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[Oracle]

Hello everyone;
This past weekend i found an old cd with this penguin character i made some years ago, and figured since i had the animations already i could just slap him into some simple mini game.

So here it is.

Update:

Image;


Link
http://myfreefilehosting.com/f/d54f820010_0.51MB

Reqs;
Windows based, its pretty small so i shouldnt require much power, tho im not sure.

Feedback;
Its basically a small first finished project, so anything that you could say would be helpful

PD: Sorry for the crappy hosting.

[Guert]

I'd strongly recommend that you first go and introduce yourself in the introduction topic

Then, please, add some screenshots of the game as well as a description of the game, what type of hardware you need, keyboard/controller support etc... As mentionned in this topic.

Later!

[Terry]

Hello everyone;
This past weekend i found an old cd with this penguin character i made some years ago, and figured since i had the animations already i could just slap him into some simple mini game.

Well, there isn't much to say about the game, if I'm honest, but the graphics are ace. The whole thing looks really stylish!

But then that shouldn't come as a surprise to me. After all, your reputation has proceeded you, heh:

PD: Sorry for the crappy hosting.

Don't worry about it. Do you want some proper hosting? You can have an FTP account on my site if you want, I've got tonnes of bandwidth to spare

[Oracle]

Guert: Thanks for the heads-up, i always read the rules (and i read the general rules here) but for some reason i forgot to read the ones on this particular section. Fixed.

Terry: Thanks , yes, there isnt much to say gameplay wise, i just tried to make something obscenely simple that i could finish.
I might just take you up on that offer!

[Derek]

Hey!  Your Indie Brawl mock-up was amazing, my friend!  Alec and I love the Naija sprite.

Regarding this game... you've got a solid base and with a few additions, I think it could be a great game.  (The graphics are, of course, amazing.)

Anyway, you may not feel like expanding upon it, but here are some things to you could do to liven it up:

1. Add a "penguin slide" that lets you slide quickly across the floor.  Right now the biggest problems with this game are that there's not enough skill involved in winning and too much luck involved (these are separate issues, actually).  Adding some kind of skill move that lets you pick up fish and power-ups that drop on the other side of the screen alleviates both these issues somewhat.

2. Add some "bad" fish, that ding you time.  Spiky pufferfish, perhaps?  To add some tension (which the game needs), and to mitigate the aforementioned "penguin slide" (should you choose to implement it).

3. Add a jump, and give the player a bonus for grabbing a fish out of the air.  Add "combo" points (or a time bonus) for grabbing multiple fish in succession out of the air.  This also lets you avoid being trapped by the pufferfish.

4. Ramp up the difficulty.  Ramping up the difficulty by reducing the amount of clocks you get and increasing the number of pufferfish you get would also add some tension to the game.  Perhaps have it become nighttime as you play longer, as another "reward" for the player doing well.

There are always many different solutions to game design problems, but the main thing is to consider the problems and in the context of your overall game design.  In this case, your problems are (to reiterate), an uneven balance between skill/luck, and a lack of tension as the game progresses.  In the context of a fairly simple arcade game, I think adding skill-based moves and skill rewards plus power-ups/power-downs would do the trick.

Anyway, those are just some of my ideas... sorry if you weren't expecting such a long critique.  I'm imagining a little penguin jumping and sliding around scoring combos, and it just gets my goat.

[Oracle]

First of all, im a big fan of your work Derek! its really inspiring..and second...That some great critique right there!! ill be sure to put it to good use.

Expect an update soon

Thanks for the warm welcome everyone.

[threesided]

Aaaargh, your work looks SO familiar! I know I've seen it over at Pixelation, and i know I must know of you from a long time ago, but potentially as another user. Your art looks right up the alley of stuff I always admired back when I started pixelling. Do you go by any other screennames?


As for the game itself: Cute as hell, I loved playing it. The speed at which the penguin walks though is mildly annoying. It's just TOO slow. I think you should speed it up a smidge. Otherwise,the SFX, the character, the FISH! All noteworthy things. Excellent job, a nice little game to play.

[Stij]

Hey, are you from Army of Trolls, Oracle? Your style seems really familiar...

[Guert]

Played the game and I have not much more to say than what Derek already pointed out. 

Good job!

[Oracle]

Mr Trianglehead/Quark: Thank you so much for the kind words, i already changed what you mentioned, thanks for the input

Stij: Gunstar red? nuh-uh, tho, i like his art a lot.

Guert: Thanks for your time Guert, i changed most (if not all?) of what Derek pointed out, so please do try it again.

Derek: Thanks for the input, i adressed most of what you said, it was really helpful.

- Enemy added (upon contact it takes away some seconds of time)
- Chain/combos multiplier added; while in mid air it will multiply the number of fish caught by the actual score.
- Jump added.
- Belly dash added.
- Mid air belly dash added.
- Jump after mid air belly dash added. ()
- Misc stuff.

http://myfreefilehosting.com/f/0d935f4bcf_0.56MB

Please, do share what you guys think.
Thanks for all the help

[Derek]

Very nice, Oracle!  Much improved, imo.

Doing a mid-air slide and jumping to get combos was really fun.  I might suggest slowing down the speed of the fish to cater even more to the combo-getting.  Also, it'd be nice to see a "x2," "x3," "x4," etc., above the fish, instead of just in the corner.  Perhaps with a louder or flashier sound as you go up (think stomping enemies in Mario for a 1-up).

Great job, though!

[handCraftedRadio]

Hearing "time" every 5 seconds gets really annoying when you play the game for awhile. I suggest getting rid of that sound and just use an on screen indicator. It also seemed like I could have kept going forever, when my time got low, I just ignored the fish and concentrated on the clocks until my time was back up. You also need to do what Derek said, add the multiplier so that it is easier for the player to see. I didn't even know their were combos until the very end. There is also a glitch when looking at the high score board, every time I go into it, it adds another copy of my high score to the list.

[threesided]

There's also a glitch in that you can do a belly slide in mid air. If that's not supposed to be a glitch then nevermind, but it happened. Still, really amazing stuff.

[Guert]

I find it better too!

I'd personaly slow the game down at first, simply to let the player get acquainted with the game.

Have you changed idea about workin' on it a bit more? Cuz there's alot of stuff you could add to this game...

Later!

[Oracle]

Thank you guys so much for all the help!   

Derek: My brother is working on remaking those sounds, and replacing the music, (since i got it from a Sega game), so when he gives me those sounds ill add that good idea of yours; The X1 x2,etc thing is fixed, it flashes on top of the fish now, just like the score.


HandCraftedRadio: I removed the "time" voice already, and like i said to Derek, im waiting on some generic sounds to add. I actually noticed the highscore glitch like minutes after uploading, and i fixed it; thanks a bunch for pointing it out tho.
About the difficutly issue; i dont want to expand upon it anymore, mainly because the game already serves it purpose; i wanted to make something simple and basic...however, i love that Pengu character and if things go well, i might expand it with what i learned to something with more "volume" heh.

Mr. Trianglehead/Quark: Actually the belly slide in mid air, started as a glitch, but i quite enjoyed it, so i decided to keep it, thanks a lot for the comment and praise; im quite a fan of your art too

Guert: Thanks for the kind words.
I too thought about making some sort of "waves", but i dont feel like expanding on the game anymore, mainly because i plan to change the gameplay to a platformer possibly...eventually.


Thanks again to everyone that replied

[Tex Pine]

When I lose the game and click to play again, the game speed is much slower than the first play. Is it by design