Managed to get through the tutorial, and I think you should teach players a little bit slower. You just get thrown a lot of things at and it's kind of overwhelming, I'm pretty sure I bruteforced some parts which had another intended solution too.
This game reminds me why I don't like building redstone contraptions in Minecraft. When you realize you messed up, you have to go through the tedious process of destroying it, and here it's even slower.
Great idea for a game. At first it looks like just another terarria clone, but it brings Incredible Machine vibes to totally change the game.
Personally, I got stuck at the arc furnace tutorial. I couldn't figure out how to automate building a bridge across that gap. Maybe I'm stupid, but I'd prefer a simpler machine as the first machine, maybe one that just involves the mantler and pusher without trying to also make copper bars.
Bugs/improvements:
I repeatedly left clicked an ore and it gave me already extracted minerals, making the extractor useless and meaning I only need one ore to get unlimited materials.
Browsing the blocks on the screen on the left was hard because the details for the block are way over on the right. Might be ok on a laptop screen but it was too far away on my 27" monitor
Default zoom level seemed way too far at 4K, but that's easily fixed once you reach the point in the tutorial that tells you.
If I right click to move some blocks, they come out and other block fall right away. This is a problem if I missed my click or didn't realize a block was still welded to another, and I want to "undo" my right click to leave the block in place. The way it is now, a misclick means I have to rearrange my entire machine because all the parts fell down.
Remember, any game where you can build a giant dick will be a success!
I repeatedly left clicked an ore and it gave me already extracted minerals, making the extractor useless and meaning I only need one ore to get unlimited materials.
Manually getting ore from veins is an intended mechanic. Veins give infinite ore with the extractor or manually mining. Where you getting materials faster than just holding left click?
Browsing the blocks on the screen on the left was hard because the details for the block are way over on the right. Might be ok on a laptop screen but it was too far away on my 27" monitor
Have you tried playing with an increased UI zoom level? (in the options menu)
An undo function to a sandbox game would be VERY difficult to implement, and anyways I like the need for scaffolding to build
I wasn't getting ore faster than just holding, so sounds like that is working properly.
I did turn the UI zoom up, but only to where it was reasonable to read. Higher might work better, there's definitely room for it.
An undo function isn't entirely what I mean, I'm just looking for things to not fall as soon as I click. I can grab structures and place them without them falling until I move, but if I click a structure to move it
As an example, in the attached pictures, I right clicked part of the bottom frame, and everything fell immediately. I would only want this to happen once I actually move what I grabbed. Specifically for the case where I grab something and then go "hmm, nevermind".
Like how blocks freeze when you place them, the air behind picked up blocks could be frozen. You could place blocks into the frozen air, but blocks wouldn't move into it.
Could also hold the player up if you pick up the ground underneath you, by maybe you couldn't jump off of it.
It's weird how much nicer it feels to stack sand under yourself and propel yourself into the sky in this game than terraria or minecraft, they've been doing it wrong all along, sand propulsion feels so nice and smooth here
"missed the tutorial". Did you think it wasn't necessary and dove right into a sandbox world, or did you not see the button on the main menu?
Minecraft only allowing you to place blocks next to blocks is just how the UI works. Terraria only allows you to build next to existing blocks, or on background blocks. This is probably because its way to easy to leave a bunch of floating specs around without this restriction. Since Roody:2d has gravity for (almost) every block, and its much more building focused, there is no such limitation.
I just rushed too hard into the game. It could use some extra visibility because it's pretty much essential (for example if it's the first time the player is loading the game you can make it ask "Are you sure you don't want to play the tutorial first?" for idiots like me), but it's a good tutorial.
anyway i managed to get the basic, i was gonna try to do some automation for display produciton but i got overwhelmed by the buncha shit i didnt knew (im a brainlet) so i did most of it manually,
only complain i have is i keep gettign confused betwween which mode i am, maybe som visual indicator would b nice
When you go into welding mode, the hotbar changes color, the icon on the left side of the hotbar changes, and a welding range circle flashes. I suggest just using the shift key to hold welding mode instead of toggling.
If you like the display, try messing with the manipulator.
For how utterly indepth all the mechanics are, I found it surprisingly accessible. After some initial futzing around to get the different combination recipes and control modes.
I swear you're going to have to do like 120 iterations of that tutorial until people stop complaining about it, though. Just one of the timesinks that come with making a game this insanely deep. I liked the general pacing and controls, it's a fun, proudly niche game.
In the tutorial, I'm not quite sure why pressing F activates a toggler block when you still need to hover your mouse over it. It was kind of strange and misleading. Why use a button when you have to use your mouse anyway? I got to the part of the tutorial where you can stack stuff in your inventory. After I got to the bottom of that, there's this large area with copper veins, and nothing tells you what to do next. I tried collecting and stacking the stone, but it didn't work. I collected a bunch of copper, but nothing that allowed me to progress. Just hung out welding, unwelding, and trying to click on the stone.
I eventually figured out that you COULD store some of those small individual blocks if you unweld every side, but that's a bit tedious -- essentially having to wait for the "unweld" animation to draw out 3-4 times for every block, then hold shift and hover over and right click to retrieve each of those blocks -- it'd be nicer if there was a button that streamlined that entire process -- especially since this is essentially the crux of the game.
When I got to the extractor, I was lost again. I turned the one on the right on, and it started extracting ore. I knew that I needed to turn the one on the left on, and ride the ore to the top, but it didn't quite work... I also couldn't get the prompt to appear again, so I had no idea what to do. See pic:
This, too, I eventually got working by... I have no idea. I do not know what I did differently, but suddenly it started working again. I tried making sure everything was "welded" together before but for some reason this time it started.
One more thing -- I got the arc furnace working but no idea what the other equipment around it was. The arc furnace could be a bit tedious to run -- I had to collect every individual piece before the next one was "loaded" and then made available to collect to build the next part of the bridge. This process ought to be automated -- maybe let the arc furnace slowly run through the tower of ore on top and "stack" them automatically into the block touching it? I don't know.
Definitely recommend introducing the zoom in/out buttons in the tutorial towards the beginning. I never knew about them until I read another person's comments.
Tutorial changes I think I'll make: zoom in/out message blocks dont become operational until you touch a WASD/spacebar a left/up arrow in the copper mine a "automation" hint at the arc furnace
I got to the arc furnace part in the tutorial, I like the cute pixely 2d craft block world. Firstly it is possible to softlock yourself after welding the 2 white blocks together if you take them up the jumping squares and fall off of the jumping squares (where you have to press S), so I would tell the player to leave the welded white block there or something. The second problem I had was with the initial inventory tutorial, you should mention in the announcement that the blocks stack. Thirdly the part where you mine through the dirt with the copper veins was very long and tedious, I feel tutorials should introduce a mechanic in a short and sweet way, fewer blocks to mine and weld etc. Lastly I'm not sure why extractors give infinite ore, kinda weird, you do need an elevator at that part so I would consider making the player extract the green ore and use it to power an actual elevator.(if possible) and the bridge you need to make after the arc furnace seemed really long to make, I'd tell the player how many metal bars they need to make and make the bridge required shorter. The welding is cool and the inventory aspect I like. Sorry I had many criticisms but I see good potential :)
I'm not one for Zachtronics-type games, but this was really interesting. I only played the tutorial since I'm a brainlet with the genre, but I still managed to have fun. Here's what I would change based on what I played:
-The background being grey-blue makes it difficult to make out the blocks on screen. I'd make the sky a different color or shade. -The game is too zoomed-out at times. I think it would really benefit from allowing the player to zoom in and out. -The part with the hole leading to destroyers was skippable by spamming blocks and jumping across them before they fell. Not sure if there's anything to do about it considering the mechanics of the game, but I thought I should mention it. -I think the first puzzle with the extractor and destroyers should have some more explanation to it, I wasn't too sure what to do there. -The sound effects were solid, it made every interaction feel good. -The art, while simple, made everything instantly recognizable which is a big plus for a game like this. -The scroll bar in the pause menu being a machine is a really nice touch, more things like that in the UI would be really neat if it doesn't distract too much. -All the options you have in the pause menu are great, it's always nice to see so many options. I think you have a solid foundation, great job mate! I hope more people check it out!
Huh. The dedicated zoom in/out buttons aren't on the options screen (page up/down). Most players stumble upon being able to use the scroll wheel to zoom in/out while in welding mode. Going to update the options menu and add that somewhere in the tutorial
What specific blocks were difficult to see against the black-to-blue gradient?
The destroyer area is meant to have a couple different ways to get across, including block-spam. The "intended" solution is to build an automatic bridge builder, but as long as the player got a bit more comfortable with the building controls somewhere, its a success.
Upon replaying the tutorial, with the knowledge of being able to zoom in and out, I had no issues with seeing the blocks. However, even when zoomed in, the particles on the fans can be really hard to see still. Maybe my monitor just has bad color output though. As for the zoom in/out, since it didn't work outside welding mode, I never figured to try it when in welding mode. I think if you add a a blurb about it in the welding mode hint in the tutorial, it could clear things up better.
