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[BMcC]

Sounds like a bug to me.

[Μarkham]

Planter?  Seeds go in the ground.

Planter = short for "planter box," or the special area you bring the seed to.  It was a bug.  I restarted and was able to finish the game.  Could have done with a lot less fumbling around in the dark, figuratively and literally.

[AdamAtomic]

Hey guys!  Quick stuff:

1 - There are no achievements or secret endings

2 - yes if the seed goes up to the top of the screen that is definitely a bug and I have no idea what is causing it or how to fix it!  I will check it out first thing in the morning!

3 - Daniel - yes I buckled down and put it together :D  hooray for sinking into the eternal abyss!

[Moon]

Planter?  Seeds go in the ground.

Planter = short for "planter box," or the special area you bring the seed to.  It was a bug.  I restarted and was able to finish the game.  Could have done with a lot less fumbling around in the dark, figuratively and literally.

A joke, but thanks for giving the English professor a definition.  I found the fumbling to be rather... enlightening, actually.  It all came together just as I was getting frustrated.  Good design.

[AdamAtomic]

Ok I'm uploading a new build that *may* fix the seed issue...I never saw it come up before, so I just tracked down some things that looked like they might be able to fix that sort of thing, I will keep my fingers crossed!

Thank you guys again for playing this thing and letting me know what you think, this has been a very good day 

[PaleFox]

1st impression: "Hmm this is kinda like megaman, I think I likey"

2nd impression: "Oh hmm a water level, seems kinda mean to make it the second level or recovery level or whatever"

3rd impression: "Swimming around aimlessly, I hope I can get back to the fun part soon"

4th impression: "Found something, hmm it does something here and i can go here. Next level here I come!"

5th impression: "More water? Hmm I guess the intro was just an intro to a water game of sorts. Kinda mean I think"

6th impression: "Going up? Out of water maybe there is another fun part after all!"

7th impression: "WTF that was it?"

Though I kind of realized there wouldn't be any more shooty fun a bit earlier, this is basically my feeling as well. Also, why must the light point away from your direction? All it does is mean you have to turn around all the time, which is awkward.

[Scypher]

Really nice atmosphere. I was impressed when I first jet around that underwater portion. Not to mention the great music and graphics.

By the way, was I the only person who barely even had a chance to fight the boss? The moment it made those holes in the floor, I thought, "Hey, it doesn't look like there's any platform under that... I wonder if it's a bottomless pit and I'll just die?" So I jumped in. And surprise!

It took me a long time to realize the fish were trying to lead me along. The main reason for this is that there's never any reason to not keep moving, and so there's hardly an opportunity to stop and pay attention to the fish. I spent a lot of my time exploring every nook and collecting all the fish, thinking that would uncover something. Some people might find the flashlight's direction annoying, but I thought it was a really nice touch.

I do wish that the green pod looked more like something that gave me any clue as to its utility. (Before I picked it up, I imagined it was a jetpack. After, I carried it around, confused, for at least another 5 minutes.) I think the patch of dirt also could have used better highlighting (the patch is obvious on the second play, but I really never noticed it the first time). The underwater GODRAYS are an okay substitute, but either way, my planting the green pod was entirely by accident and I didn't expect it at all.

The second underwater section was a tad disappointing -- Goal-oriented action, then you-figure-it-out exploration, then vague exploration again? -- until the familiarity of the place dawned on me. I would have liked if broken parts of enemies from the dry land section were floating around this stage, and if the massive snake boss lay collapsed in a heap on the final screen. That would have been a real treat to the player (or at least to me) without being blatant -- but perhaps that lends too literal of an interpretation of the underwater return on my part.

To be honest, I didn't quite get the ending, but I can appreciate everything else that led me to that point. Nice work!

[Anthony Flack]

1 - There are no achievements or secret endings

Ok! In that case... hmm, interesting!

[SPOILERS! - how do you auto-hide this shit?]

It starts out noisy and fun and excellent, but you quickly leave all this behind and it's gone forever. It suggests that this is the story of a video game character's eventual death, and that first stage is the culmination of perhaps years of adventuring (which we can imagine from every Mega Man game we've ever played).

And it's a death delivered No Country For Old Men-style, which can be even more shocking because I think we recognise that this is how callous and arbitrary death can be in real life. Sometimes, you don't even see it coming.

