Gets way too difficult way too quickly. Especially if you're not familiar with these types of games. It needs to ease players into the movement mechanics.
The enemies are annoying.
Going from a rotating section to a static platform causes the player to veer off suddenly.
Hi! I watched you play on stream. I'm aware of the difficulty spike being an issue. This is because the current levels are intended to be around mid-game. The tutorial was made last minute so there are a few issues with that, but we needed to have an easy level for the demo players. So that's why it doesn't do a very good job explaining certain mechanics. This is something that has since been addressed in the current development state. As for the enemies, there could definitely be less of them. Thank you for playing.
I have no experience with rolling ball games. I tried it out cuz the girl is cute - shame you don't really get to see much of her.
I found levels to be difficult enough even without enemies. I was not able to complete a single level.
My best attempt was pic related:
I watched your video just now, and I understand what you are doing, but I ma not skilled enough. I think maybe more easier level to help ease players into the game would be helpful.
Also when I kept dying over and over, I wish restarts were quicker, but I guess that is not something that is a problem later on when you get good.
I would feel more like pushing through harder sections if I had unlimited lives and checkpoints, but I understand that might not be the game you are going for.
As for the tutorial, I think one thing you did not consider is how when you explain the spacebar attack, players might not have enough charge to use it at the time, which can lead to some confusion.
Hi. The levels in this demo are definitely not intended to be the order of levels in the final release. These levels will be around mid game, so there will be many easy levels before you get to these ones. I will also continue to adjust the current level layouts and enemy frequency/placement could definitely be improved. Since you watched the video, you probably already know this but the tutorial will be overhauled completely. To be honest the tutorial was cobbled together last minute to try and have an easier level that will teach players the basics however in its current state it definitely doesn't do a good job at that. The reason the meter is not mentioned is because the lines were written before the Blast Attack was finalized and should have been updated. Thanks for playing!
Who knew the ball game would be ball crushingly hard?
The tutorial is a very good start, also a very nice introduction to the mechanics in general. Movement and physics feel nice... until you meet the enemies.
I think moving pinball bouncers is a good enemy for a game where you shouldn't fall. What I don't like is the fact that you and the enemies are subject to very different physics rules.
The enemies seem to ignore momentum. Sometimes. They do have their acceleration, but it seems it doesn't always affect the bounce with the player ball. Sometimes when you go from full stop to collision with the enemy - you do a little bounce, sometimes you fly away. Colliding with the enemy when you're on a ramp is a death sentence and a ticket to the moon. It seems to me that you want the player to approach the enemy with a very specific mindset which I have not figured out. But the fact that the enemy going full speed off the cliff only to stop dead in its tracks at the very edge is bs. Considering I have very limited ways of approaching the enemy - I'd like to have different ways of taking them out. Also since they can't fall off the edge on their own - you can't just outrun them - they will pursue you even down some very tight ledges.
I liked how every level was a bit different from each other. The CD disc platforms were a nice touch.
I wish those levels were not littered with those enemies though.
Hey, I watched you playing my game on stream so I have a pretty good idea of what your playthrough was like. It's true that the enemy bumping can be somewhat inconsistent, I think most of the time this may be because of the angle of your inputs compared to the enemy, but I feel like there's more notable inconsistencies with certain enemies in certain areas. I will be looking into this further. It is also true that enemy placement in levels could be improved.
I think if the enemies were to slide off of the stage on their own, the game would become less challenging overall. I remember watching your playthrough, you would constantly ram into enemies to try and get them off. This is not the ideal way to deal with enemies. The idea is that when your blast attack is not available, you should not approach them aggressively and focus on dodging them. If you dodge them efficiently near an edge, you will have a window of opportunity to bump them off yourself. This is not your fault as the tutorial in its current state does not do a good job at teaching the player ideal enemy interactions and is also unclear about certain mechanics such as Blast Attack. This will be addressed. Right now enemy interactions include your basic bumps and the Blast Attack as options. I agree that there could be more ways to defeat enemies. Something I'm considering is being able to bump enemies and making them bounce off walls as another interaction method.
Anime Marble Madness, intriguing. It looks quite polished already and the difficulty level suggests a high degree of confidence in the core mechanics.
That being said I couldn't help but notice some jank. It's been mentioned before but I also experienced the transparency bug in level 00, enemies can clip into the architecture a little bit in 03, sometimes the camera will rotate twice with a single press and the main character starts clipping out of her ball after respawning. Also, I have completely subjective mixed feelings about enemies.
The lives system is interesting but it's a little redundant if the player hasn't reached at least one checkpoint yet. Otherwise restarting is always a better option that guarantees a lower time and more total lives when a checkpoint is reached.
I think I know what the transparency bug is. This should be an error that only occurs in level 00, as the collectibles have not been assigned to respawn in that level by mistake. I think that might be what the other person was talking about. I'm also aware of some issues involving the see-through walls in level 00. That was added basically last minute so it's not polished. The camera bugs are also something I'm aware of and this will have to be addressed. About the player clipping through the ball, this is a very strange issue. Other than the other person who mentioned it here, I haven't seen this happened to anyone else. I've watched many people play the game and I've gotten many reviews and it doesn't happen. I'm assuming this may be some sort of hardware issue? I'm not sure I will have to investigate further but it's a very strange occurrence and I cannot think of a reason as to why this may be happening right now. Thanks for playing and writing a review.
Nice Monkey Ball-like. It's interesting how it plays more like Marble Madness in some ways. The presentation and basic controls are already pretty much perfect. My main issue for this build is the level design.
The levels are too long and repetitive. You don't need to introduce a challenge style and then every so slightly ramp up the difficulty over and over again. Just have the complete version straight away and I can retry until I get it. Slow escalation only works for games with infinite retries.
Other issues: The rolling sfx seems a bit off and inconsistent. Often it's not playing at all or is lower-pitched than what I expect. Conversely, standing completely still on a moving platform will play it.
