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[Pixel Noise]

It's been great watching this go from concept to what you've got now - looking forward to the demo! 

[maxl]

It's been great watching this go from concept to what you've got now - looking forward to the demo! 

Thanks a lot!  It's been a wild ride with ups and down and doubts and joy... the game's nowhere done yet, but I'm eager to get it into many stranger's hands to get feedback. I've done semi-regular prototype testing with friends, but no major feedback rounds.

[maxl]

I've been experimenting with cutting through the low-poly landscapes and displacing one side to get more interesting landscapes. I really dig the idea, but it's visually not ideal yet:





I will probably have to experiment with different 3D angles for the cutting-planes to find out what looks good and what not. Also, now that the "inside" of the polygon rocks is visible, I need to come up with something cool for those as well. Simply making it a single color and applying my glitch shader is not enough.

[maxl]

I worked on the hero animations again. Although the hero is REALLY small on the screen, I think it's vital that it looks smooth and believable. Also gave it a sword, so cutting through enemies feels more rewarding. And the final level goal is also cut.

On a bigger visual scale, I reworked the RGB color split shader I had going on. Previously, I just applied it to the whole screen no matter what, and boosted the effect when the hero was dashing. The problem: many smaller details (like the hero sprite itself) became very mushed and not recognizable and crisp anymore. You can even see this in my footer image.
To improve that, I implemented a masking system. Using a framebuffer that I render to, I can mark regions as "don't apply the RGB split here". That way, the hero sprite stays crisp while the surroundings look stylish 

Obligatory video (watch in HD):




What do you think? 

[maxl]

Alright, I'm done working in privacy, I want people to play what I make. I assembled a downloadable demo!

Download it here! (Windows exe, 64bit, ~100MB)

(I can supply Mac and Linux builds as well, if need be)

It features the first ~20 levels, including challenges, some of which are rock-hard 
Some areas are still rough, like the UI and the customization options, but it's definitely playable.

I'd be grateful for ANY kind of feedback, from "this doesn't even start" to "this controls badly" to "this one pixel is off". But overall, I'd like to know whether or not this is fun!

This is what you'd get:

A lot of swinging, a lot of dashing, maybe a bit of dying 

Thanks a lot!  

[wizered67]

I played through (I think) all the levels, although I didn't try any of the challenges, and I really enjoyed the game! At first I had trouble getting a hang of the controls. Near the beginning I found myself really wishing for a jump button to help me get closer to some of the grappling targets, but once I got used to the grappling it was really fun! I also struggled at first with getting used to how the swinging off a grappling target works. It took me a while to realize that the longer I held the button the closer I got pulled into the target so the less I could swing off of it after releasing. Also, I know at one point there was an explanation for something about pressing w or s while grappling but I never really figured out what that meant and never used either, so I'm not sure if I was missing an important part of the controls.

I liked that there was a lot of variety beyond just grappling too! When I saw the dashing on this devlog I kind of assumed you could dash whenever you wanted so I was originally surprised that you could only dash on the dash targets, but it was still great. I thought sometimes it was a bit hard to tell if you were close enough to dash into an enemy though. Also, I'm not sure how intentional this was, but the first time I found one of those enemies things that have 3 separate parts you have to dash into I successfully eliminated 2 of the parts but then wasn't able to reach the 3rd part from the ground so I had to restart (it's possible I missed some grappling target I could have used but I didn't think so at the time). This was the only time I had to restart to complete a level so I assumed it may have been unintentional that you could get stuck like that and have to restart. I also really like the grappling targets that carry you along as long as you keep holding the mouse. You really fly off of those sometimes!

One more thing I wanted to mention off the top of my head was the level with the giant. Seeing the giant appear out of nowhere was terrifying and an epic moment! Correct me if I'm wrong, but I assume the giant is supposed to kill you the first time and then not appear the next time you go through the level? That part left me slightly confused and I feel like if the intent was that you're not supposed to face the giant yet maybe let the giant hit the player once to reduce them to low health and then le t the player escape to the exit? The second time through the level I was expecting to see the giant again but it never appeared so I'm assuming that's intentional?

