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[Jared C]

Really nice feel.

I'm loving this.   

[Alec S.]

It's a great visual style.  I like the animations of the fish but I agree that the turning and moving can be slowed down.  As for the chasing the ball element, I'd like to see a bit more visual feedback then just the ball disappearing. 

I'm really interested to see what this will become.

[Fuzz]

I really like the movement, which is really fluid and feels just like a fish. The graphics are also really nice, in that they're minimal, but not pixel art.

[Captain_404]

Random update, here's a sample of the final music so far. Make sure you play it while looking at the game's visuals!

game: http://ian.janasnyder.com/BWproto.htm
music: http://ian.janasnyder.com/01%20Track%2001.m4a

Also, and more seriously, the fish moves slower now.


sparky - yeah, I don't want to suggest one or the other, but I see a city in it. I think part of it's beauty is its ambiguity in that sense. I found your interpretation of the dots as fireflies or starts particularly interesting.

Cerogravian - I had worked with that a bit early on, but due to the way my fish's movement is handled, the fish always ended up crumpling into odd 90 degree angles. It's still something I'd like to do, but I don't think I'll be able to.

malec2b - Yeah, it's not even going to be a ball in the final version, it's just a temporary graphic to experiment with how moving through the city with purpose would feel.

EDIT: added another fish instead of a ball, there's also now some poetry in the sky. It's only temporary though, until I find better words to say what I want, as it is now I feel it's a bit misleading.

[Captain_404]

Well, update time. I've now got something you might call gameplay.

And with that, it falls soundly on the "artgame" side of the fence or whatever. Anyway...

I think it has an interesting message, but I'm afraid it tells it in such a manner that it needs to be explained. Even tiny things, like what you're supposed to do might have to be explained, which is not what I want. I'll just let you play it and tell me what you think:

http://ian.janasnyder.com/BWproto.htm


--: explanation :--

Ideally, you should start off the game following the blue fish around (you have to touch it with your nose each time it stops). Soon, a little gold speck will come in toward you and you should pick it up. Piano music plays, all context indicates this is a great thing.

As time goes on, the specks increase in frequency (perhaps a little too quickly?) and eventually, the primary objective of following the blue fish is replaced by the secondary objective of catching all the gold.

The game ends when you chase after so much gold that you become completely lost, the game fades out and the last stanza of poetry shows.


Ok, so I said artgame. It's a term I don't like to use as it gets thrown around a lot, but if I don't say it, someone else will. I'd be interested to hear anyone's interpretation of it before reading my explanation in the paragraph below.


The game is about several things, it's kind of hard to give its central theme just one name. If you could put it into a nice little list though, it would be about how as we go through life and make friendships, relationships (romantic or otherwise) we tend to lose track of each other over time. We get distracted by these little bits of gold, be they ambition, addiction, whatever; we lose sight of the other person and they go off their way through time and we go ours. Perhaps we never meet again. It's really a game about that sort of loneliness. Knowing that you'll never see some of the people you love the most ever again simply because of personal choices either you or they made. There's other small stuff in it too, but that's really the main thing. I'd be really interested to hear all of your opinions.


A few concerns:
-how does the gameplay feel?
-did you ever lose sight of the blue fish completely by accident (ie, not because you were distracted)
-did you ever lose the blue fish and reach the fourth poem stanza at all?
-do the specks increase in frequency too quickly?
-did you realize that the game wanted you to chase the specks?
-did you realize the game wanted you to chase the fish?
-any glitches?
-I assume my pretentiousness rating is now through the roof?

known glitches:
-sometimes the blue fish stops inside a wall where you can't touch it
-sometimes when you collect a gold speck it doesn't disappear


I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts!

[Kegluneq]

Wow that's deep, but I really MUST finish my English essays so I'll give some feedback tomorrow.

[agj]

It's beautiful. The game did want me to chase the fish and the gold specks, though just finding the fish was hard enough that I ignored the gold in my second playthrough. I think that the game should have a different ending if you chase the fish enough, like maybe it could lead you somewhere, where something would happen.

Right now it's a bit hard to hit the specks and the other fish, so maybe you should make the collision box bigger, but that's a minor technical issue.

[Fuzz]

I never really paid attention to the specks, as I assumed that they were just collectibles as in most games that don't have any bearing on gameplay. Several times I lost the blue fish, but found it again quite quickly. The controls were a bit disorienting, but overall the game is amazing.

[increpare]

feels good; nice idea; originally when i played I went up instead of following the fish down
second play i dashed right past the poetry in an attempt to find the fish.


the gold-collecting thing was really effective.  haven't played to the final thing yet, though.


have you considered spacing out the poem a bit more evenly over the course of play?

collision occasionally seemed a bit weird; i went under some buildings, it seemed.

[Jared C]

Nice.  I was able to go under some buildings, as well.

[eddietree]

still zen-like. still awesome. for gameplay, maybe a nice fish rpg?

[Captain_404]

This is interesting. It seems most of you didn't let the gold bits lead you away, or they were passed off as unimportant. Either way, most people didn't reach the fourth stanza, I assume?

This means that most of you followed the blue fish around simply because it was the first thing you met, not because it provided any positive stimuli. There is seriously no (practical) reward at all for following it, whereas with the gold it plays pretty music and glows as it disappears. There only the reward you suppose that it has, or whatever reward you personally give it.


Kegluneq - thanks, I look forward to hearing more from you

agj - Bigger collision boxes are probably a good idea, I certainly don't want player to get hung up on little things like not being able to hit a certain point just right.

I thought about giving a separate ending for following the fish, but I think it would be contrary to the game's themes.

Fuzz - Thanks. It seems from your comments that I need to make the gold bits seem more essential. They were intended to be collectibles, or to present that gameplay idea. However, since they are so crucial to the game ending it seems I've made them too unimportant.

Stephan - interesting, perhaps the fish should stay closer to the player so the player doesn't feel so rushed to get to an objective and they'll have time to read the poetry. Or did you skip it because you had already read it the first time?

I've considered spacing the poem out, but thought it might break up both the poem's flow and the game's flow a bit too much.

Mansa (and I guess Mr. Lavelle as well...) - interesting, do you go straight though the buildings or does this happen at corners?

eddietree - Oh gosh. I really hope the fish rpg thing was a joke...

[Jared C]

Mansa (and I guess Mr. Lavelle as well...) - interesting, do you go straight though the buildings or does this happen at corners?

Sometimes I pass through the corners.  There was only twice that I was actually able to slip right under a building.

[Kegluneq]

I also was able to go right through buildings, not just the corners.
Also at one point, the camera moved too far down. I have absolutely no idea why though. I was chasing the blue fish and it seemed as if the camera started following him instead of me, and then when he stopped and I caught up I realized it was a camera problem. When swimming down, the red fish was just out of sight. When swimming up, the whole red fish was just on the edge of the view. I continued to chase the blue fish but the camera never fixed itself, forcing me to quit.
Might wanna look into that

[increpare]

Stephan - interesting, perhaps the fish should stay closer to the player so the player doesn't feel so rushed to get to an objective and they'll have time to read the poetry. Or did you skip it because you had already read it the first time?

I skipped it because the other fish was swimming away!

[ElTipejoLoco]

I also was able to go right through buildings, not just the corners.
Also at one point, the camera moved too far down. I have absolutely no idea why though. I was chasing the blue fish and it seemed as if the camera started following him instead of me, and then when he stopped and I caught up I realized it was a camera problem. When swimming down, the red fish was just out of sight. When swimming up, the whole red fish was just on the edge of the view. I continued to chase the blue fish but the camera never fixed itself, forcing me to quit.
Might wanna look into that

This problem occurred to me, too. Apparently following the blue fish will cause the camera to slowly shift its centering downwards.

[Captain_404]

Ugh, the camera problem sounds really bad. I've never actually encountered this glitch myself.

Do either of you remember doing anything out of the ordinary before it happened?


I think I may actually know what's causing the corners glitch, I'll look into it.


stephan - Alright, thanks. Sounds like I need to slow it down a bit then!

[ElTipejoLoco]

404: Personally, I've just noticed it only happens if you continue to follow the blue fish once the gold sparks(?) start increasing in frequency. If you desist your pursuit of the fish early on enough, the camera doesn't seem to shift. It happened to my girlfriend on a friend's computer as well, when I was telling her to try the game (she was upset, so I figured "hey, semi-relaxing game". She too, wanted to follow the blue fish more than the gold sparks).

[Kegluneq]

I think I ran into a cluster of buildings before the camera thing happened, not sure.

[increpare]

one other thing: have you thought about making the hitbox for the blue fish a bit bigger?