I don't like how knocking enemies around is harder the more momentum you have. It should be the other way around. It feels like you apply the same knockback to them every time, but you yourself are knocked back more the more speed you have. It's boring to have to slow down to fight; that should not be the optimal playstyle. Or if they are to work this way, they should be sparser and the levels should be designed around the strategy of avoiding them entirely.
A drop shadow would be useful for making jumps.
Non-fullscreen doesn't work. Let me resize the game window, too.
All that being said, I had quite a bit of fun! I'll be looking forward to the next build.
Yes, while there's definitely Monkey Ball influences, it does play more like Marble Blast, Pac N' Roll, etc. where you control the ball instead of the stage. I agree that the levels could use some adjustments as well as the walking sound effect. I think what you're experiencing with the bumping is that the enemies are stronger than the player is when it comes to bumping, so if you ram into them then their force will be added onto your speed, making things difficult. It is actually recommended to primarily dodge the enemies if you do not have a blast attack ready, and if near an edge you will have a window of opportunity to bump them off easily. You can also just bump them normally to get them out of the way a bit but brute force to knock them off is not recommended. The game should do a better job of teaching the player enemy interaction and this will be addressed. Adjusting screen size currently does not work because the game is not optimized to play on different aspect ratios. Currently if it's a non-16:9 aspect ratio then some UI elements may be misplaced or missing. This will have to be addressed but it's not high priority. Thanks for playing.
I played the game, I found a bug with the fullscreen option in the menu, if you hover your mouse over the letters it will toggle on/off the fullscreen. From the 4 levels, I only beat the tutorial, the physics in the game goes against what my mind feel "it should be", movement is too floaty and the lack of precision playing it with keyboard made the levels harder for me. For example, I was playing the 4th level, the large climb, those narrow paths are annoying with keyboard, so I started using the stick of the gamepad and it was more fun, but still hard, no room for error. I think you should make more easy levels at the beginning, so the player can familiarize with the physics, mechanics and how to deal with the enemies, speaking of enemies, I think an in-game tutorial of how to deal with the enemies would be nice for new players, otherwise they can become frustrated and just drop the game.
Everything else is very nice, UI, aesthetics, music, cute girl.... I like all of that, you really made those appealing, specially for those looking for a retro style game. I see future in this game, but it need more polishing in the gameplay aspect of it. Keep the good work!!!
Hi, thanks for playing. The bug with the fullscreen is something I've been aware of for some time. I'm not sure what's causing it. I don't know how much we can tweak the physics currently, but I am planning to make some adjustments. I do agree that this game is probably better suited for a controller. I do plan on integrating full controller support, it just wasn't ready for the demo release. I do also plan to have much easier levels, right now the plan is to have about 20-25 levels, and the ones in this demo will probably be later in the game than they are now. The tutorial will also be overhauled to better teach the player how to play the game. Thank you for the kind words.
Nice game Jeremias, I played all the levels, I couldn't finish a few but overall they were nice to play. The aesthetics were on point and the general vibe that you were going for feels great. One thing that I missed tho was full controller support :(, i couldn't rotate the camera with the gamepad so I ended up playing with the keyboard in the end lol. I don't mind if it is a fixed 90 degrees angle for the camera, but to have it work with the gamepad triggers would be really nice hehe. Keep at it bro.
There seems to be some confusion regarding certain game mechanics. I made this video to clarify some things. Check it out if you want further clarification.
It's a simple game but I like the effort you put in the menus and the presentation in general.
The ball felt a little floaty to me but I understand that it might be intentional to make the game harder. I don't think there's any reason to use Q and E to turn the camera around by 90 degrees when the mouse or the second analog stick on a controller could move it more organically. Also it wasn't obvious to me that the blast attack was something that you had to charge by picking up the collectables, it seems a bit strict imo, you only get one shot to deal with enemies. Sometimes two platforms are not levelled perfectly and the ball goes flying when rolling on the slightly higher platform, if it's intentional it could be more obvious.
I understand that it could feel a bit floaty, although the levels are all designed around the current movement. I'm not opposed to further tweaking the movement but that could mean that level layouts will have to be tweaked as well. The 90 degree rotations are a stylistic choice, and I understand player concerns with it. It could definitely have some adjustments made to make it feel better. It also doesn't help that there are currently some bugs regarding the camera movement. The blast attack mechanic is also definitely something that has to be better explained. I'm also aware of your point that some level platforms are not aligned correctly, this will have to be corrected. Thanks for playing and leaving a review, I'm glad you enjoyed it.
Never played the monkey ball games so I won't be able to make any comparisons or notice any shared quirks.
There's a noise that plays when the player seems to take a few steps? It's pretty annoying honestly and should be reserved to maybe only when you bump into things.
The fixed 90 degree camera turns took some getting used to. I don't think it's all that bad as long as the level design relies on sharp 90 degree turns for its geometry. Going up the spiral staircase in the tutorial level was pretty painful with it though.
The game is pretty hard and I think it has more to do with dealing with the enemies than the level design. I actually think this game would benefit a lot more from having next to no enemies. The precision platforming is already really difficult on its own and interactions with the enemies feel a lot less deterministic than they should be (I swear the direction and strength they bump you away feels random).
Enemies can die when they're knocked only a tiny bit off the ledge but this only seems to happen if you're able to bump them at a high enough velocity. It feels odd.
The push back mechanic isn't very well explained. I ran into the issue where I died on the tutorial stage and was never able to use it again. Maybe have a ui element that shows you when you can use it? I also don't think it feels as useful as it should be. The few times I was able to use it the enemies were barely pushed away.
The music and aesthetic you have so far have high GMI energy. I find it really amusing you went from the more basic NOVABREAKER to this. Once a few kinks are sorted it out I could see this being a game I'd purchase. Keep it up.
The noise you mention is indeed supposed to be the walk sound. It could definitely be adjusted.
