One thing I noticed immediately is that there isn't an obvious exit key for the settings menu — should probably be added or you might see confusion about people being stuck in the menu!
I've been a big fan of your YouTube series, and I'm very glad to see you making your own game!
I don't think I have much to add that wasn't covered in your postmortem video; I agree with most of the feedback. I was particularly bothered by the magnet not being solid when it was on the floor. One thing you didn't mention that bothered me a little is that touching a door automatically forwards you to the next level instead of requiring a button press. I'm just primed to think I have to make characters walk through doors, I guess.
The awkward fusion of action and puzzling was definitely a problem for me. That is something that bothers me a lot in puzzle games, as it's frustrating to not know whether I'm executing the process wrong or if my setup is wrong. I think part of this may also have been the issue with the character controls; I like platform characters that are fast and fluid, with low friction and high acceleration, but this character was very slow and cumbersome, so movement wasn't as fun.
My favorite levels were... uh, I don't remember the names (it might be a good idea to clearly display level names when they start, since it makes it easier for players to give feedback), but the one with the three magnets that could lift the magnet but not the character, and the final one with the moving plug over the spike pit. I found the solutions quite a clever use of the game mechanics.
I did run into an odd bug in the room with the two horizontal lasers, where I threw the magnet above the lower laser when it was in its lower position, and it landed on top of the laser, as if it were solid. Moving the laser eventually made it behave correctly, but that was strange.
I really like the game. the movement is not great, but I like the magnet, and buttons. I think that overall the game is pretty good one other complaint I have is there are to many loading screens. I was wondering if I could have the code for the door and button, or if you used a tutorial a link to it would be really helpful. Thank you for giving it keyboard controls, and releasing the game for people who are not patrons.
Love the concept and the Youtube video series to go with it. Unfortunately I can't get very far as I can't seem to throw the magnet? Controls say aim with Left Shift but that does nothing for me - in fact I tried every key on my keyboard and none of them work for aim?
I got stuck on the last level/last room because I did not know that the magnet could be broken on the spikes. Did never happen to me before that and I it wasn't taught. And i wouldn't expect a metal object to break on some spikes.
Otherwise I had a lot of fun, didn't notice anything that you didn't mention in your video.
The idea is nice, I don't know if you have played Teslagrad before, but it's similar in a way that you have to use magnetic force there too.
The controls feel a bit weird, the player movement could be quicker.
The puzzles were enjoyable in my opinion, they were usually just right - not too easy but not too hard.
For the bugs: I think there was a time when I somehow managed to get the magnet float in the air, next to the side of the wall which had and activated switch in it. When the switch deactivated, the magnet fell back. I'm not sure if it's intentional, but after pressing the button to restart the level, the black background sweeps in from the left (which looks really cool by the way) then it disappears and appears again for loading the level. It might be better if it stayed there.
Absolutely stunning. This game is only in early development, but you introduced seven or so game mechanics over the course of only so many levels. This game could become really difficult really fast, and is an excellent puzzler. I'd love to see speed runs of this game when it's fully released. Fantastic job.
Amazing game!
I really enjoyed the level design and how you gradually add each mechanic of the game. The levels will get complex focusing on one mechanic and then get easy to teach you how another works. I think this way of level design works great!
The whole concept of the game is great and having a strong mechanic makes the game so much more enjoyable. The magnet is a great idea and I think you’ve executed it really well.
I have nothing bad to say about this. I watched your Dev Logs and couldn’t wait to play it. Amazing job!
I have only just found this community like 4 months ago, but you've inspired me to make video games. I've always loved making board games (and I still do), but a video game would be an interesting challenge.
After watching your video, I knew I shouldn't give any criticism, because you've probably heard everything by now, (plus it's hard to get me frustrated so anything I bring up will have already be covered).
Congradulations on your mvp. Although it has bugs, and may not work properly in particular cenarios. you have proven your worth to the game development community. and got something infront of us that we can all enjoy.
My only suggestion is do not take all the criticisms to heart its almost a great game, you essentially asked for negative feedback.
This was good. Part of the puzzling is how to use the platforms etc I played using a keyboard and had no issues with the platforming bits.
My only frustration is that it should be one puzzle one room or checkpoint, having to reset and re-do puzzles I already knew the answer to because I got stuck in a trap 3 puzzles over was no good.
I found a bug . When you throw the magnet upwards and try to go up, if the laser touches you, you stay on the laser. The game is stuck, you can't jump and you have no way out of here. :(
Overall, I think the game is good. I can't think of any problems besides the ones you mentioned in your video.
The one suggestion I have as far as iterating on the idea is that you make the magnet a permanent part of the character's equipment. You could take the magnet with you between levels and, prior to introducing the recall mechanic, you could use a level element to give the player back the magnet at the end of the level. That and making the robot visually match the magnet would help show that the magnet is the key element of the game.
I'm playing through at the moment, and as far as bugs go at least, one I see coming up is in the level Electro Magnet. During it, when you jump from being pulled with the magnet to the level's end, if you position yourself to be pulled on the edge and leave the beam with the magnet, landing on the top, the magnet will still want to finish its pull to the electro magnet, making it unable to be taken more than two tiles towards the door. In this particular level it isn't an issue, but were it to be used as a movement tool, it would be shut down because of it not checking if it should finish that pull. Setting the magnet down also does not stop its (unintended) tether.
I really want to play this on my Switch Pro Controller, but it doesn't seem to work with this game immediately, and I'm not too good with this stuff. Can you post some sort of instructions so that we know what to do to get our gamepads working?
All I've done so far is connected my controller via bluetooth to my laptop, I haven't set up a drive or anything. That's usually all I need to do for Steam, not sure about this. The player character keeps jumping and a keyboard occasionally opens up, which responds to my inputs but the player character doesn't.
Some random specs I think I'm supposed to include:
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-6300U CPU @ 2.40GHz 2.50 GHz
Installed RAM: 4GB
System Type: 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor
There are a few bugs I have found with the game. The most notable of which I will describe now: in the second or third level (Please make an indicator to show the level number) when you are supposed to drop the magnet you can pick it back up again just inside of its pickup field and you get stuck.
Just played through the game a few times and here are some observations. I was playing on a mouse and keyboard because I don't own a controller.
First the good. The mechanic is solid and enjoyable. There is a ton of potential with it! Finding the solution always felt fair, even when it took me a minute to get there. A big part of that was that each puzzle room fit in a single screen, which meant I could take in the entire picture as I went. The progression of new mechanics and their introduction was spot on. I really liked the little robot.
The critique. Sorry it's so much longer than the praise xD It's very easy to sum up what you like without going into detail, but critiquing always feels like it needs more precision to convey exactly what you mean, you know?
Jumping felt very floating, in a way where I never felt like I could reliable execute precise jumps. In particular, it felt like I jumped with an initial speed and if I held the jump button the jump would accelerate the higher I went. Which left me frequently finding myself jumping too high then being frustrated at the slow fall speed and feeling like I was having to wait too long to land so I could try again.
On several of the puzzles, mostly the ones involving the screws, I would figure out the solution pretty early on, then get stuck on nailing down the execution. The screws moved very slowly with no way to reset them quickly after I had already missed on that attempt, so it felt like there was a lot of sitting around waiting to be allowed to retry.
Relatedly, I tried just restarting the level a few times because that was the fastest way to get the room back to it's initial state, only to find myself several rooms back, having to replay through puzzles I had already solved. Which is to say, resetting the entire level when there are multiple rooms can be a frustrating situation, especially when I got myself stuck and had to restart. It would be nice if each individual room was considered its own "level" for the purposes of restarting.
The slow swipe transition to restart levels felt like it took longer than it really needed too. It would be nice to hit a button and pretty instantaneously reset to the start of a puzzle.
The one way platforms felt inconsistent in their rules. Particularly not being able to pass through them upwards with a magnet but then later being expected to drop through them with a magnet. It also felt weird that I couldn't throw the magnet upwards through them.
The slowed movement speed right after landing felt bad. Especially when combined with the floatiness of the jumps. It made the puzzles that required precise movement feel unnecessarily difficult. I frequently found myself trying to avoid jumping whenever possible as a result.
It felt like it took a long time for magnets to respawn.
I feel like I might have solved the last puzzle incorrectly? The one where you have to ride a plug across a spike pit then use the magnet to block a laser to open a pair of locked doors. The solution I came up with was destroying the magnet and hoping the new one would spawn and fall onto the moving plug. If that was the solution, then the lag between the magnet being destroyed and a new one spawning made it feel less like I was getting the timing right and more like I was taking wild stabs at the wrong answer and being punished for it.
Bugs!
Multiple times I got trapped trying to drop down through the one-way platforms. The platform would flip to the open sprite and the robot would freeze halfway through and require resetting the level.
