Little Gods -- Ninja release!

**tentons** · 08-21-2005 05:19 PM

Grim Inventions is happy to announce the "ninja" release of Little Gods for PC. It's ninja-sneaky because this isn't the official release, but it's the same product for the same price. Many things yet to finalize such as web art, info pages, etc, but version 1.0.0 is done.

Please try the demo (or send a friend along to try it). 8.7MB, with the following minimum specs:

* Windows 98/ME/XP
* 800mHz CPU
* 32MB video with OpenGL or Direct3D support (latest drivers highly recommended)
* 128MB system memory

We do recommend something a little beefier. There is some love coming for Mac users within a week, I hope, so please hold on a little longer!

Affiliates are encouraged to inquire, but we probably won't be ready for that until the middle of next week or so. If you email me (or use Plimus to request), I'll certainly be in touch.

Thanks to all who've helped us along! It's been a huge learning experience.

**lakibuk** · 08-21-2005 10:16 PM

Something seems to be wrong with your homepage.
Windows XP, IE 6.0

**Nikster** · 08-22-2005 12:54 AM

xp + ie 6.0.2 and firefox both work fine here, unless it was fixed between last poster posting and me posting

**tentons** · 08-22-2005 02:33 AM

@lakibuk: That would be the CSS barfing.

You most likely can fix that by decreasing the size of your fonts. *sigh* Maybe I should be old-school and just use plain tables. More reliable, it seems.

**lakibuk** · 08-22-2005 03:23 AM

Same effect with very small IE font size.

**tentons** · 08-22-2005 03:27 AM

Thanks for the heads-up. I'll look into this.

**Yarlen** · 08-22-2005 06:12 AM

I get a 404 error when trying to download the demo.

**tentons** · 08-22-2005 07:10 AM

Hmm, try again please. I have updated it with some small tweaks, so maybe you had bad timing. Please let me know if you still have trouble, and thanks for reporting that.

**revve** · 08-22-2005 07:55 AM

Your website looks fine to me (busy downloading the demo). There is one thing about it that really irritates me - every time I click a link, it opens a new page. Hmmmm. I don't see an "annoyed" smiley.

**tentons** · 08-22-2005 08:16 AM

It opens a new page?? I use Firefox, and it doesn't do that. But now that I'm looking, it does have some tags in there that cause this. *GGGRRRRR*

Sorry about the inconvenience. I'm going to have to dig into this CMS and get rid of these annoyances. Thanks for the report.

Edit: I think I made it less new-window-happy now. Gosh, that was annoying. Lesson learned: test with Internet Exploder more often!

**Jim Buck** · 08-22-2005 09:43 AM

I use IE and don't get pages opened in a new window, but I also see the "lack of table" problem the others see.. even if I make my fonts as small as possible (using ctrl-mousewheel).

**Sirrus** · 08-22-2005 09:52 AM

It is a rather confusing game

**tentons** · 08-22-2005 12:43 PM

@Jim: Bugger. I'll try to fix that.

@Sirrus: Can you explain what confused you, please? I'd love to know so we can improve it. Thanks for playing!

**Sirrus** · 08-22-2005 12:58 PM

Definately...

The interface was a bit confusing. At first I did not enter any text for my name and clicked Ok (or Enter) and it dropped me into the dimmed screen. I had no idea what I did wrong. Then I hit back and actually entered a name.

The overall starting screen was confusing - Suppose casual players aren't used to fighting game style selections (as in selecting your opponent)...

Once I was in the game, I kept trying to use the mouse. After I realized it was keyboard controlled, I started bouncing the ball but didn't understand what happens when I hit things in the middle of the screen.

It was a neat (and unique) game - but it may be difficult for casual players to grasp the abstract nature of it.

**tentons** · 08-22-2005 01:16 PM

Originally Posted by Sirrus

...I did not enter any text for my name and clicked Ok (or Enter) and it dropped me into the dimmed screen.

I'll make that more friendly.

...but didn't understand what happens when I hit things in the middle of the screen.

I'm not sure what you mean. Do you mean you didn't know what to aim for? Or you didn't know what to do in general, like how to score points? Could you elaborate on this for me, please?

We might need an intrusive popup or two during the first game... hmm.

