Tim-Tim "The Might Gnome" (UPDATED: 3/18/09)

Spoonweaver · Post by **Spoonweaver** » Wed Mar 18, 2009 5:17 am

How does this look?

never knew that if you colored in a font character completely that the outline would fuse like that.. makes for a really nice life bar

Spoonweaver · Post by **Spoonweaver** » Wed Mar 18, 2009 10:21 pm

I went ahead and gave all the bosses life meters instead of numbered hp. Really wasn't that hard, took me about 15 minutes actually. Well that and the time to beat the game in order to see that all the bosses' Meters where working. And since I lowered all the bosses' hp only the last boss had to have another life bar. Almost increased his health in order to have 2 full bars, but thought that would be insane since no one in the OHR community has reported beating the game, yet.
Anyways, I uploaded the newest file a while ago. Have a look.

NOTE: If you transfer save files from the very first version to the newest one, you might experience some weirdness on the boss meters because the old boss hp total is saved with your file.

Post by **Mogri** » Wed Mar 18, 2009 10:28 pm

Spoonweaver wrote:the old boss hp total is saved with your file.

Dang it Spoonweaver you lazy slime

Spoonweaver · Post by **Spoonweaver** » Wed Mar 18, 2009 10:58 pm

technically you're the lazy one for not wanting to simply replay the game up to the point where you are.

And saving boss Hp with your file is so that, you know, the bosses stay dead.

Post by **Bob the Hamster** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 4:33 pm

That dinosaur! That dinosaur! I just can't beat him! I still haven't even gotten him below half life.

I sketched out this simple diagram that I hope will illustrate the problem that I am having with him:

<img src="http://gilgamesh.hamsterrepublic.com/al ... manity.jpg">

So, can anybody share any winning strategies for how to beat him? Or maybe using a screen recorder and post a youtube video of themselves beating him so I can try to imitate the techniques?

Spoonweaver · Post by **Spoonweaver** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 7:06 pm

First, I'd like to say that your picture is awesome. Great Job!

Second, I'd like to say that you not being able to beat the first boss is funny to me, and made me laugh a lot. Great Job!

anyways, you're wish is granted! here's a youtube video of me beating the dino-dragon "steve".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llZbtZav ... annel_page

RMZ · Post by **RMZ** » Fri Mar 20, 2009 1:41 am

That looks INSANE!

(Planning on playing/reviewing the game this weekend)

Post by **Mogri** » Fri Mar 20, 2009 3:18 am

...

Your strategy doesn't even work for the 20-HP boss! What the heck! You would've totally gotten wasted.

Okay, I'm just bitter.

camdog · Post by **camdog** » Fri Mar 20, 2009 5:44 pm

Ok, finally beat it! Here are some thoughts:

First, I think you did a really good job. The game was mostly a lot of fun, and I thought it was great how each of the spells were actually useful (even the esoteric haste!). Moogle's sidescrolling engine is solid, and the game feels really good, except...

The movement speeds made some of the jumping sections a pain in the slime! It seems that you go from slow to fast really abruptly, and the friction made things a little weird. I realize that this is intentional, but the jumping to get the tornado spell made me want to die, or at least ask you to turn off the friction and the gradual speed (and all or nothing speed would've made that section much more manageable.)

I also think the first boss is just broken, because the luck factor is so high. He's the first boss after all, and an optimum strategy doesn't even ensure survival, because there's no telling when he'll turn around! It's really frustrating to lose because of things outside of your control. I'd make him simply pace back and forth, rather than turn around at random times.

The bee and the slime were great bosses. Nice job.

The final boss was pretty good too, if a little hard. My only complaint is that there was a little randomness in the battle similar to what broke the first boss. Namely, he stays on a platform for a random amount of time. I can't count the amount of magic I wasted firing flame breaths at an evil wizard who was only on the platform for a quarter of a second! I'm not saying all randomness is bad, but I do feel that if I play well and get to the platform the wizard is standing on quickly, I should realistically be able to set him on fire, or some such. Perhaps implement a minimum amount of time the wizard is on a platform.

And finally, LET US SKIP THE LAST CUT SCENE. The final boss is tough, and players are probably going to lose a few times, and there's nothing worse than sitting through a damn cut scene time after time.

For the most part though, thumbs up. Good job!

Spoonweaver · Post by **Spoonweaver** » Fri Mar 20, 2009 8:37 pm

@camdog

Ok, finally beat it!

Congrats on beating the game!

I also think the first boss is just broken, because the luck factor is so high. He's the first boss after all, and an optimum strategy doesn't even ensure survival, because there's no telling when he'll turn around! It's really frustrating to lose because of things outside of your control. I'd make him simply pace back and forth, rather than turn around at random times.

