This was a great DD, thanks to everyone who posted comments and made videos about the new levels. As always, I really appreciate it.
With the upcoming DD50, the levels including the witch fairy will be archived. To save them for posterity, I created a repository that includes them plus other DD demos. It can be found here https://la-fafafa.itch.io/poke-all-toads-dd-repository pass: apoketothepast
I'm very bad at it, but it's a lot of fun. Summoned fairy seems nice, I hope you keep her demeanor when you give her non-placeholder sprites.
Small QoL-improvement: I feel like it would make sense to automatically switch control from witch to summon-fairy when you summon her; I can't think of any situations where you'd summon and not want to move.
You were about to beat the bonus level on a first try then went with a different idea. I have changed the level to invalidate the complicated solution.
I adjusted bridge 2 to make it less finnicky
For bridge 3, yeah the strong fairy is not really needed. She could be a green fairy. In past versions of the puzzle it was necessary to throw fairies. I left her in because I like to give options to the player, even when they are not helpful. Also lol when you made a plan to throw the fairy from the green button, but it wasn't far enough.
I have been trying to be careful about shooting angles, but I will try to be even more in the future. It is complicated, it is a fine line between making them easy to use once figured out and not making them obvious to spoil a solution.
Loved the new levels. I really don't have much more than that hah. The witch is great, would be cool to see even more different level features. Keep it up.
For whatever reason the logic just clicked, so I found the difficulty to be on par, maybe even a little easier than the main game. So fairly easy levels, with one or two that I got stuck on for a bit before the eureka. The harder ones this time were Bridge2, Bridge3, and the bonus stage I think. The moving planet in the BG was a nice touch, looked nice without being distracting.
Good job, hope to see more puzzles, or even an official look for the witch fairy next time.
From what I have seen the witch fairy's ability seems to not be intuitive for a lot of players, sometimes including myself. I designed puzzles around making the witch fairy stuck somewhere, but people find lines of play where you can get her out of that place.
Bridge 2 is the most complicated level of the bunch, followed by the bonus stage but that could be because it had some design issues. Bridge 3 some people have told me it is incredibly easy, maybe because it is right after bridge 2.
This time I skipped the regular levels because I've finished this game twice so my feedback will mostly be directed at the test levels.
I think they are pretty good for the most part. I definitely prefer timed puzzles that use the game's mechanics (i. e. swapping to a fairy that's about to be eaten to perform an action ) rather than having a button that acts as a hard timer like last time. The bonus level in particular falls under the category of "I know the solution but I'm having trouble with the execution" as you effectively have to juggle 2 different timers. All things considered, I think it's fine for a bonus level to do stuff like that.
Out of the common levels Bridge 2 took me the longest to solve, even more than the bonus level. I think that's because I thought keeping the summoned fairy around was a 200 IQ move instead of wasting a resource in what must be the puzzle game equivalent of hoarding potions.
Finally, stellar animations and art style as usual. I look forward to seeing the final design of the witch fairy. Here's a little fairy I made.
Thanks for testing out the new levels! And that fairy and toad drawing is perfect!
I think they are pretty good for the most part. I definitely prefer timed puzzles that use the game's mechanics (i. e. swapping to a fairy that's about to be eaten to perform an action ) rather than having a button that acts as a hard timer like last time
I prefer levels in this way too, I will keep that in mind when designing new levels with the timed buttons
The bonus level in particular falls under the category of "I know the solution but I'm having trouble with the execution" as you effectively have to juggle 2 different timers. All things considered, I think it's fine for a bonus level to do stuff like that.
That level is a callback to a bonus level in map 2 and can be beaten without time pressure using pretty much the same positions as that one. I will see if I can modify it so people find the less reflex dependent solution first.
Out of the common levels Bridge 2 took me the longest to solve, even more than the bonus level. I think that's because I thought keeping the summoned fairy around was a 200 IQ move instead of wasting a resource in what must be the puzzle game equivalent of hoarding potions.
That seems the general case about that level. I designed bridge 2 with the idea that it was a middle of the road difficulty speaking, but it appears to be really challenging. It will be turned into a bonus level for sure.
I got filtered hard by the test levels. Got stuck on 7. Bonus level seemed really easy in comparison. EDIT: Completed all levels. I completed 7 last. I don't know why I couldn't find the solution earlier, but there was something unintuitive about it. The hardest level overall I think is 3. Also I kept confusing the summoner with the summon.
