Got to the high sun "stairs" before I gave up. Its good. Environments look a little generic, itd be great if there was more cohesion and noticable change as you went on. I like what you were going for on it - but after so many pages of rhetorical questions that are just variations on "why am I here?" - I really just wanted to know the answer, or for something more to happen.
Overall, really good start - just takes a little too long to get going.
The ending was unsatisfying, it went on for too long and I wanted to turn it off every time you wanted me to seriously platform. Everything else was okay.
Do note that I hate the very concept of platforming on slippery surfaces.
Yeah, this is a good start. I think that your Limbo:esk character works fine. Sadly my left arrow key does not work and becasue of that I could not start to climb the stairs that went to the left. :(
The sentences in the air works but some variation is needed if the payoff don't come quite soon after that. What cought my attention the most is the music/sound design. I would say that it fit perfectly to the theme but not the world itself. You world looks way to Mario than it mabey should but I guess that's up to updating the visuals. I can also see myself getting really tired of the sound if it's not changes. it's can propably get really grating to listen to for t long.
Overall an interesting first experiment. If this is your first game I think your should be satisfied. I also think you have a lot of potential that you can work with and make better.
@kiwi_whisker: Thanks for the feedback, the art is indeed pretty boring as I wanted a minimalist style but I also suck at art so. As for the questions asked and answers given, I was trying to create a sense of mystery and never really resolve that - from other players it seems like either it's a great idea and they love it or it's a terrible idea and things should be answered. Evidently it's a divisive idea.
I saw what you're trying to do, but it doesn't quite work. Though it's certainly better than my first platformer, but I'm guessing since you used Stencylworks to make it then you didn't really have to hard code too much. My main issue with the game is that there the friction isn't great enough. I understand that it's meant to be icy, but you slide around too much for the game to be enjoyable. There's also not much challenge in it outside of dealing with the controls.
Still it's a good place to start for a first game, though I recommend you study other platformers and dissect mechanics and level design before tackling another game.
It's pretty fun but I'm not a fan of the ice, even though I guess that's the point. Also some of the storytelling bits could have been more ambient to make the "world more mysterious". Instead of saying "I see a structure" "I wonder what it is", it actually would have fit your style more if you just said "I see a structure", it leaves the mystery up to the player instead of feeling like your watching someone else experience a mysterious world.
The character art was good, very Limbo-esque. Aside from that, the music was middling, the "mysterious" text ended up asking the same questions over and over again and got really boring, and I found the abrupt ending with literally no payoff kinda (very) awful.
Also, can I ask you something? From a gameplay perspective, what in the world motivated you to make an entire game that involves ice platforming, a frustrating mechanic disliked (hated?) pretty openly by gamers?
All of this being said, can't say I've ever made a game, so it's better than anything I could come up with. Just wanted to go back to my Newgrounds reviews days and give a little criticism! Don't take it too much to heart, it's your first game and there's always room for improvement. Maybe make a sequel and answer some of those darn questions... just an idea. :)
Just finished it. For what it is I'd say you did a fantastic job! My only complaints would be the ending, and the hit detection on the spikes. There were a few spots that were pretty challenging!
Wow cool game man, even though it's tough on some spots and the questions keep coming. I feel though as if the main character could benefit from some kind of companion to talk to, like a giant duck or a robotic monkey, or something. To cheer up the player a bit.
@ShinyD3mon: Thanks - constructive criticism like that is always welcomed don't worry, as for the idea of ice platforming - to be honest when i was building the game I had an awful bug where the friction was waaay off and the character slid all over the place, while that was ridiculous it got me interested in a game where perhaps the players control isn't super tight and they have to fight against the game, I mean if you jump and run IRL you can't just suddenly stop and jump at super precise points.
All that build up from the beginning and the ending turned out very unsatisfying, there was no pay off. At least throw up a splash screen of maybe the player finding other people or a village of people.
I dislike slippery ice in games, but the fact that it's a constant mechanic throughout made it pretty interesting. It let you build up your skill with it, whereas other games only briefly have it which makes it frustrating. I thought it was pretty interesting. That said, I'm a Sonic man, and I have no time for this stop-and-think style of platforming! I had to quit when you wanted me to jump across the level on single blocks. I feel like I'm cheating if my hand comes off the right key. :(
@Chavtheworld I did indeed post the proto version of this about two months ago and got some positive comments so figured people may be interested in the final version.
I like the story elements written in the background. It kept me playing. One thing that would be cool is animating the spikes in some way. They just didn't seem like they'd be static objects. My brain expected them to animate every time I saw them. Really nice game for a first start. Better than the first couple games I built in rpg maker.
I appreciated the challenging sections. Once you got the "flow" it got pretty easy. I would maybe make the lateral slipping not so drastic or have it taper off more quickly, if that makes sense. Congratulations, though!
I also noticed a few times where I ran into the spikes and they just disappeared and I didn't die. Was that intentional?
I played all the way up to the few screen in the climbing block section. I think feel that the game needs a back round of some kind and some music. The jumping feels good but the animation doesn't look all that smooth. Other than that it's pretty good for what it is.
Pretty decent start but the two things I'd change.
Maybe not text on every single page, and if you could have the text fade in and then after a few second fade out for more interesting presentation. Also the same questions repeat a few too many times.
Visuals should change maybe a little to give some interest in moving forward.
Game looks "cool". Hah .. see what I did there .. aa .. uhhhh .. uhhhhh. Sorry ..
In all seriousness, looked cool. The ice mechanic seemed like an original idea but the platforming felt very generic. Maybe a little bit more puzzle oriented platforms would have spiced things up. But all in all .. hey, you finished your game and that's awesome !
