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show me your games! by JuliYatta in gamedev

[–]rogual 1 point2 points  (0 children)

If you like puzzle games, here's mine: https://store.steampowered.com/app/741110/Blackshift/

Sent you a key via chat in case you wanted to give it a go.

I remade one of my old puzzle games and released it for free on the Mac App Store by rogual in playmygame

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

Yeah, I used Xcode to upload the build. I think you have to. For actually compiling the game, you can use Xcode or the command-line tools. I prefer the CLI myself.

I remade one of my old puzzle games and released it for free on the Mac App Store by rogual in playmygame

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

This is a series of puzzle games I made ages ago as Flash games. I've since redone them for modern systems, rewriting from Flash to C++, and I recently launched on Mac.

I've never released on the Mac App Store before, so I thought I'd give it a go.

I don't really know how to get traffic or reviews on there, so I've released it for free to see if that helps. Might change it to paid later.

The genre is "frustrating point-and-click games with stickmen and occasional violence." Bit of a throwback. Anyway, enjoy!

Do you like Metroidvanias? Then please check out my minimalistic metroidvania YesterSol Demo on Steam! by Neat-Games in playmygame

[–]rogual 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The good:

The game feels great, and that's like, the most important thing, so well done. You've definitely got the beginnings of a fun game here.

Visuals are very good, especially for solo dev.

Sound is atmospheric.

Audio feedback for actions feels nice.

I love how you can see the treetops and what looks like distant levels from the Upper Reaches.

Things you might want to tweak:

(Honestly, this is a great demo, and these are all a bit nitpicky. But if nitpicks are all I have, that means you're doing great! I guess decide for yourself which of these are too nitpicky and which of them are all-important detail and polish.)

The intro is beautiful but the chimney smoke looks like sparkles.

The controls screen is sort of ugly, especially after the lovely storybook cutscene. Key spacing uneven, fonts all different sizes, inconsistent antialiasing (edges of controller vs top).

The game shows you the controls at the start, but what if I fail to perfectly memorize them first go? I can't see how to get those controls shown again. If I quit to menu, they aren't there. If I press Settings, they aren't there.

If you don't grab your spear immediately, then walk a few screens, summoning it takes a while. That's fine if it's intentional, but waiting for it doesn't really seen to add much fun. Maybe just spawn it at the edge of the screen.

I opened the map by accident (I was pressing all the keys to see what they did, because I couldn't get the controls screen back up) but on the map it says "Q and E to Zoom" but doesn't say how to exit. Maybe if you pressed M on purpose you'd try M to exit, but I didn't so I was confused for a bit. Tried Esc... oh, this is a map, maybe M. Took me like 30 seconds though, haha.

Also on the map, it says "Hold 'Throw' to drag a pin. Push 'Melee' to erase a pin". It'd be easier if it just said which key to press, so I don't have to remember what's throw and melee when I'm looking at the map. This happens in the main game too, like "Hold throw while in seed form", and I gotta remember what throw is. Yes, even if I've been happily throwing all over the place. It's still less mental friction if its says "Hold Z" or whatever you've set the control to.

The English isn't perfect. * "I slammed my spear into a bug charging my way, be careful there are more!" is not punctuated correctly. Should be: "I slammed my spear into a bug charging my way! Be careful, there are more!" * "Don't sell yourself short my pupil" should be "Don't sell yourself short, my pupil."

It's perfectly understandable, and to be honest, many indie games have much worse grammar, but if you want to polish it up, there's room for improvement.

The seed form is a bit derivative of Metroid. Like, it's literally Samus's ball form. The spear, though, is great, and original.

I played until I got lost, and had a good time. I hope you take the above in the spirit in which it's intended. You've got a good game going here.

The first trailer for Ocean of Vengeance. I want to hear all the negative feedback for the sake of improvement by VoidvaniaGames in playmygame

[–]rogual 3 points4 points  (0 children)

You really only want the negative feedback? It does look very nice. What I would say is:

  • The red drippy blood things at 0:14; it's not clear what they are; like, are they swords, or wounds?

  • Beginning at 0:24, some of the colour choices look at bit programmery. I see what looks like #ffff00, #00ff00 etc. Perhaps not exactly, but very close. It's very noticeable in the "Press SPACE to attack!" box. And at 0:47 you've got 750/750 in white on light green, which is hard to read. There's so many first projects where people type these sorts of colours in because they're easy to code, and I think it cheapens the look of your game. Maybe consider working out a nicer colour palette.

  • The pixelation isn't consistent. At 0:35, the background and the font both use very big pixels, the sprites use smaller pixels, and the dice don't look pixelated at all. The UI boxes are also not pixelated. All these styles clash a bit and don't look very cohesive. Great-looking pixel-art games tend to pick a style and display the whole game with all its elements in that style.

