Happiness! (The Peaceful Platformer)

So I'm working on a game. Thought I'd release the 2 stage demo for you guys to play around with / break. Let's look at some pretty screenshots!

<img src="https://dl.dropbox.com/u/20459682/Happiness/happiness01.png" border="0">

<img src="https://dl.dropbox.com/u/20459682/Happiness/happiness02.png" border="0">

<img src="https://dl.dropbox.com/u/20459682/Happiness/happiness03.png" border="0">

<img src="https://dl.dropbox.com/u/20459682/Happiness/happiness04.png" border="0">

<img src="https://dl.dropbox.com/u/20459682/Happiness/happiness05.png" border="0">

<img src="https://dl.dropbox.com/u/20459682/Happiness/happiness06.png" border="0">

<img src="https://dl.dropbox.com/u/20459682/Happiness/happiness07.png" border="0">

The two stages in the demo are pretty much complete, aside from maybe a few tweaks here and there, dependent on playtesting feedback. I've got ideas and concepts developed for 4 more stages, and the plan is to have around 8-10 stages when the game is finished, each with their own unique themes. I may also include other playable characters as well (no unique abilities though due to the kind of game this is).

It's a simple plot, but I like it. I'll leave it to the player to interpret what it means.

Don't forget to press F11 for a fullscreen experience, and feel free to leave any thoughts here! <img src="smileys/smiley1.gif" border="0" align="middle">

UPDATE! 7/20/12

The latest revision of the game, contains 3 stages.

Happiness!

Known Bugs:

*End of Stage 2, the black bg is in front of the score text, should be the reverse.

*End of Stage 3, you have control just before the robot begins moving. If you manage to jump into a pit before the robot starts moving you get frozen in the "dead" state and unable to pause and restart. The only way out of it is a browser refresh.

If you find any more, I'd appreciate it if you let me know!

Have fun, and be happy! <img src="smileys/smiley4.gif" border="0" align="middle">

I'm in love with the audio really. the music fits, the sound effects are perfect 8-bit fare. I would love gamepad support and let my kids wander around in it! Full screen is best, but anyone who has to play it smaller than that lose a lot of detail in the characters, mostly their faces which I think is important in this game, right? :)

-Tony

Very cool game, the only thing i saw was some random 1 pixel spaces between sprites/background. I'm Looking foward to playing it for a longer time.

NICE JOB!

— Nothings to say about that :(, so great my friend, it's remind me of my childhood with many hours on the Nes game. I love the sound, music, graphics every things even it's simple, but great simple. :D Good job, i'll wait to play your full game, it's awesome. :D I really like your Retro game.

Great feel to the game. Sounds/Visuals/Gameplay all compliment each other perfectly.

Well done so far - look forward to seeing more.

no one can say its a bad game because its really great but the only thing i want to know how can we kill enemies you didn't put tutorials except for entering door this the only point i didn't like the game looks nice, also i would like to see a chat between the kids and the mother it will be good :P

TPorter64

That's a really good idea! I'll try to see if I can get some good gamepad support. I'll have to make a few modifications to the menus, since they're all click based, but I'll try to figure something out. Glad to know this is father approved! I'm trying to make it accessible like Mario and Sonic. And you're correct: facial expressions are VERY important indicators in this game!

zsangerous

Kill them?! That sounds a bit harsh, since there are no enemies in the game, only friends! <img src="smileys/smiley17.gif" border="0" align="middle" /> You get a hint at what you're supposed to do when you're with your friend at the very start of the game, similar to entering the door, but I don't intend to add any full on tutorials. I'd like to encourage players to explore and try things out, which is why there's very little penalty to do so. At least in the first few stages. You have all your controls and abilities from the get-go; it's up to you to play with them.

Another thing I'm intentionally avoiding is dialogue. For the story being told and the way it's presented, dialogue is unnecessary. It allows a little interpretation from the player, but still let's you understand the important plot points: your parent is sad, and you're running around in your dreams trying to understand why. I know that last bit isn't completely clear yet (I'll be adding in imagery of the parents to allude to that point in the levels) but that's the basic plot. You dream about making everyone in your dreams happy because you want to make your father/mother happy.

Or at least that's the intention.

Which brings up another thing: this game really is an 8 bit version of Inception, minus guns. Dreams within dreams, oh my... <img src="smileys/smiley36.gif" border="0" align="middle" />

everyone else!

Thanks for the props! I'm already almost done with the tileset for Stage 3, which will feature..... robots.

those are friends? they looks like :

<img src="http://www2.ups.edu/faculty/velez/Span_301/html/extra/amoeba.jpg" border="0" />

i always jump on them and get hurt XD even the big yeti i don't know what to do with him lol

Its very cutesy. I like it, but I like much darker ideas, so it doesn't really work for me. Still, it looks and plays nice! The only thing wrong seemed to be that the environment was made of many MANY tiles put together, but I'm new to Construct so I think that's not avoidable. It is cool, though. <img src="smileys/smiley1.gif" border="0" align="middle" />

Very cute, but you need to work on widening your smaller platforms or making the jump more precise.

Updated the game! Now includes Stage 3 and a few fixes to the UI and inventory!

Planning on including gamepad support soon, as per TPorter64's suggestion.

I like the portal/door style reminds me of Kirby back in the day, also the trees drooping down is a nice touch.