Phenomenon 32

I'm surprised to hear some people lost their savegames. I hadn't heard of that or experienced that before. Very peculiar. This didn't happen after you installed the patch, did it? Because I changed the location where the game saves its files after v1.0. (It now saves them in AppData, which is much better.)

The game is now at v1.3, with another update in the works, and several problems people were having have been solved.

I fear some of the crashes and problems people are having are not due to me, but due to deeper problems with Construct. It's hard to tell, because the game is so massive, but I don't think any of the current, seemingly random crashes are due to any screw-ups in the code (or rather event sheets). I think the cause is more likely to be tiny bugs in Construct that only start appearing when you make a game this absurdly big. I guess we'll find that out as more people make huge games...

As for those of you who are enjoying the game without issues... yay!

There's a new patch out which fixes a few bugs and, more importantly, adds a more common and accessible control scheme.

The download link is:

http://gamejolt.com/freeware/games/phen ... 2370/3492/

Hi Jonas,

I tried your game. Being an adept of abandonware and platform/RPG games, I liked the gameplay and the black & white graphics.

But after a few hours, a crash erased my save file (--> finally, it seems it's a relatively frequent problem :/). The game (v1.4 + patch 1.5) crashed around 5+ times in total, I think (I didn't count), particularly when I clicked on the laboratory icon on the map. It crashed 1 time on launching (but not the 1st time I launched it).

Except these damn bugs (which not depend of you*), I have two main critics :

• The ressources farming is irrelevant (even if their reappearance is "justifed" by the plot...) ;
• The game should be playable in windowed mode. It's too large, too pixelized (though I'm far to be an anti-pixels guy !).

* I hope the software will continue to be developped, so your game can become more stable. You said that the bigger a game is, the more it has a chance to crash. Are you sure of that ? It's a bit frightening ; with a software like Construct, people expect precisely to be able to make a game of any size, without being limited in any way.

Anyhow, congratulations for your nice job. It clearly deserves attention.

(And please forget my English !...)

ut after a few hours, a crash erased my save file

With the size of this game, this bug is a real deal breaker. If it can't be fixed, at the very least give the user the option to backup their save file!! or as a secondary solution tell us where the save file is so we can manually back it up.

But after a few hours, a crash erased my save file (--> finally, it seems it's a relatively frequent problem :/). The game (v1.4 + patch 1.5) crashed around 5+ times in total, I think (I didn't count), particularly when I clicked on the laboratory icon on the map. It crashed 1 time on launching (but not the 1st time I launched it).

This seems to be extremely system-specific. Very, very few people have reported savegame-erasing crashes so far.

[quote:dbtpdqev]- The ressources farming is irrelevant (even if their reappearance is "justifed" by the plot...) ;

Why? That's not really something I've heard before.

[quote:dbtpdqev]The game should be playable in windowed mode. It's too large, too pixelized (though I'm far to be an anti-pixels guy !).

Will be in the next patch.

[quote:dbtpdqev] You said that the bigger a game is, the more it has a chance to crash. Are you sure of that ?

With these bugs being so erratic, I'm not sure about anything, but that was very much the sense that I got as I developed the game. Maybe it was coincidence, but I doubt it.

[quote:dbtpdqev]With the size of this game, this bug is a real deal breaker. If it can't be fixed, at the very least give the user the option to backup their save file!! or as a secondary solution tell us where the save file is so we can manually back it up.

As I said, the bug seems to be rare. But obviously I understand that it can be most annoying.

The savegames are in the AppData folder (usually C:\Documents and Settings\User\Application Data\Phenomenon 32 Saves). You would need to copy all the files there.

The savegames are in the AppData folder (usually C:\Documents and Settings\User\Application Data\Phenomenon 32 Saves). You would need to copy all the files there.

Thanks! This is very useful to know. Even though the bug is super rare I would say annoying is quite the understatement. Imagine spending 30 hours on the game to have it all gone in a flash!!

Why? That's not really something I've heard before.

