Lala - Now available in on Google Play

WIP games, tools & toy projects
#21

One tiny issue I’d have — no worries though, nothing terrible, you can safely ignore this as I’m mostly commenting to comment — is that in some of your levels you show it’s hard to distinguish between the background and the foreground, as the colours are very similar. The easy fix is to turn down the saturation, maybe play with the lightness/contrast a bit too :slight_smile:

EDIT: that was the easy fix, your other solution being to shift a bit the background towards blue, and the foreground to red; at least that’s what I usually do heheh

J0 :slight_smile:

#22

I’ll have a stab at dropping the saturation on the background, I’ll post before and after pictures for the various environments.
Thanks for the comment.

#23

Trying out some different saturation levels as suggested by J0 and I am finding it difficult to decide what I like best.
I agree that the too colorful background sometimes blends in a bad way with the foreground, but I also don’t like how washed out the colours look when I turn the saturation down;

Original

Saturation at 50%

Saturation at 25%

I think the problem lies in the fact that if I drop the saturation of the sky, the it looks to drab, but without a lower saturation other background elements blend with the foreground.

Any comments appreciated.

#24

I love the 3rd one. :point:

To be less biased… have you tried lowering the saturation of all background elements except the sky?

#25

I have a alpha release ready on Google Play now, if anyone wants to give it a go I would be interested in hearing any comments you might have.

Lala on Google Play

Note that the game is intended for young children, so the puzzles are intended to be very simple.

#26

How I deal with problems 8)

https://scontent-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t34.0-12/15087057_1637767406523295_398485099_n.png?oh=3c10e2e447ef1397a68325b22322ef13&oe=5833D72B

#27

Creatively, it seems :smiley:

#28

Very nice game.
Works fine on my oneplus 2.

Of course it is very easy but I like systems when you can skip a hard level because you have always 5 level to play and not only one.

But overall I like the game mechanics and found no bug in the first 20 levels.

#29

Thank you!

Yes I thought kids might get frustrated if I forced them to complete one level before being allowed to try the next, so the unlocking (at least after the first chapter) will be fairly aggressive with one completed level unlocking 2 or 3 new levels.

Cool, I appreciate you taking the time to test something that’s in alpha and that you’re also not the target audience for (I am assuming you don’t fall into the age range 3-7 :persecutioncomplex: ).

#30

Finally finished designing the last of the 60 levels.

This is the last time I make a game that requires level design.

#31

I love level design, it’s probably my favourite part :stuck_out_tongue:

#32

For my next game I am teaming up with you, @J0, whether you like it or not…

#33

That’s a deal :slight_smile:

#34

A note on tracking progression;

The game is aimed at young kids and because of that I don’t want any online aspects, including Google leaderboards or achievements.

The way I let players track their progress is by having a home-world screen where the aliens that have successfully made their way to their space ship can be seen landing.

https://i.imgur.com/4RQK3xu.gif(image larger than 102400KB)

So as someone completes more and more level, that screen will fill up with colorful, dancing aliens. I am hoping kids will find that amusing.

I think I need to do something about the background though, the gradient currently in use is a bit drab and boring.

#35

Hi,

First off all I really like your game and I wouldn’t change anything about the game mechanics.
The only thing I would improve are your graphics for the buttons on the play screen. I don’t think your target group cares much about the looks of it, but IMO they don’t really fit into the whole scenery. The buttons are just plain black and white and not even centered. I’d love to see some more “fancy” buttons. ;D

Anyways, it’s a great game :point:

#36

Thank you.

I agree that it’s weird that they’re not perfectly centered, they’re Kenney buttons but at some point I must have broken them.

In terms of “fancy”, in what way would you want me to make them fancier? More color, other shape’s, different symbols?

Thank you, your feedback is much appreciated!

#37

It may sound weird, but I somehow feel that the home-, x- and play button are too “edgy”. They just don’t look very smooth according to my eyes (Sorry, I’m a petty person). About the fancy part, I would just try to change the color a bit. Maybe some orange/red to still stand out from the level enviroment.

Aside from pointing out irrelevant things no one else probably cares about, I found a few bugs:

  • In the 4th world (pink alien) level 5 and 6 are exactly the same
  • My game crashes when I want to start the last level in the last world(yellow alien)
#38

I haven’t done anything to make the buttons less sharp, but I changed the look of them to this;

Thank you for pointing these out, they are fixed and a new version is available in Google Play soon.

I created a new level for the Pink level 5, it’s will be called STAMPLER’S LEVEL as you were the one finding the problem :slight_smile:

#39

Awesome! The buttons look a lot better, sometimes color changes have a lot of impact.

Thank you, I feel really honored to be mentioned in your game. :slight_smile: I should show it to my kids (if I had any)

Edit: P.S. I guess I am not clever enough to solve the last level in the last world :’(

#40

Well this is really rather embarressing, the game is for kids aged 3-6.
Are you saying you struggle to operate at the mental level of a three year old ::slight_smile: