feedback request: Tumbledrop

[Dock]

Game playable here: www.tumbledrop.com
(Windows/Mac, requires Unity browser plugin)

I recently released my first game, and I'm currently in the process of fixing bugs and adding a couple of features, such as the following:

- more levels
- better level designs
- more shape types
- better difficulty curve
- level unlocking structure, to award player progress
- 'medals' for beating the level, with different medals for different number of moves.
- a special bonus medal for beating the move with the most moves possible/dropping as few into water as possible.

I would appreciate some feedback on the game, and any advice you have for improving it in general.

[Red27]

Played through all the 20 levels and really enjoyed doing so.

Presentation is very nice - it's very unobtrusive and very "bubble bobble / rainbow islands", so would appeal to the younger audience and (without being too stereotypical) the female customer base. The spot effects are nice also, for example when celebrating completing the level and the splash sounds.

One comment would be about the level design, there seemed (to me anyway) that there was a slight anomoly in that some of the mid levels seemed more difficult than the later ones.

Finally, this game might be a candiate for something like Facebook - have you considered that as an option?

Overall - very nice work - congratulations!

[Pogacha]

Some times the white font cannot be read.
Very cute game.

[AlexWeldon]

It's fun. You're clearly inspired by this game, but that's okay. Seems to be the way of the world in the industry.

Personally, I think you've changed just enough that your game can be considered an improvement, rather than just a clone. As far as I can tell:

1) The object is now to get the star all the way down to the ground, but only in a limited area, rather than to get it close to the ground but not touching it. Your way is better/more intuitive.

2) Better graphics.

3) Blocks with non-orthogonal angles.

4) Somewhat easier.

I'd still have liked to see a bit more originality injected, but given that it's only the second game I've seen in this genre, vs. all the thousands of match-3s etc., I think you're fine.

Actually, I think this genre has a certain amount of potential in the casual market if people expanded the concept and added different game modes (e.g. a bottomless mode where you have a certain amount of time/shots to try to guide your star to collect coins/rings/rainbows/whatever).

[aiursrage2k]

I loved it, the stars reminded me of Lumas from Mario galaxy.

[Pavel Vysotskyi]

I liked the gameplay and visual presentation. But I also think that the game is a little bit difficult.
I would advise:
1) Shorten a period while you are not able to click on elements (perhaps it will make the game less puzzle-like and more action-like - a good balance is needed).
2) If it is possible add a clearly seen undo button (undo for one move, not for entire level)
3) I was a little bit confused about what to do on the first level. You can keep instruction line longer (or all the time on the first 2 or 3 levels).
4) Auto restart after loosing
5) Place shapes on several platforms (sorry if you already did it - I played only to 9 level).

One thing for graphics: I think little animated semi-transparent clouds on the top of the screen could look good (but they have to move faster than big clouds, which are already in the game).

[jpoag]

Need to put the restart button in the middle of the screen when you fail.

Unity, eh? This is very interesting... who else has used Unity?

[Jamie W]

That's totally awesome; even more so if it's your first game! Really fantastic and I love the visual style. Best of luck with it!

Jamie.

[Acord]

Does not like Google Chrome - I can't get past the startup screen.

[Dock]

Thanks for the feedback everyone!

Acord, Google Chrome doesn't seem to work with any plugins except Flash right now. I'm sure that this will be fixed when it is out of beta.

aiursrage2k:
I'm glad you like them!

Pogacha:
I will see what I can do to fix that, thanks.

Alex:
That game was an inspiration, as well as Peggle, and some other tower and stacking games. My big focus was to have a game with interesting shapes that could interlock and roll in fun ways.

Pavel:
Adding a single move undo would be very difficult, as I would have to rewind all the physics movements for the pieces. Thanks for the suggestions.

Jamie W:
Thank-you! This is the first one I've finished, I just need to do some updates now. ^^

jpoag:
I wanted to teach the user to use the reload-level button so that they knew they could do it at any time during the level. You're right that something needs to be done to make it clearer, and I'm considering highlighting it to bring it to attention when they fail.

Red27:
Yes, the difficulty curve is all over the place right now! Haha. I'm going to work on that to make the order of levels much more sensible. As for Facebook, I worry that the Unity plugin requirement would spoil the chances for this to work well on Facebook.

[Jamie W]

Few other comments, not sure if anyone else suggested these, but:

With the difficulty curve; I'd suggest changing the order the levels are played in.

The delay between levels; can be a bit frustrating! I wanna play the thing, interact, not just sit back and look. Esp. not look at a screen that has no movement or change (other than the clock count down).

There's a *samey* feel to all the levels, they all kinda feel the quite simular somehow; adding more variey and texture to the game, could be a very good thing.

Other than that, very nice! Well done!

[tolik]

Should've been Flash.

[nino_rajacic]

It came out nice Dock.

I needed for some levels just two moves and for some other 7 or 8 moves to complete. Maybe it would be challenging to display smallest number of moves possible to solve every level? That way player could try other possibilities and to beat record.

Overall. Nice little game ;-)

Cheers

[DevTactics]

I really enjoyed this game -- the 20 levels left me wanting more! The expression on the star's face as I repeatedly sent him tumbling into the water cracked me up. You could add a little "Noooooo!!" sound effect but to be honest I'd probably continue making my own each time anyway. "Aaaaiiieeeee!!"

Here's a reproducible bug:

1) Complete a level successfully.
2) While the confetti and rainbow are still on display, click the button that takes you back to the level selection screen.
3) Choose a different level.
4) When the new level is displayed, the celebrations will begin again before you even make a move. (It may take a moment before the star is at "rest" at the top of the new tower.)
5) This will take you to the next level.

Steps 4-5 will repeat if you don't do anything.

Hope that helps!

[Pyabo]

Needs some infuriatingly catchy music.

[AlexWeldon]

I needed for some levels just two moves and for some other 7 or 8 moves to complete. Maybe it would be challenging to display smallest number of moves possible to solve every level? That way player could try other possibilities and to beat record.

If you know a little about physics, this is clearly a chaotic system, so it's literally impossible to "solve" these puzzles in the sense of proving definitively what the shortest solution is. Okay, well, since time is granualar in computer simulations, you could brute force a solution (assuming no randomness), unlike in the real world, but it would require a heck of a lot of computing power.

What you'd have to do instead is have online high score boards, both for time and number of shots to complete each level... maybe even volume (well, area, I suppose, since it's 2D) of pieces destroyed, so if someone holds the record with 4 pieces, you could still beat them by doing it with 4 slightly smaller pieces.