GreenHatMan - demo

WIP games, tools & toy projects Archived Projects
#1

So about a year ago I made my first java game, it was really ugly and slow and this summer I decided to do a remake on the game! It is a puzzle game, where you have to move blocks around and solve different levels.

It is nothing fancy, but I quite enjoy playing it and I’m sure more people will too if they enjoy mind-challenges!

The game can be found as a webstart application on: http://www.arenandb.org/webstart/GreenHatMan.jnlp

There is also a level editor included, so make your hardest map and challenge me!:smiley: The level editor does unfortunately only work with “6* X 8*” sizes of the map at the moment, this too will be solved later. (Example: acceptable map sizes are 6x8 squares, 12x16 squares, 18x24 squares and so on)

The high score does not currently work because I can not write to a file in a jar, I will solve this at a later stage by making the game create a file in the same directory as the jar is downloaded to and reading / writing to that instead. Because of this any progress made in “story mode” will not be saved - however you can skip maps by pressing “+”, or go back to a previous map by pressing “-”.

If anyone would be interested in helping me out with sound or better (cuter) pictures that would be awesome! Thanks for your time, I hope you will enjoy the game and find it challenging!

//Edit:
If you dont want to run the tutorial, here’s some tips.
You can restart a map by pressing “R”. You can pause and exit to menu by pressing Escape or “P” and you can undo your latest move by pressing “ctrl+z”!

#2

comments /critique / impressions

  1. The merge blocks look like spikes that will hurt you, perhaps you should change their graphic icon to something else?

  2. I made it to level #, then realized I was stuck, so I backed out to go look at tutorial for more help(I skipped it first time) but I was sad to find out that I had to replay the same levels to get to the lvl again. You should allow the player to unlock the levels as they beat it, so they can return again to the same level.

  3. on a later level when it is scaled down for a larger map, it deteriorates the image icons and makes it look worse. Aside from having new custom smaller icons. Perhaps you could offer a 2x zoom level, where its “typical zoomed in” where it appears at resolution/view distance as earlier level(And camera follows player and/or mouse), but also a secondary zoom option, so that you can see the full puzzle.

Overall I like it, its smooth and fast and fun while I played it!

#3

1, Yes! Pretty much every block is going to get replaced (except possibly the keys, doors and the character)

2, That works, as I wrote it my initial post there is a problem with writing to files with webstart so I can not save progress atm - but I have a solution for that so it will be fixed soon!

3, Yes I am aware of that issue aswell, I am very weak with graphics but I will try and take care of it!

Thank you very much for your feedback!

#4

Game has a lot of potential.

I’m not sure of the point of the first level. Why should I push the two half-blocks to combine into a single black block?

The third level is too advanced on the difficulty scale in my opinion. Also I found myself stuck in it several times (e.g. the bottom right corner) and I could not find a way to restart the level without quitting the game (I realize now you press the ‘R’ key).

Thanks for sharing and I’m interested in seeing an update.

#5

Loom_weaver

Thank you so much for your comment!

Yes indeed the first two levels are completely pointless, the only reason they are still there is I wanted to have two full rows of levels in the demo:D Also they introduce a block that will be used more in latter levels (I am not sure if the two half blocks are in any other map then that one at the moment).

Yes, a lot of people have said that the difficulty of the third level is too hard and I will make sure to change the order of the maps in a future update! I suppose I will add a restart button to the menu you get to if you press escape or P because a lot of people skip the tutorial! Or perhaps I should add a button to display all hot keys!

I think I will try to push an update this weekend but not sure how much time I have!

#6

I’ve made some updates now I so I figured I would post and hope for some more feedback! I am not 100% sure what was in the initial release, but at least some new feature is:
If you start playing a normal “story mode” map and go into pause (by pressing P or Escape) and then hit the “Block Info” button you can scroll and read information about the blocks and I think that’s pretty cool!:smiley:

There’s also transition between different game states, so swapping between menus and stuff looks a bit smoother!
There’s pixel movement, I’m pretty sure that’s new for you guys!
I unlocked all the maps until I get a proper save system going.
The level editor has been updated with a moveable (draggable) and minimizable palette!

I’ve also got a composer who said he would love to try and make some music for my game, so if anyone has some ideas about that I’d be very grateful!
And of course it would be a lot of fun if anyone bothered making and saving a map (.txt format) and uploading the content here for me to try that’d be just amazing fun!:smiley: