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[AaronG]

Yeah, I was getting phallic vibes from your logo as well but being new and all I didn't want to be a jerk.

I don't know your core vision for the game because I'm not you.  I will say, though, that if you're worried about redundancy (and with 100 planned levels I can understand why) then continually introduce something new to the player over the course of the game.  Super Metroid keeps giving you better weapons and movement abilities.  World of Warcraft keeps giving you new spells as you level up.  Halo introduces progressively more daunting enemies in progressively more complex combinations.

Because your game is a platformer I'm going to reference Yoshi's Island (which, incidentally, is my personal favorite platformer of-all-time).  Just when you've got the game under control it throws something new at you, all the way to the end.  You got jumping down?  Now shoot eggs at that winged cloud.  You shooting eggs well now?  Okay, give this spring-ball a try.  Spring-balls not giving you much trouble I see.  Well Touch Fuzzy Get Dizzy!  I could go on: platforms that move in the direction they're rotated, flipping spikes, fade-away walls, vehicle transformations.  The point is that the game is always asking the player to learn a new mechanic and it ends up feeling like eight platformers in one.

You may not like the games or the specific examples I mentioned but they're all successful for a reason: they did something to hold people's attention.  Like I said, though, I don't know what your vision for the game is so ultimately do what seems best to you.  Hopefully I gave you a little something extra to think about, though.


P.S.
Love the developer video.  Very professionally cut and I really enjoyed getting such a personal tour of what you've got so far.


P.P.S.
I also want to add that I sort of like the slower jumping.  It reminds me of Shadow of the Colossus in that the jumps feel like they have some real force behind them.  I imagine faster jumping would be great to but I don't think it's necessarily bad the way it is.  At any rate, I've rambled long enough...

[tim-bo-jay]

Yeah, I was getting phallic vibes from your logo as well but being new and all I didn't want to be a jerk.

Welcome to TIG! and don't worry, I'm too busy not forgiving rayteoactive for pointing it out first... lol

I don't know your core vision for the game because I'm not you.  I will say, though, that if you're worried about redundancy (and with 100 planned levels I can understand why) then continually introduce something new to the player over the course of the game.  Super Metroid keeps giving you better weapons and movement abilities.  World of Warcraft keeps giving you new spells as you level up.  Halo introduces progressively more daunting enemies in progressively more complex combinations.

Because your game is a platformer I'm going to reference Yoshi's Island (which, incidentally, is my personal favorite platformer of-all-time).  Just when you've got the game under control it throws something new at you, all the way to the end.  You got jumping down?  Now shoot eggs at that winged cloud.  You shooting eggs well now?  Okay, give this spring-ball a try.  Spring-balls not giving you much trouble I see.  Well Touch Fuzzy Get Dizzy!  I could go on: platforms that move in the direction they're rotated, flipping spikes, fade-away walls, vehicle transformations.  The point is that the game is always asking the player to learn a new mechanic and it ends up feeling like eight platformers in one.

I think you raise some good points, we are close to moving into the phase where I get to make way too many bad guys and have to animate them all *tightens the noose* so if you (or anyone else) has an idea for a monster we can include in the game feel free to say! I'd like to bring in a new monster every tower or two (excluding boss towers where your objective will just be to climb like hell) meaning I need more ideas than I can come up with alone so your help would be appreciated.

On the whole thing of upgrades we actually have a plan for that :D at the beginning of each tower you'll start in a small room with a save point, some health (or a toilet) and the guy we only know as Merchant. Merchant will give the player a new line of funny dialog at the start of each tower but also will sell Janitor upgrades for his mop or ability to jump (who knows maybe there will be a quick jump ability). These will be paid for with the coins and loot you collect climbing the tower (also the incentive to explore a tower even if the way to the top seems easy). We hope this will allow players to slow the difficulty curve of the game by upgrading Janitor to cope with the new challenges (thus playing though the game once is wise before you take a serious stab at it cause you don't wanna upgrade your mop attack then find out you could have done with a jump upgrade). If you can think of ideas for upgrades please let us know also! (I'm thinking of adding a Dance Upgrade which will have no use but to make Janitor dance...why? BECAUSE I CAN!  )

You may not like the games or the specific examples I mentioned but they're all successful for a reason: they did something to hold people's attention.  Like I said, though, I don't know what your vision for the game is so ultimately do what seems best to you.  Hopefully I gave you a little something extra to think about, though.

All feed back is appreciated and even if we don't show it theirs a good chance we took it on board...then mocked it behind your back and ignored it...but still, we do appreciate all opinions, ideas, and cash made payable to Timbo J.

P.S.
Love the developer video.  Very professionally cut and I really enjoyed getting such a personal tour of what you've got so far.

Zach gets all credit for his work there even I was impressed, wait till I do a video, no fancy background like Zach! You get to see a messy bedroom and the wonderful background sound of a snoring dog!

P.P.S.
I also want to add that I sort of like the slower jumping.  It reminds me of Shadow of the Colossus in that the jumps feel like they have some real force behind them.  I imagine faster jumping would be great to but I don't think it's necessarily bad the way it is.  At any rate, I've rambled long enough...

