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[Note to Mods/Admins]+ Show Spoiler +If this is against the rules, I entirely apologize and it definitely won't happen again, feel free to delete the thread or whatever you see as fit. I'll definitely understand and cry a little. My apologies again, if it is.
So, I suppose as this is my first entry for a blog I'll say who I am and what I am doing. But i'll keep it brief cause I'm not that important. ha
Here goes: I'm a programmer / ex-serious UT2k4 player / casual SC player / musician who graduated from the Digipen Institute of Technology, always had a love for SC and have been wandering the halls as a ghost here for a number of months (year?), posting every once in awhile and staying on top of things [haha, and am ranked #61 in the Fantasy league!].
The majority of the entries in this blog will be pertaining to game dev and software dev, more than likely.. maybe some music as I am an audiophile/musician. 
I love this community, and with any set of gamers I'm betting you guys can come up with some great feedback for this game I made. And, of course, I'll answer any questions about it or whatever else pertaining to game development as best as I can. Ha, or if you want to know about me for some strange reason go for it, I guess.
The game is called Sea Star Scramble. You control a star fish and you shoot a row of scrambled letters to form words (in English).
It took me about 5 weeks to make to its current state, which includes all of facebook related stuff.
I did the programming, wrote the music and helped with the design. But I can probably answer questions about the art as well. [or get them answered]
My biggest question is initial impact. From, impact of menu, to impact of the first play through the game, and how you felt on multiple plays [if you do]. If you have any ideas as to how to make the less scary [if it was] or if the game was confusing, please let me know (and solutions to these problems). That'd be great. I guess it'd be good if you said whether or not you were a person who likes word games, too.
To check out the facebook functionality you can play here:
http://apps.facebook.com/seastarscramble/
Else here:
http://sellegr.com/SSSfb.html
If you have any questions about anything [game dev, digipen, etc.] , go for it and I'll be happy to answer them. I'm about to start writing a new engine, so that will probably be the contents of the next entry.
Probably the trickiest thing that I've found about game development is the tiny tweaks that make everything intuitive for the player while balancing in a way to not make the player feel babied. And this, I suppose, is a driving reason for me to create a blog. I wanted to make a blog before, but I've never gotten around to it. So here I am.
More to come, stay tuned.
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Melbourne5338 Posts
I tried it for a second, didn't like the white border/shadows on the text so I didnt read it, then was confused at how to play and then couldn't find a way to restart. Now the game is too hard for me. I'm going to go cry in a corner  . Probably not the smartest review.
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On October 20 2009 15:26 pachi wrote:I tried it for a second, didn't like the white border/shadows on the text so I didnt read it, then was confused at how to play and then couldn't find a way to restart. Now the game is too hard for me. I'm going to go cry in a corner . Probably not the smartest review.
Nah, that's fair enough. Something to note for sure. haha That's pretty much exactly was I saying earlier, the smallest things can get under anyone's skin and throw off the entire experience.
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First things that came to mind for me were:
1) I kept hitting Spacebar to shoot instead of Up which resulted in the word being submitted prematurely. I don't know, Up just doesn't seem like it would be the most likely shoot button. Even on my third play through I was still hitting Spacebar when I wanted to shoot.
2) Some of the words feel really really obscure. Benzene? Elevens? I realize that you don't need to use all the letters to progress, a 3 letter word will suffice, but the fact that you show me what the letters could form makes me feel like I'm failing if I'm not getting the full 7 letter word.
3) This is more of a suggestion than a critique but I'm not a big fan the shoot to place letters thing. I think I would prefer the ability to rearrange the letters more so I have more trial and error ability and a greater chance to find more words before I submit just by rearranging.
4) Really minor point but I was looking for a "How to Play" or at least a "Controls" option on the main menu but didn't find one. Having the How to Play stuff when you hit Play seems like a bad choice because it forces an experienced player to have to go through a useless screen and to me it feels like it's not where a new player would ideally want it. I'd imagine they'd want to read that before having the urge to jump into the game, which is when they are sitting on the main menu.
5) I glanced through the "How to Play" thing so maybe it was explained there, but I'm not entirely sure what the magenta orbs that are disappearing on the left are for.
To put my points in context, I'm not really a fan of word/scrabble-like games in general so perhaps I'm biased against them or I'm simply not very good at them.
