Help needed - GAME TESTERS WANTED

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Empireth

Wrenchmaiden.
Oct 24, 2009
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As someone who's currently messing about in Inform 7, I really wish I could play test your game, as I know what it feels like to not be able to find anyone to help find bugs for you.

And so, it makes me really sad to tell you that I don't quite have the time right now (nor will I have for another month or so) due to me being in a children's theatre play. (It also doesn't help your position that you're trying to get me to download/play a game via the internet. I don't really trust the internet, hence why it took six months of lurking for me to finally get an account here...)

So, I regretfully cannot help you, but I figured I'd post all this here to help your thread because I do hope you find others to play test for you.
Good luck, my friend.
I hope you can find others.
 

Generator

New member
May 8, 2009
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Pr0 InSaNiTy said:
I have a mac and all it came up with was code. If you tell me how to sort it out i will happily test your game.
Afraid I have this same problem. I know that there are certain programs that will run Windows programs on a Mac, but I have yet to find one that works for my computer. Incidentally, I'm having the exact same problem with playing my friend Cleril's game "Haven," so I'm stuck giving him feedback more on music and scripts and the like. You're game doesn't exactly seem like the kind where I could do anything like that, but if I ever happen to find a working converter, I'll be sure to give your game a try.
 

Trivun

Stabat mater dolorosa
Dec 13, 2008
9,830
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Generator said:
Pr0 InSaNiTy said:
I have a mac and all it came up with was code. If you tell me how to sort it out i will happily test your game.
Afraid I have this same problem. I know that there are certain programs that will run Windows programs on a Mac, but I have yet to find one that works for my computer. Incidentally, I'm having the exact same problem with playing my friend Cleril's game "Haven," so I'm stuck giving him feedback more on music and scripts and the like. You're game doesn't exactly seem like the kind where I could do anything like that, but if I ever happen to find a working converter, I'll be sure to give your game a try.
Thanks, hopefully you'll be able to find a working converter. Sadly I know very little about Mac, since I grew up with Windows, so I can't suggest any converters because I simply don't know of any that you could download. But there's bound to be some freeware converters pout there that you can use :)
 

Trivun

Stabat mater dolorosa
Dec 13, 2008
9,830
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Going to bump this again because I still need more feedback, sorry to do this :(

Bump!
 

Trivun

Stabat mater dolorosa
Dec 13, 2008
9,830
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I reckon that I should probably keep you informed at what's happening at the moment with the revamp of the game, so I'll let you know what I'm going to do first. The main problem that's been mentioned is glitchy walls. The balls that are used in the game keep getting stuck and that's something I've repeatedly notcied during my own playthroughs. So first things first, the sprites for the walls will be replaced and I'll be doing a complete purge of the current levels. This means that all levels in Version 2.0 will be completely different, and possibly bigger too.

Next, the design of the sprites used for the paddles, and the background, have been criticized. To rectify this I intend to change certain sprites to make them more aesthetically pleasing, and I'll be creating new backgrounds so that the look of the game can change over time.

Finally, the music was mentioned as a slight problem in that it doesn't completely match the feel of the game. To answer that, I'll be keeping the same music for now. However, if anybody here has any background in music composition then please let me know ASAP since I'll be on the lookout for someone to make a new soundtrack for the game. Perhaps it could be released in Version 2.1, or perhaps still in Version 2.0 if you're quick enough :)

Any other problems or comments will be much appreciated. I need as much feedback as possible before I can update the game fully, and your help will be much appreciated. Remember, provided I can find a way of making the file size much smaller, I'll still need people willing to playtest the finished game when I'm done, so please let me know if you're interested.
 

Andronicus

Terror Australis
Mar 25, 2009
1,846
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First of all, I don't think it will help to mention all the things that you've already decided to change, so I won't talk about balls getting stuck or music.

The levels you've also said you'll change, and though I'm not an authority in level design, the three levels I was able to play felt unispired and strangely... claustrophobic in their design. The blocks for the walls, as well as being glitched, were a little chunky and took up a very large portion of the level. I spent half the time waiting for the balls to get back into a position where I could hit them again.

The game mechanic itself is interesting, but it's difficult to see the point during the second and third level where the centre paddle was basically against a wall for the most part, and there was little need to throw it out to catch the ball as it began to fall. I would suggest more focus on the up/down paddles, as they were more interesting to try and control, and possibly better placement. Probably make them smaller too.

It's worth noting that as soon as I started, I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. I eventually worked out that I was supposed to control up and down paddles, and as the balls hit the rainbow blocks I got more points, but I never quite fingured out a relationship between the progress I was making in the game and the point where I could move to the next level. The "onto the next level" seemed to pop up at a random interval in time. Was I being timed or something? I noticed later a brief mention in the side panel, but not all people read those (me neither, it seems), and it didn't explain all the rules. Perhaps a page at the beginning of the actual game just to briefly iterate the rules for the tunnel-visioned ones, such as myself.

When you're redesigning the levels, think about the atmosphere you're trying to make. Is it lively? Mysterious? Retro? Futuristic? Is it set in space? A fantasy world? And then you have to take the gameplay into account. Does the gameplay match the theme? You said before that you were thinking of taking cues from the Gummi Ship levels from Kingdom Hearts, and that would fall under the "lively" category. You should think about the atmosphere when designing a game to keep with the theme. Make sure the colours aren't too washed out, but neither should they be to colourful, or painful to view. I got the feeling the colours were a little washed out in the current version, and I sensed were heading for a space theme. That could be why the music and the atmosphere didn't quite match up with the gameplay

Also, just as a side not in the sound department, you might like to think of some sound effects for the ball. As long as it's not too annoying or intrusive, I think it might liven the atmosphere of the game up a bit. I'm not sure how well it would work with the music, but if you found the right sort of sound for the game, I don't see any reason why not. Given the appropriate sound effects, you could even do away with the music altogether. Just a thought to consider.

