Happy Friday!

[smashplug]

Hi all,

No, I know, it's Thursday... That's the title of our first game, Happy Friday!

We've been working hard on it for the past year or so, and it's seen many iterations-- at first it was just a simple Run & Jump but it's evolved into something so much more.

Finally, today, I'm happy to show it to all of you and get some feedback!



Try it here: http://goo.gl/aqy2Y
Trailer: http://goo.gl/TY6RA

Game description:
Join Prim on his epic adventure through unique lands to recover the lost donuts stolen by a grumpy dragon. Roll, jump, smash and explore a beautiful physics based world!

Happy Friday! is a modern twist on the classic platformers that inspired our childhoods like Super Mario Bros. and Sonic the Hedgehog.

Features:
* Independently developed by a small team of 4 right here in the suburbs of Boston
* Physics based platforming
* Rich vector graphics
* Original soundtrack written by the visual artist, Tai Beaumont
* Progress syncs with your Google Account-- take your game anywhere!
* Donuts!!

Technical Details:
* 100% JavaScript and HTML5 (Canvas, Path API, Web Audio, and Local Storage)
* Physics Engine is Box2D compiled with Emscripten
* Support for high density screens (Chromebook Pixel/Retina)
* The Pyro Game Engine was built in house from scratch
* Gamepad support!





Enjoy!
-Brian

[benny!]

Cute game. Like the gfx style. It's fun to play. Personally, I think you could improve the level design a bit by adding some more respawn points etc. And maybe reduce the time of the "life lost sequence". It takes a bit too long.

[smashplug]

Thanks Benny!

 

I'm particularly proud of the graphics. It's 100% Path API (no sprites at all) using an engine/wrapper/toolset we wrote so we can apply bone transformations and Box2D Bodies. In particular the boss in the last battle on Stage 4 shows this fairly well (wings animating independently from the mouth, etc).

 

For level design, we really wanted to make quality challenging levels over quantity. Are you finding it too difficult?

 

Great call on the life lost sequence.

[rich]

Edit your post and add a screen shot if you want this tweeted out (currently hits about 10k followers)

[smashplug]

Thanks Rich, that would be awesome!

[smashplug]

Cute game. Like the gfx style. It's fun to play. Personally, I think you could improve the level design a bit by adding some more respawn points etc. And maybe reduce the time of the "life lost sequence". It takes a bit too long.

So the stage reloads while that screen is showing-- sort of a way to mask the fact that it's doing it. The animation itself is set to around 1.6 - 2 seconds. 1/3 for fade in, 1 for animation, 1/3 for fade out... is that what you're experiencing? Or is it much longer than that (maybe takes too long to load...)?

 

I'm just trying to make sure I get this right.

[benny!]

Ah - I see. You need that time to reload the scene. Than it's ok. I personally still think it takes a bit too long (I am a nervous casual gamer - I know).

 

Is it required, that you have to completely reload the stage? Maybe this would work more efficient.

[smashplug]

We shortened the length of the animation and load times, so you should be back in the game much quicker.

 

We also added gamepad support and a points system. 

[benny!]

Ah ... thats cool. Keep us informed about your project.

 

To you track certain user behaviour, e.g. how many daily users - how many reached stage1, stage2, stage3 ... How many plays per user etc?

 

Would be interesting to know - especially when you want to improve certain aspects of the game.

[smashplug]

Sorry, I just meant to keep score. A little more incentive to defeat the enemies, collect multiple donuts in a row, and not get a game over. If you have any other ideas I'm open ears!

 

But yes, we do keep some anonymous stats using Google Analytics. It's been incredibly helpful to know where most players are getting stuck, etc. There's a few interesting stats that we weren't expecting:

• Very few people make it past Stage 1, so we need to make a great impression right away
• Most people play for < 10 minutes, those that play more are very ambitious and have many retries even if they don't make it very far.
• A large chunk of our players are from China (We'll have to add some multi-language support)

[benny!]

Hey - thanks for sharing your stats. Always interesting to read!

[Gotama]

I love the music/art, creates an awesome ambiance to play in!

[nsgames]

That whole Patapon / LocoRoco aesthetic is really cute.

[smashplug]

Thanks! The artist was thrilled to hear that, guys.

 

We recently published an update which should boost performance, and we're getting closer to finishing up the second world!

[HappinessSam]

Looks beautiful and I had a few frame rate stutters but for the most part it played really well.

 

I did get a bit confused at the start. When you start off by the sign the instruction bubble with the controls is closed, and since it doesn't open til you move I didn't know what the controls were. Having hit enter to start I was kind of expecting enter to do something, but it didn't so I started messing with the arrow keys. Unfortunately I hit down first and turned into a ball and started rolling, past all of the instruction signs until I fell in the water.

 

I know I sound like someone's grandma complaining that I couldn't work out how to play a game that only uses the arrow keys and that it's too difficult, but at the moment the first level is very hard and I died and got sent back to the start several times, and if I just found this game on my own I would probably assume it's too hardcore for my taste and give up.

[smashplug]

Thanks! Glad to hear!

 

Wow, I never thought that much about the signs, and/or the danger of pressing down first. That could explain why non-english countries seem to have a lower success rate -- especially since it's not visually apparent that it's a platformer until you start moving. I think we'll have to use symbols, too (which is a little bit of a technical challenge).

 

Not like a grandma at all. The game is intended to be a little difficult, akin to games of the older generations, but not too difficult. Being someone who plays these games a lot it can be hard to judge my own intuition about the difficulty. Just so I understand where you're coming from, do you typically play a lot of platformers like Mario, Rayman or Sonic? 

 

Thanks for the feedback, it's very helpful.

[HappinessSam]

I used to play a lot of platformers, but these days not so much. I didn't really totally think through my issues with the starting level or express myself that well regarding the difficulty.

I think my problem with it is that as with any platformer it takes a while to work out how things feel. the delay/height on jumps, the inertia for stopping/moving, and the first few times you come across water that you can fall in and auto kill you I was still in that period, so I died quite a few times while still getting the hang of the movement. It wouldn't have been such a problem, but as benny said the respawn points are too sparse and it sent me all the way back to the beginning every time, which is just a bit demoralising.

 

I did beat the first level and I enjoyed it. Then I had to go back and get some work done.