Demo Umbrella 3rd Demo (March 5th)

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mochipon

Guest
March 5th: Demo Version 3
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B-VDZaK_7ZJNRENDbUFTOHh3bXc

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A short rundown of the controls:
Normal Controls:
Arrow Keys - Move
Space Bar - Jump
C - Attack
X (hold) - Aim Knife (if you have one)
X (release) - Throw Knife

In Mid-Air:
Up - Unfold Umbrella (Changed from previous demo)
C - Attack
Down + C - Special Attack (This one is powerful in some situations because it gives you some invulnerability frames)

On a wall:
Space - Walljump
Down - Slide down quickly
Up (while hanging from a ledge) - Pull up.

Again, the goal is to reach the flag. Only this time there are some enemies here as well.


Current issues / To-Do List:
  • No level graphics yet (I had some trouble with this one, because on the previous demo the graphics were just one big image. However since the stage is about 5000 pixels wide, Game Maker seems to scale down the image when importing. I'll probably split it into individual objects and put them in, or perhaps make some tiles if I can figure out a good way to do so.
  • Birds look 💩💩💩💩ty and I will probably redraw them. I need to add some wind animation or somehow make its range clearer. Also they spit knives instead of fireballs or whatever.
  • It's possible to throw knives while mid-air, but it will probably mess with your aim. Also, no animation yet for mid-air throw.
  • Some other animation issues, like the Zombie death animation
  • Player still sometimes gets "soft stuck" (solved by jumping once).
  • New controls aren't enabled for gamepad yet. Best to play with the keyboard or use Joy2key
 
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Slyddar

Member
When distributing a demo, best to build it as an exe, not an install.
The good are the character looks great and the animations are nicely done, especially the umbrella floating. The backgrounds/painted textures look great. Would love to see a whole level like that. The sound of running is well synced to the animation, so fits nicely.
The not so good would be the jumping sound is bad. Controls feel a little floaty, but I guess that's the feel you wanted. Coming to a complete stop when ducking is odd, sliding a little would be better. Her leg goes through the wall when standing next to it. The slide down wall animation is nice, but it triggers on the tiny end of platforms, which looks odd. Personally I would prefer a wall jump when I'm next to the wall instead of a float, pushing against a wall for jumping can be tricky when you want to do it multiple times, like climbing the red building for example. A ledge grab would be handy as well.

All up, great effort though. My time was 871, lol
 
M

mochipon

Guest
Knytt inspired?
I didn't know about Knytt, but I just watched a video and it looks very fascinating.

I am more inspired by a game like Dust Busters, or "N" and a japanese indie game that I forgot the name of (PS: I remember it now, it's called "Nikujin"). But most of these games don't have stages and focus more on Speed Running. I know, I know! The demo I uploaded is basically that. But I am planning to make "obstacle course" stages in the future, and maybe leave time trial in as a sidenote.
 
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Docker

Guest
I had a similar idea to this using the umbrella concept from the movie kingsman, change it to an exe rather than an install and i'll give it a play and feedback.
 
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mochipon

Guest
When distributing a demo, best to build it as an exe, not an install.
The good are the character looks great and the animations are nicely done, especially the umbrella floating. The backgrounds/painted textures look great. Would love to see a whole level like that. The sound of running is well synced to the animation, so fits nicely.
The not so good would be the jumping sound is bad. Controls feel a little floaty, but I guess that's the feel you wanted. Coming to a complete stop when ducking is odd, sliding a little would be better. Her leg goes through the wall when standing next to it. The slide down wall animation is nice, but it triggers on the tiny end of platforms, which looks odd. Personally I would prefer a wall jump when I'm next to the wall instead of a float, pushing against a wall for jumping can be tricky when you want to do it multiple times, like climbing the red building for example. A ledge grab would be handy as well.

All up, great effort though. My time was 871, lol
Thank you for your reply!
I didn't know I could make the game an exe file and wondered why it had to be installed I'll see if I can quickly do that and upload it again. (Edit: Done!)

Good point about the jumping sound, haha. I put it in as a test and don't even notice it anymore, but it's really a horrible sound. That really shows how important it is to let other people look at your game.

Your thoughts about the controls have been noted! I'll be working on these things. Thanks again.
 

RangerX

Member
Ok so you're making a skill based platformer. (Super Meat Boy, N+, League of Evil, etc)
That's really cool.
 
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TheMazurkanator

Guest
Looks awesome, you're a really good artist (I think I could use some lessons lol)
 
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Boogery Boogers

Guest
Interesting! I like the concept of it. Those zombies are too cute to be slain, lol.

