https://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/741269
This is me trying to do something (almost) completely different from everything I've done before. It's an anti-runner that tries to flip the usual formula, letting you control the obstacles to strike the running character. The storyline and characters are aiming for humor, as you'll see in the introduction.
Will this idea work? I can't say, but over the past while I've put together the first two worlds as a sample of the core gameplay loop. It contains four CGs, plus all the levels/dialogue. Please take a look and tell me what you think!
The Newgrounds link above will let you play everything that's been finished so far. If you want to follow the game's development, you can wishlist it on Steam here:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/951840/Dont_Save_the_Princess/
Like the concept and the game seems like itll be a fun timesink. Few things id like to mention are the intro didnt play for me but i got to the game by reloading the page and please do a mute button. The music is nice and all but i play things like this while listening to lectures amd stuff.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the feedback! Yeah, volume control would definitely happen for the main game.
DeleteI really like the story, it's fun and an great twist.
ReplyDeleteTo the gameplay, it's an nice little time sink, I just have a few little remarks to it:
-The combo timer seems sometimes off, runman is still in the hit animation of the first hit when the second hits but I don't get an combo. Seems weird. Maybe an high priced option in the shop to higher the combo timer would be good.
-An explanation at the shop what the stats are doing. Mainly the stun stat from the special attack. I have no idea what it does. He seems still to be running.
-Maybe grey the buy option out from abilities the player doesn't have at the moment. I have no idea what the mini-game ability is, but I could upgrade it.
You are truly my favorite game developer Sierra. Thank you for the great games you've made and of course for the games which are still in the making. Other developer could learn a lot from you and not only adult orientated developer.
Thanks for leaving feedback!
DeleteI think the combo timer is fair, but extremely strict. Even a single frame off will reset the counter, whereas games usually leave some wiggle room.
Stun is the amount of time Runman doesn't accelerate, can't collect coins/powerups, and can be comboed again.
Firstly, before anything else, I loved the parody aspect of this. It was a blast to read, and made me want to continue. I think everyone playing can see what you excel at.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I felt like the actual gameplay was a bit clunky. The combo meter seemed to only work sometimes, and more than once did the darklander on the right literally stop, stopping runman (and thus the screen being blank). It's impossible to lose, and although you can't hurt him with traps, you can win if you've unlocked the charging meter.
Also, the upgrades never felt... satisfying. It felt like I was buying very minor upgrades that I could barely notice, and so upgrading felt like I was just wasting time instead of giving it another shot. For this, I'd recommend the upgrades start off weak, but get exponentially better as you get more and more upgrades of a type. I'd also suggest having a 'general' stun and slow stat for all traps, because then you don't have to individually upgrade each trap's stun and slow, which especially doesn't feel like you're achieving much by investing into it. Also, if you could increase the chance of an attack appearing, that'd also feel great, but that might then overwhelm the screen with things to click, which might then be counterproductive.
Regardless, I feel like although the actual gameplay may be rusty and need fine-tuning, the writing carries it through when it slogs.
Thanks for the feedback!
DeleteI'm not sure I completely understand your bug report about a Darklander blocking Runman. Could you get a screenshot of it happening?
We're trying to get widespread feedback so we can improve the gameplay, so I appreciate you giving your thoughts on how everything felt.
For a alpha sound good but some think i would adress
ReplyDelete1 take gold espcialy a lot is borring as hell i think we should gain money by touch the "hero" not by spamming <- touch or a least we should gain money by do the two but even so you should have less coin because it too many.
I think less money but with more impact could be a good idea : have 1/4 of the curent coin but make it give heal for the hero would be more interest.
Thanks for the feedback! Getting the basic feel of the coins right is something we definitely want to do.
DeleteI'm more of an aesthetics guy rather than gameplay mechanics expert,so I'll give feedback in my field;
ReplyDeleteThe music really needs an overhaul, I get this is an alpha, but the music is pretty grating after a while. I'd suggest changing it up every few stages if possible to keep things fresh.
For the visuals, again, more variation and perhaps some more detail in the background to give some subtle perception of advancement.
Also, where was the broom? It needs a broom.
Thanks for leaving feedback! I'm afraid music is often my last priority, so we only had the one track to start.
DeleteThe broom is only found at the end of Minus World.
Huzzah!
DeleteSpeaking of music, it happened again. Watching an AntsCanada video and BAM! More TLS music! https://youtu.be/kC0XUkY1n4I?t=704
Outside of the visual improvements, bout all I can suggest is a volume slider
Not my type of game. Even if your story and character work seems to be on your normal level ( so for the story i would be intrested) but the gameplay isn´t mine. I missed half of the Stone drop guys and in the second Chapter i couldn´t really see the traps compared to the background. Still button smashing games were never my kind of game. So sorry can´t really give feedback to that so well but for the shop maybe tell something to the options because i never found out what the mini game was but invested in it i hope i get it as an option so maybe don´t give us options to buy something that isn´t in the current level. So if you sell the full version on steam maybe add a option to advance after a certain number of failing a level or the option to than lower the health of Runman for gold? Some levels i needed more than 6 times so i only played the first cahpter. But still a nice game!
ReplyDeleteJust not my type of game. sorry.
DeleteNo problem, thanks for your honest feedback! I know the game will never work for every player, but I also want to improve all the weak points so that it works for as many as possible.
DeleteArgh. I want to leave some feedback, but making the time to write it down and make sure I test things in order to explain myself properly is too time-consuming when I have other brain-intensive things I need to do during the week.
ReplyDeleteSo, just in case I never get around to it, have my comment of support!
The game is a "time-sink" for the most part, as others have described it. Almost certainly not something anyone would seek out and play if not for the premise alone.
That said, it can be quite enjoyable once you start!
I hope everything turns out well in its future.
Thanks for taking some time for feedback! This project is indeed meant to be more of a casual short experience, so I hope it can work for that kind of fun.
DeleteI completed World 1 and didn't really have a desire to play much further. Part of its that casual games like this aren't particularly enjoyable for me.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I would suggest, though, is more pieces in play. I'm not sure how the game scales up later on; I never encountered the mini-game feature, whatever that does, so I only ever had the four pieces in play. You do, of course, have more keys you can use (most people are quite comfortable using WASD and the surroundings keys at the same time as the arrow keys), but apart from that, having the elements loop more frequently, such that the same obstacles can be used in the same combinations, would make for both more challenging and more gratifying combos, I imagine.
My main problem is the right tapping to collect absolutely killed my finger, I would suggest a Sonic-style mechanic where Mar-Runman collects the coins but every time you damage him he drops a portion of his coins and if he collects say 20 without being hit he heals half a heart, I think that would add some depth this game kinda needs.
ReplyDelete