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Pulse v4

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Experimental game I created for a class I'm in.

I know it's a bit odd, but any and all feedback would be great.
Specifically, anything pertaining to:
- How did the game make you feel?
- What did you like/dislike?
- Any suggestions for improvements?

Music by Matt McFarland at www.mattmcfarland.com

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1.You said this was experimental but its unclear what you are actually trying to do here.
(is it a technical experiment, design experiment, art experiment, i don't know)

2. it seems to me that the core gameplay is centered around planning the quickest path to all the orbs while also executing that path in the shortest time. This is actually quite a neat idea as it lends it's self well to internal conflict/focus that is common to most zen time wasters.

The problem was (for me at least) that i defaulted to thinking that the game was progression based (moving though all the levels till i got to the end) and that mindset completely ruines the conflict of planning while executing as i'm not thinking about the game until i've hit a fork in the road, and since i haven't been planning, the direction i choose is trivial at worst.

When i changed this mindset from how much i can progress, to how fast i can progress, i felt more engaged.

I would work on trying to convey this idea as much as possible. i would include a timer to clue the player in on this mindset, maybe also showing there best time as well. Also i would add more variables that changed how fast it took to get to one of the orbs, maybe things that obscure part of the level (like the blue wall things) anything that makes estimating the best plan and executing my plan harder.

2.5 I don't think that adding enemies or things that stop movement completely would be good. (i doesn't seem to be in the games nature)

3. The music is ok but seems to overlap at times which is pretty dreadful. Also the visuels stain my eyes. If you are trying to make me go into a zen-like trance of focus then it would do you well to not make my eyes hurt after 2 minutes. Look at other games with distracting visuels to see what they did to stop this (super hexagon, Mother F*cker Galaxy, etc)

4. I think you should also make it clear that this game doesn't end, its pretty frustrating when you realise it doesn't. (or even better make an ending)

i dont see the point in this game i thought those fast moving things would kill me if i hit them but no so maybe rethink a bit next time like less flashing and make so if they touch something they go back to the start that would be better so no stars from me.

What are you trying to do? Give someone a seizure? Or mess up their eyesight? Because this game could easily do both of those.

Since this is an experimental game made in a classroom environment, I'll judge it as if it were a rough draft, and do my best to answer the questions you posted:

-How did the game make you feel?
In all honesty, the game can get tedious after a while, having to move back and forth through every passage just to get those orbs, and the green and blue lines moving in and out can be an assault on the eyes! I do feel this game has potential though, and wit some fine tuning I may feel like I'm playing a unique game!

- What did you like/dislike?
Like I said, the moving lines can make you crazy looking at them, especially since they serve no actual purpose, as an obstacle or otherwise! I can't say I was a fan of having to move all the way down one long passage to get one orb then back and across other passages to get another. On the other hand, I did like the music, and I like that you kept the overall design, minus the lines, simple!

- Any suggestions for improvements?
You will definitely have to remove a lot of moving lines (I think I made my point there XD), but I would also suggest adding some functionality to them. Maybe have them act as barriers, with maybe one kind of line simply blocking you and another killing you if you touch it. Also, while the fact that you kept the background and such simple is a point in your favor, it probably wouldn't hurt to change the background or blocks slightly for each level. Try adding some purpose to the game overall too, as not many people will get a kick out of just grabbing all orbs in a level. Since you already got the orb-eating, you could add enemies to make this look like a Pac-Man game, or maybe a time limit if you're not into the enemies thing. Two last suggestions are: 1. Add a jump capability, you know, like the character is jumping towards the screen, since that would at least give a little more maneuverability than just up/down/left/right. And 2. Add some power ups, like the characer goes faster (I STRONGLY recommend this one), or changes color or something like that!

Overall, its ok for a beginner's game, but with some touch-ups, you could really have something :)

Well, this game certainly is random enough. I suppose as I was playing this game, I felt a little confused about what to do.

I like that this game at least functions properly. However, there is no goal to accomplish, nor are there any sets of rules to list. I dislike the absence of an objective--this is the improvement that requires the most work.

Credits & Info

Views
2,989
Faves:
2
Votes
9
Score
3.02 / 5.00

Uploaded
Mar 6, 2013
1:54 AM EST