Wobbles playable demo
Community Forums/Showcase/Wobbles playable demo
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| Check out the demo: http://www.synthetix-interactive.com/wobbles/setupDemo.exe It contains one "world" with three rounds (ICE world). The full version contains: ice, medieval, swamp, future and Egypt. NOTE: BASED ON COMMENTS I HAVE PREPARED A PATCH ON THE JUMP ISSUES, DEMO LINK ABOVE HAS THIS PATCH INCLUDED: www.synthetix-interactive.com/wobbles/demo_to_101.zip (610 kb)  |
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| Pretty cool game (which I've been waiting to play). However, I have a few complaints. 1. It doesn't seem to have a single player mode ... 2. The controls and animations are inconsistent. It's got that whole the computer might feel like listening to my input thing going for it ... Because of these things I couldn't spend any more time (maybe 2 minutes before I decided it wasn't enjoyable for me to play) with the game despite it's polish and nice graphics. I'd like to play it more after you do a revision of the controls and collisions and maybe do something to bring the camera in closer. I'll probably give it a few more tries ... but my initial impression is that it's a cool game that needs the characters to feel like Mario 64 or something tight like that. |
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| Ok, went back for another try ... but I really can't play it ... the controls are just way to inconsistent and it has been uninstalled. The game would rock if you spend more time on the control and collisions though ... great little concept it would seem anyway. |
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| Here's my opinion GOOD - The visuals are fantastic - The sound effects are wonderful and add to the gameplay - The concept is very strong BAD - The character movement leaves alot to be desired from the movement, to the jumping and even the ice sliding - Only TWO player mode, makes it really hard to pay for - the animations are choppy and to fast while they walk Overall The great presentation bring you into the game and although the concept for the game is fun and fresh the gameplay pushes you away. |
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| I agree with Jeremy Alessi. The bad controls and collisions somewhat ruins everything else. The rest of the game is so polished, it's really too bad. Spend some time to make the controls more reactive and logical, and no doubt you'll have a very enjoyable game. As it is now it gives the feeling of a lot of hard good work wasted by inappropriate controls. |
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| I have to say that I agree with the above comments. On the surface it looks good but the game play just lets it down. |
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| Jeroen, What a fab looking game! The polish and feel are excellent. I have been watching your development for sometime (screenies posted here and there) and I was really looking forwards to playing it. High quality graphics (those other levels look suberb too), superb characters, nice voices , sound fx, and music, great looking and very easy to use gui. I love that the game does not give up on you after the timer has counted down, if you haven't managed to score yet - as happened to me a few times! This game has everything... ...except a single player mode ...and useable controls BOTH are needed to make this a hit game - and sell well! But HEY! Here's the good news, they're the easy bits to fix! I wish I had a game this good looking which just needed those tweaks! You should be VERY proud of yourselves dude, this game will rock with a few adjustments, but as it stands it is a little unfriendly to the user during the game itself. Tweak the control system by making the character turn on the spot using the left/right cursor keys, make the character move forwards and backwards by pressing the up/down cursor keys. Keep the jump, shoot etc as they are. Do the same for both players, make life easier for the user, not harder - gameplay will be enhanced by making the users accessibility to the game and its features a lot better. Perhaps add a single player game against the clock, closer in, lets have a look at these fab graphics, close up. If you like add an adjustable camera make it always look at the character (in single mode I mean) and have it move towards the character for close-ups and away for wider shots. Seriously, with those slight changes it will be much, much better as a game. In single player mode, you could have the player two character simply sat at the side, watching shouting things at the player "Come on - is that the best you can do?", or "Rubbish!" or just laughing when you fall off and gulping when you pick up a wobble. You've obviously worked hard on "Wobbles" (I love the name too!), it would be a shame to spoil that effort and dedication by leaving it in its current state. Use this forum as a sort of beta test then fix the few things that need fixing, and I think you'll have a winner on your hands. Great work! IPete2. |
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| Hi, Thanks for the responds. Because we played the game a lot, we can't see a lot of those problems anymore (being accustom to it). Basicly, iPete is giving description on detail on what the problems exactly are. There seems to be a problem with key controls. It seems as if the keyboard is not able to read all the keys being bressed. Have you guys tested it with the keyboard, and if so, what are your impressions compared to key controls? What is ment by "bad controls" in general? I doubt if LEFT+RIGHT to turn and UP to move forward is the right thing. We decided to do an 8-directional controls to make it easier for the player, not harder. In tests, people had more problems getting grip on the "LEFT+RIGHT to turn" concept than the 8-directional movement. I like iPetes suggestion on 1-player additions, but we feel that some additional levels are needed, perhaps based on the current texture/worldset. the controls are just way to inconsistent and it has been uninstalled What do you mean by inconsistent? The keys do the same in every situation. |
