Launching Pad news
The Pretender (Beta Testing)
Thanks for checking out the test version of The Pretender. It’s a work in progress right now, but hopefully you can see where we want to take it.
The game as it stands right now is a very, very reduced version of what we’d like it to end up being. We have a lot of ideas of where to take it, but we’d love to hear what you’ve got to say.
If you’ve experienced any bugs, or have any suggestions or feedback, post in the comments below! We’ll stay in touch with you all as we try and get your help on making this thing better.
Here are a few of the major elements we would like to introduce in subsequent versions of The Pretender:
- A fully functional level editor, with users able to create their levels and folders.
- Greatly improved graphics. As much as we like having only a single background in the game, we feel a bit of variety couldn’t hurt.
- Sound and music. This one goes without saying.
- Many more levels, and a greater sense of escalating difficulty.
- Integrating a story and more Victorian themes. We’ve got plans for introducing an overarching narrative, and will start showing things off in later versions.
Comments
Thanks for the kind words, Sketchy! Feedback like this is what keeps us going.
We’re still tracking down the source of the occasional random crashes. They seem to be bad for some people and nonexistent for others. (For instance, I sometimes get them but I don’t think Tristan ever does.) That’s one reason why we’ve put the game up before it’s completely finished: so folks can help us kill these pesky intermittent bugs.
And as for the element of fire: you’re completely right, of course! It’s currently conspicuous in its absense, and is definitely planned for the future. Fire is one of those tricky things to get right, so we’ll want to be totally sure it works in with the rest of the gameplay.
Thanks again!
We’ve had some good feedback via email as well. The first comes from Anna, and I’ve asked her permission to summarise her comments here.
Anna likes the little graphical details like grass shifting underfoot. Me too, I have to say! We can thank designer Tristan Clark for his attention to detail on that front.
Also, she points out that after you complete a set of levels, the menu should show you the next set. At the moment it just shows the tutorial levels again – oops! Well spotted Anna, and we’ll aim to get your improvement into the next version of the game.
Our next email comes from Daniel. As a developer himself (with the very cool Straylight Studios, though he’s not of course writing in an official capacity), he’s noticed a few small, ahem, improvements we can make.
Number one concern: the Magician looks like he’s peeing when using the Water Power! Yes, you make an excellent point there, Dan. It’s something to do with the angle of the water arc, isn’t it? We’ll certainly look into that one. In the meantime, I’m going to put it down to “comedy value”.
Another more tricky set of improvements revolves around the way the Magician moves through the world. Some of you will have noticed that he’s not the slickest at dismounting treetops or air vents, for example. Dan points out a few specific instances of the problem.
The Magician himself would probably blame it all on the fact that he has to use a cane, and hence isn’t fully mobile. But personally, I’ve always suspected that he’s hale and spy. Is the cane just for show? Will we manage to get the animation fixed? Only time will tell! :-)
Dan also compliments us on the “congruent” visual style (thanks Tristan!), and he likes the writing as well (thanks me and, er, Tristan again!). Cheers Daniel! It does us both a world of encouragement to hear from guys like you.
Finally, Jonathan & Barbara have reported a fascinating, intriguing and downright bizarre bug. At least on their computer, holding down the ‘Ctrl’ key makes the Magician disappear! Okay, he may be conjurer of cheap tricks, but this certainly wasn’t supposed to be one of them. Thanks for the heads-up guys, and we’ll look into getting that fixed in the next release.
I have just been playing it with my little four year old friend Saxon and he LOVES it! Needs help of course but he especially likes ‘rock man’.
Hey! I LOVE PRETENDER!! When is Pretender Part Two coming out? Soon, please, soon!!
Thanks!
Tess
Amazing game! Can’t wait for the full vesion to be relased. Graphics are beautiful and puzzles fiendish.
You have earth, wind, and water – where’s fire?
Did have a couple of crashes, but I couldn’t identify a cause – I wasn’t doing anything unusual at the time.