[GAME] Rainbow Keys

[zelca...@gmail.com]

I made my very first game with puzzlescript! I only started experimenting with game-making a few weeks ago, but so far it is a lot more fun than I expected.

Rainbow Keys is a game where you must collect keys and move your way past obstacles such as endless pits or flames and create a pathway to victory.

You can play the game here:

https://gamejolt.com/games/rainbowkeys/276174

I also included a direct download in case the browser version doesn't run as well.

[thordur]

The link seems to no longer work! I played a little earlier, it's too action-y for my taste. If the action isn't integral to the puzzles then perhaps you could experiment with making it tick on movement instead?

[zelca...@gmail.com]

Oh dear, I'm not sure why it isn't working!
It seems that it works fine on firefox, but not on Safari... may that be your problem?

The game utilizes both your ability to react and your ability to solve.
Usually puzzles can have ways to solve them that is easier than others, for example in some cases one way of doing the puzzle may make it much easier to react to things.

I did try making it turn-based, but it seems that makes the fire rather pointless, as it makes it extremely easy to go past them rather than them being an actual obstacle. You are not the first to mention the fire, though, and in the game that I published I did have them slowed down, so it isn't as fast as it used to be.

Thank you for playing, and for the feedback!

[edderiofer]

I'm going to have to agree with Thordur here. The fire just makes the game annoying to play, since a lot of the time you know what you're supposed to do, but the fire just makes you wait for the right cycle to do it in.

The levels are a mess for the most part; it's like you just decided to randomly litter the playfield with tons of arrow blocks, fireballs, and so on, to hopefully make it harder for people. Unfortunately, this only makes the game more *annoying*, especially since you also pull the arrow blocks.

I mean seriously, look at this level. I can hardly tell what's going on at first glance, and it took me a good few seconds to notice that there was a crate there. It's also not easy to tell where the exit is. And when I played this level, I got to the exit before realizing I didn't have the key. You're not SERIOUSLY expecting players to dig under every single movable block for the key, are you?!

And why does running into a pit make you fall down?! It's annoying as all hell! Why not simply *stop* the player from moving into a pit?

In short, your game is annoying due to bad design, in both levels and mechanics.

[zelca...@gmail.com]

I see. Thank you for your feedback. In the level that you pointed out, the key is underneath a laser, but you make a good point. I will move the key to a visible location in that one.

The point you make about the holes is interesting. I wanted to make the player have to move around carefully, and if I were to remove the ability to walk into the holes, then the final level would lose a part of its difficulty, but in the end the enjoyment of the player is what matters.

I will release a version of the game where you cannot walk into the holes.

Thank you for playing and leaving your thoughts, I appreciate your honesty!

[zelca...@gmail.com]

A new version of the game has been released, where you cannot fall into the holes, but you still have to find a way to get past them.

You can play it here:
https://gamejolt.com/games/rainbowkeys/276174

[edderiofer]

I'm not slogging through the whole game again just to get back to level 17. Yes, level 17 was terrible, but it was the last straw in a series of other terrible straws.

You could just let us hack the game, you know...

[Alan Hazelden]

Edderiofer: there's a distinction between helpful critique and harsh complaints, and I think you're on the wrong side of that here. You may not have enjoyed the game, but that's no reason to be mean.

Zelveri: congratulations on making your first game! There's a lot here. I got to level 10 of the original version, but after doing something wrong late in that level I didn't have motivation to redo it. My personal preference is for smaller levels, which are focused on a single idea or trick - as a design exercise you could try redesigning some of the larger levels and see how small you can make them while keeping the overall "feel" you're aiming for. As a minor thing: it feels a bit weird you have to manually pick up keys, have you considered making the player pick them up automatically if you walk over them?

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[Skalmantas Šimėnas]

Still doesn't work for me :/

For testing purposes, if you want to keep working on the game and want people to test it but don't want it to be hack-able, I would recommend to make some skip level cheat code.

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[zelca...@gmail.com]

Thanks for playing! I can see why you would prefer the smaller levels. There are some easier levels sprinkled in among the tougher, more complex ones. For example, 11 and 12 are also what one would consider "smaller" levels since they focus on a single concept.

Finding ways to create new smaller levels does sound like fun, though. As for the automatic pick-up, I actually haven't considered that before. Something about it felt satisfying to me, but it is true that most games have you automatically pick things up, so I might consider it.

[Skalmantas Šimėnas]

Hey, it finally loaded for some reason. I didn't really like the game, though, there's nothing I haven't seen in other puzzle games. It would be awesome if you had some unique twist there. (although, I haven't played that many levels)