The Daily Click

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Project Started:	11th August, 2009	Last Update:	15th July, 2010
Project Owner:	vertigoelectric	Project Members:	lease Arkhanno
Project Type:	Very Hard Platformer	Project Progress:
More Info:	http://fangame.vertigofx.com	Faves:	17

I want YOUR feedback

Posted 7th Sep 09, by vertigoelectric

Get build 3.17a-n HERE:

http://www.vertigofx.com/games/fangame/beta/fangame_beta_3.17a-n.exe

Edit: build 3.17b-n (a few bug fixes):

http://www.vertigofx.com/games/fangame/beta/fangame_beta_3.17b-n.exe

Usually a grand majority of the Fangame beta builds are kept private, but I have decide to let the you, the TDC community, in on some of the fun. So, grab the download above, play the game, and come on back here and let us know what you think. All honest comments and suggestions are taken seriously, because I take this project seriously.

Anyway, I know this game is hard. It's supposed to be hard. However, there are plenty of save points scattered throughout some of the more challenging areas, provided you've chosen a low difficulty setting. The higher difficulty you choose, the less save points you'll find throughout.

The point is to have fun. If you don't have any fun playing Fangame, then I've done something wrong. On the other hand, not everybody will like it because it can be very frustrating.

If you like this project, please give us a Fave to show your support! The Fangame project will NOT be abandoned! I am sticking with this to the end! It's going to take some time, but with your help (like feedback) and support, it will develop faster.

PS: Oh yeah, and if you can't find anything in "Zone 3", it's because I've just started putting it together. You can have fun sliding on the ice, though

Posted by alastair john jack

7th September, 2009

my oppinion:

I liked your use of sound effects/sounds etc. The intro/menu was well made. I don't like the jump sound, I don't like the spikes. I like your spriting efforts some of the time, your efforts on consistency is good.

After trying to each path at the beggining a few times, it seemed the only way to go was right - this was overly difficult to manage jumping around the spikes -- sure you want it to be difficult, but this is just a repitive chore that would take most new players at least a billion tries. Not to mention the grind of having walk to the challenge then to die repeatedly.

Posted by vertigoelectric

7th September, 2009

The jump sound was one of the very few sound effects taken directly from IWBTG. I've been looking for a different one, and I do intend on finding something better.

What don't you like about the spikes?

If you like the spriting efforts some of the time, which times do you not?

You can go left, but the right path is currently harder, yes. Since one of the teleporters (the one to the right) is so close to the beginning, I figured it could at least use a bit of work to get to it. But hey, at least when you come back from that level you can just drop down through the gap.

Thanks for your input

Posted by alastair john jack

7th September, 2009

most of the sprites are consisten in that they're normal pixel sized, but you have some that are incoherent in the style - they're scaled differently to everything else.

heres an image what I meant with the sprites:

also, how can you go left? its only possible to get crushed.

Comment edited by alastair john jack™ on 9/7/2009

Posted by vertigoelectric

7th September, 2009

One of the themes behind Fangame is that it's supposed to kinda give the feel of interacting with elements taken directly out of old retro games. Take a look at this screen shot from an IWBTG boss:

That is a huge scale difference, yet I never once heard anybody ever mention it. It was still very fun and it felt like you were fighting a big, 8-bit monster (which is the idea).

I do agree that a lot of the walls/floors/blocks/etc look much better smoothed out a bit and more consistent with the player's pixel size, but some of the objects are intended to look like that statue.

It's hard to explain... I'm really sorry it bothers you.

Anyway, you can go left simply by taking the lower path (jump over that single spike), go into the next room, and walk just far enough to trigger the spike slammer, then pull back. After the slammer comes down, just ride it back up to the top and continue on.

Posted by Jon C-B

7th September, 2009

i think it would be a good idea to keep the home button save in pansy mode atleast.

Posted by 0ko

7th September, 2009

can't say I liked this game, the stopped animation got me killed frequently.
save anywhere would actually make this game very enjoyable, instead of having to keep running back to where I just died.

Posted by vertigoelectric

7th September, 2009

How did the "stopped animation" get you killed frequently? Have you tried this latest build, or are you commenting based on an old build? There has been a concern that his leaning left and right caused some issues, so Ramond modified the sprites so he wouldn't move so far to the side.

Being able to save ANYWHERE would cause all kinds of problems, and would actually be a spoiler since you could virtually beat the game in one run that way. That is not what I have intended.

Posted by vertigoelectric

7th September, 2009

Wait a minute, how do you guys even KNOW about the home-key save feature? Did I forget to take it out of these builds?

You have to trust me when I say that it would be FAR too easy if you could save anywhere. I appreciate your input, guys, but you clearly are not the audience this game is tailored to.

...and that's NOT a bad thing... not an insult or anything like that. Not all games are meant "Rated E for Everyone"

Posted by Johnny Look

7th September, 2009

Like I promised here's a small review:

The presentation is excelent, the menus look very good. Also very clever use of alpha channels both in the menus and in the gameover screen. I also like the character sprite and animations. Now the ugly:
Like I (and pretty much everyone) said previously, the graphics aren't consistent, and just smoothing out the tiles doesn't solve the problem.
The second thing and I believe this is the biggest problem of all, is the punishing difficulty. I didn't play it for very long, I died about 25 times (in pansy mode) without really advancing in the game, then I left. And the only reason why I kept playing was because I promise you I would write a review for your game, as you can imagine the regular player will not be this patient, and will probably leave the game by the 5th or 6th failed attempt at getting past those spikes right at the beginning.
There's a thin line between challenging and punishing gameplay and your game doesn't get any better simply because it frustrates the player instead of rewarding his efforts, because 99% of the time those efforts will result in death and that just isn't much fun. Look at the super mario games for example: they are difficult but it never gets punishing because you are perfectly aware that if you died, its because you messed up, and usually you don't die more than 3 times in the same place, in your game it's totally different, you feel like every time you die it's because the creator felt like doing very hard, uninspired levels just for the sake of it.
Another small but annoying detail, every time you die the game pauses a bit before showing the game over screen. This gets specially annoying because you die a lot in this game.

Overall the game has quite a lot of potential, as soon as you fix those two big problems you'll have a great game on your hands !

And I know you're very receptive to feedback so I'm sure things will only improve from now on.

Good luck !

Posted by vertigoelectric

7th September, 2009

I appreciate you fulfilling your promise. However, I don't see those two items as "big problems" and therefore will not be fixed.

I can only cater to this community to a certain extent. By removing the two elements you are labeling as "problems", I have lost sight of what inspired this game in the first place. I posted a new devlog addressing this.

It's clear to me that most people will not enjoy this game, as many people did not enjoy IWBTG due to its heinous difficulty.

I've also been sharing my project over in the IWBTG forums, and though there aren't as many people there, those who have commented on my game have included phrases like "difficult, but not too difficult", and in other words implying that it's not simply a brainless massacre as it tends to become with people here at TDC.

Posted by 0ko

7th September, 2009

on many occasions I have landed one pixel away from a spike, "yay I'm safe!" SPLAT!

edit: maybe I do have the wrong build? latest one I saw in the downloads section(not that I can check by downloading the ones posted here, 56k strikes again!).
Comment edited by 0ko on 9/7/2009

Posted by Ricky Rombo

8th September, 2009

"Pansy" is a good name for you people who think this game is too hard. I do have one request: Maybe a save at the beginning of more rooms in the beginning, especially on Pansy.

This way people get launched into the game, and it will be easier to make the game progressively harder.

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