Released [PC] Amorph Escape - A challenging puzzle game!

K

KriLL

Guest
Hi all I have just released my game Amorph Escape for free on itch.io!

Created in GMS 1.4 (latest build)
95% vector graphics (Only the blurred backgrounds are .png)

About The Game
A physics based puzzle game for all ages!

SNIDE Industries are experimenting with Dark Energy and Dark Matter. Unfortunately something goes wrong in the lab and an explosion causes some Dark Matter to mix with some genetic material! This causes a explosive reaction and the Amorphs are born! Now they must escape SNIDE Industries before it's too late! Will you be able to help them?

  • Boing is the leader of the Amorphs and is super bouncy. He can split himself into 4 bouncing balls to so he get to hard to reach places.
  • Boom always has a frown upon his face. He has an explosive temperament literally! He can blow up objects that are in the way.
  • The coolest of the gang. Chilly can freeze objects to make them slide all over the place.
  • Mags is the attractive Amorph. Her magnetic powers can pull levers and control metal canisters!
  • Indie is the toughest of them all. Her indestructible shield can withstand fire, electricity and acid!
  • Grav is the crazy one! I guess creating Black Holes and White Holes can do that too you!

Features
  • 140 mind bending levels for you to solve.
  • 7 Different Zones - each with a different mechanic.
  • 7 Bosses at the end of each zone to defeat in a none violent way!
  • Score system based on time - how fast can you complete each level?


Please note that if you try the you can improve the graphics a lot by turning on Anti Aliasing in the options menu from off to 8x.



Itch.io
https://shallbyte-games.itch.io/amorph-escape


 
Last edited by a moderator:
K

KriLL

Guest
Updated page to say there is a free lite version with 12 levels in for you to try out.
 
D

DyingSilence

Guest
My first impression was:
"Hey, it's a paid Angry Birds clone, way after it was popular."

Now I see, this game could push the genre in new direction with it's solution.
I've played the lite. The graphics, even being vector, scale poorly, the edges are terribly jagged. The music is unbearable, you'd better use some free music than this.
The gameplay seems to be ok, but the game doesn't clearly inform about it's mechanics. It's bad, when the player learns about the second tap interaction by an accident. Also, the arrow commanding to change the projectile to the explosive one was hard to notice. You should gray out the rest of the screen and make some pulsing sound indicating that it's there.
I liked the style of the cutscenes, but the graphics spoiled the whole experience.
It's not something I'd pay money for, and I suspect many people will think the same.
I'm sorry for being this harsh, but 6 man-years of work should result in something more impressive, or at least passable.
Good things about this game are:

Graphical disparity.
Style of cutscenes.
Consequential art style.
The gameplay idea (mostly taken from someone else, but still).

Good luck in the future!
 
K

KriLL

Guest
My first impression was:
"Hey, it's a paid Angry Birds clone, way after it was popular."

Now I see, this game could push the genre in new direction with it's solution.
I've played the lite. The graphics, even being vector, scale poorly, the edges are terribly jagged. The music is unbearable, you'd better use some free music than this.
The gameplay seems to be ok, but the game doesn't clearly inform about it's mechanics. It's bad, when the player learns about the second tap interaction by an accident. Also, the arrow commanding to change the projectile to the explosive one was hard to notice. You should gray out the rest of the screen and make some pulsing sound indicating that it's there.
I liked the style of the cutscenes, but the graphics spoiled the whole experience.
It's not something I'd pay money for, and I suspect many people will think the same.
I'm sorry for being this harsh, but 6 man-years of work should result in something more impressive, or at least passable.
Good things about this game are:

Graphical disparity.
Style of cutscenes.
Consequential art style.
The gameplay idea (mostly taken from someone else, but still).

Good luck in the future!
Hi thanks for your review.
A lot of people say angry birds clone but did you know angry birds is a clone of a flash game called Crash the Castle? It may seem a bit like Angry birds at the start but it becomes a lot different once you unlock all 6 Amorphs. Its more of a puzzle game whereas Angry birds is just a fire and forget game no thinking required.


You mentioned that the graphics are bad because of the vectors. That is correct when Anti aliasing is turned off (by default)
You can turn it up to 8x (ultra) in the options which will improve things a lot. Please let me know if this changes your opinion somewhat?

When you say music is terrible I guess you mean the menu theme since the levels are just ambient noise? I will see if I can improve it but it was the first tune I made and had some trouble lol. You can also turn this off in the options.

I will see if i can make the arrow more obvious for changing to the red one and the rest - good tip.

You are correct in not informing about mechanics. Thats part of the fun figuring it out which you did its not an easy game and I dont hand hold. You mentioned angry birds and you have to tap to do their special powers granted that they do inform you of that. I might see if I can put a tip screen up at the start of the game.

Please bear in mind that its my first game ive ever made and it was 3 years in actual elapsed time (i work full time in IT) rather than man hours.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
D

DyingSilence

Guest
Hi thanks for your review.
A lot of people say angry birds clone but did you know angry birds is a clone of a flash game called Crash the Castle? Anyway...


