UFHO - my multiplayer game

That is simply amazing. I can only imagine the reason you have got 0 replies is because everyone is so addicted! You need to make it clear to the user what they are trying to do because most people, like myself, want to dive straight in. On that note, you also want to make your YouTube video down in length, there is too much watching people play. I got bored before finding out how to lay the stuff you pick up. Aside from that, I don't think I have played a game that has been so obviously easy to pick up put impossible to master. It is like the new Tetris.

As for porting it to DS, great! But I don't know what Stylus controls would actually add to the experience. You would have to make sure that it worked perfectly, there is nothing more infuriating that wasting one of your moves accidentally rotating something when you decided not to move your blog (something I cam across in the PC version) Or dual screens. I think you would have to adapt it slightly, as having the game board stretched over the two screens could become frustrating. Use the mic for chat and make sure you can play Wi-fi. Aside from that, what you have made is simple genius.

Great game, very polished.

Note: Was hard to tell which player I was, whose turn it was, and whether I should use 'skip turn' to simply end my turn when I was done moving.

Thanks so much, all of you!

@thk123: Thanks for everything, I'll take your suggestions as gold. We're going to improve introduction for the newbies, anyway as you say the game is easy to learn but difficult to master. The new Tetris?? :D You're embarassing me... :P

Yeah of course porting it to the DS could use some optimization, we'd like to but we're not relly near to doing it...

@Argus2:
Personally, I never Skip Turns. There's always something useful you can do with your moves, if not using them to slow down the opponent.
Think of this: the opponent is 2 moves away from the gem. Next turn he use 2 moves to get it and has 4(!) moves to go to the next one. If you rotate his room and the gem's one, he'll spend 2 more moves to readjust his path, and the next turn he has 2 moves less. It was only a stupid example of the hundreds of combinations.

No Worries!

I think what Argus2 meant, although I don't know, is when you have used all your moves, is skip turn a way of just ending your go early. You might want to consider the turn ending automatically when the player has used all his moves or at least prompt the user to do so.

The turn ends automatically when your moves are 0. If it doesn't do so it's because of the slowness of the internet connection of one of the two players.

Awesome! Very original!

And I think porting to the DS is a great idea... But also consider Xbox live arcade, it seems much easier to publish on there for indie developers.

Thanks kiwibonga!

As for porting to XBLA, we should rethink the movement scheme from scrap. How can we do without a pointing device?

Without a pointing device the game would be different. However, it would still be playable, but the time limit would have to be increased to counter-balance using the joy stick. The player would move selected square using right joy stick, press X to rotate one way, B to rotate the other. A would activate your blob. A-ing on another hexagon would move him there, pressing A on the same hexagon would drop him. Triggers could be used to rotate the big hexagon that is currently selected.

Sorry about not checking the automatic turn thing, after I posted it I thought that it might happen. I was trying to second guess someone else, my apologies.

Ciao ;)

I'm glad I came across this.

I can see how there can be a lot of depth and strategy involved - the opportunity to plan ahead and make counter-moves. I didn't really know what moves to make, but I need to practice before I can play at the speed my opponent did (which was cool to watch).

Perhaps make the area-joining parts a little more obvious...?

Otherwise it looks quite polished and really just needs play-testing/feedback :) Good stuff.

Will be watching this.

@thk123: I see what you say, and I tought of this solution. But moving in the UFHO is not on two axis, since the tiles are not square, they are hexagonal. It's like moving on three axis... how can you easily select rooms or even areas with a single two axis device? I think pointing is necessary... any solution?

@EzekielKnight: thanks for the feedback. We're going to make area exits more obvious, it's a thing no-one sees... keep playing :D

THIS IS NOT SPAM!

Seriously, watch the video, then log in as guest/guest. This game is excellent; if I were a publisher I'd snatch it up in a second, it would make an amazing Live arcade title.

Comments from playing:
- Sometimes hard to tell who's turn it is, would be nice to have a large coloured indicator
- As others mentioned, the area joins need to be more obvious
- Tooltips explaining the specials would be nice

[Edited by - nuvem on April 17, 2008 10:03:35 AM]

Yes, I see what you mean. However, joy sticks have at least 8 clear directions, or you could even use the D-pad, also with 8 directions and make it clear with on screen indicators which direction is going where. Remember, on the 360, you will have much more real estate to use as people will be playing it in a full sized window on a TV without the need for the chat box (because of voice chat)

Oh and I agree about everyone saying the bridges betweens two big hexagons need to be clearer, that stumped me for ages :P

@thk123:
I got that the joystick have 8 directions, but they are 45 degrees away from each other. UFHO's movements are 6 directions with an angle of 60 degrees each.
I really can't think of a comfortable situation with a joystick...

Analog joysticks have enough resolution to pick a side from a hexagon. All you really need is on-screen aids to see where you're pointing. I don't know if you've played mass effect, but it makes you choose options using this method, you have a circle with a list of sentences you can tell other characters, and you have to point to them with the joystick... I think there can be 8 selectable messages at the same time, and they're not evenly spaced, so there's probably room for at least 12 without precision problems...

For the Xbox 360 or any controller with two analog joysticks, you could use the left joystick to select a major hexagon and the right joystick to select a minor hexagon (don't move the joysticks to select the center). A to rotate left, B to rotate right. Maybe a trigger button to rotate a major hexagon. X to select your blob/character, and left joystick to move him. With this method, it could actually be faster to select hexagons than with a mouse :)

Very nice game. Almost everything is very polished and the game idea is very original and interesting. Plus, it is multiplayer.

I hope it does good. Id like to see more "hardcore" or "deep" casual games around and not so many games thought for my mom.

The only things i would criticize is the same other players say. There should be a little more feed-back when turns change. And there should be more difference between the powerups and the gems you have to collect to win. All minor things.

Well done, and good luck!

ElPeque, thanks for the chat. I'll take a look to you works from time to time.

To the others, thanks to all who came on the site!

Would be nice to know what kind of technology you used for the game.

Cheers.

Hi Ndatcox,
we used Smartfox Server to handle the multiplayer, and Flash AS 2.0 for the general programming.

Besides the guys at Smarfoxserver posted an interview about us at http://www.gotoandplay.it/spotLight/ufho/

Enjoy!

I could see mysel buyingthis ovr a game like Final Fantasy.

So, yeah, this game is just... wow. I'm VERY impressed :) I do hope you get this out on the DS or something, I would lov to play this on my DS (lacking fun games, y'see).