Hi All,

This is the game that I tried to market as Flexiware(as mentioned in a previous thread). Flexiware is now cancelled, it didnt work because users where reluctant to give me their emails...which was pointed out by some posters in the thread.

The game is now Trialware and I would appreciate any feedback on the game, it's a puzzle game called Jam and the link is:

http://www.redgames.biz/JamInstall.exe


The filesize is only 950K, so it will be quick to download.

Thanks in advance for your help and co-operation.


Alfie

I'm not sure what the objective of the game is.
Its not very obvious (at least to me).

[edit] sorry, got it now - I didn't see the 'help' button ;)

It seems that the goal maybe confusing to some users, so are there any suggestions for making the description clearer?

This is the description of the goal for Jam: Single, Strawberry.

Your goal is to position the various seven sets of bubbles and launch them to fill any of the 4 by 4 target zones at the top of the play field, scoring as many points as possible before your lives run out.


Here are some additional notes to clarify the goal:

Positioning:
All Seven Sets of Bubbles can be flipped (rotated clockwise 90 degrees in a full circle).
All Seven Sets of Bubbles can be moved horizontally left and right.

Target:
Each of the Four Target zones at the TOP of the PLAY FIELD can be filled with 16 bubbles of any color. These are the 4 by 4 target zones.

Thanks in advance for any feedback.

Alfie

I certainly didn't see the help button either. I'll have to go back and play it again. Keeping in mind that I didn't see the help button (and I wouldn't be surprised if many users dont), here is what I thought.

I was clueless about the goal. I was also clueless about the keyboard controls. First instinct was use the arrow keys. Well, the only key I noticed that oriented the bubbles was the down arrow. Maybe there was another button I was missing, but with the down arrow I couldn't seem to get things oriented right. It seemed like the down arrow was rotating, but when I got one of the three bubble sets in the:
XX
_X
orientation (X's are bubbles, the _ is empty), I couldn't rotate it to:
X_
XX

Not sure if that was a bug, or if it was just because I didn't know what to do.

Also, about the install. Do NOT put your files into "C:\WINNT\Start Menu\Programs\Red Games". First of all, that isn't even the correct start menu directory on my machine (and I think all Win2K or WinXP machines). The correct one is "C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs" or "C:\Documents and Settings\<USER NAME>\Start Menu\Programs" is, although this can change. You have to ask windows for the location. Or preferrable, use a real installer that can figure this out for you. Second, you should never put the actual program on the start menu any ways. They should always be in another folder (under the "Program Files" folder by default) and just have shortcuts on the start menu.

I'll try the game again now...but keep in mind that my first impressions might be the same as a lot of users.

OK, I've seen the help now. Apparently I was right, and there is a bug rotating the 3 bubble corner piece. That was annoying. Almost as annoying as the rotation at the edges of the screen. You should never not be able to rotate. If you are at the edge and you try rotating, you should just nudge the piece over automatically. I would have preferred that.

Another thing I didn't like was not being able to rotate both directions. If you accidentally pass up the orientation you want, you have to go all the way around again. What I think might be better would be to have the down arrow rotate one way, up arrow rotate another, and have the space bar "drop" the piece into the board.

About the different modes (strawberrry, appricot, etc). I had a hard time figuring out what was different about them without just experimenting. If I looked carefully, I could see slight differences in the help screen, but a few changes thrown into a page full of almost identical text made it impossible to figure out what was different. To resolve this, I can think of 2 options. One is to use either a different color or bold to highlight the differences in text. The other option is to break the help into 2 screens. One would be general help, the other would be the game specific rule variations. The general help should be moved onto another help button (rather than next to each individual game mode). You could call this either "Help" or "How to play". Make it obvious on the menu screen so that the very first time I play, I am sure to see it. For the variations, leave that info on the buttons next to each game type, but call it "Rules".

Concerning the different variations, the only 2 I noticed were the reverse and the random changing levels. Personally, I didn't care for either mode. Maybe other people would, but not me. I'm not sure whether you should write that off as a criticism or as personal preference. I'd be curious what other users thought of the modes. In particular, with the random levels, I didn't like the fact that it was impossible for me to know quick enough whether I was on a high level (and had to react quickly) or was on a low level (and could plan my moves). As a result, the only safe thing for me to do was treat everything as a high level and just react quickly (thus negating the whole point of the level changing). As far as the reverse mode mirroring the controls...also annoying, but again maybe that's just me. One thing that really bugged me about this was the reversal of the up and down arrows. If I goofed up pressing left instead of right, that wasn't a problem because I could just press the other one. However, if I pressed down instead of up, the piece was launched and that was permanant. However, if you used space bar for launching and up and down for rotating (as I suggested above), then it would be better because it would be a mistake I could correct.

Also, when the game first loads up, it just sits at the title screen. I'm clueless as to whether it is locked up or taking a long time to load. After sitting there..............I realized I had to press a key. Make it obvious. Same thing about starting the level on pause. I didn't know what was happening. Dont do that. Instead give the user a little "ready...go" and start automatically. Also, it might be handy to have a help button in here, just in case the user makes it into the game without reading the rules.

Finally, when I was playing, a few times I managed to get a 4x5 block completed, but it only removed the 4x4 portion. One thing to think about might be to have it remove the extra row for bonus points. Maybe that would be good, maybe not. I'm not sure, but it's a thought.

Phew, thanks for the feedback.

I dont see this bug in the three corner sets of bubbles. Bear in mind that there are 2 different coloured types of these and each is a mirror of the other. Rotation is also at quarterley intervals.

I see what you mean about not being able to flip a set if they are next to an edge or they would go ut of the screen, but it's part of a luck and skill element of the game.

Letting players flip clockwise and anti-clockwise means an extra key like the spacebar. It would kill the team and battle games with the joypad.

I am looking at doing an auto popup system that summarises the main elements of the various flavers (ie when the mouse is over each flavour).

The Random levels:
Because you get more points for filling a zone the higher the level, you should be making a decision on whether to fill a zone or launch it somewhere else if the level number is low.

Going into reverse on some games and especially the up and down keys, yep it is frustrating... even to me. But it's all part of the challenge and only the player is to blame if they get it wrong. It's like a mental juggling rollercoster and dont forget that in these games you get a Triple or Quadruple score bonus at the end of it.

I will do something with the splash screen.

If you fill a 4 by 4 zone and you have bubbles below it then the score for that zone is halved. Those remaining bubbles that are moved up should be considered by the player, because it is going to effect what they do with the future sets of bubbles.

Re: The install issue on the previous post. Thanks for pointing it out, nobody as mentioned it before. I am reviewing and changing the install setup.

Thanks again for the feedback.

Alfie

Originally posted by alfie
I dont see this bug in the three corner sets of bubbles. Bear in mind that there are 2 different coloured types of these and each is a mirror of the other. Rotation is also at quarterley intervals.

Yes, but every other piece in the game rotates. It makes no consistant logical sense that you can only flip that one piece.

I see what you mean about not being able to flip a set if they are next to an edge or they would go ut of the screen, but it's part of a luck and skill element of the game.

No it's not. Its part of a bad design element of the game. When it is in the open work area, I should never be restricted from rotating the piece. what I mentioned is just one of the problems rotating at the egde. I just noticed an even bigger problem there. Using the same X and _ convention and before, and using | as the left edge of the board, watch the following rotation sequence:

start with:
|__X_
|__X_
|_XX_
|____

rotates to:

|____
|_X__
|_XXX
|____

then to:

|____
|_XX_
|_X__
|_X__

finally to:
|____
|XXX_
|__X_
|____

Yet now, for absolutely no reason at all, the piece that I have now rotated into all 4 position is stuck, and I have to move it away from the egde. This is a more serious problem than the other one I mentioned, but I still stand firm that I should never be restricted from rotating a piece in the open work area.



Letting players flip clockwise and anti-clockwise means an extra key like the spacebar. It would kill the team and battle games with the joypad.
I see your point about the keyboard in 2 player mode. I forgot it had a 2 player mode. However, I think it would still be best to find a way to work it in. And as far as they joypad, I'm not sure I follow you. I have never seen a joypad for a PC without at least 2 button. You really could do it with one button.

it's all part of the challenge and only the player is to blame if they get it wrong Actually, I am afraid more players would rather blame you. Maybe I'm wrong, but thats how it seems to me.

If you fill a 4 by 4 zone and you have bubbles below it then the score for that zone is halved OK, that make sense. Its part of the strategy to try and get exactly 4x4. I didn't notice that.

LordKronos,

You can flip all seven sets of bubbles 4 times, where by you end up at your starting position. Because each of the corner sets of bubbles have two final states and the second flipped state is different from the first and the third is different from the second and the fourth is different from the third then that’s why they flip like they do.


It’s stated in the help files that they cannot flip if they are next to an edge, it’s a simple rule of the game that a player should take account of when planning their positioning and launch. You may consider a bad design element, but I don’t…it’s all part of the game.

It’s the multiplayer modes using a single joypad that an anticlockwise option would kill.

Whether a player blames me or not for their error in the reverse games it doesn’t matter, because I know I am not the one who made an error…unless of course it’s me who’s playing:)

Thanks once again for your feedback, I do appreciate it.

Alfie

Whether a player blames me or not for their error in the reverse games it doesn’t matter, because I know I am not the one who made an error…unless of course it’s me who’s playing

Personally I think that it does matter.
If players doesn´t like a feature in your game, then it might be necessary to rethink.

If people blames you, they probably won´t buy your game.

Originally posted by alfie
Whether a player blames me or not for their error in the reverse games it doesn’t matter, because I know I am not the one who made an error With that type of thinking, I fear you are doomed to failure before you even try. It seems almost as if you feel you have done your potential users a favor just by making this game. This is the way the game is, whether players like it or not. Well, you have to remember that if players don't like it, they won't just learn to live with it, they learn to live without it.

A piece should never get stuck from rotating, especially in that second scenario that I mentioned. Also, you keep using the terminology "flip" but that is wrong. When you look at every other piece except for the 3 bubble corner, the pieces rotate, not flip. Why the corners only flip make no sense.

OK, here is an experiment. I told my wife someone I know made a game and I wanted her to give it a try. It didn't take her long to notice the 3 bubble corner issue, or the edge rotation issue, and she didn't seem too thrilled with it. I tried to explain to her that that was part of the design. Her response? "Hasn't the guy that made this ever played Tetris?" And you see, that's what you will be up against. Every person under the sun has played Tetris a few times. They know how the rules of Tetris work, an no matter how hard you try to make your game not like Tetris, it is still close enough that they will expect the basic rules to behave the same. You are fighting a losing battle.

Also, a few other bugs. Sometimes when the game loads I can still see the taskbar at the bottom of the screen. Also, when Alt-Tabbing out of the game, you leave the system in the game's resolution. What most games do is to restore the default resolution when they lose focus and then change it back when they gain focus again.