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| Jeroen, The keyboard layout and multiple key presses are NOT the issues I have with the controls. The problems which I have are these : Players do not want to have to think about which button to press to make the character go forwards when he is facing different directions - it is too much like hard work! LOL! The 8-directional movement under the current control system which is hindering our enjoyment of the game. I like to have a turn left and right, with a forwards and back buttons - these are normal arcade controls - and I guess if everyone uses them it is because they are the best for the job - so you should adopt these too! By having the rotate on the spot type control the players have a lot more control over their character in the game. At the moment the characters do not do what we expect them to do because of the way the controls are set up in this idea of 8 directional movement. So if I want to take my character over to a slightly higher platform and jump up on it, it is very fiddly at the moment, because I dont have fine control, and I have to think about which key to press, and I generally get it wrong. This makes me frustrated with the controls because I know that they could work a lot better. The controls are the users interface with the game, at the moment people cannot get into the game because the controls don't let them! Does that explain it a little better? IPete2. PS Another suggestion would be to make the demo level an easier one too! The slippery surfaces tend to make the control system seem a lot worse than it probably is. |
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| Ditto to what everyone has been saying. Very pretty but currently very frusterating. For me the jump is the big frusteration. Numerous times I seemed to catch on the higher ledge when I jumped. Sometimes it'd take me 3 or 4 tries to clear the ledge on the jump. Also, the jump is so quick that I frequently sent my player to a watery grave. The biggest frusteration came from gingerly bouncing from place to place carefully collecting the little guys and then either slipping back and forth on the ice while trying to stop the movement and sliding right off or completely missing a jump due to the quick motion or imperfect character orientation. A little more responsive controls, slower jump motion and a single player game and you have a solid winner of a game!!! My $.02 |
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| Hi guys, Thanks for the comments. 1. I am rewriting the JUMP issue. 2. I am looking into changing the gravity a bit so that jumps will be a bit "slower". It is hard, cause I have to look at jump heights carefully (you may not jump too high). ....But I seriously doubt that the LEFT-RIGHT to turn controls will make it better. Why? Because I feel that the 8-direction controls are more direct. If you press RIGHT, you go right. The levels are designed so, that elements are placed so that you don't need fine control. |
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| 8-direction controls would be pefect if camera was constaly behind the character, then you would not have problem with controls, but as is now camera is fixed and it's hard to get used to. Don't think but implement it and let us try it ;) Customer knows best! ;) |
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| im a big fan of the 8 way direction but only using a joypad i dont thinks it works using keys..perhaps the option for both joypad with 8way and keys using normal left/right/rotate might help |
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| Hey guys, Who is interested in beta testing the full version? You'll get a free copy. It's about the controls. Max 2 testers :-) ps: Players do not want to have to think about which button to press to make the character go forwards when he is facing different directions - it is too much like hard work! LOL! I find that comment funny to hear: it seems that relative controls is what you are used to (turning with left/right). In fact, I am used to absolute controls (left IS left, right IS right). I think, when you play it some more, you will find it very easy to do. But, I agree on comments that the controls can be better (jumping, ice sliding). |
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| Jeroen, I'd be up for that. peter@... IPete2. |
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| It's good to see progress with this title. I like the graphics :) I presume this is supposed to be like Power Stone, right? The jump button often doesn't work (if you're near an edge) and the jump itself is a strange animation, perhaps too fast and doesn't travel any distance forwards. There were a few instances where my characters fell through the iceberg-thing in the centre of the stage. As a whole the controls didn't feel good at all, and the slipperiness of the stage just took the game past being playable for me. I have no problem with the method of control (literal directions relative to camera), and I agree they're probably the best option. However, without analog control and with the stages not being designed at specific 45 degree angles, it often feels clumsy. |
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| Why not just have an option for the what control type the player wants, 8-directional, or turn left/right |
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| I'm fine with the turning or whatever ... I used a gamepad. The inconsistencies stem from the jump not working all the time (near ledges) and the animation stopping and my character just sliding off an edge I just jumped on. Seriously take a look at a 3D Mario game and just use the same feeling ... it needs to be solid. I don't feel like I'm controlling the character so much as I'm playing 3D pinball or something. Jump needs to always work no matter what you're near ... Animation should always play ... add a slip animation ... Slipping on the ice is too much, add some more friction ... Add some subtle control the character in the air ... this is sooooo useful in a platform game. If you already have ... then give the player a bit more control in the air. |
