Cryptex of Time - Feedback

[AJirenius]

After some turns back and forth it seems like I will be able to selfpublish my very first real gametitle. I believe it to be finished, just a few tweaks left to make it as perfect as possible. Please give me feedback on the game and if there is nothing big that's coming up I will probably be able to put it out for sale next week.


Wish me luck guys, I'm excited!

Screens:
Screen 1 (http://www.solodev.eu/Images/Cryptex%20of%20Time/BigScreen2.jpg)
Screen 2 (http://www.solodev.eu/Images/Cryptex%20of%20Time/BigScreen3.jpg)
Screen 3 (http://www.solodev.eu/Images/Cryptex%20of%20Time/BigScreen4.jpg)
Screen 4 (http://www.solodev.eu/Images/Cryptex%20of%20Time/BigScreen1.jpg)

Download link DEMO
CryptexDemo (http://www.solodev.eu/Files/Builds/demo.msi)

[papillon]

'press next to start the learning' - slightly strange phrase. Also, there is no 'next' to press. There is only 'skip' and 'click'.

its height level, not it's.

A hint to tell me I can match things in different ways when I already *have* matched things in different ways is not that helpful, and popping up by itself in the middle of me trying to play is distracting...

"Let us see If we can do anything with it" (Why is the If capitalised? Okay, I'll stop pointing out minor proofreading niggles. :) The game is playing well enough.)


People have wandered by to see what I was doing and said "Ooo. Pretty." (Of course, they're both boys and don't really play casual games...)

Is there an indicator of when a new wheel is going to come down from above? If so, I haven't noticed it.


The 'next gem in a sequence' puzzle is going to be problematic for people with any sort of color-vision difficulty.


The 'only so many rotations' puzzle is apparently broken, since it told me Victory!! with my negative 20 moves remaining...


The progress bar on the left side seems to change weirdly post-victory.


Reaching the last level of the first world and trying to click on it, I get:

Error!

HUD_SetImageClip
The specified object does not exist.

And the game crashed.

[ulfster]

hey AJirenius,

i just tested it and i would say it has a good overal quality. i realised the following things:

-in the tutorial learn mode, when you take over the mouse and you press ESC on the keyboard the "exit game" screen comes up and you cant click anything cause the mouse isnt there. i think that should be fixed in case someone decides to skip the tutorial if its already running

-second i think the multiplier font is a bit thin, you should make it bigger

other than that i coudlnt find any problems, but iam not a great match3 player ;)

i wich you best luck with your sales! greetings

[papillon]

Egypt levels crash with a memory error. In 'free play' mode at one point left-click stopped working right and only the whole thing would rotate, individual wheels no longer would.

[AJirenius]

Thanks guys.

Seems like I need to work on a lot of things before it's ready yet. At the moment I have fixed all things but the 2 crashes you have found, papillon. I have a hard time reproducing the errors

EDIT: Aaaahh, Now I found the bug/crash (both of them as they are the exact same bug). It's only the demo that wants to tell you there is no more levels for you to play (nr 12 in first world and nr. 4 in Egypt). Bug fixed, thank you!

[kay.altos]

demo.msi isn't a good name for installer size of 18Mb. It's good to have Uninstall shortcut in game group in Start menu.

The game crashed anyway, here is the message

---------------------------
Microsoft Visual C++ Runtime Library
---------------------------
Runtime Error!
Program: ...O development\Cryptex of Time demo\CryptexofTimedemo.exe
abnormal program termination
---------------------------
OK
---------------------------

[AnthemAudio]

Played the game a bit, I like it. Very good music, decent sound effects...but that picture of the "tutorial lady" or whatever she is called...is just creepy to me. I can't quite put my finger on it, perhaps because she's wearing a black shirt and tie, perhaps it's her small features and headset. Something about it screams "welcome to scientology" to me and I don't like looking at her.

It's an odd thing to be sure, but it's what bugged me the most.

Perhaps if there were dialog (voice) with a reassuring tone I wouldn't feel that way. But with none, I'm left to attach a voice to her in my mind and it's a very disapproving one.

Also...

A co-worker popped in on me playing it and said "Hey, jewels on a pipe cleaner!"

That made me laugh.

Another suggestion and definitely tougher to implement I'm sure, can you have a mirror or two that shows off the backside of the column? (obviously doesn't have to be real(time) reflection but a second camera viewpoint.) I know you can rotate the entire column to look at everything, but when I'm making smaller moves at faster rates I find myself wondering what's going on back there and I want to be in more control of it.

