Guild Wars 2

ive never seen so many dev posts in one topic in any mmo game in my life. this is the greatest thread ive ever witnessed. just wow

Mad Queen Malafide.7512:

I love the Super Adventure Box, I think it is a great idea, and well executed. But I did want to offer a bit of constructive criticism on how some parts of it could be improved.

It would help a lot if the achievement for collecting every Baubel in a stage, tracked them as you collected them. Right now its always stuck on 0%, and jumps to 100% after collecting them all. It would help if we could see how many Baubels were left in a stage.

Some jumps, especially the one in World 1 Stage 1 (the secret cave behind the waterfall) are too tight. They are barely doable, even with a running jump. And with the camera backed in a corner like that, that jump is way harder to make than it should be. Please make this jump a bit easier. I am of course talking about the jump that comes after the two jets of water. Try and not make jumps that are exactly at the maximum jump distance.

There are various platforms in Super Adventure Box that the character can barely stand on, and that are attached to a wall. When ever the character is this close to a wall, the camera goes nuts! Please try and give platforms an average width, and not make them as thin as a needle.

While we’re at it, fix that camera please. When ever it is too close to the ground, or any object comes in between it and the player, it goes insane. It bounces back and forth constantly, and that’s very nauseating. And it makes platforming way harder than it needs to be.

The big slam attack of the Frog boss is nearly impossible to dodge, which is very frustrating. Even when you know its coming, it still hits you as you dodge-roll. I think this could be made a bit easier.

Fix the targeting! It is really hard to select the frog boss, or the necklace. And if the wrong one is selected, your character will throw every gem into the ground!

Targeting the boss is really hard, due to the targeting system still being broken. Selecting just the necklace of the boss for example, is near impossible to do during combat.

Make cinematics skippable please.

The bombs that monkeys throw, sometimes still hit you, after you dodged them.

If you fall to your death in a pitfall, it will sometimes respawn you in a spot that instantly drops you into the pit again, thus robbing you of two lives at once.

Please provide a quick way for people to rejoin the final boss battle after using a continue coin.

The bee queens aren’t much of a threat, due to the fact that they can be stun-locked so easily with the whip.

It would be nice if it made a difference where you used the shovel. Now it just seems to randomly drop Baubels or bunnies. There is no difference between Baubel rich and Baubel depleted areas. I’m not sure if such a mechanic is possible, but I wanted to suggest it none the less.

Waiting for a character to stop talking, before being able to use their services, is a bit annoying. This mostly applies to Moto when you want to hand him your coin.

Please don’t make us whip a turtle or crocodile from a sinking lily pad in hazardous water. Those things sink instantly, which means we sacrifice health to hit the kitten animal.

EDIT: I removed the one regarding the shovel, people were right! I found a spot where it works today! Also added a few new suggestions below:

Allow us to smash pots and furniture by hitting them, instead of picking them up.

I miss snakes and monkeys far too often, even when I’m straight in front of them. make the stick hit in a wider arch to prevent this.

Make weapons such as the whip activate faster. The wind up animation to the actual hit takes too long.

Make the catapult shoot at your selected target, instead of straight ahead.

Allow us to instantly pick up baubels that spawn on top of our characters. Its annoying having to move back and forth for every pot you smash, and every enemy you kill.

1) Agreed

2) Disagree. I’m a Norn Male and can do this up and down constantly. I have zero problems with all jumps. This is just getting used to jumping at the right time. The trick is to jump -right- when your character is about to fall; like in motion falling.

3) Disagree. I can get through the entire SAB in 20 minutes. Again, it’s supposed to be tough and it’s a matter of getting used to it.

4) Disagree. Norn Male with the tallest height, don’t have a problem with the camera.

5) Disagree. Jump on the pads behind you and get to one of the two stones. I can run the entire SAB solo and not take a single hit of damage. (I’ve run it about 30 times so I have it memorized)

6/7) You can only target/hit the necklace when he is about to pound left or right.

8) Agreed

9) Agreed, fix please

10) Never ran into this myself

11) Glitch, the continue coin will drop you at the gate just before the boss. ’

12+) Too long, gave up

Ohoni.6057:

I would think that the easiest solution would be to leave normal mode alone, but make it so that hard mode requires you to do all the little side stuff to unlock the checkpoints, but since you have to do more work you get at least a few more baubles for it when you get to the chests.

I think this is a great idea for Hard Mode! Sure, the rewards are increased, but you also need to do more to unlock the checkpoints, like killing the Queen Bee Dog to obtain a special key, or having to purchase the same key in a shop.

Putting in restrictions like a time limit probably wouldn’t hinder people who are just in it to farm, if the goal is to get people to slow down and explore the world more.

I’d just like to say that critical path speed running is honestly pretty fun and I’d be sad to see it go. I grinded out 150 bubbles and didn’t want to kill myself by the end of it, which is uncommon for that sort of thing.