If this is going to be a speed running type of game, I think the jumping feels a bit too slow and floaty too. If I am rushing it, I could not get on to that tiny ledge consistently cos it feels difficult to adjust in mid air. Anyway, I'll be the first to share my best time: 6.967 :rolleyes:
 
M

mochipon

Guest
Interesting! I like the concept of it. Those zombies are too cute to be slain, lol.

If this is going to be a speed running type of game, I think the jumping feels a bit too slow and floaty too. If I am rushing it, I could not get on to that tiny ledge consistently cos it feels difficult to adjust in mid air. Anyway, I'll be the first to share my best time: 6.967 :rolleyes:
That's a great time! :D Thanks for the kind words, to you and the other people who posted.
You are right, the jumping is too floaty. Or was, I should say. I altered the movement already, so it feels a bit different and the wall-slide also isn't possible anymore if there's too little contact to the wall.

I hope I can soon get out a new demo version, with a bigger level. But right now I'm still adding things and the stage has no graphics yet, only one colored blocks. One of the drawbacks of painting the stage is, that it's hard to make changes later, because most of them need to be reflected in the background image.

In the meantime, here's the death animation for when the Zombies get angry :oops: :)



I polished up the blog a little and I'll keep posting updates there or on the twitter account I made. I'd be happy about any followers.
 
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Boogery Boogers

Guest
That's a great time! :D Thanks for the kind words, to you and the other people who posted.
You are right, the jumping is too floaty. Or was, I should say. I altered the movement already, so it feels a bit different and the wall-slide also isn't possible anymore if there's too little contact to the wall.

I hope I can soon get out a new demo version, with a bigger level. But right now I'm still adding things and the stage has no graphics yet, only one colored blocks. One of the drawbacks of painting the stage is, that it's hard to make changes later, because most of them need to be reflected in the background image.

In the meantime, here's the death animation for when the Zombies get angry :oops: :)



I polished up the blog a little and I'll keep posting updates there or on the twitter account I made. I'd be happy about any followers.
Awesome, I am curious to see how this project will turn out. I had a look on your blog, it's pretty educational to see how you do the animations! That KO animation looks very painful on the face btw :eek:.....well, if you really did mean "death" animation I guess she probably wouldn't feel it haha
 
You're a real artist, I can't believe it's your first time in animation! Amazing! The way you convert your sketch to a drawing to an actual animated sprite, absolute magic! It needs more of this!

As for the gameplay: It's OK, but I had some trouble controlling the player, I doesn't feel as smooth as it should. I agree with @Boogery Boogers , the basic movement feels like playing underwater. Walking animation is very slow and falling speed is slow (even without umbrella). Changing direction in midair is VERY difficult, especially if you need to land on those small ledges.
What really annoyed me was that the player automatically jumps in the other direction when facing a wall, hopefully this is not intentional. Wall jumping felt smooth, but again, maybe make the sliding down a little faster.
The umbrella and slashing move worked perfect for me.

Keep up the great work!
 

RangerX

Member
Ok I tried your demo tonight. My comments are much in line with other people I guess.
Its pretty solid in matter of feel and control but I find it floaty. Mid air control could be more tight and would make the game feel less floaty.
My main grip is the boost your get just from standing beside a wall and jumping, not to mix with the walljump that is cool at the moment. You character really should wall boost only when not touching the ground and in wall-sliding or walljump stance.
I like your drawings though. If you pay attention you will end up with a REALLY good looking game.

Generally speaking, thumbs up!
 

sp202

Member
- Movement feels great, love the artstyle.
- Great use of blurred in-between sprites for transitions and I loved the gentle sway when floating.
- The Japanese exclamations were cute, though I'm not sure about the sound quality/volume.
- I played using a gamepad and I would've preferred if rather than having to press A a second time to open the umbrella, I was able to hold it while jumping and the umbrella would automatically open when falling, with releasing A closing the umbrella.
- I think you should shrink the collision mask on the floating sprite, it was incredibly frustrating when I couldn't make the platform because the character's toe brushed against it.
- The attacking animation could use some leg movement as it looks a bit strange when she's standing still but her skirt is swishing about.
- Joystick support would be great as the D-pad isn't all that great and switch the attacking button to X and the restart to Y.
- I could do without the countdown at the start as it's incredibly annoying especially when restarting a lot in a short span of time. Maybe wait 0.5 seconds before starting the timer with a spawn animation that lasts as long, sort of like how Super Meat Boy does it, that way it doesn't feel like the player is being artificially restrained.
 
