Hi, your last point was a common pain point among many players. In the latest version of Alter, you are given the option to continue playing with additional potions. Thanks for the feedback!
Also, thanks for using my game in your recent PR on screenshot images! I had no idea that the ContentDB screenshot was not the one used in the content browser, and I must have skipped over that section in the docs.
Hi, thanks for the feedback. When I first introduced that mechanic, I included an added handicap that is modified on each game restart. I imagined that players would like to retry levels with faster solutions, but obviously that was not how it was perceived. In the latest version of Alter, the Metallic Voice gives you the option to continue playing without starting from the first room. Does this address your concerns?
There are sounds though. It's meant to be a small puzzle game, and I believe the mechanics were used in a few different ways for different puzzle concepts. I kept the number of levels to a minimum to prevent needless repetition.
Thanks! Thinking about level design was quite difficult and I tested it with a few people to make sure that the level progression was not too easy or difficult. I meant for the repetition of the game to allow players to find more optimal solutions to earlier puzzles, but it's clear that this is more frustrating than enjoyable. I am considering a few different solutions to that problem.
Great video, thanks for trying out my game. I am planning on an overhaul of that section of the game, and your playthrough helped me see why it could be confusing to new players. Thanks!
I wanted a complete restart so that players could find faster solutions to earlier puzzles, but I can see why it could be jarring/frustrating. Thanks for the review and I'm glad you enjoyed it!
Thanks for the review. I agree that sounds/textures are a weakness of this game, and definitely something I need to get better at or get some help, since I have little experience in both those fields. I am planning to add more levels once the story is a little more developed in my head. Stay tuned!
Thanks for the review! I tried to design earlier levels to be optimizable, so it's nice that you were able to find that. For #4, I am still on the fence between room-specific levels and run-specific levels, but as was brought up in another review, the story needs to be worked on before that happens. I completely agree that music is sorely needed, so thank you for offering to create some for me! I will let you know once I get to that point.
The sound effects were all very nice, but there should be some kind of global alarm/alert sound for when a machine breaks. Both of your ideas sound good. I look forward to future updates!
Thanks for fixing that bug, it works on my machine. My recommendation would be to slowly introduce the player to each machine/mechanic rather than throw everything at once. For example, maybe first only allow the player to manage their own character's energy and food. Then introduce the idea of research samples, etc. With each of these mechanics, I feel like there should be less options to choose from. I saw that you have some detailed formulas for some of the machines, but for me that makes the game somewhat of a math problem. I am replaying the game now because I realized I had my sound muted from last time, and I will update this review soon.
I can't tell if you were able to complete your comment, so I will respond to whatever is present. If the lack of crafting recipes is intentional, why is there a crafting grid at all? Second, I started this game in 5.4.1 and damage is not disabled unless I do so manually, which I doubt the intended audience would do. This is also the case on the latest android version. Lastly, if the shop is meant to be fun exploring, perhaps it should be more decorative or contain some easter eggs.
The first time I started this game, I endlessly fell through the world. After I created a new world, I was able to play. That's a small inconvenience though. The actual gameplay is mostly running between different machines and turning them on/off or modifying their values. Near the end of my run through it, my character didn't have enough time to eat or sleep. The challenges in this game are mundane in nature, making it almost a chore to play. While each machine was explained in its purpose, I found it difficult to know how much to adjust each one, so I ended up leaving them mostly untouched, because incorrect changes could result in a rapid spiral to debt. The art style was much too detailed for me, but that is a personal preference. The simple cartoonish texture of the aliens did clash with this though.
On my first round through all the Game Jam games, I only spent a few minutes on this one because I thought that it was half-baked as I didn't understand the mechanics. After spending some more time with it, I can confidently say that this game has enough entertainment for at least a couple weeks. It contains enough elements for emergent gameplay and there are concrete objectives to achieve, with tangible rewards. Since the forum post tutorial is not complete (purposefully or otherwise), I had to look in the code to learn a little bit about how things work, but this may have been intentional to encourage the player to explore on their own. There were also some lag issues and some specific bugs, but overall this game could be as popular as NodeCore with some more polishing and additional mechanics.
While the idea has merit, there are several issues that detract from the game:
Text in the game is highly pixelated, making it difficult to read, especially in the shop. Furthermore, signs in the shop had backwards letters on one of their sides, making it even more difficult to find items.
When I first entered the build area, it was confusing to find the next step of the game, until I finally found the shop teleporter in small text at the side. I would suggest to put this in a more prominent space like the inventory screen.
The crafting grid doesn't work.
Dying resets the current build. It was quite frustrating to lose my progress on one of my trips to the shops because I disabled flying to get back to the build area. Also, dying gives the same number of coins as building a structure.
