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Show HN: My first platformer game (Mac, Demo)

blog.helftone.com

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Re: Show HN: My first platformer game (Mac, Demo)

#2

Post by unfunco »

Congratulations! I've just watched the video and immediately clicked the download button on the demo, I've had a quick play on it too and it's really well done. It kind of has a LBP feel to it. One thing I might add is that I don't think gaming is big on Mac (I'm a Mac owner, and I'm into games but I don't combine them, maybe Minecraft from time to time but that's about it.) – Have you thought about other platforms or what distribution channels you want to release this on? It might work out really well on Steam.

Re: Show HN: My first platformer game (Mac, Demo)

#3

Post by Corun »

unfunco wrote: post #2

Congratulations! I've just watched the video and immediately clicked the download button on the demo, I've had a quick play on it too and it's really well done. It kind of has a LBP feel to it. One thing I might add is that I don't think gaming is big on Mac (I'm a Mac owner, and I'm into games but I don't combine them, maybe Minecraft from time to time but that's about it.) – Have you thought about other platforms o…

Thanks! You're right that gaming isn't that big on Mac. The main target is going to be iOS initially with Mac on the side, but the Mac version is already ready and much easier to link to a bunch of people :-).

The game is written in Obj-C, but I think with either gnustep or cocotron (or I think there was a commercial one that I'm forgetting...), it wouldn't be too hard to port since it's almost entirely OpenGL. I hope that will be in Pentumble's future :-).

Re: Show HN: My first platformer game (Mac, Demo)

#4

Post by fwoty »

Nice! Love the idea, the visuals and the music.

It feels weird to press right to go left when you're on the underside of a box (though I understand why, and not sure what the alternative is). Most of my deaths were due to pressing the wrong direction when I was clinging to the bottom of something. Maybe with more levels I would develop muscle memory for how that works.

Also, I pressed 'feedback' after the end, and when I came back the option to subscribe to the mailing list was gone!

Overall, very cool! Looking forward to seeing more.

Re: Show HN: My first platformer game (Mac, Demo)

#5

Post by Corun »

fwoty wrote: post #4

Nice! Love the idea, the visuals and the music. It feels weird to press right to go left when you're on the underside of a box (though I understand why, and not sure what the alternative is). Most of my deaths were due to pressing the wrong direction when I was clinging to the bottom of something. Maybe with more levels I would develop muscle memory for how that works. Also, I pressed 'feedback' after the end, and wh…

Thanks! You're right that it feels weird on the underside of platforms, though you get used to it ;-). We considered some alternatives (if you jump on to the bottom of a platform then invert the controls until you let go), but they were just weird in different ways.

The feedback button does hide the window. Perhaps it shouldn't. I'll fix it :-)

Re: Show HN: My first platformer game (Mac, Demo)

#7

Post by Corun »

tharshan09 wrote: post #6

Congratz! Its a very nice game. How was this made? Was it with a framework? or with OpenGL? Would love to know some details.

It's actually my own engine. The whole game started out as an experiment in lightmapping, believe it or not. The graphics are OpenGL, the physics are chipmunk physics ( https://chipmunk-physics.net ), I used Sketch-up and Blender for the 3D design and Lua for scripting.

I'm planning on writing some articles on the process over the next few weeks which will appear on http://blog.helftone.com :-).

Re: Show HN: My first platformer game (Mac, Demo)

#9

Post by Corun »

danvesma wrote: post #8

It's an absolute cracker. I'd probably pay for it on iOS, but I'd pay more on the mac... it's really fluid and beautiful. No bugs for me. MBPi7(2.8) 13" 16GB.

Thanks! We're still having trouble deciding how to monetize exactly. We were initially thinking $4.99 on Mac. But now we're thinking maybe freemium and you can buy the remaining levels after you've completed the first 9 (for still a few dollars on Mac). What do you think?
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