Demo leaves me unimpressed... here's why

[philomorph]

Both myself and a friend tried the demo on Steam tonight. We like the look, and the idea. But the puzzles given are far too easy and don't make us think it will be worth getting.

This is sometimes a problem with puzzles that have only one solution, especially if you are given only the exact number of signs necessary to solve it.

However, the bonus level actually made me stop and think for more than a few seconds. It actually took me a few minutes to solve.

So, I see promise in the game. But if you want the demo to attract more buyers, you're going to need to include a few more levels like "Espresso" to challenge and entice us. Let us see that it's a game that will make us think.

[Leinad177]

You have something better to spend $5 on?

[philomorph]

You have something better to spend $5 on?

Actually, yeah. If you want a good puzzle game that will challenge you for $5, check out Zen Bound 2.

Unfortunately, they don't have a demo, so I can't give them any points over Rush in that department. But it's an excellent game for the money. :)

Anyway, there are quite a few games on Steam for $5. I'm just trying to let the devs know one way they could probably get a few more sales.

[BuBBleS82]

same too, demo was great but too easy, not challenging...

[Kirkpad]

Uhhhh, did you notice that all the demo levels were in the EASY section?

[HadesGigas]

He did notice that and is saying he'd like more of a cross-sample of the levels in the game from different difficulties instead of just easy ones.

[Snowey111]

Could anyone rate how much harder the levels get in the full version?
Considering buying this.

[collin_twotribes]

Thanks for letting us know. We usually get a lot of comments about our games being too hard. This is the first time someone is complaining it's not hard enough ;)

The full game definitely becomes very challenging when you enter the medium and hard difficulty levels. You can take my word for it, since I don't even know how to solve all the levels and I'm one of the designers ;)

[vitorrd]

Take my word for it too, the medium levels may still be reasonably easy to solve, but some hard levels are sure trouble, not even mentioning bonus ones.

[n1ghtm4r]

same too, demo was great but too easy, not challenging...

demo are ususally done to be accessible to the wider audience possibile and they are all quite easy, not only Rush

i confirm you that passed the easy levels the game become more difficult

[philomorph]

Thanks for letting us know. We usually get a lot of comments about our games being too hard. This is the first time someone is complaining it's not hard enough ;)

The full game definitely becomes very challenging when you enter the medium and hard difficulty levels. You can take my word for it, since I don't even know how to solve all the levels and I'm one of the designers ;)

Thanks for the reply! I'll keep it in mind for my next game purchase :)

It may be putting the cart before the horse, but do you plan on more levels as DLC, or are you more likely to do a full fledged sequel?

I ask because I would love to see a version where there was a slightly more "sandbox" feel to the solutions, rather than there only being one. Or are the harder levels more like that?

If you guys haven't checked out the flash game "Tile Factory (http://armorgames.com/play/6771/tile-factory)" you definitely should. There are some similarities and I can only imagine good things coming from inspiration :)

[hesselTwoTribes]

It may be putting the cart before the horse, but do you plan on more levels as DLC, or are you more likely to do a full fledged sequel?

I ask because I would love to see a version where there was a slightly more "sandbox" feel to the solutions, rather than there only being one. Or are the harder levels more like that?

If you guys haven't checked out the flash game "Tile Factory (http://armorgames.com/play/6771/tile-factory)" you definitely should. There are some similarities and I can only imagine good things coming from inspiration :)

Hi philomorph! We will release a new bonus level (like "espresso" in the demo) every week. The bonus levels are generally pretty hard or just, eh, different. We took some liberties to go all out in the bonus levels :)

The harder level solutions are definitely not like sandboxes. Actually, the only sandbox level in the game is the credits level. The rest are just pretty rough puzzles. Also I personally think that the espresso level would be somewhere halfway in the medium levels if it wasn't a bonus level.

Feel free to ask me any level related questions; I've designed a lot of the levels and supervised the rest. So I ought to know a thing or two :P

Ps. I see the similarities between the flash game and ours, but trust me, the 3d-ness of RUSH adds more than an extra dimension to the game ;)



(yes, that's a terrible pun, I know)

[Antichrist XVII]

The bonus levels are generally pretty hard or just, eh, different.

Different is right for sure. Whatever the black one was called was really only hard because it was black. If it was white it would have been easy...

[Brigadeer]

I bought the full game and I msut say as a Lemming-like fan puzzle (make a path for (Insert name)'s to get to point B), I was very disappointed by the puzzles.

- Easy to medium, I cleared all levels in less than 5 min each. (I finished 80% of the levels in less than 4 hours)

- On hard all the puzzles are all mostly the same thing. Let me explain myself;
You always have an easy path from Cube spawn to their finish line but they will always have one cube colliding on one another so how do you find the right path? Retry a gazillion times until u find the perfect timing! Honestly at this point it's a pain more than a puzzle where if ur cubes turn right 1 block before u make it or else u won't. My point is: there's no logic involved in that at all! I don't feel a "AH! I know! I found it!" when I solve the puzzle but rather "Oh! That's it?"
Probably because most of these levels are so open (Levels that are huge squares) and they give you 15 signs that you're stuck with 10 000 possibilities and there's roughly no way of knowing where to start unless you use Hints. For some reason some puzzles feel like those riddles that you can't logcically find the answer because there's so many possibilities. Possibly because generally a puzzle is cleared in layers. You understand parts of it with logic, then with retries and more logic you try to combine those layers to finish the whole puzzle (think Sudoku, you find some parts and logic allows you to finish the whole thing). Sadly those puzzles don't work that way

[vitorrd]

I bought the full game and I msut say as a Lemming-like fan puzzle (make a path for (Insert name)'s to get to point B), I was very disappointed by the puzzles.