The shop area is crowded and difficult to navigate. Certain signs are confusing like the Stone sign that points to the Sands section. The move speed is also too slow for such a large area.
After a few repeats of the song, it gets obtrusive, and there are no other sounds in the game.
Textures are confusing and difficult to distinguish. Most of the time, I relied on the hud to know what block I'm looking at.
Digging blocks is not continuous. For a game about exact replication, it should be easy to dig/place blocks. Rather than only allowing 1 block to be dug with each left click, use a group that allows blocks to be destroyed with a short dig time.
Besides these issues, I found that the biggest thing that this is lacking is multiplayer integration, though that seems to be in future prospects. From what I understand, the game is aimed towards a younger audience, but these issues would stand in the way of reaching them.
This game is very challenging. It requires patience and attention to detail to complete. The difficulty suddenly increases with the midterm level, and the last couple of levels took me about 45 minutes each, spread over multiple tries. The visuals of the game put me in awe that this was accomplished in Minetest and the music was quite immersive. One frustrating bug, that I noticed was already fixed, is that clicking any node causes a crash with no level progress saved. Some models occasionally became invisible, like the stump on the Garden level. Additionally, the hud overlay for the stars overlapped the first number over "of" in 2 digit star numbers (Ex: 17 of 19). I liked that the time for each level was recorded, giving the player something to do after a first pass through all the levels, since the player definitely picks up some skill in climbing as a ladybug. Adding some kind of animation to the ladybug model would be nice to have. Also, it would be very helpful to make it clear which grass you can/can't walk through. Lastly, I occasionally got stuck in between plants, but there is a non-punishing restart function for that.
I was initially discouraged from playing a multiplayer-only game, but I highly recommend this game. It is very fun and there are enough mechanics and maps to prevent it from getting repetitive. Even with just 2 players, it's quite fun. I encountered no bugs except that certain movements on the slippery blocks didn't seem right. It's a nice touch to have all the items displayed in the inventory for quick reference.
This game is a great base for a full parkour game that would definitely be popular. It has some rough edges like requiring a command to restart the level, but it was quite fun to play.
Hi, could you clarify what you mean? I can't reproduce either issue. To use the liquid, you must eat it like other food items. To press the button, you must be standing directly against it and then punching it.
Thanks for the critiques. I made the dialogue options more clear and prevented the dialogue menu from closing until you complete the tutorial (and get the necessary items). This same fix should prevent the button issue from occurring, as the reason they weren't working is intentional: you must stand directly in front of the button. A dialogue comes up to warn you of this, but it was possible to quickly close it on android. These changes will be pulled into ContentDB once the Game Jam judging period is over. Does this address your concerns well enough to change your review?
Hi, your last point was a common pain point among many players. In the latest version of Alter, you are given the option to continue playing with additional potions. Thanks for the feedback!
Also, thanks for using my game in your recent PR on screenshot images! I had no idea that the ContentDB screenshot was not the one used in the content browser, and I must have skipped over that section in the docs.
In the latest version of Alter, you don't have to restart the entire game when you run out of potions.
Hi, thanks for the feedback. When I first introduced that mechanic, I included an added handicap that is modified on each game restart. I imagined that players would like to retry levels with faster solutions, but obviously that was not how it was perceived. In the latest version of Alter, the Metallic Voice gives you the option to continue playing without starting from the first room. Does this address your concerns?
There are sounds though. It's meant to be a small puzzle game, and I believe the mechanics were used in a few different ways for different puzzle concepts. I kept the number of levels to a minimum to prevent needless repetition.
Thanks! Thinking about level design was quite difficult and I tested it with a few people to make sure that the level progression was not too easy or difficult. I meant for the repetition of the game to allow players to find more optimal solutions to earlier puzzles, but it's clear that this is more frustrating than enjoyable. I am considering a few different solutions to that problem.
Great video, thanks for trying out my game. I am planning on an overhaul of that section of the game, and your playthrough helped me see why it could be confusing to new players. Thanks!
I wanted a complete restart so that players could find faster solutions to earlier puzzles, but I can see why it could be jarring/frustrating. Thanks for the review and I'm glad you enjoyed it!
Thanks for the review. I agree that sounds/textures are a weakness of this game, and definitely something I need to get better at or get some help, since I have little experience in both those fields. I am planning to add more levels once the story is a little more developed in my head. Stay tuned!
