I like the idea a lot, but the controls leave much to be desired.
Reviews for "Momentum"
Nice work! The core idea is really simple, fun and innovative. I had to give a -1.5 Stars for the Background Music loop and for the non fluid Player Control.
Controls could be smoother, A nice relaxing casual game that is challenging, Well some might say just another Platformer game but I found this one to be interesting with a game concept with some unique mechanics on top of that so nice game indeed a fun game all around
~X~
I really hated the (lack of) controls. :/
Honestly, I can't say I enjoyed this game very much. The physics make controlling the cube awkward; you don't have enough control in the air and you need to gain too much momentum before being able to jump a decent distance. Of course, this game's mechanics rely heavily on momentum, so this is a problem that probably isn't as easy to fix as it might seem. I did get used to it eventually, but it never quite felt right.
The bigger problem is that the puzzles just aren't very good; I found myself just going through the motions until I found something that worked, instead of using my brain and thinking the problems through. I don't know exactly WHY these puzzles felt boring, but I think part of it has to do with the amount of objects in a stage. The levels I played had a lot of buttons, portals, sometimes one of those momentum-lines, occasionally a gravity field, and ALWAYS a cube. I can only assume that later levels threw in even more buttons and portals to make things more needlessly complex, and it was already kind of overwhelming. In your next game, I recommend you try using less things in each level, and focus on using the game's mechanics in inventive ways, and try to get away from using one thing in every level(the cube). I feel like this is a problem with many Portal 2 custom levels as well, to use a series that you cited as an inspiration.
Also, don't use buttons for everything, you could have split the different functions of the buttons into different, more visually distinctive triggers.
Sandamnit responds:
Thank you for the thoughtful comment!
I'm sorry you didn't enjoy the game. You're right that having designed the game almost exclusively around momentum definitely imposed some constraints on the pace and controls. Too much control equals too much momentum equals trivial puzzles and/or a design nightmare.
I did try to design the latter levels in chapters 2 and 3 to be more of a thoughtful challenging, instead of just going through the motions. Many of the levels in the first chapter (and first part of the second) were intended to be more introductory than challenging.
To your larger issue, I agree that there is a heavy reliance on buttons and portals, and boxes especially. This was something I struggled with throughout much of the design process: how to create levels that were both challenging and elegant without too much noise. I'll be the first to admit I may have failed on the latter part.