I like the concept a lot, but I don't really like the controls. They seem kind of finicky and oversensitive, though I might just not be used to them. Using the mouse to control angle+thrust would be neat, but also make the game a lot easier. Maybe to maintain some difficulty you'd make the player click away from themselves and aim the balloon/thrust instead of just putting the mouse where they want to go.
Walls/floor friction making you lose your velocity beyond simply bouncing off them felt kind of bad, I'd expect to be able to slide along them.
I could maybe see this being one of those low-budget streamer rage-bait games if you wanted to push it in that direction. Like Jump King, etc.
I think it looks cute! The sprites and the VFX are nice.
Immediatly after starting to play, the sound of the baloon bugged out and it just continued to play, so I ended up muting it.
Regarding the controls, you've probably got used to them and you're pretty good at the game, right? But um, I didn't quite like them personally, it felt a bit sluggish. A lot of latency on the input too, which doesn't feel very good. The latency also seems to be changing depending on how long you're holding the direction keys. Holding a single key also makes everything bug out.
It's bit weird how the ballon interacts with gravity. Namely, when you start accelerating, whichever vertical speed you had stays constant. This is weird, because it means that if you're one the ground and you accelerate horizontally off a cliff, you won't fall. But if you're dropping from a distance and then accelerate horizontally, you keep falling. So there's like a lack of inertia, I guess it's the word, but only when you're accelerating. Something similar happens horizontally when you accelerate vertically.
Have a video of me playing the game. I didn't beat it because it bugged out at the end, sent me back like 3 screens, and I tilted:
It's become obvious the controls are not up to snuff, im thinking i'll make the balloon rotate on key taps instead of holding, that might give more control (+ more player gas). any other suggestions are welcome.
do you have any suggestions on the whole gravity part or is it something you can get used to?
>It's become obvious the controls are not up to snuff, im thinking i'll make the balloon rotate on key taps instead of holding, that might give more control (+ more player gas). any other suggestions are welcome.
Yeah, I actually ended up tapping instead of holding, since I realized you're locking the angle into 8 directions. You could also just free that restriction and allow the player to accelerate in every angle, but I feel like you tried that and didn't like it.
>do you have any suggestions on the whole gravity part or is it something you can get used to?
I mean, just like you did, I could probably get used to it. Regarding alternatives, I'd say adding some dampening to the speed in the Y axis. So, if you're falling, and then you start accelerating to the right, the speed on the Y axis should gradually go to 0. Same deal if you have non-zero speed in the X axis and you start going up, or in any direction really, so that you gradually end up moving wherever you're accelerating towards. That feels more intuitive to me, but at the end of the day it's your call. Good luck man.
Played it for 20 minutes or so. Made it to the third appearance of bounce mushrooms, but once moving spikes started being a thing my progress/frustration ratio got too high.
I had a lot of trouble aiming the balloon. Tapping the arrow keys seems like it would often rotate the balloon two steps, and then I'd have to correct, which risked overshooting again. This may just be a "me" problem.
It also bothered me how quickly you lose horizontal momentum.
Something feels really off about the movement. Like sometimes it felt like giving the same amount of thrust at the same angle gave very different changes in velocity. Maybe I'm crazy.
yes the controls are too janky, i need to improve. any suggestions/ideas are welcome. Im thinking a first step is to make rotation only on taps instead of holding it and giving the player more gas, ive accidentally made it too punishing. movement speeds should be normalized, only time it exceeds the max speed is when bouncing on a mushroom but i woudnt rule out a bug somewhere either.
Making it tap-only would definitely be the main thing. I'd try it with just that before changing anything else. The other complaints were just quirks, while the overturning felt like an actual control problem and the guy I saw stream it seemed to have the same issue.
Giving the player more gas could be a difficulty modifier? Like the current amount could be Hard, with Normal being more lenient and Easy regenerating over time. Another modifier could be the strength of gravity.
1. The balloon shouldn't give out a noise as loud, and it should stop when the player isn't pressing down or if there is no movent. It's just so loud
2. Make hidden walls after each area so you don't accidentally have to repeat an area when accidentally hitting restart when going backwards by accident
Comments
I like the concept a lot, but I don't really like the controls. They seem kind of finicky and oversensitive, though I might just not be used to them. Using the mouse to control angle+thrust would be neat, but also make the game a lot easier. Maybe to maintain some difficulty you'd make the player click away from themselves and aim the balloon/thrust instead of just putting the mouse where they want to go.
Walls/floor friction making you lose your velocity beyond simply bouncing off them felt kind of bad, I'd expect to be able to slide along them.