It was possible to grab the hanging switches from a distance, which sometimes meant that if there was an open space, a vertical wall, and a hanging switch recessed behind the wall, I could jump against the wall and hold the grab button and my little robot arms would stretch through the wall to grab it. Which occasionally got me stuck on the wall.
The throw targeting dots seemed to remember their last position and would start the next throw in that direction, regardless of the direction I was holding. So if I threw the magnet left and up, then picked up a new magnet and hit the throw aim button while holding to the right, the indicator would start pointing up and to the left and only change to indicate the new direction if I clicked the throw button a few times. Often I would try to throw the magnet and instead just drop it at my feet (er, wheel I guess).
Throwing a magnet horizontally so that it lands between two one-way platforms would result in it becoming trapped and the level needing to be reset.
When standing on a one-way platform that had another platform above it, moving sideways, jumping, then immediately moving back and forth rapidly (eg, moving right, jump, start alternating the movement keys left, right, left, right, etc) occasionally resulted in the robot slowly zigzaging his way up into the air. Coming in contact with any over surface would immediately cause the robot to start obeying the laws of gravity again.
All that said, this was very fun to play and honestly really impressive to me. It's super cool that you were able to put this game together and get it out there for other people to play. I kinda hope you keep working on it because I would play the hell out of a longer version! Keep up the good work!
On the last puzzle, I'm pretty sure that's how to do it. In stead, what I did was I got to the other side by riding the plug with the magnet. Then I waited for the plug to stop right below the magnet dropper and stepped on the Orange Button. Then I threw the magnet into the spikes and the magnet got on top of the plug.
So, in my opinion, the puzzle was fair, just a little tricky.
hey just wanted to say i found a bug, nothing major just wanted to let you know, the magnet can get stuck on the side of the pull lever's wall, thankfully you're able to get the magnet here by just jumping down from above, but this may impact gameplay in the future
Magnetism is literally everywhere and in everything, your idea of magnets so far feels... simplistic. As in not doing magnetism true justice, where are the magnetic fields? A game is creation where anything can be possible, so let the real world keep magnetic fields invisible to the naked eye. Thankfully this is not the real world, why not show off some of the magic that is usually impossible to see in real life?
What if you develop some kind of toggle between normal vision, and "magnetic-fields-vision." In this "magnet-vision" the robot senses magnetic fields, revealing their rippling interference and interaction between, say, player magnet hands (pro-tip: add tiny magnet hands to ya Boi) and the magnetic fields between everything else on-screen, including platform sections, magnets, and even repellent zones to simplify a level, while also enabling your initial no-go areas, without having to butcher the once elegant and simple level. Having to stop and view the magnetic fields also helps put the brakes on some of that information overload, making the use of the magnetic fields view mode a rewarding one by showing the next order of information only once the player feels ready to tackle it. I hope this made sense as it is difficult to explain the idea, basically picture a magnetic field diagram, with the concentric expanding rings with arrows along those lines showing direction, they could be moving in their respective directions perhaps, but having the field lines warp and change with respect to all other magnetic fields in real-time will not only place heavy focus on MAGNETS, but also enable clearer communication to the player regarding the next step they should take. We all look forward to a reworked, reimagined demo version 2 release, in time that is 😀👍
Maybe start off with your magnet-vision-sensor getting broken, and briefly needing to use a compass, but holding it messes it up to point at your hands, so you have to drop it and move away to help indicate a field near by, helping you locate the replacement for the broken part to your magnetic fields sensor, this starting off strong on the theme of magnets and magnetism.
I feel that making magnetic fields visual and interactive would be extremely satisfying to play with already, then using it to help understand and overcome challenges would only build upon that satisfaction. It would surely allow for plenty of those "Eureka" moments where the player has that moment of noticing their new and unexpected understanding of the game world.
Hi Mark, I accidentally managed to throw the magnet from the bottom to the second platform, when I tried to grab it, it clipped and got stuck in the wall where the arrow shows.
Hello, Mark; and thanks for sharing your game with us! It was really fun to watch how did you planned out and built your game on Youtube, and it feels great to finally see it for ourselves.
Controls:
Now, I've played this game on Windows. The game didn't recognized my gamepad, so I used the keyboard controls . I found it wasn't as bad; I think it is sufficient for basic character movement. However, when it comes to throwing the magnet and/or flinging the character, it IS clunky, since it lacks the precision of the analog sticks.
Now, I am mostly a Keyboard and Mouse fan, primarily due to its quick and accurate response, so I'd personally prefer that set of controls over gamepad. Since there are 2D platformers which use Keyboard and Mouse, it may be a viable way to follow, at least for aiming.
However, if you don't want to have a single mouse cursor roaming around the screen, just for the sake of throwing things around, and not much else (I'm assuming there won't be any shooting?) here is another throwing mechanic, for the keyboard:
While pressing and holding the "Aim" key:
Tapping Left and Right flips directions,
Holding Left and Right Increase and Decrease the strength of the throw, depending on the direction you are facing,
Holding Up and Down adjusts the angle of the throw, between 0 and 90 degrees.
Pressing Pickup/Drop key throws the object/you and ends the Throw action,
Releasing the Aim key before throwing the object cancels the Throw action.
Level Design & Gameplay:
I liked the way you've introduced and expanded on the new concepts as the game progresses, so the gameplay progression was good. I only truly stumped once, at the end...
...which brings me to the visual design. It communicates what is what quite well (Researching for those GMTK videos really did paid off to you! Kudos!) without filling the screen with too many details. But I'd maybe change the spikes into, say, rotating sawblades? I mean, the spikes are an universal danger, allright, but it feels a little weird when those static spikes destroy our robot character, a hunk of *metal*; and even our magnet like it is made of porcelain - which can withstand the red laser, and getting thrown around in magnetic fields... I think that was mostly why I got stumped at the end, even though the game did taught me how the magnet and the spikes react... My 2 cents for visuals.
I personally think the one-way platforms are allright, it forces your character to move in a certain direction, and act as a valve. The game isn't an action game, but a puzzle game, so I'd say considering your movement actions should be a part of it as well. (Think of Portal 2, for example, the excursion funnels, at their core, force you to go towards one direction when you are using them. You can change the direction, or redirect it with portals, but you cannot travel against its flow).
Finally, the sound. The sound does feel juicy, however I've noticed a few quirks here and there. The most apparent one was that the sound sources didn't fade in/out, they stop abruptly once you go a certain distance away. In addition, they also seem to add up on one another - it is very apparent in the chamber with the 3 slow magnetic-lifters-in-a-row, their sound effects overlap and add-up.
In real life, the sound energy (Decibels, or dB) *does* add up, but it adds up logarithmically - base 10, if I recall - meaning to have the twice the amount of dB one unit produces (without altering the loudness of an unit), you need 10 of them, not 2; and 100 of them, if you want to triple the amount, and vice versa.
Anyways, there are my thoughts on the game so far. I am looking forward to see where this game evolves into, and I wish you good luck and a fulfilling creative experience!
Tried a few levels this morning. There's some fun here, but I did note few issues that made me struggle to get a good feeling in game:
The sudden loss of travel when landing discourages jumping and generally makes you feel like a sluggish character.
I miss being able to drop through a thin platform I'm standing on (i.e. D-Pad Down + Jump), especially as if you have to drop off to the side for some puzzles, you feel like you're not fighting the puzzle layout so much as the time penalty from the landing slowdown above.
Reusing the L stick for the throwing is another choice that feels like it constrains my movement/makes me less fluid when I could be moving with L and throwing with R. Appreciate this may be an accessibility choice, but I feel like I'm going to get tired in one hand more than the other if I want a prolonged game.
Something's up with the platform hitboxes and landing. You can stick below the level of the platform.
Magnet interaction with one way platforms seems inconsistent. In some places you can pass through, in some you can't.
Hanging off a rope, I feel like jump should also allow you to disconnect (even if it doesn't give you any vertical boost).
Sound and graphics look nice. Maybe don't have the particles effect following the wheel of the character, when we jump we can see it follow it weirdly.
I think the character should not loose as much momentum when landing. I find it a bit frustrative to be slowed down after each jump.
I liked to grab the magnet in midair because it repositioned the character a bit. It made me think about the mirror temple in Celeste where you can throw and catch a big crystal and it repositioned the character in an interesting way. Maybe you could play with this mechanic also ?
Sorry I did not finish the game, I really don't like puzzle games in general...
Overall, the game is very neat and already has a solid amount of polish to it. Love all the small details like the lights to show the magnetic radius and colour coding. The way the magnet snaps to objects also feels very juicy already.
With that said, onto the nitpicks:
The first panel in the throwing tutorial could be a bit more obvious. Didn’t realize that LT needed to be held down.
Alternatively, it would feel more natural to me if tapping X would drop the magnet, whereas holding X would start the aim and depressing would start the throw. (Probably because I always played Yoshis Island in the fast throw mode.)
