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[axcho]

Flydrill is the game I've been working on for the past two months. It uses Flixel v1.57.

I've put it online on my site:

Flydrill by axcho

Explore an infinite dream world. Survive an endless nightmare. How far can you fly?

I'm looking for feedback! Try it out and let me know what you think. Suggestions and critique desperately begged for welcome.

INSTRUCTIONS

Fly to the right!

Tap the arrow keys to flap your wings. Hold the right arrow to drill through walls.

Everything that moves will try to kill you. Try not to let that happen.

And yes, the colors do make a difference.

I've also submitted Flydrill to Kongregate and Newgrounds. The initial Newgrounds launch was marred by bugs that prevented some people from even playing the game - hence the two 0/10 review scores.

However, I've fixed those bugs and now I know how to integrate the Newgrounds API with a Mochi Live Updates game built with the Flixel engine. Those three sure don't like to play together.

I'll be writing a blog post soon about how to get Flixel and Mochi Live Updates working together, and Mochi Live Updates and the Newgrounds API working together. There's just no information out there on how to do it. I'd be glad to help if you're trying to get Live Updates or NG ads working in your Flixel game - just let me know.

I also made a lot of Flixel extensions, including an input text class that works and renders exactly like an actual Flixel object - because it is. I'd first tried using the FlxInputText class by nitram_cero, but it wasn't appropriate for my needs, rendering as a normal DisplayObject outside Flixels layer system and capturing keyboard input and mouse focus differently. For my input text class, I use FlxG.keys to capture keystrokes, and display it all in a normal FlxText. The blinking cursor is just the '|' character. Let me know if you want me to share the code for this.

I also wrote my own leaderboard interface for MochiScores, completely in Flixel. That's where I used my custom Flixel input text class. Again, let me know if you want any help with this for your own game. Making an entire leaderboard interface is not a trivial task.

And I made my own graphics for the sharing buttons (Twitter and such) because I didn't like the ones provided. Let me know if you want to use mine! I'd be glad to send you the image files.

If you have a minute, I would be very grateful if you could rate or review Flydrill on Newgrounds and Kongregate:

Play Flydrill on Newgrounds
Play Flydrill on Kongregate

It seems to have slipped from view already, and I haven't been getting much feedback anymore.

I'm still making changes though.

A lot of the comments on Kongregate express a desire for things like achievements, upgrades, and levels. Flydrill only has a simple "go right" goal like Canabalt, with high scores. I tend to neglect extra goals like achievements, but it seems like these "extras" are actually essential to a successful game.

I'm very interested to hear what you've found when it comes to upgrades and achievements and stuff like that, as a developer of Flash games. When are they necessary? How do they affect player retention? How do they affect player enjoyment? What kinds are most important, and most successful? What kinds of games benefit the most from achievements, or from upgrades, or from other things?

I'm realizing that this may be very important...

I have some ideas. I've already implemented the Kongregate API with some interesting statistics like Longest Halo Chain and Most Enemies Killed. I could make achievements around those.

I could also let the player upgrade stats like Wing Span, Drill Speed, and Halo Time, using points they earn somehow.

What do you think of this idea? In addition to the halo tiles, there could also be marked tiles with baby fliers inside. When you drill through them, they break free and flock with you by flapping and gliding. They die on contact with enemies. When you touch a colored portal, all the baby fliers disappear and you get upgrade points for how many you delivered. The more you deliver at once, the more points you get, maybe exponentially.

This sets up a reward for the extra risk of skipping portals while you accumulate a flock. And the fact that blocks are marked means that they can easily be ignored by players who don't want to bother with these upgrade points.

But I'm concerned that this extra complexity will be difficult to convey to players. How to convey that you can drill special tiles to unlock baby fliers? How to show that these moving things will not harm you? How to show that you can deposit baby fliers in portals for points? How to show the accumulated points in the game?

Maybe I don't have to explain all of it. Just make it clear how your points are increased and why, when you drop off fliers in a portal.

Any thoughts? I would really like to get some feedback on this from more experienced developers!

