Hi johnki,

I think you will have a hard time playing it because of the smaller screen size, but if youre on testflight I can send you the build.
But Ive no idea if it will run correctly because the game is iPad only  

My username on testflight is [email protected]
This is the testflight link http://tflig.ht/RwXE6V
I'll be happy to share the build with all tigsourcers!!  

Hi izzyReggie,

Thanks for getting back to me.
Yes I'm afraid the web build is outdated.  I've edited the post to reflect this.

Unfortunately as you've noticed the game is hard to play with a mouse, mostly because it was designed for touchscreens I guess.
That's why I havent updated the builds and have moved to testflight for testing purposes.

I can send you (or anyone else who wants it) the latest build if you're on testflight and have an iPad.
No android for now at least until I get an android tablet, I'm afraid.
Sorry!

[1. basics]

hi again!

I'm under the impression that I'm not doing a good job at explaining what the game is about, so I thought I should make some tasty gifs to outline the basic mechanics of the game.


1. basics
avoid falling off the bottom edge of the screen.
avoid attacking enemies and the bullets they shoot.

2. hooking
tap on an enemy to hook to it.  you can only move around the screen by hooking.

3. throwing
flick your finger over an enemy in any direction to throw the enemy in that direction.
throw enemies into each other to knock them out.
enemies leave coins behind, swipe over them with your finger to pick them up.

4. capturing
hook to an enemy, then tap on it to capture it.  you can capture a bunch of enemies and then throw them all together at once.  if you get hit or fall off the bottom edge of the screen you lose your captured enemies (if you have no captured enemies you die).

5. goal
pick up as many coins as you can before dying!



that's it for now, thanks for reading!
-nachobeard.

just logging in to say this is a totally cool game.
my 2 cents follow:

-difficulty is quite steep! (not sure if it's intentional)
-would love to be able to kick people down while in mid-air.  something like when you down-kick people into the floor in smash brothers (captain falcon, ness can do this and it's immense fun and great for juggling enemies).

that's it.
great work!

heyyya

just a quick update because I've been working pretty hard on this thing for the last couple months.  I had to rewrite a bunch of stuff because the code I carried over from my prototyping stage was really hindering progress.  needless to say this was super boring, but it had to be done, but I'm really having fun with the project again.

so, my lessons are: whatever you do, throw away *all* code after prototyping.
also, never animate using physics, always use curves.

anyway, let's celebrate!
 

and now, the obligatory screenshot
(all graphics are placeholder, click to enlarge)

bye now!

Finally, home sweet home! Was great meeting you guys, already looking forward to the next one

If anyones at the travelodge and fancies a beer or something, count me in!

gameplay video plz?
this is relevant to my interests.

EXCEEDINGLY PUMPED

hey

talk on "juiciness" by petri purho (crayon physics)




jon blow lectures (mostly game design, there's like 20 videos in the whole playlist, you might want to space them out)




"being poor is good for games" (or something like that) by petri
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwXFOgNVMww

gdc vault 2011 (not so indie but a lot of interesting/useful material)
http://www.gdcvault.com/free/gdc-11

talks can be entertaining and insightful but nothing beats a good book imo!
http://www.amazon.com/The-Art-Game-Design-lenses/dp/0123694965
http://www.amazon.com/Level-Up-Guide-Great-Design/dp/047068867X
http://www.amazon.com/A-Theory-Fun-Game-Design/dp/1932111972
http://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=17460.0

Hey man

For sure, I totally understand that we all want to make/play different types of games.
Me, I'd rather play something "different" (whatever that means) even if it's a fundamentally flawed game. Other people prefer to play expertly crafted games, and that's fine.
But I can't help seeing things under my own perspective you know? But whatever! I think I've watched too many Jon Blow talks lately anyway! :p

after defeating each boss, you get a new ability, such as shooting, clinging to walls and hovering.

I see! while this is a step in the right direction in my opinion, here's some things you might want to consider:

-are these abilities unique enough to draw players to your game?

-do these abilities create enough gameplay possibilities for the player? (or are they just gimmicks)

-will you be able to retain player's attention until they get the first couple abilities and things start getting really interesting? (or will players just dismiss your game as a generic platformer and quit before they get to the good stuff?)

If you have ever played gargoyle's quest, it is similar to that. It makes the gameplay very different for each world.

yeah, I loved that game!

but, I'd probably not play it much nowadays, mostly because its unique selling point has been lost.  this is kind of my point, feel free to ignore it since I'm not a good game designer or anything

my subjective impressions:
-player flashing after hit is too long (reduce to 2 seconds at most)
-flashing effect should be faster
-gui can sometimes obstruct view of important things below you, such as holes
-when jumping on snakes, I would make it so that you bounce off more towards the sides
-couldn't find the first key (quit because I'm not sure if there is one or not)

there are plenty good things as well, but the thing that bothers me the most is, why should people bother investing time in your game? what is it's unique point? so far I have seen a cute, well-made generic platformer - do you plan to put any innovative game mechanics later on?  not being harsh, just giving my honest feedback.

Just that there's a climbing-on-dots element to it. Like maybe you can have some levels where there's lava filling up the screen, and you gotta move your ship upwards fast enough.

ah yes, I see!
in my current project I specifically wanted to avoid this climbing upwards element because I thought it'd make it too similar to gravity hook, but in the next one I can see it working quite nicely.  thanks!

Chain Dive might be worth checking out

great recommendation, many thanks!

yeah, gravity hook is such a cool design!

but the other game... I haven't been able to find GERP
and this is GIRP as far as I know




I... fail to see the connection between this and my game
maybe I'm missing something out?

I like the video! I would hope you could make it work without a joypad.

sure, the game will be released for ipad, so it's 100% touch controls.

How about having some static hook points in the level, or not having the auto-fall? Just some ideas.

yeah I'm not sure what to do about that.
initially I thought that the player would have to pace himself to account for this kind of situation (ie. don't kill enemies blindly because if you run out you have nothing to hook to).
but I'll probably put some code in that makes sure that there's always two or three enemies on-screen, so the player always has something to hook to.

I don't think I can't get rid of the auto-fall because the game is mostly about surviving the auto-fall

thanks for your comments!

That sounds like it could be fun on touch devices! Like touch a ship to move to it. It could be fun - you should definitely prototype it and do a good job.

this is basically what my current project does.  there's some info in my sig.  overall, it's fun but it doesn't allow for much precision, so my next thing will have joypad controls

hi felipezille, thanks for your kind comments.  if you keep an eye on this and notice something which you don't like so much in the game, don't hesitate to let me know

used GIF movie gear (there's a 30-day demo).
filesize is 3 meg which I thought seemed excessive for such small and short clip but I can't seem to reduce it any more.



thanks noah and sam!