Archive: 14 posts

---

Heyo Guyz and Gurlz I just published a new Puzzle-Platformer named "The Open Gate". It's a mashup of classic platformer elements and puzzles in the setting of a castle full of undeads where some really weird things are happening. Due to i've been inspired to build this level by games like demon's souls, shadow of the colossus and ICO it may cause a similar level of frustration like these games. So take some time and keep a cool head when playing "The Open Gate" Hope you guys like it! http://i4.lbp.me/img/bl/914adfb6a0e427ed52dd4d3750e983b3de17046f.png (https://lbp.me/v/qss47y1) #pics### http://ie.lbp.me/img/ft/e1e94149fe1641678e0493f9de6a0dc50dbad3d8.jpg http://id.lbp.me/img/ft/a5d8fda43523c187a779e48ec72eea48b93ca792.jpg http://if.lbp.me/img/ft/d3f2b236c5aee491d9f0792ed7bbc071b49eefe7.jpg http://lbp.me/v/qss47y1

2014-08-03 15:38:00 Author: Shaggy Vinci Posts: 969

---

OK! made it! finaly! XD It was not easy to find everything because it was so dark, (even when the light was lit from the player) but than i took my tv remote and put the tv on the brightest setting i could do and yay i was able to play. the level was well made if i talk about design of the background and the riddles and puzzels, but i can guess that other players can get very fast frustrated with it. very. also when you get shoot, the auto layer changing made me die a loooot. and i mean a lot. maybe you can tell the player that if you hold R1 that you don't change layers automatic? also the fireballs hit me even at the checkpoint sometimes what was a bit annoying. overall the level had a nice design and sometimes you need to die just to know where to go (at the end) but i enjoyed and was happy as i reached the goal! good job! but very difficult with that light settings. no matter how difficult (or the fireballs a bit buggy), it keept me interested enough to finish and like it! ~forces

2014-08-03 17:26:00 Author: ForcesWerwolf Posts: 475

---

Oh you're right with the fireballs! I'll fix it in short. But i won't fix the difficulty sorry Well, and I already heard that some of the players find it too dark. But i'm not sure if it's "unplayable dark" or just "too dark in my opinion". Because i didn't want the player to see beyond his own 'body light' range. I'm curious if even the body light was still too dark for you (?) But thanks a lot for playing, i'm glad you liked it nonethless

2014-08-03 17:41:00 Author: Shaggy Vinci Posts: 969

---

well it's allways OF COURSE queston of opinion and if someone finds it to dark they might quit. dark levels are allways a high risk x3 for creators. because many think its your fault not theirs because they cant find stuff. and quit the level. you sadly can't controll how many light the player has behind him in RL, next to the tv or how they set their tv settings to view dark colors. you need to find a good middle of it. But ignore me :3 thats a general problem for all dark levels in LBP. EDIT: NEVER said you should change the difficulty! x3

2014-08-03 18:33:00 Author: ForcesWerwolf Posts: 475

---

When I first started up the game, I knew right away that you were the person who made The Epic Quest for Loads of Loot (awesome game). I'm guessing you have played Demon Souls or Dark Souls or both because there is too much of a similarity. I've only played Demon Souls (still haven't beat it), but it's so awesome. The atmosphere is great. I was always happy to light up the torches. To see better obviously, but more importantly to kill the baddies. The puzzle aspect was also great. I definitely got lost quite a bit, but I think that's what makes your game so good. Exploration, trial and error, and a sense of progression by learning what not to do. I can imagine some people getting frustrated, but I honestly don't think it matters. There is going to be enough people that really enjoy this type of game. The only part that I got a little frustrated with was the shooting section. I really got confused which layer to be on. It also seemed a little jarring because everything before that had a more relaxed, spooky pace. I still enjoyed that section. Also, I love the bottom screenshot you took. When I saw that scene in-game, I loved it even more.

2014-08-05 07:38:00 Author: Greensmurfy Posts: 300

---

thanks a lot i'm really glad that you enjoyed it - even the backtracking and trial & error part. The part with the shooting could have done more clearly, yup. But i didn't want to miss my favourite lbp-object, the vita smoke^^ sadly it makes weird things with object shadows sometimes.

2014-08-06 09:30:00 Author: Shaggy Vinci Posts: 969

---

Queued up! -hyper

2014-08-07 13:46:00 Author: hyperdude95 Posts: 1793

---

Hi Shaggy, I enjoyed playing your level, its been fun! Great atmosphere and gameplay, I loved to decoy the zombies into the torch lights. The puzzles have been cool, demanding but not frustrating! The boss fighting has been fantastic! All in all, a level one can only recommend! Many greetings, Jürgen^^

2014-08-09 17:37:00 Author: CuriousSack Posts: 3981

---

I can tell you like Shadow of the Colossus, but It would have been preferable to not duplicate the Maldus fight so directly. I mean, it got a little different towards the end, but dodging volleys, then diving underground? It's a bit too close to the source material. You might also consider giving the first part of the final sequence a little more space in between shot volleys. It was okay further back, but as you get closer, it gets harder to avoid, and the checkpoint's location is unforgiving. You might consider changing the outfits of the enemy dudes. The paper bags over the heads was extra non threatening, and the environment led me to believe you were trying for something scary. I won't go into my rant about the temple stone material, even though I probably should. It was an interesting level full of puzzles, but the heavy weight of the pushable blocks made it extremely slow paced. I also never understood that the creatures didn't like light until the elevator ride at the end. I also did not understand the ending. I just sort of ran into a clone of myself sitting in a chair, looking all cute and surly. I didn't encounter any actual glitches, so that's a plus!

2014-08-15 14:41:00 Author: Kato Posts: 732

---

Really like this! Overall atmosphere was brooding, and the puzzle sections were well paced and laid out. There were two design choices that sort of stuck out, as not great. They weren't terrible just... um could be different. The slipperiness of the heavy blocks. I'm guessing you dropped the friction so that they would slide, but maybe they could be tweaked so that it only activates the lower friction when the block is grabbed. It was a bit strange to be standing on them in a few sections and sliding off. Which comes to the second thing. I fell off a block into a gap in the floor and was killed (which is a good thing). But being killed by purple plasma seemed a bit... out of place. Red gas may have been better themed. There is a strong likelihood that you can alienate players on the first screen though. Specifically the first block you push. It doesn't need a big flashing arrow or anything, but some hint that you can push it would be useful. Like maybe a wooden handle on the side you need to push from. This isn't about the difficulty of the level but rather the accessibility of the level. I'll detail my experience with the first section. I loaded the level, and tried to push the block, but it didn't move, so I wandered off, activated the torch, pulled the lever in the roof, tried pushing the block again. Used the wood railing to jump up onto the block then tried to jump up to the next level. Fell into the spike pit, tired the ring again, then quit the level. As I was needing to spotlight it I thought 'meh... maybe the ring pull logic broke... I'll load it again'. I jumped around again, jumped onto the wooden railing and then jumped up onto the block, and slipped off... then though 'hmm... maybe it can be pushed' It was then that I understood that it was physics based puzzles and such. In a way, you are lucky I reloaded the level (something that the spotlight crew does a few times as we try to give the levels a really good shot), but many regular players won't. If you don't grab their attention in the first minute it doesn't matter how good the rest of the level is.

2014-08-16 11:16:00 Author: Mr_Fusion Posts: 1799

---

@Mr_Fusion thanks a lot for your very detailed feedback. I'm glad that you had at least some sort of fun with the level, even if it wasn't accessable like the regular lbp level. I'll take a second look at the block physics and exchange the purple plasma by something more suitable. Even if i'm fine with ragequitters i absolutely don't want players to quit cause of technical problems

2014-08-17 23:46:00 Author: Shaggy Vinci Posts: 969

---

Despite a few issues, I did enjoy this level. It had a really engrossing atmosphere and I was engaged throughout. The baddies were a neat idea and the boss fight was fun (although I'm in agreement with Kato - it veers a little to close to the Maldus fight). I think that the level could of used more variety and challenge regarding its puzzles. They are all relatively simplistic block puzzles that don't take much thought to complete. Avoiding the baddies also got formulaic, but I liked the idea. Perhaps having them spawn randomly and having lights go out could keep them fresh? While evading the baddies was tense, I think that the design of the baddies was too goofy to make the level genuinely scary. Something simple and sinister (or more variety) could go a long way. I was not a fan of some of the invisible danger and invisible walls throughout the level (but specifically towards the end) partially because it's lazy design and partially because, in an exploration-based level, it's a very cheap way to rule out an option. The twist at the end was also pretty lame and goofy and kinda soured the level. I really liked the atmosphere and the pacing in this, and I hope you revisit some of the ideas and introduce more mechanics and challenge. Hearted.

2014-08-17 23:56:00 Author: bonner123 Posts: 1487

---

well, i'm sorry, but i didn't think the portation of the shadow of the colossus endboss (btw "Malus") might cause some unpleasure. It was simply meant as, uh, let's say some kind of "fan service" or fan tribute to team ico. Didn't want it to feel like a cheap "copy" I know, the enemies might have also looked kinda cheap. Be sure that I tested out a lot of outfits, but not at least due to i don't really own any DLCs couldn't find a better look for those bad guys. I also understand the critics at the difficulty level in the puzzle part. It's simple. I'm bad at building puzzles. But i love 'em, that's the dilemma.

2014-08-18 00:34:00 Author: Shaggy Vinci Posts: 969

---

Fair enough. I think that simply shadowy figures (contradictorily like the ones in Team Ico's games!) would work pretty well. The simplicity of the puzzles didn't get in the way of it being an enjoyable level.

2014-08-18 00:46:00 Author: bonner123 Posts: 1487

Posts: 1077139    Threads: 69970    Members: 9661    Archive-Date: 2019-01-19

Aus dem Archiv wurden alle persönlichen Daten wie Name, Anschrift, Email etc. - aber auch sämtliche Inhalte wie z.B. persönliche Nachrichten - entfernt.
Die Nutzung dieser Webseite erfolgt ohne Speicherung personenbezogener Daten. Es werden keinerlei Cookies, Logs, 3rd-Party-Plugins etc. verwendet.