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View Full Version : We Will Choke Their Rivers (With Our Dead)



BlackShipsFillt
06-04-2010, 02:44 AM
I've made a little platformer... mostly stuff that I've cannibalized from Press Tilda.

http://www.blackshipsfillthesky.com/WWCTR/WWCTR.html

I'll get round to doing proper graphics for it at some point, right now it is a very basic experiment in gameplay, the idea was banging around in my head for a while and I finally decided to see what it would play like.

There are 6 levels, some of them are more successful than others... I'm considering directions that I could expand this in... eg. What should the meta-game be? What other features/puzzles does it need? Should I put in some proper physics? How should the blood look? And would it be politically incorrect to allow the character to strap dynamite to itself?

Let me know what you think, what works, what doesn't work. The last stage is kind of silly... not certain whether it's difficult, but the earlier stages with lots of spikes are more fun I think.

FuzzYspo0N
06-04-2010, 07:10 AM
WOW. This was awesome in concept. I really love the mechanic. Took me a try or two to work it out but its insanely cool. The only gripe i had was the lives number changes per level, which i didnt realise. on "Layoffs" i tried more than 3 times to get a fifth guy until i thought it was a spawn bug... Till i realised it was a cap.

I love the gameplay, though.

Fengol
06-04-2010, 09:00 AM
I think this should have an "escape from Hell" theme. It would explain why you can have multiple lives and will excuse excessive (and violent) deaths, traps and pitfalls.

dislekcia
06-04-2010, 02:30 PM
Played this earlier this morning, like the Chronotron-style gameplay. Started up a bit of a discussion in "the studio":

Nandrew reckons that the puzzles are too grindy. The player knows what to do after the first couple of lives and just has to spend the time to keep doing it in order to finally make it to the end. Rather let players move on right after they've figured out the puzzle, keep the progression happening. Levels like the spike-pit-stacking one (can't remember the name) are best when they require a 2-stack on a corpse, not a 3-stack, that's just wasted time. (If you want to make that level harder, have the exit jump be only reachable if you don't squash the first stacker) The interesting part of level design comes in with switches and things like that.

I feel there could be richer interaction here... You've got the neat recorded gameplay thing going, but there's not much happening beyond that. What if the interactions between lives was slightly more interesting? Maybe different things happened when you collided with a jumping life, a standing life, a running life, etc. Also, when I first read about the backspace thing, I thought you could go back into existing lives already in the level and play those. Sort of like: Start life 1, run left, stand on switch; Start life 2, run left, jump through door, stand next to edge; Go back to end of life 1, go through door, jump on life 2's head, make it up cliff, stand on switch; Go back to end of life 2... etc. Sort of like Lost Vikings co-op with yourself.

Aeq reckons you could do with a timing mechanism easily visible to the player. Big co-ordination aid. Even something player-initiated like the 3..2..1..go in Splosion Man.

Dead!Raven
06-04-2010, 03:49 PM
Reminds me of http://www.bored.com/game/play/150753/The_Company_of_Myself.html

BlackShipsFillt
06-04-2010, 04:49 PM
Those are very good points, especially about the backspace being able to redo lives, I hadn't thought of that... and the game programming allows for it.

The puzzles are way too grindy... I am a bit disappointed with the gameplay at the moment, I had assumed it would be more fun :P

What was that about a visible timer? I'm not certain what exactly that could be... a better indication of the timing of the other lives would be helpful... maybe a pause before the first life on the level... AH! I get it now. A key the player can press to make one of the lives say "3...2...1...GO!"... That is a brilliant idea!

I plan to put in some more interaction... I want to try create a bit more chaos... I'm thinking lemmings self-detonations... and objects that can fly around.

I'll try reduce the amount of repetition in the current levels as well... (in my defence they were all put together around 2am last night)... And I'll try clear up or explain the lives system interface better... Once I've got the gameplay adequate I'm going to start skinning and theming the things... And maybe create a bit of a meta-game or a story progression.

Thanks for the comments! This really helps me.

(edit : Yes it is really similar to "In the Company of Myself"... hopefully with a bit of work it'll be less like it (because I don't really like these sorts sort of slow platformer puzzlers) )

BlackShipsFillt
06-04-2010, 11:18 PM
I'm not certain if the level with the spikes needs a 3 stack... depending on whether that includes one corpse... Anyway I'm taking out the spare life on that level.

I've put in a little 3..2..1..GO timer... and a currently pointless explody thing (press "z" if you wish to die meaninglessly)

EDIT : I'm leaving this project alone for the moment... I'll finish getting it to the prototype level another time, after I've finished some mercenary work and probably after I've finished KickyFighter.

I think it needs to be more of an action game, like ninja gaiden, than a puzzler. I'm also thinking that it could have a "Split" button... when you press it then the next time you die it starts another life from that position... kind of like a player designated save point. This would be quite a divergence from the current Lemmings theme, but I think it'd work better.