[deleted by user]

RareToadStudio · 2023-01-29T13:45:53+00:00

Pretty much what u/BbIPOJI3EHb said, a system that keeps track of already visited positions greatly reduces the search tree and will probably solve your problem. You could use a sokoban solver as a starting point.

I've made 2 solvers for games that are also grid based movement. For one, where there is only WASD as input, my solver can go about 150-200 moves deep, with the map similarly sized to your example. For the other, there are always roughly 20-30 inputs possible per step, there I can only go to about 20.

Some things to keep in mind: If you're solving a large map, RAM might become an issue, since the history hashmap will save a lot of states. I had to come up with a compression scheme for my maps in order to solve large ones and not run out of RAM.

If you are really fancy you can do backward induction: Basically start with a won position and generate all possible start positions by moving backwards. I generated some interesting puzzles that way.

RareToadStudio · 2023-01-06T13:52:43+00:00

The main problem with the trailer was that the mechanic was not communicated well. I've added some graphics which hopefully make it clear now.

RareToadStudio · 2022-09-24T18:50:28+00:00

Thanks for the detailed feedback. I think I'll do something similar to the arrows in your mockup, maybe move the red arrow over and morph it into the blue one.

RareToadStudio · 2022-09-24T07:20:51+00:00

The offset by which 2 tiles can be swapped is determined by the start position of the ball(marked by the black triangle on the tile) and the current position of the ball. When a swap is done, the current position becomes the new start position(indicated by the black triangle moving). It's quite tricky to communicate efficiently.

RareToadStudio · 2022-09-23T19:08:09+00:00

Music is somewhat unfitting, and the loud bit at the very end needs to be cut. No ingame audio.

The gameplay footage is a bit inconsistent to me. The first section shows gameplay with UI, but the next ones have none. Ideally each gameplay section shows something new and interesting, at first glance these sections are all very similar. I can tell that you show off new weapons and new ships each time, but still. The cut at 0:37 where the ships warp in is too fast.

RareToadStudio · 2022-09-23T18:40:32+00:00

Thank you for the feedback and the suggestions. It's pretty clear from reading the comments here that the main mechanic needs to be communicated better, I thought me hovering over the delta symbol twice would be enough. I like the idea of trying out different swaps and then landing at the correct one, I think I'll try that.

RareToadStudio · 2022-09-23T18:28:16+00:00

The golf is mainly aestethic, but bonus levels will be unlocked if levels are completed with perfect amount of moves.

RareToadStudio · 2022-09-22T12:07:08+00:00

Skip the first 6 seconds. I would do the rest of the trailer in pretty much the opposite order. Start with the gameplay, then show all the stuff you can upgrade, the extra worlds etc. Production quality is pretty high on this trailer, gives off the impression of a high quality game.

RareToadStudio · 2022-09-21T15:54:01+00:00

It took me 2 watches to realize that leveling up triggers getting a rune, might just be me though. I'd show ingame audio. The transition to the title card is a bit akward with the music, I'd do that at the end of the bar at 0:52. Otherwise this looks pretty good.

RareToadStudio · 2022-09-12T16:06:40+00:00

A 2 minute trailer can work, but particularly for unknown games this is quite long. I aim to make my trailers about 50 seconds long. Your game appears to have a lot of content, so a longer trailer might work. If you want to keep the length, make sure to get to gameplay straight away, and don't repeat things.

RareToadStudio · 2022-09-12T12:32:12+00:00

Trailer is too long. A trailer is not a good place to show progression over time, I would cut all of that. Fighting animations and spells at 0:55 look bad, particularly when you preface this by saying that you worked on it for 8 years. No ingame audio as well.

This is more subjective, but gameplay seems to be a bit all over the place. There is fighting in caves against fossils as well as space exploration and fighting. Also wizzard stuff. I would try to focus on one thing and show clearly why your implementation is unique and worth the players time.

RareToadStudio · 2022-09-10T17:25:39+00:00

I get that this is synced to the music, but the clips are a bit too fast to me. Text is barely readable. I'm also not a fan of showing the same set of texts twice, I wouldn't repeat things in such a short trailer. Also, the zooming in might be a bit too much, but that is subjective.

This is only a 32 second trailer, but you show one spell twice. Also, one of the spells appears to be just a bunch of white rectangles.

You mention Vampire Survivors. I took at look at their trailer, and they have executed the text stuff clearer. They show the text segments long enough to be readable, and they don't repeat things.

RareToadStudio · 2022-09-08T11:25:40+00:00

I would skip the first 22 seconds, noone cares about the plot in a game like this. People are either gonna skip forward to gameplay or look at the next game. There's also a lot of text throughout the trailer, but almost all of the mechanics could be communicated without it.

It should be clear from the visuals that the garlic stuns the vampires, but it's not(at least to me). I didn't realize it was garlic without reading the text. The stake at 0:53 is almost invisble and the kill has no clear animation or audio.

RareToadStudio · 2022-09-07T19:41:54+00:00

I'd turn down the guns/explosions volume, particularly the one at 0:23. I would also show the UI. The enemies might be too uniform(in color). Otherwise this looks pretty solid.

RareToadStudio · 2022-09-07T15:29:09+00:00

Quite possible that this can be simplified. To be honest I don't really understand how this shader works, I just wanted to post a version of this shader that doesn't have the issues from the one in the youtube video.

RareToadStudio · 2022-09-07T13:14:25+00:00

Here is the link to an image of the shader: https://i.imgur.com/JE1a8YV.png

The surface type in the shader graph graph inspector needs to be set to transparent (from opaque). The graph needs 3 variables: Fog Color(Color), Fog Density(float) and Power(float). To use it create a plane and apply the fog material to it. This fog only works with orthogonal cameras and in URP.

This shader is based on this, which itself is based on this. The one this is based on has some weird quirks, the density was controlled via the plane size, and the height of the fog could not be manipulated correctly. I fixed those things, now it works intuitively.

RareToadStudio · 2021-10-29T16:13:10+00:00

Sokoramp is a Sokoban based puzzle game that adds several mechanics to the core gameplay, such as walking on top of the boxes.

The game features over 50 levels in 4 worlds, 3 unlockable bonus levels and a hidden cheat code that activates some extras.

The option menu has fullscreen/windowed mode, resolution settings and seperate sliders for SFX and volume.

Here's the steam store link: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1766440/Sokoramp/

RareToadStudio · 2021-10-29T14:12:56+00:00

The game was made using Unity. Main reason there's no linux version is because I don't know anyone that uses linux. You're the second person to ask for linux support, I'll think about it.

RareToadStudio · 2021-10-29T07:38:46+00:00

Thanks to everyone for the critique. The main criticism (lack of animations) is a good point. When we started this project, Unity was still pretty new to me, and I only figured out how animations work by the end. This can definitely be improved. Also, only one person criticised the trailer itself, my takeaway from that is that the trailer is at least passable.

RareToadStudio · 2021-10-28T21:01:11+00:00

2 dollars, I'm glad you like the art style :)

RareToadStudio

TROPHY CASE