-Sound is only on or off? Not even a 1-5 selection or, god forbid, slider?
-New puzzle elements are being introduced rather intuitively so that even an idiot could understand -"Pinball wizard" gave me a bit of time to solve -"Right choice" was anothert tricky one -"The arena" suffers from the fact that you basically have to make a leap of faith if you have a bad memory and can't scroll the screen a bit. Really made me have a big think -Game opening up after a couple of puzzles to give you alternate paths to take feels really good -Would really love to have some secrets and alternate puzzle solving paths as well -Where is the 12th book? Judging by the place in the list, it's supposed to be after the "Juxtaposition" , unless they are filled up in order you get them and not based on location.. -Ah, there it is. No idea what the code is for.
-I keep seeing this horrible font pop up and its numerous iterations. At this point I'm going to look for a good 8-bit font and post it somewhere so that people would get something readable and pleasant-looking in their games. Granted this instance is not the worst offender. -Cute turtle -Probably could be even better despite looking so simple
-OST transition when changing screens could be cleaner -OST really reminds me of Tower of Heaven -Lack of SFX doesn't hurt, but some victory jingle when the door opens and some other subdued system sounds would be a wonderful addition
Good, small, has 2 out of 4 (I assume) areas completed in just 2 demo days. Thank you anon, very nice. Again, got that "Newgrounds Weekly/Monthly top 3" feeling to it
Thanks for the feedback! Yeah will be putting in a sound slider, the toggle was a quick fix after destroying everyone’s eardrums with no way to adjust at DD50.
It seems the consensus on the big screen puzzles is that they aren’t fun. That “leap of faith” description hits the nail on the head. I’ll either figure out a way to have an overview of the level, break them up into smaller sections, or just get rid of them.
I’ve found it difficult finding a readable font that fits in the GB tile size limitations. Will hopefully find something better for the next demo.
I appreciate the quick R, but Z-undo is also standard for sokoban clones. There's like 2 things moving on screen so you could just make an array of the last 1000 game states
Played without sound
I would replace the books that permanently disappear and you have to press E on with something simpler: If you are standing on a book, you can read the book. If you press any movement keys while reading, you step away from the book and stop reading. Disregard this idea if the E interaction on the books is meant to teach a future mechanic
The ice streaks don't reset on first death (intentional? if so, have another set of ice streaks sprites that are more worn away). R doesn't work during the death animation.
Rapidly tapping right then down will drop the down input.
Holding right then tapping down while still holding right will drop the down input.
Anti-clockwise was kind of a big difficulty spike, but its fine since its the last level before introducing a new mechanic.
Make an L shaped ice streak sprite for corners in your path
I didn’t know about Z-undo. I’ll have a think about implementing a full-on undo system, but not sure if that will fit the overall game style I’m going for in the long run (it’s not exactly a pure sokoban).
Good idea with a secondary colour for ice streaks. I want the player to be able to see their previous attempt, but it does get mixed up with the current attempt. L-shaped streak added to the list!
Fun slide puzzler! First time playing, I enjoyed the visuals and music as well as the little bit of story there was. I forgot to take a picture of the end screen, but it was about 35+ minutes and I was on the Hall of Eternity for the longest.
There was a lack of SFX, like a puzzle complete jingle, falling/respawn, breaking an obstacle, etc. As said by others the book text could be better. For a couple of the larger puzzles you didn't include ample terrain to walk around and see the whole thing, which isn't too great. Might be able to use a binoculars mechanic or something to see the entirety.
Think that's about it, game's looking really good keep it up.
As you have have seen in other comments, SFX is top of the list for next time. Good to know the text is an issue for someone else, will sort that out too. The bigger puzzles definitely need looking at. I like your binoculars idea, reminds me of the telescopes in Tunic that let you zoom out and see the area.
Very nice game, though the levels that are two screens big are hard to follow. The level I got stuck on might be the hardest level of the demo.
