next »

[Bones]

Download the 2012 Winter Solstice Demo!



WASD to move
W or Spacebar to jump
S to Meditate
Mouse shoots and throws grenades
E or I to open/close inventory
Left click items in inventory to move
Right click to interact with items

Figured I may as well post the demo here to get some proper feedback.
I understand that this demo doesn't directly tell you what to do, and it isn't very straight forward but that's kind of the idea is that the game it's self is kind of a mystery for the player to figure out.

The devlog can be found here.

[Bones]

Did anyone manage to get it working?
0 feedback or responses from anyone since releasing the demo has me OCDing over here.

I was looking forward to updating it and making it better, but alas I sit around with no motivation.
Obviously it's holidays and people are busy, so I have to be patient.

But even some feedback like "this sucks" is all I need.

[Alex Higgins]

I played the demo a bit. Cool concept. It took me a while to figure out how to save, so you might want to clarify that a bit (also, another save point around the point when you get the gun would have been nice). Most of the sound was great, although the "coin collection" sound was sort of cheesy, I thought. 

The character animation was great, although I felt that Atom stylistically clashed with his surroundings. If that's what your going for, that's fine; otherwise, you might want to try to unify the art style.

As for the menu, making the player press enter after selecting was a little cumbersome. Just a small complaint.

I had died right before entering the door at the end of the second stage by gettting impaled by the giant flaming sword, and wasn't able to figure out how to dodge - I didn't realize that it was homing onto me until it was too late, tried to jump over it, and died. Having to restart from the very beginning was frustrating, and I didn't continue. I'm guessing that I was supposed to jump to the platform below. You might want to make the game a little more forgiving - I was easily able to figure out how to get past each obstacle in my path, but sometimes that realization came at the cost of player death and having to do everything all over again.

You've got some good ideas at work, though. If you want I can take another look at it and see if I can get any further.

[Bones]

Hey, thank you very much for the feedback.
I'm glad you were able to figure out how to construct your gun without directly being told how to.
My game is a little bit of a Masocore game in that things aren't always very obvious.

Saving was a problem I was having for a little while.
I don't really like the slot saving I'm using right now, but it's the only way I can get the game to load the correct save file when you die.
There is a save point directly after the fire sword, which I feel is how it should be.
Death wouldn't feel much of a punishment if it just restarted the current level your in.

The coin grab noise was a last minute move on my part, should have just left it silent.
Most the sounds are placeholder as well until I get some time to record some originals.

Do you mean the player is a black silhouette so he sticks out? Because he will be fully shaded eventually rather than being pure black. But I do want Atom and the enemies to stick out from their surroundings.

As expected, I seem to have made the fire sword too hard still, most people seem to be getting stuck on it such as yourself.
Which will probably cause a lot of people to quit the game early.

Thanks for your time, glad you like what you saw since you only saw the first two levels.
Not exactly sure what to do about the sword...
Right now it's seeming like a deal breaker for people who get frustrated easily.

*Tip for if you choose to play again - Fire and water don't mix well together.

Perhaps I need to re-design the level a bit so the player doesn't backtrack towards the water but instead get's chased by the sword a little bit, perhaps even through some of the level then when you see the water you are more likely to investigate.

[Trystin]

This is cool, but the graphics seem to clash a bit, you get one style meeting another. Did you do all the art in this game? Or was it just bits and pieces?

[Bones]

Thanks, anything in particular you like or dislike gameplay wise?

I have done all the art over three years while learning how to program in Game Maker.

All the graphics are still very place holder, even the terrain and tiles are subject to change.
The first thing the demo says is that the graphics are not representative of the final product.
Many of the graphics were made three years ago and haven't been touched since.
It's a clash of learning more art stuff, I still have to go back and update all the old art.

Phil Fish had to do the same thing with FEZ, over time you learn and get better at what you do.
And when you look back the old stuff just isn't the same quality, and in a different style.

Was in the middle of changing some of them but sacrificed aesthetics so people could see the existing gameplay by the "End of the world" beginning of the Age of Aquarius. I can update the download file and create versions of the demo as I get feedback.
It's motivating to at least hear things, you say the character seems to clash.

If your wondering about the aesthetic choice of style you can see it all

.

You look at the devlog you can you see what the progress of the art and where it's come to now.

I'm only one man, learning as he goes.

[Alex Higgins]

Alright, I revisited the game. First off, I checked out some of the shaded sprites on your devlog- they look really nice. I don't think they'll clash as much either, even though they maintain their distinctiveness.

The main problem I'm having is the difficulty. I understand why you want to have sparse save points, but early in the game, when the player is still figuring out how the game works, you might want to be a little more forgiving. Having to restart a level due to getting killing by an obstacle that the player is familiar with is OK - the player has only themself to blame, but having to restart a level due to getting instakilled by an obstacle that the player doesn't understand is frustrating. Personally, I'd reduce the number of insta-death instances, reduce their severity, make them easier to overcome, and/or place save points right before encountering them for the first time. For example, you might not want to introduce the disappearing clouds overtop of a lake of lava, but instead over solid ground.

Also, I'd personally increase the drop distance at which you receive fall damage. The damage that's dealt it pretty minor, but it's a little annoying. Not a big issue.

Also, the stalk of the mushroom-like platforms are a little misleading. I was expecting to be able to wall-jump off of them and instead fell to my death.

Here's a run down of how far I got in each area:
Water:
I got through this part without much issue. I entered the Mario castle, encountered the pipe that was spewing fire, saw the sword in the room above me, was intrigued, tried to get past the ceiling traps and failed.

Air:
Went straight to the opposite side of the level, doubled back, accidentally fell to my death. Wasn't able to figure out how to propel myself upward.

Fire:
The low ceilings made jumping from cloud to cloud difficult for me. I couldn't get very far.

Hope it helps!

[Bones]

I checked out some of the shaded sprites on your devlog- they look really nice. I don't think they'll clash as much either, even though they maintain their distinctiveness.

Thanks, glad they look a bit more cohesive as a whole.

The main problem I'm having is the difficulty.

This is the biggest learning curve for me, after three years there are things I take for granted knowing as the designer I neglect to think the player will know to do these things.

The window of opportunity to survive the sword right now is so slim that it's just not fun.
The obvious solution is placing the water on the other side of the door, creating a bigger window and better flow of action; Thus reducing the need for a save point since the player is more likely to succeed this way.

I'd reduce the number of insta-death instances, reduce their severity, make them easier to overcome, and/or place save points right before encountering them for the first time. For example, you might not want to introduce the disappearing clouds overtop of a lake of lava, but instead over solid ground.

Hmm.. The clouds were supposed to be introduced in the Air level, perhaps I should remove them from the fire level completely make it more bare.

Also, I'd personally increase the drop distance at which you receive fall damage. The damage that's dealt it pretty minor, but it's a little annoying. Not a big issue.

I could perhaps make the damage a bit less, allowing more falls to make it seem less severe.

Also, the stalk of the mushroom-like platforms are a little misleading. I was expecting to be able to wall-jump off of them and instead fell to my death.

Not a bad, idea - could make the mushrooms a bit harder to get around though... Since they have roofs and you would have to jump to another wall in order to get on top of the platform. So if you were on the outside of the mushroom patch you may get scrooged.

Here's a run down of how far I got in each area:
Water:
I got through this part without much issue. I entered the Mario castle, encountered the pipe that was spewing fire, saw the sword in the room above me, was intrigued, tried to get past the ceiling traps and failed.

Dammit, forgot to put a save point at the start of that castle or just outside it.
There are a lot of things that can kill you there.

Air:
Went straight to the opposite side of the level, doubled back, accidentally fell to my death. Wasn't able to figure out how to propel myself upward.

Hmm... Yeah the propulsion seems to be based on holding up on air vents - And there doesn't seem to be much I can do to change that - I'll for sure look into it.

Fire:
The low ceilings made jumping from cloud to cloud difficult for me. I couldn't get very far.

Yeah I'm going to try and make the clouds more like N+ blocks or Mario music note blocks that receive your hspeed and vspeed.
Cause this has bugged me before as well.

[Alex Higgins]

Oh, so that's how you're supposed to use the air vents. I was expecting them to automatically push me upward regardless of what key I was pressing.

And while the clouds are introduced in the air level, because I didn't get very far in it I skipped right to the fire level. If the air level's "fixed," I think that placing the clouds over lava would be fine.

[pluckyporcupine]

I finally got around to trying this today.

A few things I've noticed:

- Due to my resolution (1920x1080), everything looks blurry and part of the viewing port is shifted off of the screen. Any chance you can add a windowed mode?

- I did not have to install the codecs to have music for some reason.

- I feel like I repeatedly have to hurt myself due to fall damage attempting to get atoms.

- The first few enemies (the snails) didn't appear to hurt me at all, or if they did, the act of them hurting me wasn't clear. There was no sound, no knockback, and I actually walked right through one.

[Bones]

Oh, so that's how you're supposed to use the air vents. I was expecting them to automatically push me upward regardless of what key I was pressing.

And while the clouds are introduced in the air level, because I didn't get very far in it I skipped right to the fire level. If the air level's "fixed," I think that placing the clouds over lava would be fine.

Hm... I tried making the clouds jump through but that seems to have made them slightly useless because now you can't wall jump off them this way.
Been trying to make them like music note blocks from mario so they get out of your way if you jump from below them but that hasn't been successful either...

Yeah the air vents seem to be that way because I have baby jumping in.
So it's due to the way the player handles in the game space, not really something I put it on purpose.

- Due to my resolution (1920x1080), everything looks blurry and part of the viewing port is shifted off of the screen. Any chance you can add a windowed mode?

- I did not have to install the codecs to have music for some reason.

- I feel like I repeatedly have to hurt myself due to fall damage attempting to get atoms.

- The first few enemies (the snails) didn't appear to hurt me at all, or if they did, the act of them hurting me wasn't clear. There was no sound, no knockback, and I actually walked right through one.

For sure I will add that in the options menu at the start, along with perhaps a music test.
The reason your music worked without the codec installation would mean your computer has the OGG Vorbis Codec on it by default, or a game already installed it for you.

Fall damage... There is a trick to survival in this game, it's wall sliding at the right times.
Although obviously the variables I'm using are perhaps a bit too low.
I could decrease the amount of damage or increase the fall variables if I can.
Right now small fall damage is 1/10, large fall damage is 1/4 of player health.
This might be a bit punishing for people who might not have the controls down.
Later in the game you can find an item to help remove fall damage, and perhaps even add a double jump.

Snails... Well after hearing that you two were afraid of the snails, and watching a video where buddy completely avoided them. Maybe I should add damage, I just didn't because they can potentially land on top of you.

[pluckyporcupine]

Fall damage... There is a trick to survival in this game, it's wall sliding at the right times.
Although obviously the variables I'm using are perhaps a bit too low.
I could decrease the amount of damage or increase the fall variables if I can.
Right now small fall damage is 1/10, large fall damage is 1/4 of player health.
This might be a bit punishing for people who might not have the controls down.
Later in the game you can find an item to help remove fall damage, and perhaps even add a double jump.

Punishing is an understatement. That atom at the beginning of the game, just above the gap that's a bit difficult to bridge because the land you land on is further back than the ceiling. The one right after you synthesize the gun. I died trying to get that one. It was hard to reach a point where it would allow me to land without getting hurt.