That was pretty good. You were very accurate in your comments. I finished the first two trials thinking they were way too easy. I'm not even close to finishing the third. Overall, the controls were very smooth and the game was entertaining. The only part I don't like is how there were spots where it seems you have to take damage, but it adds to the difficulty.
All in all, five stars.
Actually there are no places in the game where you have to take damage, there are a few places where your timing has to be very accurate if you want to avoid taking damage.
Maybe it's because I forgot to mention that you can duck?
Yeah it was very awesome!
I agree with meanjoe. There are places where you're kind of forced to take the damage. Also, the graphics are not outstanding.
In addition, your use of vulgarities in your description are inappropriate.
And I can attest that I have tested every single segment in the game, and there is no place in the game where you absolutely have to take damage, it's all in the timing and accuracy of your jumps.
Yes it's inappropriate, but do I care?
Something many people seem to forget when they're trying to recapture the vibe of the "Good ol' days" of platforming is that even those games had some sort of story(albeit often laughable) to give you some motivation to aid the protagonist. Given that Castelvania and Ghosts and Goblins were specifically mentioned as inspiration, perhaps inspiration should be taken from those games in this regard as well.
Overall thoughts for potential improvement:
- Story: Doesn't have to be much but much like journalism, some thoughts into Who, What, When, Where, and Why can generate interest. All five questions don't need to be answered but they can help. Castlevania introduced the Belmont clan and the quest to kill Dracula, G&G had Arthur and saving the Princess.
- BG music: Although I'll admit, I'd rather a game have no BG music over crap music.
- Crouching attack should exist, especially since there are enemies at that height.
- Upgrades: Again looking at the supposed inspiration for the game.
- Graphics: Blocks are kinda jarring against how the character/enemy designs look. The player, and enemies look much more detailed. Traps are another thing, throw some variety into them. Instead of say just using the arrow trap for all of your horizontal projectiles, add a fire ball that perhaps doesn't shoot as often but can't be ducked. Spinning blades could also be done with saws, rising spikes, etc. Variation keeps people from getting bored and by merely changing the appearance of the trap while keeping the effects the same, many won't notice it immediately.
- Hook: Why should people play this game? Especially in this day and age where it's rather simplistic to find a way to play the games(Emulators, Wii-Ware, etc.) you're looking to emulate, you need to not only try to recapture the feeling of those games but again give someone a reason to play YOURS.
- Level Design: Pathways should not be designed in such a way that it visually blocks part of the character. Any of the low ceiling tunnels(for lack of a better word) clip the player's head. This should be rectified.
Bugs:
- Player is able to throw through single brick walls if pressed directly against them. Does not work while jumping.
Final thought: While my opinion, the, "One, two, fuck you" design philosophy was made primarily for arcade games(which G&G was originally) in order to get players to keep feeding coins into the machine. But even then, the games were enjoyable and didn't bore players. I'd recommend keeping this in mind due to the fact that your medium(flash game) has plenty of competition floating around that cost a player little more than a few clicks to switch from your game to another.
If the scale was any bigger than the 5 minutes that it technically takes to walk the whole distance to beat the game I would consider to make a story for it.
- BG music: How bout dubstep, thats probably the only genre where i can mask my own ineptitude.
-Crouching attack: Fine, here you go.
-Upgrades: I really don't think that is applicable here, anything useful would probably break the game in the players favor.
-Graphics: The graphics are stock graphics, I could make everything stick art, I'm kinda decent at that. :P
-Hook: I will draw a statue of the first person to finish the game.
-Level Design: Minor issue in my opinion.
Final thought:
Not boring the player nowadays seems to be based mostly on spetacle with fancy graphics, I would be hard pressed to find the time to learn to how to be a decent artist, and then make the graphics. While games in the arcade were indeed designed to lighten your wallet, the game designers of the era created something more valuable. Games that acually were games and not lightshows that are designed to make people feel good, I use the resources I have at hand, and it seems that I have little more than a snowballs chance in hell to ever achieve meaningful success.
It's a good start for a game, but honestly it looks like you just went on Gamemaker and played around for 5 minutes. I'd like to see a more developed version come through the portal though.
Here is a 5 minute project for you:
http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/547885
In all seriousness I actually used a fair bit of time to tweak the engine to make the later levels beatable but borderline impossible.