The game crashed on me while fiddling with OBS and then on the end screen. The OBS crash happened to me before on my own godot game, so it was not something out of the ordinary.
The chest that I opened went back to being closed.
Thanks for the gameplay vid! You missed that you could drop down from some ledges by walking off the edge, like where you get the second chest. Suppose that means it needs to be made more obvious.
Congrats for powering through. Lots of people had trouble with those large-screen puzzles. I guess they’re harder than I thought.
Your “longest solve time” stat won’t be accurate as the clock resets when you exit/re-enter the room. Someone in the thread pointed this out too, I’ll fix that for next time.
I haven’t properly implemented the chest system yet, so they both reclose when you go back to those rooms. Hopefully I’ll have the inventory sorted for next demo day!
Got a bit of dissonance at first from the zelda style graphics with tile-based movement. Do you plan to add puzzles other than pokemon ice puzzles? Also the text in the books is a bit hard to read.
I’ll be adding twists on the initial ice puzzles, i.e. adding more mechanics as the game progresses. Like in the later levels of this demo the pushable blocks start being used in the sliding puzzles. But so far the plan is to keep it the game scoped to these maze-like sokoban things.
I’ll look into a more legible font, or change the line spacing or something.
Still a very nice game, nice to see more Pokemon staples like pushable blocks and Surf. The maps that don't fit a single view are annoying though. Not being able to see the entire puzzle makes it feel trial and error.
Thanks for the feedback! I’m sure there will be a fun way to implement these big screen puzzles. If everyone finds them frustrating maybe I just need to design them better. If they’re still frustrating then they will go.
I’m guessing your missing book is in the secret room. Like in the last demo there’s an illusory wall somewhere.
Charming game, puzzles are clever and I like the little touches you added like how your character leaves a trail in the blue area that stays there after you fall (yeah I died a couple times in the blue area I'm stupid I know)
My only real suggestions are, as sndein said, you should add sound effects, and the exit of The Arena is open by default. Not sure if that's intentional or if you just forgot to make the puzzle mandatory.
The music is amazing; the smooth transitions to new screens is great. You need more sound effects for the smaller stuff though like unlocking doors, maybe footsteps, reading book UI sound fx, maybe a stairs stepping sound effect or something when you walk through transition doors?
Tutorial design is really good you introduce stuff better than me for sure. The setting of mount su-meru is really good I think you do even more with the story like death skeletons with notes left behind with more lore there is a ton you could do with it than just books laying around.
I wanted more to the gameplay like combat; but if you wanna have something that isn't too similar to zelda's combat consider a gun, or whip, idk some weapon that doesn't work like a sword and shield does and will still make the game unique puzzles alone wont be enough for the gameplay I dont want you to suffer like me and my puzzle platformer shit game as much as I enjoy puzzle only games and you might too its HARD to sell them to modern gamers and make a living.
if possible zooming /in/out the camera for bigger puzzle sections would be cool but I'm not sure if its possible with whatever engine this is made in.
Thanks for the feedback, Boku! Glad you like the music, it’s a bunch of old tracks I had lying around. I’ll eventually be replacing with original BGM that (if I can figure it out) adapts to gameplay. Sound effects is next on my list, was hoping to have them ready for this demo day but ran out of time.
I’ll be unlikely to add combat, but you never know. I’m not concerned about appealing to a wide audience or becoming a millionaire: I’m making a niche game based on a mechanic that most people hated. I’m making this game because I find it <spoiler>fun</spoiler>
Based on everyone’s feedback I got to fix something to make the big levels fun. Can’t zoom as I’m sticking close to Game Boy restrictions: the pixels you see are all I got.
Graphics and music are still wonderful. Charming and go together perfectly. I like all the small additions like the trails you leave in the ice, the spinning animation and the little save indicator in the corner.
The game needs some sound effects.
Level reset on death seems a little abrupt. I get that it needs to be quick as you'll be dying a lot (a lesson I should learn myself) but at least having the player enter through the doorway again instead of just appearing in front of it could make it look a bit nicer.
The font in the books is hard to read. Considering the generous line spacing I think a 5x7 font could fit just fine and be much nicer to read.
The walk animation could need some syncing to movement speed, seems a little slow.
Movement on non-ice tiles feels a little jerky, as if the character pauses for a frame on every tile.
Don't have much to say about the gameplay itself as it mostly just werks. Puzzles are well designed, difficulty ramps up at a good pace. It's great.
I really liked that puzzle with the river where you have to complete two separate puzzles to complete the bridge with the push blocks.
On the second puzzle in The Great Hall the camera should scroll ahead so you can see the entire puzzle before you step on the ice. In general with the larger puzzles I noticed that I couldn't always see what I wanted to see but this one was most apparent.
Thanks for the great feedback! The title is long but like “Zelda” I’m sure anyone who cares will just drop the extraneous words.
Sound effects are next on my list! Wanted to have them ready this demo day but ran out of time.
Thanks for reminding me of my need of a respawn animation. One of those things that was planned but I forgot about before I started writing things down. Added to the list.
Someone else has mentioned the font. I’ll look for a better font or find some other way to improve legability.
Yeah I know what you mean about non-ice movement not being smooth. I think I might have to re-write the movement logic to get rid of the stutter. Won’t be a top priority for now but will definitely add to my to-do list as these small bits of jank all add up.
Others have mentioned not finding the large puzzles as fun. Maybe a pan across the room before you gain control might help? If I can’t make them fun they’ll go.
I currently don’t have a GNU plus Linux machine to test on but I’ll see if I can dig out an old laptop for next time.
Comments
-Sound is only on or off? Not even a 1-5 selection or, god forbid, slider?
-New puzzle elements are being introduced rather intuitively so that even an idiot could understand
-"Pinball wizard" gave me a bit of time to solve
-"Right choice" was anothert tricky one
-"The arena" suffers from the fact that you basically have to make a leap of faith if you have a bad memory and can't scroll the screen a bit. Really made me have a big think
-Game opening up after a couple of puzzles to give you alternate paths to take feels really good
-Would really love to have some secrets and alternate puzzle solving paths as well
-Where is the 12th book? Judging by the place in the list, it's supposed to be after the "Juxtaposition" , unless they are filled up in order you get them and not based on location..
-Ah, there it is. No idea what the code is for.
-I keep seeing this horrible font pop up and its numerous iterations. At this point I'm going to look for a good 8-bit font and post it somewhere so that people would get something readable and pleasant-looking in their games. Granted this instance is not the worst offender.
-Cute turtle
-Probably could be even better despite looking so simple
-OST transition when changing screens could be cleaner
-OST really reminds me of Tower of Heaven
-Lack of SFX doesn't hurt, but some victory jingle when the door opens and some other subdued system sounds would be a wonderful addition
Good, small, has 2 out of 4 (I assume) areas completed in just 2 demo days. Thank you anon, very nice. Again, got that "Newgrounds Weekly/Monthly top 3" feeling to it
Hate slide puzzles, though.
Thanks for the feedback! Yeah will be putting in a sound slider, the toggle was a quick fix after destroying everyone’s eardrums with no way to adjust at DD50.
It seems the consensus on the big screen puzzles is that they aren’t fun. That “leap of faith” description hits the nail on the head. I’ll either figure out a way to have an overview of the level, break them up into smaller sections, or just get rid of them.
I’ve found it difficult finding a readable font that fits in the GB tile size limitations. Will hopefully find something better for the next demo.
I appreciate the quick R, but Z-undo is also standard for sokoban clones. There's like 2 things moving on screen so you could just make an array of the last 1000 game states
Played without sound
I would replace the books that permanently disappear and you have to press E on with something simpler: If you are standing on a book, you can read the book. If you press any movement keys while reading, you step away from the book and stop reading. Disregard this idea if the E interaction on the books is meant to teach a future mechanic
The ice streaks don't reset on first death (intentional? if so, have another set of ice streaks sprites that are more worn away). R doesn't work during the death animation.
