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[Graham-]

An easy fix is to give several different levels of "completion."

...

And I definitely disagree that it's an easy fix!  

Yeah, I meant it semi-ironically. It changes the whole game. Big change, big reward.

One of the abilities you get is boost, so that's already in the game.

I figured you might say that. There is a difference between an exhaustible skill and a permanent one though.

Controlling speed is one of the purest ways to give the player a control over difficulty. They can go fast for a challenge, and slow for control. The "gold star rating" is implicitly given through the player feeling bad-ass. Also... acceleration is so much funnn.....

But in the end it's your game.

[Udderdude]

One of the abilities you get is boost, so that's already in the game.

I figured you might say that. There is a difference between an exhaustible skill and a permanent one though.

Controlling speed is one of the purest ways to give the player a control over difficulty. They can go fast for a challenge, and slow for control. The "gold star rating" is implicitly given through the player feeling bad-ass. Also... acceleration is so much funnn.....

The point of boost, like any of the escape skills, is to use it strategically to evade the enemy.  Giving the player permanent ability to use speed would make it less of a puzzle game, and much easier, since most of the time using speed is benificial and gets you past enemies much faster than usual.

There is a game I made with a permanent, unlimited speed boost ability, and that's XOP, which is completely an action/shmup game.  It fits much better in there.

[Graham-]

mm. Yes, permanent boost would require a re-design as well. I didn't mean it would go in easily.

I was just spit-balling ideas to balance the challenge curve, if it causes problems etc.

[Udderdude]

I'm not looking to change the entire base game design.  I have a specific idea of how I want it to play, and I wouldn't make huge changes like that unless there's no other option.

In the case of Perspective, I did make a pretty big change (Player touches in-game switches to shift perspective instead of pressing a key).  And I did so because the alternative was scrapping the project altogether. D:

My first solution would still be to change the noob levels so it introduces less stuff in each level and stretches things out longer.

[Graham-]

Yeah. Most comments I make on anyone's games are "base-level" kinds of changes. So I rarely expect them to be executed. Maybe I just find the conversation more interesting that way....

Often, a lot of problems like balancing, creating emergence, handling your challenge curve and so on involve re-designs. I think one of the biggest issues in game design, at least AAA, is to fear redesigns. I often think of Assassin's Creed for example. It had a ton of vision but could have been a classic if they thought a little harder about how all their mechanics combine to create something varied and interesting.

This is the biggest issues with programming as well: a fear of re-factoring. I might be talking out of my ass a little because I sustain myself not off of games yet. I live through other means, and that buys me the endless redesign.

My biggest recommendation, if you have time, is to implement logging and playback, so that you can see how players play through your experience. Then you can make informed decisions about your challenge curve. You can even mine that data to look for common patterns etc. Data analysis is one of those things games do really well, but isn't common practice yet. ... if you're interested in stats....

Yeah, scrapping games is not cool.

Either way, good luck with it.

[Udderdude]

Thanks.  When I look back at my other games, I realize the noob levels introduced at most 2 things per level, so maybe a redesign is in order.

[Graham-]

hmm.

[Udderdude]

Decided to add another pick-up for the player to collect.  Time Vortexes will reduce the cooldowns on all your abilities by 2 seconds (subject to change) when collected.

This can add some strategic use depending on when and what time in the level you collect it.

[Udderdude]

Actually finished another level today.  Also fooled around with the way barriers work when you place them.  Enemies no longer block their placement, instead they'll push the enemy out of the way of the area where the barrier is going to be placed.

[Udderdude]

Finally did some more work on this recently.  I'm almost finished with the yellow levels, just 2 more to go.  I went back and re-arranged the plans for what abilities will appear in later levels.  I also added a new enemy.  Orange enemies won't activate until all collectables are grabbed, and when they do, they will chase you exceedingly fast.

I should probably come up with even more enemies and gameplay elements, but no ideas at the moment.

[Udderdude]

Had another idea for an enemy, but not sure if I'm going to add it.  It's an enemy that can't harm you directly, but will cause any nearby spikes to become larger and have a larger collision area for several seconds.

Not sure if it's such a great idea.  Seems like the only way to find out would be to implement it and see how it feels.  Bah!

Edit: I may do something else instead.  An enemy that at first is very weak and moves slowly, but if it reaches a certian area, it becomes super powerful and can kick your ass.  So you have to trap it, or block/impede it's movement so that it doesn't reach it.

[Udderdude]

I added the enemy that seeks power areas, it's pretty interesting.  You have to trap them (hurrrrr) so that they can't reach the power area.  If one manages to reach it, it becomes super-fast, shoots everywhere and will almost definitely chase you down and kill you.  It's definitely something you want to avoid happening!

The power areas also make your abilities recharge faster when you sit on them, if you can afford the luxury of doing so.

One more yellow level to go!

[Udderdude]

Added new art for the fans.  Previously they were just the lazer turrets from Perspective.

I am considering changing the player sprite yet again.  Maybe something that looks somewhat similar to the enemies, at least in concept.  The little spaceship doesn't really fit that well anymore.

All yellow levels finished!  Here's what level 15 looks like.

[Udderdude]

The first hard level has been finished.  I changed it a bit from the video here, the orange enemy is now located inside the blue door area, so that you have to close the blue doors before opening the green doors and grabbing the last collectable.

[Udderdude]

Considering adding two more abilities.

Freeze - Defensive ability - Freezes all enemies near the player in place for 4 seconds, and clears all enemy shots near the player.
Ghost - Escape ability - You are able to pass through walls for 2 seconds.  If you are still in a wall when the effect ends, you die.

They would be interesting, but on the other hand, I don't want to just keep adding stuff.  I have a tendency to just keep throwing more stuff into my games.  I would also need to add more levels to compensate.  I guess we'll see what happens.

Edit: Added the abilities, yay.  The game now has 32 levels planned. D:

[Udderdude]

I've made a change to the collectables, they're now little spacemen guys you have to rescue.  This at least makes them look different from the ones in Perspective, and having your player sprite be a ship makes more sense.

[Udderdude]

Two more levels done.  I also got all of the other levels layouts done.  Whee.

I added a new field type.  Ice fields will cause you to keep moving in your current trajectory until you are off the field or change direction.  Inertia in an Udderdude game?!  Say it ain't so!  Well, it's not classic inertia, more like Pac-Man's inertia.

Also, I changed power fields to INCREASE your ability recharge time instead of reducing it.  This is because all of the other fields are hazards, so it didn't make much sense to have just one of them be benificial.  Seemed somewhat arbitrary and didn't make much sense.  The game already has Time Vortex to help you with ability cooldowns.

[Udderdude]

Decided to go back and make some new art for the aliens.  Their current art was based on the Space Dudes art, and doesn't really look that great.  These new designs are based on art by Tim McFarland and look pretty cool.  No color yet.  Will post the color versions when they're finished.

[Udderdude]

I completely recolored the aliens, they don't have any of the "Evil, nasty" look to them anymore.  I kept the evil looking versions in case I might need them for another game with monster types.

Not sure on the shading, might go back and change it.



More crap: I changed the Freeze ability so that it's active for 14 frames instead of just on the first frame you activate it.  The freeze animation effect is also now attached to the player, instead of staying in one place.

[Udderdude]

Here's how the game looks with the new art.  There's new art for the enemies, portals, exit and time vortexes.