I played the game for a while yesterday evening, enjoyed it overall! But did notice quite a few ways you could possibly improve the gameplay.
Some ideas:
- have 3 difficulty modes. It gets frustrating when you cant do a level, by having different difficulties could stop players exiting if they get frustrated, they can drop it down a difficulty instead. And then when levels are completed you could show which difficulties the player has completed the level on. Also provides a replayability, for example, if someone completed the game on easy and enjoyed it they may go back thru and try on medium or hard. Should be fairly easy to implement the difficulties. Levels can remain the same, simply make the player actor smaller and move slower based on difficulty setting. I am stuck on Level 7 and had a tonne of go's but didnt even get close to completing the level, so for now I am stuck, no way to skip the level or make it easier, and I cant even get close to completing it. I can get about half way but I find it too hard. So for now Ive given up on the game because Im stuck.
- would be good as part of Google Play achievements if also had a 'stars collected' leaderboad. And perhaps some Google Play achievements to aim for too, such as reaching a certain amount of stars, reaching certain level number etc. You've gone to the trouble of implementing Google Play when the user loads the app so you may as well better utilise it.
- how about an optional way to show how many 'attempts' it takes a player. Exactly as it does in Geometry Dash. You could make it optional though in case it annoys players. At the end the player could get bonus stars based on how few goes it took them to complete it.
- on the 'game over voice' I would also do another voice for if the player was within 10% of finishing. Instead it could say "unlucky, so close" or something like that. Would probably enduce some proper rage in some players, but others would see the funny side of it. Does it also have to say the level number every single time you play it? As I mentioned earlier I am stuck on Level 7. And I hit the spikes at the start of that level many times on the trot, it gets incredibly annoying as the voice keeps repeating "Game over. Level 7". I think it would be much better if she said the level number once the first time the level loads, but then not again each time it reloads.
- Ive only managed to unlock one extra player but from scrolling through them they all seem to be the same, except they have different colors. I dont think this gives the player enough incentive to unlock them. I would make each one behave slightly different, say one that changed direction a bit quicker, another changes direction a bit slower etc. And then say that below each player as you scroll thru them so when the user is selecting they know it is worth unlocking and can tactically decide which to unlock with their stars.
- In the game it could perhaps have the odd random 'booster' which a player has to hit (in the same way they do for the coins) to unlock. Once activated they could do things such as it slows the game down by 50% for 5 seconds, or all the spikes decrease in size by 50% for 5 seconds. Or the player shrinks by 80% for 5 seconds. Things to make it momentarily easier for the player. It can also cause players to hit spikes in their attempt to get the bonus. These so-called 'boosters' could randomly spawn once every few games so they feel like something good for the player that they dont see too often.
- Consider making the game have a gentler difficulty curve. I noticed in the Google Play leaderboard a lot of people only manage 1 level and give up on the game. You could perhaps keep the level designs the same, or very similar, but make it so each level the actor moves slightly faster each time. If you make it so the first few levels can be completed by pretty much everyone no matter what skill level, you have more chance of drawing players in. At the moment it appears too many players give up very quickly.
Hope they help the further development of the game