The way I'm thinking about this is that right now Flydrill is very focused on Tactics - that is, moment-to-moment action. Adding points and upgrades to spend them on would add an element of Logistics that is currently missing. And it seems that a lot of players - on Kongregate, especially - are very focused on Logistics-oriented skills. Plus having baby fliers to deal with and guide and protect could lend the game a touch of social emotion and Diplomatic skill that is currently lacking.

(my categorizations here based on reading 21st Century Game Design by Chris Bateman)

I don't know. If you have any insights to share, please, I'm listening.

Thanks.

I <3 Flixel!

If you're thinking that Flydrill looks a lot like Canabalt, you're right - I tried to make the interface design as much like Canabalt as possible. Because Canabalt is the best game ever!

But in Flydrill, your score is measured in millimeters.

[vonWolfehaus]

I love this game! I hope you win the contest because yours is the most original and the polish really shines. To be fair, I didn't shoot for originality

I also took a page from Canabalt's screens, but you did an excellent job of it! I'd be really interested to hear how you got Mochi's Update thing working with Flixel, as well as the leaderboard. Have you gotten many fake scores?

[Gregory]

In my experience, Kongregate's badges need to be set up by Greg or someone else at Kongregate, and they tend to only do it if a game scores highly to begin with... and even then it's a bit of a toss-up.  It's definitely worth it to register the stats, but I'm afraid there's little you can do to encourage the creation of actual badges.  Of course, in-game achievements tend to be well-received whether or not they tie into Kong badges.

If you ask me, do what's best for the game to be as good as it can be, instead of focusing on what the commenters ask for.  Now, the commenters may be right, but that's something you should decide as a game designer, not a marketer.

[chiG]

I think this game is awesome, is really polished and anyone can tell you worked hard on it. 5/5. The visuals are awesome, and technically speaking, you achieve some interesting things with flixel here, at least for me. I really like the idea of the upgrades, and the baby flyers that you save, it remindes me of sonic 3d on sega genesis
PD: I'm also interested to see how you got working mochi updates and kongregate api altogheter with flixel.

[luc]

cool game, will play more. I really appreciate how you're meticulously crafting your stuff.
The achievements can be a good way to evaluate your results and give some kind of goal to game while discovering it. Also you can tease on the content of advanced levels.
It's more a plus than a must but giving a medal is a good old trick to gather a crowd
Curious about what will be in the next update.

[avinashv]

Wow, that was a lot of fun! I'll admit, the first 30 seconds seemed extremely lame. Then, once the enemies started going crazy, I started going faster and getting caught in the mazes, this really jumped. Excellent mechanics and controls.

The character sometimes gets a bit lost on the screen amidst the enemies, though I imagine that is likely on purpose to add to the challenge.

Extremely smooth gameplay and frame rate, and I definitely will play again.

[axcho]

I hope you win the contest because yours is the most original and the polish really shines. To be fair, I didn't shoot for originality

Wow, thank you - I will take that as the utmost compliment. Glad you liked the polish on it. Sometimes I'm not sure if it's apparent because of the rough and retro style of the game, but yeah, I spent a lot of time on it.

I haven't noticed any fake scores yet, fortunately. Have you had any issues with that yourself?

If you ask me, do what's best for the game to be as good as it can be, instead of focusing on what the commenters ask for.  Now, the commenters may be right, but that's something you should decide as a game designer, not a marketer.

All right, good advice. I've decided that I will try the baby fliers idea, as I think that will really enhance the gameplay on a lot of different levels - making it more strategic, more emotional, and will give those upgrade-requesting players something to sink their teeth into. I'm not sure if I'll do any in-game achievements though, since those seem to work better as website tie-ins anyway. We'll see.

The visuals are awesome, and technically speaking, you achieve some interesting things with flixel here, at least for me. I really like the idea of the upgrades, and the baby flyers that you save, it remindes me of sonic 3d on sega genesis
PD: I'm also interested to see how you got working mochi updates and kongregate api altogheter with flixel.

