next »

[Anti]

The Adventures of Felix Fox games are pretty old. But I'm going to assume they're new to people here.

First an introduction! I released my first game around September of 2004 and released a second game around a month later. This was all done on gamedev.net. I actually got some very very helpful feedback. Since then, I've been having a lot of trouble getting feedback. I'd imagine a lot of people are having the same problem. I'm feeling pretty positive here though.

The Adventures of Felix Fox is about a fox, as you may have guessed, burdened by kindness. His seeming insatiable ability to help more or less places him in life or death scenarios. It's best thought of as a chidren's book figure with a realistic spin.

Part of the Felix world is a forest. The forest in the Felix series aims to act on a world forest. If you're thinking, wouldn't the animals eating each other, they do. The other part is the city. The city aims to act on a real world city but it's mostly in behavior.

I think that sums up the story pretty well. First thing I'll say is I did not put a lot into the stories of the games. At the time I was more focused on making the games than anything else. In the one case where I actually put more into the story, Dream Master, I think it brought down the quality of game.

The games all play different from each other. So I can't really describe what they all play like. Common features would include beat'em up style fighting and platforming. I'll go what's different about each one by one!

Anti effect - Anti Effect is more straight forward, fight and jump around. This was my first real game so you'll see easy flaws.


Samba of the wolves – Samba of the Wolves is much much much less linear than Anti Effect and more puzzle based. It can be confusing at times at first.


Dream Master – Much like Anti Effect only less linear. I began getting involved with the whole reflex actions bit here.


Tandem Tales – Much like Dream Master only better. It is however, more linear and more a bit more bland in scenery (apparently it was possible)


Anyhoo, what I'm hoping out of this is some real feedback. What you love, what you hate, what you wanted but didn't get and what you got but really didn't want. I'm honestly so perplexed with opinions I've gone a little mad . It's actually crossed my mind several times to buy banners to advertise a free game.

Requirements: Windows (XP or Vista) I really wouldn't know much more than that. Some of the later games do however require a pretty good graphics card.


Felix Downloads Here

An early build of the 5th game will be released in November and I like to attempt, one last time, to learn more about older games one last time before moving on,

[Anti]

The first release of the "5th" game is now available. You can download it from the website. An updated version will be available for testing each month.

Screenshot

Available here
http://www.felixfox.com

Note: This game uses XNA Game Studio 3.0

[FishyBoy]

I remember playing Tandem Tales a while back.

It was a great beat 'em up!

[eddietree]

the fox reminds me of tails from sonic the hedgehog

[Anti]

I remember playing Tandem Tales a while back.

It was a great beat 'em up!

Thanks! : D

the fox reminds me of tails from sonic the hedgehog

I get that a lot unfortunately

[eddietree]

the fox reminds me of tails from sonic the hedgehog

I get that a lot unfortunately

Well, only because if you think of a fox, you think of it as being orange. But when you think of an orange fox, you think of Tails. It's rather unfortunate...or did I just blow your mind?

[Anti]

The Adventures of Felix Fox: The Tandem Tales release 4 is now available with an online matchmaking server.

Unlike the other games, this one only focuses on multiplayer mode.



You can watch a video

[Dim_Yimma_H]

I played one of the early Felix Fox games several years ago and thought it was pretty nice.

My first impression of Tandem Tales is that it seriously has a nice feeling in the platform jumping controls. And it reminds about Super Mario 64 except the perspective from the side. I like it so far!

Textures look very bright on my computer, I have a quite unusual video adapter so problems occur in some games. I'm going to check for new drivers before I continue.

That download page looks very neat by the way, and at least I happily welcome those file sizes about 3 to 4 megabytes as I tend to accept graphics as it is, and I'd like to mention those animations of the foxes look great, really sweet.

[Anti]

I played one of the early Felix Fox games several years ago and thought it was pretty nice.

My first impression of Tandem Tales is that it seriously has a nice feeling in the platform jumping controls. And it reminds about Super Mario 64 except the perspective from the side. I like it so far!

Textures look very bright on my computer, I have a quite unusual video adapter so problems occur in some games. I'm going to check for new drivers before I continue.

That download page looks very neat by the way, and at least I happily welcome those file sizes about 3 to 4 megabytes as I tend to accept graphics as it is, and I'd like to mention those animations of the foxes look great, really sweet.

