Reviews for Ghost Light Lost Levels 1

[DeseNutz]

This game is fantastic, and the difficulty level is right up my alley.

Regarding the difficulty level, since others seem to be complaining, the levels do ramp in difficulty properly. The first level IS NOT the hardest level, the last one is (requires exceptionally precise timing).

Games with difficult levels like this don't play like normal platformers - you must be patient, and plan your moves much in advance of doing them. All of the levels have 'safe zones', where nothing can hit you; all you need to do is plan your movement to these 'safe zones' (the first level has plenty, the last level only 3).

The only true flaws this game has regard the orbiting spike blocks: they are supposed to bounce off of you but sometimes (the fast moving ones on the last level) can get stuck inside you. Not a huge problem, since the easy solution is don't get hit. haha. A second possible flaw (unless it was intentional) was the moving platforms don't carry you with them and move slower than your walk, so you have to rapidly tap the arrow keys to position yourself on top.

I spent about 2 hours playing this awesome game, and I can play through the whole thing with <5 lives. (I can get all the way past the first boss without even losing a single health). If you want, message me and I will create a video walkthrough.

I would, however, put somewhere in the description that all of the enemies need to be killed to unlock the finish door. You might also consider putting a warning in future games of this difficulty, since the general NG audience may not be apt to these kinds of games. Make it like the entrance to porno sites (you didn't click 'exit', you knew what you were getting into).

Overall, very solid mechanics, great gameplay, I loved it! ^^ In games like this, the mechanics of the platformer engine itself REALLY matters (a properly difficult game shouldn't have the controls fucking you too), and this game play beautifully. Haha looks pretty too.

Great work, especially if you are new to this. Going to play the first Ghost Light.

Comacolors responds:

I'm really stoked to hear that you enjoyed my game, and I'm seriously impressed that you were able to master it that quickly.

It's really encouraging to hear that you felt the difficulty curve was alright. I think the biggest issue with the first level might be that it's just a totally unfair barrier to entry for a player I failed to adequately prepare. Anyone who didn't play part one really had to hit the ground running and that's a pretty serious blunder on my part, I'm glad it didn't ruin your experience.

The spike balls occasionally getting suck in the player's hitbox is definitely a problem, and while there was a way to address it it made them put even more of a strain on the game's performance than they already do so this was the best I could manage at the time. As for the platforms, they were intended to work that way, or rather, I built the game around them working that way before I knew enough about programming to do them properly. Both of these issues were a direct result of my limited programming knowledge, but I'm doing everything I can to improve and I'm hoping part two and it's lost levels will reflect that.

I'll definitely do more to warn players about the difficulty in future games like this, and just to better communicate to players in general. I'm truly grateful for all your feedback. Thank you.

[Ericho]

Ah yes, I remember playing the first version of this game. I am fairly confused as to why it does not even have a "2" in the title. It mostly doesn't work much for me because it's so hard. I know that might sound whiney, but a lot of other people seem to be having problems with it too. At least the graphics are well done. From a distance, it looks like something made by Nitrome.

Yeah, I think they're better game makers. Anyway, it's still pretty cool to see these environments. I had no idea something that looked like the Grim Reaper would be so easy to kill. The music is fairly suiting. I don't know what the point is of the doors on the bottom.

Comacolors responds:

This isn't Part 2. It's basically bonus levels for people who wanted more of a challenge, and some pieces of Algernon's back story people expressed an interest in in the comments on Part 1.

Seems I've created an awful lot of confusion releasing this the way I did, I should have labeled it much more clearly. I hope this mistake on my part hasn't put you off trying Part 2 when I finish it.

Thank you for your input.

[tgras]

This is too difficult to be enjoyable. Apparently the first level is one of or the hardest. That may be, but it's too off putting to desire to spend any time to find out the rest.

Some things about this that I believe would be improvements:

- challenge levels like these should be included in the main game, not as a separate game, as bonuses for those who want to put in the time
- all the challenge levels should be open from the beginning. You shouldn't need to beat one to get to the next. Progression like that is to push the story along.
- I didn't realize that there was a difficulty option that could be lowered until I'd all ready decided to abandon this game. For a game of this difficulty, this should be brought up at the beginning in a dialog with some kind of warning
- if you are going to make this kind of thing as a separate game, and you are going to include medals, there should be medals for finishing on normal difficulty. You can included more or higher point medals for harder difficulty, but there should not be hard only medals. A game of this difficulty requires the player to get invested in the game. I personally abandoned it after spending less that 5 minutes on it, which is abnormal for me.

Comacolors responds:

I honestly appreciate you taking the time to write this review, especially since you didn't enjoy my game at all. I'm very new at this, and I can't improve if no one points out my mistakes, so I mean it when I say thank you.

I am getting the impression that separating the lost levels was a mistake. Originally levels one and three were included as challenge levels in the main game, but I chose to remove them because I thought dropping the player into bonus material right after they finished the main story broke the ending. This sort of episodic approach seemed a lot tidier, but I'm feeling like it's actually causing a lot of confusion.

I had considered having all the levels unlocked in the beginning as well, but prior to release I felt like there was a clear difficulty curve so I decided against it. I honestly didn't realize people were going to have so much trouble with the first level. My plan was to ease the player into the challenge, looks like a failed on that front.

What you said about the medals makes sense as well. Medals are a concept that I'm still getting used to working with, since they've never really meant anything to me as a gamer. I'll give this some serious thought.

Again, thank you for offering so much constructive criticism. I really appreciate you taking the time to help me improve. I hope I can make something you'll enjoy more in the future.

[Poryhedron]

In the future, if storyline is accessible at any time, please warn us if clearing a certain level is going to end the game. Now I'm going to have start over in order to read the second story bit.

Comacolors responds:

Oh no, you can just continue from the title screen after you beat the last level and keep all the levels unlocked, you don't have to start a new game.

Oh man, it never occurred to me to put a message like that in the game, that's a huge oversight on my part. Won't happen again, I'm really sorry.

[DoomRater]

Came for the story, got punished by the levels. At least this time there's something that will make me have to replay ALL the levels on hard mode when I come back for it!

Comacolors responds:

I definitely took your comment on my last game into account on this one, since the medals are much more important in a game like this. I'm feeling like I may be stuck with that dumb mistake in part two as well, I sort if painted myself into a corner setting that precedent, but I'll do my best to ensure that there will be no more easy medals from me after that.

Thank you again for all the feedback, it's been very helpful.