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[You Blister My Paint]

I, Falling Robot

A game where you a play as a robot who is constantly falling. It is an obstacle avoidance game with elements of a rhythm game, as the obstacle are tied to the classic music that accompanies each level. There is a heavy emphasis on theme; I've tried to capture the look and sound of early silent films.







It is my first game so I'd really love as much feedback as possible from people.


Click Here for the Beta


System Requirements:

• Android device running 4.1 or later

Known issues:

• Frame rate display is temporary and there to help with testing.

Looking for feedback on:

• Gameplay, let me know if you think the gameplay is fun and have any suggestions about how it could be improved.
• Technical, let me know if you hit any technical issues. While the game is still in beta it's been pretty stable for all my beta testers up to this point so I'd like to know if that isn't the case for anyone.
• Aesthetics, I worked really hard on the theme of this game, I'd love to hear feedback on this.

When you are ready to submit feedback I set up a survey at http://goo.gl/forms/lUdwXDdcHr. You can also reply directly to this thread if you want to give direct feedback.

Thanks and I hope you guys enjoy the game as much as I did making it!

[You Blister My Paint]

Just updated the Beta to allow Android version 4.1 onwards. The update is being processed by Google and should be out shortly.

I was artificially limiting older versions of Android because I am concerned about well the game will run on older devices and I wanted to ensure that I was testing on all versions I was releasing for, but I had a request to allow older devices to play the game so I am doing it for the purpose of the beta. If you are running 4.1, 4.2 or 4.3 please let me know when you give feedback so I see how well the game runs on those devices.

[Tree]

Huh, I sadly don't have android but from what you've shown in the video it looks great! I love the style and the name fits perfectly. I did have a potoenal idea for the game although it's quite complicated. Maybe generate the level relative to the paino guys generating, E.g. If you have a paino key in the audio that was played on the far right of the paino maybe an obstacle would appear to the far right or the beams that I saw in the game would go as far as the key that appears on the pano. Maybe make some code that can recognize paino sounds and generate he obstacles. Of course his would mean that not every level is unique but if you have enough tracks his might work. I dunno just an idea. I hope to see more.

[You Blister My Paint]

Thanks for the compliments!

Your idea is interesting but my audio detection is fairly simple and just does offset beat detection right now. I may explore more complex audio detection in future games.

[Tree]

Thanks for the compliments!

Your idea is interesting but my audio detection is fairly simple and just does offset beat detection right now. I may explore more complex audio detection in future games.

Just an idea I thought I'd present to you since it might make the game stand out even more. But I do understand as it's a pretty darn complex idea. I wish you and your game the best of luck! 

[canislupus]

First of all, let me say that you were very good in making use of your silent movie theme.

• Aesthetics, I worked really hard on the theme of this game, I'd love to hear feedback on this.

It shows! The screen filters, music, sound effects, even the loading screens are very consistent. Good job!


Gameplay

- I was surprised that I could play a fast-reflex game with the accelerometer, so that's great. It would be easy for me to say that I prefer all-touch controls to move the character, but due to the mechanics - like touching to scare the birds - I realize this probably wouldn't work.

- For this type of game, I would strongly suggest most input to react as soon as it can. What I mean is: for scaring the birds, make it react as soon as you touch the screen, instead of when you take your finger off. For swiping across, check every frame to see if the swipe is long enough, instead of only when you release. This should improve responsiveness in those cases. Unless you have a good reason for keeping it this way, of course!

- I found it fun to tap the screen at the rhythm of the music as I was falling, though that is not a game mechanic! Maybe for another game...? You could also try other ways to generate the obstacles, like Tree suggested. Unity's AudioSource.GetSpectrumData might help if you want to try frequency detection. It's pretty fast. And badly documented. This should help: http://answers.unity3d.com/questions/157940/getoutputdata-and-getspectrumdata-they-represent-t.html


Performance

- My Galaxy S3 got FPS in the range of 40-45 while playing with vignette off, and 32-34 with it on. The slider for battery/framerate was all the way to performance. It was perfectly playable like that (60 FPS would be better, but that is my phone's fault). I won't suggest an option to disable the noise/scratch filter because that would probably take away too much of the aesthetics. How is your beat detection? That should be the heaviest non-graphic thing running. Unity's profiler in deep profile mode should help seeing that, if you want and haven't already (I'm not sure of how used you are to Unity, so I keep mentioning Unity things that you might already know).

- In the game over screen I got about 22 fps at best and I'm not sure why.