You mentioned that the graphics are bad because of the vectors. That is correct when Anti aliasing is turned off (by default)
You can turn it up to 8x (ultra) in the options which will improve things a lot.

When you say music i guess you mean the menu theme since the levels are just ambient noise?

I will see if i can make the arrow more obvious for changing to the red one.

You are correct in not informing about mechanics. Thats part of the fun figuring it out which you did its not an easy game and I dont hand hold.

Please bear in mind that its my first game ive ever made and it was 3 years in actual elapsed time (i work full time in IT) rather than man hours.
Well, I went straigth into playing the game, as most of the children would. Their experience would be similar to mine. Of course, I do realize, that the phone screen is way smaller, making this problem way less significant. Also be wary, that big percentage of adults doesn't know what anti aliasing is. Maybe give like x2 as a default?

I meant every music I've heard, it was really far from enjoyable. Remember that the first impression is really important for the player. Maybe try something from incompetech.com? You can use that music for free even for commercial use.

This may help, but the problem is rather that there's too much happening on the main screen, the player's focus lands on recognizing new elements of the puzzle, making the arrow insignificant in this storm of information. That's why i suggested graying out the screen to force the focus on the button.

Yes, figuring out what do the mechanics do is frequently a good design, but figuring out the controls is a little risky. Some people may not get how the game works and give up. The game being a touch device game justifies you strongly, but still - not everyone will like it, especially if they paid for the game.

It's very impressive, if it really is your first game, great work nonetheless :)
 
K

KriLL

Guest
Well, I went straight into playing the game, as most of the children would. Their experience would be similar to mine. Of course, I do realize, that the phone screen is way smaller, making this problem way less significant. Also be wary, that big percentage of adults doesn't know what anti aliasing is. Maybe give like x2 as a default?

I meant every music I've heard, it was really far from enjoyable. Remember that the first impression is really important for the player. Maybe try something from incompetech.com? You can use that music for free even for commercial use.

This may help, but the problem is rather that there's too much happening on the main screen, the player's focus lands on recognizing new elements of the puzzle, making the arrow insignificant in this storm of information. That's why i suggested graying out the screen to force the focus on the button.

Yes, figuring out what do the mechanics do is frequently a good design, but figuring out the controls is a little risky. Some people may not get how the game works and give up. The game being a touch device game justifies you strongly, but still - not everyone will like it, especially if they paid for the game.

It's very impressive, if it really is your first game, great work nonetheless :)
Hi thanks for the fast response again.

My design decision to leave the anti aliasing off as default is because if it is played on a laptop which doesnt have a 3d card it can be a big performance decrease hence it is off. I dont know about you but if I play a PC game and the graphics are bad I tend to look into the options and see what settings I can change. The graphics options say low, medium high and ultra corresponding to each level of AA.
If you check a lot of the modern PC games these days the amount of graphics options is pretty crazy and dont really explain what each option does so I made the presumption that low to ultra would be sufficient for someone to understand.

Due to the high DPI of most mobile phones this acts as anti aliasing anyway.

There is only one piece of actual music played in the main menu. The rest is just ambient noise. Do you think the ambient noise needs changing too?


After your review I plan the following changes

  • Make the new Amorph arrow more noticeable
  • Decrease the volume in the main menu so that it isnt as loud
  • Look into improving the music in main menu
  • Adding some instructions at the start of each unlocked Amorph on the controls
 
D

DyingSilence

Guest
Hi thanks for the fast response again.

My design decision to leave the anti aliasing off as default is because if it is played on a laptop which doesnt have a 3d card it can be a big performance decrease hence it is off. I dont know about you but if I play a PC game and the graphics are bad I tend to look into the options and see what settings I can change. The graphics options say low, medium high and ultra corresponding to each level of AA.
If you check a lot of the modern PC games these days the amount of graphics options is pretty crazy and dont really explain what each option does so I made the presumption that low to ultra would be sufficient for someone to understand.

Due to the high DPI of most mobile phones this acts as anti aliasing anyway.

There is only one piece of actual music played in the main menu. The rest is just ambient noise. Do you think the ambient noise needs changing too?


After your review I plan the following changes

  • Make the new Amorph arrow more noticeable
  • Decrease the volume in the main menu so that it isnt as loud
  • Look into improving the music in main menu
  • Adding some instructions at the start of each unlocked Amorph on the controls
That's a good, justified decision, and indeed i too have a habit to check the options even before playing. The problem is, that's what the gamers do, and I guess you're aiming (hehe) for a more casual customer. The fix for this would be redesigning the menu. My suggestions:
Less text, more icons. This will be more user friendly. The "Start a New Game" button is obsolete once the player started playing. Just add the first cutscene to the level select screen, if rewatching it is this important. I'd merge two first buttons into "Play" or, even better, YouTube-esque button and place it in the center. Credits could be accesed in advanced options, people tend to skip them anyway. Options and Help could be some small icons in the corner. Or for example the pop-up menu could contain two types of sound options next to each other, continue, reset, graphics, exit etc.
The main idea is to make it look more user friendly and improve accessibility.

