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Karma: The Game - Demo

Author:

Klayman

Submitted:

9th March, 2009

Favourites:

Genre:

Platformer

Downloads:

643

Rated:

63rd Place

(4.47 / 5)

Edited By Klayman on 3/9/2009

Edited By Klayman on 3/9/2009

Karma: The Game is a retro-styled platformer where moral choices guide your progression through six lifetimes. This demo represents just one of those lifetimes.

I'm calling this a demo but it's more of a beta-test. I'm looking forward to getting feedback, criticism, new ideas etc. I'm planning on releasing this game in chapters. This is actually the second chapter (level) of the game. My plan is to take the feedback I receive and work on the first part of the game. Then eventually re-release this chapter as a final version.

I'm really looking forward to what everyone thinks about it. I'm going to take all feedback very seriously. One thing I'm interested in is how long it takes people to run through the level the first time.

I've been working on this for over 4 months. Hope you enjoy it!

Review This Download

http://robitstudios.com/karma/karma_the_game_demo_v1.0.zip (5.02 mkb )

Posted by Mr G

9th March, 2009

Rated :

It's actually quite nice, the sounds are really fitting the game. But maybe you should increase the detail of the monsters/bugs because they all look a lot like each other. Also the background art when out of the tree (the mountains) don't look that good :S

Posted by Yami

9th March, 2009

Rated :

Just finished the game and I enjoyed it. =D This game reminds me of Knytt Stories; however, that may not be a bad thing. Here are a few critiques that you may be looking for. As Mr Green has said, I believe the spiders that harm and help look too similar and sometimes can be confusing. I noticed one bug when in the room where the three spiders run and jump around the mushroom. All three ended up getting stuck together some how. Another nit-pick is that I did not noticed the doors were doors at first. So I was completely wondering around in all the wrong places. With that said, once I did figure out what was what the game became fun. There are some issues that you either may or may not want to address. Like the passage ways through the walls are not obvious. This can be seen as a good or bad thing. It's good in the fact that it forces the player to explore more and pay attention to the details of the level, but for someone with little patience this may be a problem. For me it wasn't since I was determined to beat it. =P With that said, I believe if you fix the minor things such as making some parts a little more obvious so people can easily pick up and play, the final version would easily get a 5 star from me.

PS: I meant to give a 4 star, but it will not let me change the rating. haha

Posted by UrbanMonk

9th March, 2009

Rated :

I liked it, I couldn't beat it though. I think it needs some sort of check point system. Also I thought the mountains looked fine. It took me a good 15 minutes to get the part that I did before I died.

Posted by Jon C-B

10th March, 2009

Rated :

Love it! The gameplay is great! And I really like the graphics!

Posted by W3R3W00F

11th March, 2009

Rated :

Thumbs up: I loved how it all had sort of a "tranquil" and "peaceful" feel to it all and the art style all seemed to mesh very well.

The concept of the game is very cool too.

Otherwise: I got stuck on one part and never managed to get past it, but that's not a thumbs down.

I think the spiders we're a tad bit fast and some other parts might confuse some people, but these problems can be completely overlooked.

Overall: I thought it was a VERY nice and polished demo and I'm very impressed!

Posted by Dr. James MD

11th March, 2009

Rated :

Now I love this. And where are the Knytt references? This game seems to have gameplay and interaction which sets it miles apart from a Knytt game. It's calm and has ambience but them kind of games have been around for a very long time, Flashback, Another World being the earliest I can remember.
If anything it reminds me more of Dizzy games.

I did find one bug though - in the room with the fish and the gold mushroom platform, the 3 jumping spiders all got stuck together and stopped moving. I also think it needs slightly more direction, I bought the lighter from the shop but I had no idea what to do with it. First thought it would have been a weapon against the spiders, or could burn leaves or webs but I just wandered around without knowing where I was supposed to go from here.

Oh and a very minor thing I noticed; if you go the menu and reset the menu music still plays.

Really looking forward to the full thing. The art and music are superb and its a joy to play.

Posted by Blue66

11th March, 2009

Rated :

Played through the demo, and really enjoyed it. At first it's a little confusing and the double jump was nowhere mentioned and it doesn't work all the time (like under water). The gameplay was fun and you had lots of cool ideas to make every room in that tree have a new aspect and make it play different than the rest. When I first got the lighter I thought 'cool let's burn some spider asses!' but that didn't work

THAT would be a nice thing where you can allow it to the player but reduce karma for doing it.

Because the whole 'karma' thing you put into the game was the only thing that really bothered me. I know it's kinda the key nature of this game, but I thought it was pathetic and useless. I would scratch that for this game because the concept doesn't work this way.