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| [START RANT] A lot of problems are because of Nuclear Glory's CRAPPY collision system. I even stayed with 2.01 because 3.1 is dogslow. [END RANT] I am thinking of going "Blitz only" but Blitz does not support movable/rotatable sticky meshes and linepicking is not a good option. Thank you for the comments! I will post an update on this board soon. |
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| I've found line picking to be good, when dealing with moving collisions, like platforms, and for jumping in general. |
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| Yeh, got to agree - I can't play two player even with my multiple personalites. I shall have to resort to bribing a tramp to be my friend (and hope they are extremely lonely). |
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| I think this was one of the best Blitz-made game I've ever played. The tops: Wobbles Attack of the Groox The CSP Demos (great effects) ...and I've't played many other games :P |
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| I agree with most of whats been said, but graphics are still very nice. Perhaps the ice could be a little brighter , looks a bit grey to me. Love to se some reflections on the water. Anyway great effort |
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| Okay, I have uploaded a path to 1.01 version where I changed the jump routine: 1. Less "maximum gravitation" 2. a bit less "gravitation add value" 3. steepness detection improved with Nuclear collisions. 4. keyDOWN-like jumping instead of keyHIT http://www.synthetix-interactive.com/wobbles/demo_to_101.zip (610 kb) I would appriciate comments! I decided to keep the controls as they are because I feel it is the best choice for this game. |
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| It's better, but there's still some clitches. 1) When on really slippery ground and when moving the player... it doesn't move it's legs. It just slides. This looks kind of buggy. 2) When the player is near a cliff edge it sometimes doesn't jump at all. 3) The collisions are a bit off. Sometimes it seems that the player is howering above ground. And now for the good things ... I think the controls feel much better now. The character seems more responsive somehow. And the GFX looks really nice... as has been said many times. I think in general it's better to build your own collision handling. Nuclear Glory seems a bit weird. Just my 2 cents. |
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| 2) When the player is near a cliff edge it sometimes doesn't jump at all. Thanks for looking at it again. Funny enough, the problem I quoted actually never happens at my computer! Weird. For the rest, I will look into the ice sliding and the collision. |
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| I'll be a tester! cdrake4@... |
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| update available on our website (see sig) |
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| MUCH IMPROVED! I still managed to get caught if I was moving forward into a wall a tried to jump ... if you can somehow allow the player to walking, colliding into a wall as a result, and still be able to slide up the wall it'd be great. I'd really like to see a single player game also ... or at least a networked version. This game is something I'd purchase if I weren't limited to trying to get someone to play with which would be difficult for me. I can definitely play it now ... it feels much tighter and I hope you'll see it through all the way. |
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| OK played it some more ... the ice still needs a lot of improvment. 1. The character needs to animate when attempting the run on the ice ... it looks stupid when you're pressing to move on the gamepad and the character just stands there and still speeds up ... which brings me to 2. When on the ice and pressing a direction to move it's as if the character charges up and then launches as hard as possible ... you don't see the character animate and slowly accelerate until it's too much the character just goes from sitting still almost to launching off the ice due to some screwy friction to impulse interaction. |
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| Thank you very much for the comments Jeremy! |
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Here's some screenshots of the problems I stumbled across : I'd like it if I were able to jump a bit further as well, it's a bit dodgy like it is now. What I do for this, is that while jumping, my character's speed (the amount with which he's moving forward, not the jump speed) is doubled. Maybe jumping a little higher would also make it more playable. Don't feel bad about these issues though, that's why professional games are tested a LOT before release. The game looks superb, and the concept is a lot of fun as well, it's just the controls and collision that's still off. |
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| Hi Fall_x Thank you for the screenshot. I will look into the issues. Nice fast screengrabs :-P It's better for me to not change the jump height. The whole idea about Wobbles is that you collect green Wobbles to jump higher. In level 2, you can see that a platform with red and yellow Wobbles can only be reached when you have enough jump power. You can only "dump" yellow and green Wobbles, so the character is forced to wisely collect Wobbles. |
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| One of my biggest gripes is exhibited in screen 3 ... that's a good picture of the problem ... you get stuck and that's not cool. Make it so you can slide up that ... maybe do a check for the surface normal of the the collision and check how soon jump was hit. Don't cancel the jump if the button was pressed like 50 milliseconds ago or less and the surface normal Y > .4 or something to that effect. |
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