I can understand the concerns with the camera. To be honest, someone else designed level 00 and I don't think he had the camera in mind when he was making it. I did the best I could to make adjustments to it. The other levels were all designed by me though.
Enemy interaction is something a lot of people have been having issues understanding. I think half the reason is because the tutorial doesn't do a good enough job of explaining certain things to players, so I will definitely be overhauling the tutorial.
As for enemy bumping, I'm not sure how you handled it but you aren't meant to approach them aggressively if you do not have blast attack ready. It's ideal to dodge them first, they will glide past you and if near an edge you will have a window of opportunity to bump them of right before they try to turn and chase after you again.
The bump strength is supposed to be the same throughout all levels although I think the angle you bump each other at affects the trajectory. In level 02 particularly, I feel as if in that first section with the four capsule-bots they knock you further than usual and I can't figure out why this occurs.
I agree that the blast attack mechanic is not explained well, this is because the tutorial lines were written before the mechanic was finalized and should have been updated. I disagree with the blast attack not being useful. It bumps off enemies pretty effectively. I think this could be the timing of your activation. The range of the blast attack is actually pretty far, its hitbox is slightly larger than the visual effect. Try to make sure you have some space between you and the capsule-bot upon activation to make the most of the range.
Thanks for the compliments on the music and aesthetics. I'm also always glad to see a NOVABREAKER mention! :D Saying you can see this being a game you purchase is a big compliment. Right now, this isn't planned to be a commercial product. We'll see though. Thanks for playing and writing a review!
first of all, the presentation is top tier. i love the menus, animations, ost, aesthetics etc, everything
the game itself starts with a surprisingly hard and unforgiving long level tutorial. there's only one checkpoint, too. ideally you would want to start off easy, so that people can get accustomed to the game.
occasionally, my camera was behind a wall but the transparency effect did not trigger, so i was not able to see where i was going.
the concept itself is very interesting and i will keep an eye on it
Hello, thanks for posting feedback. I agree that the tutorial definitely needs an overhaul. The see through walls were a last minute addition so they're a little wonky and could be improved. I'm glad you enjoyed and that you are interested in the project.
I have some similar feelings to diabolodev. My bias is maybe that I was a big fan of super monkey ball 2 as well. I think smaller levels with strong themes and obvious challenges are just a lot more fun than the longer adventure style gameplay. I don't like the checkpoints with gameovers. I think there are a lot of kind of useless parts to levels when you go for the longer maps and it just feels like filler you have to walk through. Level 03 feels overly gimmicky and not clean, bouncing off a ring, or having an enemy push you off a ramp is not a great experience (from what I can tell this is what you have to do, though they all died at one point when I played the level). It felt like different enemies all pushed with different forces too depending on the level, in general it's just a really weird mechanic. I'd much rather there be a static element like a piston that fires periodically than have to fight to get an enemy exactly in the right place to push me. Overall I do feel like the ball is too floaty, but changing that now probably means redoing every level (Designing with Physics: Bend the Physics Engine to Your Will (youtube.com)). If you do have the opportunity to redo levels to be smaller, they should be much easier to test and swap in and out.
A smaller piece of feedback is in levels with dynamic objects, you should try and have them move during the countdown time as well or it looks too static (the floating rocks in this case)
I think this type of game is by far better played on controllers unfortunately, maybe if you have a wooting with partial key presses it could be better. The camera rotation is another big pain point, that I think arises from this. Since you can only start moving in about 8 directions, there won't be an amazing auto rotation system you can make
I had a lag spike before the results screen showed the first time, and I didn't realize how to continue.
In the first level a couple things weren't overlapped amazingly so I bumped up a bit on what looked like a flat section too
Putting more into helping the player feel exactly what speed they are going at would help too. The sound that plays while you roll takes quite a bit of speed before it plays (I was trying on controller) and some intermediate sounds could help. I think the strengths of the game currently are the sounds themselves are good and the style is mostly cohesive.
Lastly the menu transitions are cool but could be sped up a tiny bit imo
Hello, thank you for your review of my game, and thank you for providing gameplay as that helps me a lot with inspecting how players approach my levels. As for some of the points you made I feel like some gameplay mechanics were misinterpreted, for example you do not need to use the enemy to launch you off ramps, while enemies can be used to do movement tricks it is not something that is required of the player at any point. The purpose of the hoops are to gain extra points and are also not required to reach certain areas. You also mentioned a lag spike upon level completion, although when I watched your gameplay there was nothing out of the ordinary about it. The freeze frame is an intentional effect, which I think you misinterpreted. I also noticed in your gameplay that you did not use the blast attack at all even when your meter was full.
Other than that I do think a lot of your complaints are sound, for example the camera is something a lot of people have been having issues with, and it doesn't help that there are some bugs surrounding that mechanic. Although you mentioned you played on controller so I'm curious as to how you moved the camera as controller support has not been properly implemented at this time. Did you just use both the controller and the keyboard for when you had to move the camera? I do also feel like some of the physics and level design could use some tweaking although I'm not sure how much physics tweaks would affect changes in the current layouts. There does seem to be some errors with enemy knockback as well, particularly in level 02. It seems like the four enemies in the beginning segment of that level knock you back further than they're supposed to and I haven't been able to figure out why this happens.
Anyways, thanks again for playing and leaving feedback.
I didn't know about the blast attack while playing. I just pressed q/e on my keyboard yes. It would be nice if the second stick let me move the camera if you are hard set on not having an auto camera system. My compaints aren't sound related I was just suggesting a single potential point of improvement for the issue of conveying to the player their current speed
also I'm not sure your history of playing these games but you should definitely play super monkey ball 2 if you haven't. I bet if you are going to find an audience for this sort of game you should understand the sort of expectations they will have going into this
Oh I didn't mean that you were having audio related issues. I meant sound as in they're solid complaints. As for marble games I've played. I'm definitely familiar with the Monkey Ball games although I've mostly played through the Super Monkey Ball 2 levels through the remake version. I've played many other marble games such as Marble Saga for example, and while those games certainly have influence, I'm not really aiming for this game to be like this. I'm mostly doing my own thing compared to other marble games but it's definitely more similar to titles such as Pac N' Roll and Marble Blast instead of Monkey Ball. It's still more of it's own thing with the enemies and bumping mechanics differentiating it from most games in the genre.
