Demo The incredible adventure of Mr Toothy - free Windows demo

[Maralundo]

Hello Everyone
I'm in trouble! Two months ago I started to develop a 2D platformer. It was supposed to be a simple exercise, maybe a little prototype, but in the meantime it grew, and now I have a ton of assets (not yet even used in the game) and a fully playable demo of the game. It lacks some functionalities, but it works quite well as a preview. Since I started the development of this game I play-test it with each new piece of content, and now I have a little problem - I can't tell whether the game is easy or hard, good or bad, ugly or not. At the end of the day I hate it, but on the next day in the morning it looks good again. I don't know what to do. Should I continue or not? I need people to test the game and to give me an honest opinion.


A few words about the game:
"The incredible adventure of Mr Toothy" is an action (I guess) 2d platformer for Windows. I chose cartoony graphics, because this is what I can do. I'm not an artist, so it probably isn't great. At the beginning I planned to implement melee combat and a revolver or a shotgun (or a blunderbuss), but so far there are only bombs. If I will decide to continue my effort, I'd like to also implement some sort of crafting (bombs, mines and traps) and maybe a possibility to buy better equipment - there is a lot of gold to find in the dungeons. I planned the game to consist of levels similar to demo level, not very long, slightly randomized, so one can play any level as a short, 15 to 20 minutes long, challenge. The idea is simple - clean the dungeon, kill the monsters, find gold, lost notes and blueprints. That's the game in a nutshell.

Link to the DEMO

Thank you for your time and have a good day.

 

[Better Nature]

The Good:
- The art looks good. it's very clean and easy to read, and I really enjoy a lot of the background flourishes you've added (spiderwebs, mouse holes, etc.)

- The level design is solid. You can always see where you need to go and the obstacles are clear (except for the spikes. Those looked like part of the background at first. Maybe add an animated sparkle to them or something).

- I like the character and enemy designs.

What needs work:
- The color palette is a little drab. It's mostly just grays, and the main character is the same color as the background. I would use cool desaturated colors for the background (like blue) and warmer more saturated colors for the character and enemies. I know you said you aren't an artist (although you're not half bad in my opinion), so if you don't know what I mean then Google 'color saturation' and 'warm and cool colors'. Or, if you can't be bothered, In the simplest terms, I'd say make the character and enemies 'brighter' and more colorful and add a slight tint of blue to the background.

- The player is wayyyy too slow. He should move at least 3 times as fast. at the very least give us a run button.

- Jumping needs work. Right now, you jump the same height no matter how long you press the jump button. We should be able to tap the button for a short jump and hold it for a higher jump. This is really a must for platform games in my opinion. You can find tutorials on how to do this on Youtube.

- The level is too long. If you want short challenges, they should really be more like 1 to 5 minutes, not 15 to 20. I think your game would benefit from breaking this level into smaller more focused challenges that can be completed quickly. As it stands, I made it a fair bit into the level but then I got a game over and started all the way at the top, and at that point I was done. If you really want to keep the levels this large then I would suggest making them less linear. Give us multiple paths and secrets to discover and that might take away some of the sting of having to start the whole thing over again. It could even be more of a metroidvania style labyrinth. Go in either of those two directions (shorter levels, more open levels) and I think the game will benefit greatly.

To answer your original question, I definitely think you should keep working on this. It's got potential. Good luck!

 

[Maralundo]

Greetings Better Nature
Thank You for the feedback. This is exactly what I need. The colour palette is not great, and I know that. My idea was to make more colourful enemies, exactly as You have suggested. It will be done in the future. Jumping and speed are adjusted to the dimensions of the level and to the gaps. I'm afraid, that faster speed and higher jumps would spoiled the difficulty. It is just a demo and I know, that it lacks any sort of gradation of difficulty. I also know, that most of modern platformers are fast and jumps are ridiculously high and long, but in this case slower pace fits my general idea of the gameplay. I remember going from Lords Of The Fallen (obviously not a plataformer) to Shadow of Mordor - there is a huge difference in steering the character and fighting. When I started to play Shadow of Mordor after Lords of the Fallen it felt like a feather - my impression was, that the character in the game almost hasn't any weight. In Lords of the Fallen movement fills slow and heavy in comparison. You have to adjust your reflexes to a different mechanics. It doesn't mean, that I don't want to add some improvements to the character movement. For example I'd like to add some sort of airborne dash, and a small parachute/glider to cross bigger gaps in more difficult levels. If it comes to jumping, higher and longer jump defeats the idea of difficulty based on precise timing - now You have to wait for a chance to fit in a gap between the monsters and than continue to another safe place. But it's good to know, that it can be difficult for other players. I played this demo maybe a hundred times, each time it becomes easier, and each time I want to add something new, because I'm afraid, that other players can fly through a whole level in 3 minutes. It became a never ending loop without a solution, I can't say whether the game is difficult or not because for me it becomes easier with each run. And the unfortunate jump... Bigger jump requires higher corridors and more space. It certainly can be done later in bigger and more difficult levels, for example with some temporary boost.
It really seams like a job, and I only wanted to have some fun with Game Maker...
Big thanks for the feedback. It's very helpful.