good but
this is a good consepte but it would be nice to go back no perfect but good
Reviews for "Scribbland"
not very challenging
this game is cool,but not challenging enough.the only difficult thing in this game is run/jump alternance.it's not so bad.
Great game.
It's a really awesome game. There's no turning back, hold down left mouse button to
move, click it to jump, and there's a lot of spikes and stuff. I got stuck at level 9,
though. So i guess you could say it's a pretty hard game.
cant get used
I have played to level 6 and still unable to get used to the control. I'm more into feelings 'mouse click to jump'. It got irritating to die thousand times.
Little more than irritating.
Since you've stated very explicitly that the asininely bad control mechanics were the cornerstone of your foundation, I'm going to set them aside after letting you know that they are just that - asininely bad. Instead, I will focus on the inadequacies that sprouted independently of them.
The inability to move backwards is a very antiquated notion - and for good reason. It turns even the best level design from an engaging exploration into a boring, monotonous trek through trial and error. Even if you wanted to maintain your misguided prejudice against all the dozens of other inputs available to the player, simply causing backwards movement when the mouse is clicked while the cursor is behind the player's avatar would flawlessly implement this much needed feature.
Forcing the player into a jump whenever they wish to stop moving is a very limiting choice. It does not allow, for example, a horizontally moving enemy patrolling a gap the player must jump up through. Since the up arrow key or the space bar would obviously render your game completely unplayable due to Flash's vendetta against you that causes the addition of any KEY_DOWN Event listener to crash your swf (and there definitely wasn't any sarcasm nor excessive wordiness in there), I'd recommend allowing the player to jump with a double click. That way the player can merely stop without having to jump and jump without having to move so they can land on that platform scrolling above them.
The character's ability to walk on spikes should have been advertised somehow. I was stuck for a very long time on level 12 since all encounters with spikes in this game (heck, all games I can remember that use spikes as an instant kill) led me to believe that touching them was death, no matter what direction I came from. This is a very common trend in the gaming universe and if you're going to break from it, you have to make it obvious. Don't get me wrong here, I applaud the innovation and recognize the greater potential it allows for depth in level design but the player has to know it's safe before they can venture down that road.
Instituting a punishment for hitting a wall is irritating at best, especially considering the same effect can be generated by putting some spikes on the walls (or, as you actually implemented in later levels, substituting spikes for the walls). Being able to stick yourself to a wall allows the player to initiate a level of precision that your bounce just does not accommodate (no, I'd never even consider attempting any level where death was the result). This can allow for a lot more intricacy in your levels without adding any irritation at all.
As my final negative note, I'd like to say here something that I've said in many reviews I've written. Please separate time, pick ups and deaths in your score categories. I couldn't care less about how long a game like yours takes me to complete. Therefore, since time is a factor in my score it means as much to me as a doorbell does to a deaf person. At the same time I consider it a small but worthwhile note of personal pride to be able to collect all the pick ups without dying. Not being able to see a display like "340/340 clocks collected, 0 deaths" diminishes that note and leaves me much less likely to attempt it. Meanwhile others will feel the exact same way for the opposite reason. Separate the categories, satisfy us all.
Now I do need to give credit where it is due. The fact that nearly all of the limitations you faced in making this game were self inflicted does not change the fact that you worked flawlessly within them and created the best possible game that I believe could be created within them. There is zero delay in the control and every level felt slightly more difficult than the last while never putting me in a position where I felt like I had no alternatives but death.
In conclusion: I would love to see a game made in this style that didn't have so many artificial limitations. I believe that you could take the concept, run with it and produce something truly spectacular.