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[Randy]

Hello

I've had a thread going in the Devlog area about a game/card I'm making for my wife.  Every year I make her some sort of animated gif card but this year I decided to take it to another level... plus this was a great way for me to learn Game Maker.

So here it is.




Now my wife isn't a gamer in any way so I had to keep it simple and not frustrating but still fun enough to keep her interest.  I think I did a fairly good job... I hope ^_^

The only final issues I have it that the game is pretty big and takes a bit to load for being something so simple, but I didn't have time to try and make it smaller.  I'll have to practice with that more with my next game.

I also want to thank ChevyRay for all his help on this.  I can honestly say it wouldn't have gotten done with out him.  I also want to thank Compound for all his help with the music.  I wasn't sure how I was going to get that done so his music skills where a huge asset to me.  Thanks guys ^_^

So yeah... here it is.  Oh and my anniversary is today, but I'll be giving it to her after I get home from work.  So I do have a small window of time to make changes.  Please play though and see if there are any bugs and make sure the music all plays correctly.

Enjoy ^_^

[ChevyRay]

T'was a pleasure to oblige this looks lovely, Randy! I'll give it a run through now.

EDIT: Finished it up. I love the ending screen, very pretty You've a lucky wife, good sir!

Your pixel art is to die for.

[Kiba]

I asked my girlfriend to play.
Quote what she said:
I liked everything, except the hero of collisions with obstacles. You must follow the paths exactly in the middle and push the stones exactly centered.
For a girl not a player it is a bit inconvenient.
In general, the game, as postcard to a anniversary is wonderful .

[ChevyRay]

I'm hoping Randy doesn't mind, but for people who don't want to (or can't) download a 17 MB file, here's a version of the game with the WAV files converted to MP3. The startup loading time is reduced by probably 75% now too.



Anniversary Game (3138 KB)

[Eclipse]

I asked my girlfriend to play.
Quote what she said:
I liked everything, except the hero of collisions with obstacles. You must follow the paths exactly in the middle and push the stones exactly centered.
For a girl not a player it is a bit inconvenient.
In general, the game, as postcard to a anniversary is wonderful .

now you're ruined, you have to make one yourself!

[Randy]

I'm hoping Randy doesn't mind, but for people who don't want to (or can't) download a 17 MB file, here's a version of the game with the WAV files converted to MP3. The startup loading time is reduced by probably 75% now too.

Awesome!  I had actually converted the main theme from an MP3 to a wave file because there was a HUGE gap in the loop time when I played the game.  It never occurred to me that it would make the game huge too.  I just downloaded your version and the gap isn't there now... strange... 

So yeah... same game now 75% smaller thanks to our friendly neighbourhood ChevyRay.

Thanks man... you're the best. ^_^

[Guert]

Hey there!
Nice little game! Now since you have a limited time, I'll try to suggest small changes that could help the whole experience, in my humble opinion.

First off, its a neat little game and I'm pretty sure she'll be happy. It's a great idea

Now, on to the comments

• I'd add a run toggle button. Since the game is fairly simple yet rather long (more on that later), I'm pretty sure she'll get use to the controls quickly. A run toggle will help if she has to back track (which is quite likely to happen)
  
  
• The game is rather long for a simple collecting game. However, this is mostly due to the lack of interactivity with the game world. Now, its not that abd but I would suggest having teh animals talk to Randy. Like when you move by the monkeys, they go "Oh randy! I've seen WIFE_NAME! She is waiting on this island" or "Wow I saw that girl pass by. She's so hot!" or whatever you likw to tell your wife. She,ll just want to look around and talk to the animals to get some compliments, which is always a huge plus for a girl
  
  
• I'd change the access to the final island a bit so that it can be accessible from the beginning. otherwise, if your wife missed an heart (like I did) she wouldn't need to do all the level all over again.
  
  
• The collision issue has been brought up when typing this message. so you already know about it
  
  
• In the two hearts made of rocks, I got confused because the rocks didn't move when normaly they would've. Maybe pop a hint, like the monkey saying "only a few rocks mve here. But, which one?"
  
  

You know what? I can sit there and talk about it or I can do something about it. So, I did something. look at the pics I have included. The first one are dialogues, the second one is a mockup and the third is the whole map with the dialogues. If you like the idea and have time, you got some ressources. if you don't well too bad So yeah somethign would pop when close to the character or something.

Mockup:


Dialogues:


Map
www.worldofguert.com/lovegame/full_map.png

Do as you wish, no stress Oh and yeah, that's the power of love! Ah ha ha! The ending is great!

Well, good job!

[Randy]

Oh man!  I would have loved to make dialogue boxes and such.  I wanted the seagulls to fly away too when you get too close.  But due to a lack of time and experience they didn't get done.

I guess I should have mentioned that this is my first ever game maker game.  Prior to this I knew pretty much nothing about the program.  I began doing the tutorials drag and drop method but I quickly realized that if I wanted to do what I had in my head, I would have to learn the code.  So back to the beginning I went and learned as quickly as I could what I needed to make the game, and I came here when I needed help.

But yeah, the things you mentioned are all valid.  The two rock "puzzle" is supposed to work like that.  I wanted her to try and find the rocks that move.  Not all rocks in the game can be pushed and it's up to the player to find the ones that do.  I think I will make a little bridge to loop the island so going back to the beginning won't be such a chore.

Thank you very much for the feedback ^_^

[Guert]

Well, for a first game it's pretty neat! Good job!
Please, post back after she played the game so we know how she reacted and all.
Take care!

[Aquin]

I've been watching this one for awhile.  I'm a try it when I get some free time this weekend.

Let us know how it goes over!

[astrospoon]

if you pick up the heart that is on the same screen as wife last, (ie... you miss it and have to backtrack at the end to get it, like me) a second song starts playing while the first one is still going. Neither stop until you make it all the way back across the map and the game ends.

[Randy]

Just a quick message to let everyone know that my wife totally loved the game!  She played it with our daughter (5 yrs old) and they both had fun running me around and collecting the hearts.

YAY!!!

I have no idea how I'm going to top this next year... but I'll worry about that later. ^_^  Thanks again for all the help and feedback on the game.  This has been a great learning experience for me and I'm glad I decided to go this route for her gift.

Now, I need to think of other games I can do and learn more.  I love this site and this forum and so I hope to stick around and have more projects to show.

Thanks again ^_^

[tim_the_tam]

hey happy anniversary! =D
heres my feedback of the game. 
 
its nice little exploration collection game.

nice bright and happy pixelated graphics and musical score. its one of the reasons that kept going. 

the levels were interesting enough to explore. i liked how there were different parts of the island. but it would have been better if you had more animals and if they acted like guides or talked to you at least like guert recommended.

there are some issues with the game
the collision detector seems off at times especially with trees and especially in the maze level.

i think the game could have benefited with a map and while im still nitpicking the character should move faster.

but overall i like it and congrats again..