New Developer Starting Up. Game/Site Feedback Please
Hello fellow developers. About 7 months ago I already made a couple really simple demos (draw bitmap and move it), and decided to try make a real game and try making a real living making games Well now I have come to the point where I have made a working puzzle game prototype. The last few months I have learned a lot from the forums like gamedev, indiegamer and the developers like cliffski by just reading and watching, and I just thought Id invite the successful people that have already "been there done that" and see if my game is headed in the right direction, and if not id like to know what I could improve add to make it more polished and fun.
The game I plan to release is called Joe Plumbing. Joe Plumbing is a puzzle game that consists of connecting pieces of pipe together to form a network that will supply the citizens’ water to live. Right now the prototype has 2 levels, but I want to see what else I want to add to the game play before i start cranking out "official" levels.
Besides developing the game I got a domain and hosting plan to have a home for the developments. The name I am going by is "Impeller Head Games". It is at www.impellerhead.com. I was wondering what everyone thought about the name and the logo.
I sort of have the feeling in the community of indie developers that there are not that many that actually produce something real, but I really hope to not follow that path and continue to develop this game and many more other games in the future, but for now its just one line of code and one game at a time.
I appreciate any comments, suggestions or anything anyone feels I could do to bring Impeller Head to max potential in the future.
Joe Plumbing Screenshots
http://www.impellerhead.com/pics/Image1.jpg
http://www.impellerhead.com/pics/Image2.jpg
Joe Plumbing Game Demo
http://www.impellerhead.com/files/Jo...ingInstall.exe 286KB
Impeller Head Games
www.impellerhead.com
geforce@impellerhead.com
Not a bad start, just a few things i noticed...
I think you should allow rotation even when moving a pipe. It took me a while to realise it wasn't rotating because i had picked it up already.
It would be good to have some visual feedback for when you do have a pipe selected.
Some sort of challenge or bonus to complete with the lowest amount of pipes would make it more challenging maybe.
Goodluck on one day releasing it
Looks not bad at all. What engine or API are you using?
Thanks for the suggestions, good points. Ill probably add some of those things immediately. For the Engine/API question: Im using opengl for rendering, but i might add both dx and ogl later, and the rest I made (tile engine,image loading,ui,ect) in c++.
About my logo, I was wondering if it might not have enough cute feel like other logos ive seen since it has a skull in it. Can that be a problem?
I would love more feedback...keep it coming
So far this game is quite impressive for a first effort! I agree that pipes should be rotatable when picked up, and that there should be some sort of indictation that they are being held. And of course level 1 should be much simpler in the final game.
I connected the cities with the water, but nothing seemed to happen. (I assume there is some way to turn on the water?) Did I miss something or is level completion also unfinished? I suggest nice animations of water traveling through the pipes, comical sprays of water for any leaks, etc.
One bug I noticed was that rotating a T section of pipe caused it to morph into a + shaped section at one angle.
It took me a while too, you need to hook up both water pumps to get it working.Originally Posted by Maupin
Yeah, i noticed that too
Same problem here, the goals should be stated very clearly somewhere.
Except that I like the isometric take on this classic gameplay, but I think maybe it's missing something to liven up the game, I don't know be it antagonists or bonii to collect, I would add a little something to the game.
cool, I am so impressed people like it. I agree, the levels are kinda hard, but I just wanted to make a couple levels that uses alot of pipes and structures so if there are bugs people could catch them, but I am sure the completion algorithm works 100% so far.
I fixed alot of the gameplay stuff people were telling me about. Thats all im going to do for this demo, next version will have a little more to offer in the art/sound department.
new demo with fixed issues:
ZIP: http://www.impellerhead.com/files/JoePlumbing.zip 252KB
Installer: http://www.impellerhead.com/files/Jo...ingInstall.exe 285KB
Last edited by negativegeforce; 08-07-2006 at 07:50 AM.
Good start... I like the genre of pipeline-games (having done a couple in flash a while back)...
Along with the issues mentioned earlier (I haven't played the lasted version) my main concern is the look and feel for a casual game - from a graphic artist point of view.
Imho the tiles are too small it looks cluttered and along the lines of a sim game more than a puzzle.
The colouring and style seem too pixelish to appeal to a wider audience of casual gamers.
Variation is a key to interesting looks - adding more / different border tiles, pipes with variations, different style cities, etc.
The game should offer some new features to add to the wide range of games in the genre - eg. elevated terrain, events that undo your work and move laid pipelines, different size cities requiring more or less water, different size pipelines to cater for that need, fixed pipes that can not be moved.
I think visually and it is easier for me to explain with an image... I got a little carried away this morning on an alternative look and feel... got to get back to work though... and might play around with this more as I find time...
Wow the art you did was really great. I did all of the art that is in the game right now, but I kinda half-did it because I figured I can do real art once I finish some playable demo. I realize I need to seriously redo it. So that brings me to ask...what is the typical cost for art like that, including all the pipe work,tiles and intro/level complete graphics?
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote