Alright, here's a response to everyone.
Quote: "The only thing is that, when the game is entirely keyboard controlled, why do you have to use the mouse for the menus? It's not that it's inconvenient, it just seems less professional."
I considered that also, but in the end I decided I liked the mouse menus better. You're right, but I can't stand keyboard menus on the comp. I know that using the mouse to unpause the game takes precious time in the timed levels though, so I added that pressing spacebar also resumes the level.
Quote: "1) Make the game longer. It took me 10 minutes to complete
both levels, to watch video and credits.
2) Sometimes the graphics of some objects flashes. (It can be my computer, because i tested in an old one, will tell you later in a better one when i test again)
EDIT: It was my computer. It runs very nicely in other PC's.
3) Make an option to change movement speed. "
1)err, the game is longer. Those were just two early levels... in fact, it's 17 levels long, with 14 1/2 of them completed. And to note, because this is a puzzle game, the later levels take far longer than the early ones.
2)That's good to here. I've never had that problem before though... I'll test it on a lot of pcs before release.
3)Sorry, no can do. The movement speed is part of the level design. It might suck, but there are timed levels, and there's a timed mode for each level. changing the speed would change the gameplay, and if you go too fast the controls become unstable.
Quote: "Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow! I'm surprised I haven't been following this too closely. The presentation of this game was excellent. I watched the credits, movies, and everything. All seemed to run well on my laptop(3 ghz|Radeon 9600|2 gb ram|Windows XP). Very impressive. Make sure you send this in for the newsletter once you get closer to release, for I'm sure many more people would love to get their hands on this."
Thanks! I'll definitely send it in. I don't want to have them show it though if that means they wont when I release it... I'll ask when I request a mention. Hmm, that would make every game I've ever posted here have shown up in a newsletter.
Quote: "The demo was awesome! I'm really looking forward to playing the full game. The puzzles were well designed and thought out. I hope there are more gameplay elements other than boxes, such as that spring thing from the credits, or maybe a cannon. lol"
Sorry, no cannon, but the springs are a key element in the rising levels, and in what I mention below. There are also energy beams, which come up a lot in the later levels, rising levels and different modes of play, and there's one huge gameplay element I don't want to mention... people will have to play the game find it.
Quote: "The demo was very nice, I completed the second level by accident(Clever, very clever). I like how it feels much smoother than older versions, the controls make up some of that feeling. I also very much enjoyed the credits, and that cutscene. Well done!!!"
Thanks! I worked very hard on the controls, and I've rearranged the lava level a lot to make sure it worked well.
Quote: "Well, this is perfection.
You have done a wonderful job with the camera since the previous build! It´s easy to see that you´ve worked hard on this game and it´s engine. And I´m glad to see that Blockdude is now animated. Awesome as always, and keep up the good work bizarguy! "
Thanks! I'm glad you like the camera! It was a lot of work to set up. Probably the only thing that was harder was getting the controls right.
Quote: "Isn't this the exact same game you made a while ago?
I played it and it was pretty cool."
No, but it uses the same gameplay element, with a far improved engine and basically far better everything else, in every way. If you haven't downloaded the demo, try it out and you'll see some of the differences.
@ Rami (I'm not going to quote you, because you said so much
), thank you so much for your kind words! What you've described is exactly what I was hoping people would experience. As this is a demo, there is still much I haven't shown fully. The voices are in all the levels but the rising ones, thought they're hard to hear over the rain. I've tried to make the levels require skills learned in previous ones, and from what I've seen it works pretty well. I have seen a number of people beat later levels far easier than I thought they would however, so I'm somewhat worried that the learning curve may be too low for some. The Testers part of the credits is of course unfinished, so I just left the someones in there to fill the blank until I do get the testers. I thought it was funny.
I think you're right about the lava warning text. It was made for the rising levels where that's not a real issue, but I think I'll add a drowning type animation to deal with that. I'm glad you like it so much. One of my goals in game making is to become one of the top DB game makers... I think I still have quite a ways to go, but Adventure 19 I'm hoping will cover a lot of that ground... I feel that I can dream big as long as I'm willing to put in the effort to achieve that dream.
OK! Now for some updates.
First, I've decided to add a final puzzle level, that uses springs in a normal puzzle level. I working out the design, and I personally think it's pretty clever. The camera for it will be tricky though. I've also added an overlay that looks like faint brush strokes. It's unnoticeable unless you look for it, but what it does it make every part of the screen look slightly different. The effect is almost like a shader. I love it, but it's not a massive change. The visuals look exactly the same, but now the screen feels even fuller than before. I've also been working on the sanctuary level, which I really want to get done. It's even cooler than the eye scene, I think.
The main updates though, are not for Dream. I've been working on mouse movement, and have come up with a good system, but it's a far cry from the one I want to achieve for platformers. As it is though, this one works perfectly for adventure like games. It feels good, I think. That doesn't really describe it, but I've been working quite hard on creating comfortable mouse movement. Mouse movement is the first big thing about Adventure 19. Another is that camera which has had a lot of work done on it in Dream.
