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Player Thoughts - RetroRaider 3 Blog
20th June 2017
Oh dear, that hasn't gone down very well, has it?!
Hmm..

First up came the issue with the Level Generator.
Things seemed to break fairly late in the project, meaning that different systems were generating different sets of levels.
For this reason, the online scoreboards were removed, as they'd be impossible to properly compare between all the different level sets.

Doing test after test after test, right up until the last minute, led me to accidentally upload a broken version of the game. .. And not notice for about 5 hours, until TeamOUYA sent me their review, letting me know it was totally broken!
Ooops!

-=-=-

TeamOUYA

After the 3rd or 4th level completed the objects that appear in level began flashing randomly on the screen, and the character is unable to move.


D'oh!
That, if anyone else got to see it doing that, is the level generator flicking through hundreds and thousands of levels. I used this to test output results, to see if different versions were giving out similar levels. But they don't. Bah, humbug!

I fixed up the game, and re-uploaded it to all the usual sites.

-=-=-

@Docky

congrats!! are you supposed to be able to go down ladders? if not then I have found a dead end pretty quickly ^^;


RSKGames

In a certain level I feel like I get stuck and cannot proceed.


Oh dear.
I slightly panicked, but thankfully RSKGames included screenshots of "blocked areas".







RSKGames and Docky had both done much the same thing.
They didn't notice the map...

The map has two areas, the blue safe zone, and the red DANGER ZONE!!
When the levels are generated, an AI player wanders through the map, dropping the three crystals as they go.
As such, ALL THREE crystals should (*should!!) be accessible.
The route the AI player takes is marked out in the minimap, and anything "out of bounds" is significantly more dangerous, and not always passable.

As a result of Docky complaining about its lack of visibility, I uploaded a slightly newer edition of the game which allows you to hold the V button to zoom in on minimap. If you can't do that in your version, go grab it again!

RSKGames

I got so used to using "Z" for jump and "X" for fire by playing hours of "Inbox Sheriff" that I am not able to play RetroRider properly.


This is a "Primary/Secondary" issue, and also a "Nintendo vs Playstation" issue.
I'm struggling to decide which buttons do what, especially in the main menu.
When I created this year's framework, I was certain that "Primary" should go into menus, and "Secondary" should take you out.
But then I started playing my Switch a lot, and the two buttons are reversed.
If you think of a Playstation controller, X is primary, and O is secondary. X goes into a menu, O takes you out...
On a Nintendo controller, A is on the right, B is at the bottom..
They're reversed.

It's led to me doubting whether my button placements are correct, and it's getting awfully confusing when making my games!!

I think, in future, I'm going to have to add a "Primary/Secondary" button option into the options menu, and let the player decide which should be which.
...Because I haven't a bloomin' clue, any more!!

RWSKGames

In my previous mail some of the screenshots do not have the player as when I take screenshot come out of the game and then when I go back to game, player sprite is missing in the game. I failed to mention this in my previous mail.


You're not the only one to have mentioned this!
I'm not sure why it is, but I'm guessing it's some kind of "layer" issue. The way the game runs is awfully obscure, with the game trying desperately to make sure that both the layers fit onto the screen, whilst also trying to make sure that the distance from left to right is as it should be.
There's a ton of maths going on to scale everything to "feel" right.

When you Alt+Tab from fullscreen, something goes awry, and I'm not 100% sure where it is she's ending up!
I *think* she might be above the layer, or something.
She can't jump, can't fall, can't use ladders.. But she also can't get hurt.
She does, however, still run into the correct walls for the layer she's on.

Maybe she's under the layer, and can't get back up?
I'm not sure.

A really odd bug!!

Have a play around with it, if you'd like to explore a little. But you won't be able to explore everywhere due to being unable to move up and down.
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