suteF
By rotten_tater - Added On 12/28/2010
suteF
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A game by Ted Lauterbach (rotten_tater)
some Sounds provided by Matt Scorah (scoz)
some Music provided by Heatex
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Description
suteF is a puzzle platforming game where you must push boxes, grapple walls, activate switches, and avoid lasers to make your escape from the dreaded land known only as the 'Abyss.'
suteF takes roughly 2 hours to complete, and was developed over the course of almost a year, mainly by myself. suteF is the direct sequel to Fetus, another freeware game availble from Game Jolt that was developed for Game Jolt's Minimal Competition.
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Controls
Z -------- Jump (when available)
X -------- Action/Grapple/Skip Text (when available)
R -------- Restart Puzzle
Escape - Pause Game/Quit
F4-------- Toggle Fullscreen
suteF is compatible with GamePads!
However, the controller requires at least 4 buttons and an X/Y ANALOG STICK
The game will automatically dectect a connected GamePad on startup, and will ask if you'd like to use it. You must enter in the 4 buttons you would like to use, then confirm the same buttons after they've been recorded. If you don't press the correct buttons, you will have to repeat the process over again. If you can't configure your controller, press Escape and play without it.
The ideal button combination can be compared to this layout on an Xbox 360 controller:
A ------ Jump
X ------ Action
Y ------ Restart
Start-- Pause
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Notes
- The game will save itself after you have completed a level. You can quit and continue from your last save at anytime.
- If there are any future updates, your progress will remain intact. All you will need to do is replace the the .exe file with the new one and your progress should remain (unless otherwise noted in the update).
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Game Info
| Developer: rotten_tater |
| Genre: Puzzle |
| Status: Complete |
| Engine/Language: Game Maker |
| Visit Game's Web Site |
Blood and Gore
Mild Language
Crass Humor
If you read the description, you might see why.
I loved the pixel art, seeing the various "evolutions" of Fetus were a nice consolation prize for having to cope with the unrewarding endgame/ending (heh).
I also admit I got my headphones out by the engame, but the music before that was fitting (nothing special, just random bizarre tunes, unmemorable but making the atmosphere creepier). It's just that the level restart sound effect was annoying me way too much.
I loved the puzzle gameplay. Looking at the indiegames screenshot, I thought it was gonna be a shooty-platformer (a la cavestory), but I was pleasantly surprised to find you decided to do something different. Even the puzzle aspects lend themselves to giving the game a sort of "desperate" feel, and I think they ramp up nicely. I also really love how you periodically take away certain abilities.
I was very immersed in this game while playing it. UNTIL.
I don't want to be mean here, especially since you've given us such a wonderful freeware puzzle game. But, from one game developer to another, I want to tell you what I think you did wrong. You obviously have a lot of potential, and I wouldn't want you making the same mistakes in the future, you know?
On the last level, the music sucks. Hard. It was a shock to my system --- instead of getting lost in the ambiance as before, I simply felt annoyed and mildly pissed off. It totally broke the immersion. The last thing I expected to hear was mind-numbingly generic orchestral music in a game that was anything but.
From the rest of the game, it seems you have a good grasp on how game mechanics weave together to create an awesome look-and-feel. I can easily see a situation in which, perhaps, your friend Heatex made the music, and you included it to avoid hurting his feelings. Since he's not my friend, however, I can give you the honest truth. If you wanted your game
Was Heatex (or whoever made the music) actually shown the game before he made songs? If so, all I can say is this. He really needs to work on making his melodies more emotionally compelling and interesting. They don't necessarily need to be more complex, but they need to evoke emotion, not annoyance/boredom. The next step is trying to get the song to evoke emotions that compliment and amplify the game's immersion and ambiance, rather than destroying it.
One good example of this is Amon26's game, "All Of Our Friends Are Dead." It's another game with a creepy ambiance (in a different way, but still similar in certain respects). The unsettling music/ambient noise is extremely well done, and compliments the game very well. I'm not saying your music should be exactly like this, or even similar at all. It's just a good example of how to choose music that compliments the game's mood.
What would I have done? I would've left the music out. I'm not the only one who thinks this; just check KniteBlargh's comment on your original Fetus submission: "...it's just one of those rare occasions when a game is actually better off without music." Of course, another alternative would be to put ambiance or music that actually fits the game. The least you could do is put it in a music toggle option (preferably off by default).
Once again, congratulations for making an amazing game. Thank you so much for making this experience and making it available to everyone. I just wish you'd thought the last level's music through a little more. Otherwise, it'd be practically perfect. I'm giving this game 5/5, since I want to delude myself into believing the experience wasn't ruined by crappy last level music.
PS: I found a couple bugs that aren't a huge deal, but you might want to fix them.
-On "Tier D," some of the upwards gravity switches were causing the game to lock up comple
-If I'm on the top of the play area, and there is a block on the very top, two blocks up from me, jumping up next to it will cause the player to climb up onto it and get stuck offscreen.
-After I won, I wound up on the "go right" stage. I decided to go left instead of right, and wound up in an infinite loop that I couldn't get out by hitting R, Escape, or any other key. I had to use task manager to forcequit the program.
By the way... how do I get to the void?? :P
Sorry for verbosity!
It might seem rather random or the melodies not as well thought out as my other tracks, since I was working in a format I wasn't used to at all, which was strictly midi. (I was shown the game before making the music by the way)
Thanks for your opinion though!
(P.S. If you would like to check out some of my other music that I've contributed to rotten_tater, check out Super Space Rouges and Vatn Squid. )
I think that, especially for a game like this, MIDI is a bad idea. It's too restricting; the instruments will tend to sound very cheesy and unprofessional, and because of this it's very hard to create any kind of mood (which is important for games). It may be tempting to use because the format takes up so little space. However, I'd argue that even a 15-second audio loop has way more potential for quality than a 2-minute MIDI track. I worked with MIDI a lot back in the day, but have since abandoned it altogether. It's obsolete.
Hm, tired. I'll sleep now and comment better tomorrow. \o