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[Udderdude]

You don't put "Gauntlet" in the title of your game description and then not give the player a weapon until 6 levels in.

[QuadrupleA]

I've already played it but I'd say if there's two things you should change, it's give the player a weapon right at the start, and slow down the background animation.

I'll try slowing down the background next go-around - that's easy to do. In fact if you wanna hack it yourself you can edit Content/Prefabs/GameplayScreen.json and tweak "TrippyBgSpeed" . If you do let me know what value seems better.

Not sure about ax-ing the non-shooting levels though. I like a lot of those, they lead to some interesting dynamics. I guess you had the expectation of shooting from the outset though, so maybe I need to make that more clear. I have a lot of other Gauntlet-y ideas to add, like enemy nests that continually spawn until you destroy them, screen-clearing bombs, gates and keys, etc. so the resemblance would be more clear with those in place.

Edit: About the new version: You removed some of the interesting levels that weren't as bad as you think. IDK, but it's probably that I have started to miss them.
Also, bring the second level back, that was part of the tutorial. Be concerned about the difficulty curve, the current second level (which was previously the third level) will seem harder than it is to new players.

Thanks - that's helpful feedback. I think a sticking point for me in game design is that I become really good at the game and then lose perspective on the challenge progression. On this one I was trying to counterbalance the relative lack of new gameplay elements by chopping some earlier "same idea over again" levels. So you'd see the gun, the ants, etc. sooner and hopefully maintain more interest.

I'll have to think about that, how to balance those two... maybe just "loosen up" the existing levels (fewer beetles, more ammo, more wiggle room etc.). I'll play with those - might have a tweaked version up today with the level select, and then I'll try to figure out if it's worth continuing...

[Ancient Account]

Some quick feedback:
1) It would be good if the background speed was configurable (in-game). That would prevent people from saying it too fast or too slow. I don't bother them much now, not after playing it for quite a time.
2)

Thanks - that's helpful feedback. I think a sticking point for me in game design is that I become really good at the game and then lose perspective on the challenge progression. On this one I was trying to counterbalance the relative lack of new gameplay elements by chopping some earlier "same idea over again" levels. So you'd see the gun, the ants, etc. sooner and hopefully maintain more interest.

I'll have to think about that, how to balance those two... maybe just "loosen up" the existing levels (fewer beetles, more ammo, more wiggle room etc.). I'll play with those - might have a tweaked version up today with the level select, and then I'll try to figure out if it's worth continuing...

IMO, Level 2 was important, as it introduced you to the beetles' behavior and Level 3(which is Level 2 now) is quite a challenge for newcomers, and will make them think that the game is either too hard or gets hard to early. You must maintain the difficulty curve, shouldn't you?
Anyway, I think you should introduce the guns and the ants(that come from the cocoon-like things. Those are ants, right?) earlier as you have done, but keep the similar beetle-only and pacifist levels for later. Known enemies, but more difficulty. Also, liked some of your new levels too.
3) In level 1-7, I figured out that you can easily escape without even shooting the beetles out, simply by going up as much possible in the beginning and then going right. The beetles will not be able to catch you and you'll escape. Don't know if this is intentional.

[QuadrupleA]

1) It would be good if the background speed was configurable (in-game). That would prevent people from saying it too fast or too slow. I don't bother them much now, not after playing it for quite a time.

That's a good idea. Don't have an options menu yet but easy to add that once I do. I'm about to post V3 with a slower, more pretty (I think) BG shader, maybe that'll help

2) IMO, Level 2 was important, as it introduced you to the beetles' behavior and Level 3(which is Level 2 now) is quite a challenge for newcomers, and will make them think that the game is either too hard or gets hard to early. You must maintain the difficulty curve, shouldn't you?
Anyway, I think you should introduce the guns and the ants(that come from the cocoon-like things. Those are ants, right?) earlier as you have done, but keep the similar beetle-only and pacifist levels for later. Known enemies, but more difficulty. Also, liked some of your new levels too.

Very very helpful feedback - I tried to incorporate most of it in V3. In V2 I had eliminated a lot of levels I thought were boring or not fast paced enough, but I was making a big mistake of adapting the game to how I'm playing (good at it, obviously, I've been playtesting a lot) but not for how a brand new player would see it. I really need to learn to put myself "into the mind of a beginner" each time I play.

3) In level 1-7, I figured out that you can easily escape without even shooting the beetles out, simply by going up as much possible in the beginning and then going right. The beetles will not be able to catch you and you'll escape. Don't know if this is intentional.

No - my thinking was never totally clear on that level. I wanted you to have to shoot your way through, but depending on the physics sometimes you can slip by and sometimes not. If you time your shots just right you can quickly kill each of them in a row and get through in like 2 seconds, but even I only can do it about 10% of the time (hard to get the mouse placed just right). Anyway I cut that level from V3, don't think it's that much fun.

[QuadrupleA]

OK, Version 3 - for anyone I didn't scare off with V2!

TrippyTrippyBadBad_v3.zip

New stuff:
 * A level select screen - not sure I like the ambience, but let me know what you think. You can skip up to two levels now. Think I'm going to add random crap flying by, like cows, aliens, feet, etc.
 * Reorganized the whole level progression to try for a more natural challenge curve, and introduce interesting elements regularly. Restored a lot of levels I removed in V2, and tweaked the difficulty / "wiggle room" on a lot of them - total level count is now 32.
 * Improved the background shaders - made it a 2-pass operation, which should improve framerate a bit on slow GPUs, and provide a little more visual variety as it morphs. Slowed down the "spinny" motion and instead made more variation in the details. I like it better, especially with the blue stripey texture that kicks in on level 1-15.

Screenshots:

[Ancient Account]

1. Level selection: IDK, but I think it's quite buggy. Some later levels seem to be unlocked from start. Did it carry the progress from the previous versions? That's what I guess Other than that, when I unlocked 1-15, went to the Level selection again, and moved back, it became locked again. Unlocked it a second time, thank god it didn't happened again, otherwise I would've been stuck. By the way, can you give a cheat or something to skip levels, until a fully-fledged version of this game comes out. Honestly, I suck at this game. ANTS! MILLIONS OF ANTS! Actually, nevermind, I'm doing better now.

The zooming in when entering a level is nice. I suggest you to add a green horizontal bar in the center that contains the stats and info. This would hide the central area which shows the void between the two plains (which doesn't look so good) and the user will only be able to see the upper and lower portion of the background. Sorry, I'm bad at describing things, but I hope you understand what I mean.

Also, how about a preview of the level in a screen, might keep this idea in reserve and applied on a future update. BTW, I like that the level buttons light a bit when he/she goes close to it.

2. Levels: Level 1-11 is a lot easier than Level 1-10. Also, I find the Level 1-7 (which you removed in this version) pretty fun. When I completed it by killing all the beetles, I felt so good! But I'm only a single man, so what I like, might not be liked by others.

3. Background:  This one is more of a praise than feedback. The new background is beautiful!

Hey guys - curious - so I posted "v2" on indiedb.com and TigSource here about a week ago - got about 800 views and 65 downloads total, but only two comments between the two sites, and no "watchers" - which makes me wonder if something's not working in general with the game. Too steep a challenge curve maybe, or new music doesn't fit as well? I had a silly non-game called "let's play with ants" that got a lot more watchers & comments & reviews and whatnot, so I'm sorta using that as a gauge.

I'm not sure, but it might be because the name of the game is not descriptive and/or doesn't sound very interesting (Note that I said, I'm not sure, it could be a completely other reason). (But the gameplay is good.) For example, 'Lets play with ants!' gives an idea to players that the game is about ants, while 'Trippy Trippy Bad Bad' doesn't.

I saw your other games, one of them being, 'Lets play with ants'! The graphics are very good. You are very talented! Maybe, the graphics of LPWA is better than TTBB. Could this be the reason?



Whoah! The post is so long.

[QuadrupleA]

Did it carry the progress from the previous versions?

Yup, it carries over from previous versions - and uses the internal names, like "Lvl_005" so even if 1-15 is now 1-29, it'll record your progress/best time for the actual level. You can delete %appdata%\TTBB to reset those - if you see any level select bugs after that let me know.

I'll see about a making cheat menu in the options - or maybe allow shift-pgdn/pgup to skip levels without checking if the level's locked.

The zooming in when entering a level is nice. I suggest you to add a green horizontal bar in the center that contains the stats and info.

I'll experiment with that - not crazy about the look of that screen. I have a "distance fog" thing in the shader to make it fade to black, could reduce that too to make the planes "join" better.

Also, how about a preview of the level in a screen, might keep this idea in reserve and applied on a future update.

Yeah, was thinking the same thing - it'd be tedious to keep the thumbnails up to date early on, but if I reach a point where the game is "near-shipped" I'll definitely do that.

Level 1-11 is a lot easier than Level 1-10. Also, I find the Level 1-7 (which you removed in this version) pretty fun. When I completed it by killing all the beetles, I felt so good!

I'll swap 1-10 & 1-11, that makes sense. Re: 1-7, interesting, I always thought that level was a little weak - good to know though, maybe I'll restore it. It's not too challenging to at least get through (don't have to do the fancy rapid-fire technique).

3. Background:  This one is more of a praise than feedback. The new background is beautiful!

Thanks! Got the ideas from http://www.iquilezles.org/www/articles/deform/deform.htm , someone on Tig pointed me to that.

I'm not sure, but it might be because the name of the game is not descriptive and/or doesn't sound very interesting (Note that I said, I'm not sure, it could be a completely other reason). (But the gameplay is good.) For example, 'Lets play with ants!' gives an idea to players that the game is about ants, while 'Trippy Trippy Bad Bad' doesn't.

Yeah, I'm not sure about the title. Wanted it to be funny, kinda sounds like "chitty chitty bang bang" but it might come across as stupid or confusing. Maybe "Psychedelic Shooty Thing".

I saw your other games, one of them being, 'Lets play with ants'! The graphics are very good. You are very talented! Maybe, the graphics of LPWA is better than TTBB. Could this be the reason?

