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Did I complete my 30 day game making challenge? (Patreon)

Published:
2022-01-26 17:55:59
Edited:
2022-01-26 18:42:42
Imported:
2022-01

Content

Hey! Your new video is available right now. It's the latest instalment in my game-making series, Developing. 

There is now a playable build, available to all GMTK Patrons. You can access it on itch.io here - you'll be invited to link your Patreon account to Itch.io to gain access. Any problems, let me know and I'll sort you out.

I'm looking for any and all feedback on this. You can leave a comment here or on itch.io. You can chat with me on the GMTK Discord in the #Developing with Mark thread. You can fill out a survey on Google Forms.

And if you have the technology, please feel free to record yourself playing the game - and then upload and share the YouTube link with me! Make sure your voice is louder than the game audio - if it's nice and audible, you might end up in a future episode (with your permission, of course).

Thanks for watching, speak soon!

Mark


Files

Did I complete my 30 day game making challenge?

GMTK is powered by Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/GameMakersToolkit This time on Developing, I tried to make a fully working game in 30 days. Did I succeed? === Credits === Music By: LAKEY INSPIRED @ https://soundcloud.com/lakeyinspired License for commercial use: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported "Share Alike" (CC BY-SA 3.0) License. YouTube Audio Library Music and sound effects provided by Epidemic Sound - https://www.epidemicsound.com/referral/vtdu5y (Referral Link) === Subtitles === Contribute translated subtitles - TBA

Comments

Jon

Is there a way to get Patreon to NOT say "new patron-only video" in their email? It's just not true.

Anonymous

Nice of you to generate a macOS build

Anonymous

That was a very suspenseful video, what an adventure!

GameMakersToolkit
>>76504278

Unfortunately I don't have control of that. It's simply because it's a "video"-type post, set to be just for Patrons. But I agree, the wording is confusing. I'll try and get in touch with them and see if there's a solution

Anonymous

Are the levels labeled in some way I'm not noticing? I have a bunch of specific feedback about individual levels but I very rapidly lost track of which level I was on and so it's hard for me to say which screen/level/room I'm talking about. (I am having a ton of fun with it overall BTW.)

Anonymous

Hey Mark! I just finished the game not long ago, and submitted a Google Form. I just want to say that despite all the criticism you'll probably going to get, I feel like you really touched on something special here. I could even see the robot and magnet become a platforming duo, like Ratchet and Clank or Jak and Daxter :D

Killian

Can you play this without a controller, i.e. with just a keyboard? It seems like "f" can be used to pick up the magnet, but I can't figure out how to throw it...

Anonymous

Unfortunately I don't play many platformers, so once I untangled my controller from the drawer with all the cables, I found that it wasn't working too well. Or at least I assume that's why I had problems with moving left / right reliably. Basic feedback - like the concept, but I feel that the game needs to play faster. Less long corridors, faster movement, smaller (physical) levels. I feel that the minimum amount of level necessary to test the idea might be good. Sound effects - good. Got as far as a high up magnet with two screens, one showing the left controller and one showing the 'Throw' button. Couldn't work out what you were trying to say but I had had enough with trying to get my controller to work properly and wasn't sure if those problems were stopping me from playing, so I quit.

Anonymous

Hi Mark -- Xbox Adaptive Controller user here, I made up a Google Doc with my notes so I could include screenshots: https://docs.google.com/document/d/10SdAvbLe5EbMY5Fyu3R4neOsvcjKEegnWRj3HgHUcFo/edit?usp=sharing

Anonymous

I am LIVING for that series. Will definitely play it and provide feedback!