Thanks for taking the time to tell me about your experience. I've been with the game for a while now, and so I don't have any perspective from a new user's point of view, so this is valuable information!

**bluejay** · 08-22-2005 01:47 PM

I am with sirrus about the starting screen, I think there should be a default name there that the player can decide to keep or edit.
the powerups are a bit confusing too, you hear the computer use a powerup but don't know which one, it would be cool to have a letter float out of your opponent when a power up is used.

overall an interesting game!

**tentons** · 08-22-2005 02:31 PM

Originally Posted by bluejay

...there should be a default name there that the player can decide to keep or edit.

As good as done.

...it would be cool to have a letter float out of your opponent when a power up is used.

The icon of the power is next to the opponent's head (same icon you see when you buy it), and usually there is a visual effect as well: goo, smaller sized paddle, larger paddle, fire, snowflakes, etc. The only exception is with Quicken, but I'll probably add some kind of visual for that. Also, each power has a unique sound for starting and when its effects end.

overall an interesting game!

Thanks!

EDIT: I also wanted to point out that you can play the game without using any powers at all. The core mechanic is simply to score points against your opponent just like classic Pong. You can ignore everything else and still have a good time. The gameplay is really quite simple yet it seems to confuse the tarnation out of people.

Is it the interface? Lack of visual feedback? Lack of explanation? Anyone that can help me figure this out, I'll be grateful for a lifetime.

**Martoon** · 08-22-2005 03:32 PM

Originally Posted by tentons

EDIT: I also wanted to point out that you can play the game without using any powers at all. The core mechanic is simply to score points against your opponent just like classic Pong. You can ignore everything else and still have a good time. The gameplay is really quite simple yet it seems to confuse the tarnation out of people.

I think it's just that there's so much to see right away. The player/level selection screen, the help screen, everything. I figured out that I could just play the game like Pong, but I felt like I was at a disadvantage by not knowing what all that other stuff was. Is there any way you could introduce things gradually? Not even having them available or visible at first (in the help screen, interface, etc.), and unlock them level by level?

**tentons** · 08-22-2005 03:44 PM

Originally Posted by Martoon

Is there any way you could introduce things gradually?

If the main problem is the complexity (I admit it has a lot of layers, but I like complex games), that is a solvable problem. So that's good to hear.

Do you think stopping the game as you play to explain it would help? For instance: a ball appears, the game stops, a box pops up to describe the attributes of the ball. Next, you hit the ball, it gets a colored halo, the game stops to explain what just happened. Would that kind of thing be useful?

I have a tutorial arena, but it was horribly boring with everything stripped out (introduced gradually) so I was attempting to not put it in for fear that people would get bored before they got to the "real" game. I'll gladly put it in there if you think it would help. Maybe it was boring to me because I've mastered the game.

Thanks for this therapy session.

I really appreciate any help and feedback you guys can offer.

**Kaos** · 08-22-2005 04:10 PM

Site looks great, working fine with Opera 8. (IE sux, get a smarter browser!!)

**Evanstaul** · 08-22-2005 06:51 PM

When I ran it the screen looked odd, my WinXP task bar kept showing thru blinking. I agree with some of the confusing comments, I don't think its obvious at all what to do if you breeze thru the instructions. Maybe the step by step tutorial could work.

**tentons** · 08-22-2005 08:17 PM

I've just added a way to explain the game as you play (to avoid a potentially boring tutorial being forced on you) and present the game elements in layers (each round something new is added). I'll update the demo tomorrow so you guys can try it.

I'll probably also add mouse control this week. I originally didn't want to because (1) the character motion is currently physics-based and unless I change that mouse control will seem sluggish, (2) it's an unfair advantage in a 2-player game (for humans). I figure (1) I'll ditch the physics-based motion if you're using a mouse, (2) two humans can decide what is fair for themselves since they'll have options.

Thanks for all the feedback so far. I hope you will all try the new demo when I have it ready (it's not there yet) and give me more great insights about it!

**Ricardo C** · 08-22-2005 08:18 PM

The instructions are overwhelming ("Part 1 of 4, page 1 of 3"??? Are you kidding me here??? You seriously, SERIOUSLY need to make the instructions easier to digest), but the game itself is very intuitive. I know I haven't fully explored it, since I didn't really pay too much attention to every page of the instructions, but even now, I'm having fun with it.

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