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[kerempooh]

Hi there!

I Hate Dots! is my first attempt at solo development. I've got some experience in bigger projects, both in games and other multimedia, but always from a team-member perspective. To be honest, I made it as more of an experiment in game concept minimalism and a way to directly and personally experience each and every step in developing and publishing a game.

However, surprisingly the game turned out to be fun in its own right (or so at least my friends and family tell me  ) so why not bring it up a notch?

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.gumbosoup.IHD



It is currently in open beta stage and I'd appreciate any and all criticism and suggestions before I roll it out to production. I'm particularly worried about difficulties in the Arcade mode. Also, should I add anything, remove anything, graphics style, sound, store presentation?

Thank you!

[CypherCove]

I tried it out for a few minutes. The font and color palette remind me of Splatoon, in a good way. The music choices are so painfully bad to my ears that I cannot stand to have the game open for more than a minute unless I disable music. There are games with chiptunes that I can appreciate, although I think in general they are unpleasant to hear.

One nitpick with the menu screens is that the buttons for the game mode look like they are disabled, and when you press them, there is no visual acknowledgement that you pressed a button...it just instantly changes what's on screen. The Play Now button responds like how I'd expect the other buttons to.

It's also unclear... what does Play Now do? Is it a fourth game mode?

[kerempooh]

Thanks for the feedback!

Yeah, the music is a bit... contentious. Although I like chiptune music (matter of taste I suppose) I have to admit that it does get a bit grating after a while. It's a quite strong theme and it really grabs you when you first play (if you don't dislike chiptune style that is) it could be it is more suited for very short bursts, rather than having it on repeat. I'm already talking with a musician friend of mine who might look into it and maybe even provide something original for the soundtrack. Ideally, it should be something dynamic and stimulating, giving the impression of increasing tension while, at the same time, smooth and unobtrusive enough it doesn't become annoying. In other words, it should compel you to keep playing rather than leave the game.

As for buttons... yeah I experimented with 2-state buttons activated on release but the feeling was kinda.. "gummy" I might return this style to the main game mode buttons on title screen though...

"Play Now!" takes you right to main game, the last (or default) mode played - listed to the left of the button. This is done to cut down time needed to get playing once you load up the game, a shortcut through mode menus. In playtests I noticed that first time players can get annoyed or even lost while navigating the menus (whole 2 of them!) and this button is there to get them playing as fast as possible. Maybe I should change button text though... Hmm... "Quick Play" maybe...