[WIP] Orange Sea - my first game

[oddkraken]

I started learning Phaser a few weeks ago and have been having a blast making this game. It's still very much a work in progress, but it has one short chapter with some hazards.

I've experimented with mobile compatibility, but so far haven't been happy with the results, so please try it out on a desktop browser.

Being my first game, I just kind of dove right in, so I'm sure I'm breaking lots of design rules, and I would really appreciate any feedback. I'm specifically concerned about the difficulty - it's tough to tell if a game is too hard when you've been playing it for hours on end. I'm hoping most people can get the hang of it and get to the end of the level after several tries, but I think it's rather challenging now.

Thanks for taking a look, and have fun!

Direct game link: orangesea.oddkraken.com

[rich]

Wasn't entirely sure what to do at first, but then figured it out and really liked it

[oddkraken]

Thanks! I'm trying to make it more obvious what you're supposed to do. What did you think of the difficulty?

[rich]

The only thing that wasn't obvious to me was where I should go. I tried flying up at first, but you get 'shot' down again. Tried flying to the sides too. Ultimately I figured you don't actually  go anywhere, you just dodge the clouds. There were definitely some 'unfair' cloud combinations, where you could get stuck and are then just pushed off the left of the screen. I would have liked some kind of duration timer or something, to let me know how long I was supposed to dodge for (some kind of 'goal' to aim for)

[oddkraken]

I envisioned the traditional left-to-right movement, so the environment scrolls by faster as you move to the right, but I think the effect fails since I haven't figured out how to get the waves to scroll by as well. I suppose the storm cloud speed should vary too, so I'm planning to revamp the difficulty.

I agree about the duration timer. I didn't want to put numbers on the screen, so I'm using the sunset to indicate the passage of time. I tried to hint at it in the intro text, but it's definitely too subtle.

[oddkraken]

Update: I added more explanation/exposition and made it a little easier. I replaced the wave Ropes with TileSprites so they can scroll by the screen. I'm not 100% happy with the effect, but it makes more sense than stationary waves. The changes are up at orangesea.oddkraken.com, see if you can make it to the end!

[aaryte]

I like the mood a lot. It looks great, and the piano music and ambient sounds go along with it well. Painterly, 1800's dreamy.

It was easy to win by constantly pushing up and to the right, except for a half-dozen times when a cloud hit me, and I had to go down a bit to dodge it. What do the spirit or the other airship do? Do they just bump you?

[oddkraken]

Thanks! About the clouds - I'm planning to make them more targeted toward the balloon. That way you can't just hang out in one spot, and it would also leave open areas so the whole screen isn't covered.

Right now the spirits just push you forward a bit (they're benevolent ). I'm working on a mechanic where you collect them and they let you activate a power-up. I'm still brainstorming about the derelict balloon. I thought you might commandeer it or get some goodies from it. Right now it just floats by mysteriously.

[Goblet Ed]

I like how flying through the air feels like a struggle against the storm. Nice work!

Only thing that annoyed me was reading the text at the start. Difficult to read thin letters against a detailed background. Strain on the eyes.

[oddkraken]

Thanks Ed. Do you mean the text on the loading screen or the text during the game? Do you think making the font size larger would help?

[Goblet Ed]

2 hours ago, oddkraken said:

Thanks Ed. Do you mean the text on the loading screen or the text during the game? Do you think making the font size larger would help?

The loading screen.

It's a small thing but it's something I consider pretty important if you want people to read the text. Giving the text a darker background makes it easier on the eyes and focuses your attention.

 

I took a quick screenshot and hacked a background. It looks like shit but gives you an idea. It's easy to do and will make it look and read better.

[oddkraken]

Thanks, you're absolutely right!

[bdekk]

I love the atmosphere and the graphics of the game! Did you make the textures yourself? Nice job!

[oddkraken]

I changed the cloud generator to target them more at the player. This makes it so the player can't camp out in one spot and be safe, and it also prevents the screen from getting an impossible wall of clouds. I think it works pretty well, but I'd love some feedback.

I've also added a mechanic where the specters give you a power-up that allows you to fly through clouds unscathed for a few seconds (and the fish and lightning of course). Once you get one, you can activate it if you're in trouble.

Next up: something to collect, because you need a little more to do while dodging clouds and fish and lightning!

orangesea.oddkraken.com

Edited July 20, 2016 by oddkraken
attached screenshot

[oddkraken]

bdekk - Thanks! I'm not much of an artist, so the textures are Gimped together from Google Image Search results. There are some that I really want to improve - storm clouds, fish, balloon. Gameplay is taking priority for the moment.

[oddkraken]

I've updated the movement after getting some comments that the balloon goes too far/fast when pressing the arrows. I decreased the acceleration slightly, and added more drag, which slows you down more quickly when you let up. What do you guys think? Thanks.

orangesea.oddkraken.com

[danyburton]

You mentioned that this is a first chapter, so I think for a first chapter it is probably a little bit too hard, since the game hasn't yet convinced me that putting that much effort in is worth it.
But anyway, It's very polished for a first game, and it's pretty fun too.

[marcgfx]

I really like the visual and the mood you create. I did not manage the first level although I used 3 pearls. The clouds just were sooo thick that the whole screen seemed blocked. performance sometimes was pretty bad, so it got very choppy. using a macbook pro 2.4 GHz Intel Core i5

[oddkraken]

danyburton - I'm making some big changes to the gameplay, so it will hopefully be more engaging and less frustrating.

marcgfx - Thanks. Do you have any idea what caused the performance issues? I'll look into it.

[oddkraken]

Hey guys - Big update. Still WIP. The game is really tough but I think it's a lot of fun. Let me know what you think.

Video: 

 

[carlosnufe]

It looks great but what about performance? It is really bad. I have medium pc, i7, 8GB Ram, OSX 10.X.

[oddkraken]

That's strange...my specs are similar and it's always 60fps for me. Any tips on how to improve performance?

[drfeld]

Nice job on this -- the concept and the art are a refreshing change of pace. As for the performance, I've tried it on Chrome, Safari and Firefox all on a Mac Book Pro (El Capitan) and I haven't had any problems.

[HappinessSam]

It looks beautiful. I found that on desktop the controls are a bit wonky for me - they just don't feel responsive enough for my taste. You accelerate slowly then suddenly shoot off. In terms of performance it was mostly OK but I noticed some slowdown when the lightning flashed.

On mobile I think I actually preferred the gameplay. I think it's because I'm more used to and tolerant of controls being difficult in mobile games.

I noticed it was missing the bottom part of the screen - try adding 

this.scale.windowConstraints.bottom = 'visual';

before you set the scaleMode when it's mobile and see if it fixes it.

[oddkraken]

@drfeld Thanks! Good to hear about the performance.

@HappinessSam I've struggled a bit with the controls. If they're too responsive, it just seems unnatural to have a balloon zipping around. I could cap the speed a little slower so it doesn't feel like you're "shooting off," which is a complaint I've heard before.

The performance is pretty bad on mobile...I've been thinking about scrapping it altogether and focusing on PC. I think I'll want the player to have more controls than I can provide on mobile.