Hello there!
Very interesting game you have there.
I write alot (at leats used to) of critic about artowrk over 2d boards and I usualy use a straight forward way to explain what I think about the featured work. It's the first time I ever critic a game so, it may be a bit ackward. If there's something that isn't clear, tell me and I'll try to make it more understandable. Ok so here we go!
The bad part first:
First thing that strikes me is that the game is very condensed: there's a whole lot of things going on at the same time and it's hard to tell what we're supposed to look at. For example, the menu screen is quite crowded. our eye is going accross the screen all the time trying to find the information we need, kinda like searching for Waldo. I finaly found the music slider after 5 games.
The most important thing in a game is the player's representation, avatar if you will. Here, I incarnate a cat trying to make ballerinas dance together. I easily loose my avatar because of the flowers, powerups, background effects and other stuff that appear before my eyes. The colors of the cat blend easily with the rest. I got used to this because of the chain but the more I touched talents, the less I saw my chain. I actually had to take a time off once I connected to something to make sure I knew exactly where I was.
Speaking of confusion, the letter "i" and "l" are easily confused when you try to read the word under a ballerina. When zoomed in, there's not much trouble but it made my eyes squint trying to figure out which letter it was. It's not much a problem with words like "Lnna" or "Guai" but a namme like "alia" or "Liai" causes trouble. Also, flower effects cover the letters when you're trying to read them and it's kind of annoying.
The camera shifts easilly back and forth. May it be the shaking when trying to unlock my avatar position to another lement or when something new is showing up. I feel like, since the avatar is the most important thing, the camara should be centered on it. This way, we know where we are since we always have a fixed position and it will remove the swaving camera, in my opinion. I may not necessarily work: since we are moving around the game area, centering the avatar might make it ackward. It's the kinda thing that needs to be researched, I believe.
When we're at the stage of clicking the letters to enter the new ballerina's name, I feel like the lack of cursor makes things more akward. It's not a major issue but it adds to the frustration level. One slight movement of the wrist and you might miss-click.
The butterfly showing us where to go is quite interesting but we loose it too easily. At first, I couldn't see it. I was focusing too much on the surroundings than on it. Maybe making it a bit bigger and more unique in terms of graphical representation would help. Or maybe, if the avatr becomes centered, having the butterfly "rotate" around the avatar. the butterfly will then always be in the same circle making it easier to spot. Of course, that's not workin' out if the avatar is not centered.
Another issue with the clarity of the game. The HUD info placed on the top right corner feels a bit too cramped up: I didn't notice what the elements were before I actually took a closer look. Also, I feel like the information is not that easily communicated to the player. I feel like we have to take at leats a second to see what's going on, unfocusing our sight off the actualy game. I think that shouldn't be. This info should be accessible in a flick of an eye. It's already very graphic so I don't think you'll have much problem fixing it.
The music felt a bit too high pitched to my taste. Not very bad but enough to be annoying after a couple of minutes. Of course, I lowered the music to fix the problem but still, I feel like I shouldn't have to turned down the volume because it's getting on my nerve: I should do it for thousands of other reasons.
In a totaly other vein of idea, I feel like my motivation sin't clear. What's my goal? What am I doing in thhe game area? Is my goal to make everyone happy? Is it to dance? Score points? Grab talent? Like mentionned earlier in previous post, the game might be too unclear as of it's current state. I've played numerous times and I can't get the same result twice. I always use the same "plan of action" and it differs every time. You have to make sure that the primary goal of the game is made clear before everything else. The rest will come naturaly. In the gaming world, the standard in goal is points or money. You have a point reward system implemented. Is this the fundation of the game's goal? If so, how do we score? If not, what's it's use? Oh and for your information, my "plan of action" was to simply click the first thing in sight, type the name and wait. Dunno why, I sometimes win, sometimes loose. I got 6 bronze and 6 silver medals with this.
Another thing I didn't quite understand is why being happy makes me loose? I direct my ballerina, she get's happy but I loose because she's too happy... So, is the ultimate goal of the game is to make everyone happy? How can I do such thing? I should be able to find the answered to this question myself while playing. Sure there's a tutorial, but even after I went through the lesson, I couldn't find my "raison d'être" within the present game world.
Last little thing: insert a confirmation on quitting the agme. Clicking the menu or pressing escape while in the game area automaticaly send you back to the menu screen without asking you anything. Just a simple "Quit? Yes, No" thing would do the trick.
And now, the good! :D
I love the originality. It's very unique and interesting. No enemies, no destruction, dancing and a fat man named Pogo!
Seriously the concept is coming out nicely and has alot of potential.
The representation of your ideas are very well created. The happy shiny colors makes evrything feel like it's candy and makes throwing flowers around for the sheer pleasure of it logical. You might even say that the game could be like going on a very non-violent and child-like drug trip, but I won't say it
. A bit too much colors but nothing that you can't fix.
The game is almost making me feel like I'm actually creating music while doing something else. Is there anything plan with this concept? I really enjoyed it. Kinda like giving a goal to "Electroplankton".
I like the way you are trying to give us alot on the screen. Although a bit too crowded, the game gives us a lot for very little. The slightest action within the game area rewards us with tons of rotating and growing flowers. Very nice!
Technicaly speaking, I like on how steady the game is. You can easily adjust your settings (once you find where to go) and you can cancel an unwanted action with ease, such as exiting the ballerian's name entry.
Hmmm... I hope I'm not being too harsh. I just want to help. I wish to see this project grow!
Take care and keep up the good work!
Guert
Developer
