Mutual project critiques for the other groups

Questions to be answered

1. What is your favorite aspect of the proposed game?
2. What is your least favorite aspect?
3. What one change or addition would you suggest to most improve the game?

Jonas Hauenstein

Lun

1. The Pickups mentioned in the game proposal document sounds like a lot of fun. I also like the general idea of a simple, yet fun game to play.
2. The level / track seems to be mostly a straight line – but perhaps I’m wrong. The possibility of an instant death could lead to a problem with player motivation.
3. I would make sure to have enough checkpoints to avoid the last mentioned, potential problem.

YetAnotherWorkingName

1. I think it’s a pretty awesome game idea in general. It looks like a lot of puzzle fun. (Have you seen echochrome?)
2. The anti gravity gun mentioned in the presentation could lead to some trouble. The navigation within such fields is hard to handle when not perfectly fine tuned.
3. I think this type of game needs some cool and clever designed levels – what consequently will cost a lot of development and testing time. I hope you have thought of that…

RedLight

1. Cool game idea. Could be a really good party game for evening with friends (and perhaps one or two beers ;))
2. The keeping of the balance is a good idea too, but I’m not quite sure how it will work out in the actual game – I think this will need a good portion of playtesting and tweaking.
3. I can’t think of anything here – sorry

Odysseus' Quest

1. A 'racing game with boats' – I like the idea. Also, the individual paths are a good idea.
2. The special powers of the gods can bring some variety to the basic gameplay – but the balancing of the powers is a crucial part.
3. How you will handle the visibility of distant checkpoints? Will there be some kind of guidance system (like an arrow) for the player?

Pharaoh's Tomb

1. The different puzzle styles seem to guarantee a lot of variety.
2. I can't really think of anything I dislike, but...
3. The puzzles need to be cleverly designed to have fun with the game. Since there are a lot of puzzle types, this equals a lot of work – I hope you will accomplish this.

URO

1. The distinction on the map detail for the two parties is a cool idea.
2. The limited fuel will perhaps have a negative impact on the gameplay. But there's an option for unlimited fuel anyway...
3. Is the game played with two players in split screen mode? It's not clearly mentioned in the game proposal document (or I perhaps was unable to find it)

Thomas Siegrist

Lun

1. Sounds quite interesting with all the pickups you figured out. I think they will be the crucial gameplay elements that will make the game fun.
2. Apart from the very creative story that you figured out, I kind of miss the innovation your game brings with it. As you said yourself, your game mechanics are more or less taken from other games. (But this is the case with most of the games)
3. I think your gameplay ideas look like they could be fun so I don’t have any suggestions for improvements.

YetAnotherWorkingName

1. I must admit the idea with isometric view is very cool and unique. Also the artistic rendering will make the game look great.
2. In order to keep the game interesting for a period of time you’ll need quite a lot of levels. Which I suppose you will not be able to create in such a short time, since they have be well balanced in terms of difficulty.
3. Maybe you could add some multilayer levels. So that at a gap in the wall you can either jump over the cap or just fall onto a lower level and into a tunnel.

RedLight

1. The idea to convert a childhood game into a computer game sounds quite interesting.
2. I am a bit skeptical about the game mechanics when you have to stay still. I am a bit concerned that it might be hard to play.
3. One addition that just popped into my mind could be that players can obtain stilts. If they are walking on stilts they will not be affected by the water flow. But while standing still you have to keep the balance with the joystick on the gamepad. Additional items then could be to release earthquakes that only affect those walking on stilts.

Odysseus' Quest

1. If you manage to do the shallow water simulation together with the Poseidon’s power to create a wave under your sailboat that will definitely look really cool. (Maybe together with our seasickness idea :D)
2. I hope your sailboats will have a hidden engine or there is a hell lot of wind in ancient Greece :D. In my opinion your sailboats should run quite fast in order for the game to be fun.
3. A top down overview map would be cool. Where you can see how much progress your opponents already reached.

Pharaoh's Tomb

1. You came up with quite a lot of riddles which will make the game diversified.
2. The game reminds me of the game “Tomb Raider”. And I don't know if try to do too much.
3. I did not come up with some improvements here … sorry.

URO

1. I really like the cubify power up. I can already imagine how it will look quite cool suddenly have to roll with a block.
2. Your objectives contradict the fuel feature. If a round is only ended if the mayan gets captured, then what happens if the alien is out of fuel. But if you would have unlimited fuel the game could last forever. So the fuel feature is not bad but the mayan should be able to win the round if the alien is out of fuel.
3. Maybe you could add a four player mode, with two aliens and two mayans, to add a bit more action. The two fractions act in teams. And you could introduce some powerups that will support the other teammate.

[URO Team]: Thanks for your feedback, just one comment: the round lasts predefined amount of time OR until Maya is captured. It should me mentioned in the game proposal document, but apparently it is not very obvious/noticeable, because other teams also mentioned that we need to introduce time limit We were thinking about many-to many LAN game as an extra, but for now it is split-screen game (to answer question above)

Philipp Keller

Lun

1. Multiplayer where one player can never be sure to be winning (switch powerup).
2. If there are really as many different powerups as in your proposal, I would find it difficult to remember/recognize/effectively use them.
3. Take care that game is easy to understand if you want the game to be fast and addictive. Especially the (strategic?) use of the powerups.

YetAnotherWorkingName

1. The isometric view and turning of those cubes is very innovative and promising.
2. No negatives basically, as others have mentioned, I also think you need quite a few levels to keep it interesting (which is hard to achieve in the short time).
3. You could put different things on one turnable block, so the block has to be turned several times to solve a puzzle (like a ladder on one side and a button on another side).

RedLight

1. I like the idea of the water flow that makes it a challenge for the players to stand on a spot.
2. How do you prevent the players in front from taking all the powerups and so to make it impossible for the players in the back to get level with them?
3. You could make the powerups appear during the game and distribute the spawning points so, that the players which are at the back get more powerful powerups to give them a chance to overtake the players in the front and to make it more difficult for the players in the front.

Odysseus' Quest

1. I absolutely like racing games with open maps!
2. I think balancing of the different god powers is quite difficult but at the same time very crucial in this game.
3. Some sort of gauge that displays the finished percentage of the track of all players (so that you can compare your progress to that of the opponents) would be helpful.

Pharaoh's Tomb

1. You plan to have lots of different ways in which the player can interact with the environment.
2. What happens if you absolutely didn't manage to memorise the path of death picture (if you could activate the picture several times before attempting to cross, it would spoil the riddle)?
3. None. I just hope you manage to finish that obviously vast amount of work!

URO

1. Cubes trying to "roll".
2. The alien has to use much more fuel for generating fields, so maybe he tends to run out of it more often.
3. You could make the enery field have a seperate source of energy than the fuel. When it is activated it "burns" the available energy quite quickly. After deactivation, the energy regenerates much slower. Like this, you would force the chasing alien to always keep up with the maya without being able to end the chase during the time the field energy is low, so he is ready when he has enough power again.

David Gerhad

Lun

1. The game sounds like fun, but...
2. Its probably pretty hard to keep the player fascinated
3. Catapult and other unexpected "paths"

YetAnotherWorkingName

1. The puzzle and painting gun sound like fun.
2. I think the balancing for the gravity gun will be extremly hard, so that it is playble by other players.
3. Random generated maps would be fun, but also hard to implement...

RedLight

1. I like that the game is based on a childrens game
2. Hard to balance the power ups, so that the first player who picks up XYZ doesn't allways win.
3. COOP-modus would be fun.

Odysseus' Quest

1. Sailing game sounds like fun and the different gods and their abilities add a strategic part.
2. When players do not take the same path there will be not much interaction...
3. speed boat mod

Pharaoh's Tomb

1. The adventure combined with puzzles should be pretty interesting.
2. Difficult puzzles are very hard to design and repetive puzzles are just annoying.
3. I hope you can create some nice human animations!

URO

1. I like to two player interaction, since it's very competitive.
2. The balance of capturing the mayan is crucial here and i think very hard to tweak.
3. A powerup which switches the roles of the player, that the alien gets hunted.