- Easy to medium, I cleared all levels in less than 5 min. (I breezed trough it in max 2-3 hours)

- On hard all the puzzles are all mostly the same thing. Let me explain myself;
You always have an easy path from Cube spawn to their finish line but they will always have one cube colliding on one another so how do you find the right path? Retry a gazillion times until u find the perfect timing! Honestly at this point it's a pain more than a puzzle where if ur cubes turn right 1 block before u make it or else u won't. My point is: there's no logic involved in that at all! I don't feel a "AH! I know! I found it!" when I solve the puzzle but rather "Oh! That's it?"
Maybe it's just me that doesnt like the concept of having a straight path already done and havign to make your cubes run in circles so they dont collide on each other

I assure you that every puzzle can be solved using pure logic, you just chose to keep trying (as some have said in posts around).

[Brigadeer]

I assure you that every puzzle can be solved using pure logic, you just chose to keep trying (as some have said in posts around).

It's just that a lot of the puzzles in Hard (Like Déja Vu) where u HAVE TO try over and over again just to see if cubes will collides. Maybe it's jsut me that doesn't like the concept of waiting 30 sec each time i try a new path to see if cubes will collide on this one (I can't know unless I start over and over that's my point).

I think the fact that once you get at hard the game's target drastically changes from "Cubes most go to Exit" to "Cubes must not collide unto one another" once you hit hard is what I don't like.

[stillwater78]

I had a similar worry. I played several levels in the demo, but they just felt like another set of tutorials. I haven't tried all of them yet - I got bored trekking through all the easy ones. I came over to this forum to see if the full game was substantially harder.

I definitely agree that a better demo would have been one that had a small smattering of levels from all sorts of difficulty ratings, to give a good sense of what sort of challenges the game will throw at you.

[stillwater78]

It's just that a lot of the puzzles in Hard (Like Déja Vu) where u HAVE TO try over and over again just to see if cubes will collides. Maybe it's jsut me that doesn't like the concept of waiting 30 sec each time i try a new path to see if cubes will collide on this one (I can't know unless I start over and over that's my point).

I think the fact that once you get at hard the game's target drastically changes from "Cubes most go to Exit" to "Cubes must not collide unto one another" once you hit hard is what I don't like.Hmm, it does sound like a lot of the puzzles are less about creative thinking and more about trial and error.

[Brigadeer]

Well I have now finished Hard and I must say it's only the rule of "Cubes not colliding" that is all about trial and error but the rest is pure logic.

[orc_jr]

I just finished "espresso" and "noise" in the demo. Both really made me think, especially noise with that bloody blue cube. I would not call this game too easy, but it surely is entertaining and I love the music; it reminds me of a cross of the Bomberman 64 and Jet Grind Radio soundtracks.

[Phoil]

Hmm, it does sound like a lot of the puzzles are less about creative thinking and more about trial and error.

While some of them have an element of trial and error, I wouldn't say a lot do.

Déja Vu doesn't require trial and error. You do need to run it once or twice to see what you need to do, but then it is just a matter of logically coming up with a solution. There's a solution that solves it with plenty of room to spare.

I've found the puzzles to be fun overall, although none as hard as the later Toki Tori levels. I've been solving them without using the hints. I agree that if you use the hints they probably become too easy, but that's your choice. Still worth the price IMO.

[stillwater78]

While some of them have an element of trial and error, I wouldn't say a lot do.

Déja Vu doesn't require trial and error. You do need to run it once or twice to see what you need to do, but then it is just a matter of logically coming up with a solution. There's a solution that solves it with plenty of room to spare.

I've found the puzzles to be fun overall, although none as hard as the later Toki Tori levels. I've been solving them without using the hints. I agree that if you use the hints they probably become too easy, but that's your choice. Still worth the price IMO.Glad to hear that Toki Tori has some very hard levels. I just downloaded the demo yesterday. Very cute and well polished art style, though the child-like style made me think it was going to all be very easy, and I was probably going to abandon it. I'll give it another go now.

In case anyone's interested, Puzzle Dimension is a great puzzle game that I think has a good level of difficulty (though too many of the early ones are all frustratingly easy too)

[Owvin]

He did notice that and is saying he'd like more of a cross-sample of the levels in the game from different difficulties instead of just easy ones.

I played the demo, and later bought the Rush game. I earlier noticed that a few of the levels in the "easy" set in the demo version of Rush weren't easy. Later when I bought the game, I noticed that those aforementioned same few levels are actually in either "medium" or "hard" difficulty sets in the full version of Rush.