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La_Fafafa1 year ago

Thanks for playing! I really appreciate the video. I watched it on my side monitor while working. Some notes:

- First, thanks for giving the game almost 2 hours, specially when getting stuck in some of those places. You really powered through those frustrating movement.

- Im unsure about making flying animations. I have seen some people liking them flying through the air like that, it has that shitposty feel to it. But also it feels too low effort.

- "why do fairies poke toads?" that will come with the lore, so it will be later. But Im having fun looking at people coming up with their own conclusions

- "Fairies appearing from flowers" A lot of people suggested making flowers a theme and I kinda like that. Giving them an enter animation could be a bit difficult though.

- In the first bonus level, you got the right idea for beating the puzzle at the start, but accidentally stood slightly to the side, making you think the throw was impossible. I want to avoid that happening since it is very unfair. I will try locking the strong fairy to the grid when she starts throwing, which should alleviate those issues. Also maybe show where the fairy impacts with the wall.

- Im also realizing both final levels of the second world are too difficult. I need to bridge the difficulty between them and the earlier levels.

- About the last two bonus puzzles, they are very flawed. I will scrap them and salvage some things for other puzzles. Timed puzzles are not easy to make and they are annoying to play, so I will rethink my approach.

- "fairy on 2 tiles at the same time" Since the game is in real time, the position of the fairies are not bound to the grid, generating that weird behavior. I have been thinking about some ways to alliviate it but it is very difficult.

- Those 5 bonus puzzles were more annoying than I thought, mostly because they are 5 random puzzles with little connection between them. I still found the feedback very useful, specially in what not to do.

Thanks for making and uploading all your videos in DD!

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WebCough1 year ago(+1)

It's been a while since I played your game, and I had fun so playing for almost 2 hours felt like nothing.

Im unsure about making flying animations. I have seen some people liking them flying through the air like that, it has that shitposty feel to it. But also it feels too low effort.
I am sure if you made cute animations people would prefer them. Of course that goes into polish, and is not needed for the whole game to function.

"why do fairies poke toads?" that will come with the lore, so it will be later. But Im having fun looking at people coming up with their own conclusions
My headcanon lore is toads partied hard, and kept fairies from sleeping. Fairies are just taking revenge on them by keeping toads awake.

I think what you could do to fix the throwing and being on 2 tiles at the same time issue is just snapping fairies position at the end of their movement. A simple jump at the end of movement could work I think. I just got that idea from Blood Bowl 2. Characters get snapped to grid, but their animations,especially movement are not snapped to grid. Alternatively you could just make the whole game grid based. I am going to be looking forward to see what kind of solution you implement.

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La_Fafafa1 year ago (1 edit)
  • My headcanon lore is toads partied hard, and kept fairies from sleeping. Fairies are just taking revenge on them by keeping toads awake.

Lol nice.

  • Characters get snapped to grid, but their animations,especially movement are not snapped to grid. Alternatively you could just make the whole game grid based. I am going to be looking forward to see what kind of solution you implement.

Changing the control scheme is not simple, but I did give many things a try. Grid movement feels like the movement is stiff and unresponsive. Having free movement but always finishing on the grid also felt weird. I made fairies go to the nearest grid position when stopping and sometimes that meant walking back, which means changing directions and facing the other way. I can modify the movement system to allow walking backwards but still it doesn't remove the weirdness.

The thing is that at its very core poke all toads is an action game, with several layers of puzzle elements on top of it. And puzzle controls are really awkward and uncomfortable for action games. So if I want the game to feel good it must use action controls and deal with the imperfections in other ways.

Also tried snapping the strong fairy to the grid at the moment of throwing. It is unnoticeable 95% of the time and was quite happy with it, but at one point I tried a throw very close to a launchpad and the fairy snapped onto it, launching her into the air. So now I'm not sure about this.

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WebCough1 year ago(+1)

I made fairies go to the nearest grid position when stopping and sometimes that meant walking back, which means changing directions and facing the other way.
Just have them jump while still facing the direction they were moving before the jump. That way fairies would always jump snap to grid at the end of movement.

The thing is that at its very core poke all toads is an action game, with several layers of puzzle elements on top of it.

I always thought it was a puzzle game first. The only time it felt more like an action game were the more intricate bonus stages.

By the way, I remember buff fairy being able to be slightly pushed by blue fairy. It's like her collider was reacting to blue fairies' unlike the busy fairies'.

It is unnoticeable 95% of the time and was quite happy with it, but at one point I tried a throw very close to a launchpad and the fairy snapped onto it, launching her into the air.

Maybe you could just check if the tile is of a launchpad, and not snap fairies when that's the case.

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La_Fafafa1 year ago
Just have them jump while still facing the direction they were moving before the jump. That way fairies would always jump snap to grid at the end of movement.

It still would feel weird. It is hard to describe with words, but it is immediately noticeable when trying to use the control scheme. Maybe I can make a demo so you can experience it later.

I always thought it was a puzzle game first. The only time it felt more like an action game were the more intricate bonus stages.

Poke all toads is a puzzle game and was designed as a puzzle game. Is that its core is of an action game. Thats because the movement, the way the toads shoot at you with their tongues, the timing and manual dexterity required for puzzles is intrinsic to action games. Puzzle game work more with untimed puzzles, rigid controls and positions, and no manual dexterity involved. To make a comparison, "Portal" is also a puzzle game but at its core it is a first person platformer game with puzzle elements on top of it. All its controls aim to have a better platformer experience.

By the way, I remember buff fairy being able to be slightly pushed by blue fairy. It's like her collider was reacting to blue fairies' unlike the busy fairies'.

Thats intended so you don't have two fairies exactly in the same place. They push each other so the player can notice there are 2 of them. Busy fairies cannot be moved because it is expected to only move them with strong fairies (imagine a player slowly pushing them with a blue fairy across the entire level to cheat puzzles).

Maybe you could just check if the tile is of a launchpad, and not snap fairies when that's the case.

Yeah, but then the system would be inconsistent. I would also need to test for buttons, what if the fairy is on a button and it is moved outside said button? I also found other issues with throwing fairies next to walls and toads, snapping to cumbersome positions. 

I'm trying to think it from another point of view now. The reason why you got stuck there was that you didn't notice the trayectory was against a wall. I believe I should improve the throw indication system, so a player knows when a trayectory is stopped by something. Or make throws follow the grid, but that has its issues too. 

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WebCough1 year ago(+1)

I am sure you are going to figure something out. You can always test out different solutions on DD, because that's what they are for after all.

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