Wow - this looks really cool ! Really nice graphics, good sounds and music too ! I had a hard time controlling where to fly the ship, I need to get a controller :)
VERY impressive game, I'm glad there's controller support because the game controls sooo much better on controller than it does on keyboard, the flying felt fantastic to play through on controller. I do wish that the transmission failing wasn't so abrupt, the abrupt switch between flying and the sudden black screen felt very unsatisfying to play through. I think even a bit of audio feedback for the ship exploding would've helped in this regard
Nice, escaped after a few tries (im used to pilot the helicopter from RisingStorm2Vietnam so it was quite similiar), its impressive how well it runs on browser despite being a 3D game, I had a lot of fun boosting through the exit, good job !
Love the audio and visuals. The UI being on the ship is a great choice too. Also love the ship and level design.
I came really close to beating the level but ran out of time.
A few changes I would recommend are-
1. Automatically bring the cursor to center of screen at start of level. 2. Make the cursor more visible (could be thicker and the color stand out more from environment) 3. Quick restart to start of round rather than to menu. 4. Limit how much the ship can turn with mouse (I flew into walls way too often)
Btw I think there is a hidden button in the right bottom corner of menu screen that enabled a harder level xD
The game has lotta potential- with a bit more polish, this could definitely be expanded to a full fledged game beyond 20 seconds.
I tried a lot and really wanted to like this one, but it is just a bit too frustrating right now. I could not quite master the mouse aiming controls, and the double reticles and camera floating behavior combine to make it a little confusing to read/feel under the time pressure of say, 1 second before a crash.
The level seems well paced and looks awesome! But it also can be hard to see where to go, so I had to use a lot of trial and error. I think given the speed requirements I would have liked it a lot more if the acceleration was just taken completely out of the equation by auto-thrusting forwards. (Though I only saw the first level, so I don't know if this would become a problem later.) The game is most fun when rushing just past a few obstacles using the boost.
It's easy to end up upside down or at strange angles, which makes the actual tunnel twists feel more like guesswork. As silly as it might look, I think a big neon arrow or line leads along the wall to the correct exit direction would really help.
I play a lot of racing games like F-ZeroGX, Redout 2, etc. When this was flowing well, I got that same awesome kick of "barely scraping by death while blazing at high speed past glowing stuff". Those moments are really fun! One thing those games do is have blazingly obvious main paths, but a super tight "real optimal route". For example, in Redout 2 most of the tracks have a literal "middle line" to follow on the track surface. What this does is give a speed rush past a few "easier" obstacles even if they are not quite on the perfect path. But also punishes them in time penalty for veering a little off course or taking a turn wide/bouncing off a wall.
I think a similar "soft hardcore" approach could make this a lot more fun to play. I would have a lot more fun if I could almost run the entire cool tunnel level nearly every time, but often fell just a bit short of reaching the goal/exit because I had not followed the "perfect" run.
Still, this is very impressive! With some tightening up of the feel and visual help for the gameplay, I think there is potential to get a great polished mix of an almost puzzle/racing game within the tight timer each run is restricted by.
I like the neon aesthetics in the tunnels and on the obstacles. It also makes it easier to spot obstacles and their gaps.
The controls felt a little awkward. The mouse and keyboard control was extremely confusing at the start: it took me a while to catch onto the fact that the rate of turn is determined by the distance between the screen centre and the pointer's current position. Though I did manage to pass the normal difficulty, I found it unintuitive to have to return my mouse back to the screen centre after a turn. The controller was easier as the pointer returns back to the centre automatically. I did try the advanced controls, but it felt more distracting and so I preferred the simpler schemes for both controller, and mouse and keyboard.
I accidentally found the extreme difficulty, and I gave it about 20 attempts. It think it is very good design that the obstacle rotation cycles start the same way on each run. This meant that you could brute force a strategy with patience and time: I got to the last quarter of the first cave tunnel after the red bulkheads before writing this review.