Overall I loved the demo and hope to see more! The controls were a little tricky at first (I can't imagine how this was playable without the grappling autotargeting!) but once you get the hang of them a little it feels amazing to fly through the levels, avoiding projectiles and destroying every enemy in your path. I'll let you know if I think of any other feedback and if there's anything else you want to ask about let me know! Keep up the amazing work and I'll keep on following!

[maxl]

I played through (I think) all the levels, although I didn't try any of the challenges, and I really enjoyed the game! At first I had trouble getting a hang of the controls. Near the beginning I found myself really wishing for a jump button to help me get closer to some of the grappling targets, but once I got used to the grappling it was really fun! I also struggled at first with getting used to how the swinging off a grappling target works. It took me a while to realize that the longer I held the button the closer I got pulled into the target so the less I could swing off of it after releasing. Also, I know at one point there was an explanation for something about pressing w or s while grappling but I never really figured out what that meant and never used either, so I'm not sure if I was missing an important part of the controls.

I liked that there was a lot of variety beyond just grappling too! When I saw the dashing on this devlog I kind of assumed you could dash whenever you wanted so I was originally surprised that you could only dash on the dash targets, but it was still great. I thought sometimes it was a bit hard to tell if you were close enough to dash into an enemy though. Also, I'm not sure how intentional this was, but the first time I found one of those enemies things that have 3 separate parts you have to dash into I successfully eliminated 2 of the parts but then wasn't able to reach the 3rd part from the ground so I had to restart (it's possible I missed some grappling target I could have used but I didn't think so at the time). This was the only time I had to restart to complete a level so I assumed it may have been unintentional that you could get stuck like that and have to restart. I also really like the grappling targets that carry you along as long as you keep holding the mouse. You really fly off of those sometimes!

One more thing I wanted to mention off the top of my head was the level with the giant. Seeing the giant appear out of nowhere was terrifying and an epic moment! Correct me if I'm wrong, but I assume the giant is supposed to kill you the first time and then not appear the next time you go through the level? That part left me slightly confused and I feel like if the intent was that you're not supposed to face the giant yet maybe let the giant hit the player once to reduce them to low health and then le t the player escape to the exit? The second time through the level I was expecting to see the giant again but it never appeared so I'm assuming that's intentional?

Overall I loved the demo and hope to see more! The controls were a little tricky at first (I can't imagine how this was playable without the grappling autotargeting!) but once you get the hang of them a little it feels amazing to fly through the levels, avoiding projectiles and destroying every enemy in your path. I'll let you know if I think of any other feedback and if there's anything else you want to ask about let me know! Keep up the amazing work and I'll keep on following!

Wow, really cool feedback! I don't have the time now, but I'll get back to each of your points shortly! Thank you SO MUCH!! 

[maxl]

Let's do this!

I played through (I think) all the levels, although I didn't try any of the challenges, and I really enjoyed the game! At first I had trouble getting a hang of the controls. Near the beginning I found myself really wishing for a jump button to help me get closer to some of the grappling targets, but once I got used to the grappling it was really fun! I also struggled at first with getting used to how the swinging off a grappling target works. It took me a while to realize that the longer I held the button the closer I got pulled into the target so the less I could swing off of it after releasing. Also, I know at one point there was an explanation for something about pressing w or s while grappling but I never really figured out what that meant and never used either, so I'm not sure if I was missing an important part of the controls.

Yeah... people are still having trouble figuring out how the controls work. It has become better with the changes, but there's still potential for improvement, I think. The buttons W and S are for making the rope shorten faster (W) or stop shortening (S). The problem, both make the already complex rope swinging even more difficult and just like you, many people who tested didn't even understand what it's for and just ignored it... and it's not mandatory because I never force players to use it. Although hitting W while swinging accelerates you much more than regular swinging does. And the S (stop shortening) is supposed to help players when they need to slow down. But I fear that it is WAY too complex to help newbies in the game, while advanced players don't need it.

I liked that there was a lot of variety beyond just grappling too! When I saw the dashing on this devlog I kind of assumed you could dash whenever you wanted so I was originally surprised that you could only dash on the dash targets, but it was still great. I thought sometimes it was a bit hard to tell if you were close enough to dash into an enemy though.

In my earlier prototypes, players could dash everywhere, but this was a NIGHTMARE for game balancing and level design. So I cut it and introduced these "dash-points".