Thanks!
It's nice to see the animation worked out. You can probably tell it's very limited.

Hmm Mario 64....  I wonder if that's the checkered tile talking.

[Dim_Yimma_H]

So I decided to boot my old PC and try out Felix Fox, and both Dream Master and Tandem Tales worked now. Tandem Tales was fun, but as I got stuck sometimes I couldn't resist adding some extra comments... So be prepared

Feedback for Tandem Tales (I played the first version, don't have XNA)
At first I thought the dialog was slightly, hmm, maybe pretentious (intentionally? ), but it really is rather funny in the first town. I jumped around on rooftops, climbed some vines and talked to a fox that lost its key, then I saw the key on top of a roof but no vines nearby.

Any tips on how to reach that key... was what I was going to type, but I talked around some and now I have the key! Haha, then I believe I actually pushed a wooden box a bit up the wall after that

The controls feel much better in Tandem Tales (compared to Dream Master), especially the jumping feels good, that's why I like the platform sections best. The fighting controls are OK, but I would've liked more response from the punches for example, maybe a more emphasized animation (maybe less smooth, you know, "ka-pow!")

(I don't think I heard any sound effects, is that normal? Maybe I need to install OpenAL?)

The Dreamscape level is pretty difficult, whoa, I must've retried 20 times minimum now, much because of those quick time events. (Shenmue-inspired by any chance?)
In another game, longer delays of those events could make it easier/funnier... maybe less instant deaths. If saving was allowed it would be nice, too. Personally I think those events work very well together with the platform jumping, it's funnier to play than the fighting sections. It was when retrying the moving platforms in Dreamscape that I finally understood the fighting controls beyond button-mashing, and it's pretty delicate, but hard to learn.

Lastly I must say Tandem Tales is an extremely cozy game, everything looks so nice and cheerful. And much thanks to those beautiful animations I've now spent more than 3 hours playing, good times, but the red-blue boss is impossible!

Out of curiosity, how did you build the levels?

Feedback for Dream Master
First impression was that the menus look really neat.

It was nice to see on the display which button I pressed when starting out, since they're named after gamepad buttons. And at least I like the context-sensitivity, like "Punch" versus "Read" and "Grab" versus "Item", that the actions displayed change based on where the character is.

Personally I think it's strange that neither Esc nor Alt + F4 works. (This applies to Tandem Tales too.) So I tried to exit the game using the Task Manager the first couple of times. A short "read me" file might've helped.

The depth movement felt a bit slow as it wasn't possible to run, only walk along the depth axis.

I reached the pillars with bouncing platforms in the second level, where I fell down a bunch of times and gave up.

To sum up, I think Tandem Tales is much better! (As far as I got.)

Tandem Tales – Much like Dream Master only better. It is however, more linear and more a bit more bland in scenery (apparently it was possible)

What, no? I tried both and think Tandem Tales looks much more colorful and interesting. The forest especially, it's pretty beautiful.

I'm honestly so perplexed with opinions I've gone a little mad . It's actually crossed my mind several times to buy banners to advertise a free game.

I think I know what you mean, it's quite difficult to make games for other players these days. I wonder if there are more makers than players.

Hmm Mario 64....  I wonder if that's the checkered tile talking.

In Tandem Tales, the colorful textures and the many rainbows remind of Super Mario 64. And the cheerful atmosphere.

[Anti]

  Hat's off to you Dim_Yimma_H!! You may be one of maybe 3 people that gave me an actual review!! My sincerest thanks!

The controls feel much better in Tandem Tales (compared to Dream Master), especially the jumping feels good, that's why I like the platform sections best. The fighting controls are OK, but I would've liked more response from the punches for example, maybe a more emphasized animation (maybe less smooth, you know, "ka-pow!")

I can see your point, being flashy and really adding oomph to things has never been my strong suite.

The Dreamscape level is pretty difficult, whoa, I must've retried 20 times minimum now, much because of those quick time events. (Shenmue-inspired by any chance?)

Right on the nail! But of course it seems every game is doing it now just about. Gonna have to go a step further with it.

Lastly I must say Tandem Tales is an extremely cozy game, everything looks so nice and cheerful. And much thanks to those beautiful animations I've now spent more than 3 hours playing, good times, but the red-blue boss is impossible!

He has a bit of a strategy to em. It involves "inflating his ego" and then doing a strong attack in the air. There's a 90% chance I just gave it away but I have heard how frustrating that part is before. 

