Just played the demo - not bad for a first match three at all.
I have some ideas/comments:
The pace of the intro section is too slow - it needs 'pepping up' a little because nothing seems to drive it along and I was impatient to play the game. The intro should either have slow creepy music matches the visuals and builds up to a crescendo on the crash zoom in, or you should make it all happen in at least half the time. Making it slow and quiet doesn't make it spooky so any impact of the sound effects is kinda lost.
On the first level I clicked one tile and the level played itself to the end, because the tiles which dropped in just sorted themselves out. The second time I played it took 2 clicks to end the level - surely this is too quick?
At the moment the title screen is more attractive than the in game screen which is where the player will spend most of their time.
To make this less so, I'd love to see some animation in the backgrounds for example, the witch could fly passed across the background not be stuck in a static image in the background. Maybe on later levels she could cast a spell or two across the board? The spiders web should shake and a spider drop in or something. There shoud be fog moving across the bottom, and a few scudding clouds could move across the moon, or better still reveal it. A storm could be brewing, clouds could get darker and the background could change brightness or colour or something. I do not believe that this would be distracting, but it would seriously add to the atmosphere.
I think that when you ask for a hint the timer should loose some time or there should be some kind of balance against getting a hint, you know what I mean?
I would make the cursor a skeletons hand or something a little more spooky. Simple things will greatly improve a not bad first match 3 game.
As for a comparison to "Holiday Bonus" I don't think these games can be considered as being in the same league!
There's no innovation or real creativity here, main tile gfx are ok, but the hand drawn style is only a little above home grown, but nothing more. Sounds effects are few and far between and just adequate. Music is competent and sparse. There's little in the way of design in the game as a whole, its just a direct use of GA's framework. It would be a great example game to 'chuck' into the framework package to show how it can be done.
Holdiay Bonus graphics, music, sound effects, animation, particle effects, presentation were all far superior to anything shown here. There simply is no comparison except that they use a match 3 mechanic and GA's framework.
Download the 'Holiday Bonus' demo and check it out if you don't know what I am talking about!
IPete2.
I have some ideas/comments:
The pace of the intro section is too slow - it needs 'pepping up' a little because nothing seems to drive it along and I was impatient to play the game. The intro should either have slow creepy music matches the visuals and builds up to a crescendo on the crash zoom in, or you should make it all happen in at least half the time. Making it slow and quiet doesn't make it spooky so any impact of the sound effects is kinda lost.
On the first level I clicked one tile and the level played itself to the end, because the tiles which dropped in just sorted themselves out. The second time I played it took 2 clicks to end the level - surely this is too quick?
At the moment the title screen is more attractive than the in game screen which is where the player will spend most of their time.
To make this less so, I'd love to see some animation in the backgrounds for example, the witch could fly passed across the background not be stuck in a static image in the background. Maybe on later levels she could cast a spell or two across the board? The spiders web should shake and a spider drop in or something. There shoud be fog moving across the bottom, and a few scudding clouds could move across the moon, or better still reveal it. A storm could be brewing, clouds could get darker and the background could change brightness or colour or something. I do not believe that this would be distracting, but it would seriously add to the atmosphere.
I think that when you ask for a hint the timer should loose some time or there should be some kind of balance against getting a hint, you know what I mean?
I would make the cursor a skeletons hand or something a little more spooky. Simple things will greatly improve a not bad first match 3 game.
As for a comparison to "Holiday Bonus" I don't think these games can be considered as being in the same league!
There's no innovation or real creativity here, main tile gfx are ok, but the hand drawn style is only a little above home grown, but nothing more. Sounds effects are few and far between and just adequate. Music is competent and sparse. There's little in the way of design in the game as a whole, its just a direct use of GA's framework. It would be a great example game to 'chuck' into the framework package to show how it can be done.
Holdiay Bonus graphics, music, sound effects, animation, particle effects, presentation were all far superior to anything shown here. There simply is no comparison except that they use a match 3 mechanic and GA's framework.
Download the 'Holiday Bonus' demo and check it out if you don't know what I am talking about!
IPete2.