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Beta and GDC

All discussion about Sneaky Ninja and various related sneaky matters

Post Sat Mar 26, 2016 4:37 am
anvard78 Sharpshooter

Posts: 35
Location: Australia
Hey haven't heard from you guys for awhile. We obviously haven't got the beta but interested in how GDC went or if there was a major issue. Hope the project and you guys are ok.

Post Mon Apr 11, 2016 7:59 am
StarfallSully User avatar
Ninja Grandmaster

Posts: 80
Sorry anvard, for some reason I wasn't notified of this topic and didn't see it until now. :(

GDC went very well! We got probably the most informative feedback of any other event we've been to, since almost everyone who played was a developer themselves and they were able to articulate exactly what worked and what didn't. We even got some major advice from the creator of Mark of the Ninja, which as you may recall, is half of the "Mario meets Mark of the Ninja" pitch we usually give. :P After I got back, though, it took quite a while to get my energy back, and since then I've been working on a loooong list of changes I felt I had to make before the beta goes out. But fortunately that should be soon! I'm aiming for Wednesday, if possible!

We can also continue work on the community design ideas after that, so I'll let you know when we're ready to meet again. This weekend will be too soon and the next I'll be busy, but the one after that should work!

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Post Wed Apr 13, 2016 7:59 pm
StarfallSully User avatar
Ninja Grandmaster

Posts: 80
(Okay, Wednesday wasn't possible. We're going through a lot of ordeals migrating our site to a new host -- you may have noticed the site/forums going down for a while -- so it'll be another few days...)

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Post Tue Apr 26, 2016 2:53 am
anvard78 Sharpshooter

Posts: 35
Location: Australia
Only noticed this reply today been dealing with other things and has been a busy few weeks. Sounds good, let me know when it would be good to meet. Also might be an idea to to Kickstarter Update possibily about how GDC went current state of the beta if you have time to let people know whats happening. Anyway sounds like it was a fun and profitable trip, even if it did drain your energy. Can't wait to see the improvements :D .

Post Mon May 16, 2016 11:05 am
StarfallSully User avatar
Ninja Grandmaster

Posts: 80
I've been meaning to do a Kickstarter update but I've had to prioritize other things for a while now... I really should make the time to do it soon, though. Perhaps to let everyone know that the beta's out, and actually has been out for a week or so. :P The backers who qualified for the beta but not the alpha were notified, but not everyone else.

Anyway, I've also been meaning to get back to you about the final design meeting! Sorry for the wait on everything, it's easy to lose track of the days... and weeks... Would you be able to meet this Saturday? I think we met 9PM EST last time so you didn't have to wake up early, we can do that again if you'd like.

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Post Thu May 19, 2016 12:20 am
anvard78 Sharpshooter

Posts: 35
Location: Australia
Didn't realise that beta was out till the update as well as having some computer issues lately. That said have really enjoyed the beta.

Improvements.
The whole game feels a lot better the indicators for the smoke bomb radius and throwing range make planning moves easier. The stones on the ground add a nice little extra element for stunning or distracting adding more variety. The dash and fast fall make the flow better and adds more options. The AI particular the Very Hard is brutal and I love it, I have been able to escape sometimes but they are relentless in chasing you. The ranking system and awards are also a nice touch at the end encouraging different approaches and weapon usage.
The blizzard stage and mine cart stage are great variations in the game as well
In regards to the helmets I think you have found the perfect balance the limitations; short jump, slow walk, unable to use items and have to be facing backwards for it to work allow it to be well integrated but slow down the game play so you won't want to use it to much.

Issues.
In Bristling Bamboo it seems if you kill the top guard and drop down and run and wall climb to fast the camera will not follow, this happened both when doing the automatic jumping across and when manually doing it. If you chose to try and restart i.e. in the menu go back to last checkpoint then you appear some way in to the level invisible unable to move but can still get hurt.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/f ... =687227925
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/f ... =687227946
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/f ... =687228030
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/f ... =687228049


On Farmland Frolic I had an interesting thing happen on very hard as seen in the pictures. After moving back an enemy indicator appeared that semi had the properties of a guard i.e. moving with a vision cone but hovering in mid-air.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/f ... =687227829


This can also be a clarification stun bombs are only meant to be temporary right like a few seconds. On some levels I would stun bomb an enemy to run past them. Go past them so they went of screen then come back to avoid other guards and they would still be stunned seeming indefinitely. Maybe on very had you could limit the stun effects time.

I have also noticed when being restarted sometimes level elements would stay the same like touch would be out, coins be missing or enemies would be around the same place they killed me.

As for Saturday I am working till around 4pm AEST sorry for the late reply. I am free on Sunday till 4pm AEST, for Monday it will be the same as Saturday my other day off will be Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

Post Fri May 20, 2016 6:40 pm
StarfallSully User avatar
Ninja Grandmaster

Posts: 80
Thanks for the feedback, glad you're enjoying it! :) I think a lot of the recent changes you mentioned have added a lot to the gameplay and I'm happy with the direction it's brought the game in. Let me know if you have any other thoughts about them after your initial impressions, more perspective is always great!

I've been seeing that issue where the camera stops following properly for a long time, and ONLY in that one spot and nowhere else in the entire game, but I think I finally figured out a solution. Still not 100% sure why it happens... and it's hard to make it happen consistently, so I can't guarantee it's gone, but hopefully it's fixed with the next update!

That indicator in Farmland Frolic is poorly explained, but actually not a glitch at all. It's to show that there's an enemy inside the barn underneath the indicator, so the player doesn't jump in right in front of an enemy they couldn't have seen beforehand.

About the meeting, I guess that rules out Saturday and Monday, and I'll be busy Sunday, but Tuesday-Thursday are good for me. Which day and what time is preferable for you?

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Post Sat May 21, 2016 5:37 am
anvard78 Sharpshooter

Posts: 35
Location: Australia
Looks like the trip to GDC really paid off with all the improvements and new editions to the game it really does look a lot more polished. I’m sure it took a significant amount of work though I can see you guys have been working really hard.

Good to hear you should have a potential fix for the camera issue. Maybe you could identify enemies in the buildings with a different coloured circle around the indicator, or have a stick coming out of the indicator so it’s like a magnifying glass for people in buildings.

Tuesday would be good unless you want more time to work on the stuff, if you happy with doing later for you guys 9pm EST would be good if not I can be earlier.

Post Sat May 21, 2016 4:59 pm
StarfallSully User avatar
Ninja Grandmaster

Posts: 80
Totally forgot to address two of the things from your previous post:

I'm going to be changing up how stuns work based on difficulty pretty soon. Currently pretty much all stuns are permanent (stun mine, jumping on their head while fast falling, throwing them off a ledge with a short fall, choking them, and even the sleep dart), except for getting hit with a rock, which is temporary and already scales based on difficulty; 10 seconds on easy, 6 on normal, 4 on hard, 2 on very hard. Most of the currently-permanent stuns will be reworked to be temporary for hard and very hard -- except choking, maybe, since that takes a while and requires the player to be up close, so it should have a better reward -- and probably stay permanent on easy and normal. There will probably also be some sort of visual indicator to show how much time is left before they wake up from being stunned, to make it more clear.

And some level elements currently haven't been set to work with the level loading and checkpoints, so there are a lot of small instances of things not resetting properly like that. It's an easy fix though so that should be working right soon!

Tuesday at 9PM EST works for me! Talk to you then. :)

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Post Tue May 24, 2016 4:00 pm
StarfallSully User avatar
Ninja Grandmaster

Posts: 80
(Actually, would 11PM EST be okay? Just need to smooth out a few more things!)

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