MisfitsAttic

BBAlpert:

Sorry if this seems creepy, I'm the developer of AVNT and I'm a bit of a geek for game design, so when I saw an intelligent post about AVNT it piqued my interest and I thought I'd weigh in.

When developing AVNT I knew there'd be a risk inherent in combining two somewhat desperate mechanics. The game is an action-puzzler and some people that like puzzle games don't like action in them, while some whom like action don't like puzzles in them. I think I understand more what you are saying when I think of you (perhaps incorrectly) as sitting on the puzzle side of the fence. You see, from my initial reading I was confused, because while the game ramps up mechanics early, I continue to add mechanics throughout the game until the final area, where I give the player a breather from new mechanics and instead hammer them with more combinations of existing mechanics (which I think is appropriate for a final area).

Then I thought about it. The last "puzzle" mechanic is introduced at the beginning of area 4. In mid area 4 and area 5 the new mechanics are both dexterity mechanics. I tended to introduce new dexterity mechanics later because I found players struggled with them if introduced to early. So when I look at the game from a puzzle perspective what you're saying makes a lot of sense.

So for those that love the dexterity aspects of the game, the levels you skipped may be their favorites and the levels you enjoyed they may have skipped. At the end of the day I think I'll end up with a lot of players with comments like this because they may sit on either end of the action/puzzle spectrum, and those who adore the game will most likely sit somewhere in the middle. At least that's my guess today ;) Thanks for posting some interesting insights about the game, and I'm glad that overall you found it very enjoyable :)

- Tim Keenan