Rebound (Beta)

It can be tricky at first, getting used to the rhythm of the bouncing mechanic. Hopefully it wasn't giving you trouble in a buggy way. Did you play it in Chrome, or another browser?

In any case, thanks for playing!

Just beat it.

Wow! My new favorite game, will be following closely.

I didn't notice it was a beta, I've seen 2D steam releases that are shorter than your beta.

I originally had an idea for a challenging platformer in which the player can keep momentum by bouncing off of everything, then I stumbled on your game and you implemented exactly what I was thinking of. I will still proceed with my game and it will branch off in a different direction to become it's own creation. I'm not worried about perfecting the mechanics, but I can only hope it ends up with even a small fraction of the atmosphere, pacing, and polish of your game.

Cool! Thanks so much for playing.

I would love to play your game whenever you're ready for people to see it. Is there a devlog I could check out?

Again, thanks for giving Rebound your time. As far as I know, you're the first to reach the end.

Thanks! I thought I'd leave more detailed feedback.

My feedback:

-Level select from the start or unlocked earlier. As a player I couldn't get a feeling for how long the game was and there was no stopping after 3+ worlds. I couldn't tell when it would be safe to take a break or how long the next level would be. Is the ship hub supposed to be the end of the game or just a milestone to continue with what levels are added?

-Options in main menu for full release

-More content/levels/gamemodes(like time trial) for full release.

-On the ship access my progress of collected secrets

All the above feedback are just nitpicky and no big deal, personally I find the game is PERFECT except the difficulty spike below is the only thing I'd change:

There was a particularly challenging part on the ice level that I think could stop a few players from continuing because of the sudden difficulty spike. There was a checkpoint before 3 screens of puzzles. You progress DOWN to get to the next screen. The first you had to jump (to the left) to reach the middle on top of a Crawmite and the jump activates a spikey-dude that falls to the (right) of you and enables you to go left and down to reach the next screen. The next screen is the large bounce-jump from left to right. The final screen is the puzzle with 3 spikey guys to trigger so that you can proceed.

Individually these puzzles aren't too hard but for 3 screens you can't make a single mistake. And the 3rd and final screen is a puzzle you have to slowly learn after each death AND THEN get back to it to try again to solve it. I couldn't tell you how to improve this issue or if it's intended, perhaps another checkpoint so we only have to go through 2 screens. I love working through these screens though, it was challenging. But the difficulty spiked out of nowhere, did I access a secret path?

Thanks for your feedback! This is super helpful.

Yes, I think you managed to find the most difficult part of the game. It's a semi-secret path to the blue crystal. But I get what you're saying about trying to figure out that third puzzle. I'll probably create a checkpoint, so people have a better chance of getting through it.

The ship hub is the last world of the game. From there, you either return to the previous worlds, or "send a transmission", which basically means triggering the end-game events. You can see where you've found all the secrets in the "Return to Earth" menu (indicated with a little star), but I'll probably need to make that a little more clear. And I'm certainly not opposed to showing the player's progress before that point. I'll sit down this week and think through menu stuff.

I have actually considered a time-trial mode. I think Rebound lends itself to speed runs.

In any case, thanks so much for your help!

New release of the open beta: v4.

There are a couple bigger changes this time. The first is something I should have done a while ago. I changed the main character's sprite to a single-frame box that never changes size or image point. Before this, I had used the same sprite for events and animations. This caused collision problems throughout the game, so I separated them into two sprites: an invisible one for events that contains all the necessary behaviors and variables, and a visible one that rests on top and contains all the animations.

A word of advice: if you're working on a larger-scale platformer (or really any game that relies on collisions and utilizes several animations), separate your "Platform behavior" sprite from your "animations" sprite. This is covered in the Platform behavior section of the manual (which I definitely should have read before spending almost three years working on a platformer). It's a little more work on the front end, but it will save you time and energy in the long run.

The other big change: gamepad support! I tested with Xbox One and PS4 controllers, but any gamepad that uses the same button layout as these controllers should work. Please note that you'll need to run the game in Chrome to play this game with a controller. The way that Firefox maps gamepad controls is wonky, as far as I can tell.

These two changes are pervasive, and I would love to hear about any issues you encounter. As always, thanks for playing!

http://micahjones.info/rebound-open-beta/

Open Beta v5!

Took me long enough. The main change this time is a complete redesign of the menus. Though functional, the previous menus were text-based and a bit messy. And I wanted to add a couple things. There are new graphics explaining the controls, and you can change the volume for sounds and music. You can also exit to the main menu. What took me the longest was the world-hopping menu. Now you can view your progress through the game at any point in the pause menu. And once you've completed the Thermosphere, you can select any world and teleport immediately, without having to return to the station first.

Another minor change: the stompable blocks in each world now respawn whenever you die.

I've begun work on a trailer, and unless there are any glaring issues, the next release might be FINAL.

*fingers crossed*

You can play Open Beta v5 here: http://micahjones.info/rebound-open-beta

The open beta is finished, y'all! Thanks so much for the feedback. It was super helpful.

You can play Rebound here: http://micahjones.info/rebound/

Pretty awesome I can't wait to try out the latest (final??) version.

Good work, one of the best C2 games out there!

Thank you kindly!