Beta Noah´s Disregard For Dinosaurs (platform, 2d, defense system, mouse and keyboard, breakable map)

A

Ankokushin

Guest

Hello!

So, my dinosaur-survives-extinction-with-umbrella game is pretty much done:
- playable all through
- 11 levels (I counted)
- story
- art (if you call that "art"
- sound

Anyway, I hope you guys have fun. The game has a random factor (due to the meteors destroying the map) and the stages might be easy or irritatingly hard. I´ve seem friends play it and my impression is that hard core gamers died only a little at first and managed to finish the game in 20 - 30 minutes. Casuals died A LOT.

If you have a potato computer (as I have) some levels will be very slow. I don´t know what causes it or how to avoid it. Hopefully you guys will know better.[EDIT: I think I solved this issue. The flood wave produced blocks of water who had both gravity and dimension events. These blocks did not disappear out of the room and I changed it now. In my pc, all levels are running smoothly. I will soon update the file avaiable to you]

Link to drop box file [EDITED: with sound fx and typo corrected]
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ytey6931roxin24/Noah´s Disregard for Dinosaurs.exe?dl=0

Thanks!
 

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A

Ankokushin

Guest
My review -
Hey, there! Well, first and foremost, thank you for taking the time to review it.

I will try to adress as many criticiSsms as I remember:
1- The double s typo was a mistake I did in the title screen (in my native language, "dinossauro" has 2 s) and later I thought it was somewhat funny and incorporated it in the rest of dialogues. But seeing you play, it looks like it is more awkward than fun and I will change it.
2- The game does go full screen... but in my computer and in about 8 others where my friends tested, the fullscreen actually works. I have no idea what happened in your PC. I have windows 10 as well.
3- Being stuck on edges... well, this has been bothering me from Day 1. I never really bothered to correct it before because I was busy trying to make the whole thing happen but I guess now is the time.
4- The "click to go to title screen" actually takes you to Title Screen. In your game play, you just skipped it cause you were pusshing buttons all the time (I could hear it!)
5- I did not hear any other complaints about the pause being on space, but I agree with you. I will move pause to esc and put another jump command on space.
6- I understand your concern about knowing what stage you are in the grand scheme... I might add a map. I don´t know. I will not add a saving system cause the game is designed not to be saved. It is short, really. If you get a decent number of chickens and don´t game over, you can finish it in about 30 minutes.

Thank you again. You helped me make the game better. I will see to these issues right away.
 

Yal

🐧 *penguin noises*
GMC Elder
Randomly saw this topic title while browsing the forum and had to see what it was. This is probably the best game name I've seen this year, so GG on that :p

Definitely gonna agree with you on "if you can call this art", it's definitely programmer art :p
  • I'm not entirely liking the umbrella being a big blocky thing that's rotated, but a lot of non-pixel-purists probably wouldn't complain so whatever.
  • It's not quite clear whether the clouds are background objects or interactible terrain, I'd color them in a color more similar to the sky (or vice versa) so they blend in better.
  • The blocks that are 100% brown with no detail whatsoever just looks bad, add some detail and they instantly will look 100% better
  • Try this code in the Draw Begin event of the control object (or the player or something else you only have one of) for a simple outline effect that might make stuff look better.
Code:
var c;
with(all){
  if(visible && sprite_index >= 0){
    for(c = 0;c < 360;c += 90){
      draw_sprite_ext(sprite_index,image_index,x + lengthdir_x(1,c),y + lengthdir_y(1,c),image_xscale,image_yscale,image_angle,c_black,1)
    }
  }
}
 
A

Ankokushin

Guest
Randomly saw this topic title while browsing the forum and had to see what it was. This is probably the best game name I've seen this year, so GG on that :p

Definitely gonna agree with you on "if you can call this art", it's definitely programmer art :p
  • I'm not entirely liking the umbrella being a big blocky thing that's rotated, but a lot of non-pixel-purists probably wouldn't complain so whatever.
  • It's not quite clear whether the clouds are background objects or interactible terrain, I'd color them in a color more similar to the sky (or vice versa) so they blend in better.
  • The blocks that are 100% brown with no detail whatsoever just looks bad, add some detail and they instantly will look 100% better
  • Try this code in the Draw Begin event of the control object (or the player or something else you only have one of) for a simple outline effect that might make stuff look better.
Code:
var c;
with(all){
  if(visible && sprite_index >= 0){
    for(c = 0;c < 360;c += 90){
      draw_sprite_ext(sprite_index,image_index,x + lengthdir_x(1,c),y + lengthdir_y(1,c),image_xscale,image_yscale,image_angle,c_black,1)
    }
  }
}
Hey, thanks for taking the time to check out my game!
And thanks for the comments and suggestions. Let me see what I can adress:
- name: Noah really doesn´t give **** about anything, so the name sort of explains the whole story.
- the umbrella is blocky... everything is blocky. I´m not sure I understand your comment. Nothing can be smooth, but... would you have done it less blocky? Why?
- hum. First time I heard a complain about the clouds, but I guess it makes sense. Would it help if the background moved differently? (slower, giving the impression of being deep)
- hum. Pure blocks look bad. Ok! Easy to change.
- what does that code do? o_O *he asks, noobly*
 