The one-way platforms feel somehow clunky. I’m not a 100% sure on why exactly, but every time I had to climb those under time pressures it didn’t feel good climbing them.
On the technical side, it feels like the parallax background isn’t updating at the correct framerate on a high refresh rate monitor. This makes the scrolling feel a bit nauseating and juddery.
Lastly, one thought about the level design: The best levels are those that only work because of the magnet physics of the magnet itself. The one where you need to place a magnet along the path of a magnetic block so it attaches itself for example. On the other hand, the levels where the magnet basically acts like a glorified crate, mostly in the beginning, aren’t nearly as interesting.
I think the big RED crate had to be red in order to attract to the BLUE magnetism, just like the little magnet. Also, gray objects haven't been seen to be magnetic.
First of all I love the art style. I think giving the robot a single wheel instead of legs adds a lot of character to it. I liked the majority of the puzzles and how well you taught new mechanics . The one puzzle that gave me the most trouble was the one with the big red box. Once I figured it out I had that "ahh haa" moment and also "I'm an idiot" feeling.
There were some puzzles that after solving it, the pacing felt a bit sluggish having to wait for a platform to move or a door to open.
On my second play through I looked for bugs and short cuts. I found a few, some you might already be aware of. I recorded my third play though showing some of them. Testing GMTK's Untitled Magnet Game.
I really hope you eventually turn this into a full game :)
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One thing I noticed immediately is that there isn't an obvious exit key for the settings menu — should probably be added or you might see confusion about people being stuck in the menu!
Man, i've been trying to make a game of this calibre for a long time.
I've been a big fan of your YouTube series, and I'm very glad to see you making your own game!
I don't think I have much to add that wasn't covered in your postmortem video; I agree with most of the feedback. I was particularly bothered by the magnet not being solid when it was on the floor. One thing you didn't mention that bothered me a little is that touching a door automatically forwards you to the next level instead of requiring a button press. I'm just primed to think I have to make characters walk through doors, I guess.
The awkward fusion of action and puzzling was definitely a problem for me. That is something that bothers me a lot in puzzle games, as it's frustrating to not know whether I'm executing the process wrong or if my setup is wrong. I think part of this may also have been the issue with the character controls; I like platform characters that are fast and fluid, with low friction and high acceleration, but this character was very slow and cumbersome, so movement wasn't as fun.
My favorite levels were... uh, I don't remember the names (it might be a good idea to clearly display level names when they start, since it makes it easier for players to give feedback), but the one with the three magnets that could lift the magnet but not the character, and the final one with the moving plug over the spike pit. I found the solutions quite a clever use of the game mechanics.
I did run into an odd bug in the room with the two horizontal lasers, where I threw the magnet above the lower laser when it was in its lower position, and it landed on top of the laser, as if it were solid. Moving the laser eventually made it behave correctly, but that was strange.
I really like the game. the movement is not great, but I like the magnet, and buttons. I think that overall the game is pretty good one other complaint I have is there are to many loading screens. I was wondering if I could have the code for the door and button, or if you used a tutorial a link to it would be really helpful. Thank you for giving it keyboard controls, and releasing the game for people who are not patrons.
Love the concept and the Youtube video series to go with it. Unfortunately I can't get very far as I can't seem to throw the magnet? Controls say aim with Left Shift but that does nothing for me - in fact I tried every key on my keyboard and none of them work for aim?
I got stuck on the last level/last room because I did not know that the magnet could be broken on the spikes. Did never happen to me before that and I it wasn't taught. And i wouldn't expect a metal object to break on some spikes.
Otherwise I had a lot of fun, didn't notice anything that you didn't mention in your video.
I'm not sure if it was the intent of the level, but I solved the puzzle by breaking the magnet 😅
Yeah, I think it is
The idea is nice, I don't know if you have played Teslagrad before, but it's similar in a way that you have to use magnetic force there too.
The controls feel a bit weird, the player movement could be quicker.
The puzzles were enjoyable in my opinion, they were usually just right - not too easy but not too hard.
For the bugs:
I think there was a time when I somehow managed to get the magnet float in the air, next to the side of the wall which had and activated switch in it. When the switch deactivated, the magnet fell back.
I'm not sure if it's intentional, but after pressing the button to restart the level, the black background sweeps in from the left (which looks really cool by the way) then it disappears and appears again for loading the level. It might be better if it stayed there.
