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[Robert Swan]

Hi


The link below has been updated as I've moved the final version of the game to a new location. Thanks for the testing people.

Aah Little Atlantis is a flixel browser puzzle/strategy game. It was my Ludum Dare 17 entry, which I then released on XBLIG, and am now doing a port to flash to learn AS3. However, I'm changing it a bit based on feedback, so I've ditched the tutorials and I'm replacing them with in game helpers and a single instructions screen.

These aren't fully included, and I'm interested to know what frustrates you the most while playing without these aids. That way I only have to include aids for the more pertinent things!

Feedback things

• gameplay - what help/instructions you felt were missing from the game as a whole.
• bugs - does the saving work, does it ever crash, have gfx glitches?
• fps - does it ever run normally at less than 60fps? (to test, press ' key to bring up diagnostics)

Things to ignore:

• lack of audio
• the instructions button doing nothing on the title screen
• medals on levels - their scores haven't been set yet
• the strange blip with the cursor when the clouds cover the screen (something strange to do with flixel I guess)

Click for fullsize screenshots:

[muku]

The style is charming, I like it. From a very cursory play (<5 min), I couldn't figure out whether I was supposed to rescue or kill the Atlanteans and how to go about it. The mouse-over helpers mentioned some score, but I couldn't figure out what to do to gain that score. I did understand the turn-based structure very quickly due to the scrolling thing in the upper right corner, so that's helpful.

[genericuser]

@muku: you're supposed to rescue them, I think, by using the floods to guide them and the meteors as "safe havens" (as your goal is to have all the atlanteans on them, since they can't sink)

otherwise, pretty cool idea- really needs instructions, though.

[increpare]

I don't understand the logic behind the movement of the people (if indeed there is any).

[s0]

This is a fun little game, I understood the most of mechanics just fine but the seemingly random movement of the atlanteans makes it unnecessarily luck-based and frustrating, unless I'm missing something big there. Also why do people sometimes refuse to move onto meteors even though that would be their only possible move? Like the other posters, I'm a bit confused.

[sc_q_jayce]

It seems that you can only move onto spaces that have a elevation difference of one.  So to get on meteors, they have to be on mountains first.  This makes things a little more challenging in a strategic sense, as meteors basically become a blocking point.

I'm still not 100% on the strategy, though, after playing it for a little while.  The mechanics are fun and interesting, but I have no idea what it takes to get to gold medal victories.

Random movement for people does make the game difficult since your high score is dictated by luck at times (will he move on or off the meteors?), and as a result there aren't any perfect strategies for each level.

    * gameplay - what help/instructions you felt were missing from the game as a whole.

The main instructions aren't obvious to hover over since the question mark on the main menu isn't a flag of any sort.  Clicking on it doesn't do anything, either (as you've noted).  So learning the objective is really difficult - to have as many people on meteors as possible.  I think something important should be a counter to be able to see at a glance how many more turns before the next level sinks.  While the picture helps, perhaps a number next to it might assist?

The movement of boats is well introduced in the second island, but it's not immediately obvious they only move in the direction they were originally facing.

It's also not obvious as to whether people will decide to move into a raft or boat if they're adjacent to it.

    * bugs - does the saving work, does it ever crash, have gfx glitches?

The saving seems to be fine.  It hasn't crashed so far.  No gfx glitches I've seen.

    * fps - does it ever run normally at less than 60fps? (to test, press ' key to bring up diagnostics)

` key, not ' key.  FPS is fine.  

[Robert Swan]

Thanks people.

I'm adding instructions now. Suffice to say the movement is never random - always deterministic. There's certainly some subtlety in the movement rules which wasn't initially intended; it just fell out of all the tie breakers for movement choices that needed resolving. I had a tutorial on the xbox version that took 20 minutes to go through, and I'm trying to whittle that down to two screens of text

[dEnamed]

Seems like an interesting concept but I couldn't figure out the movement of the little guys at all. I spent half an hour on the first level, trying to guide them onto the meteors, trying to the best of my skill. All I managed was one measly king. I was unable to figure out just what exactly I did wrong though as the movements always seemed random (which you say they aren't) and at times frustrating when they'd rather forfeit their turn than walk the only possible path left they could go - onto the meteor.

[belbeeno]

I remember seeing this game on LD17.  I'm really digging the artistic polish added, and I'm happy to see you took most of the feedback from the comments to heart.  The features you wanted feedback on seem to be working fine; namely the save feature and decent FPS.

It took me a while to realize that units couldn't move onto terrain with 2 or more levels of elevation in difference from their current elevation.  Eventually, the bar on the right showing the flood progress and the fact that units on grass weren't moving onto meteors helped me piece this information together.  I'm not sure how to convey this information to the player in an elegant fashion.

Does the XBLIG version have a level editor?  Just wondering.

[Robert Swan]

I've started adding the instruction screens, although I think I'll end up adding more to the post it notes. The elevation issue is a very subtle one, so I expect that will go on to the water gauge on the right. Nothing will change until tomorrow, as I don't work at the weekend; well, not when there's so much sport on!

None of the versions have a level editor - I'm using Mappy and a custom exporter to create source code arrays, so I could poke the levels for testing. I really should get the audio in

[Gainsworthy]

I didn't read the thread, and assumed you had to drown the Atlanteans. Until I scored 0 points in the "Rescue Complete" screen. More later.


BACK: Okay, so it's pretty fun. Took me another round to figure out they couldn't just climb onto meteors (and need to be on grey rock) - thought they might be scared.

Once I learned how to play, though, I still have two problems. Firstly, it's like the bastards want to drown. Would it be possible to guide them in some manner? Even subtly? At the moment it's a bit of a bugger to just see them wait around for the water to rise, or actively MOB toward the shore early on.

Secondly, it's a little slow. Though I guess that's just the nature of the game. Can't think of how to speed it up, really - maybe shave off a little move time or something?

But, hey, game's good, idea's solid and sweet. I'd like to see it with a bit more polish, but yeah. Nice.

[raiten]

Cute graphics, but I imagine most people will give up on it within the first minute because it's not in the least apparent what you're supposed to do. A tutorial level, dialogue boxes, anything that conveys what the hell you're meant to do would make the game loads better. I also think it'd be good if it was much more apparent why the atlantians moved as they did - on level 2, I had two kings who could move left or right but wouldn't move at all - I'm assuming they wanted to go either up or down? But why?

[Robert Swan]

The demo at the link in the first post has been updated.

I've added the instruction pages and hints, which should make things much clearer. They are accessed by the "?" in the bottom right. I'll be adding some indicators to point them out too, and probably display the instructions automatically when you play your first level.

Only a few more bits and bobs then I can call it a day.

[moonmagic]

I really like this, but it did take some figuring out. It took me awhile to realize that only people standing on stone will move onto meteors. I use meteors to herd people around. It seems to work reasonably well.

[pdyxs]

I really like the game, but as has been mentioned, it really needs a tutorial level. Maybe have a few intro levels that start off as only stone and meteor, then adding a couple more levels of terrain as you go would be good.

On level 2 it starts being apparent that there's some strategy in how the guys move (you pretty quickly figure out which order they move in, and how to make them not move or move in certain ways by boxing them in), but otherwise the movement at least seems random. I don't think you should spell out the system, but maybe make it apparent that it is deterministic, so people are on the lookout for a system rather than just assuming it's random.

Somehow I thought that throwing meteors at people saved them... that might just be my own craziness, but you might want to clarify that those are skulls and crossbones...