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sp202

Member
Is the earlier level included in the demo? I'm not really a fan of this new one.
- I preferred the earlier idle sprite, I assume the current one is placeholder as it looks unfinished, but even so I liked the stance of the previous one better.
- Gamepad controls have received no love, I'm not sure what the button for using the knives is and the changes I recommended weren't made.
- There's no reason for the umbrella to have its own button, I still think it should be combined with the jump button.
- Not sure how I feel about an enemy that blows you back a great distance, I suppose it's a fitting enemy, but it's incredibly frustrating and I can't see it being a fun obstacle.
- It's strange that I can't dodge the knives being spat out by ducking.
- The special attack is very cool, but I feel it should be a bit stronger and kill the zombies in one shot.
 
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mochipon

Guest
Is the earlier level included in the demo? I'm not really a fan of this new one.
- I preferred the earlier idle sprite, I assume the current one is placeholder as it looks unfinished, but even so I liked the stance of the previous one better.
- Gamepad controls have received no love, I'm not sure what the button for using the knives is and the changes I recommended weren't made.
- There's no reason for the umbrella to have its own button, I still think it should be combined with the jump button.
- Not sure how I feel about an enemy that blows you back a great distance, I suppose it's a fitting enemy, but it's incredibly frustrating and I can't see it being a fun obstacle.
Well, the new enemy can be frustrating of course. The birds in this stage are plenty only for testing purposes. I tried to create various situations and angles from where you have to approach them, to test these things. Of course, if you get blown right back into a bottomless pit, that's very frustrating. Overall I don't like the birds too much and in the next version will probably only include one or two.

The previous idle sprite certainly looked more battle ready. The issue I had with it was that the feet were so wide apart and that made it hard to tell where exactly the player stood. A foot would protrude into a wall or over a ledge. So I made a sprite with a different, more regular stance.

Sorry about the gamepad controls. I have trouble implementing/testing them because I don't have an Xbox controller or Xinput enabled controller myself. I can't even tell what is X and what is Y.

The old level is currently not solveable due to the changes in gravity. And since the stage is one image, it's not easy to change things around. Actually I had it there at first, if you went back through the breakable wall and then down. But some of the gui changes caused the game to crash at that point, so I removed it entirely for now.

As for the umbrella, I thought about how to implement your suggestion. But the thing is that holding jump already determines the height of the jump. I can't think of a way that would allow the player to also immediately open the umbrella while still being able to control the jump height.
 
M

mochipon

Guest
I updated the demo (now version 3) and also made a new video:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B-VDZaK_7ZJNRENDbUFTOHh3bXc


This time the quality is not as horrible.
However with the game in its current state, I am not too happy.

I can't say if it's the level, or the enemies, but somehow it's not a lot of fun. Something is missing, or off, but I can't say for sure what.

Since the player doesn't have any combo or successive attacks, I made it so enemies die in one hit. The challenge is in getting close unharmed, with the birds ranged attack and pushing the player back, and the bunnies having a dash-attack. However in most cases it's easy to just hang on the ledge and wait until the enemy walks up, then jump up and slash them. However that's not a lot of fun. Perhaps the fault lies with the level layout. But on a flat surface, I don't think these enemies would be very fun to fight either.

Perhaps I shouldn't focus so much on enemies and more on movement itself?
I'd love to hear some opinions as to which direction I should take the game in.

This might look sloppy, but I found out that cleanness is mostly wasted since the sprite is so much smaller in the end.

Still I am not entirely satisfied with the walking animation.
 

RangerX

Member
I think the navigation could need some work. Afterall its half the fun in a platformer game. Right now are only jumping and walling all the same.
Your levels also need a sense of progression. This is told by navigation and architecture. We need to have feel of where we should go. The main path should be inviting compared to extra paths or secret paths and and we need to "feel" it as players.
You have some good mechanics down though. Continue your good work!!
 
K

Kestril

Guest
I gave it a go.

The good:
I really like the knife throw. That is really satisfying to pull off.

The floating umbrella move is nice and is satisfying to use.

The animations are super cool!


The needs work:


Jumping up onto a higher ledge is hard. There were times when her knee cleared the ledge but I still felt stuck because she would still stop and fall.

The platforming in general just felt a *bit* sluggish, or needed a bit too much precision compared to how drifty everything feels.


So here's my suggestion:
My advice would be to make a level that is JUST about platforming and test and mess with that until the platforming feels fun. THEN worry about enemies. It will tell you what sort of levels you'll want to design around AND show the parts that need a bit of work as far as the platforming goes.
 
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Boogery Boogers

Guest
Hmmm I think the level in this latest demo is a little too challenging for the controls as they are now. It's definitely asking for better jumping mechanics and the wall jumping isn't as smooth as it can be. I have actually fallen to my death hundreds of times hahaha, maybe I'm a complete noob. I think it will at least start feeling better if the jumping could be loosened up a bit, like a slightly higher jump(or reduced gravity), etc. If I were you, I would make a variety of test levels and focus on perfecting the controls and keep combat basic for now.
 
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