Well... We're getting pretty close on this Ratmaster game so I thought I'd put it up here and see what people think.

Ratmaster is an original puzzle game which is not unlike the classic 15 puzzle where you slide around squares to solve a picture. In this game though you slide around many different shapes and create connecting pathways for your rat to reach the cheese. To keep it interesting there are also hungry rat eating snakes, and special mechanical squares, and teleporters and locks & keys and so on...

The file can be found at...

http://www.twilightgames.com/betas/ratmaster-beta1.exe

( it's about 7MB - the final demo will be smaller - hopefully around 3mb)

So go crazy. Tear it to shreds. And hopeully tell me how to fix it where it's broken. On the other hand if you love it just put aside 20$ or so for when it's released :-)

Particularly I'm interested in knowing how you felt about the sample level set and the gameplay in general. Note that there are a number of unfinished details, particularly with the dialog outside the game before you go into full screen mode. Those aren't bugs, just stuff that we haven't done yet. The game itself is fully playable though.

For my part I think it's an interesting and pretty unique game, but I really have a difficult time judging how others will react to it.

Note that... Ratmaster is a bit of a departure for us since it wasn't developed in house. Basically a good friend of mine used the Twilight Game engine code and put together this game and I agreed to distribute and promote it. So the back end code is Twilight code but the front end code and design was done outside the company. (In case anyone is wondering, this doesn't mean we're going into publishing or anything like that. I wouldn't be interested in evaluating other people's games for promotion through Twilight etc... at least not right now.)

- Steve

Just a couple minor things:

The view folder checkbox at the end of the installer is something I've never seen before, and I didn't have any clue what it was supposed to do... I'd rather see a "Play Ratmaster" checbox.

I wish the go fast button would revert back to normal speed for the next level.

The sound effects for the fireworks at the end of the level sound like static (meaning broken). Occasionally, one would play right, and I would hear what it was supposed to sound like, but most of the time they were just static. The card is an SB Live Value on Win XP.

Other than that, it was amusing, and I wanted to play more.

Very nice, I love the 3D title screen, and the animated rat. I had the same problems as Mark (also have a SB Live!). The game is pretty fun, I played through most of the demo levels and enjoyed them. I think with this "Rat Engine" you could even make a few spin off games (maybe something more arcade for us none-puzzle people) :D

Fun game...however, you might want to leave off the last level in the demo, or change it somehow. After seeing the first few levels I was afraid the game might devolve into one of the sliding piece games (like where you assemble a picture). My fears went away until I got to that last level. Those levels are just annoying.

The fireworks sound and the other sound where the snake gets zapped need to be changed. The other sounds and mouse caption boxes were great though.

The fast shouldn't carry over to the next level like Mark mentioned. Also, you really should think about adding a best times scoreboard, possibly even an internet best times scoreboard or one that allows you to compare your times with your friends.

I think the game is great! The graphics are really simple, but the rat animates perfectly. The music seems way too low by default though. I think the concept is very unique and yet feels classic, as if I should have played a game like this before. The balance seems perfect for a demo: not too hard and not too easy. I played through twice, and although I could solve them a bit more efficiently the second time, I never felt like I was doing them the same way. The game also has the same feel as your other titles, so I would have thought that you developed it.

Puzzle difficulty is just right, I think. It's good to have a single hard level at the end (if this was the intention), and I really like the interplay between finding a connected configuration and figuring out how to get the pieces there, but perhaps use a level which is not so intimidating. Like Nexis, I have a fear of large 15-puzzles. :-)

Thanks for the feedback. I agree that the "fast" button shouldn't carry over. That was already on my list. Keep the comments coming!

I really don't have any technical complaints. The game was perfect: I understood the rules easily without needing any explanation, no problem with the user interface, etc. The winning sequence may be show up a bit late. I almost didn't catch it except for one level.

As gameplay, it was too easy for me and most levels allow too much freedom. I bet there are countless solutions for each of the harder levels in the demo. While it allows for replayability, this has the downside that I can play trying out random mindless combinations until I stumble on one of the solutions (which I did). I didn't get stuck and I didn't have one of those Eureka! moments that make puzzle games worth playing.

Originally posted by Diodor
I really don't have any technical complaints. The game was perfect: I understood the rules easily without needing any explanation, no problem with the user interface, etc. The winning sequence may be show up a bit late. I almost didn't catch it except for one level.

As gameplay, it was too easy for me and most levels allow too much freedom. I bet there are countless solutions for each of the harder levels in the demo. While it allows for replayability, this has the downside that I can play trying out random mindless combinations until I stumble on one of the solutions (which I did). I didn't get stuck and I didn't have one of those Eureka! moments that make puzzle games worth playing.

This is always a really tough decision... If I present users with easier puzzles then the people who have an easy time assume the game is too easy, and if I make the puzzles tougher then many people assume the game is too hard.

There will definitely be online hints for all the demo levels. I just don't want to scare people off. I've never been able to come to a completely satisfactory answer for this problem, so if anyone has any suggestions how I might solve it go ahead and start suggesting. I can say one thing though. Presenting beginners with expert levels tends to kill sales. People want to finish the demo before buying and if they can't finish the demo they're very unlikely to purchase. Hints can mitigate this.

