I think the attraction of a game is not so much “the next level”, but how it “unfolds” — ie, the sense of discovery is discovering the unfamiliar in the familiar rather than pushing onwards. For example, I like how I discovered how to beat the 2 wargs easily about the 10th time I went through that level. I love how you can power your way through a level, but each level is also like a puzzle, in that there is some insight to be understood.

The difference from a puzzle game is that a puzzle game usually makes it really obvious that there is something to be discovered, so that the discovery is basically the gameplay. But dragondots sort of performs a slight of hand, it misdirects the player towards a simple goal while hiding the puzzles as surprises. In this sense, the modern “acheivement” system, or the idea of “subquests” really detracts from the charm of games, since it seems to eliminate the sense of discovery from reflecting on gameplay.

1) I like the sandbox feel, there are at least 3 distinct strategies to beat a 2 wargs.
2) The “emergent properties” .. surprisingly, 4 wargs play a lot differently than 2 wargs, or 3 wargs and a hobgoblin.
3) It’s way it’s balanced gives it a megaman feel, where you have to find some path through the stages.

In one sense, these elements are merely “planted there” by the developer. But in another sense, they seem to emerge from the world itself. Even though the developer introduced the elements that would result, for example, varying warg strategies, there is also a sense that he didn’t plan them beforehand, so that they seem to be consequences of the interacting elements of the game world.

Understanding is to achievement as insight is to emergence, the difference being that the former is thought of as “contrived” while the latter seems the more “natural”, and the latter is believed to be a component of superior games. The latter seems the more “mathematical” or geometrical, or it can be seen as the unintended or unexpected (perhaps in the sense of natural) consequences of the elements of the game. All games, in this sense, encourage a kind of “hacking” — but hacking itself is not that interesting because it is too goal oriented and ignores the “beauty”, let’s say, of the emergent system itself, which is what games encourage.

The question here is not so much the aesthetics of emergent properties, to find out which systems produce more interesting insights, but the way in which the emergent properties of games is really what gives games that prized aspect of “immersion”, the strange way in which gameplay is related to sought-after sense engagement or work at the most concrete level.

I agree that the time-based constraint is somewhat flawed; were I remaking the game now there are several things I would do differently, and that’s one of the most major. Part of the reason for this whole project is so I can learn more about making games – and there’s nothing that teaches like a mistake. =)

With regards to the individual complaining about the music skipping, I get the same problem on my computer (it happens in both DDS and Wavespark). I don’t know if they use a lot more resources than the average java game or what the issue is. The music itself is very nice, it’s just that for some reason it does skip a lot for me.

I thought that the core gameplay of Dragondot’s Sky was a lot of fun, and the controls worked perfectly for me. The time-based mechanic was an interesting and original idea, but it was also flawed. It seems to have improved since the initial release. By the way, has the super fireball always been there, or was that added after the game was first released? I never noticed it before.

It does help to go after at least one boss directly, but if you want to get 100% completion you should go rescue kobolds in “!!” areas as well (especially before boss levels) rather than going straight for all the bosses.

The “bad control scheme” isn’t actually bad, but the lack of explanation in-game really hurts. And it *is* tricky to use (what with the wide turns), but I get the feeling that was intentional. I don’t suppose dragons would really have tight turns.

I’m sure that it’s quite clear what’s going with the advancing, either. I spent a while trying to select my first level, because I was thinking along the lines of the other dragon-dot game, and trying to start small – with the 0% screens which I now realize meant 0 enemies, not a rating of difficulty, I guess? Then after a few levels I am now stuck on a screen that says “Enemies reinforcing” and won’t progress. I am using Windows XP and Firefox 3.6.2. (If it’s helpful, here’s what Firefox says about my browser: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.9.2.2) Gecko/20100316 Firefox/3.6.2)

I plan to try the game again, but the main thing I wanted to get across was that a little explanation of the game’s intent, time-frame and controls would probably go a long way for you. I know as a programmer that that’s the boring part, but if it decreases the learning curve of the players/users, it’s probably worth doing.

Cheers, and keep it up!

So it’s nothing against the commenters or the game. It was just categorized incorrectly is all. Although enemies *do* advance too fast…and I wasn’t clear on whether my goal was to merely be defensive and protect the Kobolds, wipe out everyone, or just kill the bosses. But the fighting mechanic was pretty fun once I got used to it.

Make the games that YOU want to make and play; Targeting the mass market of 2 minute Flash gamers is such a waste of talent. I routinely check your blog specifically to find games with a bit more ingenuity than point and shoot.

(and the rotational movement version of DDS is just counterintuitive and even more difficult to aim. Thanks for showing the critics how their suggestions pan out)

Allow me to share a few things I’ve learned from running my site for the past 7 years: you can’t please everyone no matter how hard you try. There will always be someone who will complain. You must not take these negative comments to heart, but use them as motivation to do your very best. And above all, know there are many more people out there who enjoy what you do. They make up the majority of the silent ones.

Best of luck in all your creative endeavors.