Comments on: Make The Number Bigger http://www.mandible.net/2009/10/21/make-the-number-bigger/ Breaking Into the Industry Sun, 28 Feb 2010 07:37:08 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.2 hourly 1 By: anazopyreo http://www.mandible.net/2009/10/21/make-the-number-bigger/comment-page-1/#comment-18993 anazopyreo Fri, 22 Jan 2010 16:01:54 +0000 http://www.mandible.net/?p=188#comment-18993 Personally, I didn't mind restarting, it made a good warm up. However it was annoying listening to the honking noises every time. Personally, I didn’t mind restarting, it made a good warm up. However it was annoying listening to the honking noises every time.

]]> By: vazor http://www.mandible.net/2009/10/21/make-the-number-bigger/comment-page-1/#comment-18946 vazor Thu, 21 Jan 2010 03:54:48 +0000 http://www.mandible.net/?p=188#comment-18946 Great concept and fun execution, but the amount I had to redo at the beginning of every failure was very tedious. The "your number is approximately" thing was nice and helped a little, but with the problems mentioned above and my unwillingness to go through the first 100 clicks again stopped me from trying harder to beat it. You could consider maybe a save point or something in the future. Still, one of the better submissions for the Numbers theme. Great concept and fun execution, but the amount I had to redo at the beginning of every failure was very tedious. The “your number is approximately” thing was nice and helped a little, but with the problems mentioned above and my unwillingness to go through the first 100 clicks again stopped me from trying harder to beat it. You could consider maybe a save point or something in the future. Still, one of the better submissions for the Numbers theme.

]]> By: Anonymous http://www.mandible.net/2009/10/21/make-the-number-bigger/comment-page-1/#comment-15241 Anonymous Thu, 29 Oct 2009 09:03:19 +0000 http://www.mandible.net/?p=188#comment-15241 I first played this on a 1024x768, so the stuff on the bottom gets clipped off due to the client area plus the window borders. On a 1280x1024 desktop, the game displays fine, but it still led me to cheating by writing a script that autoclicks when I hold down the button while mousing in the client area. Because the game is windowed and targets like the lasers appear at the edges, if I overshoot, I become prone to wildly clicking things just outside the borders of the game, or clicking the menu frame and dragging it all over the desktop and ruining my game. A full screen option would have been nice to address lower resolutions (1024x768 is "small", heh) and people overshooting the game client area. Otherwise, it's a fun game. Not cheating, I got to around 5 trillion, but that clicking thing drove me nuts when everything is flying on-screen from all four sides. I also got the "click on the higher numbers" concept immediately and just ignored the tutorial by the 2nd round, but maybe that's just me and my "click everything" mentality. I first played this on a 1024×768, so the stuff on the bottom gets clipped off due to the client area plus the window borders. On a 1280×1024 desktop, the game displays fine, but it still led me to cheating by writing a script that autoclicks when I hold down the button while mousing in the client area. Because the game is windowed and targets like the lasers appear at the edges, if I overshoot, I become prone to wildly clicking things just outside the borders of the game, or clicking the menu frame and dragging it all over the desktop and ruining my game. A full screen option would have been nice to address lower resolutions (1024×768 is “small”, heh) and people overshooting the game client area.

Otherwise, it’s a fun game. Not cheating, I got to around 5 trillion, but that clicking thing drove me nuts when everything is flying on-screen from all four sides. I also got the “click on the higher numbers” concept immediately and just ignored the tutorial by the 2nd round, but maybe that’s just me and my “click everything” mentality.

