AM »

Thanks for the feedback paulisere!

Quote
It might be nice to have something that loads immediately and provides feedback so that the user knows that they have come to the right place.

Yes, this definitely needs to happen. With so much to do it's easy to shove this to the bottom of the priority list. But it can definitely be confusing.

Quote
I was attacking a skeleton for ages... pressing up wouldn't let me through the door
Sorry, that whole area is extremely WIP. I blocked it off for now  Wink

Quote
The jumping was cool. I was getting frustrated that the platforms were too far apart and then found double jump, woohoo!

 Smiley

Quote
When I respawned I had been put inside a wall

Fixed, thanks
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Jalapenosbud
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« Reply #5 on: August 19, 2015, 07:49:08 AM »

Hey there! cool game, love the arts, the gameplay is cool too, i just encountered alot of bugs so i couldnt play that far Tongue
For example: I died, and then the death animation was stuck, so i had to jump to get it away. And for every time i got hit after i respawned, the death animation played and i couldnt do anything before i jumped again. Which really broke the experience for me Sad

Also another thing, there's a tight gap where you have to jump down, some place to the left from the beginning. But theres an enemy straight below you, so you're bound to get damaged no matter what, which is a poor design choice imo Tongue the player shouldnt ivoluntarily get hit. Or rather, you wanna design the game around, that if the player dies its his own fault and not the game's Tongue just a quote i heard somewhere.

and yea as paulisere said, maybe some kind of feedback would be nice when hitting the enemies, so you know how much it takes to kill them.

But yea besides that, controls are good, and the art is really lovely!
I will try to play it again and see if the bugs was just a one-time thing

I hope i didn't come off as too harsh or anything, it's just what i experienced playing your game Smiley
« Last Edit: August 19, 2015, 07:58:11 AM by Jalapenosbud » Logged

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« Reply #6 on: August 19, 2015, 12:14:16 PM »

I like the look and the feel.  The platforming feels pretty good which is always hard to really nail.  I struggle with the same thing others have said about making enemies interesting and engaging, and if you are not doing your own art (looks like you are) then it is even more stressful because every asset you need/requests costs...so you better be sure they were designed well.  I like the idea of a melee action platformer, more could be done with this concept I think. like using enemies as tool makes them less reason to avoid and more reason to attack because the enemies can be dual purpose and useful.


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