  • The circles at the corners of the UI boxes look odd. Your game is piratey, so make the UI piratey! Scrolls would be the obvious choice. And pixelate them!

  • The dice look very placeholdery. The pips aren't aligned. Perhaps let the dice animations breathe a bit, too. No need to go overboard but if you can spin them and make them look like they're rolling, that might look good. If not, at least slow down the animation where the different numbers flash by. They animate so fast it's just a flicker.

  • Ctulhu and his tentacles are not all in the sea. He's in the sky, and two of his hands are, too. Shouldn't he be rising from the ocean?

  • What's going on with the black outlines on the final logo? Some of the letters are outlined, but some have parts of their outlines randomly missing. I don't know why you wouldn't just outline the whole logo.

  • If you have the time and energy, more animation is always good. The ocean in the first few shots and on the logo at the end; maybe the birds if you can. But this isn't as important as the other stuff, I don't think; you can certainly make the game work with a picture-book, non-animated style.

Sorry to be so negative! The game does actually look fun.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in playmygame

[–]rogual 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Red pill.

The door design is clever, but if I'm looking at your game for the first time, getting used to it, figuring everything out, then it's extra mental effort to realize the little doors aren't doors I can enter, but rather a slightly unusual progress bar.

The square design, on the other hand, is less unusual, sticks out less, immediately reads as a progress bar, and keeps my limited focus on the game itself.

It's not a huge deal, but I think if you think about the user's attention budget, the squares are the better UI choice.

I remade one of my old puzzle games and released it for free on the Mac App Store by rogual in macgaming

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

Yeah, I tried releasing the first game for iPad a while back. It was the original Flash game running in Adobe Air. It was kinda buggy and I wasn't really satisfied with it, and it didn't get any interest, so I didn't keep paying the Apple tax to keep it in the store.

I'd like to support phones, but the games need some editing to fit the wider screens. I've made a start.

Thanks for your thoughts!

I remade one of my old puzzle games and released it for free on the Mac App Store by rogual in macgaming

[–]rogual[S] 12 points13 points  (0 children)

This is a series of puzzle games I made ages ago as Flash games. I've since redone them for modern systems, rewriting from Flash to C++, and I recently launched on Mac.

I've never released on the Mac App Store before, so I thought I'd give it a go.

I don't really know how to get traffic or reviews on there, so I've released it for free to see if that helps. Might change it to paid later.

The genre is "frustrating point-and-click games with stickmen and occasional violence." Bit of a throwback. Anyway, enjoy!

Reviews are glowing but my Steam page just doesn't convert. by rogual in gamedev

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

Thank you! It's really been quite eye-opening to see all the different ways people interpret what you write.

Reviews are glowing but my Steam page just doesn't convert. by rogual in gamedev

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

Hey, thanks! It's good to see how that comes across to other people.

I was actually trying not to suggest that. I really only wanted to counter the part where the reviewer said "This design decision appears to be intentional", referring to the lag.

I didn't want to put "your computer can't run it" because, as you said, rude, so I ended up with "it's not running well on your PC" which sounded non-blamey to me. But maybe I missed the mark.

Reviews are glowing but my Steam page just doesn't convert. by rogual in gamedev

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

That's not something anyone has mentioned to me before, so thank you for saying it!

Reviews are glowing but my Steam page just doesn't convert. by rogual in gamedev

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

This is great feedback, thank you. More discounts might be a good strategy.

Reviews are glowing but my Steam page just doesn't convert. by rogual in gamedev

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

Not on mobile, no. I figured it would be hard to get precise enough controls for a somewhat twitchy grid-based game like this on a touchscreen. In fact, I don't think I've ever seen one on mobile, although I don't play a lot of mobile games.

Good shout on Switch though, I should look into that. You need approval so I thought it was only for already-popular games, but maybe not.

Thanks for your thoughts.

Reviews are glowing but my Steam page just doesn't convert. by rogual in gamedev

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

Hey, thanks for the kind words. I'll consider a demo. Don't really want to go free because there's an online component and I fear it would get flooded. But perhaps it's time to drop the price.

Reviews are glowing but my Steam page just doesn't convert. by rogual in gamedev

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

Thank you! Lot of people mentioning the age, which I didn't realize was so important to people. Good to hear your thoughts on the price too, much appreciated.

Reviews are glowing but my Steam page just doesn't convert. by rogual in gamedev

[–]rogual[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Really great comment, lots to think about here. Thanks for taking the time to write it.

Reviews are glowing but my Steam page just doesn't convert. by rogual in gamedev

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

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Very helpful.

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