Overall, this game has potential, keep it up! :D
not very good. Nothing special. At least to the point I've played
Absolutely stunning. This game is only in early development, but you introduced seven or so game mechanics over the course of only so many levels. This game could become really difficult really fast, and is an excellent puzzler. I'd love to see speed runs of this game when it's fully released. Fantastic job.
Amazing game! I really enjoyed the level design and how you gradually add each mechanic of the game. The levels will get complex focusing on one mechanic and then get easy to teach you how another works. I think this way of level design works great! The whole concept of the game is great and having a strong mechanic makes the game so much more enjoyable. The magnet is a great idea and I think you’ve executed it really well. I have nothing bad to say about this. I watched your Dev Logs and couldn’t wait to play it. Amazing job!
I pretty sure this is not what I'm supposed to do by the way. But I think I got the jiff of the level.
I have only just found this community like 4 months ago, but you've inspired me to make video games. I've always loved making board games (and I still do), but a video game would be an interesting challenge.
After watching your video, I knew I shouldn't give any criticism, because you've probably heard everything by now, (plus it's hard to get me frustrated so anything I bring up will have already be covered).
Keep up the amazing work you do.
Congradulations on your mvp. Although it has bugs, and may not work properly in particular cenarios. you have proven your worth to the game development community. and got something infront of us that we can all enjoy.
cant wait to see the final game ;)
just noitced the first part try to make the fan sound fading not just cut once you leave its trigger area its a very good atmmospheric design
My only suggestion is do not take all the criticisms to heart its almost a great game, you essentially asked for negative feedback.
This was good. Part of the puzzling is how to use the platforms etc I played using a keyboard and had no issues with the platforming bits.
My only frustration is that it should be one puzzle one room or checkpoint, having to reset and re-do puzzles I already knew the answer to because I got stuck in a trap 3 puzzles over was no good.
My first run through took about 15min.
Linux? Pls?
I concur! Should be simple enough to compile a build for Linux.
In the mean time you can try running it with bottles https://github.com/bottlesdevs/Bottles
Controller support not working on MacOS. Xbox One controller connected over Bluetooth to MacBook Pro 14" with M1 Pro.
Overall, I think the game is good. I can't think of any problems besides the ones you mentioned in your video.
The one suggestion I have as far as iterating on the idea is that you make the magnet a permanent part of the character's equipment. You could take the magnet with you between levels and, prior to introducing the recall mechanic, you could use a level element to give the player back the magnet at the end of the level. That and making the robot visually match the magnet would help show that the magnet is the key element of the game.
I'm playing through at the moment, and as far as bugs go at least, one I see coming up is in the level Electro Magnet. During it, when you jump from being pulled with the magnet to the level's end, if you position yourself to be pulled on the edge and leave the beam with the magnet, landing on the top, the magnet will still want to finish its pull to the electro magnet, making it unable to be taken more than two tiles towards the door. In this particular level it isn't an issue, but were it to be used as a movement tool, it would be shut down because of it not checking if it should finish that pull. Setting the magnet down also does not stop its (unintended) tether.
I really want to play this on my Switch Pro Controller, but it doesn't seem to work with this game immediately, and I'm not too good with this stuff. Can you post some sort of instructions so that we know what to do to get our gamepads working?
All I've done so far is connected my controller via bluetooth to my laptop, I haven't set up a drive or anything. That's usually all I need to do for Steam, not sure about this. The player character keeps jumping and a keyboard occasionally opens up, which responds to my inputs but the player character doesn't.
Some random specs I think I'm supposed to include:
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-6300U CPU @ 2.40GHz 2.50 GHz
Installed RAM: 4GB
System Type: 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor
Edition: Windows 10 Pro
if you insert the game into steam, i belive the inputs will be carried through. also, if you are gonna use nintendo controllers often, try wiinupro
Try using XBOX 360 controller emulator tho
Oh, it's nearly impossible to play using keyboard. Especially when you need to throw a magnet on the fly
What are you taking about? I did it with only keyboard.
But the game was amazing and unique !!!
i cant move with magnet it stucks there
a small bug if i throw a magnet upwards and pick it up ,this happens
There are a few bugs I have found with the game. The most notable of which I will describe now: in the second or third level (Please make an indicator to show the level number) when you are supposed to drop the magnet you can pick it back up again just inside of its pickup field and you get stuck.
Here’s an image of what happens
You can drop the magnet and then grab it again and just keep doing that until it gets unstuck.