For example the thing where you can cure or poison the bug in one room was just laughable. Where is the point? Why should you poison it and why heal it? Just for the sake of being good or bad? Give the whole karma stuff some background or don't do it. It works fine for real rpgs where you talk with characters and get some emotions, but not in a game where the only dialogue is a happy or a sad smilie face.

But that didn't drag down the fun I had! Overall I really liked the game and I'm looking forward to see more of it in the future.

Posted by alastair john jack

11th March, 2009

Rated :

Absolutely incredible, really quite stunning!

Posted by Dr. James MD

11th March, 2009

Rated :

Also: if you up the gamma you can see the hidden routes.

the spikes below the lifts don't hurt.

Aaaand;

But I wrote an article that fixes that bug.
http://www.create-games.com/article.asp?id=1964
Comment edited by Dr. James on 3/11/2009

Posted by Klayman

11th March, 2009

Wow, i'm overwhelmed by all the comments. I'm so glad people are enjoying this.

Mr. Green: I agree that some of the graphics are a little rough, like the mountains. Graphics are one of my weak points, for sure. I need to find someone who can do some graphic work for me.

Yami: I know some of the bad guys and good guys look similar, but that was a design choice. I like the idea of good and evil not being completely black and white. There is a way to tell who will hurt you and who won't though.

Urban Monk: I will put some sort of checkpoint or save system in the game. Thanks!

Blue 66: There is one character that give the player a hint about the double jump. Also, it would be hard for me to take out the Karma aspect of the game as that is what I want the theme of the game to be. However, i was toying the idea of having actual dialog. What I would like to do, ideally, is have the player figure out which actions would be good karma and which would be bad, through understanding the situation and symbols around them. For example, there are two hidden bags of money in the game, one will give you bad karma. Although it's not explicitly stated, it should be relatively easy to figure out.

However, I am definitely open to using actual dialog between characters. I'm just afraid it'll sound cheesy and take people out of the game. Any other advice on this?

Dr. James: Thanks for that help. I ran into that glitch a few times and wasn't sure why. You are a life saver and your comments are really appreciated. I've been watching the progress on Tormishire and can't wait play it!

There is a boss and credits for the demo. Has anyone beat it? There is a different ending if you have enough Karma to make the karma orb in the upper corner glow.

Posted by Blue66

11th March, 2009

Rated :

I did kill the boss. But I hadn't enough karma since the boss accidently got hit by that nut too often and I got penalized

I understand that the karma concept behind this adds a nice touch to the game. However, how it is done right now I just thought it's cheesy and rediculous how blatant the choices for the player are.

If you don't want to smack the player with lots of text (what I could understand), how about that kind of choices I mentioned about killing the spiders with the lighter? Put situations in the game where the player can go the easy (and evil) way, which causes bad karma - or let the player choose the wise path, which is a bit harder but gets you good karma.

Or maybe the player could kill the shop keeper and just grab all stuff instead of paying.

I don't know it's not my concept!

But I would like to have situations that require a little more intelligence and are not that 'in-your-face' kind of obvious.

Posted by erghhhhx

11th March, 2009

This looks pretty beatiful, I'll try it tommorow.

Posted by OMC

12th March, 2009

I must be stupid, because I couldn't figure a starn dinkin thing out.

Posted by Ski

12th March, 2009

Rated :

Hmm. So so, not sure what all the fuss is about. There are still a lot of things that need ironing out. Some of the graphics still felt a tad inconsistant, although I do like the main character design.

I also agree with Oldmanclayton, I think you leave too much to guess work/exploration, and thats okay later on, but to start with give the player more of an idea of what to do. And yes, I do believe it's quite Knytt like.

Posted by OMC

12th March, 2009

I was pumped to play the game at first, but lost interest after I determined that I hadn't the slightest what to do.

Posted by Klayman

12th March, 2009

OldManClayton, how far along did you get before you were stuck?
Unfortunately I don't really have anyone to playtest this for me in person and as I'm sure you know it's hard to know what will be difficult for the player to figure out.

This is the second level of the game, as well. I plan on introducing a lot of the gameplay concepts to the first level.

Posted by OMC

12th March, 2009

I got absolutely nowhere. X)

Posted by steve

12th March, 2009

the enemies are very knytt-like. Jumping when you jump and spikes coming out when you go near.

I found the scrolling a bit slow and the overall frame rate choppy/laggy (not had problems with any other games). Anyone else? I think this is a game that would benefit from HWA.