Thanks for playing and trying the new levels out! The difficulties in the new puzzles is all over the place, so thanks for sharing your experience. I will make sure to make both fairies look different in the final graphics.
I'm basing this mostly on my experience from playing the DD48 version. This DD I only played the test levels.
Normal Content:
Very cute game, primarily carried by the characters and character animations.
The puzzles are decent, but are clearly held back by the requirement to have (extremely nice) animations for the fairies. I imagine the game would do very well on Steam, as well as with streamers, given enough marketing. Did you try to get featured as a Godot game? Being in one of their blogposts or showcases would help a lot with marketing.
Do you already have an idea how many mechanics, levels, and fairies you want to add? I assume that creating new fairies takes a lot of time, and it's probably not worth creating too many extra levels for the extra revenue that it would generate. Your main draw will be the cute animations and aesthetic, not hardcore puzzle solving. So be careful not to fall into the scope creep trap.
That said, I would include some more difficult (optional) puzzles early on. The first time playing I remember thinking "Huh, this game is pretty easy." If that happens during the Steam refund window, it would be a problem of course.
Extra Levels:
The extra levels just unlocked after being the first level. Fortunately, since I have no idea how to actually die there. I played through them and put down my short thoughts.
0: Performance test I guess. Worked fine.
1: I see you increased planet background size, didn't mind/notice the background going forward. Good tutorial for witch fairies.
2: Good puzzle.
3: Neat, took me a while to finish, but really straightforward. The fact that you couldn't evade the blue jump arrows due to the frogs when coming from above feels odd though. Feels like that's the first time that the frog hitbox is relevant.
4: Neat.
5: Finicky to get right since you need to let the frog target main fairy then move her out of the way, swap to magic fairy and let her dismiss her illusion. It is rapidly clear what the solution is, but actually implementing it took time.
6: Again, seems like you're moving away from time insensitive puzzles. Which is fine, because some of the puzzle that require quick switching are very fun.
7: Decent tutorial.
8: Good puzzle, feels like the first time I have to double poke a toad.
9: Very fun puzzle. Again, time sensitive, but I feel that there's no reason to restrict yourself with that.
(what's the point of the long dotted line if you're just going to move the indicator straight to the flag?)
10: Very straightforward puzzle, required no thinking.
Spade: Fun puzzle, but the fact that the fairy slept at the start didn't matter right?
>Very cute game, primarily carried by the characters and character animation I'm amazed this seems to be the case at the moment, I have heard people say similar things. Specially since in the past it was the opposite. I'm happy about it though.
>The puzzles are decent, but are clearly held back by the requirement to have (extremely nice) animations for the fairies I don't quite understand this since I haven't modified puzzles for the animations. I did make the action part easier and easier increasing times though.
>Did you try to get featured as a Godot game? I don't believe it will make much of a difference. The few times I tried to promote the godot part things went nowhere. I could give it a second shot but I'm not holding my hopes up. Also it is basically promoting the game to other devs. Promoting it to streamers and youtubers could be lot more useful though, which is a nice idea.
>Your main draw will be the cute animations and aesthetic, not hardcore puzzle solving Yeah, my puzzles will be on the easy side of things. Cute characters like the fairies will draw a more casual audience after all.
>So be careful not to fall into the scope creep trap I'm aware of that and I'm guilty of adding mechanics for adding mechanics' sake. I do have most implemented already and I have denied myself from adding more. Apart from the fairies already in this demo, there is only another one. There are 3 more toads though and I'm thinking how to reduce their amount if possible.
>That said, I would include some more difficult (optional) puzzles early on. The first time playing I remember thinking "Huh, this game is pretty easy." If that happens during the Steam refund window, it would be a problem of course. I have been putting the more complex puzzles as bonus to not stump casual players. I will bet on showing that there are a lot of levels and mechanics to keep the player hooked.
>Fortunately, since I have no idea how to actually die there Keep annoying the gray toad. I put the method in the post just now, in case other people don't know it.
>timed puzzles These puzzles are very lax on timing, even more using the time stop mechanic. Maybe I'm used to puzzle platformers with brutal timings though. Also one thing that people don't seem to realize is that you can wait for the second time a toad attacks to position yourself properly. No need to do everything in one go.
>8: Good puzzle, feels like the first time I have to double poke a toad. A puzzle in the second world also requires it. You didn't mention it was easy/hard, how difficult did you find it? I feel it is too straightforward and solves itself.
>(what's the point of the long dotted line if you're just going to move the indicator straight to the flag?) Silly fun.
>Very straightforward puzzle, required no thinking. I will need to monitor this puzzle, it is not supossed to be so simple.
I don't quite understand this since I haven't modified puzzles for the animations. I did make the action part easier and easier increasing times though.
I meant it in relation to other puzzle games. Compare adding content to Baba is You, to what you have to do to add content to your game. So obviously you will be limited in mechanics since every fairy needs its animations. It wasn't a criticism, just an observation.
A puzzle in the second world also requires it. You didn't mention it was easy/hard, how difficult did you find it? I feel it is too straightforward and solves itself.
It was straightforward indeed, I thought it was just to show that you can double poke toads, but apparently not. The solving itself part seems to be the case in many of the newer levels, but I guess that's just because you haven't added alternative wrong solutions yet to make the actual solution less obvious.
I'm amazed this seems to be the case at the moment, I have heard people say similar things. Specially since in the past it was the opposite.
Seeing the art of the mage fairies, I can understand why :)
These puzzles are very lax on timing, even more using the time stop mechanic.
I guess I'm just not used to it. Especially since it was never the case in the other levels and I think you even had a textbox explaining that that would never be the solution (or something like that). But it isn't a problem to include such things though.
I meant it in relation to other puzzle games. Compare adding content to Baba is You, to what you have to do to add content to your game. So obviously you will be limited in mechanics since every fairy needs its animations. It wasn't a criticism, just an observation.
Yeah, it requires a lot more work in that regard.
Seeing the art of the mage fairies, I can understand why :)
These fairies will always hold a place in my heart.
I guess I'm just not used to it. Especially since it was never the case in the other levels and I think you even had a textbox explaining that that would never be the solution (or something like that). But it isn't a problem to include such things though.
The problem with timed puzzles is that people will try to find them in places that doesn't have them. Some of my testers found convoluted solutions that involved very narrow time frames and ton of reflexes. So I need players to understand the timing will always be generous so they don't try to follow complicated plans (and get frustrated in the process).
Charming and extremely fun! I loved the consistent attention to detail; poking a gray frog 10 times, launching fairies into the stratosphere, the idle animations, man it's just all great. Really loved this one.
Cute as always! The extra levels got unlocked for me even when I completed the first level normally. Then when I went back to the map, the test icon was gone.
I will say it again because it doesn't hurt: there is a whole new world with 10+ NEW PUZZLES, but hidden. To unlock that world you have to LOSE the first level. "Try again" must appear on the screen when you lose. Once that happens you will hear the victory music. Go to the map and the new world will be unlocked.
I'm looking for feedback on those levels mostly, the rest of the game is pretty much the same as last DD.
EDIT: if you don't know how to lose the first level, here is a tip: keep poking the gray toad.
Comments
This was a great DD, thanks to everyone who posted comments and made videos about the new levels. As always, I really appreciate it.
With the upcoming DD50, the levels including the witch fairy will be archived. To save them for posterity, I created a repository that includes them plus other DD demos. It can be found here https://la-fafafa.itch.io/poke-all-toads-dd-repository pass: apoketothepast
Still a really solid game! Keep it up.
Thank for playing and the kind words!
wow the main character of this game is literally me
very cute solid only thing i can really wish for is to be able to poke the other fairies, especially the busy one, shes asking for it
Thanks for playing!
Lol I was thinking about that in streams when you were hanging out in the chat.
I will have fairy-poking for next DD for sure.
I'm very bad at it, but it's a lot of fun. Summoned fairy seems nice, I hope you keep her demeanor when you give her non-placeholder sprites.
Small QoL-improvement: I feel like it would make sense to automatically switch control from witch to summon-fairy when you summon her; I can't think of any situations where you'd summon and not want to move.
Thanks for playing!
I want to make the green fairy the happiest fairy, has been planning for that even before drawing the blue one.
Thats a nice suggestion. It makes sense since the witch fairy cannot move after summoning. I will try it out.
Hey La_Fafafa here's the video of me playing the new test levels:
https://mega.nz/file/aU12XZqI#9EBKaEtLzhai1UmuuxJeGbbZ9zrtAn0urqwvobNSz5s
of course as last time, there is a lot of just thinking, but I hope did a good job at vocalizing my puzzle solving process.
Thanks for playing and great video!
You were about to beat the bonus level on a first try then went with a different idea. I have changed the level to invalidate the complicated solution.
I adjusted bridge 2 to make it less finnicky
For bridge 3, yeah the strong fairy is not really needed. She could be a green fairy. In past versions of the puzzle it was necessary to throw fairies. I left her in because I like to give options to the player, even when they are not helpful. Also lol when you made a plan to throw the fairy from the green button, but it wasn't far enough.
I have been trying to be careful about shooting angles, but I will try to be even more in the future. It is complicated, it is a fine line between making them easy to use once figured out and not making them obvious to spoil a solution.
Yeah it looks like I just over complicated so of those puzzles, and made it harder for myself. I like the new green fairy mechanic. It's really neat.
Loved the new levels. I really don't have much more than that hah. The witch is great, would be cool to see even more different level features. Keep it up.
Thanks for playing! I will try to put new levels for next DD, since it is really helpful for testing and adjusting new mechanics.
Only played the test levels.
For whatever reason the logic just clicked, so I found the difficulty to be on par, maybe even a little easier than the main game. So fairly easy levels, with one or two that I got stuck on for a bit before the eureka. The harder ones this time were Bridge2, Bridge3, and the bonus stage I think. The moving planet in the BG was a nice touch, looked nice without being distracting.
Good job, hope to see more puzzles, or even an official look for the witch fairy next time.
Thanks for testing the new levels!
From what I have seen the witch fairy's ability seems to not be intuitive for a lot of players, sometimes including myself. I designed puzzles around making the witch fairy stuck somewhere, but people find lines of play where you can get her out of that place.
Bridge 2 is the most complicated level of the bunch, followed by the bonus stage but that could be because it had some design issues. Bridge 3 some people have told me it is incredibly easy, maybe because it is right after bridge 2.
cool puzzle game, very charming
Thanks for playing!
This time I skipped the regular levels because I've finished this game twice so my feedback will mostly be directed at the test levels.
I think they are pretty good for the most part. I definitely prefer timed puzzles that use the game's mechanics (i. e. swapping to a fairy that's about to be eaten to perform an action ) rather than having a button that acts as a hard timer like last time. The bonus level in particular falls under the category of "I know the solution but I'm having trouble with the execution" as you effectively have to juggle 2 different timers. All things considered, I think it's fine for a bonus level to do stuff like that.
Out of the common levels Bridge 2 took me the longest to solve, even more than the bonus level. I think that's because I thought keeping the summoned fairy around was a 200 IQ move instead of wasting a resource in what must be the puzzle game equivalent of hoarding potions.
Finally, stellar animations and art style as usual. I look forward to seeing the final design of the witch fairy. Here's a little fairy I made.
Thanks for testing out the new levels! And that fairy and toad drawing is perfect!
I prefer levels in this way too, I will keep that in mind when designing new levels with the timed buttons
That level is a callback to a bonus level in map 2 and can be beaten without time pressure using pretty much the same positions as that one. I will see if I can modify it so people find the less reflex dependent solution first.
That seems the general case about that level. I designed bridge 2 with the idea that it was a middle of the road difficulty speaking, but it appears to be really challenging. It will be turned into a bonus level for sure.
I got filtered hard by the test levels. Got stuck on 7. Bonus level seemed really easy in comparison. EDIT: Completed all levels. I completed 7 last. I don't know why I couldn't find the solution earlier, but there was something unintuitive about it. The hardest level overall I think is 3. Also I kept confusing the summoner with the summon.
Thanks for playing and trying the new levels out! The difficulties in the new puzzles is all over the place, so thanks for sharing your experience. I will make sure to make both fairies look different in the final graphics.
I'm basing this mostly on my experience from playing the DD48 version. This DD I only played the test levels.
Normal Content:
Extra Levels:
The extra levels just unlocked after being the first level. Fortunately, since I have no idea how to actually die there. I played through them and put down my short thoughts.
The new idle animations are amazing btw.
Thanks for playing and trying out the new levels!
>Very cute game, primarily carried by the characters and character animation
I'm amazed this seems to be the case at the moment, I have heard people say similar things. Specially since in the past it was the opposite. I'm happy about it though.
