Post Mortem-Time Traveller?
john on 2011/04/25 08:31
So yeah, I didn't realise pyweek was on until the second day of the competition, and was then under pressure to do things faster. Got my best solo average rating yet, and better than times where I've collaborated with my family to, so yay!
Things I did right:
-> I actually finished
-> I produced 9 levels like I originally intended
-> The art was (imo) very nice and all in the same style
-> I (mostly) cracked collision detection
-> Forced myself to think up an idea quickly instead of waiting ages
Things I did wrong:
-> Spent far to long on triangle collision detection which still doesn't properly work
-> Time management could have improved
-> Ran out of time for music
-> Needed to balance the gameplay more
All in all, I was pretty happy how it turned out, and most of the points in the comments I already knew about and just ran out of time :P
Feedback:
The floor has gaping holes in it. Generally, the pixel-based collisions seemed to lead to odd issues (although as a level mechanic, it's rather nice)
If you don't mind me asking, where are the gaping holes? Anyway, yeah I knew about the pixel collisions, but I ran out of time to polish it up.
I like the art style. A few too many of the jumps aren't very forgiving of errors, which made the game too frustrating to be enjoyable, but it shows potential.
Thanks :) Yeah, like I said before, I ran out time to polish it up.
cool graphics, but sometimes a bit off from the physics (graphic not exactly matching edges)
Thanks again ;) True, but sometimes it needed to not make a level super hard...
Really solid platform physics, and I think the hand-drawn graphics really work well. I think they look just a little too crude - slightly neater would have made it look more polished.
Mm, I could've done them neater but that wasn't really how I wanted to draw the stuff. Unless you mean drawing straighter lines in which case definitely true ;)
The drawings were cool and control of sprite over the drawn lines were definitely very good.
Nice one. Gameplay line was sketchy.
Thanks
Sound would add a lot.
Yeah, I was intending to but literally ran out of time. Was still coding in levels just before I uploaded the game.
Loved the whiteboard graphics. Would have been nice not to have to restart the game after dying.
Perhaps that was something I could've looked at given how frustrating it can be...
The crude graphics belie a fairly well-made platformer. The mechanics are kind of weird, the way you keep jumping if you held down the up key, but it could be worse. The graphics do cause problems, when it's not clear what you can land on and what you can't (that head at the beginning of the Celtic level in particular kept fooling me), and it's not clear when the bottom of the screen is safe to walk on.
I did have my concerns over some block positioning, definitely something to look at
The scribble graphics are cute but I find the super-precise-jumping-or-you-die model of gameplay to be a little frustrating.
Again, I needed more time for polish
In some levels (i.e. Celtic) you can walk on the bottom of the screen, although you can't see any ground. It would be good if you would ALWAYS draw some kind of ground (can be just a line), so that the player knows where he falls down and where he can walk. If you add some music and sounds this will be very nice.
Consistency needed improving, yes. I ran out of time for music and sounds :(
Kind of boring, because I'm spending over half of the playing time going through the same parts, you'd need some kind of save points in a slow-paced game like this. I liked the graphics and the time travel idea.
Save points are definitely something I'm considering, yes.
Liked the graphics, the game was much more fun with reduced gravity (1/10th) and invincibility switched on.
Definitely ;)
I decided if I responded to every comment I'll be hours when I was about half way through ;) Most of the others are similar to this. Thanks to everyone who responded! You guys rule!