Test the Game - Nightmare!

Some poor Kiisu is having an awful dream .... there are bugs (the terrible wick to be specific!) EVERYWHERE. Do you have the guts to help save the kiisu from being bitten?

http://kasaria.net/games/nightmare.php

*note - background and intro screen are temporary!

Help us out by telling us what scores you make! This will help to judge what levels deserve that sweet spot for payout, so be honest!
(Claim one post and just dump all the scores you get! Put them in spoilers if they're excessive)

Yay, games! Boo, bugs!

My initial thoughts were that the page was quite plain. I think the presentation of the game could be better from the start. Perhaps a title and description explaining the details of how to play. Though I'm assuming everything is a WIP and things will be adjusted/changed, but I felt it worth mentioning xD

In the game itself, a title screen is often the standard to help get people in the mindset of the plot. Perhaps some fancy artwork with the Kiisu in bed, all worked up. Maybe some bugs at the edges? Haha.

I played it three times. The first two times were me figuring out how the game play worked since there were no instructions. I was absent-mindedly moving the Kiisu around the first time and ended up with a score of 12. The second time was much faster, as I had guessed that perhaps I needed to crush the bugs, though it turns out, I was supposed to avoid them, and got a score of 3. The last attempt, now knowing how to play, I played a bit longer and ended up with a score of 183 (if I remember right). It seemed rather scattered with how many bugs there were at a time. Some moments, the screen was mostly empty, while in brief bursts, loads suddenly flowed in. I think some more in between would work nicer, and perhaps gradually increase the difficulty as time goes on, it felt rather stagnated throughout aside from the few bursts.

Not a bad game though, it's quick and easy. Along with others, I think it works well for an option. Though if I were to make a suggestion for a game, a game like Neopet's Destruct-O-Match would be awesome, as it's one of my favorite simple Flash-esque games (Definitely not required though, I'll be playing Kasaria regardless, haha!)

Hey Kami, thanks so much for your input! c:

Today I will be working on a title screen! It will definitely include instructions, and help to set the mood. c:

I may also update the Kiisu character sprite to show a body, perhaps as though you were holding the kiisu to yank it away from all those bugs! What do you think about that?

I'll dig through the code, and possibly up the chances of bugs appearing regardless, and see what other things I could tweak. A more constant flow of bugs with very brief moments of respite would probably be a bit more engaging!

Thanks again for your comments and suggestions! <3
I'll make note and try to include a game like that, since they're very popular across the web c:

Happy to help when I can!

The sprite changes depends on how you want the game to appear. Are we the Kiisu avoiding the bugs? Or are we an outside force aiding the Kiisu in avoiding them?

I look forward to seeing the updates c:

.... you asked for it.



Next up is the actual game background, which is currently just grass.

Also, wicks are twice as fast! You may need to hard refresh to see the changes

Oooooh, I mean, AAAHHH looking good!

So I gave it a few goes.

The first time I got a 259. The second time I got 199. The third time I scored 285.
But I must warn you that I am notoriously bad at flash games, so I assume most people will get better scores

I found I could avoid most bugs by just staying put in the top left corner. The game worked very smoothly, with no lag at all. I quite liked it!

Hanging out in that corner really does make a difference! Testing it out, I got 344.

I know by now we have three lives, but having that displayed somewhere might be a good idea. Perhaps maybe have an extra life giving object float by? Encouraging people to leave safe zones, like the top corner, haha.

Good point!

I'm not sure if it's really that the corners are a safer spot or that it just seems so because of the small sample we did and that it's actually random. Either way, interesting to see that you had a higher score too. ;)

Thanks for the additional feedback! c:
I'll see if I can tweak some numbers so you can't chill out in the corner But everybody knows that's the best thing to do when you're scared anyway, right?.
At the moment, from my own tests (I should really note scores...), I'm still getting around the same numbers. I just don't have to hustle as much.

The extra life item is a good idea! I have limited knowledge of HTML5 (which is what this game is!) but I'll see what I can do C:

Through more experimentation and testing, I'm sure we could figure that out. I don't think it's an entirely bad thing to have a few imperfect patches in the game, especially if there are other additions to it to compensate for it (like the extra life idea).

It did seem to start a bit abruptly, perhaps a brief extra second or two to prepare for the onslaught of bugs would help?

Thank you so much for making it in HTML5 instead of Flash!! I'm so, so happy to see sites moving away from Flash, so I just wanted to mention that it's super cool!

So, disclaimer: I am really bad at "flash" games. Really, really bad.
I can't get over 150 points just playing a few times. If I were to practice, I might get more, so I'll update if I ever manage to score a higher score. This should not be indicative of what most people can score, but I wanted to report on it.

Other than that, some suggestions:
It definitely needs some added instruction. I had no idea that I had three lives until I read the posts here! I thought the cringing face was just me getting too close to the spiders. Maybe that's just me not thinking (I've been awake for too long today, so that might be it!)?
It'd be nice to maybe have the lives displayed somewhere, though.

I really like the suggestion of extra lives possibly popping up on the screen!

If you do something like that, other power ups might be possible too?
For example, something might float across that temporarily slows down the wicks if we catch it (could make the game easier or harder by catching it, depending on your skill, haha).
Or a power up that grants 3-5 second invincibility?


Hopefully that helps!! The game itself is pretty good so far--it's a good, simple sort of game that I could definitely see myself playing to earn a bit of currency!
And the graphics are absolutely lovely--looking forward to seeing it with the background added in~

I agree with the added instruction suggestion, and the powerup one as well! In addition to invincibility and extra lives, there could also be an hourglass or something that slows the Wicks down.

I'm terrible at these types of games, though, so my first score was 34, second was 76, and third was 29.

Those are some really great additions that I really want to work into the game  
Now that I'm back from vacation, I may be able to start tinkering and working on that background art!

A question though, does everyone like and want to keep the three base lives? Or just have one life (and give you more time when the game starts without just throwing a wick straight at you). Obviously, it'll make it harder to have the higher scores, but it would definitely be a challenge to get a high score.

It'd be an interesting and more unique challenge to only have one life. I think it can work, especially if you drop extra lives here and there to help the player have a fighting chance when things get rough.

I'm neutral on the topic, I guess. Three lives is sort of standard, but I'd be okay with playing with one life too. Although I agree with Kami it would be nice to have chances to earn more lives along the way.

Maybe two lives, so if you do something stupid at say 500 points, you won't feel terrible about it ;p

Thanks for the input  As soon as I am able, I'll do a little testing myself to see if it's fun or annoyingly impossible. I want to at least get the background done before closing testing for this game though. The finished product will be available when Kasaria is officially opened.