Rapidly tapping right then down will drop the down input.
Holding right then tapping down while still holding right will drop the down input.
Anti-clockwise was kind of a big difficulty spike, but its fine since its the last level before introducing a new mechanic.
Make an L shaped ice streak sprite for corners in your path
Thanks for the detailed feedback!
I didn’t know about Z-undo. I’ll have a think about implementing a full-on undo system, but not sure if that will fit the overall game style I’m going for in the long run (it’s not exactly a pure sokoban).
Good idea with a secondary colour for ice streaks. I want the player to be able to see their previous attempt, but it does get mixed up with the current attempt. L-shaped streak added to the list!
I’ll investigate that movement bug too.
I found a funny bug
It’s not a bug it’s a feature.
(I think I forgot to reset a sprite flip in one of my animations, thanks for letting me know)
Fun slide puzzler! First time playing, I enjoyed the visuals and music as well as the little bit of story there was. I forgot to take a picture of the end screen, but it was about 35+ minutes and I was on the Hall of Eternity for the longest.
There was a lack of SFX, like a puzzle complete jingle, falling/respawn, breaking an obstacle, etc. As said by others the book text could be better. For a couple of the larger puzzles you didn't include ample terrain to walk around and see the whole thing, which isn't too great. Might be able to use a binoculars mechanic or something to see the entirety.
Think that's about it, game's looking really good keep it up.
Thanks for the feedback!
As you have have seen in other comments, SFX is top of the list for next time. Good to know the text is an issue for someone else, will sort that out too. The bigger puzzles definitely need looking at. I like your binoculars idea, reminds me of the telescopes in Tunic that let you zoom out and see the area.
Finished the demo
Very nice game, though the levels that are two screens big are hard to follow. The level I got stuck on might be the hardest level of the demo.
The game crashed on me while fiddling with OBS and then on the end screen. The OBS crash happened to me before on my own godot game, so it was not something out of the ordinary.
The chest that I opened went back to being closed.
Thanks for the gameplay vid! You missed that you could drop down from some ledges by walking off the edge, like where you get the second chest. Suppose that means it needs to be made more obvious.
Congrats for powering through. Lots of people had trouble with those large-screen puzzles. I guess they’re harder than I thought.
Your “longest solve time” stat won’t be accurate as the clock resets when you exit/re-enter the room. Someone in the thread pointed this out too, I’ll fix that for next time.
I haven’t properly implemented the chest system yet, so they both reclose when you go back to those rooms. Hopefully I’ll have the inventory sorted for next demo day!
Got a bit of dissonance at first from the zelda style graphics with tile-based movement. Do you plan to add puzzles other than pokemon ice puzzles? Also the text in the books is a bit hard to read.
I’ll be adding twists on the initial ice puzzles, i.e. adding more mechanics as the game progresses. Like in the later levels of this demo the pushable blocks start being used in the sliding puzzles. But so far the plan is to keep it the game scoped to these maze-like sokoban things.
I’ll look into a more legible font, or change the line spacing or something.
Still a very nice game, nice to see more Pokemon staples like pushable blocks and Surf. The maps that don't fit a single view are annoying though. Not being able to see the entire puzzle makes it feel trial and error.
I have no idea where the final book might be.
Thanks for the feedback! I’m sure there will be a fun way to implement these big screen puzzles. If everyone finds them frustrating maybe I just need to design them better. If they’re still frustrating then they will go.
I’m guessing your missing book is in the secret room. Like in the last demo there’s an illusory wall somewhere.
>implying this was hard to find
Charming game, puzzles are clever and I like the little touches you added like how your character leaves a trail in the blue area that stays there after you fall (yeah I died a couple times in the blue area I'm stupid I know)
My only real suggestions are, as sndein said, you should add sound effects, and the exit of The Arena is open by default. Not sure if that's intentional or if you just forgot to make the puzzle mandatory.
