next »

[bigmac4tea]

https://hiphopy.itch.io/oxygen-puzzle

Oxygen Puzzle

A nice relaxing Puzzle like the Cube Puzzle we all remember, but with a twist. you must gather all Elements like oxygen into clusters in the least amount of moves. the left and right mouse buttons will roll coloms and rows, and you can shift to go other way. its simple and relaxing but very enjoyable

[DarkGran]

Hello there! 

Before I get to this game, I want to say - I've also tried your other game, which is, like all your previous games, a strategy. And pretty hardcore may I say.
I don't play strategies much, even those mainstream high polished ones, so digging into a map that looks like actual rust growing on my screen where every action is actually text-based - I mean I tried, but I just did not manage to play enough (and get deep enough) to write a "review". I had both positive and negative feelings, it just didn't feel like my comments would do enough justice, considering it is a complex game and I just did not put in the time. That was like two days ago - and then I noticed this, newer, piece.

Now I could see immediately that you've jumped a genre. From a turn-based strategy to something like candy crush? I'm not saying that it's bad, and it's actually a genre where it's easier to learn some of the "tricks of the trade"... I just hope that you're not giving up on strategies alltogether, I do think there is a potential, it would just need some changes (size of changes depending on how broad would be the desired audience).

That being said... I didn't get far in this game either. xD Half the reason is the genre itself tho. While it is much faster to test/review, if I were to play a game, I'd rather play a strategy than candy crush. But that's just personal taste (shooters and RPGs are my main genres btw).

I do have three notes:

1. Shift was not working for me as a key, so I had to press the "shift" button with my mouse. Which was super extra mega frustrating and sped up my leave by 10000%. :p

2. I kinda expected something to be happening in the game. In the description below there is a mention of making a cross etc, which I did, but nothing ever disappeared, I did not get any points... is the board supposed to stay the same until I sorted out exactly 4 sections of color? Maybe I just didn't figure it out, but if this is how it is meant to play, I'd strongly recommend adding some inner mechanics to the board, because a simple act of moving colored blocks around won't be engaging enough (i think/fear).

3. This is just a... kind of a "where to next", kind of a warning? 'Cause simple games like these usually require lots of "eye candy" that compensates for lack of depth. If I were to say, "your strategy needs to look better", I'm basically just talking about balancing colors and fixing few eyesores. But when, instead of a strategy, it is something like candy crash... suddenly you need to figure out how to make things look "shiny". And animate everything, even just how the rows and columns move. Mostly because gamers who play these games expect it (presumably).
(on the topic of visuals - i would separate the help screen from the board screen: after I've learned the rules and controls, I don't need them on my screen)

Hope these help gain some insight.

Whatever you decide to focus on next - Good luck and godspeed!

[bigmac4tea]

many thanks on trying the games, some good info you shared, I have been updating the blocks game, now you can see scores for conected blocks and total block numbers, and a new button, and stats on how many ups downs lefts and rights you press etc... I was going for a rubik cube vibe.

I shall refer back to your post next update thx

[Voycawojka]

That's a cool mechanic. I can see it being a nice mobile or browser game.

The two issues that are immediately clear are

• the screen is too busy
• there is no feedback

What I mean by the screen being too busy is that there is too much information at the same time and everything equally fights for my attention. Some tips:

• Hide information that is not immediately necessary. For example, the stats with the total number of moves can be hidden behind a popup or a tooltip. Or maybe you don't need them at all or only show them at the end? Same with instructions in the blue box at the bottom.
• Convey as much information as you can visually so that the player doesn't have to actively think about it. For example, instead of displaying a label "Connected Oxygen = 13" you could highlight or outline connected groups on the board
• Remove information that is not needed. For example, you don't need to say it's a puzzle game on the board screen
• Another example of how you can convey information visually - if you had some kind of special effect or sound or animation or a different color or whatever that happens when you join a block with another block, it would be clear to the player that this is the desired configuration and you wouldn't need to remind them of that with text

As for the lack of feedback, I mean feedback to the player that what they're doing is right (or wrong!). It's kind of the same thing as I already mentioned with visually conveing information.

I look forward to seeing how the games evolves

[bigmac4tea]

thanks im on it, just made arrest warrant, but im going to do an update on this now thanks