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[alexandersshen]

Hi everyone!

I'm a long time reader and decided to try my hand at joining this amazing community of folks.

I'm working on my "full" game right now.  I've made a few in the past, but they've been tiny things to just get the creative juices going.  Anyway, to the details!

Title: Gui Push: Ice Cavern Treasure
Game Type: Puzzle
Resembles: Pengu and Sokoban

Gameplay
The basic idea is that you have to reach the exit to proceed to the next level.  You can only reach the exit by destroying all of the generators.  To destroy the generators, you must push an ice block or rock into it.

Both types of blocks will slide across the floor until they come into contact with another object.  Ice blocks will break if they run into those objects.  If an ice block runs into another ice block, both will break.  Rocks will only break if they run into a generator.  Rocks will also break any ice in its way.

You must have at least one space in between blocks for it to work.  So, for example, you can't push a rock that's directly next to a generator and expect it to explode.  It has to gain momentum by sliding.

Full Game Plans
- 50+ Puzzles
- Level Editor
- Original music (though I do like this song)
- Sound FX

Controls
- Arrow keys to move
- "R" to restart level (I think level 10 isn't restarting properly right now, sorry!)

Screens

Download the 12 Level Demo
http://www.wanderingpandacomics.com/temp/xmas-beta-12levels.zip

Thanks!

[Soulliard]

Funny name. When I read it, I thought "Graphic User Interface Push?"

It was a fun little puzzle game, although it was pretty easy. I expect that the later levels would be more difficult, though, so that's no big problem.

The graphics were cute, and the music was relaxing, even if it is just a placeholder. The game would benefit a lot from having sound effects- but you already knew that.

You should eventually have some sort of in-game help, even if it's as simple as explaining the controls on the first screen (most people won't figure out that they need to press 'r' to restart).

Otherwise, I don't really have much to say. For the type of game it is, there's not much that desperately needs improvement. Just keep doing what you're doing, making the game longer and more difficult.

It would be cool if you could implement the generator blocks as part of the puzzle. For example, there could be a puzzle where some ice blocks were in your way, so you needed to push a rock against the generator block and then push it through the ice. You would need to do that before you destroyed all the generators.

[alexandersshen]

Hello everyone!  I'm not sure if I'm supposed to append my original post or not, but I've updated the game some more!  Because of time constraints and the idea that this is meant for Holidays 2007, the game will only feature 25 levels.

I have many plans for the next iteration, but I have to document those well in a GDD.

Anyhoo, here's the newest beta with 24 levels (I left the blueprint for level 25 at work today):
http://www.wanderingpandacomics.com/temp/xmas-beta.zip

I'll post the final iteration.  I'll probably get it done by next week.

Thanks for looking!

[alexandersshen]

Hey folks,

Here's the final submission over on the YoYo Games website:
http://www.yoyogames.com/games/show/20047

Thanks for your comments!  Enjoy!

-alex

[Guert]

Hey there!

Here are a couple of impressions from my behalf...

The character walking animation is a bit weird. It would be quite interesting to have one animation when it's standing still instead of having it walking continuously even tho it doesn't move and make the transition between two position alot smoother instead of having the character pop from one position to another.

I'm not sure exactly how the bombs work. At first I thought that making the bombs explode next to the green squares would get rid of them but it turns out that it doesn't have to. It just seems like you only need to destroy all bombs in order to win. It could be interesting to add another element that blocks the door instead of a green block so that no confusion occurs. For instance, a door closed on the stairs would do the trick or a block colored with another shade would also be interesting. On top of that, make sure your first level has a bomb exploding far away from the block so that the player knows that the bombs makes the blocks explode wether it's close or not.

The general difficulty is a bit too easy. I really started to get a challenge around level 15. The only levels that really got me thinking was the last 5, specialy 25. The levels are well designed and offer a good challenge but they always require the player to use the same strategy (push a block) so the player always know what to do next. It could be interesting to add more elements in the game, like teleportation of blocks, blocks destructions, timer blocks, etc... to add alittle something to the game. Just a bit more elements to diversify the strategies and keep the player on its toes, wondering what elements he should focus on in the levels.

This game reminds me of 2 old NES era game: Kickle cubicle and Lolo but without enemies.

All in all, a fun puzzle game. It would be fun to add some extra secret levels so the experienced players can play the levels in various ways and find alternate solutions to them.

Anyway, good job! Fun game!
Later!