ZoidbergForPresident

Quickly tested it and it feels and play nice already! :) Just one bit: when running and jumping the speed is suddenly halted the instant the robot touches the ground... that doesn't feel too good. But other than that cool! I'll look further into it tomorrow! :)

Anonymous

Hey i really love what you did with the challenge, thanks for taking us through the whole process! It seems to me that you didnt enjoy it as much, even though you made such an amazing project!! Please keep it up :)

Anonymous

Hey Mark, another play-tester for you here. After watching your stuff for years, I just decided to support you here and try out your game. I have also made a Google Doc to throw my hat into the ring of play-testing Untitled Magnet Game, which I will update as I go along: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-ZdOEZcgA_D7j0oLRieDFAyKtwSbI6qrAI-TdsXWNjs/edit?usp=sharing I hope it helps : )

Anonymous

I know this is meant to be played with a controller, but I would really appreciate a text post somewhere detailing the keyboard controls please. :)

Anonymous
>>76519222

I tried as well, but I don't think it's possible unfortunately :/

Anonymous

Played through everything, really cool concept! Certainly feels like there's a lot of potential here. Does feel a bit too slow at times though, especially in some levels where if you mess up you need 2 full cycles of something to recover and that can easily be 15-20 seconds of doing nothing.

Max Goldstein

* Something seems to be off with the framing of puzzles on my machine (14-inch 3024 × 1964 Mac laptop, default scaling). Elements are too close to the edge or even off screen. So that's something that will take a lot of trial and error on different machines. * Some puzzles seem to have buttons on the gravity lifts that aren't needed to solve the puzzle, which seems weird. *The laser that moves back on forth and you hide under a box needs a track. The double-ended power holder that moves back and forth on its own unless paused comes right after the level where it moves when you press a button, and that was weird. * The level with the red block surrounded by the two doors took me awhile. I really like the solution in the end, but it took me a while. Maybe because you have the slow gravity lift, the red block, and the clever action all being introduced here? * Bug report: in the room with the double-ended power holder and the two lasers, if you step on the right button after the power transfers but before the lasers stop moving, they won't move back like they should. This could be solved by keeping the button depressed until the animation finishes.

Anonymous

The game is good but it has some flaws 1- The movement does not feel really good, Firstly its too slow and unresponsive, Secondly, Every time you land on the ground the momentum stop which is probably because of collider friction. 2- The slow gravity lift is broken and if you hold down the A button while holding the magnet you can fly. 3- The audio sometimes get so noisey, There should be a settings menu in the pause screen. 4- There are ideas that you have introduced to the player but didnt really use in a clever way (like using the magnet as a platform).

Anonymous
>>76531884

Yes please. Took me a while to realize "F" was grab, still struggling to figure out how to throw the magnet.

Anonymous

As others have said movement being less sluggish would improve a lot. I found many puzzles to be somewhat not engaging as mindless interacting with each level element results in a solution there's no magic moment where critical thought leads to rewarding discovery that I feel puzzle games need.

Anonymous

Hi Mark, I recorded a blind playthrough with some thoughts and feedback on the game. Left a survey response as well. Had fun, looking forward to seeing where it goes next. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3Den7TmBkU

GameMakersToolkit
>>76520896

Hey Jennifer - thanks for this. I'm sorry you got stuck, the Left Trigger thing is for holding the trigger to aim the magnet. I'm embarrassed to admit that I haven't added in any accessibility features yet, but it will definitely be a big part of future development!

GameMakersToolkit
>>76528079

Hey Stuart, thank you for the detailed and thoughtful feedback. I'm sad you got stuck so early on - that's on me, though. The teaching isn't clear enough. If you add more to this sheet would you be kind enough to ping me an email on mcbacon@gmail.com, or a Patreon DM? I wouldn't want to miss it!

GameMakersToolkit
>>76540684

Thanks for the thoughtful feedback Max! The note on too many elements being introduction in the red block puzzle is very on point

Anonymous

Hi Mark, I also recorded my playthrough. Hopefully this is helpful; feel free to use it in your videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9tiil3RRck

Anonymous

Hi Mark, fellow 4-year indie dev here. Thank you for this opportunity to play your game! I loved it and I have feedback and a video recording that you can view in this google doc here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1oAxtfhukbH3IXV5yfZL4xl9gSeQ5EB4shVdiEgRRWZc/edit?usp=sharing

Benj

I didn't even know Itch.io/Patreon had that kind of linkage!