As it turns out the harder levels are VERY VERY hard and tend to have pretty specific solutions, so you might like them a lot. Your view of what the harder levels are like is quite wrong. Still if I cater the demo more to you I know it will be way too hard for other people. So what to do? Can I give you the impression that it will get more challenging without challenging you?

Perhaps if you had multiple tracks for each difficulty level and only offering maybe 1 or 2 levels on the harder skill levels. That way the user still gets the feeling of having completed it for the easier tracks. Whether completing the easier tracks is enough to give that feeling of completion I can't say though. Of course since it sounds like you've already finished up all the levels this may not be a good idea for this game.

The important thing would be to distinguish the tracks so that one doesn't flow into the other. The tracks should also probably be labeled for difficult so the users know. For some reason I keep thinking of the original lemmings game for this type of play even though I'm sure others have done it this way also.

Also, it's probably a good thing they get harder. I went through the levels pretty quickly, about a minute or two apiece except for the last one (took a little over six minutes). It almost looked like the levels were going to be time limited from the mouse caption that showed the clock.

Also, like Diodor mentioned, there were no Eureka moments. The ideal challenge in this game that I would like to see is a difficult challenge that doesn't involve annoying puzzle movement I mentioned earlier. However, I'm not sure if this is possible given the limited amount of pieces used. Perhaps the complex puzzle movement is even the designed way of playing the harder levels which would really put me off. Of course I'm not one to purchase puzzle games so that should be taken into account. I like playing them, but I just can't get myself to ever buy them.

Original post by svero

This is always a really tough decision... If I present users with easier puzzles then the people who have an easy time assume the game is too easy, and if I make the puzzles tougher then many people assume the game is too hard.


I don't really know how to best solve this problem as it depends on the reactions of many people I know next to nothing about - if you have a system for testing conversion rates for different demo versions with different choices of starting levels that should give a good answer.

Still, this demo was a lot easier than the demos of Fitznic, Dweep or Aargon (particularly). Also, I'm not a hardcore puzzle player - which should make a large portion of your target market.


As it turns out the harder levels are VERY VERY hard and tend to have pretty specific solutions, so you might like them a lot. Your view of what the harder levels are like is quite wrong. Still if I cater the demo more to you I know it will be way too hard for other people. So what to do? Can I give you the impression that it will get more challenging without challenging you?


I believe that the unregistered levels are very hard, but this doesn't makes me want the game any more. The one thing that makes me want a game is the fun I have had with that game - and for puzzle games the fun comes from overcoming challenges. So, for me, for what it's worth, a harder demo would be better.

>Perhaps if you had multiple tracks for each difficulty level and
>only offering maybe 1 or 2 levels on the harder skill levels.

I tried this approach in Aargon when I first released it 4 years ago. That demo had 8 easy levels, 4 beginner levels and a 2 hard levels and 2 expert levels. I think the current demo which just increases in difficulty more naturally sells better than that one did.

In the end there may not be a perfect solution to this as player skill levels vary. Considering that people found the levels pretty easy I think I may include a few harder ones and then try to make online hints for those very clear so that nobody gets stuck.

- Steve

* The Help/Instructions button didn't work (couldn't find the url C:\Program\Twilight\Ratmaster, because it installed itself at C:\Program\Twilight\Ratmaster Shareware\ .... spaces-in-url problem? convert them to %20)
* Fireworks sound problem (Live)
* Instead of letting "Level complete" slide in from the right at the bottom, I would prefer a big Level complete text right over the middle of the playfield, among the fireworks
* The cleared level music is too cheesy, long and complex.. I would prefer a shorter fanfare or something like that :)
* The rat turns 180 degrees quite awkwardly :)

You may want to inform the player of the fact that when left with a choice, the rat will always take the right path, and that when reaching a dead end, it won't fall down but simply turn 180 degrees.. I was afraid it would fall down at first and tried to save it at all costs of messing up my playfield :)

I haven't read the instructions though since they didn't work.

Otherwise the user interface looked quite polished and nice except for the options dialog box (why do developers keep setting dialog fonts to MS Sans Serif when you should simply use the system default, so that it uses Tahoma (ttf font, unlike MS Sans Serif which is bitmap) under XP and we flatscreen users can get our Cleartype antialiasing =) )

Really strange and quite cool game, but I have to say that somehow it didn't appeal to me that much..

The in-game help button works and it explains the rat movement as you suggested. It also explains certain things like right clicking to drag many tiles at once.

There is no out of game instructions. That button on the initial dialog will be removed.

I'm not too keen on the fireworks and level complete stuff either so maybe it will change.

The game idea is a mix of a classic japanese puzzle and pipemania, which helps boosting the originality factor.

However, to prevent frustration, I would add some bonuses tools (offered to the player as reward after solving a puzzle) like tile removers, tile swappers, tile placement, tile rotation tools...

