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Naxe
I want to make really fun games! Thanks For reading this far.

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Joined on 12/19/13

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Reflection: "Hop: Friend Resurrection"

Posted by Naxe - June 19th, 2017


What I Made

Hop: Friend Ressurection was supposed to be a simple platformer but making it in just a week proved a lot harder, the framework I use to make games is called HaxeFlixel It has it's downfalls and it's kinks, but on the bright side it lets me build projects in .swf format, it can also build to HTML5, but as with everything that cross compiles stuff, it's pretty broken.


What Went Wrong

The main problem I had while working on this game was the level design, it was pretty tricky to make a platformer in just 7 days, I've never designed a platformer level in my life. I spent the time trying to draw a rough level layout on paper, and after that was done, I made it in Tiled Editor, and I added it in game, after spending a lot of time trying to tweak the controls to match the level I had landed on "Good Enough" controls, so I decided to not waste more time and just work on trying to make the level a bit longer, I did just that. Right now though, some people have complained that the level was pretty small, and I have to agree, honestly, it's not much of a game, If I was a bit faster I would've added possible threats and would have adjusted the level size, and the content in game.

Another issue I had while making the level was drawing tilesets. Honestly this is the first time I ever design tilesets, so making them look seamless took a while. Originally, I wanted to create tilesets with more color, but after trying, I realized that would've increased the scope so much that I wouldn't be able to finish it in a week. So I opted for a simpler style with only 2 colors that work well.


What Went Right

On the brightside, I managed to make a platformer in a week. I learned a lot from trying to do this, and I'm sure next time, my workflow will be more streamlined, It'll enable me to create levels quicker. I was surprised that a lot of people liked the aesthetic of the game, I spent some time polishing stuff up but I didn't expect people to like it that much. I learned that less is more sometimes, I'm sure it would've just looked generic if I went with my original plan of having a grassy level with grassy tiles.

I also got a bit better at spriting so that's a plus.

Overall I feel like this game was a success, just because I learned so much from it. Hopefully the next entry in the "Hop franchise" will be better, i've gotten a lot of feedback on it, and I've spent some time thinking about how I can perfect Hop's formula since it's more of a "Stop and smell the flowers" kind of game.


Comments

If you're looking for someone to share his experiences on HaxeFlixel, @squidly is a good one to consult.

Thanks!