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[Greyblack]

Hello All,
Readers of TIG forums might be interested in checking out a web (shockwave) game I'm developing in my spare time:

http://www.platformthegame.com/

Platform is a fun game in which you control two characters. Each character must be guided safely to the end of each level, avoiding the devious traps. You will need to make the characters work together to get to the end of most levels. A new level is added each week.

Feedback is welcome. Thanks for taking an interest.

[AdamAtomic]

I think this is totally sweet; just a few suggestions:

1 - Offer a more indie-standard control scheme, of left and right arrow move left and right, and Z or X jumps

2 - Auto-skip the intro if you are replaying the level.  If you are really set against that, maybe just make it so pressing any of the game's control keys skips it, rather than setting that to a different key?

3 - I think the run animation should play back a little bit faster

4 - The sound of the footsteps seems to sometimes be pretty far off of the run animation, especially in the opening cutscene.  Perhaps you could have a quieter footstep when the player is not moving very far?  Since it is the main sound effect, some more attention to that would go a long ways toward polishing the experience I think.

5 - The gameplay is fun, but its not clear nor ever even touched upon why these 2 regular-lookin dudes who are confused about not knowing their own names can wall-jump better than megaman; that seems to come quite naturally to them.  I found this somewhat confusing!

That's about it; pretty levels, nice shadow effects, good gameplay, and cool that you're offering new levels weekly; been waiting for that to become a more popular way of releasing web-games!

[Guert]

A very interesting concept.
You should add more team work elements, such as being able to climb on the other's shoulders or pull him up or down... Try to thing of everything you can do when you're two buddies trying to reach something... You have to make us feel like they're good friends.

Also, on deaths, I'd write the "press space bar to continue" on-screen

And yes, auto-skip the cinematics once we have seen once.

You could add a crouch to the characters. Also, it would be nice if jumping would be based on your running speed. Right now, all jumps almost feels the same wether you are jumping when running or simply standing.

You could make the levels a bit easier at first. level 3 is particularly nasty It's not that bad but the faster you have hard levels, the faster your player will get used to the game and he'll grow bored faster...

One thing. I didn't notice but can we select our starting level? If so, we should be able to since we can select the first or last one from the main page. If I miss one update, I don't want to play through the entire game just for one level.

On the website, I'd make it so that we are taken to the beginning of the game when we click on the picture of the 2 guys.

Very nice work! Keep it up!
Later!

[waruwaru]

One thing. I didn't notice but can we select our starting level? If so, we should be able to since we can select the first or last one from the main page. If I miss one update, I don't want to play through the entire game just for one level.

I think there is an "archive" link, and from there, you can select any level.

It's pretty fun, and I really like the character style.  The mover level (yeah level 2, I know), kinda pissed me off a little.  If you fall from the moving platform to the edge of the non moving platform, you die.  Also, the game seems to have hung a couple of time after I die (pressing space/b didn't seem to do much).  There should be some indication showing the game is doing stuff during the delay after "click here" at the very beginning..

Oh no!  Lost my  crib privs....

[Greyblack]

Thanks all for your feedback.

To address some of your comments:

- Z/X jumps and left right arrow keys... Apart from using X, this seems pretty close to one of the current control schemes, unless you mean being able to press X to switch characters?

- Autoskip Intro.. I had thought about this when I was originally making the game and decided against it. Thinking about it now I'm not really sure why now. I might add this as a feature.

- The run animation speed... I'll have a look at this, but I suspect I'll keep it the same

- The footstep sync... I can accept that it's a bit ropey, especially in the intro as it's just the running sound played softer. It was a (perhaps misguided) attempt to save bandwidth and get the sounds playing quicker. I'll have a look at improving this a bit.

- The reason behind the players freakish amnesia and freakish jumping ability... This may be touched upon in future episodes.

- Guert, I like all of your gameplay ideas, particularly the hanging down/stand on shoulders stuff, but unfortunately it's too late for really major changes to the core gameplay... I guess the characters could come up with the idea of doing this in a later level... But I want to focus on new environmental challenges rather than the characters abilities.

- Adding a link to the latest level by clicking on the picture is a good idea, I'll implement that.

- The game does get difficult, quite quickly... It's a deliberate choice that I hope doesn't alienate too many players. If the user finds a level particularly difficult they can always skip it by visiting the archives page, or by checking back next week...

- Waruwaru.. That sounds like a possible bug I haven't encountered.. The only way you should be able to die in level 2 is if you get squished between a moving platform and a stationary platform.. Is that not what you found?

[AdamAtomic]

- Z/X jumps and left right arrow keys... Apart from using X, this seems pretty close to one of the current control schemes, unless you mean being able to press X to switch characters?

The main thing here is controlling movement with my right hand, and actions with my left.  This is a very standard setup in PC-based platformers and action games, the sole exception being mouse-based games.  Years of conditioning have rendered me unable to WASD without a mouse, and likewise incapable of whacking a keyboard jump button with my right hand

I had hoped that the "reverse controls" button would put movement on the less-than/greater-than, and put jump on A or D, so that it really was a reverse, rather than just changing what buttons I press with my right hand.