You're absolutely right in the matter of mobile phones :)

The ambient noise is perfectly fine, but if you're going to change the music, remember that your actual sound efect (after completing the level if I remember correctly) matches with it, you may need to change it too.

Those are some good changes :)
 
K

KriLL

Guest
That's a good, justified decision, and indeed i too have a habit to check the options even before playing. The problem is, that's what the gamers do, and I guess you're aiming (hehe) for a more casual customer. The fix for this would be redesigning the menu. My suggestions:
Less text, more icons. This will be more user friendly. The "Start a New Game" button is obsolete once the player started playing. Just add the first cutscene to the level select screen, if rewatching it is this important. I'd merge two first buttons into "Play" or, even better, YouTube-esque button and place it in the center. Credits could be accesed in advanced options, people tend to skip them anyway. Options and Help could be some small icons in the corner. Or for example the pop-up menu could contain two types of sound options next to each other, continue, reset, graphics, exit etc.
The main idea is to make it look more user friendly and improve accessibility.

You're absolutely right in the matter of mobile phones :)

The ambient noise is perfectly fine, but if you're going to change the music, remember that your actual sound efect (after completing the level if I remember correctly) matches with it, you may need to change it too.

Those are some good changes :)
Cheers for the extra suggestions. Once you have AA turned on how do you think the graphics look?
 
D

DyingSilence

Guest
Cheers for the extra suggestions. Once you have AA turned on how do you think the graphics look?
It's better, on the x2 the snowy one is still really pointy, but I think it won't be noticeable on mobiles. Also, from x4 upwards, it's smooth and looks really good :)
 
K

KriLL

Guest
Yeah you cant see it on the mobiles because of the high dpi. If you can do x2 or x4 you can probably do x8 and after that it you cant see them.
 
J

James Maxwell

Guest
Honestly, despite the way it looks/feels and how the concept isn't exactly 100% unique, I'd say this has quite a lot of potential! I'm actually still really enjoying playing it though. One thing I think is important is the jaggedness though, are you working on making it smoother?
 
K

KriLL

Guest
Honestly, despite the way it looks/feels and how the concept isn't exactly 100% unique, I'd say this has quite a lot of potential! I'm actually still really enjoying playing it though. One thing I think is important is the jaggedness though, are you working on making it smoother?
Hi. Thanks for replying.

The game has since been cancelled, removed the stores and my company is in the process of being struck off.

I am glad you are enjoying it though. I will probably give it away for free once my company has gone (cant trade for 3 months to get struck off).

In regards to the smoothness with ultra anti aliasing set in the graphics options and 1080p resolution it looks nice and runs at 60 fps imo.

Are you using a different setting to that?
 
J

James Maxwell

Guest
Ah, yes I wasn't running at the optimal settings.

The game has since been cancelled
Cancelled?... You broke my heart saying that.. Aww man... Thank you for making this, I'm happy I got to play it.
 
K

KriLL

Guest
Ah, yes I wasn't running at the optimal settings.


Cancelled?... You broke my heart saying that.. Aww man... Thank you for making this, I'm happy I got to play it.
Thanks for the kind words. Yeah it was costing more to keep the company going than the game was making so we decided to pull it and close. Maybe cancelled was not the right word as it was a finished game.

Did you get to play the full game or demo?

If just the demo if i rerelease it for free (probably pc only as im not paying the mobile fees again) I will let you know
 
K

KriLL

Guest
It wasnt all a waste. It was my first game, my first business and I learnt a lot. Also gave me the confidence to start a new business (for my main job) and learning the programming syntax enabled me to do the job im doing now which financially is a massive boost.

I also managed to get a review

https://www.homeofnerds.com/news/hon-review-amorph-escape

And an interview


Not that they helped with any sales lol
 
J

James Maxwell

Guest
Thanks for the kind words. Yeah it was costing more to keep the company going than the game was making so we decided to pull it and close. Maybe cancelled was not the right word as it was a finished game.

Did you get to play the full game or demo?

If just the demo if i rerelease it for free (probably pc only as im not paying the mobile fees again) I will let you know
I played the Demo. That would be amazing, friend. Thank you so much, you're an amazing asset to the community.
 
K

KriLL

Guest
their eyes looks like angry bird style
It was loosly based on the angry cats demo in Gms then became my own

1 more month to go before I can fold my company and then I can rehost the pc version on itch.io
 
K

KriLL

Guest
I played the Demo. That would be amazing, friend. Thank you so much, you're an amazing asset to the community.
Hi dude well its taken ages to strike off my company but it is finally gone! Hurrary! I was becoming a pain. Anyway as I am an IT contractor by profession I have my own limited company for that so I bought the rights to the game and have released it for free on itch.io again. Have fun completing all 140 levels if you can. It aint easy! :D

https://shallbyte-games.itch.io/amorph-escape
 
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