[Prototype] Deep Sea Explorer

edited in Projects
Description
In Deep Sea Explorer you control a small submarine and explore a deep sea cave occupied by dangerous creatures.

Currently the prototype is more of a type of dungeon crawler where you search for gems to unlock a door which takes the player to the next level. However I feel like it'd would be better to remove the collection aspect and just have it as a get from A to B in each room. Like this the player doesn't have to return to a room and repeat it. But I'm open to suggestions.

Feedback is welcome :)

image

HTML5 version
https://flobar.itch.io/deep-sea-explorer

Controls
Arrow keys to move

Comments

  • Possible movement and visuals for the submarine

    image
    movement.gif
    496 x 291 - 4M
  • Hi!

    I played this a little during lunch. All the below comments are simply thoughts I have. I don't know what direction you are going to take the game, so feel free to ignore any and all of my comments. :P

    1) I think having the player restart on the same screen they died is good. I would even let them restart after they collect the gems. Sort of like checkpoints within a screen. it depends on how friendly/causal the game is supposed to be, but taking this approach means the twitch style gameplay can be more unforgiving since the game itself is slightly more forgiving.
    2) I would love for the little submarine to have "inverted" controls and infinite momentum. So instead of pressing right to go right, I want to press right to fire of my air streams in that direction that will push my sub to the left. I would then have to counter the momentum by using my left air streams again.
    3) I like the visuals for the sub in the previous post. Looks very friendly. :)
    4) I think you should keep the explore angle of the game. For my 2 cents though it shouldn't be a case of having to go to every room to pass the level. There should be some reward for exploring the hard to reach places. So collecting the keys to the door has medium level challenge screen, but collecting a auto firing bubble shooter that will stun certain enemies is a hard challenge "screen". Depending on the art style, just seeing the extra screen might be reward enough.
    5) If you want to do the get from room A to B then I feel that there needs to be more tension. You could add an on theme timer by saying your sub only has x amount of oxygen left. I like the idea of having a giant jellyfish slowly chasing me. If you want to go that route, then I also think there shouldn't really be a "go back" option, but you could have branches in the road from A to B to make it more interesting for players.

    Hope that helps. :)
    Thanked by 2critic flobar
  • Hi,

    The movement feels good. The water jets look even better. Not knowing at first what the two slots were for and then finding the gems led to a satisfactory 'Aha!' moment. I feel this type of game lends itself just as well to exploration as it does to twitch movement. Is the colour of the sub coincidence or are you a Beatles fan?
  • @Rigormortis thanks for checking it out.

    My response to your feedback:
    1) I like the idea of a gem being a checkpoint for the player. I'll try it out.
    2) Never thought about inverting the controls. Might be interesting but might also be frustrating.
    3) I'm glad you like the submarine's new visuals.
    4) I'm not sure I'm going to keep the explore part of the game. I tend to enjoy fast twitch type of games more and might move it more into that direction.
    5) The reason the game seems more casual is because of the exploration aspect and having to move back to previous rooms, I didn't want to make each room extremely difficult otherwise players would get frustrated and quit. That is why I'm thinking of removing the exploration and turning it into more of a fast twitch type of game.

    Thanks again for such constructive feedback.
  • @Tightrope thanks for playing.

    I'm glad you had that 'Aha' moment. I intended the player to experience that feeling and it's awesome to know it worked.
    Regarding the Beatles song, I know it but it wasn't the determining factor of the yellow colour. I'm planning on giving the game a darker atmosphere and thought it would be a nice contrast to make the submarine yellow.

    Thanks again for the feedback!
    Thanked by 1Asriele
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