Hi everybody!
I have finished my first game and was wondering if anyone can give me some constructive feedback. Feedback is needed on the difficulty of levels and overall how the game feels to play. It would be greatly appreciated! 
Thanks everyone!
https://www.roblox.com/games/5526726490/Impossible-Platformer-NEW?refPageId=77e8d621-654b-4728-ac29-db0543cec186
3 Likes
I went on the game and Iām in the lobby but Iām not too sure how to access the gameplay. Thereās a āHomeā button that shows maps and credits but clicking on the maps doesnāt do anything.
2 Likes
I currently donāt have too much time on my hands, so iāll give you some quick feedback.
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Try editing some of the landscapes. Some of the platforms you use meshes on donāt have hit detection accurate to the mesh you use. This was a big problem for me on the ice map.
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The difficulty is a bit inconsistent. For example, on the Ice map I couldnāt make it past the first few jumps, but on the beach/pirate map I made it almost to the end on my first try. Try balancing your difficulty or make a system that ranks player difficulty and changes maps depending on the entire serverās difficulty.
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R15 and animations made it a bit finicky. Some sizes and animations will have obvious advantages and drawbacks. IMO, I would use R6 or restrict R15 to the point that everyone is playing with the same size and animations.
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At least for my aspect ratio, the chat window was blocking some of the UI. Perhaps move some of it.
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Try giving some sort of tutorial or guide. Upon playing, I had no idea what the game was about and wasnāt aware of the run buttonās function, which is required for some obstacles.
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Having to re-press the run button every time I died was a bit annoying.
Other than that, this game is looking pretty great. Sorry I donāt have much actual game or level design feedback, as I said, I donāt have much time on my hands right now.
2 Likes
Thank you so much for all of the useful and detailed advice! We will address all the points especially the difficulty which we werenāt too sure on.
2 Likes
Here we go. I just want to leave a warning before I get into it. I will be blunt and I may sound harsh but hopefully thereās some silver lining in this. I will break this up into Gameplay, Build, User Interface, and Conclusion. Since thatās out of the way, letās jump into this.
Gameplay
When I first got into the game where it was properly working, I was in an ongoing match. The concept seems straight forward for all the maps, you jump to avoid death. You jump between pillars, you jump between rocks, over gunpowder trails, etc. This gameplay itself isnāt frustrating but how the game is frustrates me.
You have two options to sprint, one is a button on the screen to push to toggle sprinting and then thereās holding SHIFT. I personally donāt like holding SHIFT since itās harder to make precise movements so I toggled it through the screen. There are jumps that REQUIRE sprinting to work and since I donāt like using SHIFT, I use the button butā¦ when I die, it resets the toggle. It would really be nice if that stayed toggled even after death so I can just get back into the game.
The most frustrating thing is that you have to be precise with all these jumps. There isnāt a mechanic to learn and get better at. You just have to be good at jumping all the time. If you mess up, you get sent back to the beginning of the levelā¦ even if you are half way through. I think having a checkpoint system would be great for this so it doesnāt feel like a colossal failure if you mess up. As well, you only get 5 minutes to complete the level and it took me around 2 minutes to get around half way so you only get a few chances to mess up if you want to finish the level.
I just want to say that I never finished a level so I had to ask the developer of what you get at the end of the level. You get emeralds and one win. If you do not complete the level, you donāt get anything. I personally got demotivated and wanted to quit after getting half way through the map and then messing up. This type of game may have a low player retention for those reasons because itās easy to rage quit on. Sprint not staying toggled was annoying for me where it made me mess up more and take time to toggle it again. This all leads to players just getting annoyed and possibly leaving.
After the timer hits 0, you get teleported back to the lobby. Thereās only one issue with this and that there is no timer of how much time is left until the next round. If you want to go to the VIP area / Shop, you have no idea how much time you have.
Something else I want to note is that Iām seeing that you can only really buy pets with the emeralds. Well not buying pets but buying eggs in a chance to get the pet you want. The issue with this is that there isnāt a lot of motivation for players to play if there isnāt content to unlock or upgrades they can get by playing. Why play your game for pets if I can play Adopt me! for their pets? Due to the gameplay, there isnāt a lot of options to provide upgrades to playersā¦ since you just jump. With the simplicity of the game, you kinda back yourselves into a corner where there isnāt a lot of expanding you can do. You can add more maps but thatās just more jumping with different scenery. I know thereās leaderboards but that and pets alone canāt hold a game up. Sure you can compete against your friends but if you and your friend get frustrated, itās not really fun for either of you. I just donāt see a lot of gameplay here.
Build
Iām mixed about the build quality of your maps and lobby. On the pirate map, I like how the islands look, water looks and how the small boats look in the distance. Though the main pirate ship looks a bit bad. You have roughly what looks like a ship but the front is completely flat. During this section I want to mention the functionality of those moving axes ontop of the ship. I would highly recommend slowing them down so you at least can tell where they are going to be at.
The ice map seems like you use some meshes that include igloos and penguins in the distance. I personally find this kinda bad because they just seem slapped in. I would really work on the quality of the build and make it more detailed.
For the most part the lobby is perfectly fine and looks good. Though I wonder about why the picnic baskets are so large compared to players and other assets. I think my final point is to say that you should think of a style for your game and build the assets to match that. Everything you build even though they are different maps, should be seen in the same art style. Add some excitement to the build.
Note: I just played on the Pyramid map and that looks great compared to the other maps. I like all the detail and you should take inspiration from that and run with it. The Japanese build is also nice.
User Interface
The user interface is a mixed bag. The chat or emeralds/wins count should be moved so they arenāt in the way of each other. The user interfaces seem quite basic, I would really look into a complete redesing of the UI to make it look fresh. The one thing I noticed was that the shop screen for game passes doesnāt have any descriptions for what the game passes do. The radio one is obvious but the āBundle Packā isnāt. Players want to know what they are buying before purchasing. Something else that happens is when I try to buy an egg when I have no emeralds, the UI that gives me purchase options for emeralds shows up under the UI Iām looking at so I need to close the egg screen to see the pop up.
Conclusion
Here is what I think you should do with your game. I think you should step back for a moment and think about the concept. I would really think about adding some game mechanics that donāt involve jumping to spice up the gameplay on maps. I know itās a platforming game but there are other mechanics than jumping. Adding new mechanics for players to use to complete maps allows you then to add possible upgrades and even monetization options. I would also consider having pets give an effect to the player, maybe a slight chance of getting extra emeralds. I think you need to expand the concept and itās mechanics to make it successful. Checkpoints would make players less frustrated and less likely to rage quit as well. I think doing this and redoing some builds and UI will make it more attractive to players. There are so many possibilities you could explore with mechanics but just having jumping just isnāt satisfying to play. I wish you luck with your game and I hope this doesnāt seem too mean.
2 Likes
Honestly, I agree. I didnāt know how to express it, but this is exactly what I thought. Overall, good for your first game, but there are a lot of areas for improvment!
Thank you so much for the detailed response! We will add more game modes such as a team based mode and a checkpoint system. We will consider the skill jumping mechanic as well. As this is our first ever project we appreciate the feedback! Some things you just donāt know until someone tests it.
OK, just want to say a BIG THANK YOU for all the great advice guys! We have fixed many of the issues highlighted and have seen a dramatic increase in player retention (due the changing of frustrating game mechanics). We are working on addressing all the issues. The SPRINT feature has been completely removed which is something that has been very well received by players. Now the default ROBLOX walking speed is used. Many players were frustrated by the inconsistencies in difficulty yesterday but today players are enjoying balanced maps. Animations were a big problem that we didnāt even consider but them being standardized has been a very beneficial change. We have definitely reconsidered where are game stands in terms of design and are happy with how we are changing it for the better!
Thanks! @Badandy11 @DoctorBaconEater
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