B: Attract & Repel

Ally

Hi here's my attempt at a game: Attract/Repel ( I haven't got another name for it at the mo).
I have no experience in this program (gamemaker), so please be patient as I am new
It was made on a mac, so saving to executable required me to zip the file.
Game Mechanic: Attract & Repel

Controls
Arrow keys for movement
Spacebar for repel

Game:
You are a human magnet stuck in a maze, along with strange monsters, you have nothing but your natural good looks to use to battle them as you try to collect coins used to buy your escape, the monsters know this and are also after the precious coins.
Use left/right/up/down keys to control your character and spacebar to activate your repel mask. Remember your repel mask only lasts 3 seconds, Be careful your attract/repel mask will work on everything, not only the monsters.

Points
Points are scored for every piece of gold collected.
Points are lost for every piece of gold monster collects.
When all the gold is collected, by either you or the monster or both the game is over.

I am still working on
- better movement for character and monster- trying to make it smoother
- a treasure chest that sits in the center of the game
- better graphics- yes I know the dude is a solid lollipop, I have focused entirely on making it work
- refreshing high score so it doesn't sit on same set of names
- when you win it will one day allow you to enter a high score instead of just ending the game.
-loading graphics, and displaying controls within the game

Sorry it is so unfinished, all feedback is welcomed and greatly appreciated. Thanks for taking the time to read this an play the game:)
Ally ( aka noob :P)

Merrik

Super keen to give it a play. Is it possible to create a windows build of the game?

Ally

Will have a look and let you know :)Thanks

Ally

Hi , going to have to rebuild game on windows partition, I did some research and it seems executable from the mac won't run on a pc. I also tried to sign up and upload it to yoyo site, but that's not working. Sorry will update here as soon as I have rebuilt it.

dislekcia

No worries, give us a screenshot when you get a chance to :)

So are you hooked yet?

Ally

Thanks will do. Very much so, I stopped running to work on the game, that for me is like not breathing :) def going to try to fix this issue with compatability

Tuism

It sounds great Alison :) cool mechanic to explore, unfortunate about the Mac issue! I will see if it works on my work Mac :)

The purpose of a prototype is to explore what needs explored, and in your case it seems to solidly be mechanic and gameplay rather than the graphics so lollipops are fine :)

Just from your description, do you have variable attraction according to distance? Like further = weaker force, closer = stronger force :)

Yep a screenshot would be a good start for us to see :)

Ally

Here are some screenshots so long

Ally

Hi yes I definatly have the attraction acc to distance, here's some more gripping screenshots:p

Ally

Thanks everyone for understanding and support, handing in some screenshots for me is not acceptable at all, however its all I can give until I can fix it. Thanks Tu, hope game works on your mac.

Merrik

If you have the time, you could post a gameplay video :)

Ally

Great idea, will def look into this. Thanks

Tuism

Nice work! Looking forward to the video! :D

dislekcia

If you're having problems getting to a windows PC to build the game, feel free to email me your GM project and I can build it this side if you're ok with that.

Ally

Wow, I have no words. Thank you for this offer. I am sure you are super busy , I am goin to attempt it on my windows partition on my mac 1st if that's ok. Ill update on my progress.

Ally

Hello I have tried to make an executable that works on a pc. I am not good on pc so have zipped the executable- hope this makes sence?(holding thumbs)

Tuism

Downloaded and gave it a play, it's a great start! :) I dig the mechanic, here's some feedback:

1) The monsters seem to do some cool pathfinding, something I haven't even tried in Game Maker yet :) however that results in some weird behaviours, sometimes they end up walking in circles, especially when repel is on.

2) Sometimes the repel/attraction doesn't work (both on the coins and the monsters) and they just stand in place?

3) I'm not seeing how the force varies according to distance - maybe the change is too drastic that it's become either on or off, as opposed to seeing it like, say, a magnetic force?

4) Player movement seem to move a bit inconsistently, sometimes the move step seem bigger than others. Sometimes he fails to move. Maybe smoothing the movement out by giving the game more steps, perhaps.

5) Seeing as the monsters have an expression, why not just change them to a :( when running away? Like Super Mario's ghosts :)


Again, cool idea, could go far :)

Ally

Hi
1) yes this is very frustrating- I am experimenting with whether they (the enemies) stop/bounce off at the walls , or whether its the invisible blocks I have put in that are causing this.
2) think this may have something to do with the movement I have setup- definitely trying to smooth this out
3) The attract repel is different for the coins and enemies, coins only work at closer range, whereas enemies work a bit further away. It is supposed to be like a magnet feel? experimenting alot with the variables on this though.
4) That sounds like a good idea will definitely try this
5) haha great idea, thanks

Alot of the coding/mechanics I kinda mashed together from tutorials to get something like what i was looking for, so still pulling it apart and experimenting on it to see how it works

Shot for taking the time to play my attempt at a game & give feedback, some great ideas I'm going to start working on
Ally

Merrik

Rad, Its a pretty novel design.

Ally said:

better graphics- yes I know the dude is a solid lollipop, I have focused entirely on making it work

Very much in line with the philosophy of the competition :)

Tuism said:

Seeing as the monsters have an expression, why not just change them to a when running away?

Juiciness!


Thoughts:
1) The inconsistent movement feels like the key presses and releases aren't being properly registered

2) To create the feeling of a magnet, you should try calculating the velocity of of the coins based on their distance to the player. i.e. the closer the coin, the faster it moves.

3) Smoothing the movement will make a vast difference when you get it right. Once you have that sorted it seems you could take the game in one of two different directions. Either:
A. Slower movement, with more time to make strategic movement decisions (How it currently feels to me)
or
B. Faster movement, creating a more twitch and reactionary play style

I’m personally in favor of faster gameplay, though I know this is a false dichotomy.

4) I’d recommend having a look at Hotline Miami’s design:


Its super addictive because the game loop is crazy fast. I fail sooo many times on every level, but because the level is mostly is deterministic I get a little better every time. So each time I die think ‘Just One more try! I’m going to eviscerate that guy sitting on the toilet next time!’.

I think this design (rapid trial and error) would work really effectively in Attract Repel, especially if you made the monsters real bastards (I like super difficult games) and keep the fast level reset.

5) A final thought: What if the monsters don't constantly try to eat the coin’s, but when they are planning on eating a coin, they show some indication of their dastardly intent? The player would then need to decide whether they want to detour from there current strategy to the coin before the monster.

Ally

Wow cool , def some great ideas to play around with, thanks so much for feedback an for taking time out to review an play the game. Will def be updating game an keeping all posted :)