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[JeffWeber]

Diver is in an alpha state at the moment and many of the obvious things aren't there yet.

Here is a direct link for the impatient
It's a browser game: http://www.farseergames.com/Diver/DiverPlay.aspx 

Currently I'm looking for feedback on the following:

Game-Control Mechanic: The control is similar to Ski Stunt Simulator. Is it intuitive? Does it "feel" right?  Any suggestions?

Game Play Ideas: Currently I'm thinking the game will be a "Complete All Levels(Dives)" game. At the moment, to complete a dive you need to:

• Use any and all diving boards.
• Land between the buoys
• Get a dive-score above 7.5.

I'm also thinking of a free-dive mode, achievments (are they over-done these days), and a running dive-score. Thoughts? Ideas?

Difficulty
Is the game too difficult. I know it takes a bit to get going, but is the learning curve to steep?  I do plan for some better practice levels but do you think that will be enough? Any other ideas to keep people from being put-off by the initial difficulty?

Platform/Requirements
Diver is a browser game built on the Silverlight framework. It requires the Silverlight 2.0 plug-in. (Microsoft's version of flash).  The game-site will prompt you to install it if you don't have it. The insall should be pretty pain-less just like flash.

The game should work on Windows XP or Vista using Firefox (not the 3.0 beta though) or IE or on a Mac using either Firefox or Safari (interested to get feedback from mac-users as I don't have one for testing.)

video and screens









Thanks,

-Jeff Weber

[Hideous]

What made the Ski Simulator so fun was the hilarious crashes, I think. You lose that in Diver. And Diver also has an extremely steep difficulty curve - I could never complete the first level. Seriously, this is hard.

[moshboy]

What is Microsoft Silverlight?

[Hideous]

Meh, Microsoft's evil shockwaveish thing.

[JeffWeber]

What made the Ski Simulator so fun was the hilarious crashes, I think. You lose that in Diver. And Diver also has an extremely steep difficulty curve - I could never complete the first level. Seriously, this is hard.

Agreed.  My physics engine does support ragdoll, I just haven't got that far yet.  That should add some more interesting crashes but I get what you mean.

I am a bit worried about the learning curve. It is steep, but at the same time it is loooonnggg which I like. It takes a long time to master.

Thanks for the feedback.

[JeffWeber]

What is Microsoft Silverlight?

It's Microsoft's competitor to flash/flex. 

[X-Tender]

First, I like games like that
Now some "bad" things that I discovered.

1. The Dive finish screen tells me "Level Complete" when I have a 7.5 Score, but I thought my score must be Greater then 7.5

2. Its kinda Tricky to Land and jump of from the Diving Boards.

3. It tooked me a long time to find out the right technique to Jump of the Cliff, it would be easyer when the player gets a little bit more Boost to the Top the he doesnt collide with the Cliff so easy.

3b. Its kinda hard to see where his head/foots are when he make the loops. give him maybe a headband to identify his head during movement better. (I often to early opened my position and the dived with the foots ion because I thought that the foots were the head. )

4. Why Silverlight? =)

5. WOuld love some more Details (i know its WIP?!) Some flying birds and other nice stuff (Level editor?)

Good work so far, I like it!

e/: Ok .. i tryed the last level with the 2 diving boards for about 30 minuts .. maybe less, and its freakyin hard to master. I think the landing/junping part on the diving boards must get easyer. also more air controll. wenn I hitted the 2. board then I lost of the time flyed to far. also when I opened the Pose.

[JeffWeber]

3b. Its kinda hard to see where his head/foots are when he make the loops. give him maybe a headband to identify his head during movement better. (I often to early opened my position and the dived with the foots ion because I thought that the foots were the head. )

I'll give that some thought. It never occured to me.

Why Silverlight? =)

Simple. Because it's what I know. I'm a MS developer for my day job. I don't have a lot of time so I use what I'm most productive in.

WOuld love some more Details (i know its WIP?!) Some flying birds and other nice stuff  (Level editor?)

I have a lot of ideas, including flying birds and fish. I eventually want to do an online level editor with ability to save and share levels but that will probably be a ways out.  Currently I'm thinking of 60 or so levels: 20 single board levels, 20 2-board levels, and 20 3-board levels.  I'll probably target that and release then decide where to take if from there if anywhere.  For the first release I'll have things like ragdoll effects, damage sounds, better tutorials, and just general polish. Some of the more elaborate ideas will need to wait otherwise I'll be developing for years.

Regarding your last comment, the diving boards spring forces are fully adjustable so it's just a matter of tuning.

Thanks for the feedback.