Could not play becuase the game did not adjust to my screen size though i could not see some buttons which were of screen.
Just played through the game a few times and here are some observations. I was playing on a mouse and keyboard because I don't own a controller.
First the good. The mechanic is solid and enjoyable. There is a ton of potential with it! Finding the solution always felt fair, even when it took me a minute to get there. A big part of that was that each puzzle room fit in a single screen, which meant I could take in the entire picture as I went. The progression of new mechanics and their introduction was spot on. I really liked the little robot.
The critique. Sorry it's so much longer than the praise xD It's very easy to sum up what you like without going into detail, but critiquing always feels like it needs more precision to convey exactly what you mean, you know?
Bugs!
All that said, this was very fun to play and honestly really impressive to me. It's super cool that you were able to put this game together and get it out there for other people to play. I kinda hope you keep working on it because I would play the hell out of a longer version! Keep up the good work!
WARNING: SPOILERS
On the last puzzle, I'm pretty sure that's how to do it. In stead, what I did was I got to the other side by riding the plug with the magnet. Then I waited for the plug to stop right below the magnet dropper and stepped on the Orange Button. Then I threw the magnet into the spikes and the magnet got on top of the plug.
So, in my opinion, the puzzle was fair, just a little tricky.
smh no linux
hey just wanted to say i found a bug, nothing major just wanted to let you know, the magnet can get stuck on the side of the pull lever's wall, thankfully you're able to get the magnet here by just jumping down from above, but this may impact gameplay in the future
How do you reset the level on a keyboard?
you can click space button to restart the level and K to quit the game.
Magnetism is literally everywhere and in everything, your idea of magnets so far feels... simplistic. As in not doing magnetism true justice, where are the magnetic fields? A game is creation where anything can be possible, so let the real world keep magnetic fields invisible to the naked eye. Thankfully this is not the real world, why not show off some of the magic that is usually impossible to see in real life?
What if you develop some kind of toggle between normal vision, and "magnetic-fields-vision." In this "magnet-vision" the robot senses magnetic fields, revealing their rippling interference and interaction between, say, player magnet hands (pro-tip: add tiny magnet hands to ya Boi) and the magnetic fields between everything else on-screen, including platform sections, magnets, and even repellent zones to simplify a level, while also enabling your initial no-go areas, without having to butcher the once elegant and simple level. Having to stop and view the magnetic fields also helps put the brakes on some of that information overload, making the use of the magnetic fields view mode a rewarding one by showing the next order of information only once the player feels ready to tackle it. I hope this made sense as it is difficult to explain the idea, basically picture a magnetic field diagram, with the concentric expanding rings with arrows along those lines showing direction, they could be moving in their respective directions perhaps, but having the field lines warp and change with respect to all other magnetic fields in real-time will not only place heavy focus on MAGNETS, but also enable clearer communication to the player regarding the next step they should take. We all look forward to a reworked, reimagined demo version 2 release, in time that is 😀👍
Maybe start off with your magnet-vision-sensor getting broken, and briefly needing to use a compass, but holding it messes it up to point at your hands, so you have to drop it and move away to help indicate a field near by, helping you locate the replacement for the broken part to your magnetic fields sensor, this starting off strong on the theme of magnets and magnetism.
I feel that making magnetic fields visual and interactive would be extremely satisfying to play with already, then using it to help understand and overcome challenges would only build upon that satisfaction. It would surely allow for plenty of those "Eureka" moments where the player has that moment of noticing their new and unexpected understanding of the game world.
I love that idea, it could definitely make some interesting puzzles and art.
Hi Mark, I accidentally managed to throw the magnet from the bottom to the second platform, when I tried to grab it, it clipped and got stuck in the wall where the arrow shows.
Hello, Mark; and thanks for sharing your game with us! It was really fun to watch how did you planned out and built your game on Youtube, and it feels great to finally see it for ourselves.
Controls:
Now, I've played this game on Windows. The game didn't recognized my gamepad, so I used the keyboard controls . I found it wasn't as bad; I think it is sufficient for basic character movement. However, when it comes to throwing the magnet and/or flinging the character, it IS clunky, since it lacks the precision of the analog sticks.
Now, I am mostly a Keyboard and Mouse fan, primarily due to its quick and accurate response, so I'd personally prefer that set of controls over gamepad. Since there are 2D platformers which use Keyboard and Mouse, it may be a viable way to follow, at least for aiming.
