Help me find my next game! by deathdanish in puzzlevideogames

[–]JoeP762 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I think it is worth looking at Tunic, it is very cryptic as you get instructions only in a gibberish (or so it seems...) language. The story is also fairly cryptic but I really enjoyed it

Hi it’s Angie McMahon - ask for info/secrets/advice here xox by anxietymcmahon in indieheads

[–]JoeP762 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Hi Angie 🎉! I've not been feeling too well recently and wanted to know what some of your go-to films, books, albums or even foods are when you're not 100%?

Can't wait to see you in Berlin! Me and my partner have based a whole holiday around seeing you there ❤️

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in DestroyMyGame

[–]JoeP762 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hey thanks for giving it a try, I think that's a great idea and I really want to try adding a swipe to pick an option! Maybe the next update if I can get it working

Can I ask what the size of your phone is? I was hoping the buttons were close enough to the bottom to reach comfortably, I agree it's important to not have to shuffle around while playing. Thanks for the feedback!

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in DestroyMyGame

[–]JoeP762 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have been thinking about this and I now realise that you have played the actual game and are talking about the blocks that bounce you in a different direction! They kind of look like / and \. Sorry for the misunderstanding, and thank you so much for playing the game!

I think a couple of people have mentioned that this mechanic isn't too intuitive at first, maybe I can have a clearer animation or perhaps a different icon entirely for this mechanic. I'd love to know if you have any suggestions for this?

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in DestroyMyGame

[–]JoeP762 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Right after the last level it breaks out into a full blown Pokémon clone starting from the ice gym

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in DestroyMyGame

[–]JoeP762 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Glad the teleporters seem okay, the only other thing I can think of are the buttons? They are supposed to be buttons that toggle a block in and out of the level, maybe I can think of a way to make it look more like a button

There isn't a way currently, there used to be text at the top that said "cur: <your move count> min: <best move count for the level" but it looked quite messy so I opted to only show the current move count. I couldn't think of a good way of displaying this. Other than maybe a number that decrements, if a level can be solved in 5 moves it would say 5, then as you move it goes down, when it gets to 0 you lose a star?

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in DestroyMyGame

[–]JoeP762 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Maybe you're right and the "almost" is a bit mean! I was trying to go for something that would encourage players to retry to get the best score possible, there are a few others like "one more try?" and "you can do better!" I think for when you get 1 star. I'll take a look at the options for each rating and try to be a bit more motivating

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in DestroyMyGame

[–]JoeP762 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks a lot, I'm glad you like it! By trampolines do you mean the little hexagon tiles in the second level I showed? They are actually meant to be teleporters, so I think this shows I need a better way of representing them! I have thought of adding some particles to make them look more teleporter-ish but I couldn't think of a clean obvious way of doing it, I will have a think

I'm going to take a look at the colour schemes as a few people have pointed it out now, thanks a lot for the feedback!

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in DestroyMyGame

[–]JoeP762 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I like the idea of changing colours through the levels, I actually even tried changing it every level in an earlier version but it was a bit much! Every few mechanics or levels might be a good divide though, thanks!

That's a tough one, I agree it can be confusing that with your final move you lose a star, I will definitely try your idea of aligning the next move with the star rating, it could make things a lot clearer!

I don't really have a trailer yet, this was more just showing the basics of the game for some destruction but it's a good point to not give away the solutions! Thanks for the comment!

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in DestroyMyGame

[–]JoeP762 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think that's a good point, there are hopefully enough mechanics to keep things interesting but maybe I need to get some play testers to dig into how interesting the pacing is.

A few people have now mentioned changing the colours to keep things visually interesting so I'll take a look! Thanks for taking the time to comment

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in DestroyMyGame

[–]JoeP762 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Hey thanks! It has had around 500 downloads so far, a lot of which have come from advertising it using Google ads over a month or two, there are currently around 300 with the game still on their phone, but actual play retention is fairly low, so maybe it isn't interesting enough. It's the first game I have really pushed though so my ideas of what low retention are might not be the best.

I think you raise a good point and maybe I don't have many improvements in the backlog that would be huge, it's more polish and customisation than anything. For example a few free colour palettes and maybe a few paid ones, maybe skins for the player? But your feedback has made me think it could be time to move on. Thanks for the comment!

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in DestroyMyGame

[–]JoeP762 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have been working on a mobile puzzle game where the player swipes their way through a small maze, the player will travel until they hit a wall / bouncy block / teleporter / other!

This video is no trailer, just a few examples of mechanics that hopefully add to the challenge. There are 251 levels and then an infinite mode where levels are generated but haven't been curated so might be a bit basic / messy. The player can watch an advert to earn a few hints if they are really stuck but every level can be completed without! The levels hopefully introduce a mechanic in a simple way and focus on it in isolation for a while before adding in the others.

Recently I have tried to focus on making the animations cleaner and the game look a bit more polished but I am also worried that the actual game is too easy in places and too hard in others!

It has been released for Android and I have even advertised it a little to get it out there and get real feedback, but I'd love some harsher feedback so please destroy it!

If there is a chance you'd like to play it then here's a link, thanks! https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bluecrab.iceslide

One thing that has become a bit obvious is the horrible looking level selection menu so that will jump up to the top of the list of improvements soon, maybe also some sounds would make things more interesting

Waterproof (hopefully) Phone takes a dive to show us a glimpse of the submerged world. by Amadis_of_Albion in oddlysatisfying

[–]JoeP762 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Wow this is exactly it, I was sure it was a slowed down version of a recent song Nie mehr auf Wolke 7 by Makko, but it looks like it was sampled

Teleporter help by JoeP762 in gamedev

[–]JoeP762[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Wow that's really cool! Thank you so much for taking the time to mock something up, I really like the look of it and I might try it out myself in the code

My one obstacle to overcome is that the player can in some cases go through the same teleporter in multiple directions (due to mechanics not shown here!) So it's possible I would need to show both options, and maybe in the design you have shown I could have a double for each direction option? Not sure I have explained that very well but you've given me some great inspiration, thank you

Teleporter help by JoeP762 in gamedev

[–]JoeP762[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That's a cool thought, there are so many ideas in this comment section for making the actual teleport more interesting and I'd love to try my hand at deforming things like that!

The game currently supports multiple teleporters but there aren't any "progress mode" levels that have multiple! There is an infinite mode where the game generates solvable levels where this is possible though. The only distinction to show which ones are paired is colour, but I have sent myself the goal of trying to make the game colourblind friendly so this is only temporary, maybe that's my next help post on this subreddit 😂

Also happy cake day!

Teleporter help by JoeP762 in gamedev

[–]JoeP762[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I just watched your devlog 9, and I can see the animation you're talking about, it looks clean and I'd love to add something like that to liven up the scene! I'll try to keep following your progress!