nornagon 2012-04-23 06:05
Fun! Way hard though (or I'm playing it wrong :P)
Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → LD23 → Professor McSteen, and his shrinking machine
By perilouspete
| Category | Rank | Score | Count | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coolness | 1 | 100 | ||
| Humor | 568 | 1.96 | ||
| Overall | 613 | 2.69 | ||
| Innovation | 649 | 2.49 | ||
| Audio | 650 | 1.85 | ||
| Fun | 716 | 2.27 | ||
| Graphics | 736 | 2.27 | ||
| Mood | 747 | 2.13 | ||
| Theme | 770 | 2.27 |
Fun! Way hard though (or I'm playing it wrong :P)
The jumping sound is kind of grating.
it seemed hard, (were we supposed to get though those little gaps somehow), I couldn't get very far, but, it looked to be like a nice platformer. a few problems with it but not terrible
There is lot to improve. Graphics is ok, but not great. Controls are fine. Not much innovation with the theme. The games does work. No bugs.
The instruction text gets in your way when you solve the first obstacle. Couldn't get past the small hole in the second puzzle. Maybe some easier puzzles first.
Bonus points for using html5!
Fun, but a bit hard :( at least for me
Seems like a good game - I couldn't get past the second area though! :( Impressive for a hmtl5 game - did you use a framework or write it from scratch?
Turned out quite nicely. I did actually get stuck in the ground as I approached the end of the level though! Good job mate.
Wow, thanks for the comments guys!
A few responses (each to the comments in order, may contain spoilers):
1. easy games are boring games :P
2. I very nearly made a mute button (the system is all implemented, I just never tied it to a key...)
3. The little gaps you can only get through once you reach a shrinker
4.Please don't judge the theme until you actually reach a shrinking machine! Instructions were thrown in as an afterthought when people were finding it too hard...
5. I'll give you a hint, you can grab the block under you as you jump, then use it for the next puzzle
6. Made in GameMaker:HTML5, hence the ease of creating a Windows version (which is in the source download)
7. I had that bug while making but thought I'd squished it! It should be pretty infrequent...
Nice use of HTML5!
Very hard, and annoying that you have to go right back to the beginning if you get stuck - which is very easy to do.
Original consept, pretty hard at times!
Hard and annoying to have to start all over again, but otherwise challenging and fun.
Not at all what I expected... But it was interesting and I liked the concept but (unfortunately) I found it frustratingly hard! I think it´s the combined keyboard/mouse thing that made it so difficult for me as (for some reason) I just couldn't coordinate them well!
A bit frustrating, mainly because you often have to start over. But the concept is interesting, and the level design is quite clever :)
Just as a hint to anyone annoyed about having to restart, if you download the Windows version you can use F5 to save your exact position, and F6 to load your save. There's no notification about it since it wasn't supposed to be in the final version, I just forgot about it :P
Agree that it seemed rather tough, but I felt like it was because I was missing something.
Concept was interesting and agreed it was abig tough.
I liked it. I feel like I got stuck way too early though.
Good start, like others have said, very difficult introduction to the game. Could have done with some easier puzzles to start with. You mentioned a help page, but I couldn't see one. Also mixture of mouse and keyboard is kind of painful to use.
When you first load the game, the options are "Start" and "Help". Click "Help" to get the help page.
Originally I had the controls as the cursor keys and space, but I found it was too difficult and inaccurate to place the blocks, so I switched it to the mouse.
I admit the game gets to the tricky bit too quick, and the game mechanic of shrinking is not close enough to the beginning. When I test it, it takes me less than a minute to reach the first shrinker, I forgot other's wouldn't know how to do the puzzles as well as I did :(. Obviously I can't change it now, that's cheating :P
Pretty puzzling, I couldn't beat it. I liked the use of the mouse for box placing controls because it is more precise than most box puzzlers. May have been a bit too punishing because I got stuck after a few minutes and had to restart.
For those who have had trouble, thought it was too hard, didn't know what to do (or how to), I've uploaded a walkthrough video. It only explains the first part, but it should give you the idea of how to complete the game.
You can view the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGzgJDFV89M
Damn that was hard! Fun though :)
First level is way too hard. Difficulty should be more progressive trough the level in my point of view.
A cool game, but I don't think it's for me. I didn't like the mechanic of having to jump while pixing boxes up, felt kinda silly. Still a good game though!
Brutal! I made some progress, but felt like I was cheating the whole time. Needs a bit more tolerance for trial and error, as currently it's a bit "You didn't get this immediately, start over!"
Really hard. It's way too difficult to get what you're supposed to do. And also, very irritating that if you make a mistake at some points you have to restart the whole level. (especially since you might not know that you need to bring one piece witch you the first time)
I think it's too difficult to be enjoyable. The -placing blocks in mid air and jumping over them- mechanic it's not enough well implemented to use it comfortably...
haha, was good fun. hard but fun! I liked it :))
I really really like the puzzles. They're interesting and creative. I just wish the mechanics had been much more forgiving. Having to time a mouse click with a jump, and having to restart when missing one jump, made it feel really tedious. I recommend eliminating the mouse entirely. Say you have to stand on a block to pick it up, and when you drop it, it goes where you're standing, and you go on top of it. Then you can do the whole box mechanic with a key press. If you redesigned the puzzles with this in mind, I would love this game, because there's a lot to love!
Nice to see more games using HTML5, it's fun but really hard (personal feeling :))
[Comments and ratings from this account come from various team members]
I didn't find this game to be very intuative at all but once I got into the swing of things I felt a lot of satisfaction from solving how to proceed. The thing that made me put this game down at the end was the fact that restarting always put me back at the same place. After not getting a box to where I needed to be (When you get shrunk) I had to reset and could not stomach going back through all that again. I think that the basic idea behind this game is pretty good but the learning curve needs to be a lot softer and the punishment for getting stuck needs to be reduced.
Nicely working mechanics. Graphics are fine. Could've used a bit less brutal difficulty level at the start.
Interesting concept, but the starting area of the level should be a bit easier IMO - great that you have posted a help video. Too bad the graphics didn't get enough time, and the gameplay required good keyboard/mouse synchronization. I'm getting old. I bet a 8-year old could beat me in any FPS of my choice.
Oh, I know what is wrong!. I'm used to press SPACE for jumping, that's it!
not sure why you didn't link the grabbing of boxes to a key instead of the mouse ? especially on laptops with a touchpad but also simple convenience
Really hard, but nice idea.
I think there's good potential, and this works well as a prototype. You should work on the mechanics, because they feel a little awkward.
I really like the mechanics and the puzzles you've come up with are good
This is very clever. The backgrounds are clean and effective. I understand that the second sign is in the right spot if you get stuck, but I thought I had to read it, which means I was intentionally getting myself stuck.
I think this is a really good game that deserves a slight rethink of the first section, just to bring the difficulty up slightly more gradually. Concept puzzles first, then a dexterity puzzle, then combine, and then go.
I got a block caught on the top of the pillar shown in the screenshot, and then got stuck. That was a little frustrating.
The comments about restarting at the beginning are worth considering. My game had the same problem. People were much happier when they can keep the progress they've earned.