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PonyHop - Please betatest!

Started by Crispy Jun 30, 2005 at 3:32 PM 4 replies 1.7k views
Original Post
Crispy
Crispy
Link to download (~200 kB executable; use your own virus scan before running - just in case) I need some feedback on the following points:
  • gameplay - is the game too confusing? Too many colors? Too few colors? Too slow? Too fast? Not enough explosions? Not enough boobies?
  • crashes - I didn't manage to crash it myself, but there's always a first time
  • "finishability" - does the game produce situations that are not solveable? I haven't seen any (but there's always a first time)
  • new name for the game - PonyHop sounds just stupid
  • I do NOT need feedback on the interface right now - I already know it's crap... not to mention unfinished.
Some of you may have noticed my previous thread asking for some assistance on the dispersal algorithm for obstacles, which I finally figured out - it's not very fast (although due to the game fields being small, new level creation should be close to instantaneous), and it's not the best, but it is geared towards highest map complexity (fewest paths to any given goal) and 100% solveability (there should be no case that cannot be solved). HOW TO PLAY (and where to click) THE GOAL: mark all bright blue squares as dark blue by moving around in knight's moves (if you've played chess, you'll know). Introductory indicators on where you can step next are shown on the Lame and Easy game difficulties (unless disabled from the settings dialog). Just like in Minesweeper, click on any bright blue square to start out. Initially you'll be playing on Normal difficulty - you can change the difficulty under Game->Settings. F2 works. EXPERT DIFFICULTY is different from other difficulty settings - instead of just having to rape and pillage, you'll be fighting with already captured squares (dark blue) turning bright blue again. You lose one (random) square every 5 seconds. I find this difficulty setting strangely addicting, not to mention grossly infuriating. THE STATISTICS: make notes of your stats when you finish a game - these aren't saved yet! You'll be popped with an error message (!) showing four kinds of stats:
  • Number of hops: how many times you moved
  • Time in seconds it took you to finish the game
  • Hop efficiency: ideally you'll step on each square only once, running at 100% efficiency. As soon as you step on a square twice, you'll be losing efficiency.
  • Score: the following formula is used: (time taken / efficiency) * 10 / (difficulty^2) The scores you'll get on different difficulty settings aren't coherent and shouldn't be compared.
SETTINGS: all available settings (apart from the game type, which you can't change) in the settings dialog work. Press OK to accept, or Cancel to discard. The settings dialog has no caption, but is dragable. That's it I guess. Please take time to check it out and let me know if you spot something that could be better - right now I'm mostly looking for crash and error reports, although all suggestions are welcome. Thank you! edit: Incidentally - my personal best for Expert difficulty: 249 hops 136 seconds 40.32% efficiency score 134
"Literally, it means that Bob is everything you can think of, but not dead; i.e., Bob is a purple-spotted, yellow-striped bumblebee/dragon/pterodactyl hybrid with a voracious addiction to Twix candy bars, but not dead."- kSquared
Panties
Panties
Interesting game. I just scored 138.

I was able to break it, though I wasn't trying to. If you click on the settings dialog box a bunch of times, it disappears, though it remains in the taskbar. Going to game -> settings doesn't make it show again, even if you close the settings window from the taskbar before trying to reopen it.

You should also explain somewhere that you can move to conquered pieces in non-knight's moves.

Are the maps random? I wonder if it is possible to prove that any map is solvable.

Not enough explosions OR boobies!!!!!! (Can any game really have enough of these?)
GroZZleR
GroZZleR
ERROR! (BIG RED X)
Congratulations. Here are your stats: 138 Hops, 101 Seconds, 59.12% hop efficiency: score = 106

I've never been so scared while receiving my high score. =(
boolean
boolean
Quote:
Original post by Panties
You should also explain somewhere that you can move to conquered pieces in non-knight's moves.


agreed.

It's a cool idea for a game. I didn't run into any errors or problems, so thumbs up from me.
_Sigma
_Sigma
Quote:
Original post by GroZZleR
ERROR! (BIG RED X)
Congratulations. Here are your stats: 138 Hops, 101 Seconds, 59.12% hop efficiency: score = 106

I've never been so scared while receiving my high score. =(


Agreed! I was about to post it myself. Personaly, i don't like the purple, blue/purple combination. And it just kinda turned into a click fest, but other than that, pretty slick. GJ
nagromo
nagromo
It's pretty good. I got (96 hops, 60 seconds, 85.26%, 78 pts) on normal.

I had a similar game on my Palm, where you could move in the knight's move and tried to cover all the spaces. In that game, though, you couldn't go on a square twice; that's like requiring 100% efficiency. You could have a mode or difficulty like that in here (but you'd need less complex levels).

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