TPorter64's Forum Posts

  • yeah, nail the backgound to loop properly and you could have a nice effect there. The fx are good for starters, lasers look and act like lasers, plasma bulbs act like...I guess plasma bulbs should. I've never seen a space ship shoot arrows but, maybe it's a very esoteric future in space?

    So you've got some building blocks, do something with it!

  • Something about being a father makes me not want to play this game very long. Besides I couldn't seem to jump over the first car no matter what angle or speed I was at.

    eh, why give the baby ragdoll physics unless you wanted it to flail like a rag doll. you could make it a cute bounce with a giggle and that might let some folk off the hook. But its up to you, and if you find an audience, good job.

  • yeah, good stuff. My next project will definitely need some animation and I'm also a fan of fluid animation in 2D games. I have an ActRaiser-esque prototype I'm working on that is definitely going to require this, was going to wait for Spriter to be CS2 ready before I jump into that.

  • Do you think it was the controls? The chaos? The speed?

    Next few iterations I'll be experimenting with difficulty settings. These will increase bee life, decrease peg health, maybe bigger cups on the bottom. I hadn't thought of decreasing gravity a bit so balls would fall slower giving you more time to juggle. Interesting.

    Again, thanks for playing.

  • New ultra first pass at some graphical hud elements.

    <img src="https://sphotos.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-snc6/202361_426201420735997_1889424925_o.jpg" border="0" />

    I like the direction of removing text and replacing it with graphics what with pictures > 1000 words. I INTENTIONALLY have different drop shadow sizes so I can see what works and what doesn't for now. I was against it because I like the flatness of it all. But something about a good drop shadow, suddenly wants me to experiment with more drop shadows around...maybe for the obstacles? Eh, maybe not. So the first screen you get to now is a level select and quickie control definitions. Wondering if that is stopping most from playing and giving feedback (I have the game posted on a small amount of forums.) But I've been select with the people I care to show for now. As more features get rounded out I'll show off more, and once high scores get nailed down I'll probably do a larger "lookatme" type campaign. But feel free to share the page with anyone you think would be interested in checking out this game.

  • Very fun stuff in chapter 2. chapter one wasn't doing it for me as much as the new behaviors do. Ain't nothing wrong with using portals as long as they feel fun!

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  • I also saw the double but just assumed it was intentional! :D I've been working with just the demo version of construct so far and it has helped me keep focus. I'll get to around 80 or 90 events and I start looking back at what I've done. Hm, I'm going to need to start shaving things off, or culling this, or simplifying that. What is the heart? What is the core? What is essential and what isn't? I'm not saying barebones, but essential to the experience I am wanting to share. And I "THINK" it has made my games more focused. Then again, I haven't finished one yet but I think if I didn't have that limitation in the beginning I would have just spiraled into a mind funk meltdown and have tuned out so many people that I was hoping to connect with!

    Oh, also like the music!

  • Been having some weird issues with recent builds using r97 not working or loading in any browser. Upgraded to r98 (also beta) and problems seem to go away I think.

    Added a quota

    Added a timer

    Removed Mouse wheel aim ( to test for touch only users)

    Have Text and Alerts coming out of the YINYANG for all kinds of player feedback.

    So, next step is doing soemthing serious about the HUD. I need to convey a lot of math and interactions with a simple, easy to glance at HUD. That will cement this gameplay I believe. Give it a whirl if you like.

    s159260531.onlinehome.us/tony/index1.html

  • Have fun experimenting. The thing about flow of consciousness that I have learned and am still learning is... It can be quite fun! It's great to give your mind a starting point and all your electrodes start firing and chipping in ideas for this and that. You'll be amazed at the traversal once you stop and look back a bit. The problem is

    Well, our own mind has a lot of things solved and connects them for us if we let it.We can go from point A to point rectangle in a few bats of a lash and not question much, just keep jumping through the hoops. Other people, that is anyone who is not "you" sometimes need those missing steps or at least the top and tail ends of your ideas shaved down into little ramps so they can enjoy the ride with you. Basically, if you are inviting a group on a flight of fancy with you, give them wings and some feedback from time to time to help steer them or to help them steer.

    I like some of the elements going on here, and maybe you're just braindropping everything that you can while learning the program but I don't get why I'm doing anything here. I'm in an obscured platformer, with a weapon to shoot people who make me flash otherwise, can get hugs from pink things, will have to time jumps to meet moving platforms, to collect yellow gems but if I walk a certain way I can see the first page of an illustrative gazette. i feel like I've both seen everything and missed everything entirely at the same time.

    I'm not saying you should put more notes around the place that explicitly tells people whats going on, but to think of more ways to explain what might be going on with the play mechanics.

  • It ended for me after we fell off the ravine, new scene loaded in caverns underneat, friend ran off ahead of me and went to black. Is that it so far?

    I like it. I just played another dual control platformer like this. I ended up letting my daughter control one though, was fun.