However, if you don't want to have a single mouse cursor roaming around the screen, just for the sake of throwing things around, and not much else (I'm assuming there won't be any shooting?) here is another throwing mechanic, for the keyboard:
While pressing and holding the "Aim" key:
Level Design & Gameplay:
I liked the way you've introduced and expanded on the new concepts as the game progresses, so the gameplay progression was good. I only truly stumped once, at the end...
...which brings me to the visual design. It communicates what is what quite well (Researching for those GMTK videos really did paid off to you! Kudos!) without filling the screen with too many details. But I'd maybe change the spikes into, say, rotating sawblades? I mean, the spikes are an universal danger, allright, but it feels a little weird when those static spikes destroy our robot character, a hunk of *metal*; and even our magnet like it is made of porcelain - which can withstand the red laser, and getting thrown around in magnetic fields... I think that was mostly why I got stumped at the end, even though the game did taught me how the magnet and the spikes react... My 2 cents for visuals.
I personally think the one-way platforms are allright, it forces your character to move in a certain direction, and act as a valve. The game isn't an action game, but a puzzle game, so I'd say considering your movement actions should be a part of it as well. (Think of Portal 2, for example, the excursion funnels, at their core, force you to go towards one direction when you are using them. You can change the direction, or redirect it with portals, but you cannot travel against its flow).
Finally, the sound. The sound does feel juicy, however I've noticed a few quirks here and there. The most apparent one was that the sound sources didn't fade in/out, they stop abruptly once you go a certain distance away. In addition, they also seem to add up on one another - it is very apparent in the chamber with the 3 slow magnetic-lifters-in-a-row, their sound effects overlap and add-up.
In real life, the sound energy (Decibels, or dB) *does* add up, but it adds up logarithmically - base 10, if I recall - meaning to have the twice the amount of dB one unit produces (without altering the loudness of an unit), you need 10 of them, not 2; and 100 of them, if you want to triple the amount, and vice versa.
Anyways, there are my thoughts on the game so far. I am looking forward to see where this game evolves into, and I wish you good luck and a fulfilling creative experience!
Sincerely;
Shroudeye
Tried a few levels this morning. There's some fun here, but I did note few issues that made me struggle to get a good feeling in game:
Sound and graphics look nice. Maybe don't have the particles effect following the wheel of the character, when we jump we can see it follow it weirdly.
I think the character should not loose as much momentum when landing. I find it a bit frustrative to be slowed down after each jump.
I liked to grab the magnet in midair because it repositioned the character a bit. It made me think about the mirror temple in Celeste where you can throw and catch a big crystal and it repositioned the character in an interesting way. Maybe you could play with this mechanic also ?
Sorry I did not finish the game, I really don't like puzzle games in general...
Have a nice day !
Oh also I find it really polished so it's cool
I recorded my second playthrough, but to save time I muted and sped up the sections where I didn't have too much to say:
I had a lot of fun with this today. I look forward to following the project. Good luck!Overall, the game is very neat and already has a solid amount of polish to it. Love all the small details like the lights to show the magnetic radius and colour coding. The way the magnet snaps to objects also feels very juicy already.
With that said, onto the nitpicks:
Lastly, one thought about the level design: The best levels are those that only work because of the magnet physics of the magnet itself. The one where you need to place a magnet along the path of a magnetic block so it attaches itself for example. On the other hand, the levels where the magnet basically acts like a glorified crate, mostly in the beginning, aren’t nearly as interesting.
(Played on Windows V1.2)
Thank you! The comment "the levels where the magnet basically acts like a glorified crate aren’t nearly as interesting" is really key feedback, cheers
I think the big RED crate had to be red in order to attract to the BLUE magnetism, just like the little magnet. Also, gray objects haven't been seen to be magnetic.
Edit:
Here is my v1.2 playthrough. I attempted to speed run v1.2
I did find a new bug. At the title screen if you pause then reset the level, there will be a overlapping second music track that starts.
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First of all I love the art style. I think giving the robot a single wheel instead of legs adds a lot of character to it. I liked the majority of the puzzles and how well you taught new mechanics . The one puzzle that gave me the most trouble was the one with the big red box. Once I figured it out I had that "ahh haa" moment and also "I'm an idiot" feeling.
There were some puzzles that after solving it, the pacing felt a bit sluggish having to wait for a platform to move or a door to open.
On my second play through I looked for bugs and short cuts. I found a few, some you might already be aware of. I recorded my third play though showing some of them. Testing GMTK's Untitled Magnet Game.
I really hope you eventually turn this into a full game :)