I couldn't figure out the controls, which is an issue as I was going to ask for camera rotation but I see others pointing out about it. Toggling fullscreen kept the game at my monitor size. This is an issue as I have a 3440x1440 ultrawide and the main menus had stuff cropped out. Gameplay seems good if infuriating.
Thank you for the feedback. I agree and I feel like the game could do a better job of explaining basic mechanics to the player. Also I have not implemented support for all aspect ratios at this time. These points are things that will be addressed.
Hey, thanks for the review. As for the issues you faced, I understand the concerns with difficulty. Level 00 is supposed to be a tutorial level to get the player to understand the basic game mechanics, although it definitely needs an overhaul. You already sent me the screenshot of the ball shrinking, that is very strange and has not happened to me or anyone else I have seen play. I'm not exactly sure what that could be about, maybe it's an issue on your end? I really don't know. The issue you had with respawning under the level is also something I have not seen yet. The collectibles disappearing, I think is an issue with level 00, as I'm pretty sure I forgot to set them to respawn after losing in that level. The camera rotation bug is something I'm already aware of and needs to be addressed. Thanks for playing and I'm glad you enjoyed the demo.
Nice menus and presentation! iirc you said a graphics rework is planned so I won't talk too much about it.
The ball feels a bit too slippery and bouncy, in the tutorial level I made a big jump and bounced off a corner and flew out of the course which was unexpected. But overall I didn't have too many problems controlling it.
The camera could really use finer controls instead of 90 degree snapping (especially wit how slowly it rotates)
I expected there to be a jump button but I guess you're meant to build up momentum instead. That's fine.
Enemies are a bit too... sturdy? I thought it would be easier to bump them off the stage but they ended up bumping me off most of the times.
I don't really get how to use the pushback ability well. It's very short range.
Hi, thanks for playing! The camera has been a common issue with many players and is something I will have to reconsider. It also has some bugs which need ironing out. Overall though, the levels are designed with the camera in mind. Jumping is not something in consideration for this game as I really want movement to be about the ball and not just a be a standard platformer. The enemies being stronger than the player is an intentional design choice and it is not recommended to approach them aggressively if you do not have a blast attack ready. The blast attack's hitbox is actually slightly larger than the visual effect. I hope this helps! I'm glad you enjoyed the demo.
the menu music and the visuals of level 2 are good and they feel authentic to the Dreamcast/GCN aesthetic
the tutorial blends in so much i didn't see it for a long time
i'm not able to read a timed tutorial while crossing tricky paths without falling off
rotating the camera manually feels inferior to the tried and true Monkey Ball camera
there's a bug where dying after having rotated the camera and then rotating it the same direction again rotates it twice
the camera is so zoomed out that i can't see the center of my ball so i won't even attempt to pass the very thin circle at the end(?) of level 1
the level design isn't fun
the level design of level 0 is unintuitive, it seems like you want to jump down to the platform you're supposed to arrive at on full speed from another direction
another section gives you the push back power, but once you use the power or die you don't get it back and just have to run past the enemy in a straight line
level 1 is just the same circle and bumper enemy set piece over and over
i couldn't figure out how to pass the wall riding section of level 2 because i lose all momentum after the first wall
there must be a trick to fighting enemies because i can't see how to pass the sleeping enemies on level 3, they push me back more than them and i can't build the momentum to push them away without falling off
the floatiness of the player is unsatisfying, especially on the ramp of level 3 where i have to make adjustments in the air to land correctly while floating down instead of being launched like an actual ball
fighting bumper enemies isn't fun
it isn't clear what gives me the push back ability, the green checkpoint? it doesn't give me a visual effect and the tutorial mentions it like it is always possible to push enemies back
the push back ability doesn't really do anything
the enemies sometimes spontaneously die when pushed back, probably because a small part of them is off the platform and they think they've fallen off the level
bumper enemies can follow you seemingly indefinitely if they're close to you as you leave their zone in a way that does not seem well designed or intended
i have a 1680x1050 screen, so i can see behind your screen transitions. Unity games consistently have issues related to screen size like that for me
i wanted the game to be more like Super Monkey Ball, but as i understand you're going for something else. i do get the feeling that basing the gameplay on bumping and avoiding bumper enemies is the wrong direction to go, though
Thank you for your in depth review. I agree with your complaints about the tutorial, I feel like it needs an overhaul in favor of something that more effectively teaches the player basic game mechanics. Camera bugs are something that I have been aware of for some time now but I'm yet to figure out what exactly is causing it. I'm also aware that some people are not too keen on the 90 degree rotations, although that's an intentional design choice in which levels are designed around. I agree that the level designs could use some work, although I don't think that they're just not fun. As for level 02's wall running segments, the player is given more than enough space to gain enough momentum to make it, although I think some issues with this are general lack of opportunities to learn the ball's movement throughout the levels overall. I also feel like this movement would be easier for players once controller support is properly implemented. As for your issues with enemy interaction, the blast attack becomes available once the meter is full. The meter is filled by collecting the green konpeito collectibles. Like I said I do think that the current tutorial struggles to properly teach the player certain mechanics so confusion is partly my fault. The reason the text did not mention the meter is because that line was written before the mechanic was finalized and should have been updated. You are correct about the enemies incorrectly detecting certain platforms and thus thinking they have fallen when they haven't. Although I generally disagree with bumping enemies not being fun and being the wrong direction. I'm not sure if this is what happened to you but I often find that new players approach the game incorrectly and immediately approach the enemy aggressively when they shouldn't The enemy movements are very broad and easy to dodge, so if you do not have a blast attack available it is ideal to dodge the enemy and if near an edge, it will glide past you giving you an opportunity to knock it off. This issue is partly my fault as I have to do a better job at introducing enemy interaction to the player. I understand that if you try to play aggressively the bumping may take over a large portion of the gameplay and some players may have issue with that. As for your aspect ratio problems, support for all aspect ratios has not been implemented at this time. Once again, thank you for playing my game and writing a review.
