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Treasure Digger

Started by Kamil Dec 21, 2005 at 6:42 AM 7 replies 750+ views
Original Post
Kamil
Kamil
Hi everyone :) This is my first finished game. Could you tell me what do you think about it? Demo contains 4 levels; full version should have about 20 (right now I have 14). Goal is to collect all gold on the level. Grey stones are falling down, but blue ones to the up :). Player movement is made using arrows, if you stuck, hit escape and then continue from the menu. Screen : Screen 1 Link : Download
ursus
ursus
nice!

congratulations on completing the game. i must show it to mu mom. she used to love playing boulder dash on my zx spectrum. i suppose she's going to like this one too.

good to see another guy from poland around here.

peter
Kamil
Kamil
ursus:
I've based it on some game from Atari :D

Do you think this game is worth playing? I mean I want to make it shareware.. I'm thinking of rewriting it in java -> more platforms, maybe mobile version.. but if no one is going to play it maybe I should put my efforts in another project?
Captain P
Captain P
I think it's good for a first game. It reminds me of those old games I used to play... Heart-something or such.

You could put it up as shareware, but I think you'll need to work on it some more. Right now, it has very large fields which I think come off as intimidating to a first player. I'm a little familiar with this sort of games, but it still took me some time to find out boulders can't be pushed around, and that they don't roll off from gold pieces and such. You could create an instruction page or make the first few levels sortof tutorial levels, gradually introducing new gameplay elements along with a description of them, or such. Make the puzzles obviously more complex over time but keep the first ones simple, I'd say.
Also, having to redo such large puzzles after failing on a particular part can get frustrating, at least to me. ;) I believe smaller and easier puzzles to start with, and/or a more drastic solution like allowing to undo/redo moves. Or implement a savespot if you really want to go with such large puzzles.
Then, you could add some more things like water (throw in a stone to make it passable, for example, or provide a flot that drifts in the direction you faced when stepping on it, or such things).
Also, the graphics need some work, it has a bit of a simple-quick-Paint idea

All in all, I believe you've got a nice start, but you still need to polish this and work it out more. I like the blue stone idea bytheway. Haven't seen that before. :)
Kamil
Kamil
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Right now, it has very large fields which I think come off as intimidating to a first player.

For demo I just picked four levels in my opinion nice enough ;), in full version first levels are smaller and easier. Maybe I should add such to demo too…

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You could create an instruction page

Yes, I'm planning to do so.

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or make the few levels sortof tutorial levels, gradually introducing new gameplay elements along with a description of them, or such.

they are already done in full version, but without description..


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Also, having to redo such large puzzles after failing on a particular part can get frustrating, at least to me. ;)

Hmm savepot could be done :) I will think of it.

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Then, you could add some more things like water (throw in a stone to make it passable, for example, or provide a flot that drifts in the direction you faced when stepping on it, or such things).

This is something I really appreciate, water you say? :) hmm.. I was thinking of adding an enemy which could be trapped or kiled by stone.

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Also, the graphics need some work, it has a bit of a simple-quick-Paint idea

They are looking nice in higher resolution.. change fullscreen to 0 in config file to see what I mean..

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I like the blue stone idea bytheway. Haven't seen that before. :)

Thanks, did I mention there are teleports too? :)
Captain P
Captain P
I've seen the teleports and called them doors by their appearance. Once, I got stuck in one after I teleported to a place surrounded by boulders. Would there be a way to teleport back if that happens?

Anyway, I think the graphics aren't up to par, high-resolution or not. Perhaps calling them Paint-styled isn't the right name, but they just don't look too good to me. More fluid animations for the character, a more distinct style rather than these obviously tiling tiles, I believe putting work on that would greatly improve the game. For example, take those PopCap games as a reference, I think most of these games have a nice visual representation.
Kamil
Kamil
In regards to teleporters aka doors aka tunels ;) hmm activating teleport as an option? but how make this activation natural to the user? steping on teleport title and using it is natural, but hitting specified key on keyboard to activate,is not so obvious in my opinion.. any ideas how to make it work?

PopCap's graphics.. ok I see your point. This is something what I will work on.

I've got one question.. do You think that this game(when properly done) has that "thing" what makes it addicting?
Captain P
Captain P
Quote:
Original post by Kamil

In regards to teleporters aka doors aka tunels ;) hmm activating teleport as an option? but how make this activation natural to the user? steping on teleport title and using it is natural, but hitting specified key on keyboard to activate,is not so obvious in my opinion.. any ideas how to make it work?


Simple: introduce them in a level and tell the players how to operate them. A simple text message in that level will suffice.
In fact, moving the player once he steps on a door isn't natural by default: it has become natural to the player after he's seen it a few times. Once you introduce a special tile that needs a keypress to be activated, the player will assume some tiles need activation and this will then be just as natural to them.

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I've got one question.. do You think that this game(when properly done) has that "thing" what makes it addicting?


If you add enough interesting aspects to this game and take care of the visuals to make it stand out more, then yes, I think it could become a fun game. :)

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