Side Scrolling Puzzle RPG; Looking For Feedback

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4 comments, last by ManuelMarino 11 years, 4 months ago
I have a series of questions about the game I'm programming right now, however first, an explanation.

The title of the game is Hooded.

Hooded is a 2D tile/puzzle based platformer with RPG elements. The only weapons your character can wield is swords, and they can move one block at a time (No standing in-between the tiles).

Questions:

1) If you could only move one block at a time, your character was one block wide, and you had to kill an enemy with your sword, do you believe it'd be harder than if you could stand in-between blocks? What do you believe could fix this problem for you?

2) What traits would you like to be able to upgrade on your character in a 2d Platformer?
Example:
I would like to improve my characters Health because I'm not good at avoiding monsters.
I would like to improve my characters Damage because I am good at avoiding monsters, however I like getting by them as fast as possible when I do encounter them.

3) If some ways into the game, a new enemy type was introduced that could shoot projectiles at you, how would you react.
Example:
I'd be glad because it'd give me more challenge.
I'd be unhappy because it'd make the game harder, and I like being able to enjoy my games without having to focus on killing the enemies too much.

4) What do you think would make it easily distinguishable (for you) from multiple difficulty levels.
Example:
The enemies on easy should have less health than on Hard.
The enemies on easy should have normal health, however enemies on higher difficulty levels should have more health.

All feedback is appreciated, I'll eventually update this thread with screenshots :)!

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Here's my problem with moving one block at a time and having a reach of 1: An enemy can always hit me and some can hit me where I can't hit them. I have this problem in some of the Castlevania games where they can outreach you or attack incredibly fast so you have to do something like jump past their reach zone into yours and attack from the air.

I don't mind enemies firing projectiles at me as long as it's not machine gun fire, homing, or insta kill. Any of these things are OK as well as they are equally balanced. For example, an enemy throwing a spear every second could be annoying with such a short reach, as well as a flying character shooting fireballs unless I had a ranged weapon to attack them with.

Questions number 2 and 4 are up to the designer and part of what makes a game unique, in my opinion.
Going with the phrase "don't bring a knife to a gun fight", I would say if you're going to put in ranged combat, you might as well give the player an option to be a ranger as well. If not, then as dakota said, don't make the rangers too overpowered (this usually done by trial and error until you find a balance).
Rangers are, imo, a good way to add variety to a "room" of enemies - they make it a choice between taking the fire and focusing on the melees, or going to gank the ranger and then going back for the melees.
To get around the "ranger can hit me but I can't hit them" issue you could have an item that could be found (or gained through a tough puzzle) that helps deflect ranger shots. A shield is the most obvious answer for an item, but could be a number of things. If you want to make the item more common, then have the shield break after X number of shots so the player has to keep finding one.

You could make an interesting player choice out of this too:
- Do I go for the tough two-handed sword which has a small chance of insta-kill melee units?
- Do I go for the weaker short sword but allows me to carry a shield?

1) If you could only move one block at a time, your character was one block wide, and you had to kill an enemy with your sword, do you believe it'd be harder than if you could stand in-between blocks? What do you believe could fix this problem for you?

Probably one of the most intelligent things i have heard from game designers is that you want to do whatever you can to make controlling intuitive. If you wish to bind objects to an arbitrary grid and limit the player's reach while bound to a grid, you are essentially forcing them to get close to an enemy and removing all defensive aspects. If the player dies ingame, you want it to be their fault - not yours.


2) What traits would you like to be able to upgrade on your character in a 2d Platformer?

  • Perhaps different ranged weapons (sword vs halberd vs bow) with each having different strengths and weaknesses at different ranges.
  • Since your game is puzzle-based, giving the player the decision on when to skip puzzles (eg: player is given 2 "skeleton keys" at beginning).
  • Various physical attributes (jump height, defense, luck, stamina)
  • Depending on your setting, which I'm guessing is more medieval/fantasy, having special ability upgrades (time, land destruction)
  • Special enchantments for weapons that may allow for multiple methods of puzzle solving (freezing enemies into blocks you can stand on)



3) If some ways into the game, a new enemy type was introduced that could shoot projectiles at you, how would you react.

I would accept it with open arms. As long as it's possible to dodge, it's simply a new form of challenge. However, I'd like to say that you need to be careful with placement. If you let them get in the way of the puzzles (especially if you have time-sensitive ones) then it serves as a mean to infuriate players.


4) What do you think would make it easily distinguishable (for you) from multiple difficulty levels.

There are plenty of ways other than enemy health to define difficulty. For instance:

  • Player health (as well as removing health upgrades)
  • Enemy damage
  • Number of enemies (more for enemy spawners or randomized games)
  • Enemy speed (requires more focus from player)
  • Enemy AI
I am reading so many sentences and some confusion as well. Why don't just put a reach of 2? or just a powerup that makes the weapon with a reach of 2?
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