>The puzzles are decent, but are clearly held back by the requirement to have (extremely nice) animations for the fairies
I don't quite understand this since I haven't modified puzzles for the animations. I did make the action part easier and easier increasing times though.
>Did you try to get featured as a Godot game?
I don't believe it will make much of a difference. The few times I tried to promote the godot part things went nowhere. I could give it a second shot but I'm not holding my hopes up. Also it is basically promoting the game to other devs. Promoting it to streamers and youtubers could be lot more useful though, which is a nice idea.
>Your main draw will be the cute animations and aesthetic, not hardcore puzzle solving
Yeah, my puzzles will be on the easy side of things. Cute characters like the fairies will draw a more casual audience after all.
>So be careful not to fall into the scope creep trap
I'm aware of that and I'm guilty of adding mechanics for adding mechanics' sake. I do have most implemented already and I have denied myself from adding more. Apart from the fairies already in this demo, there is only another one. There are 3 more toads though and I'm thinking how to reduce their amount if possible.
>That said, I would include some more difficult (optional) puzzles early on. The first time playing I remember thinking "Huh, this game is pretty easy." If that happens during the Steam refund window, it would be a problem of course.
I have been putting the more complex puzzles as bonus to not stump casual players. I will bet on showing that there are a lot of levels and mechanics to keep the player hooked.
>Fortunately, since I have no idea how to actually die there
Keep annoying the gray toad. I put the method in the post just now, in case other people don't know it.
>timed puzzles
These puzzles are very lax on timing, even more using the time stop mechanic. Maybe I'm used to puzzle platformers with brutal timings though. Also one thing that people don't seem to realize is that you can wait for the second time a toad attacks to position yourself properly. No need to do everything in one go.
>8: Good puzzle, feels like the first time I have to double poke a toad.
A puzzle in the second world also requires it. You didn't mention it was easy/hard, how difficult did you find it? I feel it is too straightforward and solves itself.
>(what's the point of the long dotted line if you're just going to move the indicator straight to the flag?)
Silly fun.
>Very straightforward puzzle, required no thinking.
I will need to monitor this puzzle, it is not supossed to be so simple.
Thanks for the detailed feedback!
I meant it in relation to other puzzle games. Compare adding content to Baba is You, to what you have to do to add content to your game. So obviously you will be limited in mechanics since every fairy needs its animations. It wasn't a criticism, just an observation.
It was straightforward indeed, I thought it was just to show that you can double poke toads, but apparently not. The solving itself part seems to be the case in many of the newer levels, but I guess that's just because you haven't added alternative wrong solutions yet to make the actual solution less obvious.
Seeing the art of the mage fairies, I can understand why :)
I guess I'm just not used to it. Especially since it was never the case in the other levels and I think you even had a textbox explaining that that would never be the solution (or something like that). But it isn't a problem to include such things though.
Yeah, it requires a lot more work in that regard.
These fairies will always hold a place in my heart.
The problem with timed puzzles is that people will try to find them in places that doesn't have them. Some of my testers found convoluted solutions that involved very narrow time frames and ton of reflexes. So I need players to understand the timing will always be generous so they don't try to follow complicated plans (and get frustrated in the process).
Charming and extremely fun! I loved the consistent attention to detail; poking a gray frog 10 times, launching fairies into the stratosphere, the idle animations, man it's just all great. Really loved this one.
Thanks for playing! I'm very happy you liked all the flavor animations and small interactions, it is something I enjoy adding to the game.
Cute as always, I love the animations
Thank you! The animations have been fun to make.
Cute as always! The extra levels got unlocked for me even when I completed the first level normally. Then when I went back to the map, the test icon was gone.
I knew a last minute addition was going to malfunction. Thanks for the early notice, fixed it and updated the demo.
It's really fucking fun
Thanks for playing!
I will say it again because it doesn't hurt: there is a whole new world with 10+ NEW PUZZLES, but hidden. To unlock that world you have to LOSE the first level. "Try again" must appear on the screen when you lose. Once that happens you will hear the victory music. Go to the map and the new world will be unlocked.
I'm looking for feedback on those levels mostly, the rest of the game is pretty much the same as last DD.
EDIT: if you don't know how to lose the first level, here is a tip: keep poking the gray toad.