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[Radnom]

CRATE

Build v002 screenshot

Game Info
Currently, I'm not too sure how the gameplay for this one's gonna turn out. I'm thinking this will be some sort of Mirror's Edge-esque game, where combat takes a back seat to level navigation and running.

I want the free-flowing movement and world-interactions from games like Prince of Persia, but fast accurate pixel movements. The game isn't so much about getting jumps pixel-perfect, and dying on the same level multiple times - it's about finding the optimal route. I want to get a sense of flow in the game. I also want sliding down hills (after playing Runman's Monster Fracas years ago I realised I am addicted to sliding) to be important in some way. 

To see the physics boxes shown in the screenshot, run build 003 (linked above) and press B.


Credits
The Engine is made with FlashPunk and Box2DFlashAS3. I've done all the platforming logic myself.
Thernz did the character design and a couple of the animations. I've done the (temporary) tiles and many of the player animations.


Links

Latest Version v005
Older Version v004
Older Version v003
Older version v002



Controls
Arrows - move, duck etc.
Z/X/A/S - jump
Enter - confirm (when your level time shows up)


Moves
Jump while touching a wall to wall-jump.
Hold down while moving downhill to slide (makes you move very fast!).
Move while crouching (and not sliding) to crouch-walk under gaps.
Jump while crouching (or sliding) to do a higher jump.
Jump or press Up while hanging from bars to jump up onto them.
Press Up to climb up walls when grabbing onto them.
Jump into vines / bars to grab hold of them.
Press Down while standing on bars to jump down and hang from them.


Feedback
Can I get feedback on:
- Can you get around the levels?
- Are the controls responsive enough?
- Does the game "feel" right?
- Any bugs or glitches
- your best times! :D

The main thing I want to know at this point is if the platforming "feels" right.

[undertech]

The platforming feels pretty solid here! It's been a while since I've had so much fun with a platformer.
The only weirdness I've seen so far is how generous your vertical reach is when walljumping. Sometimes you think you've missed the wall by inches, but your character will still hit it, making it look like he walljumped off of thin air.
Also it's sort of weird how you seem to run faster up a hill the steeper it gets. Probably just an optical illusion.

[mcsamuel]

Feels like you have a very solid framework to do something great here. All the elements are there fore a great puzzle performer. The controls were intuitive I did not even look at your instructions and I figured out the entire game logic in seconds. Well done. I look forward to seeing more from this.

[del]

37.8 seconds!

I like it.

*One minor bug in v003: I was able to ledge grab through one platform.

Just a suggestion for the overall game. I would suggest taking a level design cue more from the old Sonic games rather than PoP. It would be hard to add more paths/challenges, but still retain a good flow. I felt with the more modern PoP's and ME that while they had a good flow they ultimately felt hallow/linear. I think if you put the effort in you can retain that flow but still empower the player.

-Good Luck 

[Innerscope]

This is really well done. All the platforming elements felt smooth and responsive. The "duck/slide and jump" is an excellent mechanic. There was one bug that I found in the third level (v004) where I would jump through the metal platform and wall jump without pressing left or right to push myself against the wall. (someone mentioned in a previous post about wall jumping off thin air, which is probably related) Another minor issue was that as I continued playing the levels over again the game started to slow down a bit. Seemed like you may have not been removing the levels after they are completed? I'm not sure I don't use flash. At that point, the camera started misbehaving.
Other than that, I really like the scarf, and the way things are looking! Keep up the good work! 

[increpare]

I think this is shaping up pretty well.  I had no idea I could wall-jump until I read the instructions (which, yes, I guess I should have read first).

Having pogo-jumping be on by default is strange to my fingers (hold down jump button to jump repeatedly rather than have one tap = one jump ).

[kevkoh1]

From the start that you have, there is a lot of potential for a great game. The control scheme is great and seems very smooth to me. It took a little to figure out how high or far I was able to jump. One thing I noticed, and I was not sure if it was on purpose or not, but i accidentally pressed space after progressing through the level and I was returned to the very top left of the screen, forcing me to start all over again.

As far as visuals, I think the game looks great. Add some more gameplay aspects and some music and you will well on your way to making a great game.

[Akonyl]

Fun game!

The only gripe I have with the controls is how walljumping is handled. I think you should require the player to not only be touching the wall, but holding a key in the direction of the wall (or perhaps you don't even hit the jump button, you just tap the direction away from the wall and you'll jump in that direction). There were a few times when I was jumping next to a wall, and because I hit the button a little early, rather than just not jumping, I went flying off in a direction as the player walljumped away.

I also agree with the sonic people in the "sonic vs PoP" theme. Although you can slide and pick up a lot of speed when running, you don't seem to really have that many instances to really use it as part of the game, aside from maybe running down the first corridor. They seem like sort of clashing types of gameplay, with one being based on speed and flow, and the other being based on more compact puzzle-platforming. Maybe you're aiming at some happy middle ground, but I feel like they're sort of weird together.

Also, I'm sure it's for debugging or something, but spacebar is really annoying to me. I'm so used to hitting spacebar to jump, that I do it by instinct sometimes and instead I'm warped back to the upperleft of the level. If z/x/a/s are jump, why not make spacebar jump too and have spacebar's mysterious function delegated to something else? At the very least I'd change this i nthe final/later releases.

[Radnom]

Thank you, everyone, for your great feedback. Progress is slow due to a massive game (course project) that's been eating up most of my time. After coding all day at my course I find it hard to sit down and code some more...

The only gripe I have with the controls is how walljumping is handled. I think you should require the player to not only be touching the wall, but holding a key in the direction of the wall

Thanks for this, I actually agree with you. For some reason though, in all the other games I've made with wall jumping I've implemented it this way and I get a lot of "the walljumping is confusing" comments  I can't win! I'll keep playing around with it, maybe the better control scheme will become more apparent later.

On the topic of the Sonic vs PoP, I'm really not sure exactly what I want to go for - I want the fluid motions of PoP with the speed of Sonic. I also want the platforming to be quite forgiving - for example, the ledge-grabbing. In a lot of platforming games, slightly missing a platform will cause you to fall and die, I prefer if the player's not set back for tiny mistakes. I still want perfect platform skills to be rewarded, so I've got to try and reward the player for moving through the levels quickly.

Good point on the Spacebar, too.

Having pogo-jumping be on by default is strange to my fingers (hold down jump button to jump repeatedly rather than have one tap = one jump ).

You're right, it is weird. I mainly did this to avoid a massive gripe I have with platformers, which is when I press jump just one or two frames before my character touches the ground, so it's not counted. This was pretty much a lazy way to avoid that, but you're right - I should just make it so that if you press the jump key down it activates a jump timer for a few frames to keep it a bit forgiving..

The "duck/slide and jump" is an excellent mechanic. 

Thanks! That's great to hear.

There was one bug that I found in the third level (v004) where I would jump through the metal platform and wall jump without pressing left or right to push myself against the wall. (someone mentioned in a previous post about wall jumping off thin air, which is probably related)

Yeah, that's really irritating, I've noticed it too  I must get on that

Also it's sort of weird how you seem to run faster up a hill the steeper it gets. Probably just an optical illusion.

Yep, that's an illusion - you go the same speed up and down hills... that's still pretty bad though, I know I sure can't run up hills at any decent speed 


EDIT: I've added a very, very minor update which should get rid of the slowdown after passing a bunch of levels - I think I wasn't cleaning up properly!