Anonymous
>>76553457

Great insights, thanks for sharing! (also the link is editable, i think you forget to make it read-only)

Anonymous

I can't use controllers, so trying to play with keyboard - F is 'pick up', space is 'jump', WASD to move...but I can't figure out what the left bumper equivalent is? Can anyone help me out? 🙏 UPDATE: I think I've pressed every button combination there is, haha. I don't think it's possible - so I think the biggest feedback I can give at this point would be to have rebindable / listed controls so that it can be played at all! haha. The on-tile instructions could then just be generic icons for 'jump' or 'move forward' or 'throw' etc rather than the specific controller buttons that need to be pressed to achieve it - would help to both communicate what the player needs to do AND be agnostic as to how the player interacts with the controller to accomplish it!

Anonymous

The "Controller Required" is a weird message to see, especially from GMTK :-) I don't have a controller, but I wanted to try the game. I tired some keys, but I didn't even find the "F" and quit... oh well. I know it is MVP, but I don't thing a keyboard is so exotic it should be excluded (especially when it really isn't... only thing missing is the hints).

Anonymous
>>76570925

Yoo, so: WASD or arrow keys to move / aim F to pick-up / throw Hold T + WASD/Arrows to aim a throw when holding magnet; F to throw along that trajectory It's a bit finicky and I gave up on level 3, but I think that's all the controls! Absolutely agreed re: keyboard, though! Feels like a desktop release should be keybaord first, no? haha.

Parachuting Turtle

I hesitate to pile on, but yeah, keyboard and mouse would be essential.

Anonymous

Keyboard-friendly version will be nice, lack of it prevented me from trying the game :(

Anonymous

I used to do user feedback for a living! So I figured what better opportunity than now to pull those skills back out- starts with troubleshooting my controller issues, then a full playthrough, speaking the thought processes out loud, and then a third section talking more specifics of controls and whatnot. https://youtu.be/neb7Zt16sQM

Anonymous

Hi Mark! I don't know why I never joined your patreon before, so this "exclusive" release made me to. Since I really appreciate your content and this particular "I'm making a game" series, here I am :) TL;DR: loved the game, congrats!!! the rest is just discussion that I hope it helps improving the game :) I'll try not to dive deep into comments that have already covered some "issues", so here is my opinion: - The game is fun! I can see a lot of experimentation through different puzzle elements, so yeah, it would be great if you (or someone else, or a group of people) decided to put more hours into it. - The first *snap* of the magnet to a metal box feels so *magnetic* (the first box in a wall that the magnet is pulled to so one can reach a higher platform; the sound, the speed, the force, its all sooo good. I really believe that should be the "feeling standard" for the game. - There were 2 levels which I found really harder than the others, because they were very counter-intuitive: 1. The one with the big magnetic "slow" zone where the magnet must go up, then fall, then up again, so one can pass through some gates and a giant box. It was no way similar than previous puzzles 2. The last one because I never thought that I needed to shatter the magnet and get a new one. I found it only because I want to "push the limits" of the controls, so then I learned that a new magnet spawns if the one you have is shattered. Those puzzle weren't fun to solve only because they appeared to me as "I don't know if the game should work like this". But the problems are clever :D !!! With little tweaks and, maybe, a generic tutorial that shows how the world works, then those problem shouldn't be a surprise. - The only "controls" issue that I experienced was that in order to throw the magnet, the player has to do 3 actions with 3 different buttons: press LT (which in most game is "aim", thats ok"), move the left stick (I would have chosen the right stick to aim) so the "trajectory" shows", and then throw. What do you think about his combination? press LT, aim with right, release LT to throw; press B/circle to cancel throw. Also, this would allow movement while aiming (?), so it could be useful as the magnet shares the momentum of the character. Thanks a lot for sharing your game with us <3

