Hi all, Thanks to everyone here, I am proud to announce a beta/demo version of my upcoming release (first ever): Trials of Werlin. I posted a few screen shots a while back and used some of the suggestions given to make the game more aesthetically pleasing. The beta/demo consists of 4 tutorial levels and 5 actual levels. I would love if everyone here could try the beta and either post feedback here or use the in-game feedback link and fill in the short web form. This is my first attempt at a commercially available game, so I would appreciate any comments, suggestions, and constructive criticism. As this being my first ‘real’ game, I’m sure there are little things I’ve overlooked or even bugs that I haven’t found, so your feedback is very important to me.

Here is the direct download link (2.96 MB)
http://www.bantamcity.com/files/ToWBetaInstall.exe

And here are a few screen shots:

Screen Shot 1 (http://www.bantamcity.com/images/ssTitle.gif)
Screen Shot 2 (http://www.bantamcity.com/images/ss1.gif)
Screen Shot 3 (http://www.bantamcity.com/images/ss2.gif)

Thanks Again
- Bruno

Some things I noticed

-Intro screen says press mouse to continue in hard to read text color
-Sounds get static sound if too many play simultaneously
-the mouse is cancel icon when a message box appears
-messagebox needs a border to it
-walking animation doesn't always match direction character is moving. This will happen for just a fraction of a second when the character is changing directions while moving.
-character can move diagonally by clicking another destination while character is moving.
-might work better to show path dynamically as mouse cursor is moved since character can trigger things by the path they follow (such as switches).
-Why does the exit gate only show up once I get the key. It would be better if the portal was grayed out or only the frame of the portal showed when I don't have the key. A key for a portal also seems a bit strange.
-After alt-tabbing out when I tab back in I go to a menu asking if I want to continue. That's fine I suppose, but don't show the level info screen every time I press continue.
-It's a bit annoying I can't immediately see the path of zombies, but watching them seems to work well enough.
-Switches are annoying since I can't tell which one affects what. How about if you hover over a switch all the things it affects lights up.
-I hate spiders. I got to level 8 and the stupid thing would not stop blocking the path. They really need some kind of predictable movement, like they always take a left turn at a corner or something.
-It would help if the wall crushers were more visible.
-After giving a hint it would probably be best to halt the player's movement, stupid wall crushers.
-Show an interactive icon when the mouse is hovered over the switches and anything similar.
-I'd comment more but it won't let me skip to the last level I was on after I exited the game.

Overall though there just seems to be something missing. I don't dislike the game but it doesn't really pull me in. It just doesn't seem interactive enough. Maybe it's just the way the character seems to float over the landscape.

Also, why are there popup ads on your website? I clicked the feedback button from in the game and I get a popup ad as well as a gator install popup. Definitely not consumer friendly.

Nexis - Thank you for testing the game and for giving me so much constructive critisism. The popup ads on the site will be gone as the game gets closer to the release date. (sorry) Was there anything you liked about the game? Also, I was hoping more people would test it, any takers?

-Bruno

I tested last night and posted the feedback through the built in feedback option. Since this is only a beta, I guess I shouldn't just assume that the feedback option works, so did you get mine?

* Provide a hint that clicking on Hints will minimize the app and launch IE.
* The font used throughout is very hard to read, especially the instructions on that green background.
* The character desperately needs a shadow

LordKronos - Yes, I did get your feedback through the built in feedback link. You've given me some very good feedback and I will most likely be fixing/implementing alot of the things you mentioned. Thank you for taking the time to actually complete all the levels in the demo and comment on them. It will help tremendously. Ron, just curious, do you think this game has the potential (meaning if things were more polished, harder levels, etc) for you to buy it? or is it not really your style of game? (if you don't want to post the answer here, you could PM me)

Thanks
-Bruno

Hey folks, just realized that my webhost reverted their server back to an older date and my files/screen shots haven't been up for a day or so. :confused: So if anyone tried to download them and got a 404 or file not found, they should work fine now. Sorry for the mix up. Could this be the reason why I've only gotten 3 people's feedback?... or is the game THAT good that no one has any suggestions? :p

-Bruno

-There is no such thing as a finished game, just one that has been abandoned in a working state.

I tried your demo and it looks like a nice game except one problem: The game flickers too much. every half a second or so, the entire screen will have flickery side effects.

I don't think it's my driver because other 2d games that run in full screen mode work fine.

Hmmm... I had alot of my friends test the game, and there was one person who also complained about flickering... I have yet to narrow down this issue. If you wouldn't mind, could you please send me the specs for you system including:

OS:
CPU speed:
Total Ram:
Video Ram:
Video card manufacturer/model:
DX version:

Sodasoft - does the game flicker the entire time? or only after an alt-tab? or during any other pattern you noticed? Was there any progs running in the background that may have tried to take control?

Thank you, I appreciate the heads-up

Has anyone else had this problem with their games???

-Bruno

OS: win 2000
CPU speed: 600
Total Ram: 512
Video Ram: 32mb
Video card manufacturer/model: radeon 7000
DX version: 8.1

>>Sodasoft - does the game flicker the entire time? or only after an alt-tab? or during any other pattern you noticed? Was there any progs running in the background that may have tried to take control?

it flickered entire time. nope..no programs running that would take control over like that.

i've ran a few other 2d game programs, and none flickered like that.

>>Thank you, I appreciate the heads-up

you're welcome.