YYYYYY

[dinx2582]

Man, as if waiting for this wasn't already hard enough...

Damn you SoulEye! 

[SoulEye]

Well you know me, I like to tease

[Robson]

Steps 1 and 2 are done! I'll probably make a lot of tweaks and bug fixes over time, but for now I'm happy to move onto the next step. This means I'll be writing the campaigns

I'd love to get your feedback on the current version of the game, so I'm thinking about posting it here or sending it to anyone that would like it. I'll include all my test levels and the level editor. What do you guys think?

New stuff:

* The entire game is now controllable with an xbox 360 controller. I'm not sure if other controllers will work and I'm completely awful with controllers, so it's difficult for me to work out if it feels right. Hopefully you guys will give me some feedback on that.

* It was reasonably easy to accidentally move after respawning at a checkpoint, so I've made a couple of changes which greatly reduce the chance of that.

* Improvements to platforms: (these things also affect word enemies, because they use the same code)
  * They can now wrap around rooms.
  * Rooms with platforms can be rotated.
  * Created a new invisible tile, which stops platforms and reverses their direction, but allows the player to move through.

* Added fmod, which is used to play music.

* Added a fullscreen mode, which keeps the playing area the same size, but the window fills the entire screen. This has a few advantages when playing:
  * Maps on the pause screen are a lot bigger.
  * Rotating shows the whole level.
  * There's no other distracting windows or desktop icons.

* Previously the background effect was stars in a very regular pattern, which didn't feel right for space. Now it uses the game of life rules to generate a pattern that constantly changes and moves across the screen. This is affected by rotating, so normally the stars go towards the right, but if the screen is rotated 180 degrees, they'll go the left.

* When the player obtains a souvenir there's a "nice" graphical effect

Wow!
I love that pause screen with the map!
Man, everytime you post I just get more and more excited for the game!

I also added your website to my favorites. 

Glad you like it! Here's the pause screen in fullscreen mode:
http://iceyboard.no-ip.org/images/yyyyyy/19.png

[Sakura-Sun]

Looks like you have been working on this game alot. I'm really impressed by it.
Can't wait to see more. keep it up! 

[Requiem]

Robson, if you want to post it here or send it to individual people, I'll be the first to request an indev copy I'll PM you my email address if you want to send it that way.

[Robson]

Thanks for your interest guys!

I'll upload the game here on Tuesday night and then add a new reply

[Shasharala]

Oooo! 
So it's finished already or an indev copy is what you'll be uploading?

[Robson]

Oooo! 
So it's finished already or an indev copy is what you'll be uploading?

Just an indev copy with test levels and the level editor I'm hoping that people will give me feedback, which I can use to improve the game before it's properly released.

It's going to take me a while to make the real levels, because I have no experience with level design. I think it's going to be very interesting to design the levels, so I'm looking forward to this new challenge Currently I'm doing some research, by reading articles (like Anna's level design lessons) and replaying 2d side-view puzzle/action indie games that I think have excellent level design (like VVVVVV, Redder and Starguard).

[Robson]

I've released the development version!!

If you'd like to try it out...

First of all, a massive thank you for testing the development version! I've made a list of useful things that you could tell me, but any and all feedback is very much appreciated.

• Does the game run for you? If not, you probably need the VB Library. This should be included with Windows 2000 and above.
• Does the game run too slow or too fast for you? You could compare against the video.
• Do the controls feel alright?
• Did you find anything confusing about the menu or playing the game?
• Anything that you liked or disliked?
• Anything that you think should be improved or removed?
• If you're running Linux, would you mind testing my game in Wine?
• If you have an xbox 360 controller, could you try playing the game with that and let me know what you think.
• A short "beep" sound plays when a campaign is started. Does it play for you? (no longer included)
• Anything else you'd like to say.

I originally planned to have one big campaign, but I've changed my mind a bit. I'm now going to have lots of smaller campaigns with a different theme in each. I think this will be more fun to play and make the game more varied and memorable. Should also make speedrunning more accessible.

Potentially the game could change a lot between now and the real version, so I wouldn't recommend creating any levels just yet.

Last night I made some changes to the way dissolved tiles work. A "how and why" post will be coming soon!

All the code for the game is included in the ZIP file. It is 2875 lines of code and about 3 comments

The final version will have the beep replaced with music, courtesy of SoulEye. The beep is just for me to check that the sound works on other people's computers.

