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[Raku]

Certainly!

(Phew- After downloading CamStudio and multiple tries to tweak the settings to capture the video in the true speed, I've finally got some footage I'm satisfied with.)

Here, this is the normal speed the game should be running at:




Blame YouTube for making it so blurry.

[AndrewFM]

In the final build, a game over will simply mean that you're sent to the Title screen. you can continue off from the last stage you've beaten.

In that case, what would be the difference between dieing in a stage, and getting Game Over (other than being sent back to the title screen)? I guess the multi-part stages would account for this, considering a Game Over would send you back to the very beginning of the multi-part stage, while a death would only send you to the beginning of the part you're currently on. However, I think an additional distinction between death and Game Over would balance the game out:

Considering you're usually going to lose the first time you fight a boss, you're going to be at a severe disadvantage since you lose your powerup when you die. I can see that being really frustrating for people.

What if when you die, instead of being sent back to the beginning of the stage with no powerups, you're sent back to the beginning with whatever powerup you had when you started the stage? However, if you get Game Over, then not only are you sent back to the very beginning of the stage, but you also lose any souls that you had been wielding. I think that would widen the severity gap between death and Game Over, while also making death less of a penalty.

[Raku]

I think that would widen the severity gap between death and Game Over, while also making death less of a penalty.

Alright, no more Mr.Nice-Guy.

First off, you do have a point about how it wouldn't be any different from dieing normally. Therefore, I will do this: beating a boss or a special stage will save the game. Getting a Game Over will force you to reload the game from back when you beat your last boss.

Second of all---
I am not OK with dieing being so easy on the player. The player is going to lose any power ups he has if he dies, hands down. But as I said, the pause function lets you exit to the map at any time. If it's that important to have a power for the stage/boss you're on. Backtrack and get one from a previous stage.

Meanwhile, in the caves...

[Raku]

Alright, I've uploaded an updated demo. Check the first post of this thread again, please.

Updates

• Changed the title screen a bit.
• Working options on the title screen (note: do NOT go to "options", it will take you to a blank screen and you'll have to restart to get back to the title)
• Fixed several parts that were too hard.
• added a new attack to the flower boss (Poinsettia) which makes it slighty easier, actually.
• Made it so that beating a boss stage saves the game.
• made the Game Over screen work. you can now continue or give up from here.
• Fixed glitch in "wide open space" with one of the abilities (thanks, AndrewFM)
• Fixed graphical glitch with the Block enemy

To Do

• A LOT

I appreciate everyone's support and feedback.
I will not stop working on this game until it is 100% complete

[Konidias]

In the "Let's Run!" level, once you make it to the flying thing that shoots at you, you can walk through the walls (or what look like walls) and end up falling to your death.

Also it wouldn't let me continue... I hit every button on the keyboard and it didn't continue... it let me start a new game though. Except for some reason it was showing like two GUIs and it was behaving strangely.

[Raku]

GAH, HOW EMBARRASSING!

I must have forgotten to put a few things into that stage!

I'm fixing this mistake right now!
You couldn't continue because you haven't beaten a boss stage yet. It only saves when you beat a boss.

Also, what did you mean by "two GUIs and behaving strangely"? I need more details to know what the problem is.

edit: reuploaded the fixed demo.

[AndrewFM]

Yay, now I can actually get further in the game  

A couple of new things I discovered:

• After saving at Guutara, if you continue your game, it wont let you go to the next stage, despite Guutara's circle being greyed out. You need to fight him again.
• Near the end of the first map in Slightly Bumpy, one of the cat enemies tends to walk off the platform, and start walking around in thin air.
• In the last map of Sharpened Sticks, where you're slowly floating down with the umbrella powerup, you should shift the camera down more. It's very difficult to see what's coming up below you, and you have minimal time to get out of the way of any obstacles.
• You can completely skip the third boss. You're able to walk right past it's circle and go to the next level after it.

[superflat]

I really like the sound of this man.  I'm interested in games where you have differing abilities at different times, and it's something I've attempted with my latest game.  I like the way you've chosen to approach it.

Will check it out when I'm next on Windows!

[Xion]

the level where you first get the dash ability is mad hard compared to previous levels because, before, there were tons of health-dropping scarecrows, and suddenly there's none. No health to be found, even after the tough spots. Not only was it jarring compared to the prior levels, but it made the pacing seem strange since there were no breather spots. No place for me to just chill for a sec and collect myself for the next string of obstacles. Maybe I just suck though. I game over'd there and then gave up.

Also the enemies that explode could have some indication that they explode upon death. Maybe some brief 'pre-explodey' animation, or something. As it is, the first time I killed both exploding enemy types (that I reached [the fat bird whose head pops off and sprays bullets and the slow slug that shotguns pellets into the air]) I was completely not expecting it and it resulted in me getting fucked over.

Also on the note of health and pacing, there seem to be too many health-dropping scarecrows in the first few levels. An overabundance, one might say. Completely negates any sense of danger or challenge, imho.

not-really-an-edit:
so I kept playing and got past that level. Criticism remains the same: not enough health for the first part. The only health you get is at the very end, by which point you hardly need it.
Also, this time I kept my boomerang instead of opting for the speed dash, and it was much, much easier. Seems odd that you'd encounter a new powerup under such circumstances that would indicate it was the best choice to tackle a challenge only to have it be the worst choice. (This also being the first level where you encounter a ranged enemy)
In fact I find the sequence of foe introduction pretty strange. The first foes I meet are flying ones that are hard to hit, and later I see a single, lonely, goombaesque guy in an apparently optional location who's so slow and weak that I kill him before I even realize what I've done or what it was. Then you give me a speed powerup and so I expect to have to use it, but then you go and throw a ranged foe at me that I can't seem to approach with what you've given me without taking some kind of damage.

Oh wow I just found out that I can press c to dodge. I probably should have read the first post but I was excited to see a demo so I just jumped in.

Still though.

Okay fine, nevermind. I'm just gonna shut up now and read the first post.

also, I sometimes moonwalk.

[Raku]

I apologise for that, Xion.
First off, I've now added more health to the tree stage you're talking about. I didn't realise it was so barren for some reason. The exploding enemies, I have no intention of changing. Sometimes you have to learn using trial & error in this game.
The first few levels? you mean the beach ones, right?
Those are meant to be sort of tutorial stages, so you can get the hang of playing.
The very first one is there to help you get your bearings on running and jumping, the scarecrows here are only for target practice.
The second stage is there to introduce you into battle, the scarecrows are here to heal you from the inevitable damage you'd get from fighting your first baddies.

Anyway, I've gotten many complaints that can be solved if people just knew they could dodge.
I was going to do this later, but it seems more important now- I've made a cutscene before the 3rd stage that forces you to learn how to dodge.

pictured here:

Because IIIIIII'm subtle.

[Rumrusher]

yeah Dash is a trick item I for the life of me can't figure out how to avoid getting hit by those two jumping globs place next to each other. I take it I have to do some I wanna be the guy pixel perfect jump with a timed dodge but given how Continues don't work this leads to having to restart the whole game.

[Konidias]

the level where you first get the dash ability is mad hard compared to previous levels

yeah Dash is a trick item I for the life of me can't figure out how to avoid getting hit by those two jumping globs place next to each other. I take it I have to do some I wanna be the guy pixel perfect jump with a timed dodge but given how Continues don't work this leads to having to restart the whole game.

Heheh, it's nice to see I'm not the only one who had those problems. Yeah, the dash ability seems totally useless and out of place for the level you obtain it in. It really just makes the level 5x as hard to beat.

As for the two jumping slimes next to eachother, I mentioned it in my earlier post... and once you realize the game doesn't have pixel perfect collisions, you will notice that you can stand between those two slimes without getting hurt. So that solves that... But I think maybe he should space them one character width apart... because it seems we're having trouble noticing that there's enough space between them to stand. Maybe later on he can have them closer together... or better yet, have 3 of them close together. That way there's no alternative other than to wait between them, so people might try to do it more.

Right now it feels like you can "almost" make it in one straight rush past them, but you can't. So that gets quite frustrating. Especially because as Xion mentioned, there's no health anywhere to be found.

I would say that level is definitely the weak link right now. Lack of health drops, dash powerup that is totally worthless and makes the level harder, and the placement of those slimes that makes you think you have to run past them both instead of stand between them.

[Rumrusher]

really when I beat that level oh man it doesn't stop there in the item selection screwing.
came up with either keeping the shield or grabbing the boomerang I didn't know there was a gas spitting boss after that and I lost all that progress no way to continue the game would be better off saying "Continue? Oops Sorry GO BACK to the beginning and play it all over again." then play total distortion like Custom Game over song over the fact you can't continue. oh yeah I can deal with losing Items just not when I can't back out to the world hub and retrieve them after horribly losing all my lives.

[AndrewFM]

Press Q to go the pause screen, which has an option to go back to the World map. Also, the Continue feature does work, but it only saves your progress after each boss you defeat (Red dots on the world map).

[Raku]

Whew, alright... 8:03AM, I guess I'll stop working on it for tonight.

Once again, I apologize for any harsh gameplay caused by my errors. I'm working non-stop to get these problems fixed and the game working as it should.

The problem is. All of these problems are being presented to me all at once and I'm getting a little overwhelmed by it all. I've been fixing problems left and right like a machine gun, but due to working so hard, I got jammed and I couldn't think of what to do for a while.

Enough about my problems-

Things I've fixed/added/changed this time around:

• FIXED THE MOONWALKING GLITCH (thank God, finally )
• fixed Piyomama's bullet spray trajectory (the pink explodey bird)
• made it so that when you start the game, it saves at the first stage you beat so that continuing at least works before you've beaten a boss
• added a new cutscene when starting stage 3 that teaches you to dodge
• changed the hover ability sprite
• changed the "first tree" stage so that it's easier, but still requires speed-up to finish
• added some more cheercrows around stages (that's the official name for the health scarecrows. They cheer you on, get it?)
• made it so that Guutara's sticks (the small ones only) can be blocked by the shield ability (sorry, that one slipped past me, I'm surprised no one brought it up)
• changed the stage complete map animation
• fixed several internal programming-related problems
• made it so that when you beat a stage or boss, any ability accessories dissapear(it looked weird before)
• made it so that the green ceiling turret and Hubble (the butterfly enemy) have longer pauses in between shots
• made Milky have a couple less hits
• Added some new enemies and stages (but haven't put them into the map yet, sorry)
• probably more, but I'm a little tired and I can't think of anything else.

Once again, I'm sorry for taking so long to get these problems fixed.
Check the first post again for an updated demo. Thank you.

If any more problems arise, please do not hesitate to bring them up.

I'm... gonna go get some sleep, I guess.

[Sir Raptor]

Why did you fix the moonwalking glitch?
That was the best glitch.

[Raku]

Because I've had so many complaints about it, and it made the game look less professional.

[Raku]

Alright, updated the demo again, have at it.

Also, some updated stuff that I feel like showing-

New enemy, Beitouben


Example of some of the refurbished Backgrounds

[pixhead]

Oh my god this game, , this game oh my god.

[Destral]

I love the concepts and art. Very cool!