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[Alpha] 6x Mass Production

raxterraxter
edited in Projects
6x Mass Production is a puzzle game about constructing things out of hexagonal blocks

Web build - Requires Unity Plugin (7 MB)
Windows build (15MB)
MacOS build (16 MB)
Ubuntu Linux build (17 MB)

[Edit 12 Jan '15: this is a new version with updated levels and updated UI!]

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I really hope that you enjoy the game ^_^

12 Jan '15: Thanks for all the feedback (and most of it is implemented, the stuff that was reasonable to do so). I'm now trying to find an audience for this game, anyone have any advice on how I would go about doing that?

tl;dr on feedback I'm looking for:
1) Tutorials! Did anything confuse you or did you get stuck anywhere?

2) UI! Are there UI elements that are unclear or confusing at first? Did you mistake one thing for another or misinterpret anything?

3) If you have other comments or suggestions I'm always keen to hear :)

I'd really value your feedback and comments so if you have a free moment to try it out I'd really appreciate it!

To see what level you are on press F1 to see the level name and number (top left corner)

Much love to you all <3

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6xMP_MGSA8.gif
630 x 398 - 2M

Comments

  • raxterraxter
    So a lot has happened since the last version of this. It's actually this is whole new version, build from the ground up (I had my reasons).

    I got a lot of great feedback last time around (many moons ago) and I've implemented as much of that as I could. As a result the UI is far better now (thanks to you!) but I it definitely needs a bit more work, specifically the finish area and the 'instruction belt'.

    I'm not planning on extending the mechanics right now. I'm going to rather get the core fleshed out as much as possible, then focus on expanding the game. Simply because I could keep adding features forever, and I do want to finish making this game! Arms that grab other arms and a level editor might have to wait for the sequel, 12x Mass Production.

    Here's the major planned changes for this version though:
    • Make the finish area look *completely different* and have it open up to accept a correct construction instead of it mysteriously disappearing
    • Alternatively there might be an 'output node' (like the input node) that the construction just needs to touch in order for it to be checked (I'm leaning towards this one tbh)
    • The instruction belt will run left to right rather than up/down
    • Might have a slider instead of 4 buttons with different speeds
    • Might make a preview shadow or ghost of where the grabbers will go once run (like 25% transparent arrows that appear when hovering)
    • Lots of little inconsistencies with colors and style of certain UI elements
  • woganwogan
    edited
    @raxter So I get this happening with the Windows build, launching it with the default res (1024x768) in Windowed mode: http://i.imgur.com/qHbiyIK.png - looks like I have to run it in 1280x720 to actually see everything on the screen.

    I can also see the particle effect after the page shutters close: http://i.imgur.com/16SSmjj.png

    I really like this game though, must say! It's a simple mechanic, and I was able to get a few levels into it without actually getting stuck. Great job on the training/difficulty progression, and the music! I think the ghost arms are a good idea - in level 6 it's a bit difficult to tell how many move instructions you need.
  • raxterraxter
    Awesome! Thanks @wogan I worked quite hard on the initial difficulty curve (introducing the player to concepts in as small steps as humanly possible)

    Yeah currently you can only play in widescreen, something I'm going to implement soon! (also yeah that particle effect bug is an annoying one, also looking into that).

    Interesting comment about level 6. So the way it works is that you don't need to use all the instruction slots available to you. However I see that I've not made this clear in any way. Hmm, this will be a tricky one to solve but I think you're not the first to be thrown by this, so it's something I'll have to reflect on.

    Thanks for the feedback, very valuable :)

    Oh, music is by Goat Notes Music (Joe Bolton), I'll include his name (and the graphic artist's name, Gabriel Gabba) on the main menu screen asap and update the builds :o
  • creative630creative630
    edited
    Rad game, I played it for much longer than my "quick 10min break" :P
    Looking really good, and its getting really smooth to play.

    Feedback:
    • I'd like a sort of animation when dropping instructions into the list, atm its not immediately clear where it is dropping into. (lerping them all to their new positions would work well)
    • When you click outside of the instruction set of an arm, I'd like it (and the other open sets) to close. I find it annoying to have to close them manually.
    • I'd really like copy/paste functionality, so that I can just tweak arms instead of rebuilding similar instruction sets every time.
    • I love the lighting, I played the "blue pointlight follows the mouse in circles" game way to long.
    • Level 21 "matter of flexibility" is pretty hard, I don't know how to finish it. Its probably easy to do, but I feel that I need some more guidelines about how different length arm extensions work with each other maybe?
    • Dang that soundtrack is good.
    • When you play in ratios more wide than 16:9, you can notice the drop-down scene-change doors thing are not aligned to each other (the perfectionist part of me is an asshole, I know :P ).
    Thanked by 1raxter
  • PhoenixPhoenix
    Game is awesome...
    • One thing I noticed, which I don't know if you want to change. At the moment it is possible to move the construction blocks onto a grabber main block. Changing it would make the game more difficult.
    • If you click to insert an instruction and then hit the hotkey, it doesn't insert but rather changes the current command.
    I can confirm that the last level (30) is possible :) I only used the first welder.
    Thanked by 1raxter
  • raxterraxter
    @creavite630 @Phoenix thanks for the feedback! I will dig into this properly a bit later today. Needless to say the UI still needs a lot of work but I'm super buzzed that you enjoyed it!
  • raxterraxter
    Awesome! Thanks again!

    @creative630
    So in response to the 'instruction belt' UI opening closing vibe I'm actually planning a pretty big change all-round:

    Instructions will go left to right, not only does this make more sense in general (as people read left to right more than up to down - Anglo linguistic bais noted) but also because the game is widescreen ot makes more spatial sense to have the UI longer than taller.