I could maybe see this being one of those low-budget streamer rage-bait games if you wanted to push it in that direction. Like Jump King, etc.
Good feedback! Controls will be updated. I actually want it to be quite a casual game so work will be done to make it smoother.
thank you for playing :)!
Very cute game.
The controls are a bit hard for my boomer rheumatic hands.
Will make it more boomer friendly! thanks for playing!
'Sup, played it.
I think it looks cute! The sprites and the VFX are nice.
Immediatly after starting to play, the sound of the baloon bugged out and it just continued to play, so I ended up muting it.
Regarding the controls, you've probably got used to them and you're pretty good at the game, right? But um, I didn't quite like them personally, it felt a bit sluggish. A lot of latency on the input too, which doesn't feel very good. The latency also seems to be changing depending on how long you're holding the direction keys. Holding a single key also makes everything bug out.
It's bit weird how the ballon interacts with gravity. Namely, when you start accelerating, whichever vertical speed you had stays constant. This is weird, because it means that if you're one the ground and you accelerate horizontally off a cliff, you won't fall. But if you're dropping from a distance and then accelerate horizontally, you keep falling. So there's like a lack of inertia, I guess it's the word, but only when you're accelerating. Something similar happens horizontally when you accelerate vertically.
Have a video of me playing the game. I didn't beat it because it bugged out at the end, sent me back like 3 screens, and I tilted:
thanks for playing and sorry for the tilting lol!
It's become obvious the controls are not up to snuff, im thinking i'll make the balloon rotate on key taps instead of holding, that might give more control (+ more player gas). any other suggestions are welcome.
do you have any suggestions on the whole gravity part or is it something you can get used to?
>It's become obvious the controls are not up to snuff, im thinking i'll make the balloon rotate on key taps instead of holding, that might give more control (+ more player gas). any other suggestions are welcome.
Yeah, I actually ended up tapping instead of holding, since I realized you're locking the angle into 8 directions. You could also just free that restriction and allow the player to accelerate in every angle, but I feel like you tried that and didn't like it.
>do you have any suggestions on the whole gravity part or is it something you can get used to?
I mean, just like you did, I could probably get used to it. Regarding alternatives, I'd say adding some dampening to the speed in the Y axis. So, if you're falling, and then you start accelerating to the right, the speed on the Y axis should gradually go to 0. Same deal if you have non-zero speed in the X axis and you start going up, or in any direction really, so that you gradually end up moving wherever you're accelerating towards. That feels more intuitive to me, but at the end of the day it's your call. Good luck man.
good stuff, i started implementing the damping last night actually. Simple tweaks but it feels better already.
Played it for 20 minutes or so. Made it to the third appearance of bounce mushrooms, but once moving spikes started being a thing my progress/frustration ratio got too high.
I had a lot of trouble aiming the balloon. Tapping the arrow keys seems like it would often rotate the balloon two steps, and then I'd have to correct, which risked overshooting again. This may just be a "me" problem.
It also bothered me how quickly you lose horizontal momentum.
Something feels really off about the movement. Like sometimes it felt like giving the same amount of thrust at the same angle gave very different changes in velocity. Maybe I'm crazy.
Thanks for playing, great feedback!
yes the controls are too janky, i need to improve. any suggestions/ideas are welcome. Im thinking a first step is to make rotation only on taps instead of holding it and giving the player more gas, ive accidentally made it too punishing. movement speeds should be normalized, only time it exceeds the max speed is when bouncing on a mushroom but i woudnt rule out a bug somewhere either.
Making it tap-only would definitely be the main thing. I'd try it with just that before changing anything else. The other complaints were just quirks, while the overturning felt like an actual control problem and the guy I saw stream it seemed to have the same issue.
Giving the player more gas could be a difficulty modifier? Like the current amount could be Hard, with Normal being more lenient and Easy regenerating over time. Another modifier could be the strength of gravity.
the movement is really hard to control. feels a bit janky even
the balloon noise was awful tho. i was annoyed after a little while
i still kinda like it. could be a fun little game with a few adjustments to the movement
Thanks! any suggestions on how to improve the controls are welcome.
Sounds is so hard to get right lol i might fade out the balloon noise after the initial key press.
1. The balloon shouldn't give out a noise as loud, and it should stop when the player isn't pressing down or if there is no movent. It's just so loud
2. Make hidden walls after each area so you don't accidentally have to repeat an area when accidentally hitting restart when going backwards by accident
outside of that it good
thanks for playing!
1. yes sorry, sounds arent normalized. Balloon should fade out when there's no upwards velocity, must be a bug
2. yes good idea