The depth movement felt a bit slow as it wasn't possible to run, only walk along the depth axis.

I reached the pillars with bouncing platforms in the second level, where I fell down a bunch of times and gave up.

Running in that version involves double tapping. Probably not the best idea when there's platforming involved. This is just guessing but I think most people don't make it pass the bouncing platforms. 

I learned a lot there.


It's also funny that you should mention Mario 64, because to exit Dream Master you must be standing still while the game is paused to get to the pause menu and exit from there. I did it to make using items more strategic I think.

Out of curiosity, how did you build the levels?

Both games, including the latest are made from seperate level editors I made from scratch. The latest one is much easier to develop for with the move to C#

Once again thanks for the feedback! Perfecting timing really, I've just began planning another adventure mode! : D

Oh one last note: You don't need the XNA Gamestudio to play the latest one, only the redistributable. I really wanted to avoid installing at this stage.

[PaleFox]

You seem to have a knack for the brawling games here. Let's have some positive feedback!

After Effect:

There are bits where you're jumping without knowing where, and the tripledash is a bit confusing. However! It's still enjoyable, and it runs very well even in my Wine installation which is a good thing indeed. Good job!


The other games also seem well put together, though Dream Master has some odd graphical issues (not your fault, the card on here is all wonky most of the time). Can't play latest game, don't meet specs(?). Just crashes out. Nice work, sir, keep up the good work.

[Dim_Yimma_H]

The Dreamscape level is pretty difficult, whoa, I must've retried 20 times minimum now, much because of those quick time events. (Shenmue-inspired by any chance?)

Right on the nail! But of course it seems every game is doing it now just about. Gonna have to go a step further with it.

I think they're fun and pretty good as they are now, personally I only found the short time interval to press the button difficult.

Then I thought some more about it... Maybe they can be kept as hard as now, but less lethal. (For example, failure to press the right button may (more often) send the player to a lower/previous platform, instead of restarting the level.)

Both games, including the latest are made from seperate level editors I made from scratch. The latest one is much easier to develop for with the move to C#

Once again thanks for the feedback! Perfecting timing really, I've just began planning another adventure mode! : D

Sounds nice, I don't want to push anyone but good luck!
I must say, your technical work with animations and editors is impressive.

[Anti]

You seem to have a knack for the brawling games here. Let's have some positive feedback!

After Effect:

There are bits where you're jumping without knowing where, and the tripledash is a bit confusing. However! It's still enjoyable, and it runs very well even in my Wine installation which is a good thing indeed. Good job!


The other games also seem well put together, though Dream Master has some odd graphical issues (not your fault, the card on here is all wonky most of the time). Can't play latest game, don't meet specs(?). Just crashes out. Nice work, sir, keep up the good work.

I honestly have NO IDEA why I did a triple dash ! I think I learned pretty well from the those mistakes.

In most cases if Tandem Tales works correctly The Tandem Tales should work correctly as well. The XNA Redistrubutable download and Vista SP1 / XP SP3 updates seem to be a big thorn convenience wise.

As always Thanks for the feedback! : D

Then I thought some more about it... Maybe they can be kept as hard as now, but less lethal. (For example, failure to press the right button may (more often) send the player to a lower/previous platform, instead of restarting the level.)

I see, I did get kinda carried away with the instant death thing about halfway through. Note taken! Also, what I meant by go a step further was change it around, maybe false event, multiple choices, use a mini-game like format... something different from simply press the button.

Sounds nice, I don't want to push anyone but good luck!
I must say, your technical work with animations and editors is impressive.

Thanks! I'll need that luck... maybe the push too...

[Anti]

Wow, it's been quite a while. A Trial Adventure is now available.

[hyperduck]

The enemies don't react. They get hit in the face and they do not react to it at all. They need to hurt, and you need to hurt. More hurt emotes! Looking great so far!

[Anti]

While I'd agree I don't emote myself enough with the animation I wouldn't say there's no reaction. 

But point noted!

Oh yeah, and thanks!

[Dim_Yimma_H]

We may be a bit spoiled by strangely colorful explosions these days =)

The AI is quite alive compared to many other platformer/fighting games. It seems like there's some way-point navigation in there too, like during that bear brawl (in the Trial Adventure).

[Anti]

Quick note! The game is now available on Xbox-Live Indie Games.