kinda easy but ok
good enough for me. 3/5 6/10
Author Comments
This is the first game that Stumpy Games has released and there will soon be many more. Watch out for the negative coins and see if you can get the Ghost mode as that will make the game tons easier!
Ok game
But Tom Lykus would so not approve of it.
Easy peasy
This game is incredibly easy if you have basic strategic thinking. The item that gives you literally invincibility from all minus coins costs $150. Furthermore, you can use Attract, and all the good coins follow you. If you use Attract then ghost, you have the game beat.
Addictive but unbalanced.
Nice simple design, good art and music, but needed play testing badly.
Why only 6/10?: I needed too much luck before I could use skill.
The problem: Everything to too expensive for the amount of income that you can earn in a level. **The rates of income and expense aren't balanced.**
Example: Compare Level 1 where you need to get $3 in 10 seconds and Level 7 where you need $250 in 25 seconds.
Level one needs the character to be collecting about $0.3 a second where level 7 needs the player to be getting $10 a second. It's a nice difficulty curve, until you consider the upgrade costs and the rate at which income falls from the sky.
Until I had the speed upgrade (at $20) I was too slow to go after $50+ coins. In short, I needed not only to beat the early levels, but to beat them by $30-$50 to have a chance at the later levels. This made level 1 a target of $43 in 10 seconds.
How to fix it:
1) Halve the level targets. This will lengthen game play and allow the players to plan on getting upgrades as opposed to just getting lucky and deciding to buy them.
2) Drop the "1 Round" upgrades to $7 and $15 from $50 and $80. With the current cost so high it is unlikely that a player can recuperate their costs, let alone get ahead.
3) Give some advanced warning about big incoming payouts. This lets the player plan their moves. e.g. A yellow star shines overhead 2 seconds before a yellow coin falls from that position. I could gamble and race to that position possibly collecting some red coins.
Summary: Catchers type games are reactive in nature. Upgrade games are pro-active. What cost this game so badly was that without upgrades the reactions were too slow to allow me to get ahead and be pro-active. Half of the game prevented me from enjoying the other half.
Spend the extra time to balance the next one. And make a next one!
Pleasant Suprise
I didn't think I'd like it, but i did! Good game play and graphice and a storyline of sorts. Kudos! Look forward to many more submissions