Test my game: Mr. Hopwit and the Mysterious Maze

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#1

Hello again.

In hope of getting feedback as useful as last time - here is my new game: Mr. Hopwit and the Mysterious Maze.

http://vredungmand.dk/games/hopwit/

It is an “arcade puzzle” remotely inspired by Pac Man and Lady Bug. It is based upon my framework for small java games and features an early version of my forthcoming synthesizer emulator (which should work if you are running Java 1.3+) (it is in superduperbeta so don’t expect too much).

I would like some feedback on my game design.

If you play the game a couple of times - then please tell:

  • How far into the game did you get the first time you played it?
  • How quickly (if you did) did you loose interest in the game? Did you get stuck?

(These questions help me to get an idea of whether the game has good balance and progression.)

Any ideas on improvement of the game?

#2

I like it, love the graphics. Needs much more sound and the existing sounds could be louder. I would have played it a lot but I’m at work. The message text needs to be a bit bigger as well, I found it difficult to read.

#3

Great fun, love the dynamic level.

But.

…applet games suck. E.g. I’m having to lean in to within 5 inches of the screen to see your TINY graphics and read your MINUTE text.

If it were at a decent size, I’d play it a lot more times. At this size, it’s hurting my eyes, my head, and probably giving me RSI, so I probably won’t play it again.

If the advertising is a major thing for you, why don’t you just do an app with an HTML window for the ads (chuckle: make “htmlets” which are HTML embedded in a java application)? It’s already there in the standard libraries. Or is there some reason why this wouldn’t work.

#4

It was fun. I liked it. I got to the second stage on my first time.

I did find it frustrating that if you die when trying to get to the exit that you have to get all the stars again.

Those robots were mean. You might want to try making the collision detection a little more favorable for the player just so you have a chance to escape the robots.

Sometimes the enemies went through the closed doors. Is that suppose to happen?

Oh, and like everyone else said, the graphics were really nice.

  • Brian
#5

I like the game a lot. I do agree with Vendon however, perhaps chilling out the collision detection a tad would help being able to escape a “close call”.

Keep up the good work.

#6

Just brilliant.
Could do with a) running fullscreen as a proper application and b) being a little easier!

Cas :slight_smile:

#7

Thought it was very fun. My wife found it addictive.

Could do with an application version, doesnt need to be fullscreen, but at least not an applet.

#8

I spent far too much time trying to get past level 3. It’s nice.

The collision detection could be cleaned up a bit, and the animation could be a bit smoother… all that sort o polish… but the game play is good, a great concept.

(Works great on the Mac.)

#9

Level 5 is way to hard, those fast moving guys are all over.

Fun game though, pretty addictivee.

nathan

#10

As for applets. I am working on something that will be deployed as webstart application. But the reasons for deploying as an applet are:

  1. Advertisement. This is currently an experiment of mine but there is definitely a potential here. A game like this takes about one week to develop and a has a lifecycle at about 3 years, even though advertisement just generates pennies, the long running period might just be enough for this type of game development to make sense business wise.

  2. Audience. This runs perfectly with MS Java 1.1, requiring webstart would limit the audience - in my estimate by around 50% (I can find the exact number by looking at my server log).

  3. “Psychology”. Because the game is embedded in a webpage then playing it becomes just like browsing the web, it is “easier” to play at school or at work (it does not give you bad conscience like firing up Max Payne does).

#11

Make sure you submit this to the games competition! Great job!

-Chris

#12

I decided to play though guy wrt. level design this time. But to show my good heart I have easen up level 3 and the evil level 5.

Thanks for the great feedback.

#13

Hi again - I have rewritten the “synthesizer” engine completely. It does its own mixing and there are multiple “tunes” in the game now. What do you think? (And is it working?)

#14

Sound is working great on the Mac.