Anyways that's the details   it's your game, but I suspect I am not the only one who had some trouble getting used to the controls.  It wouldn't be a big deal really except the game certainly does reward precision and quick switching/jumping abilities, which are definitely hampered by unfamiliar or alien control layouts.

[Greyblack]

Hmm.. Did you realise you could control the characters with the arrow keys? I thought I'd made that reasonably plain. Is that a problem anyone else had?

[fish]

what an interesting concept.
here's something that can actually deliver on the idea of episodic gaming.
its kinda like a webscomic of games.

i dig the clean aesthetic and G.I style lighting or whatever it is you kids call it these days. altho i feel like the whole thing is just a bit too simplistic. almost generic. it lacks personality. also your color scheme could use some work. its a lot of grey.

ill reiterate what everybody is saying: the controls suck. > to jump has to go. put it on the left side of the keyboard. space to switch is fine, i think.

regarding the wall jump (pretty much the first thing you teach the player), i think it feels completely wrong. the fact that the character dosent re-orient itself while in the air to look in the direction he's going makes the whole thing look weird. the "physics" of it are a bit off too, i think. cant quite put my finger on it but when i cleared that wall on the first screen i felt like i cheated.

but you've got something with a lot of potential here.
clever idea.

[skaldicpoet9]

A very interesting concept.
You should add more team work elements, such as being able to climb on the other's shoulders or pull him up or down... Try to thing of everything you can do when you're two buddies trying to reach something... You have to make us feel like they're good friends.

I agree, it is not very clear why we have to control both of the characters, I guess it makes it more challenging but doesn't really add any extra dimension to the gameplay. However, if you were to make it to where there are certain things that the pair can do with the press of a button, that would be interesting. Maybe having to help each other crawl through ceiling vents or making them have to be on two separate sides of a room in order to push a button to make a door open etc... I like the general feel of the game....and the story is intriguing...can't wait to see what happens

[Guert]

regarding the wall jump (pretty much the first thing you teach the player), i think it feels completely wrong. the fact that the character dosent re-orient itself while in the air to look in the direction he's going makes the whole thing look weird. the "physics" of it are a bit off too, i think. cant quite put my finger on it but when i cleared that wall on the first screen i felt like i cheated.

I agree. Wall jumping, in my book, means that one character uses one wall to propulse himself toward another wall and repeats the process until he reaches his goal. Here, we have a character that grabs the wall and then, instead of propulsing himslef toward the adjacent walls, simply jumps upward and grabs the same wall again, repeating the proces suntil he reaches a high enough position to reach his goal.

Could be a good idea to fix...
Later!

[AdamAtomic]

Hmm.. Did you realise you could control the characters with the arrow keys? I thought I'd made that reasonably plain. Is that a problem anyone else had?

I did not realize that, actually, as the instructions explicitly say "use A or D to move left or right."  Just assumed that those were the controls!

[Greyblack]

Sorry to be harping on about the control, but I think like you guys seem to agree, they are quite important to the players experience...

In the first level you are given an on screen hint that says:

Press "a" or left arrow to move left.
Press "d" or right arrow to move right.
Press "z" or ">" to jump and press the spacebar to switch characters.

Then it explains about wall jumping and tells the player "You can reverse the jump and switch character keys by pressing the blue button."

Also, if you rollover the red question mark, it explains this to the player as well.

So the user has a choice between a combination of "WASD", ">" and "space" or the arrow keys, "Z" and "Space", with the additional option of being able to switch jump around to the spacebar and have either "z" or ">" be the switch keys.

It's concerning to me that there is confusion about what options are available to control the players. I might think about rewording the hint so it's in bullet points or something and is clearer to the user.

[waruwaru]

Waruwaru.. That sounds like a possible bug I haven't encountered.. The only way you should be able to die in level 2 is if you get squished between a moving platform and a stationary platform.. Is that not what you found?

Try this.  Lower the right-most mover with one guy on top of it.  Make the other guy jump on top of the same mover.  Now walk him off to the left of the mover, so he falls to the platform.  Now walk the guy to the right edge of the platform.  He dies instantly.

[lowpoly]

really cool game, love the look. For some reason I keep thinking I'm playing as the guys from Penny Arcade...

anyway, I actually am ok with the controls, I think jump is fine as >. Pretty challenging so far. Is there music/sound in the game or am I just not hearing it?

looking forward to this getting bigger and better

agh, stupid saw blades!

[Greyblack]

Try this.  Lower the right-most mover with one guy on top of it.  Make the other guy jump on top of the same mover.  Now walk him off to the left of the mover, so he falls to the platform.  Now walk the guy to the right edge of the platform.  He dies instantly.

You're quite right, thanks for finding that. I've uploaded a fix.