Venetia wrote:
Hi Bob, thank you for joining the forums & this contest :D.
The premise of the game is interesting. I like the music and most of the sound effects, as well. The concept of changing your control scheme based on the rotation of the room seems like a nice new level of challenge.
A lot of things about the game feel like they need improvement, though, so I hope you're still working on it.
I'll list some of the things that you can work on, if you have time.
#1: The graphics: There isn't anything particularly stunning about them. You say in your OP that the game is sort of a play on a carnival ride, and the music agrees with that theme, but nothing else is themed that way. Nothing looks carnival-ish. And that wouldn't be a problem if it were themed some other way, but that isn't the case. There are also no animations--the player sprite doesn't even do a simple flip when changing direction. If you're not very good at making your own graphics, you are certainly allowed to use other graphics you rip or find elsewhere.
Heck, some of the other entries are only comprised of simple squares or circles, but the graphics are all themed or coherent in an eye-pleasing way, showing that you don't have to have a whole lot of artistic skill to still make something that looks nice.
In addition, I could barely even see the HP stat in the bottom right. It's black text on a dark background ... Not easy to see :)
#2: Rotation is choppy. Is there some way that you can make the rotation of the level more smooth? I feel like that would greatly improve not only the game's look, but it's feel, its dynamic, and its challenge. If you had the rotation change based on what items you hit, whether slowing or speeding up or changing direction, that would add a whole new element of innovation into your game.
#3: Too easy. The character has enough HP that if you just made a simple bee-line to the exit, and hit pretty much anything in your path, you'd still win. And since the rotation of the level is so slow, and your character potentially moves pretty quickly, there is no challenge.
#4: Power-ups don't make visual sense. I had to look up the "help" a couple of times before I realized that I SHOULDN'T be collecting the stars and avoiding the red circles. Psychologically, gamers tend to know that stars always mean something good (think of Mario!) and red things mean danger (that's an instinctual thing). Red can ALSO logically mean health, but when a red circle is next to a yellow star, the yellow star looks like the friendlier thing to tag, so people are going to naturally assume that the things that aren't stars are bad.
#5: Level could be bigger. I feel like that, if the viewing space of the game were much larger, then the level could be bigger, adding more challenge, as there will be more space for obstacles to navigate around.
#6: More levels! The game itself doesn't seem too terribly complicated, so why not add more levels to keep the player going? :D
There're only a few days left, so you may not have time to see to all of these things, but I wanted to give you a laundry list of ideas so that you can make sure your entry is as good as you can make it before the time runs out :D
It looks like there's a lot of potential here so don't feel bad & don't give up! :D
Wow, these are exactly the kinds of criticisms I will treasure. Lots to think about and I'll definitely be working on this until the deadline. When exactly and in what time zone is the deadline? Is a link to an exported project what you need?
I find this a new kind of game and very difficult once it gets going. All of your criticisms are good and I'll do what I can in the next few days, but I intend to keep on fiddling with game until I get something I can post proudly.
Again, thanks!!!