I played 5 minutes of it, from what I played it was alright, good for a first go, it went a lot darker than I thought it would. One thing I will say is that the jumping noise got on my nerves :p
EDIT: I got to the part where it says "the climb continues" and said "fuck that". I think your idea is all right, but I think that slipping on ice at all is sssshhhhhiiiiiiitttttttt unless you can find some way to get a sense of speed out of it (i.e. sliding down a hill).
Good work for a first game, but don't use an oft-hated idea again. And make it brighter and cheerier. Why must every indie game be so drab and depressing?
i remember i beat this a while back but the jumping didnt feel as fine-tuned. you had another thread like this up with a link to this game and it opened in full screen right? i.e. no host.
anyway, its awesome. atmospheric, i really got drawn in
@kiwi_whisker: As for the questions asked and answers given, I was trying to create a sense of mystery and never really resolve that - from other players it seems like either it's a great idea and they love it or it's a terrible idea and things should be answered. Evidently it's a divisive idea.
I gave up before finishing, but if there's no payoff that would've been hugely disappointing to me. Assuming that is the case, then I would've felt like you didn't really have anything to say - that you were trying to create a sense of mystery purely for the sake of it.
That's probably why I wasn't compelled to finish it, honestly. The "mystery" started to feel contrived. If there was something tangible to lead me on, a whisper of an answer to come - even something as simple as a glimpse of a character dashing off screen on one of the levels - I would've been more interested.
But the mechanics and music were good. I'd definitely be interested in trying your next game :)
@EthanielRain There is indeed no payoff I'm afraid but I learned my lesson from that - I started off by trying to create this lost atmosphere but when I reached the end I realised I ha nothing to fall back on - I should have planned further ahead.
@thedj93 Yep I polished it up a bit and fine tuned as much as I could while I expanded the level count and got it on Kongregate.
i got through it a lot quicker on this run through. i will be interested in checking out the sequel if there ever is one
EDIT: but it doesnt have to be a sequel. there are a number of ways you can expound on the same thematic ideas without having to be constrained in the same setting. that would give a good oppurtunity to make some completely different soundscapes. im just brainstorming though. i had a lot of fun!
I was having fun but then it just ended. Not a fan of the story overall to be honest. It feels like you were just trying to make an arty indie game without really saying anything substantial.
Also, most of the times I died were just from slipping off the start platform after the next area had loaded.
I wish there were some occasional background elements too.
Thank you so much guys, it makes me proud to have made something people can get any pleasure from, the feedback is super useful too and I only hope my next game is able to address all the points made.
That was actually really fun. I disliked the ice mechanic at first but once I got a feeling for it was pretty cool (no pun intended). Didn't care much for the "story" though if you want to call it that. Art style was okay but surely nothing fancy.
As for the gameplay, I think the jumping itself felt pretty good, springy with some good air control. The running I did not like, the slipperiness may have served the narrative but it simply didn't feel very good. As someone whose dabbled in flash games though, I can see all the work that was put in, and I think it's an excellent freshman effort. For the story, I thought the text was just kind of repetitive. I was interested in the story walking in, but as the game went on it felt like more of a distraction than anything. I felt like the character was trying to project his thoughts onto me, when it should've been the other way around. Instead of having him ask those questions aloud, you should try and hint at whats going on, tease the mystery a bit so that the player himself is actually wondering trying to unravel it himself. Instead it just felt like you were saying "Hey there's a mystery to be solved". Constantly asking things like "where am I?" didn't actually make me more curious, it just felt like sort of a promise of "Hey there will be a twist at the end, so put up with all of this cryptic stuff and I'll reward you" and then you didn't and I was like "Oh..." I can see how the ending might have been more interesting if the text had managed to get me more invested though. I hope my criticisms aren't discouraging cause I did kind of enjoy playing someones first game, and it's better than a lot of the one's I've seen.
I think you've got some good stuff going here, but I'd have to agree that the gameplay, for the most part, is more irritating than enjoyable. Your text sets things up pretty nicely, but like others have said, it becomes redundant fast. It gets to a point where you're trying to convey the experience of the game--the mood, the narrative, the setting--through text rather than through visuals (I know you have a limited palette working on a game like this, but still), sound, and most importantly, compelling gameplay. I wouldn't necessarily agree with some of the others who have completely written off the slippery surface mechanics. If that's what you're going for, go for it. Find a way to make it work and make it fun. But I would say that you should ask yourself whether you're aiming for that for a particular reason or not. Is it inspired? Does the ice mechanic come together with the other elements in a cohesive way that really makes the player feel like they're part of something real here? Or is it just kind of the best you could come up with at the time? If it's the latter, I'd consider going back to the drawing board. But be creative, don't push it too hard. Ideas will come. But above all, make it fun man. That's the whole point. Make it fun and make it from the heart.
It's pretty good! I would have liked the option to jump with the up arrow as I prefer to play this type of game with one hand, but the platforming felt solid. How long did the game take you to make? How much game-making experience do you have?
The atmosphere was really good, the way text was presented was great, but I couldn't do the stairs for some reason, just got too hard with the slipping and all that. Obviously I haven't seen the ending, but there was a sense with all the cryptic text that it was going to go into Braid-esque levels of craziness which is a totally unfair expectation for a little flash game. It's amazing that through little bits of text and some atmospheric music that you built that expectation up, even if people have said there's not much payoff. At least now you know that atmosphere is a strength here, and you could think of a pretty great emotional hook twisty ending, and everyone's opinions of this would go through the roof!
Oh and please make the stair bit easier, because I'm just too stupid!
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