Playable DEMO - Old-School Sonic-Inspired Platformer (Project Louie) UPDATED Oct 23rd 2019

SirRamESQ

UPDATED Oct 23rd 2019 Hi all,

This is a platformer I've been working on in Godot for about a year now. The focus of the game is fast and responsive platforming with a focus on preserving the momentum of the player like the old Sonic games would.

I've got a small demo here for all interested

DOWNLOAD AND PLAY 1) Follow this link https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/16FAhVptGezG139rHRaYVeNNIRsJtV5Ao 2) Download either the Windows or Linux version (Both tested and should work) 3) Save to PC 4) Extract 5) Run 'Louie.exe' / 'Louie-Linux.x86_64'

CONTROLS (Keyboard) - A, S, - Move left/right - W - Jump - F - Use - SPACE - Roll / AirDash (DEBUG) - R - Respawn - B - Boost (Max Speed)

CONTROLS (PS4 / XBOX) - DPAD - Move around - X / A - Jump - TRIANGLE / Y - Use - SQUARE / X - Roll / AirDash

(DEBUG) - L3 - Respawn - R3 - Boost (Max Speed)

INSTRUCTIONS Each stage has different gems for completing challenges. The color and shape of the gem indicates the challenge to beat - Blue: Get fast enough Time - Grey: Find Grey Gem - Green: Find All Emeralds in stage - Red: Don't take any damage - Purple: Get enough Coins

I'd also like help / contributions for the following if you're up for it: - Art - Level Design - Music

By all means let me know what you think. If you get weird bugs and it's unplayable let me know about it Also, there are several levels to play, but some are more finished than others

Ace_Dragon

Graphics - Decent
Mechanics - Quite polished, the guy rotates and follows slopes very well, no bugs I can think of.
Presentation - Obviously a WIP, conclusions can't be made yet
Controls - I kept expecting to use the 'enter' key to read the signs (even though I know to use 'F'), but the key pauses the game instead. I would relegate pause to a less prominent key unless the user is expected to stop and start often. Also, if you haven't already, the 'enter' or 'return' key is a very common control for selecting an item in menus such as the main menu. The 'enter' key could also be used to activate the sign posts, advance the sign text, and deactivate the sign when at the last part. You could also set it so the sign text just turns off when you move away from it and get to a certain distance.
Other - The signs and the other scenes could use information on what key(s) should be pressed so we don't have to come to the forum or ask how to proceed. I passed level two and couldn't figure out how to move on as the screens here show there's some part I obviously missed.

SirRamESQ

@Ace Dragon said: Graphics - Decent Mechanics - Quite polished, the guy rotates and follows slopes very well, no bugs I can think of. Presentation - Obviously a WIP, conclusions can't be made yet Controls - I kept expecting to use the 'enter' key to read the signs (even though I know to use 'F'), but the key pauses the game instead. I would relegate pause to a less prominent key unless the user is expected to stop and start often. Also, if you haven't already, the 'enter' or 'return' key is a very common control for selecting an item in menus such as the main menu. The 'enter' key could also be used to activate the sign posts, advance the sign text, and deactivate the sign when at the last part. You could also set it so the sign text just turns off when you move away from it and get to a certain distance. * Other - The signs and the other scenes could use information on what key(s) should be pressed so we don't have to come to the forum or ask how to proceed. I passed level two and couldn't figure out how to move on as the screens here show there's some part I obviously missed.

I've actually done that as well, pressing 'Enter' instead of 'F'.I usually use a controller (where start is pause) so I don't notice it so much when I test. I intend on adding a menu to reconfigure inputs, but I should still have some sensible defaults.

Hrm, not sure where you're stuck at. After the tutorial level, you're dropped into a Hub world. There should be 4 signs that you can press the Use ('F' Key) to go to different stages.

I really appreciate you calling the Mechanics "Quite polished", you can probably tell that's where the lion's share of the work went.

Thanks for the feedback!

Ace_Dragon

I got to the hub world and tried out the other levels.

I don't know if there is supposed to be a bit of a delay in the transition screen, but if there is it could be a bit shorter.

Anyway, back to the controls, one might briefly get the impression that something in the game is not working because some things related to signs and going to new scenes require two different keys to fully get through. It should easily be possible to only require one key both for using the signs and going through the transitions (ie. coding a series of steps based on a variable).

SirRamESQ

Agreed, The use key should also be used to progress through menus and the like.

lawnjelly

Great effort, the character is great and it feels quite responsive, it is a game I found myself wanting to explore more. :)

ChimaereJade

I tested the game myself too a few minutes before and have to say that the momento-gravity-mixture makes much fun! I like how you can make an "double jump" using the dash+direction key. The wall-jump itself maybe could need a short break (sticking the player a short while to the position at the wall) before the jump goes further. Right now the wall-jump is a bit hectic to me. The graphical design and the music are appealing - I hope for some quite background-sounds.

All in all this has a lot of potenzial. Hope you will continue the development! :)

SirRamESQ

@lawnjelly said: Great effort, the character is great and it feels quite responsive, it is a game I found myself wanting to explore more. :)

@ChimaereJade said: I tested the game myself too a few minutes before and have to say that the momento-gravity-mixture makes much fun! I like how you can make an "double jump" using the dash+direction key. The wall-jump itself maybe could need a short break (sticking the player a short while to the position at the wall) before the jump goes further. Right now the wall-jump is a bit hectic to me. The graphical design and the music are appealing - I hope for some quite background-sounds.

All in all this has a lot of potenzial. Hope you will continue the development! :)

@ChimaereJade I'd love to add some atmospheric background sounds.That may be one of the next things I start toying with.

Thanks for taking the time to give some feedback you guys! These are the kinds of responses that makes me want to keep hacking away at this project :)

SirRamESQ

Updated the demo More levels + Input remapping and several other changes / additions

PatrickOne

Hi! I tried your demo. Not very intuive how to get past the splash screens. I like the controls, but why oh why haven't you added direction control for the joystick (I hate the D-pad). Just go into Project Settings the Input Map tab and add Joy axis for Left Stick Left for ui_left etc, all you have to do is build and it's done.

SirRamESQ

@PatrickOne said: Hi! I tried your demo. Not very intuive how to get past the splash screens. I like the controls, but why oh why haven't you added direction control for the joystick (I hate the D-pad). Just go into Project Settings the Input Map tab and add Joy axis for Left Stick Left for ui_left etc, all you have to do is build and it's done.

Sorry about that. I don't usually use the analog thumbsticks for platformers, I hadn't noticed. You're right though, it would be really easy to change. I'll make sure to do that next time around

There is an Input Remapping screen in the game, did you find it? You said the first few screens weren't very intuitive. If you did find it, were you able to map your controllers thumbsticks? Let me know when you get a chance.