KOG, a simple & addictive game

[saimo]

Hello everybody,

I would like to inform you that I have just released a new little game, called KOG.
In short, the aim of the game is: the player moves a trap around a circular playing field with the task of catching the objects moving from the center outwards for as long as possible - when too many objects are missed, the game is over.

http://saimobvq.interfree.it/KOG/data/visual_guide.png

You can download KOG for free from its website at http://saimobvq.interfree.it/KOG/index.html, where you can also find plenty of information - for the curious ones here, the only missing detail is that it has been programmed entirely in C.

Enjoy and do not be afraid to tell me what you think about it!

saimo

[Reactor]

I didn't find the gameplay addictive at all, but I really enjoyed the old-school Amiga stylings. It brought back many memories :)

With your sound- you have a click at the end of a number of your samples. If you can remove those, the game will sound a whole lot nicer. Music would also be good for the game.

[saimo]

@Reactor


I didn't find the gameplay addictive at all,
Oh, well, I can't ask it to work for everyone :p
Kidding aside, of course it is a rather subjective thing, so obviously I respect your opinion. Just one question: since it starts slow and the fun comes later, did you play it until rhythm goes really up?


but I really enjoyed the old-school Amiga stylings. It brought back many memories :)
I'm glad to hear that!


With your sound- you have a click at the end of a number of your samples. If you can remove those, the game will sound a whole lot nicer.
That's strange: I faded to zero the tails of all samples... maybe something went wrong? Let me check...
[fiddling with Audacity and playing the game]
... well, no, everything is as supposed to be! The only click I can hear is when trap movement is stopped: since the sample is played in loop, halting can happen at any time, when the sample level could be just any. I'll check whether instead of just stopping the sample playback I can use some other libSDL_mixer function to cut it nicely. A similar problem could happen (but honestly I could not notice it when playing the game, even using headphones) when there are more samples to play than allocated channels (i.e. when the rhythm is really up ;)): in that case the "oldest" of the samples being played is halted abruptly by a new sample - but handling would be a lot more complicated and cause unwanted delays, unless libSDL_mixer offers some magic to "blend" samples.
If you are hearing also other clicks, the only thing I can think of is some minor problem with libSDL_mixer on your system (I'm no trying to pass the buck).


Music would also be good for the game.
I have not added music for two reasons.
The first is that I did not want to prolong development further.
The second is that I believe that regardless of the song, after a while it gets boring. Of course, this can be solved by allowing the user to specify his own set of external songs (f.ex. his favourite mp3 collection), but, at that point... what stops the user to run his preferred music player along with the game? - it would offer more and better functionality than I could ever implement in the game and would save me lots of boring programming ;-)

Thank you for the good feedback!
saimo

[Reactor]

...since it starts slow and the fun comes later, did you play it until rhythm goes really up?

No, but I had a fair idea where the game was going, and maybe that was the problem- it was too predictable. And, unless you're the sort of person who likes that kind of thing, a slow start + predictability can often send people packing before the 'real' game gets going. It's a hard one to balance, so... no worries that it's not perfect in my eyes ;)


...in that case the "oldest" of the samples being played is halted abruptly by a new sample...

That'd be worth checking.


If you are hearing also other clicks, the only thing I can think of is some minor problem with libSDL_mixer on your system (I'm no trying to pass the buck).

Perhaps, but I haven't seen any other audio issues... game or audio software related. Perhaps someone else can help confirm this.


...it would offer more and better functionality than I could ever implement in the game and would save me lots of boring programming ;-)

I can relate to boring programming :)

A player could put on their fave mp3s, but if they're bored by the game upon first impressions, why would they? I guess the thing is this- when you create a game, do you create it to be a functioning bit of software, or something that grips the player and invites them to come back? Players can put on their own music tracks, and they can go through the options menu and make some changes to the game, but before they decorate the house, they need to decide whether they want to live there for a while or not. First impressions really are everything if you want people to enjoy what you have for them.

[saimo]

No, but I had a fair idea where the game was going, and maybe that was the problem- it was too predictable. And, unless you're the sort of person who likes that kind of thing, a slow start + predictability can often send people packing before the 'real' game gets going.
Well, there's not much I can do as regards predictability: it is just natural that in a game of this kind difficulty increases with bonuses appearing to help as the player advances. However, in KOG, the rhythm does not just increase linearly, but rather "in waves"... at least _this_ is not really predictable ;)


It's a hard one to balance,
Indeed the slow start is necessary to get ready for what comes next: eventually, even mistakes in the initial phases matter, so "slow" does not mean "useless". After a couple of games the player realizes that even the slow start is important, so it becomes challenging as he/she tries to play perfectly.


so... no worries that it's not perfect in my eyes ;)
Definitely. As said, I have no trouble accepting that not everybody likes it...



..in that case the "oldest" of the samples being played is halted abruptly by a new sample...
That'd be worth checking.
Well, since you have not played till it gets tough (minor level value >= 90), I doubt that the clicks you spotted are due to this. When the rhythm is low, it never happens that the number of samples exceeds the number of available channels.


Perhaps, but I haven't seen any other audio issues... game or audio software related. Perhaps someone else can help confirm this.
Just to be clear: I was referring to just libSDL_mixer having problems with your system, not the system in general.

Anyway, I made a test where all calls to Mix_HaltChannel() were replaced by Mix_FadeOutChannel() to see whether the clicks were due to the cutoffs: the results were just the same. Probably it is an internal issue of libSDL_mixer. If you want, I could send you this modified version so that you can test it as well.
Apart from that, can I ask you a favour? Could you see if you can hear the clicks even when the trap is not moving?


A player could put on their fave mp3s, but if they're bored by the game upon first impressions, why would they? I guess the thing is this- when you create a game, do you create it to be a functioning bit of software, or something that grips the player and invites them to come back? Players can put on their own music tracks, and they can go through the options menu and make some changes to the game, but before they decorate the house, they need to decide whether they want to live there for a while or not. First impressions really are everything if you want people to enjoy what you have for them.
You have a point.
However, besides the external player thing, there are these things to consider (in no particular order):
* in case of a single track per theme: would players like large themes where most of the size is taken by a song (after a while) they will not listen to (anymore)?
* in case of multiple user-selecteable tracks: would players bother defining their list of tracks and, before that, learning how to do it? Would they like the limitations of the system (of course the game would _not_ include a modern full-featured juke-box)?
* would really the presence/lack of a music track change radically the appeal of the game? I mean, if there had been a cool track, would you have liked the game? Or, looking at it from the opposite POV, did the lack of a track put down the people who instead liked the game? IMHO the real point here is the game mechanics: that's what attracts or pushes away. Of course there could be cases where an uncertain player is sitting right on the fence and a nice tune could make the difference... but how many? - those cases are likely to be very rare;
* normally, I like games _without_ background music! I prefer having plenty of sound effects, instead - maybe I'm not the only one?
* I did not have time to compose two tunes (one per theme) :p


Cheers,
saimo