Damn now I wanna make a Colossus level...sadly there were no penis shaped Colossus...

[tim-bo-jay]

Right, I'm in the process of toying with some logo ideas for Monolith after the penis incident (even my own Mum said "oooo! That's a bit phallic isn't it!" ...something no man should have to hear from his own mother...) so how about this:



Now I have no plans of this being the final version, just throwing something out there to get feed back to work from, so give me your feedback you sexy people!

[Zachary Lewis]

Right, I'm in the process of toying with some logo ideas for Monolith after the penis incident (even my own Mum said "oooo! That's a bit phallic isn't it!" ...something no man should have to hear from his own mother...) so how about this:

That's funny, that's the exact same thing your mom said to me last night.

[mokesmoe]

Only a bit phallic? Something's wrong with you man.

[J. R. Hill]

I like it, but I also see this:



By the way, what kind of music are you looking for?

[tim-bo-jay]

Haha Zach I gotta side with mokesmoe‽ here, you should see a doctor if your only a BIT phallic...also all these times you've refereed to your 'girlfriend' I didn't know you ment my mum!

Thank god JR, when I scrolled down and saw red lines I thought you'd found another penis (this thread can't take any more wang...just like Zachs mum). As for music, Not too sure, we've been kinda focused on getting the game it's self running before we were gonna think about music, also as nether of us are musicians whoever we dragged kicking and screaming on board would probably be presented with a level and asked to make a tune that they feel fits it. 

[rayteoactive]

I like it, but I also see this:



By the way, what kind of music are you looking for?

lol, tim-bo-jay is cursed

[J. R. Hill]

How about something like this?
http://timeforcute.com/cute/2010/02/explore.mp3

Or maybe this...
http://timeforcute.com/cute/2010/02/strawberry-cream.mp3

I wanna contribute to the game since I played Nebulous as a little kid and this is so lovely in graphics and implementation.

[tim-bo-jay]

lol, tim-bo-jay is cursed

I am I just think I suffer from an innocent mind while your all dirty pervs who see penises in everything...EVEN PENISES!

How about something like this?
http://timeforcute.com/cute/2010/02/explore.mp3

Or maybe this...
http://timeforcute.com/cute/2010/02/strawberry-cream.mp3

I wanna contribute to the game since I played Nebulous as a little kid and this is so lovely in graphics and implementation.

I love the tunes although I'm not sure if their the style we are looking for, their quite...well as your site hints at, Cute. For Monolith I imagine we'll want up beat mario-ish music...I'll talk with Zach though, see if he's ready to start thinking about bringing on someone to make music

[Zachary Lewis]

I like the music. We'll also need some sound effects. It may be good to get them in early just to ease the integration.

How about you talk with Timbo online, and we'll get something rolling!

Your contributions are awesome, and we really appreciate it!

[J. R. Hill]

Do you mean mario-like as in longer, or in instruments, or in mood or what?

[tim-bo-jay]

Do you mean mario-like as in longer, or in instruments, or in mood or what?

I guess in tempo, something upbeat, longer (people will hopefully be exploring these towers for extra treasures so a short looping tune will get to people after a while) and as for the mood there will be varying moods, for example a boss level (the ones where the tower will be falling from under you) will need a quicker more panicky tune where as a normal tower will need something that says 'I'm on an epic quest!' but can be varied ever so slightly so every 5 or 10 towers we can change the tune, not radically but enough that the player wont become annoyed by the loop.

I guess

is kinda the tune i had in mind for Monoliths basic tower music (something like this, obviously not this exactly lol) may help a bit more than my rather awful attempt at explaining lol

[J. R. Hill]

Ahhh I suck at chiptunes. Idk I'll mess around with pxtone a bit and let you know if I make anything good.

[tim-bo-jay]

I really look forward to it dude :D

[AaronG]

You might want to consider a more abstract design for your logo.  Maybe create something of a spiraling upward swoosh symbol to convey the idea of the rotating tower?  At this point, though, I imagine your first concern is the game proper.

If I think of any great enemy ideas I'll be sure to share, but I'm really eager to see what you've come up with (implemented in a playable build, of course).  Also the pseudo-RPG upgrade system sounds like a great idea!  Purchasing mop upgrades is...inspired.

Keeping an eye on this thread and looking forward to updates.  Best of luck!

[Tycho Brahe]

Better logo, only problem is, that to me theres a bit of a clash of pallets. I think you either need to make the blocks more drab (like the janitor) or make the janitor more colourful.

[Zachary Lewis]

I don't know, I still don't see the penis in the logo.

Today, I'm going to try to get climbing ropes in the alpha. We'll see how that goes.

[tim-bo-jay]

I don't know, I still don't see the penis in the logo.

Today, I'm going to try to get climbing ropes in the alpha. We'll see how that goes.

lol someone will highlight it any time now

Also looking forward to taking a poke at the ropes and seeing if Janitors climb animation works or if he looks like he's humping

[Zachary Lewis]

You may also download and play the third alpha version of Monolith.

Additionally, here are lots of pictures.















































That is all.