Update 1.2 - Visual, Effect and Control Update
Hello all,
This update brings a vast array of new visuals and effects, as well as some tweaks to player movement. After analysing some positive and negative feedback I've found some areas to work on with Frog Fall Down, and this update will address most of them.
Art and Visuals:
The art and visuals were always meant to be minimalistic, so the major change here is new backgrounds have been added to each stage just to help out with the game looking a bit flat. These backgrounds also have parallax effects.
A new impact effect has been added for when frog bounces off of walls or splats on the ground.
Each stage now has some sort of particle/envro effects, including rain for The Sump, snow for The Glacier, dust clouds for The Dustbowl and The Meadow has falling leaves and moving clouds. These can be turned off in the title menu options.
GUI:
Speaking of the title menu, the update also makes some improvements to the title menu's behaviour, as well as the options.
The title menu can be brought back by pressing ESCAPE if using keyboard controls or START if using a controller. The title itself now appears higher, so it doesn't cover frog.
The flashing text below the title menu now displays different starting controls depending on whether a keyboard or controller is being used.
Full controller support is now possible, with keybindings now linked to the title menu, options, and can quit the game without needing to use a keyboard.
Player Directing Jumps:
Possibly the biggest change with this update is the ability to (properly) direct your jumps before releasing the jump button. The direction pointer/slider now gradually moves when a direction is held, rather than snapping to either a hard left or hard right. If you release the direction before jumping the slider gradually moves back to center.
A bit hard to explain or show in the image, but this essentially gives a little more control to the player while still being exactly what the game was intended to be.
Bugs and Cleanup:
The code for frog has been greatly cleaned up, major noteworthy bug fix is for when frog getting side-stuck in walls, stopping his jump, frog is now moved out/away from the wall before his jump begins.
Sound effects have been reduced in volume and frequency, as well as bug fixes which caused sounds to play multiple times at once, which made them louder overall. As for the actual sound effects themselves, please keep in mind that as a one man
As always, please let me know if any of you experience any bugs or framerate issues etc.
Conclusion:
In conclusion, I plan for one more update which will overhaul the level design, making it have more of a sense of progression (ie starting out relatively easier and getting more difficult), and fixing any other bugs that come up, after which the game will be complete.
I honestly have been quite marred by this experience in developing this game. I'm a relatively new game developer but I did love learning and doing it, so having some reviews be so hateful have honestly hurt me. I worked on this from the ground up, made every asset myself, and programmed it only with my own (admittedly limited) knowledge. Now that passion is gone.
To those of you who at least enjoyed it for what it was, I do thank you for that, it's just a shame that a
small negative experience will always outweigh a larger positive one, and I don't really want to return to this sphere anymore.