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[FloatingCoder]

Hi!

I'm working on a light hearted 2.5D platformer / puzzler game geared for mobile. I have the first demo level ready to go and I'm interested in getting some more people looking at it and offering constructive criticism.

The story line is simple, a girl goes off to do a simple errand, but then her imagination takes off and she gets lost in weird places, and has to find her way through.

There's a web player version available here (Will require Unity web player plugin)...

http://floatingcoder.no-ip.org

(Link to the Unity player, although it should auto-download - http://unity3d.com/webplayer/ )
Please give it a play, and let me know what you think, what I need to change or make better, or if I should start over with a whole new concept...

Thanks!

PS, I'm new to TIGSource, but looking forward to checking out some other feedback games and other boards here too!

[erik]

Please give it a play, and let me know what you think, what I need to change or make better, or if I should start over with a whole new concept...

Whether you should start over really depends on what your goals are.  I'd say what you have here is nice enough, though I find that there isn't much that really stands out or is really impressive.  I think the character animation is reasonably well done.

A couple of areas that I think could be improved:

• I would get rid of the footsteps on grass sound.  Footsteps on the bridge were fine.
• You might want to give the player their first upgrade earlier, so that the player realizes that is part of the game.  Perhaps the story could somehow account for what the upgrades are and why you are looking for them?
• The limited jump is annoying.  Maybe you could give the player a slightly better jump early on, before they get the much better jump.
• Similarly, I found the initial walk speed too slow.  And the upgraded run speed might be a bit too fast. 

[Minimally]

I think the progression of controls was just fine. I enjoyed playing this on the computer, not sure I would play it at all on mobile just because I don't like trying to play games with virtual thumbsticks. I think what's missing is an overview map of the world. It seems like the game is missing something different in the mechanics. Something that sets it aside from other platformers. Not to sure what it needs, but that's a design decision. Also finally a quick question, are you using tidy tile mapper by any chance?

[FloatingCoder]

Thanks for the feedback! I mixed up the jumping and added the first jump power-up since the last feedback, and I think that helped a lot.

I agree it needs something "unique", I have several other mechanics I want to add, but wanted to get a solid base first. Not sure any of them will be great, or enough, but we'll see.

Unfortunately last night I figured out the mechanic I've been looking for, but it requires a while different game! LOL. Oh well, may be that one will be next.

I'm using Rotoz Tile System for the tiles (https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/#/content/3344) and I like it. I haven't used any others though, so I can't compare the two.

[Paul-Jan]

First of all, good job getting a full playable level out. I'm not sure you should give up on this one just yet, with a bit of polish it could definitely be a very enjoyable experience. I for one don't mind playing these type of games on my Android/iOS devices, so bring it on!

As far as feedback goes, I second all comments by Erik, especially the limited jumping at the start. It made me feel so weak as a character I almost quit the game right then and there   . While you can get away with such artificial overlimitations if your protagonist is abstract (e.g. a cheese on wheels), you shouldn't do it with a human. Just make the jump slightly more effective (more wide than high, I'd say), and design your puzzles around that!

Another tiny detail that threw me off was that your level seemed huge for a moment of two, much bigger than I liked it to be. It brought back memories of several "run through huge generic level for hours until you figured out you needed the middle road at A1" games of old... but luckily, it turned out to be very much the right size. Throwing in a couple more signs or other points / unique markers here and there might go a long way to resolve that problem.

Oh, and I really feel there should be a more rewarding animation and especially sound effect for picking up diamonds. I only found one, but found the experience so anticlimactic I couldn't be bothered to go looking for more. Unless ofcourse there is an in-between-levels shop we don't know about yet.  

In general, what I missed more than any unique gameplay mechanic was a bit of *atmosphere*. I think you should focus on the schism between the nice, relaxing stroll through the green fields to Nana's home, only then to drop in a dark/surrealistic/dreamy underworld where you solve puzzles. Change the skybox, change the colors, add some atmospheric sounds, add some glowing goo, friendly eyeballs and other stuff (toys, dinosaurs, whatever atmosphere you are going for) in the walls, stuff like that.

Technical details:
- The water tiles often had visible seams.
- The spiky turtle walk animation didn't loop properly (and wasn't too good either, compared to the pretty ok main character animation)
- The end text has a type (beleive -> believe)

[FloatingCoder]

Thank you so much for the insightful and detailed feedback. I definitely agree with most of it, still working on absorbing it and deciding what to do.

Thanks!
 

[FrankForce]

My feedback...

• graphics are a good start but it could use an art pass.  Even just better lighting would work wonders
• too many offscreen jumps, camera needs to pan or zoom out or give some kind of warning to the player
• level progression works well for the first few minutes at least
• good use of save points
• platforming mechanics are a little unreliable, it is hard to make precise jumps.
• One specific thing that would help is if you still let the player jump like .1 seconds after they fall off a ledge.  Trust me, this grace period makes a huge difference
• i eventually got to a place where I didn't know where to go
• i had to stop because I got stuck in the terrain and couldn't do anything when I respawned at one of the save points
• you need some kind of arrow to show the player where to go next
• i didn't mind the small jump or slow walking as first that others mentioned