Usability

- I was genuinely a bit confused by the menu layout, and that was made worse when I stupidly pressed the change mode button on top and couldn't understand why everything was locked. This is the point that I would say was the least good for me. I think the thing that confuses me is having a button on top and another on the bottom. The top button could be removed by placing the credits button in the settings screen (or maybe share the bottom of the screen with the settings button) and the change mode button could be below the name of the level, i.e. the place where it says "Level 2" and "Endless" would become a button in itself, maybe by adding a smaller styled white border like the whole menu has. Does that make sense?

- I will definitely not criticize the menu style. Like I said, it's great!

- You'll probably change this for the final game anyway, but I will mention it. Tutorials shouldn't play again if I already completed a level. Especially if they aren't skippable and there isn't a way to exit.


Other

- Once, at the change of a music section in level 3, I got beams placed something like this:

--    ----
-----

It was possible to go through with a little luck, but... well... I didn't. XD


That's it! My feedbacks lean towards talking about things that could be better instead of saying what is already good, so I'm sorry if it sounds like there are more bad things than good. There aren't! The game is cool and I'm especially surprised that this is your first game. Your work shows. Keep it up!

Disclaimer: I haven't completed the last two levels, though I got close with the 3rd and can probably do it with a few more tries. The 4th is impossible for me at this point. XD

[cjl]

Great game, but really hard. You should increase the minimum space between objects in the prelude to reduce beginner difficulty. Also, 143 seconds for the first level is too long! It's hard to maintain concentration for such a long time, especially when you can only tilt the device to move the robot.

[You Blister My Paint]

Thanks for the feedback guys! I am hard at work on the next beta but once I get a chance I'll write a more detail response to your posts.

[You Blister My Paint]

- I was surprised that I could play a fast-reflex game with the accelerometer, so that's great. Smiley It would be easy for me to say that I prefer all-touch controls to move the character, but due to the mechanics - like touching to scare the birds - I realize this probably wouldn't work.

One of the things I set out to do with this game was make something that felt unique to a mobile device and used the gestures and unique features that they had access to. That being said I am still not happy with the feel of accelerometer input. After playing Doodle Jump for awhile the other day I can tell they are handling the accelerometer input in a different better way and I want to get to that level.

- For this type of game, I would strongly suggest most input to react as soon as it can. What I mean is: for scaring the birds, make it react as soon as you touch the screen, instead of when you take your finger off. For swiping across, check every frame to see if the swipe is long enough, instead of only when you release. This should improve responsiveness in those cases. Unless you have a good reason for keeping it this way, of course!

This is actually the way I originally had it. What my beta testers found was that you could preform the same basic gesture to clear both the tap and swipe obstacles and do it over and over again (essentially input spam) and never have to worry about these obstacles. I never want the most efficient way to play the game be the least fun, so I adjusted it. The trade off is that it feels less instantly responsive, which is kind of a bummer 

- I found it fun to tap the screen at the rhythm of the music as I was falling, though that is not a game mechanic! Maybe for another game...? Wink You could also try other ways to generate the obstacles, like Tree suggested.

Yeah I will probably mess around with this.

How is your beat detection? That should be the heaviest non-graphic thing running. Unity's profiler in deep profile mode should help seeing that, if you want and haven't already (I'm not sure of how used you are to Unity, so I keep mentioning Unity things that you might already know).

Beat detection is completely offline. I pre-calculate everything so there is no runtime cost. However I am doing a bunch of performance improvements for the next beta. Hopefully it will run a little smoother.

- In the game over screen I got about 22 fps at best and I'm not sure why.

I am using this blur effect on the vignette shader that I don't use in game. It's subtle, but it looks pretty nice and honestly I am fine with the frame rate not being stellar on the menu screens. (If I get around it I'll probably cap the frame rate for menus at 30)

- I was genuinely a bit confused by the menu layout, and that was made worse when I stupidly pressed the change mode button on top and couldn't understand why everything was locked. Tongue This is the point that I would say was the least good for me. I think the thing that confuses me is having a button on top and another on the bottom. The top button could be removed by placing the credits button in the settings screen (or maybe share the bottom of the screen with the settings button) and the change mode button could be below the name of the level, i.e. the place where it says "Level 2" and "Endless" would become a button in itself, maybe by adding a smaller styled white border like the whole menu has. Does that make sense?

This worries me. I am going to mess around with the buttons a little bit. Most likely will have two at the top and hopefully that may make them look more like buttons.

