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TIGSource ForumsDeveloperPlaytestingArmillo "Developers not happy with this" Development Checkpoint Demo Released!
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Author Topic: Armillo "Developers not happy with this" Development Checkpoint Demo Released!  (Read 6295 times)
knightSquared
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« on: October 08, 2012, 09:35:20 PM »

Hello there!

I've just released the first public demo for Armillo: Parallel Universe Mystery, a cute little rolling platformer which was under development for over a year.



And here's the gameplay trailer:





So long story short, we've developed this game to the current state, wasn't happy on how it's progressing so we took a few months off to brainstorm a list of things to make this game better.  So we've decided to release a "before" demo showcasing our current state (which is this demo!), then start dev blogging about what we're going to do in order for us to be happy with it.  I'm going to reveal the list of things that we're unhappy with soon, but first I want you to try out our demo if you've got the time.  This demo has two levels, which should take about 15 minutes or less to finish.  Here is an intro to the two levels:

First is the grassy world, mainly a tutorial world to introduce some of the controls, gameplay elements, and story:



Second is the desert world, more on the beginning intermediate stage so it gets a bit harder:



So what am I looking for?

Well, feedback on: visuals, controls, and game progression.

Also some questions that you can answer:
1.) After you finish the first level, do you feel like you want to play the next?
2.) How do you feel about the story?
3.) How does the gameplay feel?  When you lose, do you blame yourself or the controls?

Also anything else you feel like commenting on.

So here's the demo:

http://www.indiedb.com/games/armillo-the-parallel-universe-mystery/downloads/armillo-demo-1-the-developers-unhappy-edition

System Requirements:
PC, with video card that supports Shader 3.0 or higher

You can also follow the development at the Dev Log.  I'm going to start doing a lot of technical write-ups about the game's development so hopefully it will be interesting:

http://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=28786.0

Thanks!  Gentleman
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YannEA
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« Reply #1 on: October 08, 2012, 10:39:23 PM »

+1 to that !
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Salsario
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« Reply #2 on: October 09, 2012, 07:58:23 AM »

I was looking forward to this one, I am cooking atm, but after dinner I will check it out! (download as we speak).
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knightSquared
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« Reply #3 on: October 09, 2012, 09:36:20 PM »

I was looking forward to this one, I am cooking atm, but after dinner I will check it out! (download as we speak).

« Last Edit: October 09, 2012, 09:57:16 PM by knightSquared » Logged

IzzyReggie
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« Reply #4 on: October 09, 2012, 10:42:49 PM »

I was going to pass over this one, but when I saw the drawing, I couldn't resist giving it a whirl. It was pretty enjoyable! It's not my kind of game (I've never been a fan of rolling games, ever since I played some demo game that came with some edition of windows about rolling a bowling ball...) so I found it sort of hard and died a lot, but I can see a lot of effort went into it!

Keep up the good work, guys.
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oByhring
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« Reply #5 on: October 10, 2012, 12:25:44 AM »

Played through both levels: Silver/Bronze =\

1.) Yes. Nice and short tutorial.
2.) I can't say I feel very strongly about it in either way. I'm more interested in gameplay and mechanics than story in platformer-esque games.
3.) I blame myself when I die Wink Except when I die to the flying things on level 2. I didn't understand their behavior.

I liked the 'up in the air' part of level 2 the best. Definately got that Sonic the Hedgehog vibe in some parts (this is very good!).

I'm not so sure about the barrel-like obstacles that you have to punch your way through. They felt kinda annoying because they ruined my flow.

The visuals were nice too!
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PompiPompi
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« Reply #6 on: October 10, 2012, 02:40:52 AM »

First of all, I think XNA might not work on Windows 8, not sure.

The intro wasn't that interesting, but it was short and with narration so it was easy to listen to.
The game visuals are great. However, the gameplay feels like tiny separate rooms. Like each room is a challenge on it's own, but it doesn't add up together.
I didn't finish the second stage as I was annoyed by the flying bots and didn't feel like keep on playing...
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Salsario
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« Reply #7 on: October 10, 2012, 02:55:44 AM »

I was looking forward to this one, I am cooking atm, but after dinner I will check it out! (download as we speak).



Lol  Cheesy

Have to say, I enjoyed it, only thing I would like to see changed is the keyboard settings. But hey, for a demo, who cares Smiley Nice work! Keeping my eye on this one.
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knightSquared
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« Reply #8 on: October 10, 2012, 03:05:22 PM »

Thanks for all your feedback.  Lots of great feedback here!