So, take that how you want and good luck with getting it market ready!

[Spore Man]

Shouldn't this be posted to the Feedback forum?

[Spore Man]

The good:
The graphics are EXCELLENT!
The frame rate is EXCELLENT!
The sound is very good!
The game controls are GREAT!

I think if you took care of a few polishing touches, you have here a potential "top 10" casual hit. There are just tiny little things here and there that are stains on an otherwise perfect carpet:


1. Don't make mouse cursor disappear... EVER. (At least not in windowed mode). I don't like the feeling of "loss of control". Especially true during the tutorial (more about this later).

2. The woman with a headset does not fit the game theme at all. She looks like she belongs in Kudos (no offense to Cliff). Maybe a mysterious entity would be better, otherwise you might have to have it fit the time period and then need a character for every time period. Heck, maybe that's worth doing. Each time period would come with its "guide".

3. Why would you name a "Next" button "Click"? Makes no sense.

4. Your writing style is very dry and almost robotic. It's not fun or in keeping with the theme of the game, not to mention sometimes just badly worded. If you can't write in a good "voice" for players, then hire a writer.

5. I can't exit the Tutorial when its showing me how to move the cryptex. I hit ESC, but that asked me to exit the game.

6. I don't like the mouse "variable" motion. Seems if I move the mouse fast, there's an acceleration to the cursor first? It's not real sluggish, but not my preferred mouse behaviour either. I like the cursor to go where I move it, with no delay or elasticity.

7. Why the heck do some of your help text refer to "cubes"? I see no cubes in the cryptex. I see gems, jewels and stuff like that.

8. The silver metal part of each gem is too bright.

9. Your large title font looks blurry (the one you use to display the level name)

10. Your main title logo graphic isn't quite as nice as your UI graphics (when looking at the title screen)

All in all, this is kind of a mindless game. It's mindless "wheel turning" as opposed to mindless clicking. So it is ideal for the Casual market. I would take great care in polishing to meet all criteria expected of a casual game. You stand to do very well with this one if you do.

[barrygamer]

hi-
I remember commenting on a much earlier build of the game - it now looks and plays very nicely. No major complaints from me, SporeMan has made most points already. I do think the text needs to be 'livened up' a bit, and checked carefully.

The woman doesn't fit in too well with the other graphics style, but it is a nice idea to add some character to the game.

The graphics and effects are very nice, the gems look great as the light catches them, some of the best I've seen. I only played a few levels -- I think its important the background scenes etc change quite often to keep that feeling of progression going.

I thought 2 of the pink/purple gems were v close in colour (or is it my screen/eyes?!).

I didn't notice any mouse issues myself, though I tend to have my mouse set to v sensitive/fast, if that matters.

Oh, I agree with SporeMan #10, the main title could be improved perhaps.

[AJirenius]

Thanks guys and girls for all your feedback (yes it should have been posted in the other section, I'm sorry).
Most of your feedback has been dealt with but some elements I will leave as is. I'm a single developer and believe I just cannot polish this one forever but in the end need to release it to see wether it will hold or not.

Hopefully this will at least sell a few copies so I can be motivated to try out the indiebusiness for another game.

[Luis]

Hey, I also remember giving comments on a much earlier version of your game. Great work during that time! The game features really, really great Graphics now.

Anyway, I would change the look of those gears a little bit. I think they look too "acanthoid" (hope this is the right word).
I think, I would prefer if their form would look like the moving gear in the main menu (the biggest, quartered in the front).

Good luck with your first game!

[Spore Man]

Thanks guys and girls for all your feedback (yes it should have been posted in the other section, I'm sorry).
Most of your feedback has been dealt with but some elements I will leave as is. I'm a single developer and believe I just cannot polish this one forever but in the end need to release it to see wether it will hold or not.
If you don't mind me saying though, it can be that 5% of polishing that makes the difference between thousands of sales or not.

[Spore Man]

I was playing again today. You have a lot of grammar and spelling errors.

Anyways... I found a MAJOR bug:

I was playing the Free mode, Egypt... It got to the point where it says 'Cryptex too High'. I had to go do something so I hit P to pause. Nothing happened, so I hit ESC.

Came back, click "no" because I wanted to continue my game. Well it didn't un-pause. I could rotate the entire cryptex, it still said "Cryptex too high" flashing at the bottom, but I could no longer rotate wheels, and no new wheels were appearing.