Let's do it, let's do it, again. It's late for feedback and reviews but I think feedback is always useful and inspiring. I'm a bit lacking of time and will be on holidays, soon. But I'll try to give some feedback to this year's games.
First my "disclaimer":
An important note for all my reviews:I much appreciate the work, effort, and thoughts that all you students have put into your games! My "reviews" are rather feedback and suggestions and not so much reviews that judge whether a game is good or bad.
Criticizing a game is simple compared to writing a Vectrex game - especially the very first game. My criticism is intended to give you hints and ideas to perhaps make your game even better. Some of my ideas might be simple to implement, some might mean quite some effort.
Decide yourself which ideas you pick up and which ones you don't. In no case feel obliged in any way. Even leaving your game as it is now, is fine for me. Though, I do admit that I'm picky and I do like high quality and complete Vectrex games.
If you should have questions regarding a specific suggestion you can post here or contact me via PM (English and German are both fine).
Thank you all students for your excellent effort and love that you put into the development of your game!
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Daisy LandBelow please find feedback for the game
Daisy Land. The game is in alpha status and can be played, already. I've played Daisy Land using the emulator ParaJVE and keyboard.
· GENERAL NOTESThe game is a jump & run game. The roles of Mario and Princess Daisy are swapped, i.e. you control Princess Daisy and you try to rescue Mario. You have to jump and run and avoid turtles.
· WHAT I LIKE- A jump & run game on the Vectrex (there aren't too many of them)
- Horizontal paging (several screens)
- Music while playing
- Princess Daisy lifts her arms when jumping
- Animation when Mario is rescued.
· BUGS
Horizontal paging: Princess in wallWhen paging horizontally, it happens that the princess is inside a wall. To reproduce: Walk to the left --> New screen is shown. Walk to the right --> Princess is in wall. (Repeat this procedure if the bug hasn't occurred)
Endless turtle scoringNot really a bug but it doesn't feel right: You can jump on a turtle and score 2 points. You can repeat this and jump on the same turtle over and over, again.
Visited BoxesWhen hitting a box the box is marked and you score some points. When moving on to another screen the same box is marked although the player is on a different screen.
No running and jumpingAgain, not really bug but it feels like a bug: When moving the joystick diagonally (top-left or top-right) you expect that Princess Daisy jumps vertically. Unfortunately, running (joystick left) and then changing to jumping (joystick top-left) isn't supported. This is unusual for a Jump and Run game.
EDIT: Perhaps this problem occurs only when playing using ParaJVE and a keyboard.
Flying turtlesWhen playing and reaching level 3 the turtles sometimes fly in the middle of the screen. It takes a while and then they fall down on the ground.
· SUGGESTIONSPlayabilityATM, the game is very difficult or even impossible to play. Once you fell in a pit you are lost. Jumping is not so intuitive (see "Bugs").
Suggestion: The most important thing of a game is that it's playable. This is the most important part to work on, I think.
EDIT: I played more and could even finish the first three levels and rescue Mario. :-) So it's a matter of practicing and trying. Jumping when moving the joystick diagonally would improve playability a lot, I think.
Walking to next screen
After jumping all three boxes the status screen appears and the next level starts.
Suggestion: If I understand right, the game supports horizontal paging/scrolling. Instead of automatically switching to the next screen the player should walk to the next screen.
Various turtle speedsCurrently, all turtles seem to move at the same speed. When two turtles are in a pit they move in sync.
Suggestion: Each turtle could have its specific (random) speed. This would look more realistic and turtles would no longer walk in sync. This could even become part of the game play i.e. the player might need to wait till turtles have reached each other so that the player can jump on all of them.
Graphics: TurtlesCurrently, the turtles look like small sheep.
Suggestion: See drafts below.
Graphics: PrincessThe graphics of the princess is quite simple but good and one can clearly see that it's a princess. The head of the princess is a bit large compared to the body and the arm.
Suggestion: Smaller head or a bit larger body/arm. An eye (dot or short line) might also be good and would help to see the direction the princess is heading.
Music: Blues?! Currently, the music sounds a bit minimalistic and a bit like a blues.
Suggestion: I'm not sure and might be wrong but the melody sounds as if some notes are off/wrong or missing.
Graphics: Brightness of platformsCurrently, all objects seem to have the same brightness
Suggestion: Platforms could be darker while the player and the turtles could be bright(er).
Hovering turtlesCurrently, the turtles seem to hover over the floor.
Suggestion: Turtles legs should hit the ground. Some animation (feet, head) would be cool.
Graphics: Green Overlay
Currently, the overlay mainly uses green.
Suggestion: Green is nice but a blue sky with some white clouds might look good. Bottom part could be green and perhaps some brown at the very bottom.
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