I've gathered the following so far on room for improvement: (with developer's comments)

- Game can be a bit hard and easy to die a lot (I'll definately tone it down.  I'm also finding an inconsistency of difficulty from section to section on the desert world which I'll also look into)

- Those fliers can be a huge pain! (Good feedback!  I'll slow these guys down by a good amount, then for the sake of game progression, reintroduce them as faster later on in the game with a palette swap.. bwahaha  Cheesy)

- Intro wasn't that interesting (Nice.  This is one area of the game that I'm planning to re-work)

- Barrel like obstacle feels annoying as they ruin the flow. (I can totally see this now.  Will remove barrels unless it's meant to slow down the player.)

- Gameplay feels like a bunch of challenges that don't add up together (Although that was my original intention for this game - some sort of obstacle course that keeps changing on you.  But I'm also finding that it lacks consistency and goes against user expectations as they progress through the level so it's a bit counter-intuitive.  I'll keep this in mind when restructuring the levels.  Thanks!)

- Keyboard settings (Will look into that!)

- XNA might not work on Windows 8 (From what I understand, it just won't work for the Windows 8 marketplace, but it should still work fine as a regular desktop app)
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knightSquared
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« Reply #9 on: October 10, 2012, 09:21:54 PM »

So here are the areas that we feel needs work.  Since the demo is just two levels, perhaps some of these aren't as obvious/applicable.  But anyways, here it is:

  • Game feels that it's aimed a bit too young.  Nowadays, it seems more and more that the younger audience is often on mobile and not console/pc.
  • Intro NIS is a bit too long and needs to look more interesting (Latter also noted by PompiPompi.  Interestingly, people here felt that it was short enough so I'll revisit our length complaint)
  • Overall Visuals / Lighting needs work
  • First level needs to be memorable.  Not there yet.
  • Gameplay is 60% navigation & collecting.  Fine for the first few levels, then starts getting boring fast.
  • Collection serves very little purpose (Question to ask: what's the point of collecting more that helps with game progression?)
  • Orbs are too easy to collect.  They are just there.. lying on the ground waiting for you to collect.  Perhaps the harder it is for orbs to collect, the more satisfying it is.
  • Barely any character progression / very little emotional connection to the main character
  • Not much emotional connection to the story.  After beating the first level, perhaps there's not much feeling that you want to move on to know what happens next
  • Game pacing needs lots of work.  This include difficulty and game play mechanic progression (latter noted by PompiPompi)
  • Barely any art variation when progressing through each level
  • the concept of collecting orbs to form critters is really weird and forgetful.  It's hard to notice it when it happens most of the time.
  • Saving (more) critters feels pointless and unrewarding.  There's hardly any incentives (similar to collection complaints)
  • When playing the game, the score/combo feels like a pointless goal that feels like it would be ignored unless really bored (most likely will get bored of the game before going for this)
  • Trying to achieve combos is frustrating, especially when the levels last quite long as it does right now and it's easy to break it.  Also frustrating from a level design perspective as orb collectables must be plentiful and spaced accordingly in order to maintain that combo.
  • Getting game over is painful. You lose your entire progress after you die.  Playing the level again is also painful as you're playing a blank slate again (replay-ability issue).
  • Bonus stages feel pointless unless you're aiming for a high score.  You just go there just to get more points.  Not as rewarding.
  • Visual effects needs lots of work.  Particle effects look too muddy.
  • Story on parallel world needs to be elaborated more and made more interesting.

So there's our list.  Feel free to comment if you agree or disagree on any of these points.  It's also not our exhaustive list as we just noted the ones that might seem applicable to the demo, but we'll start Dev Logging about how we're going to approach these issues.

In addition, some great feedback from people here:
  • Game can be a bit hard and easy to die a lot
  • Those fliers can be a huge pain!
  • Barrels can obstruct flow of game
  • Gameplay feels like a bunch of challenges that don't add up together
  • Add keyboard settings

Again, I totally appreciate all the feedback here!  So now I'll pass the torch back to the Dev Log.  But feel free to keep discussing here or try out the demo and post feedback here.

http://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=28786.0

Thanks!
« Last Edit: October 10, 2012, 10:22:14 PM by knightSquared » Logged

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