Comments on: Force Ives: Swingy Swangle

By: speedball

speedball — Mon, 30 Sep 2013 18:20:39 +0000

So here I see a joyful monkey. The monkey moves around pretty well and his arms go up as he jumps, which is good. The sounds definitely reflect his “joyfulness” as he jumps from tree to tree. You could definitely add some lighthearted/happy background music to add to the effect. It would also be nice to have some more environmental things to interact with just to get a better feel of the monkey – more trees and branches would be great. Other than that, I would probably have the monkey have higher jumps to convey its happiness. I also really like how he swings and spins as he jumps. It makes the character seem very playful and joyful!

By: bluederby

bluederby — Mon, 30 Sep 2013 01:49:35 +0000

The monkey is clearly joyful, as the other commenters have said. There are a lot of good things going on here. As far as control goes, the monkey is rapid and responsive, which helps with the joy. Audio polish in the form of the “whoop” and the whistle also emphasize joy. Interestingly, despite the abstract models, I thought visual polish was one of the strongest elements of the piece: the walking, jumping, swinging, and spinning animations are all spot on. In particular, the walking animation suggests a monkey in motion using its hands to push itself along the ground, and the spinning that occurs when you swing off the branches really emphasizes the joy inherent to that motion. In terms of improvements, I’d like to hear some more sounds: some walking sounds would help give a better sense of the avatar’s weight or lightness. Also, since the swinging motion is so nice, I’d love to have more branches to move through – the more area you have to play, the more joy is possible.

By: Clay Goddard

Clay Goddard — Sun, 29 Sep 2013 18:58:16 +0000

I’m also going to guess joyful monkey by the sound effects and fun mechanics!

I loved the walking movement where he used this hands while moving like an actual monkey. That was a cool animation. The swinging from branch to branch also helped create the feel of a monkey!

I wish there was music to accompany the game. But overall, through the various aspects of the game, “game feel” was achieved and I definitely felt like a joyful monkey. Good job!

By: Elise

Elise — Fri, 27 Sep 2013 23:04:05 +0000

Judging by the “woo”s and the backflips, I’m going to assume this is a joyful monkey.
I can’t think of much to say on this one, since all the character movement is so solid and clean. I don’t think I’ve seen anyone else’s monkeys handle branch-grabbing this well.
It’s sort of a shame that, after jumping to that far platform, you can’t jump onto the branches from the other side. It might be nice if the monkey could hop across the branches in either direction.