3 replies to this topic

[Tyro]

Bubble Magus

Hello! This WIP topic is for a puzzle platform game I created over the past several days for the Ludum Dare competition. I ran out of time shortly before submission but decided to release it here instead. It's fairly short at the moment, consisting of only twenty levels. I'd hoped to get feedback since this game will most likely be revamped in the near future.

Screenshots:

Screenshot 1
Screenshot 2

MENU CONTROLS:

up/down arrow keys - select option
Z - confirm option

INGAME CONTROLS:

arrow keys - move
Z - descend (drains 1 magic gradually)
X - shoot (costs 1 magic)
C - turn temporarily invincible (costs 25 magic)

In every level there are seven gems that open the exit door once collected. Draxx's magic is used to perform various actions and must be carefully rationed to navigate each area.

STORY:

In a fit of boredom, the despotic and insidious Shadow Czar decides to shrink his subjects with an ancient incantation. Chaos erupts as his magic permeates the land, reducing its peoples to microscopic proportions. Moments before being affected by the spell, the kindly wizard Draxx encases himself in a mystic bubble. This protects him from the curse by negating its potency and causing it to merely diminish his stature. Now, he alone is able to combat the Shadow Czar's minions that guard the sacred gems needed to remedy this crisis. If he can collect enough of them then their magical energy should be sufficient to restore his countrymen to their original sizes.

Thank you for your time. Comments and criticisms are welcome, and I hope you enjoy the game!

Edited by Tyro, 24 April 2012 - 06:53 AM.

[Kiwizoom]

I played the game up to level 4 or 5. I thought the controls were pretty good. The feel of the game is a little disorienting at first but becomes relatively second nature as the game persists. It seems you are imitating an early nintendo style, where the game immediately throws you into the puzzles and is a bit relentless about difficulty (like arcade) but is forgiving in that the lives are infinite. I suppose it reminded me most of kirby, but the levels/enemies lack a little pinazz. Like I am rather design minded so I am looking at the uniqueness of the characters and environment, which aren't very iconic yet - perhaps if it was even a bit silly or weird that makes the brain move more to make sense of it, which would help a player feel involved in puzzles, characters and environments. Another major thing is the song which made me feel a little bored or less involved after awhile, that is probably why I started poking around with the game. ( I hit escape to see if there was a menu for settings or saving, and that's what closed the game, lol )
Before I keep slamming I want to say that I don't know how much of a bully this must have been a code, and I think it's rather impressive! I think it's like something that has been fleshed for the purpose of getting the base set. You can work with the framework however much you want now to make it feel more complete. I think besides coding level design looked most time consuming, to make a level that funnels a player down one or two paths and those only.
To be implemented, perhaps a save feature - kind of reminds me of something like Krusty's Funhouse how they would give you a static passcode after a certain point to save and pick up where you left off later. For this, you could loosely tie it into the game lore by saying perhaps the magician found/created a runeset for traveling to the point of progress. I haven't played the game more than a few levels yet, but the staggering of skill elements was nice. I thought the second level was probably one of the hardest actually, but accumulating puzzle elements like the exploding blocks for example was a good idea.

Another game that is kind of a puzzle/adventure is Fancy Pants, a flash game. It also uses kind of generic enemies but manages to stay fresh through a funny paint palette and sort of a 90's throwback style, almost cartoonish, in dealing with things. http://armorgames.co...venture-world-2 It has a few unique tracks too, sometimes they get old but sometimes they are cool. I think the game is very inspiring.

If the game changes any beyond the first few levels that negates my viewpoints, my apologies

[Tyro]

Thanks for the feedback!

I admit that the character and environments aren't that varied at the moment. Since this game was originally made for a competition where two days was the maximum amount of time allotted for development, I really rushed a lot of its resources. For example, I had planned to diversify the backgrounds and tilesets but simply couldn't balance that and level design simultaneously. The player is a bit generic as you said; perhaps I could give him a beard or a wizard's hat to make him look iconic?

Apologies that the music bothered you. It's really of poor quality, to be honest. I composed it after staying up twenty-four consecutive hours and was barely conscious at the time. I was in the process of coding menu options to disable it and sound effects right up until the competition's end, but I had to scrap them in a hurried attempt to submit what was already done. Rest assured, they'll be reimplemented in future versions. A save or password feature is in the works as well.

Out of curiosity, what was so difficult about the second level? I'd like to balance the game as much as possible so if you could identify troubling portions of it that would help a ton.

Hope you enjoyed the title somewhat, take care!

[dreamb0yz]

Thanks for the feedback!

I admit that the character and environments aren't that varied at the moment. Since this game was originally made for a competition where two days was the maximum amount of time allotted for development, I really rushed a lot of its resources. For example, I had planned to diversify the backgrounds and tilesets but simply couldn't balance that and level design simultaneously. The player is a bit generic as you said; perhaps I could give him a beard or a wizard's hat to make him look iconic?

Apologies that the music bothered you. It's really of poor quality, to be honest. I composed it after staying up twenty-four consecutive hours and was barely conscious at the time. I was in the process of coding menu options to disable it and sound effects right up until the competition's end, but I had to scrap them in a hurried attempt to submit what was already done. Rest assured, they'll be reimplemented in future versions. A save or password feature is in the works as well.

Out of curiosity, what was so difficult about the second level? I'd like to balance the game as much as possible so if you could identify troubling portions of it that would help a ton.

Hope you enjoyed the title somewhat, take care!

can i see the gmk files and the resource / sprites files ?