i would make the torch a consumable pickup! that way the player needs to run around to grab more torches, and if you don't let them stack, then you encourage the player to save "easy" torches for when they're in a bind. you could even remove the HP system for the player and just make the enemies make you drop your torch so you need to find another one. great video, fun topic, my blessings for your algorithm! ❤
one thing you could do is to add more enemies that require the players attention, here are some as example: 1) slime: it leaves a trail behind that prevents you from jumping (or just when the slime is killed) 2) fireball: it jumps around and you can use the enemy to temporairly boost the torches but it does 2X damage 3) ice gollum: it's an slow moving enemy with a lot of health that can 1-shot torches 4) builder: it places walls at random that block the player (you could also add an hammer power-up to destroy those walls) 5) lava: lava flows through the bottom floor and fireballs spring out of it 6) wizard: if he catches you, he teleports you to a random corner or the centre 7) spikes: spikes appear from the left and/or right while wind blows the player towards the spikes you could also add an scoring system and other items like health to also make it more engauging
A wider array of enemies that behaved differently could help, especially if they don't show up until you reach a certain time to help change up gameplay.
you should try a game remaster series where you take old games like this and apply improvements to see how much it changes, that would be a super cool series
YES! i think critiquing and theorizing about the mechanics is cool, but it would be even more interesting to test those theories by actually implementing them!
The movement incentive could have been as simple as something as a darkness meter that requires at least 2 torches to be lit, and busted torches could be repaired but would take time (and maybe a collectable resource that ghosts sometimes carried)
Nice video! I remember when you made Knight Light. I think it wasn't a bad game idea, and you can only do so much for a game jam. You're right about the game mechanics just getting a bit boring after a while, and that sadly means that it's not so fun to play again. I feel like there is a similarity you can draw here with this and 'Survivor' games that got popular in the last couple of years, in that you move around, maybe a little, maybe a lot, and the idea is that it slowly gets more difficult with enemies all around you and you try to stay alive as long as you can. What makes those games more interesting is the powerups the player gets during a run (and potentially permanent upgrades carrying across different runs) as well as the difference in enemies. Of course you can't expect something too elaborate from a game jam game made in short time, but I appreciate you using your own work and turn it into a teachable moment for us all. Hey, and other than that, the pixel art was quite good and the menu and sfx seemed pretty good too. I'd love to see you do this for maybe other things you made in the future.
The degenerate strategy is very similar to the Cuphead bonus levels where you protect the urn and those were limited on time, so definitely think you’re onto something there
Adding levels would definitely help. Allowing to make it easier in early levels and ramp up the difficulty, without having to start over at the beginning, where it's easy and forcing the player to replay the easy part that they are no longer challenged by.
It might've helped to also just have more variety of enemies. Like a ranged enemy that only targets players whos projectiles don't collide with the fire. The enemy would always stop just far enough that the player has to leave to kill it. so you have to leave to kill the enemy otherwise multiple projectile enemies will build up making staying impossible. Kinda like the hard mode but forcing the player to leave without it being a predictable jump.
I think adding an oil refill mechanic so that you have to grab oil so you can’t just do figures 8s or stand on top of the final torch would have made a difference.
What about an indicator of torches that need to be lit? Like an edge of the screen thing so you know which one to go to instead of looping through all of them constantly
I can see the issue with your old game. If I were to update that game, I would: 1. Increase enemy's HP per broken altar, +1HP at least 2. Spawn deadlier enemies after more altars are broken 3. Have altars drop coin/item which gives score if player collect them.
I am @ 13:15 and maybe you'll touch on this later, but I also feel like the game would have benefitted from all being on a single screen. There's not really much point to the screen scrolling when the level is so small anyway, it just seems like an inconvenience to make it a bit trickier to see the current health level of each Altar, which does perhaps make the game a little harder (or would, if more than a single Altar actually mattered, as you mention), but as I am sure you know these days, making a game harder through deliberately inconveniencing the player unnecessarily is bad design, and is also lazy and unfun design if it's essentially being used to modulate "false difficulty". Having the requirement to scroll the screen to move the camera to see how each other Altar is doing really adds no benefit to the gameplay, so it really should have just all been on one screen. It's not like there's any surprise hazards to cross or anything each time the camera shifts, it's just the same path to each Altar over and over again. *EDIT:* Different levels would definitely help.
Strikes me as a Bubble Bobble, DigDug, or even Bomberman kinda game, all of these being arcade/score attack standards. _So this might have been better framed in one, fixed screen, no scroll._ That way you could see all the lights, and introducing new elements and layouts would go a little smoother. Then again, Mappy and Flicky are fixed and endless scrolling left-to-right (respectively), so it's an option, not a rule. Also, yeah, most people don't appreciate 'endless' games. I do, for some odd reason; this totally would have been a side mode, but not the main one. I found out, see, that most people like these silly things called 'goals'. Must make them feel nice or something... 🤔 (/hj) Meh, just needed more enemies or a secondary goal, more layouts/stages, like you said. I dunno, wasn't me. I don't blame PastVimlark. I had been curious about this one, but never got back to it, so thanks for covering it. Good object lesson. :3
The changes I would make, in order of complexity to make the change are: - Change the loss condition to losing after three lights go out - Make the level asymmetrical - Add a "wave" system where every 30 seconds, a wave is triggered where all enemies for the next 10 seconds target a particular light I think these changes would keep gameplay fresh for much longer.
I feel like having to keep at least a few altars alive would ve been a simple fix, But tbh the gameplay loop seems kinda dull so far and I feel like a more advanced combat would ve made it better (imo)
Just like the game this video is pretty repetitive and I could leave it, go to the bathroom and come back with you saying the same stuffs over and over. Don't wanna be mean, just love the good old contents. Happy to see you back on yt anyway❤
One thing I think is worth mentioning about increasing the spawn rate is that I don't think it actually solves your problem, at least not on its own Like yeah it makes camping the middle flame a lot more difficult, but it also makes playing it the "intended" way more difficult in a way that I'd bet camping the middle is STILL the optimal strategy, the game just ends much sooner. The other thing is that, while tracking altars as your score is probably a better idea, it does mean that there's a very attainable "maximum score" you can get, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but its worth thinking about with you talking about replayability
I disagree with avoiding having an easy mode. This idea that you have normal(actual easy) and hard(normal, intended way) to avoid hurting feelings is something from last decade when the culture of "gitgud" rose. I think misleading labels does not help, sometimes people want easy game and are not ashamed of that. (and sometimes people want a harder challenge than normal (or what you labeled as hard)) I have a mod for a game in steam that simples adds an easy mode for the game (that had only normal and hard before) and it is a popular mod. I'm from the hardcore generation gaming in the 90s, I'm used to games being difficult (well, not anymore), and sometimes I just want an easy mode for the sake of it, not needing to put blood and sweat into it, not having to restart multiple times, I see it more like a time saving feature, you can enjoy more of the game, faster, this way, and then decide to later revisit it on harder difficults.
@@alu2901 i check the Construct 3 and this sounds game engine good for only beginner's also at least in the video i check the say the online version is the only free one i don't know if the is old or whatever and if those rules still apply or not but the sound like game engine that is beginner friendly but not good for larger projects that you need networking and stuff like that.
Yeah, game looks boring. Sugestions: make torches spawn on map that you need to grab; make walls so pathing need to change or map more diverse; smaller character and map; Altar HP; disable no-jump kills; less bounce on hit; weapon swing.
