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[vedsten]

Hello TIG

My name is Mads Peter, I'm new to this forum but heard it was THE place to get constructive criticism so I hope you guys can help me out. God of Box is a small puzzle game I'm developing as a part of my thesis.
So far, only the intro levels and easy levels are finished. More features are completed, but I want to make sure progression is decent before implementing more levels.

   

   

Download God of Box:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/5419498/GOB%20-%20Public%20Beta%200.65.zip

(make sure you unzip the whole thing before playing)

If you have the time I'd be thrilled if you filled out the question form included afterwords~ it's going to help me school-wise.

Anyways, I look forward to hearing what you think! it's gone largely untested so far so I'm sure there's loads of stuff to improve. Any general input on whether you think it's fun or not (and why!) and specifically input on difficulty would be very appreciated.

(I'm in the process of adding music and more interesting backgrounds)

Cheers,
Mads Peter Vedsten Larsen

[Eendhoorn]

I love this! The gameplay is great, very smart variation of tetris. The graphical style is also very charming. The only thing I was really missing is a "preview" for the to be placed block, like the one you can see here.



This screams for a mobile release, do you have any plans for that? (the resolution suggests it haha). And I'm also curious what you programmed this in

[Udderdude]

Seems like Gussun Oyoyo (bet you're surprised anyone here even knows what that is ..) with tetrominoes instead of 3-way blocks.  I got up to the first Highscore level.  Overall I think you introduce the gameplay elements too slowly.  Things like the light beam and holding up to explode a block should be combined into one level to make room for the other game elements.

Level select - The only key that starts levels is Space.  Why?  It should at least also allow Enter to start a level.

Level 1 - If you're having the player just watch and do nothing, it shouldn't be a level at all.  More like a tutorial screen that pops up before the level starts.

Level 2 - When you start a level with the block frozen, the only key that unfreezes and starts the game is Down or Space.  Despite this, the intro screen shows all of the arrow keys available to move the block.  Any of the keys should unfreeze the block.

Level 3 - The difficulty jump between this level and level 2 is pretty big.  In fact, it's harder than any of the other levels until the first challenge level.  It's also frustrating to lay down a path just with the tetrominoes that you can't explode yet, or freeze the guy in place with the light beam.  I suggest simplifying this level until it's at the same difficulty of the other ones, or just scrap it and introduce some other gameplay element here.

Level 6 - This should drop the same piece each time, instead of a random piece.  Sometimes the random piece doesn't fit in the hole.

Other misc. bugs you're probably aware of:

When finishing some of the genesis levels, you get a "Failed" message before the guy reaches the star.

You can stack blocks indefinitely up into the ceiling and never lose.  You should lose if you stack the blocks too high and the screen can't scroll.

[vedsten]

@ omgnoseat ~ Thanks! As for the placement indicator, did you play up to the levels where "light" is introduced? I hoped that would be enough of an indicator

@ Udderdude ~ Uhm, I wasn't aware of Gussun Oyoyo, now that I am, I'm pretty bummed out :/

I'll fix keys so enter always duplicates as space

Level 1 ~ I had problems with people persistently trying to control the bot which is why I introduced it, I think I'll keep it for now, but maybe speed it up?

Level 2 ~ Agree, I shall fix

Level 3 ~ I see your point. I'm afraid of introducing too many element before people get a chance to try it out so I'll prob. adjust difficulty as suggested.

Level 6 ~ Agree, I shall fix

I won't add death when you stack to the ceiling, but I'll implement it so that the next block starts at an offset once you reach the end (so eternal stacking isn't possbile)

Thanks for the feedback

[Udderdude]

Uhm, I wasn't aware of Gussun Oyoyo, now that I am, I'm pretty bummed out :/

That's surprising.  Well, hardly anyone knows about the game except obscure arcade game nerds like me, so it's doubtful you'll get any cries of "Game thief!".  I'd suggest putting your own spin on it to further differentiate it from Gussun Oyoyo, though.

[vedsten]

"That's surprising.  Well, hardly anyone knows about the game except obscure arcade game nerds like me, so it's doubtful you'll get any cries of "Game thief!"
~except from you ? :p

As for new gameplay elements, I think there's plenty in there atm. to differentiate. Both elements that are already there (play beyond the introdcution levels), and elements that I haven't made levels for. From what i gather from youtube videos Gussun Oyoyo is a more of a pure puzzler, where as I aim to make the hiscore mode the primary one (everything else is just made to introduce the elements in a not-too-boring fashion.)

Also @omgnoseat, I forgot: I making it in multimedia fusion, no mobile release or anything of the sort is planned as I'd have to redo everything. I'm just making this one for the fun of it (ohh, and my thesis )

[Ichigo Jam]

This is quite charming - I really like the pixel art in the game, and the flavour text made me smile

It feels quite different to Gussun Oyoyo (I played the Saturn version years ago) so don't worry about that too much!

I'd suggest changing the early levels to not restrict the mechanics available, since that makes them feel very hand-holding to me. (And starting with the light beam is nicer for placing things)

Also, it's confusing that on some puzzle-style levels (fixed set of blocks visible at the top) the Bot moves whilst you place the blocks (e.g. Day 4, Day 7), and on others he doesn't (Day 5, levels with the puzzle icon).

I felt like it would be better to have each level either being explicitly a puzzle-style (fixed blocks, Bot waits) or an arcade-style (unlimited blocks, Bot always moves) level. And use a different icon for the two types.

With that in mind, here's how I'd present the introductory levels:

Level 1. puzzle-style, 1 square piece to place to enable bot to get to the star.
Starting with a puzzle style level makes it easier to see that you don't control Bot (and also puzzle levels have fewer mechanics, since the light beam doesn't do anything; with a square block you don't have to know about rotation either), and I'm also not a fan of the first level having no interaction.
 
Level 2. like the current level 2, maybe with 1 more block to place to up the ante.

Level 3. First arcade-style level. Could be made easier than the current level 3.
As I mentioned above, I think you wouldn't lose anything by letting the player have the light beam and the ability to explode boxes here (with no crate boxes and plenty of space, explode doesn't change that much)

Level 4. Change to puzzle-type. (Minor detail: you can currently complete this level without blowing up the box if you hold left as you start, or if you use the "sky boxen" technique)

Level 5. Fine. Maybe make it a touch more complex (give the player two boxes with crates to be used) so it feels more like a puzzle.

Level 6. This one's good too.

Level 7. Making this into an arcade level might be a bit fiddly.

[Chris Koźmik]

The graphics (blocks) are very nice, this is what made me try the game

As for gameplay it wasn't too fun for me, it felt... heavy and stressful. Especially the level where you had to keep the box in mid air without it exploding. You make one error and you die (in comparison Tetris feels much more relaxed). I think I would enjoy it more if it was more into direction of puzzle than arcade.
Note that I'm not a fan of this kind of games (tried it because of graphics) so you probably could ignore what I said.