This may be what I was referring to earlier as grinding. At a certain point in the game the only thing to do is to repeatedly return to the same resources (so you can afford the better equipment/research). While there are other areas where you could get resources they are significantly harder and don't offer any substantial reward for the risk, in general. So instead of resource gathering being tied to plot, it is simply just resource gathering.

[quote:jwypp9vz]This may be what I was referring to earlier as grinding. At a certain point in the game the only thing to do is to repeatedly return to the same resources (so you can afford the better equipment/research). While there are other areas where you could get resources they are significantly harder and don't offer any substantial reward for the risk, in general. So instead of resource gathering being tied to plot, it is simply just resource gathering.

Actually, there do tend to be rewards - mainly big resource piles - in the harder areas. Not everywhere, of course, but they do exist.

And I do see the resource gathering as related to the central idea of the plot. But your mileage may vary. Some people have found the grinding to be at just the right level, others find it a bit too difficult. I think it's that fuzzy area where different styles of gameplay and different ideas of fun make a game good for one player, and slightly less good for another. A matter of taste, so to speak. I think my games tend to fall into that fuzzy area rather often.

(Edited to add: If this sounds dismissive or arrogant, it's really not meant to. I just know that some people really enjoyed the difficulty level, and they would be bothered if I changed it. You can't win them all, I guess.)

I just know that some people really enjoyed the difficulty level, and they would be bothered if I changed it.

Definitely, don't change the difficulty level. I enjoyed it as well. I have gotten the big resource piles in the harder areas, but once you get them once (and most of the big resources don't auto-gen) my point is that is much easier to then just grind on the easy levels. So I'm kinda saying the opposite of what you think, it is too easy to get resources in a way (from the easy levels).

It's a great game overall so it is just a suggestion, take it as you will!

Why? That's not really something I've heard before.

What I mean here has been well explained by Scidave. It's a bit stupid to just have to enter a level, grab some ressources, and exit the level by where we just arrived. And it's possible to do that at the very beginning of the game, because even the first levels have some ressources at their entrance. But rearrange the level design would not solve the problem.

Perhaps you could regenerate ressources of a level only after the player has replayed and finished some other levels ? Or to make the regeneration random (ie, a ressource will reappear 50% of the time after the player has finished another level meanwhile, +20% for each other level finished) ? It's only suggestions, and perhaps bad ones, or too hard to implement, but that is how I see the whole thing. Since ressources gathering is a central point in the gameplay, it is important that his mechanics are superior to pure farming.

It's a good thing you have added one condition (--> the player must have discovered X areas on the map) to some researches, but there are still too much ones wich require only ressources. It would be interesting to add other conditions, which would require not only patience, but also merit (for ex., kill a sort of boss ennemy, finish a level in less than X sec, etc.).

By the way, big piles are interesting, but it is surely faster to use the enter/grab/exit-level technique to increase our stocks of ressources.

Concerning the location of the save files, I'll wait for the next patch : it will be handier to backup (copy/paste) the files if we can play in windowed mode (unless they are updated only when the game is closed ?).

And I like difficult games too (--> how many players have finished An untitled story in masterfull mode ?... for my part, I can't kill the final boss...). I think you should increase it until most people find it to be too hard .

-----

Don't take my commentary too seriously. I know the game is finished and that you will not modify the gameplay in great proportions from now on. The game is already good ; I just wanted to give my general impressions. Definitely, what really matters is the save files, but if we can back it up, it's OK.

I see what you mean about the regenerating resources. But to some degree, most games of this sort are open to some sort of grinding, and it would be far too much work to disallow it - and would probably cause other problems, like some players running out of resources all the time.

Your points are valid, but I think I'll keep things the way they are.

Bump!

I was reading some articles the other day and ran across this game (that I probably put a good 30+ hours into last year). It really gives me a deep appreciation for all the work/pain you went through to make this game a reality.

If people haven't played it, it is definitely worth a look. Probably the largest most complex Construct game released to date. Just remember to back up your save files in case something goes bonkers! Great game...and I wasn't paid for this advertisement..

http://www.jonas-kyratzes.net/games/phenomenon-32/

bump indeed!

great game!

hard enough to make your day !