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Dreamnoid181 days ago

I really liked the premise of the rover finding fossils and gaining powerups from them! The controls were good, same for the animation (with a special mention to the very smooth rover's suspension). The music was also good, though it felt more like a "desert temple" kind of ambiance.

My biggest confusion came from some platforms that would barely lift up and I never really knew if I was missing a powerup or if I was supposed to perform a tricky jump. To add to the confusion, there's also a platform you have to power up twice to get to the end of its path.

I felt stuck for a while until I managed a jump I really didn't think was possible. Some rapid platforming followed and I found myself in front of another jump I wasn't sure I could make. I missed and sadly gave up when I saw I would had to restart from the beginning (I don't know if there was any other path I could have chosen instead).

If you can move the platforms in such a way to make it possible at a glance to know if a jump is possible or not, I think you will have a very enjoyable game! It's not missing much and I'm sad I couldn't see the other powerups. Keep at it!

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pdil181 days ago

Thanks giving it a try and sorry for the bad in-game guidance; I definitely needed at least one more iteration pass on the platforms. The “short lift” ones are for boost jumps, spark and jump immediately afterwards to get big air. I’m relying completely on the physics engine so it’s not as forgiving timing wise but sparking then immediately jumping gives a good boost.

The other trolley platforms, conceptually, have battery that you charge, the better timed with when the corners are lit, the more charge they get and the faster they go, but then drain (as a cheap way to reset). From another comment, I should have made an audio cue when you the spark was badly timed, as well as literally making battery art so this mechanic is, at the very least, clear with some experimentation.

I’m betting the jump your referring to is after the trolley that leads to a red platform, which requires the boost jump technique. I tried to make all the jumps pretty clear but it obviously doesn’t do much good if the mechanic isn’t discoverable, definitely a weak point with all my games. Maybe tonight I’ll record a play through, I think it takes me about 3 min to speed run the whole thing and I’m only an ok, platformer player. Thanks again for the encouragement and feedback!

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Dreamnoid181 days ago

I had no idea this mechanic existed...! (It's possible I missed it in the tutorial popup as I was too focused on understanding and remembering the interaction with the electrical fields)

I think a "tutorial room" with the powerup at the bottom of a pit you can only exit by using the boost jump (+ some repeatable hint in the room) would help make sure players learn how to use it. You have a very versatile mechanic with the spark, so it's best to introduce its uses one after the other, in a dedicated environment.

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pdil181 days ago

Couldn’t agree more! I am, obviously, still figuring out the balance of making fun content for a mechanic and explaining the mechanic (though it’s maybe a little presumptuous that the content I have is that fun). I have some ideas on making a clear “battery” object so the interaction is much clearer across the various uses.

At the very least I should have left the acquisition trigger active so you could reread the prompts.

Maybe I should petition MVM29’s theme to be “tutorial” to help focus my efforts.

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