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[Ashkin]

You have no idea how much I want a multiplayer mode.

Back to reality, though: my biggest obstacle is stopping the player from going straight down. I tried to stop it by making it boring digging that much, then by making it expend energy. Neither strategy worked. So I've got to make impenetrable obstacles that you have to dig around- usually spanning the width of the level with only one or two ways around. I've also got to make some hazardous, closed-off caverns- filled with what, I don't know. Basically, in a tower-climbing platformer, gravity is the obstacle keeping the player from progressing. So I've got to come up with some similar obstacles that will make you think and strategise...

[pluckyporcupine]

...I tried to stop it by making it boring digging that much...

I might be missing something, but I don't quite see how. When there's nothing to explore before reaching the bottom (barring slightly more gold/energy, but realistically, the amount of time you have based on your energy to explore all that is kinda low), then digging down and straight up again is the least boring route, arguably. One way or another, at the end, you'll be trying to fly straight back up. It's the fastest way out. Digging down is just doing that in reverse.

Obstacles will go a long way in fixing that. Making it so it's not such a straight back and forth road, and making it a bit more challenging to get back up in the end. But they don't cure the feeling that there should be more to explore.

EDIT: Wait, you wanted to make it sort of like a tower-climbing platformer, only both ways? Maybe I've got an odd viewpoint then. >.>

[kinoko]

Why is it that I can't play your game through that link in the first post? It loads a start screen but it makes my entire computer laggy (I'm on a MAC OS X 10.6) and the cursor within the game screen lags by about 15 seconds and I can't click anything in the screen.
Is it just not meant to be played at the moment?

The game just sounds cool (I liked Motherload) and I wanted to help critique the gameplay like others here but for obvious reasons.... that is difficult.

[Ashkin]

I have absolutely no idea why it's not working, sorry.

[eigenbom]

works fine on mac for me, with chrome

[pluckyporcupine]

Windows 7 + Chrome is fine, as well.

[:^)]

this game would be super awesome with some zany fun mining space music and more sound effects.

so fun bro.

[Ashkin]

Can you provide some examples of what 'zany fun mining space music' would be like? Youtube clips or something? I'm still trying to nail down a style for the music.
I haven't worked on this in the past few days, but I'll try to get back up to speed tomorrow. I've stripped the game down to its core, so the hunt for the sauce begins.

[pluckyporcupine]

I still want the hidden temple of aliens that latch on to your craft and until you slam into a wall to knock them off, but I realize that may be asking a bit much (is it? I dunno what your overall goal is in terms of AI).

So instead, I'll offer this:

1. Ditch the energy constantly draining thing. It is less of a "pressure" and more of an annoyance that really does encourage in and out operations, rather than profit maximization.

2. Make it so that you start with a relatively high amount of debt and every time you die, you add to that debt. Make it so that you have to maximize profits to really "complete" the game.

3. Lots and lots of obstacles. Mines, left-over bombs from a past generation, volcanoes, whatever it takes. Just make it hard to maximize profits, easy to go for the minimal goal (side-note: Make it so that the starting debt is one or two steps up from the minimal goal. Not too high, but not too low either).

That's all I can think of right now. Hopefully you'll get more opinions than just mine.

[:^)]

this comes to mind. sam and max hit the road had some good stuff that was in my head while playing this too.

[pluckyporcupine]

this comes to mind. sam and max hit the road had some good stuff that was in my head while playing this too.

The URL contained a malformed video ID.
Sorry about that.

[keo]

I just had a run.  Somethings I thought that would help.

- Sensitive prone areas that are ripe with booty but if you don't plan enough you could cause a cave in and lose your chance to awesome booty.

- It is hard to plan with the limited lighting you have setup, so I was thinking maybe get rid of it or add Flares to the inventory.

- landmines/explosive rock that triggered by your drill or indirectly by cave-ins.  I think this would increase tension and force the player to act smart.

- As others have suggested there's a lot of extra that doesn't need to be there, the timer, the batteries, the other items.  I think placing explosive charges are cool though.  A miner doesn't just chuck bombs or shoot missiles, this would be idiotic and cause a cave in.

- Maybe add a mini map of what you've explored.

bugs

- fell on a big chest and got a big coin and got big stuck
- jumped into the laser which I thought was a waterfall and got stuck and sank to the bottom.

[Udderdude]

I came across a bug in the first few moments of playtime.  I picked the bomb weapon and threw all 3 of them, and they exploded off-camera.  I moved over only to find the last frame of the bomb explosion frozen in mid-air.  Running into it still damaged my character.  It eventually disappeared after ~30 seconds.

[Ashkin]

Yep, that's a known bug. I've been reworking explosions a li'l, though it's slow going as I don't have a lot of motivation. Uuuugh I want to work on any other game but this

[droqen]

Uuuugh I want to work on any other game but this

Then do it.

The king of abandoned devlogs demands it. (I claim this title only because I assume nobody else wants to.)


THE PROOF IS IN THE PUDDING:

just do it

just do it

just do it

just do it, Ashkin

[andy wolff]

No. Finish it, Ashkin

[droqen]

  DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON'T LISTEN TO AAAAAANDYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

[Theophilus]

what would adidas say??

just do it

[pluckyporcupine]

Uuuugh I want to work on any other game but this

You don't have to quit it altogether, but sometimes it really is nice to get away from one project and work on another for a while.

[JasonPickering]

I felt the same way about my game. I took a week off to do a 7 Day Roguelike and the small break was great. it was nice to get away from my project and coming back to it felt pretty good. just make sure that the side project has a defined end. You don't want it to spin off into its own huge game. Also making it very different from this game will really help break up the monotony.