Level 1 Progress

Motivated by all the  positive feedback on the demo I got straight to work on the beginning part of the game. 

I also received some good criticism that I'm going to attempt to work on as well. In fact, I'm going to list a couple of the common complaints and some solutions right here:

• Too much is left to guess work 

Since the demo is actually the second level of the game I've made sure that the first level will introduce the game play mechanics to the player. Also, I'm adding dialog to the game which will help solve this problem and others.

• Needed more direction
• Some things were not obvious enough (hidden passageways, the point of the karma system)

As I mentioned, I'm adding Dialog to the game  which will help give the game more direction, explain game play mechanics and develop the plot. I wanted to avoid doing dialog originally because I though if it sounded cheesy or contrived it could ruin the experience. But I think it's the only way I can make the game work. 

• NPCs and enemies look too similar

This was partially a game design choice and partially because my graphics abilities are very limited. I chose to have enemies and NPCs look similar because, like in life, evil is not black and white. One's appearance can often be deceiving. There is a way to tell who will attack and hurt you and who won't and that will be explained in the game, via dialog . :)

More later...

Demo released

Karma: The Game is a retro-styled platformer where moral choices guide your progression through six lifetimes. This demo represents just one of those lifetimes. 

I'm calling this a demo but it's more of a beta-test. I'm looking forward to getting feedback, criticism, new ideas etc. I'm planning on releasing this game in chapters. This is actually the second chapter (level) of the game. My plan is to take the feedback I receive and work on the first part of the game. Then eventually re-release this chapter as a final version. 

I'm really looking forward to what everyone thinks about it. I'm going to take all feedback very seriously. One thing I'm interested in is how long it takes people to run through the level the first time. 

I've been working on this for over 4 months. Hope you enjoy it!

http://robitstudios.com/karma/karma_the_game_demo_v1.0.zip

Trailer

The demo should be released soon. In the meantime here's a quick trailer of the game in motion: