next »

[Lazy Brain Games]

Hi all! I'm currently working on 'Space Fish Deluxe' and I'd love to hear your feedback! This game isn't done yet, so I actually have a chance to listen to people before the game comes out... what a concept!

Description:
Shoot across with stars in the odd and exotic world of Space Fish! Avoid spikes, skeletal fish, and cannon toting sea snails in 42 levels of challenge and intrigue. Come swim in deep space and collect olives while avoiding peril! Complete against other players for the best times in each level!

Screenshot:


Download current build (V1.3)
http://bit.ly/iDdeKg

There is a questionnaire word doc in download as well, if you feel inclined to fill it out, send it over to [email protected]

Feedback:
I'm mainly interested in how the instructions are. I'm doing my best to get rid of any language barrier by using pictures in-game. But this extra effort is in vain if nobody gets it lol, so let me know if it's unclear what the instructions mean Beyond that, just the general fun level and how long it held you interest are topics of interest

Thanks for playing!

-Johnny B.

[Ichigo Jam]

I don't seem to have anything on this computer which can open .docx files (and I'm short on disk-space so I don't want to install Open Office)

Anyway, I got to level 38 before stopping, and I thought it was a really fun game! I'd have spent longer improving my times on earlier levels if checking other people's high scores wasn't a bit cumbersome.

Not-really-an-edit: OK, I've completed it now, and I think level 38 was the level I liked least - finding all the olives in the right half of the level was a bit irritating to me (but only a bit, so I don't think it hurts the overall game much.)

I assume the final level isn't finished? It just completed itself instantly (hence my 0 second time).

Generally, I liked the level design; it's very pleasing to short cut some bit of a level with a big jump!

I'm not a huge fan of the big grids of moving platforms (such as the second half of level 38) - they're fine in moderation, but it makes it hard to judge what's actually moving and what's stationary when so much of the screen is made up of green platforms.

The sound effect seem to really quiet - I could barely hear them over the music (music's good, though!)

I thought the instructions were good - a nice balance of telling you what you need to know when it becomes relevant without feeling patronising. No complaints about that.

Bug:

When you press the right mouse button for camera mode, moving platforms keep moving (including moving the fish if it's on one) but the timer stops. This means if you're waiting to get somewhere, you can basically cheat. You should probably stop everything when in camera mode. Or stop nothing.

Once when experimenting with this (with the fish on a green platform), when I tried to come out of camera mode it got stuck moving down-right (still in camera mode, as if the fish was off the bottom-right of the world somewhere). The only way to recover control was to hit escape. I couldn't reproduce this a second time, though.

Suggestion:

At the end of a level, show whether you beat your previous best time, and offer a "retry level" button at that point.

It would also be nice to show the online highscores at the end of the level, so you can immediately see how well you did (SpaceChem has a really nice system for this where it shows a graph view of how well other people did, and where you fit onto that. But that's probably rather more complex to implement than you'd want!)

Or some bronze/silver/gold target times would be nice (for when the online scores are empty at the beginning, or for when they're full of ridiculously good times later on).

Oh, and some kind of effect when the fish dies to a missile/spike/etc - it just disappearing feels a bit weak (also not helped by the quiet sound effects.)

Anyway, I hope that feedback was of some use to you - I'll look forward to playing the finished version, because I did really enjoy it despite my griping here!

[Lazy Brain Games]

Thanks for the feedback Ichigo Jam! Glad to hear you enjoyed it for the most part Some of the things you mentioned just aren't in there yet (the SFX fixes, the boss on the last level, camera issues). This game is actually going to be rolled up into a collection of 7 (maybe other games, all of which will have xbox type achievements, which Space Fish is pretty well suited for.

The medal idea is great, I'm just struggling to figure out what kind of reward I could give the player for getting them I considered giving the player a sort of stunt track for 100% completion, but for some reason I feel like that might be a let down for players who worked so hard to get it. But maybe not, I'm very uncertain about that

Regarding the cumbersome way in which the player checks the highscores, you wanted to submit your score, then check the other scores for that level? I think I can work that out Part of the reason I don't have them load automatically is that it takes a while for people with slower connections, although I think its safe to assume that someone submitting a score is going to want to see them

Very helpful feedback! Thank you!

Does anyone else care to try out Space Fish and offer some suggestions?

-Johnny B.

[Inanimate]

Wow, this game is really fun! This is quite the nice mechanic.

The tiled water looks funny in large groups; two ways to solve this would be to explicitly make them bubbles, or to make it so they 'fuse' into larger puddles. Legendary Starfy and Kirby both had floating water pools as well, which you could reference.

The gameplay is superb though, and I quite enjoyed playing it! Lots of opportunity for replay.