Also, I'm not sure how intentional this was, but the first time I found one of those enemies things that have 3 separate parts you have to dash into I successfully eliminated 2 of the parts but then wasn't able to reach the 3rd part from the ground so I had to restart (it's possible I missed some grappling target I could have used but I didn't think so at the time). This was the only time I had to restart to complete a level so I assumed it may have been unintentional that you could get stuck like that and have to restart.

Yeah, that's not intentional. Shortly before packaging this build, I made it stop rotating. A mistake, because I didn't think about your case, where you are left in an unsolvable state... thanks for reporting that!

I also really like the grappling targets that carry you along as long as you keep holding the mouse. You really fly off of those sometimes!

Cool!

One more thing I wanted to mention off the top of my head was the level with the giant. Seeing the giant appear out of nowhere was terrifying and an epic moment! Correct me if I'm wrong, but I assume the giant is supposed to kill you the first time and then not appear the next time you go through the level? That part left me slightly confused and I feel like if the intent was that you're not supposed to face the giant yet maybe let the giant hit the player once to reduce them to low health and then le t the player escape to the exit? The second time through the level I was expecting to see the giant again but it never appeared so I'm assuming that's intentional?

Yep, that's intentional. Although there are still pieces of story missing, so I understand the confusion. It's supposed to hint to the player that you are actually "undying", in the sense that you are reborn when you die. The whole idea (and the cutscene) is still a work-in-progress.

Overall I loved the demo and hope to see more! The controls were a little tricky at first (I can't imagine how this was playable without the grappling autotargeting!) but once you get the hang of them a little it feels amazing to fly through the levels, avoiding projectiles and destroying every enemy in your path. I'll let you know if I think of any other feedback and if there's anything else you want to ask about let me know! Keep up the amazing work and I'll keep on following!

Great!   A THOUSAND TIMES thank you for trying it out and giving me valuable feedback!

Got any idea for a name for the game? I'm contemplating some ideas, but not sure yet.

[io3 creations]

Got any idea for a name for the game? I'm contemplating some ideas, but not sure yet.

I was going to suggest to come up with a story first (or at least major details).  Then coming up with a title should be easier to fit both the story and the game mechanic rather than basing it solely on the game mechanic. 

If the game was mainly about swinging, you could name it S++ (based on N++).

[maxl]

Got any idea for a name for the game? I'm contemplating some ideas, but not sure yet.

I was going to suggest to come up with a story first (or at least major details).  Then coming up with a title should be easier to fit both the story and the game mechanic rather than basing it solely on the game mechanic. 

If the game was mainly about swinging, you could name it S++ (based on N++).

Yeah, that's probably the problem here. I just suck at deciding on anything and try to keep all my options open, waiting for divine inspiration to hit... It's probably not gonna come and I should start nailing things down and stick with it. Not just the name, but multiple other things as well.

[maxl]

Alpha Beta Gamer wrote an article about the prototype! Yeah!

Read it here!

 

Did I mention you can try it out as well? 

>>> Download it here! (Windows exe, 64bit, ~100MB) <<<

[wizered67]

Yep, that's intentional. Although there are still pieces of story missing, so I understand the confusion. It's supposed to hint to the player that you are actually "undying", in the sense that you are reborn when you die. The whole idea (and the cutscene) is still a work-in-progress.

Ah, the undying thing makes sense. I think the most confusing thing about the cutscene for me was that the giant was just inexplicably not there the second time. I kept expecting him to show up again but he didn't. Just a thought, what about the second time you play through the level the left side of the level is in ruins from the giant walking through? Just to give the player an indication that something has changed so they shouldn't expect the exact same outcome (ie dying) and they can deduce that the giant went to the left and exited the area. I don't know how that fits in with what you had in mind for the scene, but it's an idea.

[maxl]

Yep, that's intentional. Although there are still pieces of story missing, so I understand the confusion. It's supposed to hint to the player that you are actually "undying", in the sense that you are reborn when you die. The whole idea (and the cutscene) is still a work-in-progress.