[X-Tender]

Alright, I wait for your new Version

btw. I finaly made the last level \o/

[bigbossSNK]

Here's some tips:
-To backflip onto the board, follow the semi-circle seen in the tutorial. If you don't get a backflip, but a stumbling fall, try a faster or slower motion in your gesture.
-You can also backflip by moving the mouse from bottom left to bottom right, then arching to top left, bottom left and bottom right. Again, timing is crucial.
-Controlling your bounce is much easier when you land on your feet. Control your rotation speed (by coiling up and straightening) so that you land on your feet.

If you make a 3 step tutorial explaining the gestures AND the timing, the learning curve will be reduced dramatically. The difficulty beyond that isn't that great.

[Hideous]

Whoa, wait a second, you made Farseer physics? Awesome.

[JeffWeber]

Here's some tips:
-To backflip onto the board, follow the semi-circle seen in the tutorial. If you don't get a backflip, but a stumbling fall, try a faster or slower motion in your gesture.
-You can also backflip by moving the mouse from bottom left to bottom right, then arching to top left, bottom left and bottom right. Again, timing is crucial.
-Controlling your bounce is much easier when you land on your feet. Control your rotation speed (by coiling up and straightening) so that you land on your feet.

If you make a 3 step tutorial explaining the gestures AND the timing, the learning curve will be reduced dramatically. The difficulty beyond that isn't that great.

Yeah, I think for the alpha I should have concentrated more on better tutorials. I'm considering adding some "Replay" functionality in the future. I could then use this to show the different gestures and timing.

[JeffWeber]

Whoa, wait a second, you made Farseer physics? Awesome.

Yep, that's me.   

[Jimbob]

Love the concept, the controls are very tricky to begin with, the timing should definitely be emphasised in the tutorial. Maybe if it shows a mouse pointer doing the same gesture (plus the actual dive) and then you have to match its timing.

Some Bugs:
- You can actually make an error box come up if you are really quick on clicking after hitting the water. You both respawn and the score comes up. Then when you hit the water again with the box up -> error. Didn't actually die completely though .
- My feet seem to stick when they touch the very end of the board... its repeatable (as in it has happened more than once). It also 'unsticks' very quickly, but its definitely noticeable.
- This one I've not been able to repeat: I was on the fourth 'proper' level (the one with the pillar you have to jump over into the middle. I hit the board dived over the buoys and hit the second island. I pushed myself off that and hit one of the buoys (I think) and then shot directly up into the air. Luckily for me it let me land directly in the centre Dunno exactly how it happened though.

[JeffWeber]

Love the concept, the controls are very tricky to begin with, the timing should definitely be emphasised in the tutorial. Maybe if it shows a mouse pointer doing the same gesture (plus the actual dive) and then you have to match its timing.

Some Bugs:
- You can actually make an error box come up if you are really quick on clicking after hitting the water. You both respawn and the score comes up. Then when you hit the water again with the box up -> error. Didn't actually die completely though .
- My feet seem to stick when they touch the very end of the board... its repeatable (as in it has happened more than once). It also 'unsticks' very quickly, but its definitely noticeable.
- This one I've not been able to repeat: I was on the fourth 'proper' level (the one with the pillar you have to jump over into the middle. I hit the board dived over the buoys and hit the second island. I pushed myself off that and hit one of the buoys (I think) and then shot directly up into the air. Luckily for me it let me land directly in the centre Dunno exactly how it happened though.

Hi, glad you like the concept. I agree about the tutorial suggestion.

Thanks for the feedback. The bug that through into the error is a known issue. I think it's my fluid physics.

The first bug you mention is new to me.  Good find.

I've seen the sticky diving board thing you mention. I think it's caused by the collison detection...  the feet are penetrating the board occasionally. I think that's an easy fix.

-Jeff

[medieval]

Well it's a good concept, but seriously, the controls are a pain. How can I even jump forward far enough to reach the buoys (dive 5) when doing a backflip?

[JeffWeber]

Well it's a good concept, but seriously, the controls are a pain. How can I even jump forward far enough to reach the buoys (dive 5) when doing a backflip?

You need to back-flip off the cliff, and hit the diving board near the tip. Then when you spring down, crouch and push off by moving your mouse down then up and too the right.

It seems impossible at some times, but trust me if you work on it for a while it becomes quite easy.  That, in my mind, is the great thing about this control scheme. It has a very LONG learning curve.

As noted in other posts, I think a lot of the learning-pain could be fixed with some better tutorials.

-Jeff

[Massena]

This game definetly needs some sort of in-depth tutorial, with video explanations and practice levels. Besides that I like it, it's kinda relaxing.
You might wanna consider giving the player some more control, to easen up the learning curve.

P.S.: I managed to get a 9.7 in the 3rd "proper" level. 

edit: I also somehow forgot to say how perfect this game was, technically and graphically.

[Jimbob]

I managed to get a 10.0 somehow. Not that I'm bragging or anything. (Okay, maybe I am  )