[Lazy Brain Games]

Thanks for playing Inanimate! Part of the reason I haven't tried to fuse the water together is the glowing parts of the water. They're sort of custom placed, although it wouldn't be impossible to get them to fuse together

I'm glad you liked it! There will be target times and achievements implemented in future builds, so I'm going to exploit the replayability as much as possible

Thanks again! I'll be posting a new build in a day or two

[Ichigo Jam]

The medal idea is great, I'm just struggling to figure out what kind of reward I could give the player for getting them

If you're planning some kind of achievement system anyway, "Get 10 Silver medals", "Get 10 Gold medals", "Get all gold medals" etc. can be used as achievements.

Just make the medals show on the level select screen and there will be satisfaction to seeing a big grid of gold medals!

After all, achievements don't usually have any kind of external reward; you don't get anything for getting 1000/1000 points on an XBOX game.

I don't think there's any point locking actual game content away from people who don't have the time/inclination to get super-good at the game (but that's obviously a matter of opinion!)

[Lazy Brain Games]

I think I'm just going to put in a big open course for those who get 100% completion, it's not hard to implement, but is still something tangible Space Fish is actually a 'Lazy Indie Bundle' exclusive, the 8bit funding page just went up here...

http://bit.ly/j03nZu

Once I figure out what I'm doing with the boss, it's just a matter of cleaning up a couple levels and dropping in the achievements

Thanks again for playing!

-Johnny B.

[Desert Dog]

Played it right through. It was awkward to figure out how to move, initially.. if you can't 'see' the block your aiming for, having to click on the block your already on to launch. I can see why you do it, but it was still a bit awkward at first.

Cool game! Some levels were pretty tough (I think..30 was quite tough?). I just submitted as tester, and all my scores should have been sent online, so you can see them.

.txt file would have been easier, I don't currently have software for opening .doc's or whatever you had.

I initially though the camera was a bomb/missile thing, so was a bit puzzled until I realised.. it was just a camera!

Good work so far! I was surprised at how long it was, for a WIP, although now that I've finished it seems that it's close to the full product, just needs polishing&finishing.

'luck,
~DD

[Lazy Brain Games]

Hmmm, the idea was to have the player move the camera and lock it to arrange jumps as needed. I suppose I could work on the camera icon to try and make to more clear that its a camera and not a gun or something I'll also take a look at 30 to see what can be tweaked Does anyone have any ideas on what could of prevented Desert Dog's (and other players like him) initial confusion?

Thanks for playing!

-Johnny B.

[Desert Dog]

Hey, what, I can jump while using the camera?! Didn't know that. :p I think I tried to.

[Lazy Brain Games]

Ah ha! I think I figured out the information gap. The camera must first be locked by using the little lock icon that pops up when the camera is engaged. This was sort of addressed in level 3. I tried to 'organically' explain it by showing the lock icon, but I think if I threw in an arrow or something a bit more eye catching that I might be able to get the idea across a bit better

With the camera placed and locked, the player can see much farther in whatever direction they choose, which is very useful in further levels.

It's sort of a complicated action I'm asking the player to figure out, and it's vital that they understand what I'm asking of them. I'm very happy you brought this to my attention! Thanks!!

[Ichigo Jam]

I actually almost never used the camera lock - I just found it too fiddly to pause, scroll the camera, then click on the lock button.

So I relied mainly on clicking near the fish to do longer jumps (and remembering which direction to go in).

When playing like this, it would be more convenient if you could jump by just clicking anywhere. I don't know if that makes things too easy though...

[Qqwy]

I didn't know about the lock-thing either. Just been playing up until level 29 tough. In Level 15 I think there is some kind of bug. The game doesn't count you as dead if you leave the screen in on the top, so you can easily grab the goal by jumping over the mines in the middle, and you don't have to go the long road down below.


Just played vor a little, and found out that I really like this game. Great level-designs, great ideas. Nice art. Fits well together.

[Lazy Brain Games]

Good catch Qqwy! That's an easy fix The camera lock thing was just supposed to be a convenience, it's just there for more cautious players that want more information before getting active. Or conversely, if a more action type player keeps dying, they can slow down and use the camera so that there's a way to deal with a tougher level. To that end, I think the camera pretty much works

The general response seems to be positive, so that's a good thing I could try to explain the camera better, but as long as people are having fun, my job is done

In the name of shameless self promotion, here's the link to the Lazy Bundle on 8bit funding, if anyone's interested in getting in on the perks Space Fish Deluxe is a bundle exclusive. The whole thing ought to be done by the end of the month There's a nifty video as well

http://8bitfunding.com/project_details.php?p_id=179

Thanks for all the plays and input guys! I really appreciate it!

-Johnny B.