The Daily Click

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Author:	Aliashoj	Submitted:	12th January, 2010	Favourites:	1
Genre:	Miscellaneous	Downloads:	84
Rated:

Edited By Aliashoj on 1/12/2010

Okay, this is my Miner game, thing. It's sort of like Boulder Dash... but different. The .exe I've put together seemed to have some problems crashing (but not actually during the levels). I've included a ReadMe file with passwords to the 4 playable levels; the first is a tutorial.

My brother says this is actually fun to play; but I'm not too sure. These levels probably wont be used if I make a full game out of this, but I need to sort out the damnnn crashing first.

PS: ERIC EMAN helped me animate the fat ass miner.

(NOTE: If the game comes up with a "not responding" error before you get to play ANYTHING, just double click miner.exe again while the error is still there)

Review This Download

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3904591/Minerv0.1.zip (6.5 mkb )

Posted by UrbanMonk

13th January, 2010

That looks cool!
All original graphics?

Downloading...

Played the first level, very fun. I liked the animations, but it crashed before the 2nd level. What extensions did you use?
Comment edited by UrbanMonk on 1/13/2010

Posted by Rick (AntiMatter Entertainment)

13th January, 2010

This looks cool! Downloading.

Posted by Rick (AntiMatter Entertainment)

13th January, 2010

I tried it out, and I like the fact that it's kinda like the Crystal Mines 2 game I used to play on the old Atari Lynx.

The treasure value goal is a good idea but sometimes it leads you to digging out every single piece of dirt looking for the last coin - not a very thrilling experience. Perhaps you could include some sort of proximity detector that beeps when you're close enough to a buried treasure. This would not be specific enough to eliminate the point in hiding the treasure, but would still give the player enough of an idea that they didn't waste their time digging out patches where there is absolutely nothing. Just an idea. By the way, I liked how one of the dirt patches had a spike trap in it, if you include more traps in your game it may give the player more to think about than simply clearing the dirt and collecting anything that appears below it.

In one of the levels (I think level 3, but not sure), it's pretty much impossible to get to a patch of dirt and dig it out before the patrolling enemy comes past and hurts you. You need to avoid scenarios where the player cannot escape unharmed regardless of their skill, or at least include a health pack or something near instances like this. People usually feel cheated when they die because of the game's design, not their own hand. Still, at least you have a health bar instead of an instant death, it didn't actually KILL me. What I'm saying though, is that if there's too many situations like this in a level, you might find that it becomes one of those "I hate this freaking level!" things, which really doesn't do your game any favours.

Some other ideas you might consider:

To increase the flow of the game, a time limit may be in order. That's purely up to your design though, I have no idea how big your levels are going to be or where you plan on taking this project.

Perhaps items that you can find and carry would add some interesting mechanics and puzzle scenarios, especially if you can only carry one at a time. For example, a pick-axe to hack through solid rock or dig out rocky squares faster to avoid enemies, flippers that enable free movement in extremely fast rivers, etc.

Another neat idea would be different types of traps instead of just spikes (ie. pitfalls or cave-ins) and perhaps the ability to trick enemies into setting them off so you can proceed past them.

That about sums up my feedback. As with the crashing problem, though, I experienced it too. At first the game wouldn't start on my first two attempts to run it, but it ran fine on the third time. I'd say UrbanMonk is on the right track by asking you what extensions you're using, so make sure you respond to the question, someone here might be able to help you out. Or, if you trust someone here, you could try giving them your source code to look at. I managed to get past levels 1, 2, and 3 easily enough after I got the game working but it crashed before the 4th level. I'll try the 4th level shortly with the included password.

Anyway, I like the idea for this game and I think you could easily turn it into something pretty enjoyable, despite the fact that you don't seem too sure. Nice work so far... especially the original graphics and voice acting (and I'm assuming the music is too - in which case, double kudos)!
Comment edited by Rick (AntiMatter Entertainment) on 1/13/2010

Posted by Va1entine

17th January, 2010

Rated :

This game is really good, i completed all 4 levels! There were a few small issues which bothered me such as the baddie A.I. I never felt like the enamy were after me you should come up with a better formula other than basic movement as this is where the game falls short. The level design could be massively improved too but on the whole the game engine is solid. The game play is where the magic is here you've hit the nail on the head here! I really enjoyed exploring the caves. The sound effects when you collect the jewels was a great little touch too. Thumbs up here!!!

Oh yeh one more thing, you know in Boulder Dash when you've finished collecting the gems the screen flash's white instructing you to go to the goal. You should do that with Miner or somthing similar because its not so obvious when you've collected all the jewels!

Comment edited by Va1entine on 1/17/2010

Posted by Va1entine

17th January, 2010

Rated :

I hope you develop Miner into a full game, i see no reason why you couldn't get game of the month with this formula!!!!

Posted by Aliashoj

18th January, 2010