— - Well dude, I must say the visuals are SPECTACULAR and the challenge is steady.

I do find the inability do anything about the fire rate or the shields to be a tad annoying. An occasional power-up to remove them or temporarily improve your odds would be nice. But that said, it's a CLEAN piece of work! I'm keeping it on my phone.

And the music is QUITE fitting!

Wastrel - I had about the same reaction. I like lots of action, but that's just insane! I'd have to put half my brain on auxiliary just to keep from shutting down completely.

ChrisAlgoo - Such a simple genre yet seemingly requires so much! LOL Who knew?

Beaverlicious - I forgot about Safari. I don't even have it on my computer. What problem are you encountering, exactly?

And yes, the % is supposed to be there.

pixel perfick - Thanks. And I definitely appreciate the feedback.

I plan(ned) to add a mouth that randomly changes expressions depending on how close he is to the bird or the coins. Hopefully adding to the humor factor. I'm really glad you noticed that.

The difficulty factor does start out pretty low and doesn't get much harder even as things get faster. I am aware that...yeah. Again, I was trying to keep things really simple and not complicate the development process. But I do see that it needs some improvement. My main goal was just to get things to work

I think I forgot to change some text at the Game Over part - you shouldn't have to click at all. Sorry about that.

peterbot1970 - During the "tutorial" intro, towards the end there are instructions above Mr Blue quickly showing which keys on the keyboard to press (A and D to move left/right, and K to jump, and then hold/release L to super-jump). Again, very sorry for the confusion.

mrnannings - Thank you. I'm not much of an artist at all so even adding the Particle object for the Egg-splosion was a step-up for me. Everything you mentioned and several other points definitely need LOTS of refinement.

GAME: http://elf-games.com/mmiller/Infinite%20Platformer/

This is a big deal for me - it's my very FIRST publically-released game.

But, please don't go in thinking it's anything extra special. I surely know it's not. LOL

The game is the product of a challenge given to me by NotionGames as I progress in learning C2 and the game-making craft. I'm typically the kind of guy who thinks BIG...way too big sometimes. This game is an attempt to keep things very simple.

Please feel free to leave me your thoughts - good, the bad (but HELPFUL), and suggestions for improvements/additions.

The game has only been tested on Chrome for the time being. But it's not using anything significantly extra special, so all browsers, I believe, should be okay.

— - Agreed on the HUD points. I'm still working out in my head how to work the HUD for my main project. My main character is a robot, so I'm trying to incorporate just enough that relays that "you're playing the role of a robot" notion. Where the HUD elements fit naturally and don't feel forced or lacking.

And, yeah, I know this isn't specifically C2 related, but I didn't know where else to put it. At any rate, I wanted to generate discussion where more ideas would pool in. I just don't seem to see enough of that going on in here.

TiAm - *chuckles* Okay, if not "minimal", how about "unobtrusive"?

And also for organisation, groups are great, and as I always say : a clean code is easy to maintain, to debug, to optimise.

THAT, right there, is one of my next goals to perfect. With my current project, while it start off "simple" enough, working through the final steps to completion is proving to be a bug tester's near-nightmare. Who knew an infinite runner could be so bothersome?

The ironic thing is that I am actually using Groups to isolate activities, but am finding it a tad confusing because - as is often the case, I'm sure - so many objects/events are related in different categories/Groups. WHERE do I put them? LOL How does this help me keep things CLEAN and tidy?

Organization is not my friend. LOL

TiAm - Metroid Prime was a bad example?!? BLASPHEMY! ... Okay, lol, seriously, why do you feel that way?

I remember games like the DKC trilogy (now a quintrilogy) that only brought info on-screen from the edges when an item was collected. Otherwise, it was all gameplay from start to finish. Might that be a solution for your current troubles?

As I'm working towards the completion of my first game - a very simple infinite runner that I might polish up REALLY nice later on - I've come to an epiphany: I have under-appreciated the use of Groups.

This got me to thinking...

What are some of your BEST tips for the use of Groups? What are some "hidden gems" that you've learned about their function? How do you organize your Groups? Is there an "unconventional" way that you use them?

Clear information is critical in any game. For reasons that would take up at least a chapter in a book, a HUD or other information on-screen can hinder a game horribly; so much so that the player may literally not know what to do.

I remember my first ventures into RPGs...I couldn't get into them because the oddly-named items left me scratching my head as to what their purpose was. That's just one example (albeit, in a sub-menu rather than a HUD).

So I was wondering what games stand out to you with the most interesting, useful, creative, informative, and/or otherwise unique HUD system (or, if you like, menu system).

For me, it would be the Metroid Prime Trilogy. Not content with simply putting the player in the (GORGEOUS) Samus Aran's head, we got to see what life was like in her suit. The subtle motion delay of the visor information following along with Aran's turning of her head just added to that realism. The HUD wasn't forced - and you could adjust the opacity and motion delay settings, too - and presented easy-to-comprehend information on the fly. And that's not to mention the AMAZING menu system for accessing an Encyclopedia-worth of info on the story, creatures, and more. (Granted, I didn't totally care for MP2's whirly-wig node style, but it certainly was original. And while it wasn't bad, the map system never felt 100% what it ought to be.)

Now it's your turn! Aaaaand GO!

hollowthreat - Look up Flappy Hal on Facebook or Android.

jayderyu - Excellent points. I didn't take the high score factor into mind, either. I guess I was thinking on bare-bones terms.

TheDoctor - Be sure to post it here!

hollowthreat - *GRINS* Well, my comment about Flappy Bird was just a bit of a joke given what I have perceived to be disdain for the game. I don't really care, either way. A friend of mine made his own variation of Flappy Bird with a couple of twists. I play it and enjoy it.

Do you have any screen shots for your game yet? Do share!

mrnannings - Heh heh. Well, the one I'm about to finish now is an absurdly simple platformer. Random platforms of different lengths that randomly generate coins to collect. Don't land on the ground, and it'll keep the coin value multiplier on the up-and-up. There's a bird flapping behind - maybe it's flappy bird angry that he got taken off the market (but I didn't intend it to be that way LOL) - who randomly spits bouncing eggs that will *AHEM* EGGsplode after a few seconds. This was purely a challenge given to me to try my hand at a simple game (I tend to think REALLY big and that can hinder me if I'm not careful).

Another infinite runner game I started on is where this "box" generates random other boxes that go either up or down in this narrow corridor. A machine follows behind endlessly...it has two electric crushing arms to smash those released boxes so they don't get deeper into the corridor. The trick is to time it so the arms smash accordingly above or below (they operate independently). Not to mention random power up icons that you have to click on in the middle of it all to make your crushing arms wider for a time.

These are my first two ventures into the infinite runner genre. They're lacking in polish, for sure.