ANN:Platform - A weekly game

[Greyblack]

Hi All,

IndieGamer readers might like a web (shockwave) game I'm developing in my spare time:

http://www.platformthegame.com

Platform is a fun game in which you control two characters. Each character must be guided safely to the end of each level, avoiding the devious traps. You will need to make the characters work together to get to the end of most levels. A new level is added each week.

Feedback is welcome and thanks for taking an interest.

[ZeHa]

:eek:

That shot looks amazing!!
I can't try it right now, but I'll try it this evening, I promise :)

[Greyblack]

Thank you! Hopefully it lives up to your expectations.

[jeb_]

Nice game! I was impressed on the good performance of such a browser game :)

One thing that annoyed me (which eventually forced me to stop playing) was that the space key is hard-coded into my spine to be the jump button. I kept pressing space when I wanted to jump, and Z when I wanted to change characters :(

[ZeHa]

Yeah, I tried it, and it really looks cool. I like the somehow "realistic" style, I think you know what I mean :)

But I also didn't like the keys, I would have prefered "space" as the jump button - also, in Germany the Z and Y key are swapped, so it might feel a little different than on a US keyboard layout.

The game itself was pretty good, but I got stuck very soon. And in the second screen, it was very hard to jump from the lift in the upper left back to the regular platforms, because you have to utilize the "wall jump" on a very thin piece of the platform. That's not too difficult, but for me, it took some time until I figured out that it even works :D

As I said, I didn't get too far but I didn't have too much time either. I'll give it another try soon...

[Drake]

Yay for Shockwave and yay for wall jumping that's not a total PITA to execute. I only got up to level 3, but I liked what I saw.

+1 on the Space Bar/Z confusion. I messed that up at the worst time, and had to repeat the second level entirely.

Nice work!

[Greyblack]

Thanks to everyone for taking the time to respond. In regards to z/space bar confusion, I've taken it on board and will add functionality to reverse these keys.

As for level 2, I realized people were having difficulty with this level when I showed it to friends, so I added the hint, "Remember, characters can jump up all walls. You will need to use the far right wall to complete this level," in the top left corner, as well as placing an arrow to direct attention to that wall.
If you have one character stand on the moving platform to the far right, and have the other wall-jump up that far right wall, the level can be completed quite easily.
If I'm understanding ZeHa correctly, he has found a way to complete the level I had not envisioned at all, which is pretty cool, but I'd hate people who weren't as enterprising as him to give up after 2 levels. I think I might add an even plainer hint to that level.
I'll update this thread when I've made the changes to the control options so that those of you who would like to try it with a preferential control scheme can give it a go.

Thanks again all for the feedback.

[ZeHa]

Yeah, perhaps a more obvious hint, or even some hint that appears after time. Say, you notice how someone's jumping around up there and doesn't get it, you can display a speech bubble for the inactive character, repeating the hint or asking if the player needs help.

[Surrealix]

Kudos, that was/is a really neat game (I'm playing level 6 at the moment)

I like the clean style of the graphics, and the conversation's great. The reference to cube made me smile :)

I also didn't like the keys, but I use a dvorak keyboard, so the '>' worked reasonably well as a jump key for me.

Keep up the good work.

[Greyblack]

I've updated the game with a button that allows the player to reverse the jump and switch-player keys.

Enjoy.

[Desktop Gaming]

Doesn't seem to work in FF 2.0.0.5 - plugin fails to install, going to try IE7.

[edit] Works fine in IE7.

I didn't like the key layout much. Also, my laptop doesn't go higher than 1024x768 res and it seems the game window is trying to be more or less the same size as I had scroll bars which made it awkward to play.

I got squashed by a lift on the 2nd screen and that was really as far as I wanted to go. Jumping up walls was a bit more 'false' than the game initially looked and I think that spoilt it, for me.

[jeb_]

I enjoyed the game more when I was able to jump with space.

However, it's still quite a frustrating game... On the level with the elevator that raised through two saws, it was really annoying to have to start over from the beginning every time you made a mistake. When I realized the next level had the same problem (you need to keep the first guy, who runs up the platform levels, alive while moving the second guy) I quit again.

Maybe I'm just getting old :)

[ilya2]

The game crashes when you hit escape...
EDIT: Also, the sound will randomly stop until you reload the page.

I'm using Firefox 1.5.0.11 by the way.

[ZeHa]

I think I also was squashes once by an elevator, even though the elevator wasn't moving and I was just jumping from the bottom, hitting my head against it.