- You'll probably change this for the final game anyway, but I will mention it. Tutorials shouldn't play again if I already completed a level. Especially if they aren't skippable and there isn't a way to exit. Wink

Yeah definitely. Just haven't had time to put in the flag to disable them yet. (Also I wanted my testers to test them )

- Once, at the change of a music section in level 3, I got beams placed something like this:

Those are a little scarier then they look, you can squeeze pretty close to beams and make it out. I may adjust some of the spacing to make it less scary for new players.

That's it! My feedbacks lean towards talking about things that could be better instead of saying what is already good, so I'm sorry if it sounds like there are more bad things than good. There aren't! The game is cool and I'm especially surprised that this is your first game. Your work shows. Keep it up!

Thanks for the feedback canislupus! The critical feedback is the most useful in many ways because it will help me fix up the game before it goes live. I appreciate you taking the time to write up some much detailed feedback.

[You Blister My Paint]

Great game, but really hard. You should increase the minimum space between objects in the prelude to reduce beginner difficulty. Also, 143 seconds for the first level is too long! It's hard to maintain concentration for such a long time, especially when you can only tilt the device to move the robot.

Thanks for the praise! I will most likely adjust the spacing for the next beta. I've also introduced a mechanic that slows the speed of the level down each time you get hit, so players having trouble will get a slightly easier experience.

Also you'll be happy to know that I just trimmed 20 seconds out of the first level.

[canislupus]

This is actually the way I originally had it. What my beta testers found was that you could preform the same basic gesture to clear both the tap and swipe obstacles and do it over and over again (essentially input spam) and never have to worry about these obstacles. I never want the most efficient way to play the game be the least fun, so I adjusted it. The trade off is that it feels less instantly responsive, which is kind of a bummer 

Alright, you had a good reason. I feel it might be hard to know that you have swiped enough distance before releasing, though. And the player wastes time swiping longer than actually needed. What about these?

Option 1. Still remove the birds on touch release, but use continuous detection for swipes (and maybe only count bird touches if the finger is released around where the touch began).

Option 2. Use touch-begin for birds but never let a single finger action remove two obstacles. As soon as one removal triggers, the finger must be released before triggering another. Do you require that obstacles are removed in order? I can't test this now. If not, I'm thinking that this may become frustrating when both birds and clothes lines are present, because the birds will always be removed even when trying a swipe. But if they must be removed in order, it should be ok.

You might have tested some of these things already.

This worries me. I am going to mess around with the buttons a little bit. Most likely will have two at the top and hopefully that may make them look more like buttons.

I believe that could help, yes.

Those are a little scarier then they look, you can squeeze pretty close to beams and make it out. I may adjust some of the spacing to make it less scary for new players.

OK, so I need to practice!

Thanks for the feedback canislupus! The critical feedback is the most useful in many ways because it will help me fix up the game before it goes live. I appreciate you taking the time to write up some much detailed feedback.

You're welcome! I'm happy to help.

[You Blister My Paint]

Hey All,

Just wanted to let you know that the beta is now updated with version 0.9.

There have been numerous changes since I last updated this thread, too many to list. But the gameplay, UI, controls and performance have all been greatly polished and improved. I've also added achievements and leaderboards!





I'm gearing up for my release and I've love to get some more feedback from the TIGSource community before I go live. If you haven't played it, check out the beta link in the OP or just Click Here. If you have played it you can update the beta through Google Play like you would any other app.

Filling out the survey would be greatly appreciated but also feel free to just post any feedback you may have to this thread.

Oh and I also have a website up at ifallingrobot.com.

[GrayGiantGames]

I like the game, though the first level is pretty long. This is also a little nitpicking, but the atmosphere is so good in the main menu, etc. But then the actual game has disappointing graphics. Honestly, the character and obstacles feel far less polished that the rest of the game. Almost like they're or of place.

[You Blister My Paint]

I like the game, though the first level is pretty long. This is also a little nitpicking, but the atmosphere is so good in the main menu, etc. But then the actual game has disappointing graphics. Honestly, the character and obstacles feel far less polished that the rest of the game. Almost like they're or of place.

I do agree with you that the menu looks better the game itself right now, it's been bugging me because I feel like I just need to add something. My artist has moved on to other things so these are close to the final assets. Any thoughts about how I could make the in game graphics look better? Most of what makes the menu looks good has been me overlaying shader effects and animations.

[You Blister My Paint]

Game is out!





Check out the release thread at https://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=57456.0.

Thanks for the feedback everyone!