Ah, the undying thing makes sense. I think the most confusing thing about the cutscene for me was that the giant was just inexplicably not there the second time. I kept expecting him to show up again but he didn't. Just a thought, what about the second time you play through the level the left side of the level is in ruins from the giant walking through? Just to give the player an indication that something has changed so they shouldn't expect the exact same outcome (ie dying) and they can deduce that the giant went to the left and exited the area. I don't know how that fits in with what you had in mind for the scene, but it's an idea.

Cool idea! I'll think about this!

New visual features:

• Rocks look more interesting now.
• Visual "thread" that guides players through the linear levels and helps them identify the next hook target even if it's not yet on screen.
• New dash and speed particles that help give more feedback about the speed

 

BTW, there's a mac demo available now as well in case you wanna play the prototype on a mac. 

[maxl]

While messing around with level design, I've built a skydiving experience:





This is about as stupid as it is fun!   

[maxl]

I'm working on a new "biome", where I can focus gameplay on different things than in the "main" levels. It's very cold, so the ground is slippery and falling into the water hurts. I'm pondering whether or not to make this the full-blown speedrun biome where the levels are built so that you can only get through using a lot of momentum.

Here's how it currently looks (WIP):





You have to be fast cause... it's cold, you know? 

[maxl]

I think I FINALLY found out what was bothering whenever I worked on the background parts of the game... it was the camera's FOV. I had set it to something very high (110 degrees) for the longest time. I probably was experimenting with it some time in the past and somehow left it at that. After that I was never fully happy with how the whole background part of the game looks and feels. It always felt somehow wrong but I couldn't put the finger on it. I kinda now found this by accident, changed it to a more sane 80 degrees FOV, tweaked a few other things... and I'm already feeling much better. Yeah! 

[maxl]

New prototype time!

This adds a bunch more levels, gameplay improvements, visual changes and... a boss fight at the end!  
I definitely think the gameplay has gotten much better in this release.  
Get it here:

Windows 64 bit (~94MB)
Mac 64 bit (~94MB)

Tell me what you think!  

[wizered67]

So I played the new prototype a few days ago but didn't have time to type up my thoughts. I thought I was clever and wrote down some thoughts as I played but then I lost the sheet of paper I wrote them on, so unfortunately this is from memory.

I think the changes were really great! Maybe it's just from my previous experience but I was able to get a grasp of everything almost immediately and was flying through the levels, whereas last time it took me a while to get used to the controls. I was glad you added jumping too. It wasn't something I used that much but I somehow felt much less restricted knowing it was an option. I think the jumping animation may have looked a little strange, maybe too stiff? I'm not sure since I'm not an artist, just something felt a bit off about it to me. I also thought it was really cool how holding down made you fall faster. Again, not something I really used much but I still liked it. I think the cutscene with the giant's first appearance makes more sense now, although it looks like the giant's foot kind of clips through the ground. A minor detail I forgot to mention last time was that when moving on to the next level after completing one, it wasn't immediately obvious on my first playthrough that clicking takes you to the next level. I know it says it in the corner but it seemed a bit small and out of place so I initially missed it. Also, it was confusing at first that you couldn't click and had to go back to the map when there was a branch in the paths. I understood why after seeing the branching paths but before that it didn't make sense why I suddenly couldn't click to continue anymore.

I was not able to complete all the levels this time as I got stuck on two of them. The first was a level with a lot of the giant beam things that cover a large range and activate after a few seconds, sorry I don't know how to describe them better. The level kept saying to use "w" to shorten the rope faster or something but even trying that I wasn't able to get through without getting caught in the giant beams. I probably just don't understand how to use the rope shortening or something.

The second level I got stuck on was the boss fight, which by the way I like a lot! My first time going through the boss fight I hit the bottom of the leg and then got stuck. For some reason I didn't notice that I had to hit the leg higher up again so I kept trying to reach the head, which was obviously impossible. Once I played through the level the second time it seemed totally obvious that I had to hit the leg again. I'm honestly not sure why I missed that detail the first time. Maybe the leg's weakpoint could be emphasized a bit more to be more obvious, but it's probably fine as is and we can write it off as me being dumb. So once I figured that out the boss fight was proceeding smoothly until the very end. I believe I removed everything including the enemy thing on his shoulder, but I just couldn't seem to reach the very top of his head no matter how hard I tried. Maybe there was some other weak spot I was missing or some trick or I just wasn't doing a good job swinging off the grapple points. One thing that bothered me about the boss was that when he turned the other way his grapple points flipped to the other side. It looked kind of jarring to me, and I wasn't a fan of how you automatically fall off when he turns (although maybe that was an intentional decision to add difficulty, in which case it's probably fine). 

