F: Platform Builder
Like playing 2D platformers?
Want to make your own but don't know how?
I have the solution. Build your own 2D platformer by selecting which backgrounds, platforms, enemies, collectables you want.
Set up all your scenes, then press play and try out your creation!
Don't like something, edit it and play again.
Here is the web build : https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/56011417/PlatformBuilder/WebBuild.html
Want to make your own but don't know how?
I have the solution. Build your own 2D platformer by selecting which backgrounds, platforms, enemies, collectables you want.
Set up all your scenes, then press play and try out your creation!
Don't like something, edit it and play again.
Here is the web build : https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/56011417/PlatformBuilder/WebBuild.html
Comments
Still TODO: enemies, score and health system
C'mon guys. Tell me its crap. Tell me you hate it. Tell me you like it but.... Anything please :)
- Screenshots
- Maybe a video
- Making it appealing in general. Ask yourself, did you click on someone else's prototype that presented itself in the same way you did?
B. Everyone's kinda busy. So you have to make an effort to make it worth people's time :)
Now on feedback:
1. The window's too big, I had to scroll around to see the whole content.
2. The way you talk through the building is nice, but clunky for building long term.
3. The way you click on a piece on the left then click right to place is confusing, more so for collectibles as you have to click left and right and left and right. For platforms you want to attach a "shadow" to the cursor so the player knows what they're placing.
4. ... In fact, this is SUPER ambitious for a simple quick prototype, level editors (in fact any editor) is a huge undertaking because there's so many UI requirements for it to be useful - and what you're looking for in a level editor is usefulness, not a new and interesting "mechanic" which a prototype should be looking for. I can name a whole bunch of other things that could make the experience of the level editor you've made better, but those things add up to usability tweaks and not prototyping for fun. Do you see the difference?
If your goal is ultimately to build a good level editor and learn what makes a good level editor, then sure, take this exercise and polish this up. If your goal is to prototype and make something fun, then focus on that, look for mechanics that fit that.
Hope this makes sense :)
2.) After a while you don't even need to look at the writing so I think it is ok as is.
3.) Click once to select and click twice to place was done so that you can click and drag them after, else when you click to drag a platform it would instantiate another at the point you clicked. I never did think about a way around that yet but I`ll look into it.
4.) Super ambitious maybe, but I have always been a very rapid prototyper and seeing as I haven't really spent long to get it this far, I think investing another week in it would be ok. Perfect sense yes. The funny thing is that I never thought of this as a "Level Builder" until you mentioned it :D
This was for people who don't know how to make games, the fun element would be playing your creation once completed, not the mechanics.
The point I'm making is - yes people will have fun making things, but they want to make things that are "original" - and that comes from building blocks - in minecraft it's little blocks of different colours that can combine to be whatever shape and colour. In besieged it's non-descript bits of wood and gears and explosions and fire that could be anything shape and do anything (and then catch fire and explode).
Your assets (platforms, enemies, backgrounds, etc) are too "already there" for the creator to feel like they own it. So for people to feel like they own it, you need smaller pieces that can be manipulated for the player to feel like they "own" it.
And that's a huge undertaking!
What makes your game, a game? What is the purpose/goal of the game?
Is the purpose to make a game, or to play and win the game you create? Is this a tool like game maker, or is it actually a game?
Minecraft/Terraria starts of as a game, where the key is survival. How do you survive? By creating shelter, make weapons and gather equipment. Then it transforms into a free form open world "building" game.
It just feels like the direction of your game is not clear enough.
If your goal is: make exactly this and learn from exactly this, then that's great! You didn't even need to be in comp F to make this :) Well done, keep making exactly this and let us know what you want out of it so we can comment accordingly.
If your goal is to be part of comp F: then we will comment towards whether or not you're fulfilling the goal of successfully building a prototype that is fun and fulfils comp F's criterias.
-------------------------------------------------- I didn't actually say anything about 2D or 3D - Terreria was 2D and it was huge too. Little Big Planet was 2D too. That has nothing to do with the complexity. The number of attempts previous to this also has nothing to do with what I'm saying - you really have no need to "defend yourself" from comments - we make them so that we can all improve. Please don't ever feel like your efforts are unappreciated - anyone here taking time to comment is hoping that you'd improve, not to bring you down :)
A few bugs: The Player selection menu didn't pop up for me, and the pivot points of certain tiles were offset from the main sprites. I'd also encourage you to implement some sort of grid snap or some other system to allow aligned tile placement. I was able to overlap a bunch of stuff, and it would've been nice to just have it snap to a grid instead. Unless you already have this, and I missed it because I didn't read. :P
I'd also have tile selection be persistent once the player's selected one. Having to click the same button each time I wanted to add multiple instances of the same object was a little clunky.
The player section will only pop up on level2 scene5, this is currently the last scene. As for the snap-to-grid, well I could try it, but I guess if you don't want stuff overlapping, then don't overlap it when placing it :D
I know about the pivot points on some platforms being offset. Actually there are no pivot points, you are just clicking on it`s collider, the same collider that's used to stop the player from falling through it. I will add bigger trigger colliders to these platforms to compensate.
Persistent tile selection is a bit tricky, as I replied to Tuism before, once you select a platform, then click the screen to place it, you are able to click and drag it. Now if the tile was persistent, when you click to drag it, another tile would instantiate. I`m sure there is a way around it, just haven't spent any more time on the game lately. Actually I might pull it and start from scratch since all comments lead to there either being no clear direction or not enough meat :)