I think a large part of the difficulty stems from a combination of the controls and the obstacles:
You have 20 seconds, so speed is a priority. You can rapidly pick up speed with the boost on top of the normal acceleration
As you are in space, it makes sense that you need to also be pressing the forward button whilst pointing in your target direction to actually turn. This is fine and is logical
The method to turn feels fine when travelling at high speed and you have the space to swerve around it
The bulkhead doors close shut over time, which adds some degree of urgency. On it's own, this is fine
The laser and physical obstacles have plenty of gaps to exploit. These are manageable at high speeds provided that you have the time and space to react
I think the issue occurs when all these elements are used together: the time limit, controls and high speed encourage linear movement with few detours and deviations, but the spacing between consecutive obstacles and the cave layout encourage slower movement and tighter turns. As the ship is quite fragile, you are punished quite heavily for going at high speeds as you are unlikely to avoid things. This is a larger problem on hard and extreme difficulties. Compounding the issue further are the targeting lasers that will hit you at lower speeds as you enter the caves, which also encourage higher speeds in an area where there's turns and obstacles.
Here are a few suggestions that may help strike a balance between these elements:
increase the spacing between consecutive obstacles. This would allow the player to move at higher speeds by giving them more time to react and reposition themselves after passing each obstacle
remove the targeting lasers. The speed of the ship should be for getting to the goal in time, and the player's ability to react and manoeuvre should be the factor for safely bypassing an obstacle. Alternatively, have the lasers gradually point towards you instead of instantly locking on
have the turns be more gradual. The cave walls are quite dark, so it's not easy to gauge how much the player needs to turn. Alternatively, have the level be more straight
have the bulkheads close partially instead of fully. Thematically, it makes sense for the bulkheads to shut fully. However, if the bulkhead is nearly shut, this reduces the space and options that the player can use when attempting to take on the next obstacle. Leaving a gap would give the player some options for manoeuvring and help with predictability. Alternatively, have it so that the bulkheads start shutting only when the player is in range
I think a good example of obstacle spacing would be F-Zero GX on Chapter 5.
I like that the short time to restart also encourages retrying. Overall, the foundation of this game is fairly solid, and it is still a fun game once you get your head around the controls.
An epic escape game that needs a little more tuning.
Wow, thanks so much for giving such a complete analysis! I absolutely love that you took time to write in such details!
I agree with all of what you said, and while I was very aware that the game (and especially controls) are difficult, you highlighted very well points that I would not have thought of as much by playing by myself.
I'm going update the game soonish (it's still missing important art too), and so I'll try to tackle most of these issues in the process.
I'll make a post on the discord server when it is done, so be sure to try the game again if you have time!
If I may ask a question, did you try controller controls and if yes, how intuitive did you find them?
One big think i've been wondering about is if "FPS Style" controls (as is right now in the game) or "Racing game Style" (Rotate with left stick and strafe with right stick) controls would be better for a complete novice. What's your opinion from your experience?
Comments
Wow - this looks really cool !
Really nice graphics, good sounds and music too !
I had a hard time controlling where to fly the ship, I need to get a controller :)
It's an impressive game and I loved it!
VERY impressive game, I'm glad there's controller support because the game controls sooo much better on controller than it does on keyboard, the flying felt fantastic to play through on controller. I do wish that the transmission failing wasn't so abrupt, the abrupt switch between flying and the sudden black screen felt very unsatisfying to play through. I think even a bit of audio feedback for the ship exploding would've helped in this regard
Nice, escaped after a few tries (im used to pilot the helicopter from RisingStorm2Vietnam so it was quite similiar), its impressive how well it runs on browser despite being a 3D game, I had a lot of fun boosting through the exit, good job !
Love the audio and visuals. The UI being on the ship is a great choice too. Also love the ship and level design.
I came really close to beating the level but ran out of time.
A few changes I would recommend are-
1. Automatically bring the cursor to center of screen at start of level.
2. Make the cursor more visible (could be thicker and the color stand out more from environment)
3. Quick restart to start of round rather than to menu.
4. Limit how much the ship can turn with mouse (I flew into walls way too often)
Btw I think there is a hidden button in the right bottom corner of menu screen that enabled a harder level xD
The game has lotta potential- with a bit more polish, this could definitely be expanded to a full fledged game beyond 20 seconds.
I tried a lot and really wanted to like this one, but it is just a bit too frustrating right now. I could not quite master the mouse aiming controls, and the double reticles and camera floating behavior combine to make it a little confusing to read/feel under the time pressure of say, 1 second before a crash.