Overall good improvements and I'll look forward to seeing more to come!

[ashtonmorris]

Great visual style here!

[maxl]

So I played the new prototype a few days ago but didn't have time to type up my thoughts. I thought I was clever and wrote down some thoughts as I played but then I lost the sheet of paper I wrote them on, so unfortunately this is from memory.

I think the changes were really great! Maybe it's just from my previous experience but I was able to get a grasp of everything almost immediately and was flying through the levels, whereas last time it took me a while to get used to the controls. I was glad you added jumping too. It wasn't something I used that much but I somehow felt much less restricted knowing it was an option. I think the jumping animation may have looked a little strange, maybe too stiff? I'm not sure since I'm not an artist, just something felt a bit off about it to me. I also thought it was really cool how holding down made you fall faster. Again, not something I really used much but I still liked it. I think the cutscene with the giant's first appearance makes more sense now, although it looks like the giant's foot kind of clips through the ground. A minor detail I forgot to mention last time was that when moving on to the next level after completing one, it wasn't immediately obvious on my first playthrough that clicking takes you to the next level. I know it says it in the corner but it seemed a bit small and out of place so I initially missed it. Also, it was confusing at first that you couldn't click and had to go back to the map when there was a branch in the paths. I understood why after seeing the branching paths but before that it didn't make sense why I suddenly couldn't click to continue anymore.

I was not able to complete all the levels this time as I got stuck on two of them. The first was a level with a lot of the giant beam things that cover a large range and activate after a few seconds, sorry I don't know how to describe them better. The level kept saying to use "w" to shorten the rope faster or something but even trying that I wasn't able to get through without getting caught in the giant beams. I probably just don't understand how to use the rope shortening or something.

The second level I got stuck on was the boss fight, which by the way I like a lot! My first time going through the boss fight I hit the bottom of the leg and then got stuck. For some reason I didn't notice that I had to hit the leg higher up again so I kept trying to reach the head, which was obviously impossible. Once I played through the level the second time it seemed totally obvious that I had to hit the leg again. I'm honestly not sure why I missed that detail the first time. Maybe the leg's weakpoint could be emphasized a bit more to be more obvious, but it's probably fine as is and we can write it off as me being dumb. So once I figured that out the boss fight was proceeding smoothly until the very end. I believe I removed everything including the enemy thing on his shoulder, but I just couldn't seem to reach the very top of his head no matter how hard I tried. Maybe there was some other weak spot I was missing or some trick or I just wasn't doing a good job swinging off the grapple points. One thing that bothered me about the boss was that when he turned the other way his grapple points flipped to the other side. It looked kind of jarring to me, and I wasn't a fan of how you automatically fall off when he turns (although maybe that was an intentional decision to add difficulty, in which case it's probably fine). 

Overall good improvements and I'll look forward to seeing more to come!

First of all, thanks for re-playing the game again. I don't take it for granted.   You touched on quite a few things that I would hope are improved with the more recent version that you played. Glad you noticed them!  
The giant stuff is still unfortunately very much WIP and I totally understand that it felt confusing and/or hard. It's not you, it's me/my game that's not right. I'm still having a hard time incorporating such a big object in the 2.5D world while keeping it interactive with the player... I need to keep most of the giant in the 2D plane. I'd much rather go full 3D meshes instead of 2D sprites, but then I'd also have a lot of trouble animating and my 2D workflow (Spine) probably wouldn't work anymore.  

I'm currently working on proper visual enemy designs. Experimenting with 3D wireframe-models lead to good results I think. I hope I can come up with cool looking designs from simple geometrical shapes I create in blender. Going 3D for the enemies also allows me to do some fancy stuff with depth, like the death animations of the enemy in the video here:





I'm not 100% pleased with everything, but the concept and style lies in the middle of the Venn diagram between "visually pleasing", "fitting to the rest of the game" and "possible to create for me" (which is a tiny circle).