NeonPlat Adventures

[jayenkai]

Download Here | Minisite
A super awesome sidescrolling Mario-styled platform adventure game, starring everyone's favourite messed up neon squiggly thing.





Download Here | Minisite

Download from CWF:

http://www.curlysworldoffreeware.com/games/view/1008

[jayenkai]

Just a quick post, for the sake of hype

I'm well on target for the November 2011 release date, and have added bucketloads of stuff to the game.
It's all very exciting!

[Pater Alf]

Looks great! Platdude goes Super Mario, I'm really looking forward to play this.

[jayenkai]

It's Here!!!
Download for Windows!

I've REALLY enjoyed making this game, so much so that I even made one of those minisite things, JUST for this!
NeonPlat Adventures : Minisite



Enjoy!

[eMTe]

If it plays as cool as it looks and sounds - I'm in.

[Chroelle]

It really looks amazingly cool...!

[Chroelle]

I think it was brilliant in a new way. Arcady, like Jayenkai's other games, but better. Platformy, mario-y, fullfeatury and joyous-gameplay-y.
I liked it. I might not return to it often but I like it! It would of course be nice to know stuff before you start the game, but as any other Jay game you get the picture pretty soon, and now it is all jumping, doging and collecting.

[jayenkai]

Thanks

I took my time, and I loved every single minute of development.
At no point did it get stuck, everything flowed wonderfully, and all the parts fell fantastically into place.
Even the thought of having to add 50 baddies*, each with a little power up* didn't phase me, and with a few random ideas and old AGameAWeek character theft, it all got smushed together pretty well.

Having said that, I'm now in the middle of converting it over to iOS, and that's certainly not a happy joyous experience. Dang thing's winding me up like crazy.
Couple that with the depressingly crap lack of interest in the game, and.. yeah, this is the struggly bit of this project, I think!
Your enjoyment pushes me onwards!

(releasing a 2D SuperMarioLand style platformer at the same time that Nintendo releases a 3D SuperMarioLand style platformer probably doesn't help!.. And Skyrim's taking folk away, too.. damn you professional games!! grr!!!)

Over on the NeonPlat Minisite I popped a bunch of little Handy Hints. I've actually been throwing random tidbits on twitter, too, so I figured it'd be nice to have them collected onto a page somewhere.
I'm trying not to reveal too much, though. With the calendar setup, and all those little pickups to discover, it's meant to be one of those "lots to learn, lots to do, play and see, take a peek" kind of things.

I used to LOVE doing that. Really gets you into the game, trying different things..

..but people DO keep asking about it..
I'm getting the feeling, lately, that all these long lengthy tutorials in games are starting to have an adverse effect on the player's ability to play games properly, learning things as they go.
When EVEN NINTENDO start shoving "how to jump over this hole" type tutorials, you know something's really quite wrong in the world of gaming..
.. I got quite whingy/ranty about that, yesterday!

Anyhoo, thanks for the thanks. I'll plod ahead on the iOS crazy stuff.
Today's task, converting all that nasty AI stuff.
.. A long day ahead..

March 10th <-- MAR10!

-=-=-=-
* There's only 49 baddies, but NeonPlat counts, too, so that's 50! .. oh, and the bosses don't act as powerups, so I didn't have to think up any for those guys!

[Pater Alf]

.. I got quite whingy/ranty about that, yesterday!

Great rant, jayenkai! I hate tutorials that assume that the players are complete idiots and even explain that you have to use the cursor keys to move your character around. So I had a good laugh when I read your blog.

About the game: I like it a lot. It's made in your typical style, but it's much more complex than most of the stuff you did before. And it strictly follows your "level 6 rule" (or whatever you called it) which means you are thrown into the game without a warning and many things start to happen at the same time and you have to react and learn quickly to survive for a longer time (which is probably the reason why people cry for a tutorial). And some of the bosses are really great (I like the invisible one). Hard to beat, but yet fair once you found a strategy.

[jayenkai]

My ranting whinging mind is definitely having a lot of fun with this Tutorial malarkey, coming up with really evil sadistic gameplay mechanics just to throw the player..
Half of me wants to do it, and be mean and evil..

.. the other half's going "now now, Jay, don't be silly!!"

.. hmm.. How about a game where the tutorial guides you through a really simple generic level with nothing to kill you.. and then instantly tosses you into a death filled arena with 1,000 bad guys with giant lazers, and deadly mines everywhere!!!

[Pater Alf]

Nice idea! Or how about a tutorial that explains lots of stuff and moves that you will never need in the actual game? Or a game that only consists of the tutorial (End sequence: And now that you know how to play this game, go and play something else!")?

[jayenkai]

AGameAWeek Year 4 will be starting off in a very silly mood, at this rate!
... meanwhile..
One of these will kill you (not a gamey-enough game for my liking, but you DEFINITELY can't complain about a lack of instructions!!)

[Zyx]

I think a tutorial which ends up being the game's most difficult level would be pretty cool.

[eMTe]

How about a game where the tutorial guides you through a really simple generic level with nothing to kill you.. and then instantly tosses you into a death filled arena with 1,000 bad guys with giant lazers, and deadly mines everywhere!!!

I think a tutorial which ends up being the game's most difficult level would be pretty cool.

Ideas worthy of Peter Molydeux. Whose twitter account was shut down by baddies of this world, just a couple days ago.

[jayenkai]

So, um.. January = a bunch of evil Tutorial based games?
....people are gonna hate me!

[Pater Alf]

You can always come here. We will love you!

[eMTe]

My short experience with NPA shows that Monday levels can act as a tutorial - not much is going on hence you get the time to find out how things work.