    Second, I'm going to make it such that only one grabber can be 'opened' at a time, (exactly like you said). This leaves a problem that for more complicated levels you might want to have more than one open. I *might* implement a "Ctrl-click" to open multiple belts but what I'm planning on doing is using that empty space on the left to hold smaller reference belts that are all lined up to the grabbers but not actually on the board (right now having them all on the board is just cluttering up everything).
    This might not work out or might need tweaking but I think it's worth trying out.

    And basically a big fat *YES* to the rest of your feedback (and I know the drop doors don't line up! I hate it! They were never designed to actually. It's basically the background cut in two and swapped around to form a trap door :p)

    @Phoenix
    Yeah, that insert arrow + hotkey should actually insert! Very annoying that not working, thx for picking that up!
    I'm not too sure I want to make the grabber arm's base collidable with the constructions, basically it would make some levels absolutely impossible. That said it would be a fun mechanic to experiment with once I feel like the core gameplay is a bit more established so maybe in the future I'll look into that (along with arms that can grab other arms and other fun additions to the basic formula ;) )

    Thanks again! Also thanks to the numerous people here who have been giving me feedback via other channels, really appreciate all the effort. I know I've not been too active on the forums to expect feedback like this but I'm going to make an effort to give more feedback to other people (no one likes an effort leach :p )

    For anyone else reading I made a blog post basically mirroring this post. Read if you are interested but otherwise is all chill ^_^
  • PhoenixPhoenix
    I like the idea of the finish area being the same shape as the part you have to create. I think you mentioned it earlier. This would add the challenge of having to properly position & rotate the part to finish and drop it in the slot. You might also not need to put the target part shape on the right side of the screen, making more screen space or the game less widescreen.

    Another idea i had. I think it would be cool if you had a bunch of levels making small parts followed by a level which combines them into one big one. You could then show the whole process in one go somehow.

    I had another idea but I promptly forgot it :/
    Thanked by 1raxter
  • raxterraxter
    Yeah I think making the output nodes similar to the input nodes have great implication to the general use of space on that right hand side, will have to mess around with it and see what works.
    Another idea i had. I think it would be cool if you had a bunch of levels making small parts followed by a level which combines them into one big one. You could then show the whole process in one go somehow.
    Yes! I would really love to make multiple interconnecting levels "ala SpaceChem". This is quite a big feature though so I might save it for a future version but something the game code is prep'ed for and definitely something I want to do!

    Thanks for this feedback man, really useful stuff ^_^
  • raxterraxter
    Hi everyone!

    So I've uploaded a new version of the game (same link as in OP) so please give it a shot! It includes new UI, new tutorial levels (that are hopefully not as mechanically confusing) and the lighting is tweaked to look a bit better.

    What I need to find out now is how to find people to play the game? What would you recommend, Kongregate? Steam? I mean I don't want to get ahead of myself and assume it's a great game and needs to go onto a storefront of some form but I need more eyes looking at it and giving feedback, or at least letting me know that it's not worth the time. If you think this is the case (that I should just drop it), let me know, time for this to sink or swim ;)

    Anyone have advice for me?

    So far I've posted to TIGSource, twittered about it (thanks for the retweets!) and emailed a few devs very polite emails hoping for some critical feedback, what more can I do?
  • UrielCorinthianUrielCorinthian
    Me! Me! I'm your audience! :D This looks great!

    Downloading right now... Stand by for feedback :)
    Thanked by 1raxter
  • raxterraxter
    Please let me know! So something I've come to realise from posting 6x to other websites is that the progression is very slow for some, but average for others. The game is in a bit of an identity crises I think :p it's straddling hardcore and casual puzzle experiences and not really doing either very well. For instance it's super easy up until the last 5 levels, then is friggin' impossible.

    I think I have enough that I will give this one more iteration of changes, but I'll be focusing on level design and level progression (something non-linear for sure) instead of too many new mechanics (though the splitter hardly features and it's there ready to roll). Also making more mid-hard difficulty puzzles and seeing if those are fun first before investing too much more time. Mid difficulty puzzles is something that my eaaaaaaaarly prototype actually did kinda well but that the alpha rewrite seems to have lost somewhere.

    I would also like to point out that making games is hard...

  • Gazza_NGazza_N
    The UI is loaaaaads better than the first version I played, so very nicely done there. You've fixed all the niggles I had with the older version - all the elements are clear, the instruction queues are distinct, the execution order is evident, and I think the tutorial is robust. I think it's a marked improvement, and I still find it fun.

    I'll have to give it a nice long play before I can comment on the progression, but I've come to a halt on Just Weld for some reason, so I'll have to get back to you as soon as I figure the bastard out. :P
    Thanked by 1raxter
  • creative630creative630
    edited
    As others have mentioned I think the UI is much better! Feels pretty solid now.

    Feedback:
    [items]
    [*] I would still like it to automatically close the current arm's production bar when I click away from it (in empty space). It is however much much better than the last time I played. Like when you click on another arm it closes, or the current arm again it closes. Edit: when I say empty space I mean space relatively far from the bar. Automatically closing when clicking on space really close to the bar might be a little frustrating.
    [*] I felt the tutorial progression was a little slow too.. I feel like if you hinted at what you're supposed to do more (with text corrections), and have less text people might learn the game a little quicker? If they learn it quicker then maybe you could have less tutorial levels. I dunno, tough problem you have there!
    [/items]

    Edit2: well shit, the BBCode bullets aren't working
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