I think I recorded a bad example. But basically, He's not as hard as he seems. The direction he's facing is random, but the time at which he shoots is not. It's best to assume that he's just going to shoot your way everytime and try to jump over the fire. That said, I think The might try to move him to 3rd boss. But that does sort of ruin the slime theme of the levels before the third boss. However, I will not make him easy. He original did just pace back and forward, and he was a joke. Easy games are boring.

The final boss was pretty good too, if a little hard. My only complaint is that there was a little randomness in the battle similar to what broke the first boss. Namely, he stays on a platform for a random amount of time. I can't count the amount of magic I wasted firing flame breaths at an evil wizard who was only on the platform for a quarter of a second! I'm not saying all randomness is bad, but I do feel that if I play well and get to the platform the wizard is standing on quickly, I should realistically be able to set him on fire, or some such. Perhaps implement a minimum amount of time the wizard is on a platform.

And finally, LET US SKIP THE LAST CUT SCENE. The final boss is tough, and players are probably going to lose a few times, and there's nothing worse than sitting through a damn cut scene time after time.

Yes, I tried to make him seem impossibly hard. He's the final boss. If you could beat him on your 1st or 2nd try he'd be boring and dumb. And yes, he teleports around randomly, I chose that to be he's biggest advantage. At first it was a spam of the pink fireballs then a swarm of eyes. both of those were too much. But, I think the random teleporting really gives him a since of douche bag that the player will really want to kill.

Basically, I didn't try to make an easy game. The jumping to get the spells is hard for a reason. I want some players to simply give up on trying. If I wanted it to be easy I'd just have them sitting on the ground.

camdog · Post by **camdog** » Fri Mar 20, 2009 8:54 pm

Well, I'm not suggesting you make the game easy, rather I think you need to look at the difference between what is hard and fair, and what is hard and unfair. I think the game, for the most part, is hard but fair, which is why I highlighted the parts that just seemed unfair. You could make the game harder by having the player die randomly from time to time, but that would be no fun, obviously. Similarly, the times the dragon killed me by randomly turning around and breathing fire in my face was frustrating because it felt like I had no control of the situation, not because I was playing poorly. Likewise when I played well and got to the wizard's platform in time. I felt like I had been cheated when he disappeared in a quarter of a second, not like I had failed.

I understand not wishing to neuter the difficulty, but perhaps you could consider another method for making the first boss more difficult? Maybe add some bats or something? Also, he should be _somewhat_ easy, seeing as how he's the first boss. The first level is easy, after all. Throwing in a boss that difficult so early kind of mucks up the difficulty curve; the second and third bosses were much easier. As it stands, the first boss is on par with the last, in terms of difficulty.

Post by **Bob the Hamster** » Fri Mar 20, 2009 9:16 pm

Can I make a suggestion about Steve? (who I still haven't beaten)

What if his turning remained random, but you made it so that after turning he would wait X number of ticks before he could randomly turn again.

That way his motion would remain random, but it would not be quite as random as it is currently.

If reducing his randomness slightly makes him too easy, you could compensate by increasing his life a little, or increasing the fire frequency a tiny bit.

Spoonweaver · Post by **Spoonweaver** » Fri Mar 20, 2009 11:23 pm

I think I might push Steve back a little. Making him the third boss seems to make since.
I tried your suggestions James but it just makes him silly easy. I mean would you ever even get hit by him if he didn't turn around and surprise you?

About omega death though, I can see where he can be frustrating. However, when fighting him I always thought of him teleporting at the last second as me missing. Like if I was playing an RPG and I had this great plan to stun the final boss but the attack missed I wouldn't feel like the game was unfair, I'd just think I was unlucky. Now should the RPG change the fact that attacks can miss? Anyways, that's the general thinking I had when It came to designing him.

Spoonweaver · Post by **Spoonweaver** » Sun Mar 22, 2009 9:17 am

[s]After some thought, I've decided to leave the game as it is. Unless there's some genuine bugs I don't think I'll be updating it anymore. I realize the game has a slightly unbalanced challenge curve, but instead of trying to completely balance things out, I feel my time is best served working on other projects (including Tim-Tim Vs. the Pirates, and a Zelda type game I haven't really thought out yet).[/s]

[s] If someone finds a bug that really needs fixing, I will update the game and put more life containers before the first boss, and increase boss two's hp. That will set things to a balance I'm more comfortable with.[/s]

[s]Changing the placement of Steve just messes with too many things in the game so I would really hate to do it.[/s]

[s]Thanks for your continued interest in Tim-Tim "The Mighty Gnome" and I'm truly sorry more people aren't able to beat it, because I think I did a good job on the credits, and the choose your own ending menu at the end.[/s]

Spoonweaver · Post by **Spoonweaver** » Sun Mar 22, 2009 11:41 am

OK
I updated again. lol

This time:
I changed the mushrooms
I fixed some of the voice overs
I added some containers before the first boss(giving you a possible 9)
...and other little things.

Hopefully, this will be the last update for some time.

Please still report bugs!

And any ideas you might have, post them, but keep in mind I'll most likely use them on the squeal instead.