Post by H_Labs in Design Discussion: What do you SPECIFICALLY want feedback on?

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1) I'm looking for feedback on the mouse-only controls in my platformer: https://h-labs.itch.io/only-you. I've been getting some negative feedback on it today and was wondering if it either (a) it just takes awhile to get used to, (b) it needs some adjustments, or (c) mouse controls are just not a good idea for my game.

2) My goal with the game is to just practice and refine my game design skills. Part of that is creating new and enjoyable experiences, especially the controls. I'm not planning to continue the game for commercial release, but I enjoyed the controls (I'm biased) during the development and was considering reusing them elsewhere. I might also reuse the time mechanic I have elsewhere as well.

Any and all help is appreciated! I'm going to play and give feedback on the other games here now.

Crime Dog5 years ago

Just came back from giving it a play and a rate!

I actually think the mouse controls have potential, they feel pretty decent. You could afford to tweak and juice them up a bit, but I don't think anyone is expecting perfection from platformer game-feel in a jam scenario.

I do think however that they aren't a good fit for the time loop mechanic.

Take this early level for instance:

I know what I want to do, but actually executing feels needlessly difficult with the less-precise mouse controls. I think you have to decide what your game is testing the player on; their puzzle solving skills, or their mechanical execution?

You certainly can test the player on both, but if you do you need to make sure that they don't get in the way of each other.

I found interacting with my past-selves required a high level of precision, which would have been fine in a traditionally controlled platformer where it would be easier to commit the actions required to muscle memory.

Both ideas are good, but not together! Like ice-cream and sausage, better apart.

With the mouse-movement idea, the controls will probably feel better if you have a visual metaphor that sells it. Like my character is something which chases the mouse cursor, or something similar. Something that makes the player accept that their control is going to be a little bit less direct.

If you're doing that though, I think you'd want to find some interesting ways to play with the idea that the mouse cursor and character are separate, but related. What if the mouse needs to activate a switch, but doing so will cause the character to walk in a dangerous direction? It could make an interesting puzzle platformer! There could be some great mechanical jokes you could pull actually, could potentially be very fun to design.

In summary:

Mouse control is fine provided you're not asking me to do anything too hard.
If you're using mouse control in future, be playful and explore the design opportunities afforded by having to think about the characters location relative to the mouse.

kaesve5 years ago

I think there's an interesting idea there, but I think a few small tweaks would make it much easier to enjoy. The biggest thing for me is that the timer makes it really hard to explore the mechanics and come up with a plan. It takes me some time to understand what a new color/character does and how it interacts with the other colors, but because of the timer I don't get much opportunity to explore. If you had more tutorial levels, so that we already understand the mechanics better before you ramp up the difficulty, I think I would enjoy it a lot more. Still, it's a fun idea :)

H_Labs5 years ago

Thanks for the very insightful feedback! Your point about the disconnect and precision makes a lot of sense to me. I'll have to read this a few more times, but all of it is very helpful. Thanks for the taking the time to explain everything (with fun analogies too!) and putting out some ideas of your own.

Crime Dog5 years ago (1 edit)

No worries! Thanks for sharing!

If you have some time, try and help out some of the other people seeking advice in the thread too :)

Crime Dog5 years ago

Ooh, nice work giving feedback on other games!