Feedback request for Mazeland.net ; A maze with obstacles

WIP games, tools & toy projects Archived Projects
#1

Hi All,

It has been a long time ago when I first released mazeland.net version 1. A lot of valued
comments have been noted and put into mazeland version II.

Please write us a small message what you think of our latest version of Mazeland.Net
It is an online puzzle game where you must use or get rid of obstacles.

25 Levels can be played freely. If you like what you see and want more we offer
an online access to play all 100 levels. The fee we ask for this is 25 US Dollars or 17 Euro.
If popular we want to expand with level pack(s) that cost 10 US Dollar (100 levels).

The game is written as a Java 1.1.x Applet so it should work on all platforms with all browsers.
Use of MySQL and PHP on the server side make it possible to play the game with your account
from everywhere.

We would like to hear what you think of this game.
What do you think of the price?

Any comment is appreciated!

Best regards from

ME

http://www.mazeland.net Mazeland.net [ a maze with obstacles ]

Screenshots:
http://www.mazeland.net/screenshots/images/screen_1.jpg Screen 1
http://www.mazeland.net/screenshots/images/screen_2.jpg Screen 2
http://www.mazeland.net/screenshots/images/screen_3.jpg Screen 3

Movie:
http://fuzzy.phpwebhosting.com/~mazemaster/version2/mazeland.net.wmv WMV (678 KB)

#2

I hate to be mean, but here is some honest feedback…

It’s not nearly professional enough to pay for. You’ve gotta polish this thing up a lot.

– Clicking on “Play” in Safari on Mac OS X leads to a blank window. I had to right click and select “open in a new window” to see it.

– The graphics are really bad. If you’re trying to make this commercial, hire an artist. Same goes with the website itself.

– The animation is really bad. The character should walk as he moves.

– Is there any sound?

– The controls are very raw.

– The game itself seems pretty decent, but I’d hesitate to buy a puzzle game like that for $25.

At $25, you are competing with some serious company, including:
– just about every game for sale at garagegames.com
– Many, many Playstation 2, XBox and Gamecube games
– Most Nintendo DS games
– etc

#3

agreed, graphics would need a major overhaul. there needs to be way more animation… right now it feels like a bunch of clipart.

I dont like to be harsh, but when you want to put a $25 price tag on it… you’re asking for it. Think about it, you can buy Tiltilation for only $7, which comes with more levels and gameplay features. not to mention most of the games on GameTrove are in the $15 range and they are polished much, much more.

you have a good game here, but you need to polish before selling. don’t jump the gun yet! :slight_smile:

#4

Hey guys!

Thanks for the honesty!

What would be the price tag then? 5 Dollars for access to 100 levels?

There is animation but it depends on a calculation that is being done. During the progressionbar I calculate the speed.
Based on this I decide to do a one frame animation or a 5 frame animation. Maybe I should start with the animation and assume that most computers are better?

Would you be so kind and select the 'Normal’key = ‘-’ key to check if that changes anything.

Again, thanks for the comments. Keep them coming!

Best regards from

#5

And again, I’m not trying to be mean, just telling it honestly.

I wouldn’t pay for the game in its current state no matter what the price. The graphics are a huge turn off. I know they are just graphics, but presentation is really important.

If you found an artist who completely redid the graphics, animation and interface, and gave the game sound, then that would fix a good 90% of the game’s issues. The game itself seems well thought out and pretty cool. It’s a shame the graphics make me not want to experience it.

I did click the normal button thing, it led to the progress bar updating endlessly. It never went back to the game.

#6

Hi Tortoise,

Thanks for the effort you put in to this.

The graphics are a decision. We are aiming for something different that is out there.
If the comment is : ‘looks like a bunch of clipart’ then I’m pleased with this comment.

The website comment is something that we can have a look at as well as the technical
issue with safari.

The game has sound but isn’t turned on at default.
The comments made me rethink this approach as well as calculating the speed.
Maybe it is better to present the game with the animation sequences and sound. If gamers don’t
like it they can adjust it and turn them off.

What levels did you look at? Did you also check out the later levels? There are 25 free levels so you wouldn’t
have to pay for them anyway. And those should give you an hour of game-time. It will introduce many more objects
than the simple levels. There are in total 200 objects in the whole game with about 40 unique techniques.
We thought of making a slow start with the levels making them harder when gamers progress
through them. Maybe this is a design flaw and we ought to start out more difficult?

