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[Rhubarbist]

Nano golf - A casual mini golf game.



Here's my twitter if you want to follow development.

The game is out!

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/nano-golf-puzzle-putting/id1306789812?ls=1&mt=8

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.nitrome.nanogolf



There are currently 36 levels. I'm looking for any feedback at all, thank you!


On the PC version you can navigate the levels with the left and right arrow keys. There are currently 20 levels to play, I'm just looking for feedback before I make more. Any sort of feedback is appreciated, bug reports, gameplay feedback, what you like, what you don't like etc... Thanks, and Merry Christmas!

[gprosser]

(I played for about 15 minutes on Android.)

I really like the art, and the mechanics feel robust. The way the ball lands in the hole + confetti is particularly satisying. Level progression feels about right. Title screen + level selection screen match the aesthetic well. I like the 'scorecard' below the level. Camera is a nice subtle touch too.

I'm not so keen on the sound effects. They're quite repetitive and they don't seem to match up well with their associated actions. The putt sound doesn't make me feel like I'm hitting anything - it's got no impact too it. Similarly the win sound is unsatisfying and doesn't convey the feel of sinking a golf ball in a hole, nor does it seem to go with the exploding confetti.

I think the game could feel really really great if you nailed those sounds. You could also make the putt and bounce sounds less repetitive by adding a bit of pitch-shift and volume-shift depending on impact strength.

[Rhubarbist]

(I played for about 15 minutes on Android.)

I really like the art, and the mechanics feel robust. The way the ball lands in the hole + confetti is particularly satisying. Level progression feels about right. Title screen + level selection screen match the aesthetic well. I like the 'scorecard' below the level. Camera is a nice subtle touch too.

I'm not so keen on the sound effects. They're quite repetitive and they don't seem to match up well with their associated actions. The putt sound doesn't make me feel like I'm hitting anything - it's got no impact too it. Similarly the win sound is unsatisfying and doesn't convey the feel of sinking a golf ball in a hole, nor does it seem to go with the exploding confetti.

I think the game could feel really really great if you nailed those sounds. You could also make the putt and bounce sounds less repetitive by adding a bit of pitch-shift and volume-shift depending on impact strength.

Thank you so much for playing! I've actually barely touched the sounds, I just played on sfxr for a couple of minutes once to get these sound effects. My music/sound guy will start working on it in January. Thanks again!

[Anton]

From the gifs I really want to try the game :D
I'll do it later though.
I don't know if you know but:
for android you can setup a beta through the playstore (the official store on android)
you might want to do that because it reduce the friction to download. (when you give an apk file, people are warry of installing it, plus non tech people won't even bother trying).
I think you'll have more tester if you use it =) (I've just started using it myself ^^)

https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/3131213?hl=en

[Anton]

I've tried the game. I really like the controls although I'd give a bit less power (right now it is easy to make super powerful shot but the levels are small).
I find the difficulty a bit too high. I dropped at the first boss

[Rhubarbist]

From the gifs I really want to try the game :D
I'll do it later though.
I don't know if you know but:
for android you can setup a beta through the playstore (the official store on android)
you might want to do that because it reduce the friction to download. (when you give an apk file, people are warry of installing it, plus non tech people won't even bother trying).
I think you'll have more tester if you use it =) (I've just started using it myself ^^)

https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/3131213?hl=en

Thanks for the reply Anton! Yeah, I knew there would be something like that, I just figured I would do that closer to release, but yeah it might be worth doing it now to get more feedback. Thanks for playing the game. You're right, when I think about it there is too much power in the shot. But I'm considering actually just adding less power to the shot the more powerful the shot is, instead of power being directly proportional to finger dragging distance, if that makes sense? And yeah, I'll need to make the game easier, especially the cart levels I think. Thanks again!

[Anton]

after thinking about it a bit:
It is not that the game is too hard,it is that the difficulty ramp is too steep.

For instance : you introduce slopes as soon as the second level.
I would wait one or two more level before introducing a mechanic
(considering the player just learned how to play)

[maiscrudo]

Disclaimer: I love minigolf games.
I finished all the levels in the first "world" except the last one: I like it, it's fast and easy to play.
PS: I don't like the cart enemy... I get what you're trying to achieve but it kinda gives me the "unfair" feeling, probably because it can move while I have to wait to be able to make my move.

[KaiTheSpy]

I agree, the cart enemy is too hard. I couldn't get past that level. Other than that, I loved it

[domo_demo]

i think like the others, the cart enemy is far too hard for me ! its maybe just a question of balancing. I have tested the windows version of the game, there is two things, i can switch in fullscreen but everything is stretched, and in world 4 when you die near the end of the level, you need to go back and reactivate all the doors, not fair ^^
everything else is really cool, i love the graphics and the feel of the game !
and sorry for my bad english

[kkairos]

One more on the cart enemy concern--maybe if you had 20 or 30 more seconds till it got started? [edit: my overuse of 'like' does not belong in my forum posts.]

[Vanethos]

First off: the presentation is really nice! And like the above posters said, the mechanics are pretty satisfying!

However, I found a bug:

• After completing level 9 and level 10, no message appeared on screen: http://imgur.com/a/clluo

For the cart level, I would say the following:

• When we are holding the button to have a new direction, maybe the cart should stop moving for X amount of seconds. Otherwise it feels like it's "the last boss that you WON'T at all beat".

However, waiting for the boss to do a full turn and return to the start is a "cheesy" way to beat it

[Rhubarbist]

Thank you so much everyone for the feedback!

after thinking about it a bit:
It is not that the game is too hard,it is that the difficulty ramp is too steep.

For instance : you introduce slopes as soon as the second level.
I would wait one or two more level before introducing a mechanic
(considering the player just learned how to play)

I think you're totally right. I've added 8 more levels to each zone, it should hopefully help with pacing.

I don't like the cart enemy...

@maiscrudo @KaiTheSpy @domo_domo @kkairos @Vanethos

Seems like that cart is pretty unpopular. I've slowed him down a considerable amount and hopefully that and the change in pace from the added levels should make it easier. If that still doesn't work, I'll try stopping the cart when you stop. Although I like having the real-time chase.

i can switch in fullscreen but everything is stretched, and in world 4 when you die near the end of the level, you need to go back and reactivate all the doors, not fair ^^

The reactivation thing is fixed, thanks. I haven't really made the game work well in landscape mode so I wouldn't change the window ratio too much in the windows build.

Here are the new builds:

Windows


Android

(Zone 2-Level 3 is placeholder)

[Anton]

Yay !
it's way better now!
I've finnaly finished the first course. I'll try the second one tomorrow :D

[Rhubarbist]

Yay !
it's way better now!
I've finnaly finished the first course. I'll try the second one tomorrow :D

Glad you like it!

Uploaded a new build today. Any feedback, even/especially little nitpicks or small improvements would be much appreciated. Trying to get it as polished as possible.

[Anton]

Is the link on the top of the post updated ?

[Rhubarbist]

Is the link on the top of the post updated ?

They are now!

[Rhubarbist]

Updated all the music and sfx in the latest build!

[Anton]

the sfx are cool
I've dropped at the second boss for now

[kerempooh]

It looks great!

Wish I thought of it first...