Thank you. Yeah, I can share some info on how I did the infinite world generation too if you'd like. Object pooling definitely came in handy as an optimization. It seems like plenty of people are interested in hearing more about Mochi and Kongregate integration with Flixel, so I'll work on a blog post about that soon.

I really appreciate how you're meticulously crafting your stuff.
The achievements can be a good way to evaluate your results and give some kind of goal to game while discovering it. Also you can tease on the content of advanced levels.

And I appreciate that you noticed! I do tend to be a perfectionist on things like this. And sometimes it even pays off. I think it may not make a difference for a mediocre game, but if I can get some upgrades and such in to increase the appeal for a wider audience, I think it could help make the game great.

It seems that achievements are useful because they can push the player to excel, instead of merely passing by at the lowest level. If a game is more fun at higher levels of play, this can be a great benefit. I think this may be the case for Flydrill, so maybe I should try to add achievements...

I'll admit, the first 30 seconds seemed extremely lame. Then, once the enemies started going crazy, I started going faster and getting caught in the mazes, this really jumped. Excellent mechanics and controls.

Ooh, ouch. That really explains a lot, given that my analytics data tells me that most players stop before the first 30 seconds! Thanks so much for letting me know that it starts off seeming "extremely lame." As you know, those first 30 seconds are really crucial. Let me see if I can fix that.

[axcho]

All right, updated.

Flydrill

How are the first thirty seconds now? More intense?

[luc]

definitely more intense, yes !
On the achievements side, it could be only some score steps, as seeing some people are scoring more than 10000 (even 17000 for the leader! ouch) is a bit depressing hehe.
One small thing would be a more obvious statement on how to replay after death, the small sentence " flap to replay" is almost not noticeable, putting it clearly in the end menu would be nice.

[axcho]

One small thing would be a more obvious statement on how to replay after death, the small sentence " flap to replay" is almost not noticeable, putting it clearly in the end menu would be nice.

Ah, good catch. I've just updated the game with "Retry your perilous journey." as the first thing on the menu. I also added messages that tell you what enemies to watch out for based on the color change. Do you think it's less confusing this way?

You're probably right on the achievements too - that would help give people an idea of what scores are hard to get and which are easy. Right now there's really no way to know how well you're doing.

[cobalt1001]

I would make it a little more forgiving. Maybe some health packs or something. It's less fun when you're down to your last life and there's no chance for a comeback.

[avinashv]

I'll admit, the first 30 seconds seemed extremely lame. Then, once the enemies started going crazy, I started going faster and getting caught in the mazes, this really jumped. Excellent mechanics and controls.

Ooh, ouch. That really explains a lot, given that my analytics data tells me that most players stop before the first 30 seconds! Thanks so much for letting me know that it starts off seeming "extremely lame." As you know, those first 30 seconds are really crucial. Let me see if I can fix that.

I'm going to assume you took that in good spirit given that you actually changed something around. It's definitely better now. As for making the game more forgiving—I wouldn't! I love challenging games, and this is right up that alley. That's just an opinion from one person, though.

[axcho]

I'm going to assume you took that in good spirit given that you actually changed something around. It's definitely better now. As for making the game more forgiving—I wouldn't! I love challenging games, and this is right up that alley. That's just an opinion from one person, though.

Yes, I'm really glad you told me that. I've decided to err on the side of overwhelming the player with tension and stress (even negative emotion is better than none) rather than risking boredom or indifference. After all, the game is about intensity and panic and relief - if you don't like it in the beginning, you probably won't like it later on.

I'm not sure what I can do about making the game more forgiving - it's hard to appeal to all player types. I could just have separate modes for that.

Anyway...

I just posted an epic blog post detailing the game design lessons I've learned from Flydrill so far!

Read it here: Flydrill and Logistical Gameplay.

Read it and let me know what you think! I'm going to be experimenting with this Logistical gameplay stuff, and I'll write a followup post to let you know how that goes.

[emospacemonkey]

Good Fun. 5000 views isn't bad on Kongragate. Though I think it taks 25,000 for the first payment. Good Fun...like being one of those aliens in Pitch Black.

Neat and  very polished