Anonymous

Went through it and it's pretty good. Most of my critique is technical. First the stuff I liked. Your art is cool, the character movement was mostly solid (there were a few unexpected bumps here and there when riding over what should be smooth surfaces, but we'll leave that to release polish). I enjoyed the magnet movement in fields, it felt pretty natural. Your onboarding was out of the way but also clear (except the throw, I wasn't sure if it was the shoulder or the trigger). Gameplay wise my only real critique is that I'd like everything to be a bit faster, like 110%. I found myself waiting a long time for things to happen (especially with the power transfer plugs). A Meat Boyesque run would be handy. Technical critiques (!!!) I may sound mean, but I'm really not, just getting to the meat of it. It sounds like you put the audio listener on or near the bot, I found it very distracting when sounds turned on and off when I could see all the things making the sounds on screen, it also seems that there is little to no spacialization to the sounds so it always sounds like the sources are in the middle of my head. Having each room have it's own ambiance with a fan on the right, magnet on the left, etc. would be really good. Still on sound, on the level with the three electromagnets next to each other, having three hums slightly out of sequence kinda started driving me mad after a while (esp. since it took me a while to figure it out :P), try to avoid concurrent sounds like that. Speaking of that 3 magnet room YOU BROKE YOUR RULES!!!!!1! The electromagnets didn't pull me while I held on to it, unless I was holding the jump button, then I'd slowly inch upwards, I made it to the top, but it was a hollow victory. Level names/numbers in the pause menu would be nice. Level select would be nice. Robos movement dust/debris kickup particle system should be simulated in world space, that way it wouldn't follow you around and you could have it bounce off the walls and stuff. In one of the levels with the laser sensors, the sensor stopped working after I died. Not sure if the death was related, but I had to restart the level to unstick it. I think if I get more specific I'll sound a bit nitpicky. And though I like picking nits like a crazed chimp I'll give it a rest for now. Hope this helps.

Anonymous

Hello! I wrote up a short google doc to explain my thoughts. TLDR; I enjoyed it and some of the puzzles stumped me but I persevered. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Weq7csa1rm_CZt8nwsMEGohH-bjnchmb8ce49KktA3Y/edit?usp=sharing

Anonymous

Overall, I enjoyed this game quite a bit. Everything felt well thought out, and later puzzles were quite clever. If I solved the last one correctly, it was my favorite. The one room I got completely stuck on was the one with the two parallel drills. After trying everything I could think of, I had the sort of puzzle epiphany I believe you were after, where I could see the whole game in a different way, and was able to solve both it and the rest of the levels afterward without too much trouble because of that. Having seen your previous videos in the series, I loved that cameo early in the game. I thought the pacing was good. The puzzles were increasingly challenging, but I did not feel like they were too hard (aside from the example described previously, where it ended up being easier than I expected). One idea I have for the rooms between puzzles is they could have more platforming - maybe those spaces could be used for the action-type gameplay that inspired you originally, to act as refreshment between the puzzles. Alternatively, perhaps a dash move to increase speed through hallways and get to the puzzles quicker could be good.