    Rain sound bugged. It's a close mic'd sample with very detailed concrete or flat surface splattering. I would opt for a rain loop with no reflective sounds, more of an open field quality ( at least for the duration where you are in that open field) which has air density, but none of the plik-plak'ing your in-game loop does. So the atmosphere was nice, good piano tracks. I would try either footstep sounds or getting your characters some living audio. A grunt for a landed jump, a "hup" for a jump, and a good "whoa!" for those moments that require it (the ground shifting, the big ravine jump, etc) all from randomized pools. Would love to hear some audio from your strange partner, even if it only mystifies his true nature even more.

    Good job, would love to see more.

  • Hey, I like the presentation, good colors and placement.

    I played it maybe 10 times and couldn't get past the first level, but I did learn more each time so I wanted to try again.

    It's tricky to steer that thing, but I guess that's half the game right? mastering the controls? Sometimes however a manuever would correct me properly and sometimes it wouldn't.

    I wasn't sure when I was getting restocked on gas or not. are there other platforms or do you get a bonus when rescue somebody?

    sometimes Bombs won't deploy but they are still taken out of your ammo. I could never rescue the guy in the bottom right of the first level because I could never get a bomb to deploy down there.

    Turrets seem to have too much health. I sat there firing for a while and eventually destroyed it, but had nearly run out of gas doing so so i had to restart. Either make them easier to kill, easier to dodge, a method of blocking or outrunning them maybe? Consider using the mouse as an aiming reticle, left click for primary fire, right click for bombs. Frees up the hand from getting to clustered in one little spot (even though you have alt keys mapped)

    When I died it took me back to level select. Invariably the level 1 button wouldn't do anything. Maybe it was loading? but nothing told informed me whether it was a good selection or bad. I would put a little blip for yes, here we go to that level, and e little blip for sorry this level is locked as player feedback. I usually just went back to the title and restarted from there.

    Maybe a number showing how many to be rescued vs a bar of completion would help players gauge just how many they need to rescue so as to help them decide how aggressively they may or may not want to play.

    So I want to see the other levels. I dig these kind of skill games if it seems like I have enough control to eventually master or overcome surprise obstacles. But that bomb deploy "bug" is preventing me I think.

    So the core game is a lot of fun, it's all about the player feedback and other polish items now IMO.

  • i'm supposed to keep the platform clear? It seems pushing them is the only safe option, as jumping will invariably shoot you off the ledge. Why not somehow alert the player when one is coming down to give them time to jump in the air and deflect like a goalie? That might be a spot more fun.

  • They move oddly. i hit some marbles but I'm not sure why they go the direction they do or why so many may move. It looks like you are trying to solve for physics but not able use the physics plug-in from an overhead view? After not being sure what i wanted my marbles to do (stay or be removed) I gave it another go and on the first turn the AI did one shot and removed all but one marble, theirs.

    I see what's happening, but the cause and effect relationship isn't quite there enough to make people "try again' enough times I don't think.

  • Thanks for checking it out. Yeah, the economics of everything will shift the balance of luck and skill more than anything. How long do bees live? How many times do they hit the pegs to dislodge them? How many bees do you start with? How many pegs should there be on the board? Any one of these numbers contribute greatly to skill/luck.

    My "base" model of this ratio is Peggle. It seems half is aiming and timing and the rest is watching math done up right purty. So I don't mind making a large part luck, that's where the physics come in. And I don't mind making a large part chaos, that's where the bee AI comes in. I figure if i always give the player "something" to do to try and steer chaos and luck in their direction than that could be enough. Balls bounce everywhere and bees keep hitting them? Use the puff to help steer them to safety. Bees keep wandering to places they don't need to be? Rein them in and relocate. Ants keep popping up and stealing balls? smack em dead with the puffer. Any one of these is a viable strategy, and allows players to hopefully play any style and pace they want. But for those that employ all of their skills and learn when to use what they will get the highest scores (which is a shame that mine are "under construction.")

    I'm still working on a more clear "goal' to present to players. I've gone back and forth about this, but that sentiment you had...not knowing how good you are doing" is a problem for sure. I'll probably have a score quota in place soon so players can have a target to gauge performance. That might help.

    That and a tutorial could go a long way! :)

    Again, thanks for checking it out.

  • facebook video, showing off new swarm mechanic

    Thanks for anyone who has played it. hard to get feedback. Plus everytime I think I'm nearing a good plateau I suddenly want to revisit things and streamline this and that. Don't worry, I know about the dangers of gamedev without proper documentation. For me this project is to learn both how I work and how I want things to work from start to finish before I tackle larger scoped ideas.

    I have a facebook page for the game where I'll be chronicling the games development. Was gonna do that here, but haven't had much response so I'll keep it all on the FB page for now save major announcements.

    facebook.com/TheWrongBees

    At any rate, I've still got a ways before all this tech and art settle into one cohesive game, but I'm getting there. I was hoping for some feedback from THIS community simply because they know the tool I'm using. FB community will be ooh and aah but this forum would take one look at my game and have half of it figured out how I did this and why I did that and I was hoping for that perspective, eh maybe my next project. No hard feelings, I'll still be around learning.

    -Tony