How about adding a princess tht Pico is savin and at the end of the 4 lvls it says: Sorry but your princess is in another level... MORE LEVELS COMING SOON That'd ROCK!
I finally made a gameplay video and put it the first post... Also, I'm in the process of submitting the game to Apple.
No... It has sound effects and you can play your own music, but I didn't create any background music. I may add it as an update if there's enough interest in it. How many people want custom background music? I prefer to listen to my iPod music personally...
raleigh, My apologies for taking so long to get back to you with some feedback on the game; my stay in Florida last week ended up being extended by a couple of days, so I didn't get home and get the build installed 'til yesterday. After playing through the first couple of levels, one thing I can tell you is that I freakin' LOVE this game!!! As I mentioned earlier in the thread, the art style is fantastic, and now having experienced the gameplay, I am genuinely impressed by it, as well -- it's smooth like BUTTAH, baby! In my opinion, you've absolutely NAILED the following: Title (freakin' awesome!) UI Options (the double jump is ESSENTIAL, awesome addition) Character Design Art Style (including color palette, and in general my philosophy regarding color is, "The bolder and brighter, the better") Level Designs Sound Effects Here are my suggestion for possible improvements: Icon -- I like what you have so far, but I think you need to take the image of PB and blow the crap up outta him... really sell him as the mascot and identity of the game. Controls -- In general, these work pretty well; the jump sensitivity and double jump features are both fantastic, and I think the flick/tap concept is way cool. However, I find myself wishing for either the screen to be split top/bottom instead of side-to-side (flick/drag on bottom section of screen, tap anywhere on top section), or for maybe the split to be done away with if there was a way to enable flicking/dragging and tapping anywhere on the screen instead of just in each control's respective section. Does that make any sense, and if so, would either control scheme even be possible? Control Instructions -- I actually think these are extremely well implemented, I just think the text should be raised slightly so that it's more legible at the beginning of each level (or at the beginning of the first two, at least; haven't seen the other two yet). Music -- I'm always in favor of an in-game soundtrack, provided that it totally rocks. The developer of Creepy Caverns, the game most similar to PB that I've played on the iPhone (and both games are totally awesome), took CC to the ultimate extreme by licensing four DRAX tracks for it, even incorporating a music player independent of the game itself -- it's freakin' EPIC. However, I realize something like that probably isn't in the budget, at least not at this point (*wink wink*), but something appropriate, yet a bit less dramatic might still be in order. I'm tapped for now. Kyle
Controls actually aren't bad at all! It's $1 for 4 levels, so yeah from what I know as a beta it's just a premium, but worth every penny! I'm gonna buy this just so I can support Raleigh! Raleigh, how are betas going to do this, a new build for every level set (no not dlc, nonbetas)/update or are we basically done? I personally hope we can continue testing! K thanks! Gonna try os 4.0 beta 3 on windows with vmware! I'll be busy for some time now! Gtg!
K76, thanks so much for the feedback! It's really valuable for me to hear peoples thoughts in more detail so I know what works and what doesn't. Man I was getting exasperated when people were just telling me, "Controls don't work," with no more explanation, especially when the controls were what I was most proud of. I put a new build up with your ideas in it: Added an option to split the controls vertically instead of horizontally. Raised the control instructions. (Doh! That's such an obvious improvement now that you say it.) Zoomed in on the icon. I messed around with this a pretty good while but I never got it to look right to me. Opinions? Getting rid of the control split is a really good idea... I'm not sure if I can reliably distinguish a flick from a tap, but it might actually work OK. I'm going to try it tomorrow. I'm experimenting with some music for the game. Sometime soon I'll post a track for you guys to listen to. When I get new levels done I'll put them up on the same beta link for you guys to test.
OMG! Love the new icon! And the new stack controls are GREAT!!!! This has def blossomed into a great app that everyone needs!
Installed the new build and played through it for a few minutes yesterday -- me likey! First, I realized I forgot to mention one additional suggestion for improvement in my last post: I would much prefer a heart meter health system, as opposed to the current "set-you-back-a-few-paces-whenever-you-take-damage" design. The latter is disorienting, and honestly, kinda frustrating. I would suggest using maybe a three-heart meter, only with little jalapeno peppers instead of hearts, to fit with the theme. Regarding your points quoted above: Icon -- Much improved, but I say, "Keep blowin'!" That guy needs to really fill up the icon -- in fact, I say blow him up so big you can't even see all of his body. Some of the best icons I've seen give that type of "keyhole" effect, where it's as if the image is exploding out of the iDevice through the icon (once again, Creepy Caverns is an excellent example). Instructions -- Also much improved, although I'm starting to wonder if maybe the text should be white instead of black, to make it more legible. Either way, I want to say (again) how freakin' impressed I am with the way you designed the instructions to disappear after the action explained has been performed. It's so simple, but the best design elements usually are. Well done! Controls -- These work a LOT better for me now, but after really focusing on them last night, I think they could still be further improved by splitting the screen 1/3 on the bottom and 2/3 on the top, instead of 1/2 and 1/2. Of course, I realize that might present a problem for some players, depending on finger size, etc., but I'm still finding it a bit awkward to operate the controls as they are now due to the jump section being just a bit too high (which can also cause trouble with inadvertently hitting the pause button). Alternatively (and I'm not sure I wouldn't much prefer this control scheme anyway), what would the possibility be of replacing the split controls with flick/drag left like it is (but full-screen, I guess) and a jump button in the lower right-hand corner? Playing through the game last night, I was thinking that could be a really nice option, and it would still allow for a unique control design with the flick/drag. The downside of that idea (if it would even work at all) is that the split works just as well for lefties as it does for righties, whereas you might need to make the controls flippable in the options if you were to incorporate a jump button. The bottom line is that I'm finding the controls as they are now are to still be a little wonky, but that *isn't* due to the control scheme being flawed; it just needs to be tweaked a bit so it's totally perfect, that's all. The basic concept is fantastic! The last thought I had playing through last night was that it would be nice to have a coin meter somewhere at the top (possibly in the center, next to the jalapeno health meter, right? ), indicating number of coins collected/left to collect, instead of leaving that to be discovered at the end of the level. Not a huge deal, but I think it would add to the experience -- and really, you've *got* the basics in place, and they're waaay solid; now it's just a matter of tweaking little things here and there, and also adding little elements to expand the enjoyment and appeal of the game. Keep up the AWESOME work!
For the icon, look at Hook Champ's and do something like that, raleigh! The icon's what really sells a game for me!
Hey guys... Thanks for the feedback. I've been busy with real life issues lately but I hope to get back to improving Pico Bandito soon. When I get a new build ready I'll upload it and let you guys know. Cheers, Raleigh
It's out now, Tocarina! You can buy it! I'm waiting since I'll have to install many more builds, though!
Hi beta testers, I should finally have a new build with a few more levels uploaded tonight. Let me know whether or not you're still available to test. My iPod recently broke. So it's especially important now that I have good beta testers since I don't have a real device to test on. I'll need to get a few more people to sign up as testers if my old ones are busy.
