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[SamanthaZero]

I'd like to share the game I've been developing, and get some feedback about how it plays.  The game is called Neko Dance Party.  In it, you play as a Neko, which is a roundish cat, and bounce around while performing dance moves.

Update 11.16.07: A new version has been uploaded!  It contains a new environment and multiple gameplay tweaks.



Download the Windows standalone
Download the Mac standalone

There is also a web version of the game available.  To play it, you'll need the Unity Web Player. You can download it here, but you'll also be automatically prompted when you load the web game's container web page.  The web player will work on both PC and Mac (sorry no linux!)

Play Neko Dance Party right here!

I am still working on:
* Environment art
* Menu art
* Instructional screens
* Finalizing the music
* Additional levels
* Optimization

Feedback I am looking for:
* How does it play?
* Do the rules make sense/are they obvious?
* How difficult is it to get the gold medal in each level?
* What kind of problems do you see with it?
* What does your girlfriend (or sister or mom) think of it?

Please do share your thoughts!  I am hoping to be 100% finished in a month, and everyone's feedback would be a great help!

[sega]

I know there are a few people that wanted to check this out, but requiring the installation of the Unity Web Player (which I admit I'm not familiar with) kept them backed off from trying the game.  That includes me.  Good luck though!  It's very attractive to me, for some reason.

[jankoM]

It played well without any problems but I didn't know if I should just jump around and try to pick as much notes and baloons or is there some more complex point in it?

[SamanthaZero]

...requiring the installation of the Unity Web Player (which I admit I'm not familiar with) kept them backed off from trying the game.  That includes me.

I understand the aversion to installing a new web plugin.  But I assure you, it's nothing to be afraid of, no more than installing flash or shockwave player.  For anyone who's not familiar with Unity, I urge you to check it out: http://unity3d.com.  I am the Unity Director of Quality Assurance.  So truthfully, in the very slight chance (less than 1%) that you do have problems with the web player, I'm the person who should know, so please tell me!

It played well without any problems but I didn't know if I should just jump around and try to pick as much notes and baloons or is there some more complex point in it?

You've pretty much figured it out.  You're supposed to get the highest score that you can.  You do so by collecting the notes and balloons, which will make you jump higher.  When you do well enough, little dancing Neko friends will join you.

[bigbossSNK]

-Whenever another neko appears, I lose my momentum. Either sugar coat my "penalization" or explain it. Or both.
-On my 1.2Ghz laptop the game hiccuped (for a few milliseconds) once or twice per level.
-The rules aren't clear at all, though the goal is obvious, since your interaction options are just bouncing and collecting notes.
Do notes score differently based on height, momentum, color, glow, speed?
Do your neko friends consume notes?

[Tex Pine]

When you use Unity... can't you just compile a binary and distribute it? Like, say, Flash or Shockwave?

It would solve the problem of plugin aversion because, thinking about it, if you find people averted by new plugins on an indie game dev Feedback forum, what would happen with more average players "demographics"? (I mean, the one who doesn't make games and experiment lots of technology) You would certainly miss some (if not many) players, so it would be nice Unity can allow a downloadable version with no browser plugin requirement.

As for the game, and your questions:

- It was very slow on my machine, I believe the FPS should be about 15 or 20. I have a ATI Radeon Pro 9600. It also de-vsynched with my LCD monitor.

- Unity player locks by Mozilla tabs on the loading screen (nothing happens when I try to click on other tabs while it is loading).

- Something didn't work for me on game mechanics. I far as I can tell, I am supposed to catch the music notes and balloons flying around. But it gets boring to jump all around all the time - it is not like Icy Tower for example. And I couldn't really understand the purpose of the other cats, seems they help me.

- I missed a song during the game, the main menu song is cool, but the game is mute.

- My wife (who loves "cute" casual games) didn't like it for the same reasons.


Hope it helps.

[Guert]

Hey there!
You might want to work on teh controls of the bouncing cat so the player actualy controls the height and speed of it all. Right now, the game doesn't allow the player to control much of teh action and what he actualy controls, well, he doesn't know how to exactly control it.

For instance, the bouncing. The avatara keeps bouncing all the time, may the player wnats it or not. Then, the player has a hard time finding out howto make him bounce higher. Pressing up or down doesn't change anything. The player needs to playa round with teh game  for a couple of minutes in order to know what to do, which is very bad. The player should know right away how to control his avatar.

I say, give more control over the bouncing and I think it'll make the game better.

I wish I could talk more about grabbing the notes and ballons but since these elements are related to bouncing, well, anything I say would be irrelevant if the bouncing system changes.

Anyway, keep it up!
Later!

[SamanthaZero]

Thanks for the feedback so far everyone, it's been great!

I've created a new build for those who want to try it out.  And by popular demand, I've created a standalone Windows executable.  Just for kicks, I went ahead and published a Mac version as well.

Play the web version
Download the Windows standalone
Download the Mac standalone

Changes:
* New environment is partially complete
* Additional work on the front-end menus
* Color selection feature implemented
* Color unlocking feature implemented
* Multiple difficulties implemented

As always, any and all feedback is appreciated!

[SamanthaZero]

I say, give more control over the bouncing and I think it'll make the game better.

Hey Guert, thanks for your suggestion.  This is actually something I struggled with quite a lot.  I had a jump button in the game for quite a while.  But at the end of the day it really did make the game too complicated.  I had to keep my target audience in mind, and simplify it.  Right now I'm actually very proud that you play the whole game with only the left and right arrows.

After reading your thoughts, I do have a new idea for how to give the player more control over the jumping height.  I'm not sure if it would make the game too complicated again, so I'll have to experiment with it.  At this stage of development, I think I will keep things the way they are right now.  Changing the jumping system would, as you mentioned, trickle down to change the rest of the entire game.  So I think it will have to be something I try out for version two.

This version is really just targeted to go up on web game portals like shockwave.com or kongregate.  Version two could be a full-blown standalone downloadable or an exclusive version for a portal.

It would be really great to get feedback about the level designs.  Are they too hard?  Too easy?  Do you feel like you can alter your play style to find the "golden path" in each level?  Do the levels increase in difficulty?

[Tex Pine]

It is much better now, but the mechanics still don't work for me... I don't exactly know how to make it jump higher, and the bouncing, like Guert said, is annoying. It was somewhat annoying on other recent game here too, the Little Monster.

[SamanthaZero]

Getting a balloon makes you bounce higher.  Performing a whole jump without get any notes or balloons will make you jump lower.  This will be explained in a how-to loading screen (which I'm working on today).

What else is annoying about the jumping?

[BenH]

Personally I thought it was pretty cool. It'd be nice to see more items/mechanics introduced as the game goes on, though. I think it'd get pretty repetitive otherwise. I should note I often play music-based games purely for the enjoyment of listening to the music (and seeing the visuals sync up with the audio), so as long as this has more good music I think it'll be fine.

[Guert]

This new version is better than the frist one I tried. Nice improvement. As BenH said, more mechanism would be interesting. I'd also make the easy levels feature less opposing cats and make the levels shorter so they don't become redundant.

You're going in the rigth direction with this, in my opinion. Good job, keep it up!