Anonymous

Just finished playing through the game. I am not a game-designer, but as a media-designer I still have to work a lot with UX, graphic-design, programming and much other stuff in this regard. Overall, I like the presentation of the game. The combination of the art and design are visually pleasing and it feels on the surface very solid from a technical level. The game-design opens itself up for many different forms of puzzles with small elements of platforming to make it interesting. There are already many good puzzles in the game. I wonder, how far the concept can be pushed. Following are all my critical thoughts about the game. Some are actual issues, others are just nitpicks or suggestions. Having a game in such a good state in a month is incredible and deserves a lot of respect. You can be proud of your work and drive. I hope, it is helpful. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Player Character: -------------------- [Visual Design] I have an issue with the character design. Some element that really feels like a contradiction, is the nature of the character. He is a robot and therefore people would assume, that it properly should be influenced by the magnet field itself. [Game Feel] The character is on wheels, but it doesn’t feel like that. Its momentum stops almost immediately, if you let go of the controls. I understand, that you want tight controls, but this combination just doesn’t feel right for me. Either give the character more momentum before stopping, since the wheels needs some time to stop, or lean into it and change the animation. Have the robot, after reaching some momentum and the player try to stop, make a hard break with its wheels. The robot’s upper body lean forward to compensate for the lost momentum. It may give the character even a little personality. [Game Feel] The character loses a lot of momentum, if it lands after a jump. Maybe it’s a bug, but it just doesn’t feel good. On top to the issue above, it feels like the robot is destroying any momentum, the player tried to build. Is it a design-choice, so that players can’t jump over puzzles? [Game Design] The line for throwing the magnet isn’t correct. You have it start on the center of the character, but in reality, it is above them. Level Elements: ------------------- [Visual Design] I really don’t like the design of the inactive pull-up bars. They simply look like a small ball hanging from a string. The animation of its turning is fine, but the end product looks weak. Even from a mechanical standpoint the pull-up bar is technical still accessible. It just moved around 90 degrees. My idea would be, to have the both side of the bar fold upwards, so that you still can see, what it is supposed to be. [Bug] Soft platforms can’t be jump on from the side. You can jump from beneath at any point, but not from the side, so that has to be a bug. [Game Design] The soft platforms flapping down has no animation and there is no clear indicator, that a change has happened. In the one room, where this element is set, I felt into the pit, died and i didn’t know, what happened. I was looking around and didn’t notice the platform changing. A animation or a color change would help to make this more clear. [Technical] Sometimes objects are not even with the floor and the player character makes a small jump because of that at the edge of them. [Game Design] Suggestion for elements on objects, which shows the actual state. Having for example a small light, which can change between two colors, is a great way to communicate the actual and possible state and gives the player a hint, what they may need to do (“Ah all of the doors have to light green”). It also fits the mechanical flair of the levels. [Visual Design] The different powers of the tractor beams are weird. Why are some stronger than others? Maybe have them look differently, be smaller, slightly broken or some indicator, why those are weaker. Also, the end of the beam should not be a harsh cut. [Game Design] The switch buttons and the press button look too similar, maybe have some more difference, then just the color. [Visual Design] Weights and a steel beam blocking is very cartoony. [Effects] It would be great if the magnet and the object, which is attracting it, have some special effect, which shows their connection. You know, the classic thunderbolts coming from a magnet, when it tries to move to another pole. It also helps the player to understand, that the magnet is active and may hinder them. [Visual Design] The battery-block just floats in mid-air. Anything else has some mechanical connection, but those are just magical. [QOL] Pressing a switch or pull-bar again should immediately change the direction of an object. This would be a huge QOL feature, if the player makes a mistake and doesn’t need to wait for an object to move to its endpoint and back. [Visual Design] All mechanics should have some kind of mechinal part. The drills for example don’t have any kind of engine making them move. They are directly connected with the green cables, which makes it look weird. Level-Design: ---------------- [General Design] Too much negative space. I don’t know, why you have the levels become so big so fast. This creates many issues. First the levels just look visual boring. Very often there is just nothing to see like small details. Second short puzzles look comical in a big room. Almost like the room was planned for something else. Third a big room normally indicates a big challenge. Those big rooms should be end of level or end of game material. Holding back on them would be a better show of difficulty and progress. Fourth and the most important point: Big rooms means that objects need more time to travel. Either the player or game objects just take too much time to travel, making the player wait with nothing to do. [Game Design] Inconsistencies. Sometimes buttons and game objects are connected through green cables and sometimes they aren’t. Sometimes doors need power to open and sometimes they need to lose power to open. Sometimes you need to press a button to move something and sometimes it make something stop. [Game Design] There is this kind of puzzle, where pickup the magnet, doesn’t allow the character to move through thigh spots. The issue is, that those spots aren’t communicating clear enough, that you can’t move through them. I thought multiple times, I may have to push the magnet through them. With some momentum you can accomplish that, which will soft block the player. I needed to restart a level twice because of that. Playthrough with comments and images (Google Docs): https://docs.google.com/document/d/1iTuHqZWOl6weoRPK_C_pUKIdivEDdXzymeZcIeuY0N0/edit?usp=sharing