The mysterious seed and the weird tree imply that you were a small participant in a much larger story that you will never learn.

Plus: darkness and dread, courtesy of the water. I think it's significant that the character is not animated in the water, but appears paralyzed.

In that context, I don't think it's fair to criticise the pacing, because in narrative terms it was spot-on. Making the water section more interesting would have detracted from the subtext.

Having said that though, the light pointing away from the direction you were moving in WAS a real pain in the arse.

[AdamAtomic]

Ok almost got the hopefully-seed-fixed-build re-uploaded finally!

Anthony - I like your reading of it!  I am not going to defend the flashlight decision, but merely point out that it kind of encapsulates my whole struggle with designing this thing.

Good things about the flashlight facing backward: You can always see the fish and the bubbles, so aesthetically that is nice (since hte fish are important!).  Also its weird!

Bad things: you can't see a F'ing thing where you are going, which is not great for gameplay

So again, not defending the decision, but I ultimately decided that it would be more interesting, though maybe not better, to go with the aesthetic decision?

Also JESUS CHRIST my FTP failed at uploading the file AGAIN god dammit

EDIT - Ok finally got a new build up!!  Hopefully this fixes the goddam seed thing

[Anthony Flack]

I do wish that the green pod looked more like something that gave me any clue as to its utility.

You see it in close-up on the title screen. It has "CPU" written on it and some symbols that indicate "water" => "death"

[Edmund]

wow, after about 50+ plays i finally found out how to beat the boss and get the real ending... shit man fucking well worth it, amazing stuff Adam! way to blow my mind.

[AdamAtomic]

you're just mad cuz i done stole your danny for two days

[deadeye]

i finally found out how to beat the boss

I don't trust you! 

[___]

wow, after about 50+ plays i finally found out how to beat the boss and get the real ending... shit man fucking well worth it, amazing stuff Adam! way to blow my mind.

Right on, man.  But how do you beat the part after that?  I don't want to spoil it, but you know the thing I'm talking about.

[Gold Cray]

wow, after about 50+ plays i finally found out how to beat the boss and get the real ending... shit man fucking well worth it, amazing stuff Adam! way to blow my mind.

Right on, man.  But how do you beat the part after that?  I don't want to spoil it, but you know the thing I'm talking about.

Go back and play through it again a few times. There's an overarching theme to the whole game, and once you work it out, everything else just falls into place.

[Edmund]

wow, after about 50+ plays i finally found out how to beat the boss and get the real ending... shit man fucking well worth it, amazing stuff Adam! way to blow my mind.

Right on, man.  But how do you beat the part after that?  I don't want to spoil it, but you know the thing I'm talking about.

The space level isnt at all as hard as the boss, but i thought the trick to the boss was a little too out of the box.. honestly i dont see how anyone would think to do that.

[davidp]

awesome stuff and all, but x + z?! what about europeans with qwertz? im breaking my fingers here!

as would be equally good and for all players.

oh well...

[Eclipse]

i really wanted to like the game, but...

it's *VERY* boring.
Maybe i don't get it, i swimmed around for ages collecting fishes, then boredom made me quit and play Gravity Hook again 

[DarkNemo]

So... I played it and finished it several times, but I still don't get it.
But what we know is that :

- the final level is the same then the first one
- the title screen changes when we finish the game

Here is a simple question for Adam : why ?

You "sell" the game using first level screenshot, but it's another game that is hidden behind these. What is the meaning ?
Did you want to disappoint gamer ? or just make a surprise ?
Is here a meaning ? or not ?
Did you want to show how abyssal is the videogame ? or the search for plots ?

I know these questions sound like "I need to know ! In need to knooow !" but when you release a game, even if you don't want to tell everybody what were exactly your intentions, it could be fair to give some hints to the players who "spent time" playing your game and enjoy it (or not).

[Eclipse]

I know these questions sound like "I need to know ! In need to knooow !" but when you release a game, even if you don't want to tell everybody what were exactly your intentions, it could be fair to give some hints to the players who "spent time" playing your game and enjoy it (or not).

Expecially if it leads someone to register to a forum only to post about it! 

Oh well, i love the graphics, but sadly i was so disappointed by the gameplay
BUT! i will complete it too... when i've less stuff to do and will to procrastinate