Can you help us test our phaser game?

[hackenstein]

Hey guys,

we are currently working on a small game using the phaser framework. It is supposed to be our first commercial game, though it will probably monetize using advertisements. We have already tested it a bunch and fixed a lot of bugs and other problems. But now all our testers are biased, because they know the older versions. We need a few more testers, but we don't want to draw too much attention right now either. This is basically why I'm asking here for your help.

I know you guys are awesome and trustworthy

 

So if you want to help us, please play the game and tell me how far you came in your first play session.

Please tell us when you get stuck or a level is too frustrating, but basically any feedback is most welcome!

Thanks a lot!

 

[Mike]

The screen looks interesting, and after work I'll definitely make a test and review play.

 

And about: "we don't want to draw too much attention right now" ... I'm not very sure since the popularity of the forum grows each day... but hey attention is not a bad thing.

[hackenstein]

Awesome, thanks Mike!

Posting it here feels more controllable, for me. Of course we have nothing against attention. I just don't want to upset too many people, if we decide to change something bigger

[turboboing]

Hi Hackenstein,

 

Nice looking game 

 

here's a some feedback / suggestions:-

 

• You should display tab/click message on the intro screens.
• You could add an arrow pointing to your spell book on the tutorial.
• How about detecting if its on mobile and use the word tap, otherwise use click on desktop.
• I tried it on my phone (Samsung Galaxy Note 3), it runs OK but there's no music.
• On my iPad 3, after the Hypnotic Owl logo you just get a black screen.
• Also it might be a good idea to show a bitmap when the mobile is held in portrait mode telling them to turn the screen.

[rich]

Just to say this is easily one of the best Phaser games I've seen yet Seriously addictive! I have to admit I find it quite tricky remembering the spell sequence patterns, and also I managed to confuse the tutorial by moving further ahead than it expected me to and it got stuck until I back-tracked to the spot I think it wanted me on.

 

Even so, such a superb game I can see this one going down well on Kongregate / Newgrounds / Armor.

[Crabman]

Thanks, guys!

 

Re: the black screen on iPad, there is some sort of issue with group opacity in Safari, but I haven't figured out the exact cause yet, because on some screens it works and on some it doesn't, even though they are set up the exact same way. It's quite odd. I might get back to you about that, rich, once I know what exactly is going on there.

[Pixelguy]

Fun game to play, very atmospheric!

• On the first try I've made it to the level with the 4 golden mice (level 3?)
• On my Ipad mini (gen1) -> Same result as mentioned (black screen)
• The Nexus5 loads it fine but the sound appeared only after a page refresh. However I couldn't test it any further on the Nexus. I Simply can't see where I am clicking at on my small screen

 

On my second attempt I had the same "tutorial getting stuck" issue as rich had

[bubamara]

Hi,

 

I opened link in new tab, went to another tab, then back to game. Everything looked normally, until I clicked "New Game". 

 

Then I got this message : 

A fatal error has occurred: Uncaught InvalidStateError: An attempt was made to use an object that is not, or is no longer, usable.

I wasn't able to reproduce that error again...

 

During intro screen I can move through pages by clicking anywhere. Then I'm suddenly forced to click "Continue" button.

Wouldn't be more user-friendly to click anywhere, especially in this case, when this is one and only button on the screen?

 

I have also managed to confuse tutorial. I ignored "Click the enemy to see it's range and health" message and wasn't able to complete level.

 

I ended in level 3 with negative score  -150

 

Beside this little things, game is looking great. Good luck with it

[hackenstein]

Oh, I almost forgot the tutorial... yeah, we were planning to include something like alternate routes. You can always ignore the tutorial for now and make your own way, as it's not really necessary to progress through the levels. But of course it will then block your view, which is pretty annoying

 

It's also not at all optimized for mobiles, yet.

 

Anyways, thanks for the great feedback and keep it coming!

[jpdev]

I played until the slimes got me the first time..

 

and then had to quit, because otherwhise I would have probably spend the whole evening figuring out what other spells, tactics and levels are yet to be conquered.