Otherwise, a fairly good indication of a possible gem. I think you should work on refining the game machanic a little more first, then the level design, and then everything else should more or less fall into place from there. Good work. I was never any good at Game Maker, I hope you have more luck. :)
 

Trivun

Stabat mater dolorosa
Dec 13, 2008
9,830
0
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Andronicus said:
First of all, I don't think it will help to mention all the things that you've already decided to change, so I won't talk about balls getting stuck or music.

The levels you've also said you'll change, and though I'm not an authority in level design, the three levels I was able to play felt unispired and strangely... claustrophobic in their design. The blocks for the walls, as well as being glitched, were a little chunky and took up a very large portion of the level. I spent half the time waiting for the balls to get back into a position where I could hit them again.
Yeah, I noticed that myself when I played through it again. Kind of a stupid move for me given I want to make a career in Level Design specifically... But I realise now that a lot of problems are in that, and it also acts as a game breaker when you reach the end levels. Provided you score enough points near the start, on the later levels it becomes really easy despite more balls coming into play as you can simply wait and leave it to finish on it's own, and still get a high score.

The game mechanic itself is interesting, but it's difficult to see the point during the second and third level where the centre paddle was basically against a wall for the most part, and there was little need to throw it out to catch the ball as it began to fall. I would suggest more focus on the up/down paddles, as they were more interesting to try and control, and possibly better placement. Probably make them smaller too.
Again, that's mainly down to poor level design on my part. I'll be completely redesigning the sprites to make them smaller and different colours, so that shouldn't be a problem anymore. I'll take the up/down paddles into account as well, it's interesting to note that most games use the horizontal paddles for similar gameplay but there aren't many games made that use vertical paddles like this. In a larger level they could really make gameplay a lot more complex and engaging, maybe.

It's worth noting that as soon as I started, I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. I eventually worked out that I was supposed to control up and down paddles, and as the balls hit the rainbow blocks I got more points, but I never quite fingured out a relationship between the progress I was making in the game and the point where I could move to the next level. The "onto the next level" seemed to pop up at a random interval in time. Was I being timed or something? I noticed later a brief mention in the side panel, but not all people read those (me neither, it seems), and it didn't explain all the rules. Perhaps a page at the beginning of the actual game just to briefly iterate the rules for the tunnel-visioned ones, such as myself.
I'll also be completely redesigning the main menu screen so there'll be a 'Help' page that's easier to find (at the moment you have to press F1 but that isn't made obvious at first). The next level is set to begin three minutes after the start of each level, and you only progress if you have at least three points. Three points get taken away from your score when you start a new level as well, so you need to improve on your total score each time. This isn't exactly obvious either, so I'll be adding a timer if I can to the screen for each level, so it'll be much easier to figure out what to do.

When you're redesigning the levels, think about the atmosphere you're trying to make. Is it lively? Mysterious? Retro? Futuristic? Is it set in space? A fantasy world? And then you have to take the gameplay into account. Does the gameplay match the theme? You said before that you were thinking of taking cues from the Gummi Ship levels from Kingdom Hearts, and that would fall under the "lively" category. You should think about the atmosphere when designing a game to keep with the theme. Make sure the colours aren't too washed out, but neither should they be to colourful, or painful to view. I got the feeling the colours were a little washed out in the current version, and I sensed were heading for a space theme. That could be why the music and the atmosphere didn't quite match up with the gameplay
Originally I designed the levels as part of a story explained on the tough-to-find 'Help' page. However, I guess that for a puzzle game a story isn't really important, so I'll be scrapping that in the new version. I'll try and change the backgrounds every few levels as well, maybe split it into blocks of five, and have each new background lead in to tougher levels and challenges. The theme was indeed meant to be space, which is also why I mentioned the 'Gummi Ship' levels in Kingdom Hearts as an example. Lively and space are the main themes, and with a timer to beat the gameplay is meant to be more fast paced and exciting, so I'll have to think about that too when designing each level.

Also, just as a side not in the sound department, you might like to think of some sound effects for the ball. As long as it's not too annoying or intrusive, I think it might liven the atmosphere of the game up a bit. I'm not sure how well it would work with the music, but if you found the right sort of sound for the game, I don't see any reason why not. Given the appropriate sound effects, you could even do away with the music altogether. Just a thought to consider.
I do want to keep some music in the game, though I could probably make it a little quieter. The music I used, I picked because I liked the tunes, but in this case I'll try and see if I can get someone with more experience in game music to devise a new soundtrack. As for sound effects, it all depends on finding the right effects. I don't just want to use the stock sound effects from the various tutorials for Game Maker, but at the same time it may be difficult to find stock sound effects that match the game and the feel or atmosphere. It's something to note though, so I'll definitely look into that.

Otherwise, a fairly good indication of a possible gem. I think you should work on refining the game mechanic a little more first, then the level design, and then everything else should more or less fall into place from there. Good work. I was never any good at Game Maker, I hope you have more luck. :)
Thanks for the feedback, and hopefully this will turn out a lot better than the first version of this game :D.
 

Trivun

Stabat mater dolorosa
Dec 13, 2008
9,830
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Right, so I've started remaking the game. However, I'm having trouble making paddle sprites in MS Paint. Does anybody know where I can find Pong sprites for free that I can use as a basis for my own modifications?

EDIT: Never mind, I've managed to get some decent sprites now :)