If you're playing the game at midnight, all the timers reset and go to something like -65535! I'll fix this for the real version.

[ecsdaowzwpjlvn]

Dizzy effect is surely dizzy. It's giving me a headache.

90 degrees turns makes CPU go 100% for a few seconds.

I can't make an up-left flip here. No matter how fast i try to press left i get impaled by that upper Y

[Terry]

This is awesome! I didn't have much luck with the first set of levels but I managed to finish the second and get a B grade

The only bug I noticed was that going fullscreen seems to cause some distortion when you get a souvenir; and that the controls are maybe a bit stiff (though that's almost expected with ASCII graphics, honestly).

    * Anything that you liked or disliked?

I liked the way you had disappearing platforms as a complete dissolving mechanism - and the new rotation wires are a good idea too

    * Anything that you think should be improved or removed?

Not really; I think possibly the whole thing could be a bit faster - I was worried that my version was running a bit slow, but when I checked the video it's about the same.

... Actually, the game speed is probably fine, I think it's more that the character speed seems a mite slow in comparison. The controls do feel a little stiff to me, I'm not sure why. Making the character faster might make it feel more responsive.

The restart speed feels a little slow too! That could probably be quicker.

    * A short "beep" sound plays when a campaign is started. Does it play for you?

Yep!

    * Anything else you'd like to say.

[Robson]

That was quick! Thanks guys

Dizzy effect is surely dizzy. It's giving me a headache.

Oh dear... I was planning to make a campaign with a theme of rotating

90 degrees turns makes CPU go 100% for a few seconds.

I'll have a look into this and try to make it better. Does it make the game difficult to play after rotating?

I can't make an up-left flip here. No matter how fast i try to press left i get impaled by that upper Y

Haha brilliant! I've never been in that room with it rotated. The test levels were created individually with very little thought to the surroundings. Mostly it went like "Ahh, I've written in platforms, so I'll shove in a couple of rooms with loads of platforms!". When I create the real rooms I'll make sure they work correctly if they're rotated.

This is awesome! I didn't have much luck with the first set of levels but I managed to finish the second and get a B grade

Thanks Terry! Glad you like it

The only bug I noticed was that going fullscreen seems to cause some distortion when you get a souvenir;

Whooops Thanks for letting me know about that.

I liked the way you had disappearing platforms as a complete dissolving mechanism

That's a very new addition - added it last night! I suddenly had an idea for a room, where there's a box in the middle that contains loads of words. The top of the box would be a dissolving platform and the player would have to carefully manoeuvre around the room and avoiding opening the box. The room would be called "Pandora's Box". I couldn't figure out a way to make it with the normal dissolving tiles, so I changed them to the mechanism way, which gave me loads of ideas for other rooms!

- and the new rotation wires are a good idea too

Oh god... the rotation wires! I stupidly thought that was going to be a quick thing to write in, but I was very very wrong..!! I'm really pleased that they're in and I'm looking forward to making lots of rooms with them, but I almost tore my hair out trying to get the game objects to work with rotation. Especially platforms.

I think possibly the whole thing could be a bit faster - I was worried that my version was running a bit slow, but when I checked the video it's about the same.

Always the masochist

... Actually, the game speed is probably fine, I think it's more that the character speed seems a mite slow in comparison. The controls do feel a little stiff to me, I'm not sure why. Making the character faster might make it feel more responsive.

Ooo tricky... currently the player and all the objects run from the same code, because they need to work together. i.e. if the player is on a platform they need to move with the platform. So it would be very difficult to make one thing faster or slower without affecting everything else.

With the next development version I'll add some debug controls that increase or decrease the speed of everything. Would you mind trying that and seeing what feels right?

The restart speed feels a little slow too! That could probably be quicker.

Agreed! I'll reduce the time.

    * Anything else you'd like to say.

