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[DustyDrake]

Well the weird thing is that the orbs push me backwards if I carry them, I've glitched out when trying to carry an orb and going on a slope
The transitioning also seems to have issues when an item (such as the orb) sits on the edge and you try to walk over it. Your gravity will bind to the orb causing it to be very difficult to leave it if it's moving.

Taking a closer look it appears that the orbs are stacking, the more that are stacked, it seems, the higher the backwards force.

[Ralkarin]

I quickly tested out those orbs and observed the same behavior you are describing Dusty.  It doesn't solve all of the problems, but I removed the orbs in the playable builds.  They serve no purpose at this point in the game.

[Linkshot]

Something just launched me into the air when I tried to put a sprout on the pedestal.
Also the sprouts are walking along trees as if the trees have their own center of gravity.
I just shoved the boulder from the diagonal and then "off" the world and now it's hanging in midair.
Walked onto a chest in the corner of the map and then gravity screwed up. Same thing as the sprouts up there.
Put the sprout onto the beacon sideways, launched into the air, landed on a rock, camera ended up zooming in on the core, and now my FPS is dying.
..and then I opened that chest diagonally by standing on the side of a rock.
Confirmed that I am stuck on these two rocks due to the center of gravity focusing on them.

Broke the game 7 times over in 5 minutes. I am proud.

Oh! I just got a diagonal flip to push me into a floor. Trying to replicate.
Success! But now I can't see myself nor move out of this tile.

[Dylan Jones]

Looking awesome! Just a humle thought, as a new player I was confused why this beam of light didn't move me as the other ones did. Might considering adding a little feedback for the player to know if there is a difference. See below:

[Udderdude]

This is shaping up rather nicely.  I hope you can come up with some really interesting mecahnics that work with the rotation.

[s_l_m]

pretty neat, I glitched and ended up on the inside of one of the boxes though (last playtest you put up)

[Ralkarin]

Looking awesome! Just a humle thought, as a new player I was confused why this beam of light didn't move me as the other ones did. Might considering adding a little feedback for the player to know if there is a difference. See below:

Thanks Dylan, great suggestion! I completely agree with you and I overlooked this.  I think stopping the beams in the center of the fragment would serve their purpose just fine without the extra confusion.  The "chambers" need some work too, I put some placeholder art there for now, but I hope to refine that as well.  In fact, making this type of change frees me up a bit on my chamber placement... kudos for making this suggestion!

@Udderdude, Thanks, I hope I can too.  That's a continuous work in progress for me on this project.  If you (or anyone else) has some crazy idea for a mechanic in this rotating world, I'm all ears!

@s_l_m, (et al playtesters)  Yeah, unfortunately I'm still rapidly prototyping a lot of things so there are glitches galore!  I'm not investing in a lot of time in polish right now because I change the mechanics so frequently at this stage that I don't want to waste time in throwaway code.  Hearing your feedback is valuable though, so keep it coming.  I'm most interested in design / mechanic type suggestions rather than bugs during my playtesting right now.  Thanks for playing! 

[Udderdude]

Well, I don't know if this is feasable with the way the game engine is set up right now, but one thing you could do is make the cubes hollow, and add holes to go to the inside of them, and run around the inside of the cube as well.

[Ralkarin]

I like that idea!  I've built a few worlds (accidentally) where that was possible, but I immediately discounted creating situations like that because of cubes that would block your view (silly reason to throw out an awesome idea).  I think I might invest some time writing an engine that culls cubes/regions that block your view so this is possible.  Thanks!

[Linkshot]

Furthermore, each cube could be an overworld and an underworld (which would be a long dungeon).

[Ralkarin]

So I rolled with the idea of exploring the inside of a fragment and came up with this little prototype.  I even hid a chest in there somewhere!  Go forth and explore the Pivot Playtest Fragment!

Playtest URL [Inside Cubes]: http://blog.redclovergames.com/projects/pivot/playtest/mechanics2_inside/

[Linkshot]

- If I walk into the corner that has no block, the surface covers my view
- I started walking down the slope while walking diagonally (which is faster than the other 4 direction btw), and then it spun the world to make me walk up the slope.
- I then went toward the fence, walked the side of the world adjacent to that, and now the world is flipping back and forth on its own.
- I managed to get out of that, but found a place where I make the camera shake. The rest of the world is in my way, so I can't pinpoint it.
- Somehow, I properly fell off the fence and now am traversing the world as intended.

This is wild.

[Ralkarin]

- If I walk into the corner that has no block, the surface covers my view
- I started walking down the slope while walking diagonally (which is faster than the other 4 direction btw), and then it spun the world to make me walk up the slope. I then went toward the fence, walked the side of the world adjacent to that, and now the world is flipping back and forth on its own.

I didn't extensively explore the full region... but I quickly found it now that you mention it.  I can fix that easily.  The ramps are buggy for sure, good mention, that will be fixed too.

Bugs aside, what do you think of walking inside the cube?  How does it feel, the transitions, the puzzle potential, etc?

[Linkshot]

I really really like it, and last night while on the bus to work, was thinking that it would be awesome to make puzzles in some regions that could only be solved after it and other regions attach to the core, whether it be because of mechanisms attaching or because the world suddenly doesn't wrap anymore and you have a proper path.

[Ralkarin]

I really really like it, and last night while on the bus to work, was thinking that it would be awesome to make puzzles in some regions that could only be solved after it and other regions attach to the core, whether it be because of mechanisms attaching or because the world suddenly doesn't wrap anymore and you have a proper path.

Brilliant idea!

[Swaggermuffin]

puzzles in some regions that could only be solved after it and other regions attach to the core

... Like legos? I don't get what you're getting at.

[Ralkarin]

Dear Diary [i.e. devlog],

Lately I've been feeling sad about the progress I'm making with this project.  I'm feeling sad as a designer and a developer, because I cannot nurture Pivot into the game it should be.  I sit down with my computer at night and stare blankly at the existing puzzles (or lack thereof) and wonder where to go next.  In other words, I don't know where I'm going with this game!  RAAAGE!  Time for a change.

When I work on Pivot lately, I'm feeling a bit restricted by some of the self imposed limitations I've created.  Namely the planet based/cube structure and the world rebuilding concept.  The other thing I'm avoiding is creating the same mechanics that I've seen in other games, but at some point I need to let that go and build off of existing mechanics, I'm not going to revolutionize the entirety of gameplay space with this game.  I just want to publish a game.  Something people enjoy.

I'm experimenting with a slightly different direction where I am not restricted to 7x7 shaped cubic fragments which will be assembled into a planet.  The story line is kind of cool, but the gameplay restrictions are lame.  Instead, I want dynamic worlds with perplexing navigations and a topsy-turvey style of world, where the bottom of the world can have trees and rich structures and things, rather than being bland like "this is the dirt that is going to be underground and you can't put trees here because it doesn't make any sense".

I want to be free from strict rules like, "I can't put elevated terrain here because it doesn't align with the neighboring cube elevation".  While I think this type of integration could be cool, at this point it just feels too limiting.  I want to build isolated little chunks of fun and have the ability to switch between them and reorder them.

So anyway, here's a screenshot of a scene I'm creating to illustrate the difference in direction.  This is potentially a "level" with treasures and creatures and twisty navigation to work your way through.  When you finish this one, you move on to another one, maybe in the same theme.

[JobLeonard]

Dude, just go crazy with the level design! If that's what feels right, that's probably also what's best for the game.

[Udderdude]

I like the new island level design, I think it would be best if you used both that and the whole planet design for some more variety.

[Linkshot]

Oh my god that screenshot looks awesome and now I'm wanting to see procedural generation carry it on from there.