Thanks for the review! I tried to design earlier levels to be optimizable, so it's nice that you were able to find that. For #4, I am still on the fence between room-specific levels and run-specific levels, but as was brought up in another review, the story needs to be worked on before that happens. I completely agree that music is sorely needed, so thank you for offering to create some for me! I will let you know once I get to that point.
converted review into a thread
The sound effects were all very nice, but there should be some kind of global alarm/alert sound for when a machine breaks. Both of your ideas sound good. I look forward to future updates!
Thanks for fixing that bug, it works on my machine. My recommendation would be to slowly introduce the player to each machine/mechanic rather than throw everything at once. For example, maybe first only allow the player to manage their own character's energy and food. Then introduce the idea of research samples, etc. With each of these mechanics, I feel like there should be less options to choose from. I saw that you have some detailed formulas for some of the machines, but for me that makes the game somewhat of a math problem. I am replaying the game now because I realized I had my sound muted from last time, and I will update this review soon.
I can't tell if you were able to complete your comment, so I will respond to whatever is present. If the lack of crafting recipes is intentional, why is there a crafting grid at all? Second, I started this game in 5.4.1 and damage is not disabled unless I do so manually, which I doubt the intended audience would do. This is also the case on the latest android version. Lastly, if the shop is meant to be fun exploring, perhaps it should be more decorative or contain some easter eggs.
The first time I started this game, I endlessly fell through the world. After I created a new world, I was able to play. That's a small inconvenience though. The actual gameplay is mostly running between different machines and turning them on/off or modifying their values. Near the end of my run through it, my character didn't have enough time to eat or sleep. The challenges in this game are mundane in nature, making it almost a chore to play. While each machine was explained in its purpose, I found it difficult to know how much to adjust each one, so I ended up leaving them mostly untouched, because incorrect changes could result in a rapid spiral to debt. The art style was much too detailed for me, but that is a personal preference. The simple cartoonish texture of the aliens did clash with this though.
On my first round through all the Game Jam games, I only spent a few minutes on this one because I thought that it was half-baked as I didn't understand the mechanics. After spending some more time with it, I can confidently say that this game has enough entertainment for at least a couple weeks. It contains enough elements for emergent gameplay and there are concrete objectives to achieve, with tangible rewards. Since the forum post tutorial is not complete (purposefully or otherwise), I had to look in the code to learn a little bit about how things work, but this may have been intentional to encourage the player to explore on their own. There were also some lag issues and some specific bugs, but overall this game could be as popular as NodeCore with some more polishing and additional mechanics.
While the idea has merit, there are several issues that detract from the game:
Besides these issues, I found that the biggest thing that this is lacking is multiplayer integration, though that seems to be in future prospects. From what I understand, the game is aimed towards a younger audience, but these issues would stand in the way of reaching them.
This game is very challenging. It requires patience and attention to detail to complete. The difficulty suddenly increases with the midterm level, and the last couple of levels took me about 45 minutes each, spread over multiple tries. The visuals of the game put me in awe that this was accomplished in Minetest and the music was quite immersive. One frustrating bug, that I noticed was already fixed, is that clicking any node causes a crash with no level progress saved. Some models occasionally became invisible, like the stump on the Garden level. Additionally, the hud overlay for the stars overlapped the first number over "of" in 2 digit star numbers (Ex: 17 of 19). I liked that the time for each level was recorded, giving the player something to do after a first pass through all the levels, since the player definitely picks up some skill in climbing as a ladybug. Adding some kind of animation to the ladybug model would be nice to have. Also, it would be very helpful to make it clear which grass you can/can't walk through. Lastly, I occasionally got stuck in between plants, but there is a non-punishing restart function for that.
I was initially discouraged from playing a multiplayer-only game, but I highly recommend this game. It is very fun and there are enough mechanics and maps to prevent it from getting repetitive. Even with just 2 players, it's quite fun. I encountered no bugs except that certain movements on the slippery blocks didn't seem right. It's a nice touch to have all the items displayed in the inventory for quick reference.
This game is a great base for a full parkour game that would definitely be popular. It has some rough edges like requiring a command to restart the level, but it was quite fun to play.
This is a feature of the game to prevent players from getting stuck in walls. A sound effect is also played to notify you of this.
Hi, could you clarify what you mean? I can't reproduce either issue. To use the liquid, you must eat it like other food items. To press the button, you must be standing directly against it and then punching it.
Thanks for the critiques. I made the dialogue options more clear and prevented the dialogue menu from closing until you complete the tutorial (and get the necessary items). This same fix should prevent the button issue from occurring, as the reason they weren't working is intentional: you must stand directly in front of the button. A dialogue comes up to warn you of this, but it was possible to quickly close it on android. These changes will be pulled into ContentDB once the Game Jam judging period is over. Does this address your concerns well enough to change your review?
You can start the game by deleting line 381 of
mods/carts/cart_entity.lua