The level seems well paced and looks awesome! But it also can be hard to see where to go, so I had to use a lot of trial and error. I think given the speed requirements I would have liked it a lot more if the acceleration was just taken completely out of the equation by auto-thrusting forwards. (Though I only saw the first level, so I don't know if this would become a problem later.) The game is most fun when rushing just past a few obstacles using the boost.
It's easy to end up upside down or at strange angles, which makes the actual tunnel twists feel more like guesswork. As silly as it might look, I think a big neon arrow or line leads along the wall to the correct exit direction would really help.
I play a lot of racing games like F-ZeroGX, Redout 2, etc. When this was flowing well, I got that same awesome kick of "barely scraping by death while blazing at high speed past glowing stuff". Those moments are really fun! One thing those games do is have blazingly obvious main paths, but a super tight "real optimal route". For example, in Redout 2 most of the tracks have a literal "middle line" to follow on the track surface. What this does is give a speed rush past a few "easier" obstacles even if they are not quite on the perfect path. But also punishes them in time penalty for veering a little off course or taking a turn wide/bouncing off a wall.
I think a similar "soft hardcore" approach could make this a lot more fun to play. I would have a lot more fun if I could almost run the entire cool tunnel level nearly every time, but often fell just a bit short of reaching the goal/exit because I had not followed the "perfect" run.
Still, this is very impressive! With some tightening up of the feel and visual help for the gameplay, I think there is potential to get a great polished mix of an almost puzzle/racing game within the tight timer each run is restricted by.
I like the neon aesthetics in the tunnels and on the obstacles. It also makes it easier to spot obstacles and their gaps.
The controls felt a little awkward. The mouse and keyboard control was extremely confusing at the start: it took me a while to catch onto the fact that the rate of turn is determined by the distance between the screen centre and the pointer's current position. Though I did manage to pass the normal difficulty, I found it unintuitive to have to return my mouse back to the screen centre after a turn. The controller was easier as the pointer returns back to the centre automatically. I did try the advanced controls, but it felt more distracting and so I preferred the simpler schemes for both controller, and mouse and keyboard.
I accidentally found the extreme difficulty, and I gave it about 20 attempts. It think it is very good design that the obstacle rotation cycles start the same way on each run. This meant that you could brute force a strategy with patience and time: I got to the last quarter of the first cave tunnel after the red bulkheads before writing this review.
I think a large part of the difficulty stems from a combination of the controls and the obstacles:
I think the issue occurs when all these elements are used together: the time limit, controls and high speed encourage linear movement with few detours and deviations, but the spacing between consecutive obstacles and the cave layout encourage slower movement and tighter turns. As the ship is quite fragile, you are punished quite heavily for going at high speeds as you are unlikely to avoid things. This is a larger problem on hard and extreme difficulties. Compounding the issue further are the targeting lasers that will hit you at lower speeds as you enter the caves, which also encourage higher speeds in an area where there's turns and obstacles.
Here are a few suggestions that may help strike a balance between these elements:
I think a good example of obstacle spacing would be F-Zero GX on Chapter 5.
I like that the short time to restart also encourages retrying. Overall, the foundation of this game is fairly solid, and it is still a fun game once you get your head around the controls.
An epic escape game that needs a little more tuning.
Wow, thanks so much for giving such a complete analysis! I absolutely love that you took time to write in such details!
I agree with all of what you said, and while I was very aware that the game (and especially controls) are difficult, you highlighted very well points that I would not have thought of as much by playing by myself.
I'm going update the game soonish (it's still missing important art too), and so I'll try to tackle most of these issues in the process.
I'll make a post on the discord server when it is done, so be sure to try the game again if you have time!
The graphics are impressive! The mouse control is quite hard however. Nice 20-sec game!
Yeah, I'm aware it's hard!
Unfortunately I can't see how I could make the controls simpler to apprehend without a tutorial (which would not be in the jam's spirit)
I do hope the game was at least a bit enjoyable though! :D
Thanks for all those encouraging words!
If I may ask a question, did you try controller controls and if yes, how intuitive did you find them?
One big think i've been wondering about is if "FPS Style" controls (as is right now in the game) or "Racing game Style" (Rotate with left stick and strafe with right stick) controls would be better for a complete novice. What's your opinion from your experience?