I love atmospheric stuff like Kyntt - but something was not quite right here.
Still, it's early days and just a demo - make the graphics more consistant and the puzzles logical. And as other people said above - I wanna BURN lots of stuff with that lighter!!
>

hehe

Anyway, good work klayman!

(not gonna rate it in it's current demo state)

Posted by Dr. James MD

13th March, 2009

Rated :

I think the framerate is locked at 30fps, I don't get any frame rate drops or spikes anyways.

Posted by Jonathan Lake

13th March, 2009

Definitely felt like Knytt (which just so happens to be my favorite click-game), but man, I couldn't even get past the very beginning. Maybe I just suck.

I walked through the wall in the first "tree-cave"? and snatched that purple potion and brought it to the creature who was sick, but after that I didn't know what to do. Looked interested, to bad I couldn't get any further. I tried a few times too, but just to hard for an idiot like myself.

Didn't really get to try it, so I'm not going to rate it.

Posted by Neuro

13th March, 2009

Rated :

I like the Karma aspect, I'm sure it's application will become apparent in the full game. Even if it doesn't do anything, I like it anyway. Giving your game a kind of emotional aspect is a great thing.

The only resemblance to Knytt I see is in the simple character designs and the music. The items, the interaction, the environment, all very different.

I thought the puzzles were pretty logical, and had fun for a while, but I think this game will be better in short bursts - you are putting save points in the full version, right? ;] I quit a little after meeting the owl and realized my progress was lost. Not sure how far into the game I was.

Oh, and I think you need a character to hint at that first hidden passage, it took me a while to notice it. Also, I found a bug - when standing on a moving platform on the right edge, when you touch the wall you get stuck and move up and right until you get back through the floor. I found this in the torch room at the top.

I like the relaxed pace, and the Mickey hat is awesome. For some reason I like the mismatched mountains, too, I think it fits the change of area. Can't wait to play through all the lifetimes!

Posted by Jess Bowers

13th March, 2009

Rated :

Klayman! Loved this! Very enjoyable game with really good pixel art. Five stars!

Posted by david-clarke

14th March, 2009

I'm completely stuck! what do you do first off all?

Posted by Firesealr

14th March, 2009

Rated :

Great game! Some kind of save feature (as mentioned before) would be great. Also, there is a "bug" in the room with the 8 coins where the spiders and the fish are. The problem is when you walk in from the right side of the room and you fall down into the water and onto 2 of the coins, it sometimes displays as only having gotten 1 coin. Sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn't, but I thought you should fix that up since its a bit of a distraction. Thanks in advance!

Posted by TheoX

14th March, 2009

Rated :

yeah, I can't find *anything* to do at all either. This game is VERY nice quality though. I'll rate it when I can figure out more what I'm supposed to do.

Posted by Chaoz (Tri-Life Gaming)

14th March, 2009

Nice game, i eventually got stuck after i got the mushroom and gae it away. Also, spikes dont harm you

Posted by TheoX

15th March, 2009

Rated :

The dark tunnels are almost impossible to see. I have to look at my monitor from a really weird angle to glimpse them. Light up the walls slightly perhaps?

Very nice game, waiting for the full release!

EDIT: Oh, and I see a lot of inspiration from Knytt Stories in here, mainly in the enemies - those spiders that jump when you do and the things that spike you if you get close are obviously inspired by KS.
Comment edited by TheoX on 3/15/2009

Posted by W3R3W00F

15th March, 2009

Rated :

The secret tunnels aren't that hard to see. Just look for an unshaded area on the face of a wall.

Posted by Klayman

16th March, 2009

Thanks again for all the comments! I think all the criticism is fair and I will definitely be making a few changes as the game progresses. I spent some time today implementing a dialog system, which I think will make the game more immersive and the karma aspect can be better developed.

Thanks again!

Posted by Perfeks

18th March, 2009

Rated :

Found it really amazing ! Very neat graphics. As it was said, it would be better if the karma aspect was more developped. I am just waiting for another adventure

Didn't find spider's clover :/
Comment edited by Perfeks on 3/18/2009

Posted by Hempuli

18th March, 2009

Rated :

Very nice work on this! Surely one of the better platformers around here. Some of the graphics look indeed like placeholders, so I suggest you work a bit on them. Overall I enjoyed this quite a lot, although couldn't finish.

Posted by Introversity

24th March, 2009

Rated :

Brilliant game! You can jump over top of one of the entrances on the left of the tree and get stuck where you shouldn't be (in front of the tree).

Also, don't know what to do when I get to the owl...

And checkpoints would be nice.

Posted by Toadsanime

7th April, 2009