The graphics are clean and do their job, even if I'd go for a cuter main character (OK, let it be a rodent, but make it a hamster...).

Hope this helps,
Eddie

Svero, that may be the case, but how many people will ever click that button? Most people (including me) will just hit the big green Play button if there is one, since that's what we want to do :)

.... well, I read the in-game help since the out-of-game help didnt work, but then, I read game manuals before starting. :)

Well maybe a couple of popups for the less obvious things on the first few levels would be a good idea...

Yeah, I think so too :)

I thought the game was an interesting twist on the old sliding puzzle game. I didn't play for very long because I had work to do, but it was fun while i played. For some reason the Title page (Main Menu Page) was a little sluggish (the mouse was laggy). The mouse seemed to move fine throughout the rest of the game though.
I'm running:
Athlon 850
128mb ram
32 mb ati rage

@svero: nice looking game you got there - I like the concept & rat animations big time :)

Ok, so I got some time and here are my remarks after completing the demo.

1st, it was too short. I finished the demo in about 20-25 minutes, and the demo looked like 1/5 of the complete version, so I can bet the complete game would bring me around 2 hours of gameplay. Hmmm. Waaaay too short for this type of game.

2nd, the difficulty level was about right, with a smooth learning curve. However, no puzzle felt like "hard" to me - except perhaps no.11, but that was because I kept killing the snake first and couldn't keep my eyes away from the murdering electricity bolts :) I think you need to fine tune the difficulty - maybe adding a couple of "real hard" puzzles?

3rd, not all game elements were introduced by the demo. In the help I saw there are tens of game elements - only a couple were available in the demo.

4th, the graphics. Clean, but no soul. The tiles in "Snake Highway"+"Grandma's", and "Cheese Plate" were particularly dull IMHO. Even if it's a puzzle game, having good graphics and maybe even a little bit of personality helps.
Hints: Penguin Puzzle, Colors (for the tiles) Fitznik, Bust-A-Move (for a cool character)

Ah, and one last remark - why putting the Close (X) icon in the upper left corner? Every normal window has the Close icon in the upper right corner, and I think pretty much everyone is used to it this way...

Have a nice day,
Eddie

Originally posted by svero
This is always a really tough decision... If I present users with easier puzzles then the people who have an easy time assume the game is too easy, and if I make the puzzles tougher then many people assume the game is too hard.


I think the demo is an excellent example of play balancing. I was able to get through it without getting frustrated, but there was some thinking involved. It's not hard to imagine that later levels would present plenty of challenge. I think the kind of levels you had in the demo helped me perceive this. I think a lot of people just like to say a puzzle game, (either demo or full version) is easy so they can sound like elitist snobs.

I should also mention that I never go for the help button file either. I just want to play. I think some quick pop up instructions or tips before levels start wouldn't hurt. The only thing I do check when I install a demo is the options and controls, but I think that most people don't even do that.

Posted by svero
There will definitely be online hints for all the demo levels. I just don't want to scare people off. I've never been able to come to a completely satisfactory answer for this problem, so if anyone has any suggestions how I might solve it go ahead and start suggesting.What about simply unlocking the first level of each pack, or just a few of the packs? This might give people an idea of how difficulty is progressing in the full version.

Originally posted by bstone
What about simply unlocking the first level of each pack, or just a few of the packs? This might give people an idea of how difficulty is progressing in the full version.

Well as I said before that was my initial version of Aargon 4 years ago and it doesn't sell as well as a set of progressive levels. Imagine playing an arcade game demo where you went from level 1 to level 25 all of a sudden. You'd be overwhelmed by the enemies and die. That to me is more frustrating than fun. Had you have been playing the levels consequentially though by the time you reached level 25 you'd have the skill to play it and it could be fun.

Posted by svero
Imagine playing an arcade game demo where you went from level 1 to level 25 all of a sudden. You'd be overwhelmed by the enemies and die.Then just unlock a few samples of harder levels then player finishes all demo levels. No more frustration, and difficulty progression can be seen still.

Originally posted by bstone
Then just unlock a few samples of harder levels then player finishes all demo levels. No more frustration, and difficulty progression can be seen still.

Well... I think that amounts to pretty much the same thing since they'll want to finish those as well.

However, I've heard that the levels are too easy several times now, so I think I'll definitely make the demo a bit harder, but mitigate people getting stuck by providing access to online hints in a clear way.

I also found the title screen very slow on my laptop at home. It is a PIII 900 with ATI Rage. It is about 2 years old. The mouse movement was really very slow. The rest of the game ran fine. btw The laptop runs QIII Arena fine, so there must be some other problem witht he title screen.

Originally posted by Cornel
I also found the title screen very slow on my laptop at home. It is a PIII 900 with ATI Rage. It is about 2 years old. The mouse movement was really very slow. The rest of the game ran fine. btw The laptop runs QIII Arena fine, so there must be some other problem witht he title screen.

OK. Thanks. I think it may be the giant floating title sprite... but I'm not sure. It'll be looked into.

On the question of difficulty, I think I also have to take into consideration that the people on this board are probably a little more adept at solving/playing than the general population.