Box-Head Adventures - A physics based platform game, Updated

[kalle2990]

You jumped past the end? O_o

[napco]

No, i didn't press "space"... I tried only to reach it, but i haven't been able to stop...

[kalle2990]

Odd, you have to jump to get up to the finish, since it's on a platform higher than the one below, like a box over a platform. Are you using LÖVE 0.5.0 or LÖVE 0.6.0?

[napco]

0.5.0, but in-game i don't have to jump to climb an obstacle. When i hit one the box guy rolls over it (and i've found it nice)

[kalle2990]

What?!
That doesn't happen when I play the game, I have to jump it, or try 15 times...

[kalle2990]

Noticed this bug when I used my schools PC to run the game, pretty odd, because all it uses to move things is the physics, and it is using the dt. So I don't know. I noticed I jumped a little lower too, I guess it's a physics bug or something...

[qubodup]

Box-Head Adventures requires me to work hard to (just) move around.

I learned a lesson from the Knytt Stories design tour:

In a platformer, the player will spend most of the game running, jumping and climbing, so it's important to make those actions as intuitive and precise as possible. With better controls you can make more complicated levels, without making them frustrating or unfair. The overall difficulty of a game is a combination of the difficulty of controlling your character and the difficulty of the challenges your character faces. It is much more satisfying to have an agile character defeating complex challenges than a clumsy character defeating simple ones.

[kalle2990]

Do you think that a fat red box can be anything but clumsy?
And this games runs very diffrent on diffrent computers making it harder/easier, I can't fix that...

[qubodup]

Do you think that a fat red box can be anything but clumsy?

I agree that a "clumsy" and "box" fit. So having a hard time to move the box is realistic but to me it is not enjoyable.

Just in case: I'm not critisizing you or your skills. I hope that letting you know what I experience when playing the game might let you find things you don't like about the game and improve it.

And this games runs very diffrent on diffrent computers making it harder/easier, I can't fix that...

You can control the game speed by using the time difference between two "update(dt)" - I can't explain how exactly to use it though.

[F687/s]

You can control the game speed by using the time difference between two "update(dt)" - I can't explain how exactly to use it though.

That's one way to do it. What I did with my platformer was use an "ideal" dt that would be seen in a perfect world (0.005 IIRC), and then divide the current dt by that. Like:

Code: Select all

for i=0,dt/idealdt,1 do
	Player.y = Player.y + (Player.v/8)
end

Yeah, it's a hackish solution, but it works (for the most part). If anyone who isn't a hacker can propose a better solution, feel free, and please add it to the wiki or something for the world to enjoy. ;-)

On a side note, about the whole "clumsy box" debate, the whole game, down to the music, kinda gives off the feeling of an awkward box. (Hmm. Awkward Box. I should use that sometime...)