I Wanna Be The Troll (working title)- Demo

[StuffandThings]

https://stuffandthings85.itch.io/i-wanna-be-the-mash-up-demo-v2

Fangame I'm working on. I wanted to call it "I Wanna Be The Troll" but I just realized that name is already taken. But anyway, try it out and tell me what you think.

I'm new to game making, so I know it's not perfect, but I would like some constructive criticism so I can improve upon it.

(Try to) enjoy!

EDIT: This is a newer version using the I Wanna Be The Studio Engine (YoYoYo Edition). So far, I have only re-done what was in the original version, but there's more to come. Please give me any feedback to help improve the game!

[Swordslinger]

One question, are you the same guy who put this on steam greenlight?

[pieceofcheese87]

StuffandThings, I don't know how old you are or what your experience with game design is, but this game is bad.
No, it's worse than bad. It's a goddamn disaster.

First of all, there is no title screen or anything. I am just thrown right into the game. Okay. Next thing I noticed was the size of the game. Why did you make it so big? Fangames are 800x608. Alright, so far not looking so good. The first screen has guy rock blasting in my ears and I'm looking at some default brown block tiles. I tried jumping and the physics are completely botched. Your double jump is just the same as the single jump and you can even press the jump button after using both jumps and it will still play the jump sound! Plus it feels like the game is sped up more than usual. There's no excuse for physics this bad, especially since it was made in game maker studio. Use an engine please. Oh, and you have restarting music too. Lovely.

So let's talk about your platforming. The first screen is pretty much as bad as you can get for a first impression. It's already hard to make basic jumps because of the wonky physics, but of course what would a fangame be without generic spike and fruit triggers. I almost quit on this screen alone. Past this point I had lost all hope. The next screen appears to be a level select of some sort. I decided to jump down the hole and was greeted by a south park meme before dying. There were no savepoints, so I had to do the first screen again. Good. I made it back to the level select and decided to try the Zelda stage because it was the closest. There's still no save point when you go in the door, you first have to make it up a series of blocks and spikes. The catch however is that the spikes take priority over the blocks, so I died a few times for seemingly no reason. When I made it to the savepoint, there was no animation when I shot it. I pressed R to test the save and when I respawned the song didn't restart, but instead it starting playing another layer of the same song over it. So now not only am I having zero fun from this horrible game but my ears are also bleeding. When I died and pressed R it took me back to the first screen. I had to press R again to respawn back in the zelda stage. Why is this so broken? Anyways, I tried to make it past the next segment but it's way too long. I'm convinced that one save point is the only one in the game.

There's plenty more wrong with this game I didn't mention but I think you get the point. It's a mess and you should feel bad for creating this.

[StuffandThings]

One question, are you the same guy who put this on steam greenlight?

No. I realized after I put it on Itch.io that there was already a "I Wanna Be The Troll", so I have to change the title.

StuffandThings, I don't know how old you are or what your experience with game design is, but this game is bad.
No, it's worse than bad. It's a goddamn disaster.

First of all, there is no title screen or anything. I am just thrown right into the game. Okay. Next thing I noticed was the size of the game. Why did you make it so big? Fangames are 800x608. Alright, so far not looking so good. The first screen has guy rock blasting in my ears and I'm looking at some default brown block tiles. I tried jumping and the physics are completely botched. Your double jump is just the same as the single jump and you can even press the jump button after using both jumps and it will still play the jump sound! Plus it feels like the game is sped up more than usual. There's no excuse for physics this bad, especially since it was made in game maker studio. Use an engine please. Oh, and you have restarting music too. Lovely.

So let's talk about your platforming. The first screen is pretty much as bad as you can get for a first impression. It's already hard to make basic jumps because of the wonky physics, but of course what would a fangame be without generic spike and fruit triggers. I almost quit on this screen alone. Past this point I had lost all hope. The next screen appears to be a level select of some sort. I decided to jump down the hole and was greeted by a south park meme before dying. There were no savepoints, so I had to do the first screen again. Good. I made it back to the level select and decided to try the Zelda stage because it was the closest. There's still no save point when you go in the door, you first have to make it up a series of blocks and spikes. The catch however is that the spikes take priority over the blocks, so I died a few times for seemingly no reason. When I made it to the savepoint, there was no animation when I shot it. I pressed R to test the save and when I respawned the song didn't restart, but instead it starting playing another layer of the same song over it. So now not only am I having zero fun from this horrible game but my ears are also bleeding. When I died and pressed R it took me back to the first screen. I had to press R again to respawn back in the zelda stage. Why is this so broken? Anyways, I tried to make it past the next segment but it's way too long. I'm convinced that one save point is the only one in the game.

There's plenty more wrong with this game I didn't mention but I think you get the point. It's a mess and you should feel bad for creating this.

My experience with game design is...0. This is the first thing I've even touched (I think it shows). Keep in mind this is just a demo, not a finished game. I had issues with the main menu not working quite correctly, so I left it out for now while I figure that out. I also mentioned the restart issue on the download page. The game is set to 60fps, 30fps is just plain unplayable.

Im still working out what works and what doesn't, and will continue to improve it as I learn. Kayin learned on IWBTG, too. Why would there be save points so early? It's basically impossible to die on the second screen, unless you deliberately jump onto spikes, or get tricked by the other part (those paths are blocked off because they aren't ready yet.) It wouldn't be so masochistic if it were too easy, right?

I assure you, you can jump on the bushes and not hit the spikes. I've done it probably a thousand times by now, its supposed to be somewhat difficult.

As far as the size, that's the default set by GM, so I just went with that. By the time I realized how much bigger it was, I had already done so much I didn't want to revert back (although it is really starting to cause design problems.) Noted.

That is not the one and only save point, by the way. Anyway, this was mostly an experiment trying to figure out how put things into a game, learn code, set triggers, make bosses, etc. I'm aware of some things like the jumping problem, and the general physics, but as I said I'm still learning and will continue to improve as I go.

Do I dare ask what are the things you didn't mention?

[WetWookie]

Learning to make fangames is great fun and I'm glad you're giving it a shot.

That said one of the biggest, most important, never to be strayed from parts of making a fangame is don't mess with the physics! Many players have hundred or thousands of hours into fangames and have all of the movements committed to muscle memory. They press the jump keys a very specific number of milliseconds and expect the kid to move in a very precise way. As soon as you start changing the way jumps work or the number of frames per second the game runs in (They run at 50. Why do they run at 50? Who knows? They just DO.) the players will become extremely frustrated. In order to start messing around with creating a new engine or running things at different framerates you need to REALLY know what you're doing.

This is why it is super duper important for new fangame creators to use an established engine that has all of the physics already worked out. I recommend this one! https://iwannacommunity.com/forum/index.php?topic=1852.0

Additional important information for new fangame creators can be found here! https://klazen.com/IWBTG/tutorial/dev_tutorial.html and here! https://iwannacommunity.com/forum/index.php?topic=2251.0

Best of luck with your game!

[StuffandThings]

Thanks, I'll look into that.