Best part of the game to me was the main menu background music. I found it very catchy. 
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Skipped the wall of text instructions... it's fairly easy to figure out what to do without them
And then I spent five minutes on this game with it telling me I can't form words if my life depended on it
orz
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shit, i love word games. i'll try this tomorrow cuz it wants me to update flash so i cant procrastinate immediately, and i have a midterm tomorrow 
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Awesome feedback.
So, @Phyre
1) This is a recurring problem so that probably needs a solution. Do you have a key that would be better for it? Up and Down for undo seem to make sense together, but I agree, Space bar is used to shoot all too often...
2) Yesss... I know. I've had to manually go through the dictionary and remove stuff, and some rogue words still hang around. Thanks for those two, they'll be removed. As for the showing correct word, I think you're right. Also, it reinforces to people who skim by directions that they don't need to form 7 letter words everytime. Thanks.
3) A shuffle might be added anyway. Not sure about it.
4) Good idea. I'll put it in. What I did do was the instructions screen doesn't reshow after you lose / win and play again. But I think your plan is actually better.
Thanks for the music props. haha Though I don't want that to be the best part of the game.
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Osaka27156 Posts
I agree about the instruction text. White borders made it unreadable.
I want an easy reset button for when I get mad, or at least a way to skip through the end of the game.
I got used to the up, but I too started by hitting the spacebar to fire.
I want my star to move faster.
Nice game
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I like the look and the sounds (didn't read instruction text).
Seems like difficulty ramps up too quickly.
"Saucing"? C'mon...
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Well I played through until the game wanted me to make 7 letter words, with only 7 letters, and I got tired of it. I enjoyed it up to that point.
I, too, skipped the instructions, and went straight ahead to playing. I failed a couple right off the bat by trying to use 'space' for shoot, but got used to the controls quickly and it didnt bother me at all after that.
Some of the words were indeed obscure, but I didnt mind that. I like the challenge. I actually liked having the game show me what 7-letter word I could have spelled, I hope that feature stays.
Also, I liked the concept of the limited time and having to react quickly; more of a 'do the best you can in this time' than a 'take your time and find the optimal word' situation.
If I had a suggestion, it would be to significantly increase the number of letters available to shoot, and then allow/require the player to form multiple words with those letters. Maybe with a slightly longer timer with that mode.
-edit, also as I said in my first sentence, I find it fun to find 3-5 letter words. It's more like work to find 6 or 7 letter words. But thats me, and I'm sure that people who are better at word games love to find even bigger ones. whatever.
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Osaka27156 Posts
There are a lot of words that are just plain wacky, which eventually stopped me from playing the game further.
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@Mani
Thanks.
Hmm.. reset button.. Interesting. haha I always just refresh the page if I'm doing bad.
Having the star move faster is an interesting idea [and I've heard someone else say it as well].
f more people want it, I'll bump it up just a hair. I'm afraid too fast will make it harder to hit the letter you want and less accurate, but I understand where you're coming from for sure.
@Flakes
Noted. Which level did you start to have problems on?
@CGQ
Sweet idea for the other game mode. haha I'm curious about adding multiplayer [makes sense with facebook], but I haven't resolved a good way to do it yet. As for the correct word display, I know I'm going to make someone mad if I go one way or the other. I'll need more feedback haha.
Since you mention a 3-5 letter words thing, maybe I could do a speed challenge mode [in a future version] where you could select 3 letter words, and it'll spawn faster and faster with that as the minimum for the entire game [Ha, I guess I'd need to cap out at a certain point... but you know what I mean].
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So it seems like everyone has to get used to hitting up. Personally, I don't like that very much design wise, but I do kind of like the starfish "controller" being all together like it is.
Thanks for the feedback guys, you're too awesome. I definitely appreciate it.
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Bleh, the word issue. I agree some of the words are annoying.
If you guys wanted to list some you found to be truly obnoxious, I will have them removed. [You should've seen the dictionary BEFORE we started pruning it... had double the words as it does now, and it was AWFUL]
No one has any questions or anything of the sort? I'd be happy to answer anything. I feel like I'm taking and not doing much giving heh. Well, outside of giving you a game to play haha.
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Osaka27156 Posts
If I refresh the page, I have to stare at the load screen again + the ad. I need instant satisfaction with my rage quits.
I would agree too that if the min. required letters were slowed down a bit it would be nice. Maybe 1-2 more words at each stage. Ignore this.
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haha, noted Mani.
And for you all starcraft players out there [the handful of you ], here's some words in the game to enjoy:
lurkers,archons,arbiters,marines,lings,carriers,defiler, and much, much more.
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how is that incorrect?! it's ok though. the right answer ended up being "scourge".
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For me, time is very critical as I'm not very good at these kind of games. Thus:
*Both the star and the shots move quite slowly.
*When the water level gets low it feels really impossible (and frustrating).
*If you read what 7-letter word it was that you were supposed to form, then you lose time looking at your new letters since they appear at the same time.
Also I think I found a bug, if you shoot a letter which drops a "water raise" powerup, pick up the powerup, and then cancel that letter, you insta-die. I think my water tank was full or close to full when this happened.
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Doesn't seem like there's enough time to even shoot 4 letters when the sea level gets really low...
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@madnessman hahaha the coincidence of that is amazing. Sorry about gosu... Get it in Dictionary.com and then we can talk. =P
@airen and @ph33r - So there is definitely a camp of people thinking the game is too hard. I've been trying to make it a little easier. I'll see what I can do. Thanks for the feedback.
Btw TL, the instructions screen is losing the white shadows thanks to your feedback, we're also going to move it to How to Play. So, thank you for helping out. Other suggestions you made are being noted for future feedback before we make a decision.
Edit: These changes should be in sometime late tonight: When the water level is really low, the bubbles will slow down somewhat so you can catch up, the starfish will move a hair faster, instructions screen will hopefully be more readable and be moved to the main menu. Thanks
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I also think the game is too hard. You don't get much time even when the tank is completely full, and a majority of the words are obscure. I'd often see a better word when the letters were 3/4ths of the way to the surface, and there was no time to clear my current word and shoot all the letters for the better one. If the tank is down halfway, it's all but impossible to make a 5 letter word.
I only pressed spacebar to fire once. I blame Phyre.
The game also completely crashed Firefox with no error message once (the one on http://sellegr.com/SSSfb.html). It was on the second level and I wasn't doing anything out of the ordinary.
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Osaka27156 Posts
A way to make it a bit easier might be to make thematic groups? Random 7 letter words like vixenly are pretty tough.
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It gets kind of difficult at the 6 letter stage . With some words, there aren't even any 6-letter words to be made, so you have to get the 7-letter or you lose that round (I haven't actually checked this by the way, maybe I just suck >_> ).
I also second the idea that the star should move faster. It bugs me when the water level is low and the letters are scrambled such that I have to run back and forth and I'm too slow to get the 7 letter word all spelled out. The shooting is obviously part of your intentional design, but I like my typing
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@Mani
Hmm.. It's possible, but it would be a serious amount of work. It's not that I don't care, cause I do very much. Maybe in a future version I'll get to it. It's a good idea for sure. Maybe even a game mode. I think what's more important is to clean out words like vixenly that are just so far out of english dialogue these days that they simply shouldn't be there. Hopefully that will help a lot, and it's an undertaking for sure, but we're on it. [We being my family lol]
@KyuuKyuu
Starfish will move faster by tonight, and the lower water levels should be made easier as well.
Thanks for the feedback.
Patch coming soon!
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Osaka27156 Posts
If you want to send me part of your word list then I can help weed out ones that may be less desirable.
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On October 21 2009 15:36 Manifesto7 wrote:
If you want to send me part of your word list then I can help weed out ones that may be less desirable.
I couldn't; that's too much. I really do appreciate it though.
New patch is up, though the instructions screen is kind of limbo between Old and New Look.
Other changes:
Player moves faster
Bubbles slow down at the 2nd lowest water levels between semi slow to super slow [behind the scenes, if you have a time slow powerup, it'll choose the slowest of the two, not combine them for pretty much time stop haha]
Let me know if that feels better, overall.
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After playing it more I agree about the randomness of the words. It gets impossibly hard for me at 5-6 letters.
you should be able to move faster as well. even if you "see" the 7 letter word sometimes it's hard to "shoot" all the letters in time.
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EPT![[image loading]](http://g.gooifier.com/km7ls01Y.jpg)
