Comments on: Demmina’s Game Feel Project 1

By: z-fighter

z-fighter — Fri, 17 Oct 2014 08:24:50 +0000

Both of the modes conveyed their respective feels very well. The character animations, motions, textures, and sounds all helped portray each emotion.

My only real complaint is that the scared character vibrates too fast and ends up looking “fuzzy” on the edges. Their motion is less enjoyable as well as you cannot jump over any of the obstacles and movement is very slow.

I really liked the stretched textures on the scared version. Combined with the music, it made the whole place seem like an weird, abstract and distorted space. Overall both feels were conveyed very well.

By: mjp14

mjp14 — Fri, 17 Oct 2014 06:31:30 +0000

This game does a great job of combining the scared and weak feelings for the character. The body shaking and the slow suppressed movements really add to the sense of fear that the character seems to have. Alongside the eerie music and the dark game world, the first mode definitely gives a interesting feel. The second mode is just as good. It combines joyful and nimble in a very energetic way. The fast rotating animations and the large jumps, alongside the colorful world and upbeat music all come together to match the joyful feeling. The game itself isn’t much of a game though since all it features is just being able to move a character around. Maybe there should be some platforms added so the player can test the jumping out in the second mode. Overall the game does a good job of distinguishing the two different feels.

By: ragnar

ragnar — Fri, 17 Oct 2014 05:09:31 +0000

I like the nimble and joyful mode. The character is able to move around quickly and easily which feels good. As norigantz pointed out, you can’t control your movement in the air, but I think it would have felt more nimble with more control over it like that. The scared mode conveys the spooky and scared feeling well because of the textures, music, and shiver animation. Unfortunately this mode is not as much fun the control because the character moves very slowly and is not able to jump high enough to reach everywhere.

By: norigantz

norigantz — Fri, 17 Oct 2014 03:28:38 +0000

I like that left and right rotate the player and the camera always stays oriented. This makes it clear and easy to play no matter what the behaviors are like, so it allows for a direct comparison between the two game feel modes where we can focus on what the differences do feel-wise without being distracted by the basic controls themselves.

That being said, I feel like the control is limited in certain ways that are dissatisfying. Not being able to influence the character’s motion while jumping feels somewhat uncomfortable (especially noticeable in the Joyful/Nimble mode). This behavior would probably feel more consistent if the player also couldn’t turn in the air, as right now it feels like there is a mismatch between being able to turn in the air and not being able to influence the jump arc itself. I imagine adding even the slightest ability to influence mid-air position would allow better gameplay possibilities, since designing platforming challenges will not be restricted by a singular behavior and playing through them will feel more dynamic and fair.

The Scared/Weak mode has a similar discomfort in that the rotation and movement speeds are painfully slow and the jump is painfully low. It isn’t really fun to use. I will grant that this issue isn’t necessarily a fault of your design but rather a fault of Scared and Weak being options in this assignment to begin with. There have been games in which the main character matched this description and they ended up being some of the worst games ever made because it feels awful controlling a character that is both weak (can barely accomplish things) and scared (doesn’t even want to in the first place).

Aside from control, the polish elements all benefit the feel quite well, especially in the Scared mode. That mode feels really cohesive overall in terms of a horror setting. The Joyful mode is fairly cohesive as well, but I’m not sure if the textures and music are really Joyful. The Nimbleness comes through more than the Joyfulness does, though it’s still pretty exciting and more “fun” than the Scary mode.

By: cubs2bears

cubs2bears — Fri, 17 Oct 2014 02:02:19 +0000

My Favorite Part of Your Game:

Gliding and jumping around in nimble/joyful mode is a blast. That combined with the catchy background music and joyous rotating animation makes it a really fun mode.

Possible Improvements:

Possibly allow the avatar to jump high enough in scared/weak mode to at least explore the map in fear. Consider adding objects in the world to interact with and possibly more platforms.

Game Feel Behaviors:

The shaking animation helps the avatar look very scared, but there are no objects to interact with to demonstrate how weak the avatar is. The nimble/joyful mode is well done and the avatar truly does feel nimble, bouncy, and thanks to the rotating body animation, very joyful.

Controls/Movement, Interactions and Polish:

The controls and movement feels great in nimble/joyful mode, very responsive. Movement while being scared/weak is appropriately hesitant. Also, differing sound effects could be added when jumping for enhanced polish.

Textures, Sound, Etc. :

The sounds and textures used in the prototype are definitely helpful to the overall feel.

By: nintendo424

nintendo424 — Thu, 16 Oct 2014 01:46:15 +0000

I really think that this project shows off both modes well. In the first, the scared and weak traits are given well, with the character’s shaking and slowness. The inability to jump helps, showing the lack of strength and how it is frightened. The second mood is also nice, the speed and rotation helping demonstrate nimbleness and joyness.

The music and colors also help polish the moods, showing off dark, eerie-ness for the scared/weak character, and bright happiness for the joyful/nimble character.

All in all, good job.