[WIP] Platformer flash game project

[mibwab]

Hi guys,

Recently I've been working on a flash game. It's a story based platformer. Sort of a mix between Another World and A cave story.

The storyline goes like this: in the near future, companies buy convicts and use them as slaves for various hard work, such as mining, on very dangerous worlds. As this system evolves, the companies buy up all the convicts and therefore start abducting people from the streets. You play a regular Joe that get abducted in the dead of night together with his brother. He wakes up on one such planet and manages to escape the mining facility by going deeper into the caves where the excavation takes place.

Having done a prototype for the basic mechanics of the game, I'm working a bit on the general graphic style for the game and making some mock-ups for the caves.
You can play the prototype here:
http://danmelinte.blogspot.com/   The blog is WIP as well
Make sure you don't click on the text but only on the button WIP WIP WIP... u know

Here's the first quick mock-up for you. Let me know what you think:



Hopefully, during the cave level you should get to fight some strange creatures as well as do platforming before meeting a strange nation of local inhabitants. Your main task for the first part of the game is to find a way off the planet.

Feel free to comment on the game as well

Thx

[slym]

I feel like those rocks are dying for some AA 

Anyway other than that the bridge like tiles don't fit into the environment. So what I did was assume that the bridge is always touching a rock tile, and adding a more realistic ledge to the rock that the bridge is resting on. Here's my edit:

[Organ_House]

The bridge on the bottom looks a little weird since it's see through and sort of floating above darkness.

There's a lot more I could comment on, but it just looks like you haven't had a chance to make more tiles yet. For the most part, you need to throw in more and different tiles to really flesh out the level. 

[buddy90]

Hm, well, the background really does say "Another World" to me, but I think the floating rocks really don't. I think, your platforming game should feel more like a real cave, rather than a video game platformer. Basically, don't make rocks that float, make them extend from the ground. And don't have black space from the bottom.

Just me 0.02. There's nothing wrong with floating rocks from a pixel level, but from a design perspective I don't think they will fit for what you want.

[Demon11777]

ooooo It's so smooth    err uh the gameplay i mean..  .

[Olothontor]

Going off of what buddy said, I agree to a certain extent, but if you wanted to keep the walking space underneath of the platforms, it might be interesting to try and imply that the platforms form some kind of tunnel. That way you can maintain multiple levels of platforms while leaving the space underneath.

Just a thought. Looks good so far!

[slym]

I wish I knew how to enter the game in the prototype anyway the idea of having a tunnel like thing for the rocks is a great idea.

[edit] Oh nvm it was just my browser being dumb

[voidSkipper]

I know it's veeery early-days, but make sure you have a way for the user to progress to the next level using the keyboard. Using the mouse to advance the level when the gameplay is entirely keyboard-based is very shabby.

I'm interested to see how your pixel art graphics work with the sub-pixel movement in your engine.

[mibwab]

Hi guys, thanks a lot for the feedback.

@slym - thanks for taking the time to do the adaptation. It looks great. I also like your colors much better than mine, I might just steal those Having warm colors in the foreground and cooler colors in the background really helps separate the two planes (not sure if that's the word). I've been looking over a lot of mobile games and most good ones use this trick. I think I just got too caught up in pixeling and overlooked it.

@Organ_House - I'm thinking of adding some pattern to the black part. You are quite right, it looks strange. I think I'll also add a floor tile as well.

@buddy90, Olothontor - Also right. I think I could add some kind of supporting rock formation in the background which you can move over but seems to also incorporate the rocks that you can walk over. I've seen the guys in Abe's games do this with great success. If not, tunnels it (probably) will be

@Demon11777 thanks mate, my girlfriend says the same thing

@voidSkipper - You're right. I need to add a shortcut for the keys as well. MAKING MENTAL NOTE: will pay attention to design and not introduce bugs.

In regards to subpixel movement, I think I could easily move it back to pixel level if something nasty comes up

[Mike]

I feel like those rocks are dying for some AA 

Anyway other than that the bridge like tiles don't fit into the environment. So what I did was assume that the bridge is always touching a rock tile, and adding a more realistic ledge to the rock that the bridge is resting on. Here's my edit:

I don't want to sound rude or anything but how does a metal bridge merge with the rocks?  Was it built that way?  Did it gradually merge with the bridge?  Did the bridge eventually turn to rocks and stuff?  It does need to be blended together with the bridge but not in a morphing kinda way.  It's probably best to think of why you want the bridge there in the first place?  I imagine the rocks had lots of breaks in them and therefore the cave dwellers had to build bridge segments in order to make transporting food, water and people easier.  Maybe the poles should be jabbed into the rocks going horizontally and you can build the strengthening X's based on that.