Comments
Hi! I watched you play on stream. I'm aware of the difficulty spike being an issue. This is because the current levels are intended to be around mid-game. The tutorial was made last minute so there are a few issues with that, but we needed to have an easy level for the demo players. So that's why it doesn't do a very good job explaining certain mechanics. This is something that has since been addressed in the current development state. As for the enemies, there could definitely be less of them. Thank you for playing.
I have no experience with rolling ball games. I tried it out cuz the girl is cute - shame you don't really get to see much of her.
I found levels to be difficult enough even without enemies. I was not able to complete a single level.
My best attempt was pic related:
I watched your video just now, and I understand what you are doing, but I ma not skilled enough. I think maybe more easier level to help ease players into the game would be helpful.
Also when I kept dying over and over, I wish restarts were quicker, but I guess that is not something that is a problem later on when you get good.
I would feel more like pushing through harder sections if I had unlimited lives and checkpoints, but I understand that might not be the game you are going for.
As for the tutorial, I think one thing you did not consider is how when you explain the spacebar attack, players might not have enough charge to use it at the time, which can lead to some confusion.
Hi. The levels in this demo are definitely not intended to be the order of levels in the final release. These levels will be around mid game, so there will be many easy levels before you get to these ones. I will also continue to adjust the current level layouts and enemy frequency/placement could definitely be improved. Since you watched the video, you probably already know this but the tutorial will be overhauled completely. To be honest the tutorial was cobbled together last minute to try and have an easier level that will teach players the basics however in its current state it definitely doesn't do a good job at that. The reason the meter is not mentioned is because the lines were written before the Blast Attack was finalized and should have been updated. Thanks for playing!
Who knew the ball game would be ball crushingly hard?
The tutorial is a very good start, also a very nice introduction to the mechanics in general. Movement and physics feel nice... until you meet the enemies.
I think moving pinball bouncers is a good enemy for a game where you shouldn't fall. What I don't like is the fact that you and the enemies are subject to very different physics rules.
The enemies seem to ignore momentum. Sometimes. They do have their acceleration, but it seems it doesn't always affect the bounce with the player ball. Sometimes when you go from full stop to collision with the enemy - you do a little bounce, sometimes you fly away. Colliding with the enemy when you're on a ramp is a death sentence and a ticket to the moon. It seems to me that you want the player to approach the enemy with a very specific mindset which I have not figured out. But the fact that the enemy going full speed off the cliff only to stop dead in its tracks at the very edge is bs. Considering I have very limited ways of approaching the enemy - I'd like to have different ways of taking them out. Also since they can't fall off the edge on their own - you can't just outrun them - they will pursue you even down some very tight ledges.
I liked how every level was a bit different from each other. The CD disc platforms were a nice touch.
I wish those levels were not littered with those enemies though.
Hey, I watched you playing my game on stream so I have a pretty good idea of what your playthrough was like. It's true that the enemy bumping can be somewhat inconsistent, I think most of the time this may be because of the angle of your inputs compared to the enemy, but I feel like there's more notable inconsistencies with certain enemies in certain areas. I will be looking into this further. It is also true that enemy placement in levels could be improved.
I think if the enemies were to slide off of the stage on their own, the game would become less challenging overall. I remember watching your playthrough, you would constantly ram into enemies to try and get them off. This is not the ideal way to deal with enemies. The idea is that when your blast attack is not available, you should not approach them aggressively and focus on dodging them. If you dodge them efficiently near an edge, you will have a window of opportunity to bump them off yourself. This is not your fault as the tutorial in its current state does not do a good job at teaching the player ideal enemy interactions and is also unclear about certain mechanics such as Blast Attack. This will be addressed. Right now enemy interactions include your basic bumps and the Blast Attack as options. I agree that there could be more ways to defeat enemies. Something I'm considering is being able to bump enemies and making them bounce off walls as another interaction method.
Thank you for playing the demo!
Anime Marble Madness, intriguing. It looks quite polished already and the difficulty level suggests a high degree of confidence in the core mechanics.
That being said I couldn't help but notice some jank. It's been mentioned before but I also experienced the transparency bug in level 00, enemies can clip into the architecture a little bit in 03, sometimes the camera will rotate twice with a single press and the main character starts clipping out of her ball after respawning. Also, I have completely subjective mixed feelings about enemies.
The lives system is interesting but it's a little redundant if the player hasn't reached at least one checkpoint yet. Otherwise restarting is always a better option that guarantees a lower time and more total lives when a checkpoint is reached.
Keep up the good work.
I think I know what the transparency bug is. This should be an error that only occurs in level 00, as the collectibles have not been assigned to respawn in that level by mistake. I think that might be what the other person was talking about. I'm also aware of some issues involving the see-through walls in level 00. That was added basically last minute so it's not polished. The camera bugs are also something I'm aware of and this will have to be addressed. About the player clipping through the ball, this is a very strange issue. Other than the other person who mentioned it here, I haven't seen this happened to anyone else. I've watched many people play the game and I've gotten many reviews and it doesn't happen. I'm assuming this may be some sort of hardware issue? I'm not sure I will have to investigate further but it's a very strange occurrence and I cannot think of a reason as to why this may be happening right now. Thanks for playing and writing a review.
I agree that the levels need some adjustments. There will be more levels added so the current ones will be placed later on. Thanks for playing!
Nice Monkey Ball-like. It's interesting how it plays more like Marble Madness in some ways. The presentation and basic controls are already pretty much perfect. My main issue for this build is the level design.
The levels are too long and repetitive. You don't need to introduce a challenge style and then every so slightly ramp up the difficulty over and over again. Just have the complete version straight away and I can retry until I get it. Slow escalation only works for games with infinite retries.
Other issues: The rolling sfx seems a bit off and inconsistent. Often it's not playing at all or is lower-pitched than what I expect. Conversely, standing completely still on a moving platform will play it.
I don't like how knocking enemies around is harder the more momentum you have. It should be the other way around. It feels like you apply the same knockback to them every time, but you yourself are knocked back more the more speed you have. It's boring to have to slow down to fight; that should not be the optimal playstyle. Or if they are to work this way, they should be sparser and the levels should be designed around the strategy of avoiding them entirely.
A drop shadow would be useful for making jumps.
Non-fullscreen doesn't work. Let me resize the game window, too.
All that being said, I had quite a bit of fun! I'll be looking forward to the next build.
Yes, while there's definitely Monkey Ball influences, it does play more like Marble Blast, Pac N' Roll, etc. where you control the ball instead of the stage. I agree that the levels could use some adjustments as well as the walking sound effect. I think what you're experiencing with the bumping is that the enemies are stronger than the player is when it comes to bumping, so if you ram into them then their force will be added onto your speed, making things difficult. It is actually recommended to primarily dodge the enemies if you do not have a blast attack ready, and if near an edge you will have a window of opportunity to bump them off easily. You can also just bump them normally to get them out of the way a bit but brute force to knock them off is not recommended. The game should do a better job of teaching the player enemy interaction and this will be addressed. Adjusting screen size currently does not work because the game is not optimized to play on different aspect ratios. Currently if it's a non-16:9 aspect ratio then some UI elements may be misplaced or missing. This will have to be addressed but it's not high priority. Thanks for playing.
I played the game, I found a bug with the fullscreen option in the menu, if you hover your mouse over the letters it will toggle on/off the fullscreen. From the 4 levels, I only beat the tutorial, the physics in the game goes against what my mind feel "it should be", movement is too floaty and the lack of precision playing it with keyboard made the levels harder for me. For example, I was playing the 4th level, the large climb, those narrow paths are annoying with keyboard, so I started using the stick of the gamepad and it was more fun, but still hard, no room for error. I think you should make more easy levels at the beginning, so the player can familiarize with the physics, mechanics and how to deal with the enemies, speaking of enemies, I think an in-game tutorial of how to deal with the enemies would be nice for new players, otherwise they can become frustrated and just drop the game.
Everything else is very nice, UI, aesthetics, music, cute girl.... I like all of that, you really made those appealing, specially for those looking for a retro style game. I see future in this game, but it need more polishing in the gameplay aspect of it. Keep the good work!!!
Hi, thanks for playing. The bug with the fullscreen is something I've been aware of for some time. I'm not sure what's causing it. I don't know how much we can tweak the physics currently, but I am planning to make some adjustments. I do agree that this game is probably better suited for a controller. I do plan on integrating full controller support, it just wasn't ready for the demo release. I do also plan to have much easier levels, right now the plan is to have about 20-25 levels, and the ones in this demo will probably be later in the game than they are now. The tutorial will also be overhauled to better teach the player how to play the game. Thank you for the kind words.
Nice game Jeremias, I played all the levels, I couldn't finish a few but overall they were nice to play. The aesthetics were on point and the general vibe that you were going for feels great. One thing that I missed tho was full controller support :(, i couldn't rotate the camera with the gamepad so I ended up playing with the keyboard in the end lol. I don't mind if it is a fixed 90 degrees angle for the camera, but to have it work with the gamepad triggers would be really nice hehe.
Keep at it bro.
I do plan to integrate full controller support. Thanks for playing, and thanks for the kind words! :D
There seems to be some confusion regarding certain game mechanics. I made this video to clarify some things. Check it out if you want further clarification.
It's a simple game but I like the effort you put in the menus and the presentation in general.
The ball felt a little floaty to me but I understand that it might be intentional to make the game harder.
I don't think there's any reason to use Q and E to turn the camera around by 90 degrees when the mouse or the second analog stick on a controller could move it more organically.
Also it wasn't obvious to me that the blast attack was something that you had to charge by picking up the collectables, it seems a bit strict imo, you only get one shot to deal with enemies.
Sometimes two platforms are not levelled perfectly and the ball goes flying when rolling on the slightly higher platform, if it's intentional it could be more obvious.
Other than that, it was a fun demo.
I understand that it could feel a bit floaty, although the levels are all designed around the current movement. I'm not opposed to further tweaking the movement but that could mean that level layouts will have to be tweaked as well. The 90 degree rotations are a stylistic choice, and I understand player concerns with it. It could definitely have some adjustments made to make it feel better. It also doesn't help that there are currently some bugs regarding the camera movement. The blast attack mechanic is also definitely something that has to be better explained. I'm also aware of your point that some level platforms are not aligned correctly, this will have to be corrected. Thanks for playing and leaving a review, I'm glad you enjoyed it.
Never played the monkey ball games so I won't be able to make any comparisons or notice any shared quirks.
There's a noise that plays when the player seems to take a few steps? It's pretty annoying honestly and should be reserved to maybe only when you bump into things.
The fixed 90 degree camera turns took some getting used to. I don't think it's all that bad as long as the level design relies on sharp 90 degree turns for its geometry. Going up the spiral staircase in the tutorial level was pretty painful with it though.
The game is pretty hard and I think it has more to do with dealing with the enemies than the level design. I actually think this game would benefit a lot more from having next to no enemies. The precision platforming is already really difficult on its own and interactions with the enemies feel a lot less deterministic than they should be (I swear the direction and strength they bump you away feels random).