]]> By: Player of Game http://www.mandible.net/2009/10/21/make-the-number-bigger/comment-page-1/#comment-15107 Player of Game Tue, 27 Oct 2009 10:50:44 +0000 http://www.mandible.net/?p=188#comment-15107 The only thing I found to be a problem, that didn't have to do with me, is that the train smoke doesn't roll the number next to it to a 9, if the very first number is a 1. So if I had a number like 1000009309 and smoke hit that first number I would be down to 9309 instead of 999999309 there is no way to come back from that with everything else that is going on in the screen. I didn't try this at 1 billion since there is too much going on in the screens to get an even number like 1 billion and 1, but I was noticing that sometimes I would lose 2 spots if only smoke hit a number, which I couldn't get to if I was clicking a grenade, a laser, or the football player. But I did try this with 100000. Once the smoke hit the 1 I was left with 0. So if there were a way to make it so you didn't lose a good portion/all of your number from smoke alone the game wouldn't be as difficult as it is. I was able to get to about 11 billion after playing for a while. The only thing I found to be a problem, that didn’t have to do with me, is that the train smoke doesn’t roll the number next to it to a 9, if the very first number is a 1. So if I had a number like 1000009309 and smoke hit that first number I would be down to 9309 instead of 999999309 there is no way to come back from that with everything else that is going on in the screen. I didn’t try this at 1 billion since there is too much going on in the screens to get an even number like 1 billion and 1, but I was noticing that sometimes I would lose 2 spots if only smoke hit a number, which I couldn’t get to if I was clicking a grenade, a laser, or the football player. But I did try this with 100000. Once the smoke hit the 1 I was left with 0.

So if there were a way to make it so you didn’t lose a good portion/all of your number from smoke alone the game wouldn’t be as difficult as it is. I was able to get to about 11 billion after playing for a while.

]]> By: Claustro http://www.mandible.net/2009/10/21/make-the-number-bigger/comment-page-1/#comment-15045 Claustro Mon, 26 Oct 2009 18:19:53 +0000 http://www.mandible.net/?p=188#comment-15045 This is awesome, I picked it up via ur QH changelog, and I havent stopped playing it but to post this comment, so stipidly addictive!!! This is awesome, I picked it up via ur QH changelog, and I havent stopped playing it but to post this comment, so stipidly addictive!!!

]]> By: Your Mom http://www.mandible.net/2009/10/21/make-the-number-bigger/comment-page-1/#comment-14872 Your Mom Sat, 24 Oct 2009 05:05:33 +0000 http://www.mandible.net/?p=188#comment-14872 I found the messages motivating - I enjoyed them. But mostly I was motivated by getting further and further the more I played. I would have liked a cumulative high score board at the end. I'm still playing it and still getting better. I also liked that I could tailor the strategy to me - it works to ignore the train - if I don't, I end up trying to track too many things. I'll probably never "win" the game, but I like having a quick challenge that I can try over and over. Best game yet. I found the messages motivating – I enjoyed them. But mostly I was motivated by getting further and further the more I played. I would have liked a cumulative high score board at the end. I’m still playing it and still getting better. I also liked that I could tailor the strategy to me – it works to ignore the train – if I don’t, I end up trying to track too many things. I’ll probably never “win” the game, but I like having a quick challenge that I can try over and over. Best game yet.

]]> By: Zorba http://www.mandible.net/2009/10/21/make-the-number-bigger/comment-page-1/#comment-14846 Zorba Fri, 23 Oct 2009 05:05:45 +0000 http://www.mandible.net/?p=188#comment-14846 I had some trouble figuring out the ending screen. I was hoping the different "your number is this big" messages would act as an incentive. Early on I had a slightly nicer screen that said "finished" or something like that, but people assumed this meant they won, which was definitely not what I was going for. Achievements are actually a good idea. I may have to play with that in the future - it oughta be part of my next-gen game framework. As mentioned, the difficulty and length of the game turned out to be the big problem with game design :) I had some trouble figuring out the ending screen. I was hoping the different “your number is this big” messages would act as an incentive. Early on I had a slightly nicer screen that said “finished” or something like that, but people assumed this meant they won, which was definitely not what I was going for.

Achievements are actually a good idea. I may have to play with that in the future – it oughta be part of my next-gen game framework.

As mentioned, the difficulty and length of the game turned out to be the big problem with game design :)

]]> By: gramcracker http://www.mandible.net/2009/10/21/make-the-number-bigger/comment-page-1/#comment-14840 gramcracker Fri, 23 Oct 2009 00:20:57 +0000 http://www.mandible.net/?p=188#comment-14840 I agree that not having anything acknowledged between "win" and "lose" is the most frustrating part for me. I might keep trying if there were a high score list, or even just different levels of "winning" achieve, but just being told (again) that I've lost is pretty discouraging. As cliched as it is at this point, maybe some sort of 'achievement' system would help. Nice concept, though. Too difficult/frustrating for me to want to keep playing after 6 or 7 attempts, but I enjoyed it a lot, until I didn't :P I agree that not having anything acknowledged between “win” and “lose” is the most frustrating part for me. I might keep trying if there were a high score list, or even just different levels of “winning” achieve, but just being told (again) that I’ve lost is pretty discouraging. As cliched as it is at this point, maybe some sort of ‘achievement’ system would help.