Good work.
Sound effects was on my to-do list for this demo day but I ran out of time. Main priority for next time!
Missing door was a dumb oversight. I forgot to put it there. Is fixed now.
I hate pixel shit but somehow I rike this game.
The music is amazing; the smooth transitions to new screens is great. You need more sound effects for the smaller stuff though like unlocking doors, maybe footsteps, reading book UI sound fx, maybe a stairs stepping sound effect or something when you walk through transition doors?
Tutorial design is really good you introduce stuff better than me for sure. The setting of mount su-meru is really good I think you do even more with the story like death skeletons with notes left behind with more lore there is a ton you could do with it than just books laying around.
I wanted more to the gameplay like combat; but if you wanna have something that isn't too similar to zelda's combat consider a gun, or whip, idk some weapon that doesn't work like a sword and shield does and will still make the game unique puzzles alone wont be enough for the gameplay I dont want you to suffer like me and my puzzle platformer shit game as much as I enjoy puzzle only games and you might too its HARD to sell them to modern gamers and make a living.
if possible zooming /in/out the camera for bigger puzzle sections would be cool but I'm not sure if its possible with whatever engine this is made in.
Thanks for the feedback, Boku! Glad you like the music, it’s a bunch of old tracks I had lying around. I’ll eventually be replacing with original BGM that (if I can figure it out) adapts to gameplay. Sound effects is next on my list, was hoping to have them ready for this demo day but ran out of time.
I’ll be unlikely to add combat, but you never know. I’m not concerned about appealing to a wide audience or becoming a millionaire: I’m making a niche game based on a mechanic that most people hated. I’m making this game because I find it <spoiler>fun</spoiler>
Based on everyone’s feedback I got to fix something to make the big levels fun. Can’t zoom as I’m sticking close to Game Boy restrictions: the pixels you see are all I got.
I still absolutely love this.
The new title is a bit long imo.
Graphics and music are still wonderful. Charming and go together perfectly. I like all the small additions like the trails you leave in the ice, the spinning animation and the little save indicator in the corner.
The game needs some sound effects.
Level reset on death seems a little abrupt. I get that it needs to be quick as you'll be dying a lot (a lesson I should learn myself) but at least having the player enter through the doorway again instead of just appearing in front of it could make it look a bit nicer.
The font in the books is hard to read. Considering the generous line spacing I think a 5x7 font could fit just fine and be much nicer to read.
The walk animation could need some syncing to movement speed, seems a little slow.
Movement on non-ice tiles feels a little jerky, as if the character pauses for a frame on every tile.
Don't have much to say about the gameplay itself as it mostly just werks. Puzzles are well designed, difficulty ramps up at a good pace. It's great.
I really liked that puzzle with the river where you have to complete two separate puzzles to complete the bridge with the push blocks.
On the second puzzle in The Great Hall the camera should scroll ahead so you can see the entire puzzle before you step on the ice. In general with the larger puzzles I noticed that I couldn't always see what I wanted to see but this one was most apparent.
Native Loonix version pls.
Thanks for the great feedback! The title is long but like “Zelda” I’m sure anyone who cares will just drop the extraneous words.
Sound effects are next on my list! Wanted to have them ready this demo day but ran out of time.
Thanks for reminding me of my need of a respawn animation. One of those things that was planned but I forgot about before I started writing things down. Added to the list.
Someone else has mentioned the font. I’ll look for a better font or find some other way to improve legability.
Yeah I know what you mean about non-ice movement not being smooth. I think I might have to re-write the movement logic to get rid of the stutter. Won’t be a top priority for now but will definitely add to my to-do list as these small bits of jank all add up.
Others have mentioned not finding the large puzzles as fun. Maybe a pan across the room before you gain control might help? If I can’t make them fun they’ll go.
I currently don’t have a GNU plus Linux machine to test on but I’ll see if I can dig out an old laptop for next time.