Enemies can die when they're knocked only a tiny bit off the ledge but this only seems to happen if you're able to bump them at a high enough velocity. It feels odd.
The push back mechanic isn't very well explained. I ran into the issue where I died on the tutorial stage and was never able to use it again. Maybe have a ui element that shows you when you can use it? I also don't think it feels as useful as it should be. The few times I was able to use it the enemies were barely pushed away.
The music and aesthetic you have so far have high GMI energy. I find it really amusing you went from the more basic NOVABREAKER to this. Once a few kinks are sorted it out I could see this being a game I'd purchase. Keep it up.
The noise you mention is indeed supposed to be the walk sound. It could definitely be adjusted.
I can understand the concerns with the camera. To be honest, someone else designed level 00 and I don't think he had the camera in mind when he was making it. I did the best I could to make adjustments to it. The other levels were all designed by me though.
Enemy interaction is something a lot of people have been having issues understanding. I think half the reason is because the tutorial doesn't do a good enough job of explaining certain things to players, so I will definitely be overhauling the tutorial.
As for enemy bumping, I'm not sure how you handled it but you aren't meant to approach them aggressively if you do not have blast attack ready. It's ideal to dodge them first, they will glide past you and if near an edge you will have a window of opportunity to bump them of right before they try to turn and chase after you again.
The bump strength is supposed to be the same throughout all levels although I think the angle you bump each other at affects the trajectory. In level 02 particularly, I feel as if in that first section with the four capsule-bots they knock you further than usual and I can't figure out why this occurs.
I agree that the blast attack mechanic is not explained well, this is because the tutorial lines were written before the mechanic was finalized and should have been updated. I disagree with the blast attack not being useful. It bumps off enemies pretty effectively. I think this could be the timing of your activation. The range of the blast attack is actually pretty far, its hitbox is slightly larger than the visual effect. Try to make sure you have some space between you and the capsule-bot upon activation to make the most of the range.
Thanks for the compliments on the music and aesthetics. I'm also always glad to see a NOVABREAKER mention! :D Saying you can see this being a game you purchase is a big compliment. Right now, this isn't planned to be a commercial product. We'll see though. Thanks for playing and writing a review!
first of all, the presentation is top tier. i love the menus, animations, ost, aesthetics etc, everything
the game itself starts with a surprisingly hard and unforgiving long level tutorial. there's only one checkpoint, too. ideally you would want to start off easy, so that people can get accustomed to the game.
occasionally, my camera was behind a wall but the transparency effect did not trigger, so i was not able to see where i was going.
the concept itself is very interesting and i will keep an eye on it
Hello, thanks for posting feedback. I agree that the tutorial definitely needs an overhaul. The see through walls were a last minute addition so they're a little wonky and could be improved. I'm glad you enjoyed and that you are interested in the project.
I have some similar feelings to diabolodev. My bias is maybe that I was a big fan of super monkey ball 2 as well. I think smaller levels with strong themes and obvious challenges are just a lot more fun than the longer adventure style gameplay. I don't like the checkpoints with gameovers. I think there are a lot of kind of useless parts to levels when you go for the longer maps and it just feels like filler you have to walk through. Level 03 feels overly gimmicky and not clean, bouncing off a ring, or having an enemy push you off a ramp is not a great experience (from what I can tell this is what you have to do, though they all died at one point when I played the level). It felt like different enemies all pushed with different forces too depending on the level, in general it's just a really weird mechanic. I'd much rather there be a static element like a piston that fires periodically than have to fight to get an enemy exactly in the right place to push me. Overall I do feel like the ball is too floaty, but changing that now probably means redoing every level (Designing with Physics: Bend the Physics Engine to Your Will (youtube.com)). If you do have the opportunity to redo levels to be smaller, they should be much easier to test and swap in and out.
A smaller piece of feedback is in levels with dynamic objects, you should try and have them move during the countdown time as well or it looks too static (the floating rocks in this case)
I think this type of game is by far better played on controllers unfortunately, maybe if you have a wooting with partial key presses it could be better. The camera rotation is another big pain point, that I think arises from this. Since you can only start moving in about 8 directions, there won't be an amazing auto rotation system you can make
I had a lag spike before the results screen showed the first time, and I didn't realize how to continue.
In the first level a couple things weren't overlapped amazingly so I bumped up a bit on what looked like a flat section too
Putting more into helping the player feel exactly what speed they are going at would help too. The sound that plays while you roll takes quite a bit of speed before it plays (I was trying on controller) and some intermediate sounds could help. I think the strengths of the game currently are the sounds themselves are good and the style is mostly cohesive.
Lastly the menu transitions are cool but could be sped up a tiny bit imo
gameplay without sound:
Hello, thank you for your review of my game, and thank you for providing gameplay as that helps me a lot with inspecting how players approach my levels. As for some of the points you made I feel like some gameplay mechanics were misinterpreted, for example you do not need to use the enemy to launch you off ramps, while enemies can be used to do movement tricks it is not something that is required of the player at any point. The purpose of the hoops are to gain extra points and are also not required to reach certain areas. You also mentioned a lag spike upon level completion, although when I watched your gameplay there was nothing out of the ordinary about it. The freeze frame is an intentional effect, which I think you misinterpreted. I also noticed in your gameplay that you did not use the blast attack at all even when your meter was full.
Other than that I do think a lot of your complaints are sound, for example the camera is something a lot of people have been having issues with, and it doesn't help that there are some bugs surrounding that mechanic. Although you mentioned you played on controller so I'm curious as to how you moved the camera as controller support has not been properly implemented at this time. Did you just use both the controller and the keyboard for when you had to move the camera? I do also feel like some of the physics and level design could use some tweaking although I'm not sure how much physics tweaks would affect changes in the current layouts. There does seem to be some errors with enemy knockback as well, particularly in level 02. It seems like the four enemies in the beginning segment of that level knock you back further than they're supposed to and I haven't been able to figure out why this happens.