Nice concept, though. Too difficult/frustrating for me to want to keep playing after 6 or 7 attempts, but I enjoyed it a lot, until I didn’t :P

]]> By: WolfKrad http://www.mandible.net/2009/10/21/make-the-number-bigger/comment-page-1/#comment-14834 WolfKrad Thu, 22 Oct 2009 22:01:34 +0000 http://www.mandible.net/?p=188#comment-14834 Too difficult. I mean, when you only have about 2 million when the time runs out but the game tells you you've reached 5 billion, you feel like there's hardly any hope of reaching that quadrillion. Mainly as it didn't seem to get any easier as the number dropped again (on the contrary, the game didn't seem to let up and due to the mistakes made, you couldn't recover properly). All in all I'd say that not being able to come even close to reaching that ultimate goal was the frustrating part. I think it would've been more fun if you hadn't communicated that goal, as you'd then make a goal out of beating your own or other's scores. By telling me that I should try to reach a quadrillion, reaching 5 billion felt like I failed horribly. In the next game, I reached 4 billion and felt like I failed even more and gave up. I probably should've felt like I'd almost beaten my old record and should thus try again. But I didn't feel that. So I stopped playing. Cool concept though. I was definately more excited to play this than any other game this experiment of yours has produced so far. Oh, and one other thing: it would've been nice if the different threats were introduced seperately. That way you could safely analyse one threat at a time, without having to click frantically at the other threats already on the screen. You could then of course start combining them to increase the pressure for the player. BTW, I did notice on the second go that there wasn't any intro to skip. So no problems there ;) Too difficult.

I mean, when you only have about 2 million when the time runs out but the game tells you you’ve reached 5 billion, you feel like there’s hardly any hope of reaching that quadrillion. Mainly as it didn’t seem to get any easier as the number dropped again (on the contrary, the game didn’t seem to let up and due to the mistakes made, you couldn’t recover properly).

All in all I’d say that not being able to come even close to reaching that ultimate goal was the frustrating part. I think it would’ve been more fun if you hadn’t communicated that goal, as you’d then make a goal out of beating your own or other’s scores.

By telling me that I should try to reach a quadrillion, reaching 5 billion felt like I failed horribly. In the next game, I reached 4 billion and felt like I failed even more and gave up. I probably should’ve felt like I’d almost beaten my old record and should thus try again. But I didn’t feel that. So I stopped playing.

Cool concept though. I was definately more excited to play this than any other game this experiment of yours has produced so far.

Oh, and one other thing: it would’ve been nice if the different threats were introduced seperately. That way you could safely analyse one threat at a time, without having to click frantically at the other threats already on the screen. You could then of course start combining them to increase the pressure for the player.

BTW, I did notice on the second go that there wasn’t any intro to skip. So no problems there ;)

]]> By: Your Mom http://www.mandible.net/2009/10/21/make-the-number-bigger/comment-page-1/#comment-14823 Your Mom Thu, 22 Oct 2009 15:57:34 +0000 http://www.mandible.net/?p=188#comment-14823 See? I'm not the only one that wanted to skip the intro. After you told me that there wasn't an unskippable intro, I realized I could start clicking immediately, that improved things somewhat. I can live with the honking (which I actually found pretty amusing the first time - but only the first time). I figured out the same strategy as Colin Low after the first play. Unfortunately, I seem to be having some issues with mouse lag under Wine, so maybe it's time to try it under Windows. See? I’m not the only one that wanted to skip the intro. After you told me that there wasn’t an unskippable intro, I realized I could start clicking immediately, that improved things somewhat. I can live with the honking (which I actually found pretty amusing the first time – but only the first time). I figured out the same strategy as Colin Low after the first play. Unfortunately, I seem to be having some issues with mouse lag under Wine, so maybe it’s time to try it under Windows.

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