TinyWitch (dev Phaser)

[Danny00014]

Hey Guys! 

 

Advice and Showcase post here.

 

My dream is to make educational games for classrooms. In this pursuit I've been exploring different technology to do so. Phaser looked nice and friendly on paper so I started a project using it.

 

I've been working on TinyWitch in my spare time over nearly the last two months. I have a few hobby affiliate sites and one of them deals with costumes so I thought, "Why not make a game to bring some potential buyers to the site and see what Phaser is all about?"

 

So here we are. Sadly I'm no artist so I've scraped and pieced together this game from resources I could find (some free/some paid).

 

But I am at a crossroads. I'm asking myself... Am I done here? Should I move on? Lately the nights I want to work on TinyWitch I'm finding myself staring at the code doing nothing. 

 

I suppose I'd like some feedback on my game so far and some help to figure out the direction it should go. How do I get my mojo back to want to make this better and not move on to something else?

 

My list of features to do include: Boss fights every x level, more weapons, random power up drops instead of coins, changing the terrible music and sound fx.

 

I had a dream of porting it with cacoonJS to the AppStores I wonder if that is possible with what I've got here?

 

Check it out and let me know what you think! (mobile friendly too)

 

http://tw.devdm.com/

 

[Colorio]

Hello,

 

First thing is the UI of your game, Try to use graphics that fit the same style of drawing. If you don't have enough experience with Photoshop or any other software to design the UI by yourself, you can use some kits that are available to download for free, and adapt them for your game.

 

Try to use a different and a more cartoonish font for the numbers of score, lives, etc.

You can use two different fonts in your game, one for those number that are part of the UI, they can have a stroke, shadow, etc., and one for the "normal" text. The normal text is that one that you use to render some paragraphs, descriptions for some items/steps/tutorials in the game.

 

I can see that those coins have a different design that the one of your game, they are pixelated, and even they are "in the air", they all have shadows underneath.

 

I like the soundtrack and the sound when you collect the coins.

 

I've played your game few times and the gameplay is exciting and addictive.

 

I believe you should continue its development and if you feel stuck in a situation without inspiration, team up with some guys here, to make something big and beautiful.

 

Best wishes,

Ionel

[Danny00014]

Thanks for the feedback Ionel. There are some details there regarding the UI that need some tuning up so I agree with you there.

 

Teaming up with some guys would be awesome. It is a nice community here so I'll see who is available.

[rich]

I'm going to suggest the opposite

 

Do whatever you need to do to finish this game, and then start another brand new one. Adding boss fights, weapons, etc isn't finishing it. It's enhancing it. If you're happy enough that the game is "complete" as is, then maybe fix-up a few small UI issues, find some better music and be done with it.

 

If you don't think it looks good enough from a graphical point of view then find an artist (or hire one) to fix that, but still just get the game finished.

 

You're at that point in a project where everything is dull and lifeless. You're fed-up of the game "as is" and start looking to enhance it, add more to it, because you've played it so many hundreds of times it doesn't excite you any more. But it probably doesn't need all the extras, it's you who needs them to keep your motivation up. Players coming fresh to the game will be excited by it as it stands right now.

 

So don't spend any more time on it. Channel your desire to improve it into a brand new game, because it will end-up making that one even better. Repeat this process several times over and you'll pick-up a load of skills along the way. And maybe one day you'll create Tiny Witch 2 using all you've learnt (and hopefully with a proper artist) and it will be all the better because of it.

[Danny00014]

I think you are right Rich. I'm going to make a small list of things to do and then I'm going to move on. I've got many other ideas I could be spending my time creating.

[BdR]

Pretty good game. I agree with Rich in moving to a new game, although if you want to enhance anything, I would maybe add a scrolling background.

 

The explosion animations look very good. How did you create them? With Explosion Generator 3.0? Also, the rotating  coin looks familiar, did you take that from a Mario game?

[Danny00014]

 

Pretty good game. I agree with Rich in moving to a new game, although if you want to enhance anything, I would maybe add a scrolling background.

 

The explosion animations look very good. How did you create them? With Explosion Generator 3.0? Also, the rotating  coin looks familiar, did you take that from a Mario game?

 

 

I got the explosion and coin from opengameart.org.

 

I didn't even know about explosion generator but it looks pretty cool to check out.

[ricklamers]

Hi Danny,

 

The game is quite fun to play. However a couple of feedback points from my point of view:

• Collision detection seems a bit off, maybe reduce collision area to avoid seemingly incorrect collisions
• To me there's not much sense of progress while playing a level, as mentoined before a scrolling background could help or perhaps a progress bar?
• I would avoid objects disappearing out of the blue. To get a sense of 'realism' I would have them fly out of the screen compeletely before removing them from the screen.
• UI is quite good imo, it's snappy and pretty straight forward. However, the looks could be improved but as you mentioned, you're not a designer so I think you actually did a fine job yourself. Don't be discouraged, you'll get better when you do it more. In my experience, analyzing UIs from very popular games works well. Just see how others do it, and try to analyze the details of the UI. What do they use? Common patterns? Take it into account in your next project and you'll definitely improve.

As to the question whether to continue on this project or do a new one, I agree with rich. This feels 'complete' as a game so I would try out a new game, perhaps a different type of game to further expand your skills. Early games are foremost a learning experience if you ask me, not so much creating a game that many people will play for hours on end, even though that's something you probably strife for, in the beginning it's a lot of building and experimenting to hone your skills. And in time, you'll be able to create those nice games that will be enjoyed by many.

 

Keep up the great work!