Anyways, thanks again for playing and leaving feedback.
I didn't know about the blast attack while playing. I just pressed q/e on my keyboard yes. It would be nice if the second stick let me move the camera if you are hard set on not having an auto camera system. My compaints aren't sound related I was just suggesting a single potential point of improvement for the issue of conveying to the player their current speed
also I'm not sure your history of playing these games but you should definitely play super monkey ball 2 if you haven't. I bet if you are going to find an audience for this sort of game you should understand the sort of expectations they will have going into this
Oh I didn't mean that you were having audio related issues. I meant sound as in they're solid complaints. As for marble games I've played. I'm definitely familiar with the Monkey Ball games although I've mostly played through the Super Monkey Ball 2 levels through the remake version. I've played many other marble games such as Marble Saga for example, and while those games certainly have influence, I'm not really aiming for this game to be like this. I'm mostly doing my own thing compared to other marble games but it's definitely more similar to titles such as Pac N' Roll and Marble Blast instead of Monkey Ball. It's still more of it's own thing with the enemies and bumping mechanics differentiating it from most games in the genre.
the remake kind of gets the feel of the game quite wrong sadly from physics to sound
Yeah, I understand. I've played Deluxe a bit but I don't think I got to the SMB2 levels on that.
I couldn't figure out the controls, which is an issue as I was going to ask for camera rotation but I see others pointing out about it. Toggling fullscreen kept the game at my monitor size. This is an issue as I have a 3440x1440 ultrawide and the main menus had stuff cropped out. Gameplay seems good if infuriating.
Thank you for the feedback. I agree and I feel like the game could do a better job of explaining basic mechanics to the player. Also I have not implemented support for all aspect ratios at this time. These points are things that will be addressed.
Nice game! Here's my feedback.
The presentation is top-tier. The game is very fun but super hard after the first level.
The ball appears too small for the character after dying.
The game respawned me under the level twice after dying from the robot in the first level.
I think at some point the green collectibles became invisible.
Sometimes I made the camera turn 180 degrees with one button press? I'm not sure if that's a bug or I did something wrong.
Hey, thanks for the review. As for the issues you faced, I understand the concerns with difficulty. Level 00 is supposed to be a tutorial level to get the player to understand the basic game mechanics, although it definitely needs an overhaul. You already sent me the screenshot of the ball shrinking, that is very strange and has not happened to me or anyone else I have seen play. I'm not exactly sure what that could be about, maybe it's an issue on your end? I really don't know. The issue you had with respawning under the level is also something I have not seen yet. The collectibles disappearing, I think is an issue with level 00, as I'm pretty sure I forgot to set them to respawn after losing in that level. The camera rotation bug is something I'm already aware of and needs to be addressed. Thanks for playing and I'm glad you enjoyed the demo.
Nice menus and presentation! iirc you said a graphics rework is planned so I won't talk too much about it.
The ball feels a bit too slippery and bouncy, in the tutorial level I made a big jump and bounced off a corner and flew out of the course which was unexpected. But overall I didn't have too many problems controlling it.
The camera could really use finer controls instead of 90 degree snapping (especially wit how slowly it rotates)
I expected there to be a jump button but I guess you're meant to build up momentum instead. That's fine.
Enemies are a bit too... sturdy? I thought it would be easier to bump them off the stage but they ended up bumping me off most of the times.
I don't really get how to use the pushback ability well. It's very short range.
Still, I enjoyed the demo. Good job!
Hi, thanks for playing! The camera has been a common issue with many players and is something I will have to reconsider. It also has some bugs which need ironing out. Overall though, the levels are designed with the camera in mind. Jumping is not something in consideration for this game as I really want movement to be about the ball and not just a be a standard platformer. The enemies being stronger than the player is an intentional design choice and it is not recommended to approach them aggressively if you do not have a blast attack ready. The blast attack's hitbox is actually slightly larger than the visual effect. I hope this helps! I'm glad you enjoyed the demo.
i wanted the game to be more like Super Monkey Ball, but as i understand you're going for something else. i do get the feeling that basing the gameplay on bumping and avoiding bumper enemies is the wrong direction to go, though
Thank you for your in depth review. I agree with your complaints about the tutorial, I feel like it needs an overhaul in favor of something that more effectively teaches the player basic game mechanics. Camera bugs are something that I have been aware of for some time now but I'm yet to figure out what exactly is causing it. I'm also aware that some people are not too keen on the 90 degree rotations, although that's an intentional design choice in which levels are designed around. I agree that the level designs could use some work, although I don't think that they're just not fun. As for level 02's wall running segments, the player is given more than enough space to gain enough momentum to make it, although I think some issues with this are general lack of opportunities to learn the ball's movement throughout the levels overall. I also feel like this movement would be easier for players once controller support is properly implemented. As for your issues with enemy interaction, the blast attack becomes available once the meter is full. The meter is filled by collecting the green konpeito collectibles. Like I said I do think that the current tutorial struggles to properly teach the player certain mechanics so confusion is partly my fault. The reason the text did not mention the meter is because that line was written before the mechanic was finalized and should have been updated. You are correct about the enemies incorrectly detecting certain platforms and thus thinking they have fallen when they haven't. Although I generally disagree with bumping enemies not being fun and being the wrong direction. I'm not sure if this is what happened to you but I often find that new players approach the game incorrectly and immediately approach the enemy aggressively when they shouldn't The enemy movements are very broad and easy to dodge, so if you do not have a blast attack available it is ideal to dodge the enemy and if near an edge, it will glide past you giving you an opportunity to knock it off. This issue is partly my fault as I have to do a better job at introducing enemy interaction to the player. I understand that if you try to play aggressively the bumping may take over a large portion of the gameplay and some players may have issue with that. As for your aspect ratio problems, support for all aspect ratios has not been implemented at this time. Once again, thank you for playing my game and writing a review.