Economist [Beta]

[Al Capwn]

I am seeking suggestions/bug reports for my game.

http://adventuresofjoel.com/economist.htm

Please DO NOT tell me about these things, I will update them and stuff soon:
1. No sound
2. No HighScores working yet.

If you're a sponsor and interested, please don't PM me unless you are interested in a non-exclusive sponsorship or are going to pay me a ridiculous amount of money. I like keeping my rights.

P.S. Enjoy!

[alillm]

I like the concept, kind of like the helicopter game, but with path drawing .

I must say though I don't think you will have much luck looking for sponsors with the presentation of the game as it is. It really seems to just be an engine at the moment with a half finished theme. I would advise putting some time into improving the look and polish of it first.

Also, I can't help but notice your apparent loathing of exclusive sponsorship. While I wouldn’t discourage you from seeking non-exclusive deals, I think you would be pleasantly surprised if you looked at getting an exclusive deal. The rights thing is always an issue, but the way I see it, the only rights you lose is the right to sell the game to other sites (and the money won’t be less from an exclusive deal anyway). The game assets, credits and rights to make sequels will pretty much always remain yours.

As I say though, polish the game up first .

Ali

[T1ger]

Well, it's kinda not-challenging.. you can just click at the top, and he'll run forever, or as long as you click.. Maybe you should add some more gameplay elements? Like powerups, or things you would have to jump over? now its just clicking and clicking, and it's not that fun..

[Al Capwn]

That is a good point T1ger. I will have the blocks spawn a bit higher.

And can I ask what you mean alillm? I'm not really sure how I should polish it, it is a man running on a graph, but I will see what I can do.

Thanks for the suggestions guys.

[smith1302]

Its a pretty cool idea. Some thing I think you should do is when you start the game before you click to make the graph he is walking in mid-air. Maybe you could make him not have his walking animation run during that period. and maybe too make it look cooler you could randomize the money block's size or something. Other then that I like it .

PS: You could add a how to play page. It's easy to figure out how to play, but you know how some people are.

[Al Capwn]

maybe too make it look cooler you could randomize the money block's size or something.

The money blocks size is already randomized. They get bigger as the levels go on, and the speed that they come increases. The minimum scale is 100x00 though.

you can just click at the top, and he'll run forever, or as long as you click..

I fixed that, the blocks can now spawn above the screen.

You could add a how to play page. It's easy to figure out how to play, but you know how some people are.

I really don't like reading tutorials personally, but I will put up some quick instructions. It can't hurt!

Some thing I think you should do is when you start the game before you click to make the graph he is walking in mid-air. Maybe you could make him not have his walking animation run during that period.

Actually, I had put code in already to do that, but I just realized that I put it before I load his Movie Clip, so thanks for pointing that out.

[Al Capwn]

Okay, so I upgraded the graphics a bit, and added in a quick-fix-players-guide. If there are any more bugs/suggestions, I would be hear of them.

Well, it's kinda not-challenging.. you can just click at the top, and he'll run forever, or as long as you click.. Maybe you should add some more gameplay elements? Like powerups, or things you would have to jump over? now its just clicking and clicking, and it's not that fun..

The game increases in difficulty very quickly. The speed, size, and frequency of blocks increases as the game goes on. Try making it past 3 minutes.
And yeah, I know what you mean, but I am still unsure of how that would work, or if it would help out the game. I may put in score bonuses though.

[alillm]

Well what I mean by polish it up is just make it more attractive. You could start by getting rid of the hand drawn font on the main menu and replace it with an interesting real font. Give the buttons a roll over state, come up with an interesting title logo. The grid in the game looks uneven and rushed, and the $ blocks look a bit too much like place holders.

The graphics don't have to look like they were made by a professional artist if you take some care in the presentation.

Ali

[Al Capwn]

I will start working on that and see how it turns out. The problem is, on my last game (escape from hartwell), I got a lot of gruff when I used the line tool, because people said that the art looked crappy, as opposed to when I hand-drew objects. I will apply some of these changes though, and see how it looks.

[Al Capwn]

Okay, I redid all of the buttons, took out all of the high score stuff for now, and that is it. Right now, I am going to focus on a track to play/highscore system.

If you have any track suggestions that would go well with this game, that would be tight.

[Eager Beaver]

On playing this game I am reminded of Line Rider.
Add some gravity, so that the player accelerates while going down, and decelerates while climbing up.

[Al Capwn]

The problem with that, Eager Beaver, is that with the way the game accelerates naturally, it would kill the player instantly if he slowed down during some of the higher-speed levels.

[Son of Bryce]

I like the idea. I think the line should be red!

[Al Capwn]

I was actually thinking blue, because red is generally associated with hostile objects. But more importantly because the little dot that pops up when you click is blue.

P.S. Does anyone else have an opinion on the line color?

P.S.S Wait, but 9% of male adults are colorblind for red and green :O

[cadin]

I like the theme. It's funny.
Two things that don't seem to jive with the theme though:
1. If I'm a business man, why am I avoiding the big blocks of money?
2. Since the line is supposed to represent a demand graph, maybe the position of the line should have more effect on the gameplay. For example: you could have the bottom half of the screen tinted red, and if your line goes in the red you start losing points/health. So while you are trying to avoid obstacles, you are also trying to keep your graph in the 'black' as much as possible too.

I agree that the presentation could be more polished as well.

Good luck.

[Al Capwn]

2. That is a good point. Someone else mentioned that to me. Actually, the game was initially supposed to work like that, with price ceilings and floors.

1. The first rule of economics is that 'economics is not about money'.
-Mr. Martin, my Econ teacher

And how exactly do you guys want me to polish it? I am really not an artsy person, so this comes somewhat difficult to me. If you could be more specific, that would help out.

[cadin]

And how exactly do you guys want me to polish it?

- The man is very crudely drawn and animated.
- The grid is not uniform, and it overlaps unevenly when the graphic loops.
- The hand-drawn type is really rough and feels out of place with the theme.
- The level/score type seems unconsidered (kind of just floating there). Also the cash boxes overlap it when they are up there.
- The 'Quantity Demanded' text is right-aligned with the score, so it is constantly jittering as the numbers change.
- There is no space between the word 'Level' and the level number

Hope that helps.

[Al Capwn]

Haha. Totally. I will get on it.

The reasons that I chose not to do some of this stuff (like the font), was because I try to do as much myself as I can, even if that means making my own font, which I've done for previous games. I suppose I could just put everything as impact. Thanks a lot for all the specifics though!

[Al Capwn]

I don't really know what you mean about the score/level being unconsidered. I don't know where else to put it besides the top, unless you want me to box it in.

I'm not sure how much better I can draw the man, and I can probly animate him better, but these will be the last thing I do if I choose to.

I noticed the jittery score and fixed that.

I will probably redo the text, but want to consult some more people before I do that.

Thanks for all of your suggestions! You're really keeping my busy!

The grid is nice now, and it doesn't skip (at least that I notice, but I find it very hard to notice that.)

[Sauceofallevils]

This game has an interesting concept. Cool.