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Yal

🐧 *penguin noises*
GMC Elder
  • More like, the problem isn't that the umbrella is blocky. The problem is that it's blocky and rotated. That's not how pixels work :p But anyway, it's just a minor complain, so don't worry about that.
  • If you had two backgrounds moving at different speeds (with the foreground layer moving more slowly) it gives a better impression of depth, so it could be worth trying that. The foreground layer could be the same as your current background, but with anything that's not clouds being transparent rather than pink.
  • Yay~
  • The code will (hopefully) draw a black outline around everything, giving the game a bit of a cel-shaded look. (it makes everything draw four copies of themselves, but colored black... and if you do this in the Draw Begin event this happens below actual sprites, so it looks like an outline)
 
A

Ankokushin

Guest
Hey, Yal. Thanks again for your time.

So, I tried your code. It does make the sprites look smooth - but it also highlights the borders of each of my blocks which I did not want.
I am testing parallax backgrounds for the cloud issue....
Simple brown blocks substituted for splotchy blocks.
 

hogwater

Member
This game looks really charming and unique. The music is lovely as well. If I had any advice it would be to ignore all artistic input and do what appeals to you, because that's what makes this look the way it does.

Also make sure the collisions are perfect, because that is easy to do and makes a big difference to a player.
 
A

Ankokushin

Guest
This game looks really charming and unique. The music is lovely as well. If I had any advice it would be to ignore all artistic input and do what appeals to you, because that's what makes this look the way it does.

Also make sure the collisions are perfect, because that is easy to do and makes a big difference to a player.
Hey, thanks a lot! Your appreciation really made my day. Perhaps you will be the first to actually finish the game.: D
(but if you do, be sure to play the itch.io version. The one I linked from dropbox does not have the complete ending)

I will try to make collisions better! Considering redoing the entire code for it.
 

NetZvezda

Member
Fun fact, dinosaurs could and did survive the flood. You don't have to bring big ones on board, babies will do just fine. Basis for my claim? Well the word "Dinosaur" did not exist before 1840s, these creatures were known as dragons back than, and there are plenty of documents that mention dragons. Not to mention pottery or stone paintings or carvings depict creatures eerily similar to the dinosaurs. Google Ica stones. As for the game itself, art could be better, but the game play looks interesting.
 
A

Ankokushin

Guest
Fun fact, dinosaurs could and did survive the flood. You don't have to bring big ones on board, babies will do just fine. Basis for my claim? Well the word "Dinosaur" did not exist before 1840s, these creatures were known as dragons back than, and there are plenty of documents that mention dragons. Not to mention pottery or stone paintings or carvings depict creatures eerily similar to the dinosaurs. Google Ica stones.
Show your true self, Discovery Channel!

Well, I think this discussion is rather interesting. Let me see:
- Since a world-destroying flood is mentioned in a number of sacred books, many people believe there actually was a historical huge flood. A wikipedia search tells me archeological finds suggest many sumerian cities were destroyed by floods. Still, I don´t personally believe these floods would have killed dinosaurs. As far as I knew, they had died long before humanity existed. On account of the meteors. In the game, I say they died in the flood just so I could use this contextual motiff from the bible and save myself from some hardships of story telling.
- The dragon issue really makes us think, no? They could very well be the way older civilizations managed to understand dinosaurs. But personally, I think they are just another mythical invention. If you look at their descriptions in old bestiaries, you will see people referencing snakes and birds. So maybe they just mixed some animals and came with the idea. Kind of like the griffin.

As for the game itself, art could be better, but the game play looks interesting.
I agree completely. My art is far from good. But thanks for your time and interest. Do try to play! The game is mildly challenging and it is rather fun when you get the gist of it. There are your usual first-game bugs and I did not trouble myself to put any HUD, but I´m sure you will find your way around the game easily!
 
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