Thanks - yeah, LPWA was mostly a graphics test - I think that's why it got a moderate amount of attention / downloads despite there not being much to do. Had a bit of humor too, which is something TTBB needs more of. For TTBB I've been planning to improve the graphics if the game ends up being interesting enough. But they seem to be doing the job OK for now - it's getting some downloads at least, the problem seems that the game doesn't get much response or interest from the people that download it. I'm hoping the challenge curve was a part of that, we'll see how V3 does - but if the concept just isn't that interesting to people I might scrap it, or polish what's there a little more and put it out as freeware.

Whoah! The post is so long.

Good stuff! Really appreciate the feedback.

[Cbear]

1-15 was very hard for me and I love the aesthetic although I think a definite art style would make it look a lot more polished.

[Ancient Account]

1-15 was very hard for me and I love the aesthetic although I think a definite art style would make it look a lot more polished.

AFAIK, I have skipped the level. Yes, that levels is much harder than the previous ones, in fact, many of the later one.

You can skip upto two levels by pressing 'Page Down'/'PGDN'. Hope that helps!

Thanks! Got the ideas from http://www.iquilezles.org/www/articles/deform/deform.htm , someone on Tig pointed me to that.

I found that article to be pretty good...

I have a "distance fog" thing in the shader to make it fade to black, could reduce that too to make the planes "join" better.

By 'void', I meant the black portion.

Good stuff! Really appreciate the feedback.

Thanks!

[QuadrupleA]

Thanks guys - I always thought 1-15 was a little tedious - but figured it'd be good "shooting practice". Guess it scatters a lot of ants though, that's pretty challenging. I'll try moving it later, or maybe simplifying / removing it (doesn't really introduce any new concepts / mechanics so not an essential level).

@Cbear, glad you liked the aesthetic - wasn't sure what you meant by "a definite art style" though - just more polish?

[QuadrupleA]

Alternate title:

Battle Insects Then Go In a Door

[Ancient Account]

Alternate title:

Battle Insects Then Go In a Door

Can't really say about it...
It's more of a description than a title.

How about something small like: Bugs and Beetles
I know beetles fall under the category of bugs, but it's just for the name.

[QuadrupleA]

Hmm... I kinda like the blunt reductionism of "Fight Ants then Go In A Door", strikes me as funny. A little along the lines of "I maed a gam3 with zombies init".

[Ancient Account]

Hmm... I kinda like the blunt reductionism of "Fight Ants then Go In A Door", strikes me as funny. A little along the lines of "I maed a gam3 with zombies init".

OHH! It's kind of like that name. This name might be written it 1337/'leet' like as in "I maed a gam3 w1th z0mbies 1n it!".
"F1GH7 4N75 TH3N G0 1N 4 D00R". Okay, it can't be read!

BTW, How about: "My gam3 has bugs init!"?
Did you see the pun "bugs"?
Okay, might not be as good as I think. I'm not very good at naming things.

"I maed a gam3 w1th bugs 1n it"?

[QuadrupleA]

The zombies one is a real game by James Silva actually: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Made_a_Game_with_Zombies_in_It!

Has a funny soundtrack that described the game verbatim - "they come shambling out... from the siides".

Anyway don't want to copy his game too much.

Any other opinions out there on "Trippy Trippy Bad Bad" vs. "Fight Bugs then Go in a Door"? My friend was thinking "fight bugs" is too self-effacing, might give people an instant low opinion of the game.

[Ancient Account]

The zombies one is a real game by James Silva actually: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Made_a_Game_with_Zombies_in_It!

Has a funny soundtrack that described the game verbatim - "they come shambling out... from the siides".

Anyway don't want to copy his game too much.

Any other opinions out there on "Trippy Trippy Bad Bad" vs. "Fight Bugs then Go in a Door"? My friend was thinking "fight bugs" is too self-effacing, might give people an instant low opinion of the game.

I know about that game.

How about something pretty simple like, 'Bugs'?

[QuadrupleA]

Yeah, maybe a simpler title... not sure about "Bugs", in my own thinking that's not a big aspect of the game (I just had some 3D bug models laying around ).

[Ancient Account]

'Bugs' was just an example...

[QuadrupleA]

'Bugs' was just an example...

Gotcha - yeah, short could be good.

[QuadrupleA]

OK, V4 has arrived! This one's a fairly big update:

 * Unlockable bonus levels with different rules & mechanics
 * Centipede boss
 * Survival Mode
 * Unlockable alternate backgrounds
 * Level titles (hopefully adds a bit of humor)
 * A feature where gameplay starts paused, until the player makes their first move
 * Music / sound mute settings

Let me know what you guys think - if the unlocks are fun, how the difficulty level seems now, etc. I'm considering this one "finished" in its current form, barring any small fixes and tweaks - if a lot of people like it over time I'll think about adding more worlds and making it into a larger game.

Anyway, V4 download is at:

TrippyTrippyBadBad_v4.zip

And here are some screenshots showing a few of the new features / backgrounds: