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[SirNiko]

I just played through this. The engine is good, although it's clear there's not much game yet.

In true gamer fashion, I started without reading the readme, so I had no clue why I was picking up the green and red pellets. The rabbit seemed happy to get them, though. I later realized the red pellets were some sort of decoy, although I never needed to use them.

I went through the cave in the bottom left, and navigated the second screen easily. The second screen was a little tougher, as it wasn't clear that there are spikes after the bridge. They really don't stand out much. It took me a minute to realize it was them, no poor hit detection on the monster, that killed me.

The question mark stage was the hardest, since that was the first time I had to use my digging ability. It took a few tries to get the hang of digging a hole and luring a monster into it. I feel like the game would be improved if there were more visual clues to indicate when a monster can see you and want to chase you. A cone of vision would be ideal.

The last two screens were simple. Then I looped back to the start, and began to wonder what I'd done wrong.

I swam in the water on the start screen, and got pulled down the waterfall. Unlike the falls on the second screen, this one took me to a new area. However, my rabbit got stuck against a wall and became unable to move, with the current preventing him from moving back, and the wall preventing him from swimming forward. I was forced to close the game at that point.

No rabbits rescued.

This could be fun, though the hide mechanism is hard to use. It'd be nice if the rabbit's animation would clue the player in to how close you are to cloaking, so you can confirm the timing. A lot of times I'd back off what I thought was far enough, but the monster would eat me before cloaking kicks in. If I'd known my cloak wasn't going to trigger, I could have run and survived.

You should keep working. It's a good start, and has potential.

-SirNiko

[moonmagic]

Thanks for the feedback, SirNiko. The hide ability is actually active as soon as Mulder crouches; I added the fade as a visual cue that the rabbit was not visible. Monsters should stop and look around as soon as he is hiding, but perhaps I should make the cloak instantaneous.

Vision cones are a good idea. It would be simpler to implement than what I have been using, as well.

Now that the contest is over, I might black out the spikes, or do something else to make them easier to see. All of the modifications to the sprites were achieved using draw_sprite_part() up until now. I'm assuming that you walked through the spikes on The Bridge, rather than trapping the monster? I had meant that level to be impassable without trapping, but oh well.

I'll look into the pools on the second screen; rivers should always push you into a pool to allow you to swim out of them.

[SirNiko]

I did complete the level without trapping the monster. It wasn't until the question mark level that I got stuck and checked the readme to figure out the keys. That's when I discovered the dig command.

I understand the moment he crouches is when he hides, but it's not clear how long it takes from stopping and then the hide activating. I'd envision something like a little bar that pops up over mulder's head, and when the bar is full hide activates. If I'm being chased by a monster and stop to hide, I can do a quick calculation in my head based on the speed of the monster and the speed of the bar to see which will get there first, and then choose to commit to the hide or run and try again.

-SirNiko

[moonmagic]

Posted a build with vision cones for the monsters; also, a hide meter. Let me know how it goes.

[Oddball]

Liked: Cute feel to the game. Interesting pacifistic gameplay.

Disliked: Some gameplay elements made little sense, hey pills, decoys, etc. Spikes are hard to see. The question mark level made no sense, and there was no indication how to progress. I only got past it through trail and error. I could only rescue one bunny!? I went through what I assumed was all the levels and arrived back at the beginning without meeting any bunnies. So I did all the levels again this time searching them all thoroughly and still nothing. It was only by chance that discovered you can surf the rivers, and that's when I found the bunny. Are there any more bunnies?

Conclusion: Likeable, but a little confusing and frustrating.

[moonmagic]

Thanks for the feedback, Oddball. I agree that since the game makes very little effort to explain itself, certain elements feel nonsensical. The hay pills are actually timothy hay pellets, but I didn't want Mulder to shout "timothy hay pellets!" every time he was hungry. I should probably clarify that in the guide, because it reflects a predilection real-life Mulder had while he was alive.

Similarly, cranberries make him run so fast that he produces a ninja rabbit ghost. Gameplay-wise, this is supposed to represent the bewildering movement of a rabbit in flight. If it helps, just think of it as a Shinobi-type thing.

I agree that the spikes are hard to see. I've made them all black in the build I'm working on now, which seems to help. I didn't know a good way to do it at runtime for the competition.

There are other bunnies, but they are hidden in caves. I designed the game to be playable after completion, and later levels make prominent use of the kind of walls that can be dug out to reveal secrets. The idea is that the player notices them and then looks for them when they go back through the game again.

Thanks again for playing; the feedback is very helpful. I'm working on a build right now with the first "dungeon" in it, and some tougher screens. Food matters more now, too, so stocking up before adventuring underground is a must. So everyone, stay tuned?

[Pishtaco]

I just tried the post-compo version of this. I started without reading the thread. I really love what you've done with the graphics, the hide mechanic, the feedback from the rabbit, and the rabbity feel of it. But I couldn't work out what the berries or the Z and X keys were for, and assumed "hay pls" was some kind of lolcats thing. It was fun to avoid the monsters using just hiding and the sight cones, so I got to the middle of the question marked level and kept trying Z and X to see if I could tunnel or escape through it.

Rather lovely; would play more.

[moonmagic]

Thanks Pishtaco! I am excited to say, I've almost finished with the next build, which adds a few more levels and improves the monster pathfinding a bit. There's also an extended underground dungeon, and the first of the psychic computers.

Maybe I'll put a few labels on the hay and cranberries at the beginning of the game to make a kind of "this is what this stuff is" framing level. Since most people seem to be getting by without the dash, I should start making more levels that exploit it. What do you guys think about Mulder being invincible while he's dashing? Cranberries would be a limited use "bypass this puzzle" item, then.

[moonmagic]

Ok dudes. Been way busy with my new job, but finally finished a good build of this. Lots of new things!

A dungeon with absolutely no warning as to its length!
More vague dialogue!
A spirit guide!
A menacing boss!
A powerup!
Many new levels!
Eyeballs everywhere!
More more more!