[The Brass]

I've worked as a tester before, so here goes

-Running speed too slow
-Backgrounds are unnecessary and distracting, especially when mixed with the dissolving %s.
-Rotation makes it hard to navigate.
-Certain rooms, give me a Y, unbeatable on certain rotations.
-Checkpoint from north to gmay kills player if no action is taken from respawn. In general, checkpoints that make you move after respawn are annoying.
-Yen looks like a spike. More flashing?
-Pause button?! Map button?! Oh, esc. Put one it on enter and P too.
-Terminals in wrong orientations unreadable! Nearby rotators turn these into nice puzzles, though, so nothing bad.
-Rooms seem to have a lot of useless space at times, for example south. Testing would explain this, though.
-Souvenirs freeze controls, but not movement, potentially even killing you.
-Map does not follow rotation.
-Partial side wraps (Direction square check, ESPECIALLY east) confusing.
-Moving platforms outrunning player is irritating.
-In fact, conveyors in the tunnel of love are unoutrunnable too.
-Death should freeze everything, ala Mad Carew.
-If I try to move by doing a single tap in the air, it often fails to work/lags a bit. Does the movement limit run on a "modulo height" system, or "recharge" system?
-It appears that if I start holding left/right in the air, I start as slow and get faster later. That's unpleasant too.
-If I run holding left/right, then flip without letting go, I will only move once in the start.
-Fullscreen just adds black to the sides. The game itself won't increase in size.


Rotation puzzles are nice. The mechanic is fun when kept to one room, problematic when it effects others.

Rotation-Inversionplane puzzles are fun too. The fact that the inversionplane changes it's attiribute when you rotate is a nice touch.

360ntroller works fine. Beep plays.

On the other hand, rooms like Give me a Y can be used to to prevent players  from proceeding on a certain rotation. However, in these cases make a rotator easily accessible, not behind a deadly room like North.



So, from these we get todos and level design guidelines:

*Place checkpoints in corners in areas where it's possible to use both rotations.
*Freeze everything on souvenir gain.
*Investigate falling dynamics.
*Fix hold-flip bug.
*Don't use partial side wraps.
*Have rotators near terminals if it's possible to be off rotation.
*And the GMAY tip above this.

The rest is up to preference and design plans, I guess.

[Shasharala]

Finally!  Some hands on playing with the game!

Well, for starters it looks awesome.
I get the beep.
Everything is as responsive as should be.
I don't feel anything needs to be sped up or slowed down and I don't really feel the background is distracting... but alas maybe others will feel otherwise.

I've noticed in fullscreen mode that if a souveneir  is picked up then the box that says you picked it up doesn't surround the words. ( see screenshot: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v103/Shashrala/YYYYYY/BoxProblem.png )
Also, if the map could show what room one is currently in by highlighting it somehow, that would be great.

Let's see... nothing else I can think of for now.

[Requiem]

Hey Robson, got to play the game a bit this evening. First and foremost, its' got great potential and is already a fun game to play - and will obviously only get better with time.

Moving on to glitches and criticism, because this is the "fun" part  !

GLITCHES:
A. On "The Harsh Mistress" - Occasionally (Not EVERY TIME, but frequently) when you fall UP from the left side, the several "A" spikes will register that you hit them when you are in the space to their left. This might just be input lag from telling the player to go right, and releasing it too late, but its just slightly irritating. Nothing major, and is probably just input lag.

To reproduce: Fall upwards from the left side, and snuggle against the bottom left block of #'s, release "Right" button, and see if it registers you hitting the spike.

B. More a complaint than a glitch - Movement speed. It seems that the player moves sluggishly. I timed the speed - he moved horizontally 17 "pixels" or "blocks" in 2.6 seconds, which equates to about 1 pixel every .15 seconds. He moved vertically 20 pixels in 1.5 seconds, which is 1 pixel every .075 seconds. The inconsistency leads you to see that the person is moving horizontally slower than he falls vertically - which is just kind of interesting. (Tested on "Two Roads Diverged and I took them Both" by running horizontally into the spike and falling vertically into the spikes above). This leads to that weird stagger effect of falling diagonally, as well.

C. Movement speed Part 2 - Moving Pathways. This is a double problem - 1. Pushing towards the tide of the pathway doesn't increase the movement speed, or, if it does, it is unnoticeable, and 2. Pushing away from the tide of the pathway results in zero movement. Comparing to V's conveyor belts, you can drastically speed your person up by moving with the tide, and you can still fight the current to move against them.

D. This one made me sad. The level editor doesn't open for me . It gives me the error "Component 'comdlg32.ocx' or one of its dependencies not correctly registered: a file is missing or invalid".

Will update as I get to play more tomorrow!