Comments
Managed to get through the tutorial, and I think you should teach players a little bit slower. You just get thrown a lot of things at and it's kind of overwhelming, I'm pretty sure I bruteforced some parts which had another intended solution too.
This game reminds me why I don't like building redstone contraptions in Minecraft. When you realize you messed up, you have to go through the tedious process of destroying it, and here it's even slower.
Not saying it's a bad game, it's just not for me.
Great idea for a game. At first it looks like just another terarria clone, but it brings Incredible Machine vibes to totally change the game.
Personally, I got stuck at the arc furnace tutorial. I couldn't figure out how to automate building a bridge across that gap. Maybe I'm stupid, but I'd prefer a simpler machine as the first machine, maybe one that just involves the mantler and pusher without trying to also make copper bars.
Bugs/improvements:
I repeatedly left clicked an ore and it gave me already extracted minerals, making the extractor useless and meaning I only need one ore to get unlimited materials.
Browsing the blocks on the screen on the left was hard because the details for the block are way over on the right. Might be ok on a laptop screen but it was too far away on my 27" monitor
Default zoom level seemed way too far at 4K, but that's easily fixed once you reach the point in the tutorial that tells you.
If I right click to move some blocks, they come out and other block fall right away. This is a problem if I missed my click or didn't realize a block was still welded to another, and I want to "undo" my right click to leave the block in place. The way it is now, a misclick means I have to rearrange my entire machine because all the parts fell down.
Remember, any game where you can build a giant dick will be a success!
Manually getting ore from veins is an intended mechanic. Veins give infinite ore with the extractor or manually mining.
Where you getting materials faster than just holding left click?
Have you tried playing with an increased UI zoom level? (in the options menu)
An undo function to a sandbox game would be VERY difficult to implement, and anyways I like the need for scaffolding to build
I wasn't getting ore faster than just holding, so sounds like that is working properly.
I did turn the UI zoom up, but only to where it was reasonable to read. Higher might work better, there's definitely room for it.
An undo function isn't entirely what I mean, I'm just looking for things to not fall as soon as I click. I can grab structures and place them without them falling until I move, but if I click a structure to move it
As an example, in the attached pictures, I right clicked part of the bottom frame, and everything fell immediately. I would only want this to happen once I actually move what I grabbed. Specifically for the case where I grab something and then go "hmm, nevermind".
I think I have an idea for this
Like how blocks freeze when you place them, the air behind picked up blocks could be frozen. You could place blocks into the frozen air, but blocks wouldn't move into it.
Could also hold the player up if you pick up the ground underneath you, by maybe you couldn't jump off of it.
I missed the tutorial and that was a big mistake
It's weird how much nicer it feels to stack sand under yourself and propel yourself into the sky in this game than terraria or minecraft, they've been doing it wrong all along, sand propulsion feels so nice and smooth here
"missed the tutorial". Did you think it wasn't necessary and dove right into a sandbox world, or did you not see the button on the main menu?
Minecraft only allowing you to place blocks next to blocks is just how the UI works. Terraria only allows you to build next to existing blocks, or on background blocks. This is probably because its way to easy to leave a bunch of floating specs around without this restriction. Since Roody:2d has gravity for (almost) every block, and its much more building focused, there is no such limitation.
I just rushed too hard into the game. It could use some extra visibility because it's pretty much essential (for example if it's the first time the player is loading the game you can make it ask "Are you sure you don't want to play the tutorial first?" for idiots like me), but it's a good tutorial.
wtf this is the best tutorial ever
anyway i managed to get the basic, i was gonna try to do some automation for display produciton but i got overwhelmed by the buncha shit i didnt knew (im a brainlet) so i did most of it manually,
only complain i have is i keep gettign confused betwween which mode i am, maybe som visual indicator would b nice
When you go into welding mode, the hotbar changes color, the icon on the left side of the hotbar changes, and a welding range circle flashes. I suggest just using the shift key to hold welding mode instead of toggling.
If you like the display, try messing with the manipulator.
For how utterly indepth all the mechanics are, I found it surprisingly accessible. After some initial futzing around to get the different combination recipes and control modes.
I swear you're going to have to do like 120 iterations of that tutorial until people stop complaining about it, though. Just one of the timesinks that come with making a game this insanely deep. I liked the general pacing and controls, it's a fun, proudly niche game.
In the tutorial, I'm not quite sure why pressing F activates a toggler block when you still need to hover your mouse over it. It was kind of strange and misleading. Why use a button when you have to use your mouse anyway? I got to the part of the tutorial where you can stack stuff in your inventory. After I got to the bottom of that, there's this large area with copper veins, and nothing tells you what to do next. I tried collecting and stacking the stone, but it didn't work. I collected a bunch of copper, but nothing that allowed me to progress. Just hung out welding, unwelding, and trying to click on the stone.
I eventually figured out that you COULD store some of those small individual blocks if you unweld every side, but that's a bit tedious -- essentially having to wait for the "unweld" animation to draw out 3-4 times for every block, then hold shift and hover over and right click to retrieve each of those blocks -- it'd be nicer if there was a button that streamlined that entire process -- especially since this is essentially the crux of the game.
When I got to the extractor, I was lost again. I turned the one on the right on, and it started extracting ore. I knew that I needed to turn the one on the left on, and ride the ore to the top, but it didn't quite work... I also couldn't get the prompt to appear again, so I had no idea what to do. See pic:
This, too, I eventually got working by... I have no idea. I do not know what I did differently, but suddenly it started working again. I tried making sure everything was "welded" together before but for some reason this time it started.
One more thing -- I got the arc furnace working but no idea what the other equipment around it was. The arc furnace could be a bit tedious to run -- I had to collect every individual piece before the next one was "loaded" and then made available to collect to build the next part of the bridge. This process ought to be automated -- maybe let the arc furnace slowly run through the tower of ore on top and "stack" them automatically into the block touching it? I don't know.
Definitely recommend introducing the zoom in/out buttons in the tutorial towards the beginning. I never knew about them until I read another person's comments.
The crouch animation is pretty cute btw.
Tutorial changes I think I'll make:
zoom in/out message
blocks dont become operational until you touch a WASD/spacebar
a left/up arrow in the copper mine
a "automation" hint at the arc furnace
Tutorial is otherwise working as intended.
I got to the arc furnace part in the tutorial, I like the cute pixely 2d craft block world. Firstly it is possible to softlock yourself after welding the 2 white blocks together if you take them up the jumping squares and fall off of the jumping squares (where you have to press S), so I would tell the player to leave the welded white block there or something. The second problem I had was with the initial inventory tutorial, you should mention in the announcement that the blocks stack. Thirdly the part where you mine through the dirt with the copper veins was very long and tedious, I feel tutorials should introduce a mechanic in a short and sweet way, fewer blocks to mine and weld etc. Lastly I'm not sure why extractors give infinite ore, kinda weird, you do need an elevator at that part so I would consider making the player extract the green ore and use it to power an actual elevator.(if possible) and the bridge you need to make after the arc furnace seemed really long to make, I'd tell the player how many metal bars they need to make and make the bridge required shorter. The welding is cool and the inventory aspect I like. Sorry I had many criticisms but I see good potential :)
I'm not one for Zachtronics-type games, but this was really interesting. I only played the tutorial since I'm a brainlet with the genre, but I still managed to have fun. Here's what I would change based on what I played:
-The background being grey-blue makes it difficult to make out the blocks on screen. I'd make the sky a different color or shade.
-The game is too zoomed-out at times. I think it would really benefit from allowing the player to zoom in and out.
-The part with the hole leading to destroyers was skippable by spamming blocks and jumping across them before they fell. Not sure if there's anything to do about it considering the mechanics of the game, but I thought I should mention it.
-I think the first puzzle with the extractor and destroyers should have some more explanation to it, I wasn't too sure what to do there.
-The sound effects were solid, it made every interaction feel good.
-The art, while simple, made everything instantly recognizable which is a big plus for a game like this.
-The scroll bar in the pause menu being a machine is a really nice touch, more things like that in the UI would be really neat if it doesn't distract too much.
-All the options you have in the pause menu are great, it's always nice to see so many options.
I think you have a solid foundation, great job mate! I hope more people check it out!
Huh. The dedicated zoom in/out buttons aren't on the options screen (page up/down). Most players stumble upon being able to use the scroll wheel to zoom in/out while in welding mode. Going to update the options menu and add that somewhere in the tutorial
What specific blocks were difficult to see against the black-to-blue gradient?
The destroyer area is meant to have a couple different ways to get across, including block-spam. The "intended" solution is to build an automatic bridge builder, but as long as the player got a bit more comfortable with the building controls somewhere, its a success.
Upon replaying the tutorial, with the knowledge of being able to zoom in and out, I had no issues with seeing the blocks. However, even when zoomed in, the particles on the fans can be really hard to see still. Maybe my monitor just has bad color output though. As for the zoom in/out, since it didn't work outside welding mode, I never figured to try it when in welding mode. I think if you add a a blurb about it in the welding mode hint in the tutorial, it could clear things up better.
Even if this type of game does not look like its for you, I am still looking for feedback on the tutorial