As for the price:

But I don’t buy most of those kind of games. In the same range of puzzle
games they are far to cartoon-like to my taste. There is almost everytime some kind
of speed or timing that you need to apply rather than thinking your way through.
When I finally find a game that I like I’m happy to pay 100 dollars or even more money for it.

The game has been altered to start in animation mode and with sound effects turned on.

Thanks again for your efforts.

Best regards from

#7

I just tried your game, and I kinda like this type of game. The game play it self.

Since you charge for this game, may I ask how old you are? No offence. Just to know a little about the guy behind :slight_smile: (im 22 myself)

I love puzzles, and the idea itself is beloved world over, but I agree with the other comments posted so far about graphics and the lack of sound. The movements could be done a little more smooth perhaps. Anyway, it is stille obvious that you spent a lot of time and effort making this game. My suggestion is, that you forget about selling the game and instead let poeple play it for free in exchange of comments and suggestions, improving your skills. Cus what are money when you can have skills :wink:

The good thing about your game is that it does have originality. Pushing a stone and then walk over it. I like that element :slight_smile:

I just released a puzzle game myself, an old classic too like yours, but in the mine digger genre. Link: http://www.java-gaming.org/forums/index.php?topic=14956.msg118537#msg118537 I havent planned on charging for this game ever. Instead I plan on making people able to create their own levels and play each others etc.

But dont compare yourself to Kevglas’ tiltilation. Kevglas is very pro and the game is awesome pollished. He seems inhuman :wink:

/The Dane

#8

Hi Danskeren,

Thanks for your reaction!

What has age to do with charging for PART of a game?

Shame that no-one likes my style. Sound is there but it is kind of low on volume as requested on another board.

I’m making games because I like them and hopefully some more people will like them also and maybe even up to a point where they pay me for it… I’m not making them to earn money on it.
Learning is part of life and if you don’t set goals you would not enjoy it fully.

Comparision is done by others. I’m not comparing myself to anyone.

Good luck with your own project! I write my feedback to yours on the thread.

Best regards from

#9

Well thats a hard statement, not comparing yourself to anyone? I believe that competition makes us evolve, but I understand your point of view in some way: People should evolve in different directions :slight_smile:

How old are you?

#10

I found the game really hard to play - not to complete, just the response felt strange. Also had to wait for ages on my beast of a machine for it to start, which was a little depressing given how much dosh it cost me :slight_smile:

I like maze games, but i think if they’re plain maze games like this one you need to add more story or character. Maybe I just missed it but what am I doing in this maze? Why am I escaping? How do the things I do represent this story? Do the graphics match the audience.

Saying that, I did give it a go for quite a few levels, so I guess it must be enticing :slight_smile:

I’d be careful with that attitude. it’s one thing to make the game you’ve always wanted because you want to - but if you hope to sell it you’re not the important one (at least not all the time) - you have to focus on what you think your customer base wants. Maybe this is it, maybe you’re aiming at people that want slower paced games with more intricate graphics - but if you hope to sell it you’d be best to make sure theres a market for it (I lesson I’m learning with my recent efforts).

Keep up the work though, seems to have come on a long way.

Kev

#11

Thanks again for the reactions.

@ danskeren: Yes, competetion makes us better but I’m not competing with anybody except myself :slight_smile:
Born on 14 march 1965

@kev
The waiting must be network traffic not your powerfull machine!

The response felt strange?!
Is the problem with character movement between objects or with objects?

Story:
During the initial load you should be presented with an image that shows that there was
a plaincrash and you end up in a maze.

You might have hit the bullseye with this one. So far the only people who liked my game are my relatives.
And they got access for free :slight_smile:

Maybe I’m naive but if there are three people liking the game there must be more players out there who like it as well.

The next step is to do a little rework on the sidemenu and change the website.
But pigheaded as I am I want to keep the general graphics the same.Some different approaches have been done and
I didn’t like them any better than what there was.
Maybe this attitude will not bring me sales but then at least I have tried my own way.

What I am thinking of is to shift some more interesting (advanced) levels to the front so that there might be more to play
with in the beginning…

Again thank you so much for your valued reactions. Although it might not look like it I DO appreciate the comments. I’m probably to pigheaded to embrace them fully ! :-\ Maybe given some time I might even end up what you all have suggested ;D
It would still be interesting to see if I get one sale with the game after a couple of months.

Best regards from