Anonymous

I submitted the feedback form. But I want to say that overall, the game is a LOT of fun! The tutorials were actually fun. I felt like I was playing the game, not being lectured at. The way the instructions pop up at the last second is visually enjoyable. (What's that big black square I'm getting close to? Nevermind that. How do I jump? Oh, that's how!) There are certainly areas for improvement. But I want to be very clear that I think you have a great base to build upon if you so-choose. My main feedback is: - As others mentioned, the ground movement feels sluggish. - It was not always obvious whether I was failing because I couldn't execute the solution or whether I was going about the puzzle wrong. For instance, there is a puzzle where I rapidly realized I needed to get the magnet on top of a moving block. It looked to me like I probably could throw the magnet on top of the block. So I tried. And I felt like I barely missed. So I tried again. And I wasted a ton of time thinking I'm just not getting the timing or angle quite right. (For that example, if the block had been higher or taller, it would have been really obvious immediately that I couldn't throw the magnet over it.) - The magnet's arc is not super accurate. This can be a bit confusing. When you first have to throw the magnet at a button, the arc just didn't look like it would hit, even though it did. - You introduce a lot of really cool ideas that don't get used. (Like throwing the magnet at a button) I figure that's just because it's an MVP and given time you could introduce levels to use these elements. Overall again though I had a lot of fun and would definitely play more levels if you released them. I felt clever when I solved the puzzles which is what I want from a puzzle game. So thanks! :-)

Anonymous

I enjoyed what I played, but I couldn't get very far due to what may be a bug? I don't have an Xbox or Playstation controller, but I was able to get keyboard to work, until I had to get throwing the magnet, and it seemed like no key input would work (although maybe I just didn't try hard enough to find the working key), the game did say that it required one of the aforementioned controllers, so it's hard to call that a bug. I attempted to try using my switch pro controller, as it usually works on PC like any Xbox controller, but when I plugged it in, the game started freaking out, the player character was jittering, jumping and constantly dropping and picking up the magnet. I tried restarting the game, unplugging the controller, but it always ended like this. I even checked another game, and can confirm that it's not my controller. Hard to call this a bug since the game does specify to use a Xbox or Playstation Controller, but wanted to mention my experience.

GameMakersToolkit
>>76618075

Thanks for the experience. It is technically possible to play on keyboard (hold T and a keyboard direction to aim) but it's not a great experience. Something to work on!

Anonymous

I liked it, the puzzles were mostly good and the graphics and music are nice. I submitted the form, but one little thing I forgot to add: The distance you throw the magnet is related to how far you push the stick and I don't know if that's intended because the arc only shows the maximum distance. I noticed it because my controller has a slight drift and sometimes the character would throw the magnet only a little bit and I didn't know why. Then I found out that it's because my controller wouldn't register going all the way to the right. The game doesn't tell you that is how it works and you never need that precision in the demo anyway.

Anonymous

Submitted my feedback and now I've come here to boast about beating 4-3, the solution is some real Baba Is You nonsense and I loved it.

Scezumin

I believe i've found a bug where the magnet can rest on the "top" of the pullswitch, which makes it seem like it is sticking (non-magnetically) to a wall. here, have some screenshots: https://imgur.com/a/4IJBLWx

Scezumin
>>76745743

All right, having finished the game properly, I've put the rest of my feedback into the feedback form itself. Great execution for the timeline you set, though! Would definitely play more!

Anonymous
>>76745743

I found the same in V1.2 here is a video just in case so it is easier to reproduce https://youtu.be/MY5yzmVf5lI

Anonymous

Really enjoyed the video as I always do with your content. Have you looked into Agile development practices? It feels like they may well fit a lot of your reflections at the end. If you want a chat about it, drop me a message