 

It's a cool game.

 

The tutorial worked for me. (wasn't trying to make it fail though, just normally playing for the first time.)

[Mike]

That's a superb game.

 

I manage to reach level 2-1 and kill one spider... not sure of the effect of the frost cause... I used it but spider keep moving.

 

Also I love the strategic stuff as there is different outcome if you go from top or from bottom.

 

The music and setting is very good... I'll surely we like a save feature when the complete game is ready. 

[hackenstein]

Thanks again for all the great feedback!

First of all: The game is saving your progress via cookie. So if you want to continue where you left of, you should be able to. Unless something broke.

 

But it seems my main concern wasn't fixed in this version. Most people only play to level 1-3. I have already made the level smaller and easier, but I guess this wasn't really the problem. Or did you find it too long/hard? Please be honest

Maybe it's different with people, who are actively searching for a game like that, though...

[rich]

I only played to level 3 because I'm pretty sure that is where I died and the game ended. I guess I knew in the back of my mind I could just continue and carry on, but it felt like my death (and seeing the title page again) signalled the end of my involvement with it. Psychological perhaps? I think if the level had just restarted after my death I would have been inclined to carry on further.

[jpdev]

I partly mentioned it above:

 

I played until my first (or was it second?) death.. and then only quit, because I wanted to stick to my plan (that was to browse the forums and then continue to develop my game). 

So I would not attribute my quitting at level 3 to the game design (more to the fact, that I didn't plan to play a game in the first place.)

[Tas]

This game is really addictive.

 

I haven't tried it on a mobile device but I guess it would work well on them seeing how you interact with it.

 

One thing that was annoying was that the tutorial covers some parts of the map on the second level.

 

Good work!

[barodapride]

It's very well made! I got annoyed with making the symbols though, wish there was a faster way to do it. And I wish I could move with the arrow keys.

[mariogarranz]

I love the look and feel of this game.

[hackenstein]

Thanks a lot, guys!

You gave us a few really good pointers to what to improve next. More than I had hoped

Joking aside, this is really a great help. We will work on the next version and get back to you in this thread. Until then, please don't be discouraged to poke around a little more and write us how far you get

[jpdev]

I just tried it again, and found 2-2 (level with green maze) very hard. every skelleton I kill hits me at least once. (okay, not if they come at me in a straight line, but most of them don't).

(Had 1 up into missle, 1 up into shock.. that maybe wasn't the right way to go.)

 

anyway.. there might be a tactic, but it made me quit, so I am just telling you. Not really to complain, just relying my experience

[hackenstein]

No no, that's exactly what I need! Good honest feedback

With 2-2 the levels get definitely harder. Maybe too hard, I will keep an eye on that. Your point distribution is not bad. However to best this level you will have to use Ice Breath to freeze the skeletons before they reach you. Ice Breath doesn't have to be upgraded, but it does make it a little easier here and there

 

I think a huge part of the challenge is figuring out how the spells exactly work to use them most effectively. Maybe there is a way to make this a little easier on the player

[hackenstein]

Hey folks,

 

this took a little longer then expected, but I think you will enjoy the updates. We have changed a lot of things a little bit, as you will see, so I'll just highlight the changes that were made due to your feedback:

• Game is now playable on safari
• Removed Level-Stats on death. Level is directly restarted instead
• Added special cases for the tutorial hints, so it's not possible to get stuck with an obsolete hint

We also did some experiments using "real gestures" to cast spells and changing the effect of the shock spell so it's easier to understand how to use it. Unfortunately both experiments didn't lead to improvements of the game. I guess that's just how it goes sometimes

 

You can reach the current version with the link from above. If you don't want to scroll, which I can totally understand, just click here:
Play The Wizard

[xronn]

Is it me or can you only fire a spell "up" i have to back track to a point where I can cast a spell "up" and hit the enemy

[hackenstein]

You can cast in every direction. To do that you have to turn the spell pattern in that direction.The patterns found in the spellbook are for example pointing the spell to the right.