suggestions for the game

[gardian06]

after playing for a bit I think I am almost done, but not exactly sure (see suggestion 1)

1 is there any way to give some kind of indication of what worlds are done, or not, or how much of each world is done. the way it currently sits if I complete a level the level is no longer lit, but becomes shadowy. I like this as it draws the eye toward the levels that are not completed. but in the "univers" section there is no clear indication as to what is completed, or what has just opened (there is a clear indication as to what worlds/areas are closed which is nice)

so the actual suggestion would be either put a check-mark (for completed), or a X/Yrepresentation (for you have completed X of Y levels/puzzles) on the world/area so the player knows without having to go into the world/area to look at each level to see if I am done there (this is especially relevent for people who take breaks between levels, and don't remember exacly what they have done, and what they have not)

2 with regard to some of the levels with cutting the player object, some of the levels it is not completely evident as to which ones are the cutters, and which ones are the "you need to match this" early on this is very clear, but as the game progresses some of the levels the color for the gates is the same as the color of the cutter (or at least appears so either by shadow, or the color the gate is on), and this is slightly confusing, and led me to have to restart a few levels because this was not clear.

so I would suggest that either the color difference be made more appaerent, or check the lighting for each level that has cutting, and gates. I am not sure artistically how else to do this easily

3 this pertains to at least 2 levels that I have seen 1st is Lessons level 1. opening this level I had no idea what was going on. Being greated with basically a level editor, and being told something about towers (which I don't recall seeing that word used earlier at all), and then "Half-sided" level 1 has a similar thing, and all I see is a level editor and the words "Goal : complete the level" this is the first time in the game that I felt completely stuck, and feeling as though I needed a walkthough because the game was calling me litterally stupid for not understanding for both of these levels, and then being given buttons without any indication as to what any of them do beside trial, and error on each one, and if there were even rules for each button.

so the suggestion is either be painfully more clear what is going on in these levels, or give like tooltips for each button with a little more direction.

4 I see that you have a level editor (as I have indicated in suggestion 3) you could maybe release a more featured version as a tool, and then open-up the ability for workshop so that we could get player/user created levels.

if you would like to talk about how to introduce levels into the game dynamically I do have some experience with Unity, and could help if you would like.

[Bamboo]

There is a visual cue if you have completed a world or not. Worlds that are completed have a thick black outline around the colored orb. The uncompleted ones are without an outline. It's subtle, but once you figure it out, it fit's the overall style very well.

[gardian06]

โพสต์ดั้งเดิมโดย Bamboo:

There is a visual cue if you have completed a world or not. Worlds that are completed have a thick black outline around the colored orb. The uncompleted ones are without an outline. It's subtle, but once you figure it out, it fit's the overall style very well.

that is the thing it is subtle (meaning easily missed if you are not looking for it), so where as I have completed all but (2 worlds since you told me this. I only thought it was only) 1. and I have found with games that I have worked on in the past even if you have a subtle art style, or simplistic controls; everything that you do not explain to the player is effectively a barriar for entry that can lead to frustration (though if you introduce things one at a time then this can minimize these bariars assuming that you give the player ample room to test it), so sometimes you might have to depart from style, or simplisity for maybe a moment to either explain something to the player (like the "help"/"hint" tiles), or show them something they need to see (this would be like the bouncing red arrow over the next thing you want them to do, or showing them the solution, or steps towards it if they fail enough).

I understand the overall style of the game: have the player figure out as much as possible on their own, and allow them to reward themselves for figuring it out by basically coming away with "hey I just figured out how to do that, and I feel proud" (but it does this by litterally telling the player "you have failed try again/rewind", or when the player has put themselves in a situation where they cannot proceed [the growing squars], or elimiating something you needed as a step, but there is a limit where what if the player can't figure it out exactly on their own (hence the "hint"/"help" tiles). trial and error success is a reasonable way to learn when we are given a chance to fail (the actual levels), but when in a trial, and error game you give them something they can easily miss visualy it can be frustrating.

come to think of it the only thing truly subtle about this game is that one thing with completing worlds. everything else is not subtle, but just simplistic (this does not devalue the thing, challenge, or what not it just says "all you need to know is 1, 2, 3, and now go")


back on topic:

I don't know if this a bug, or just something that was never seen. when you hit reset "R" for a level it does not clear the move stack. hence you can rewind past the reset. almost like the reset is simply added to the move stack. this can be slightly frustrating when trying a whole bunch of things, and rewinding a bit. hitting reset, and then rewinding past the reset.

steps to recreate:
perform a move to another tile
reset level
hit rewind once

result you should be in the location after you moved, but before you hit reset. realistically if I hit reset I should not be able to rewind past the reset, so maybe just clear the move stack when reset is pressed.

[Bamboo]

The reset thing is not necessarily bad. If you push the wrong button - R instead of U/Z - it allows you to correct the mistake, so you're not forced to do everything over again.

I also thought that the towers are introduced in the world you have to complete before you reach LESSON?! Could be at the same time, I don't remember anymore. But I enjoyed the two levels although it took me quite a while to figure them out. They show you that it takes at least the same amount of effort to craft a solvable puzzle as actually solving one.

A proper level editor would be nice, that's true.

[gardian06]

lessons was the level where you have to do some magic with towars in the blank canvas level allong the path immediatly following "resonators", and the other blank canvas level is the first open level in "Half-plain" and my point was: how long did you spend at least thinking to yourself if not saying out loud "What do you want me to do", "I don't get what you want from me", "am I now playing a different game" or "what does any of this do"

yes creating a puzzle that is solvable is a feat upon itself, but for the entire game there is "here is a puzzle solve it", and then randomly without provocation, clear direction, or real information on what is expected here is a at least a sudo-level editor and the only directions given for the first one are to the effect of "place more towers" (through some arcainum this might be figured out what it means), but the other is even worse in arcane directions "complete the level" this can mean anything, and realistically all my suggestion was for these levels was "make the directions more clear" I never said to take the levels out, but just explain to the user what they need to do more clearly. Lessons: "create a level, and place towers, so they resonate perfectly", Half-plain:"create a level so a half-painted plain can plant every open tile" then maybe some tooltips on the buttons at the bottom

the known ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ that was missing to make the level editor fully featured was 3 types of bariers (flat to surface, colored cube barier, and white box), freeze pads, larva, whale, incubators, cutters, cuttout gates, goal tiles,paintable tiles, selecting color palet/floor design (these could just be static choises made a level save), and the ubiquitous inporting/exporting of files, and you have all the functionality that I can think of in the game (that is not already seen in the editor levels). granted the hardest parts of this would be file formating/aranging, and then integrating.reading these files into the core game.

[increpare]

Hi -


Thanks for the feedback. I'm happy with the game as it is, though that doesn't at all invalidate your personal experience. (it's an old game - while you've gone into detail, and I appreciate that, after a certain point one moves on and prefers to focus on new things rather than continue to deliberate over old ones).

Best,

S