In a similar vein, an achievement to beat SAB under a certain time limit could be neat. So would one to complete the whole thing without getting hit. The current achievements are pretty easy and don’t really feel like much of an achievement, although I appreciate that some of them encourage you to check out areas you might not otherwise. It would just be nice if there were some PvE achievements other than Dungeon Master which show people that you’re probably competent at something other than spending gold, and this seems like the perfect opportunity.

While we’re throwing out ideas, some sort of competitive race sounds like a real good time too.

Josh Foreman.8250:

Special items that are super hard to get… will most likely be stuff that stays in the Box.

I hope said items are skill based and not RNG.

I’m just going to throw this out there: The Rapids level needs more checkpoints, due to how… glitchy, the hit detection is on the rapids. I’ve had cases where I’d be swept away mid jump, or swept away and hit a rock, only to be teleported further down the rapids to my doom, or knocked off my feet while standing perfectly still on a platform.

That level almost made me throw my computer through a wall.

spconder.2489:

I’m just going to throw this out there: The Rapids level needs more checkpoints, due to how… glitchy, the hit detection is on the rapids. I’ve had cases where I’d be swept away mid jump, or swept away and hit a rock, only to be teleported further down the rapids to my doom, or knocked off my feet while standing perfectly still on a platform.

That level almost made me throw my computer through a wall.

Agreed. The scaling down models certainly helps with jumping (or at least the animations) but the hit detection is still finicky as kitten, especially with the rapids.

TwoBit.5903:

spconder.2489:

I’m just going to throw this out there: The Rapids level needs more checkpoints, due to how… glitchy, the hit detection is on the rapids. I’ve had cases where I’d be swept away mid jump, or swept away and hit a rock, only to be teleported further down the rapids to my doom, or knocked off my feet while standing perfectly still on a platform.

That level almost made me throw my computer through a wall.

Agreed. The scaling down models certainly helps with jumping (or at least the animations) but the hit detection is still finicky as kitten, especially with the rapids.

I absolutely love the rapids. It’s like throwing a firecracker into a crowd of people and seeing the reaction.

On the final Raft fight just going along. I have 2 lives and 3 hearts. Out of no where I’m in the Continue Room wondering how I got there.

Another I got swept up into the rapids, saw my character get thrown off the cliff, and then magically reappear right where I was three seconds earlier.

Another time I got all the way to zero health, and did not die. Check out my HP below.

Mad Queen Malafide.7512:

It would help a lot if the achievement for collecting every Baubel in a stage, tracked them as you collected them. Right now its always stuck on 0%, and jumps to 100% after collecting them all. It would help if we could see how many Baubels were left in a stage.

It would be nice to have a counter of some sort, though I was able to do all three zones 100% just fine without one.

Mad Queen Malafide.7512:

Some jumps, especially the one in World 1 Stage 1 (the secret cave behind the waterfall) are too tight. They are barely doable, even with a running jump. And with the camera backed in a corner like that, that jump is way harder to make than it should be. Please make this jump a bit easier. I am of course talking about the jump that comes after the two jets of water. Try and not make jumps that are exactly at the maximum jump distance.

I had no problem with this jump. I use my mouse to rotate the camera. I noticed people who use wasd to move the camera have an exceptionally difficult time doing this jump.

Mad Queen Malafide.7512:

There are various platforms in Super Adventure Box that the character can barely stand on, and that are attached to a wall. When ever the character is this close to a wall, the camera goes nuts! Please try and give platforms an average width, and not make them as thin as a needle.

It is a little odd being able to stand on a sliver of floor piece, and then trying to stand on a different small floor piece, only to fall off that one.

Mad Queen Malafide.7512:

While we’re at it, fix that camera please. When ever it is too close to the ground, or any object comes in between it and the player, it goes insane. It bounces back and forth constantly, and that’s very nauseating. And it makes platforming way harder than it needs to be.

I have done SAB on maximum height norn and charr with no problem. Again, I use the mouse to move the camera. If your camera is in a wall zoomed in 100% behind your character, the character disappears allowing you to make a jump.

Mad Queen Malafide.7512:

The big slam attack of the Frog boss is nearly impossible to dodge, which is very frustrating. Even when you know its coming, it still hits you as you dodge-roll. I think this could be made a bit easier.

It’s all about timing. When you see the frog wind up for the body slam, jump on the small lily pads back to a small rock near the rear of the room. You’ll be safe there.

Mad Queen Malafide.7512:

Fix the targeting! It is really hard to select the frog boss, or the necklace. And if the wrong one is selected, your character will throw every gem into the ground!Targeting the boss is really hard, due to the targeting system still being broken. Selecting just the necklace of the boss for example, is near impossible to do during combat.

Didn’t and don’t have a problem with targeting. Try clicking on the frog’s parts instead of tabbing.

Mad Queen Malafide.7512:

Make cinematics skippable please.

All retro, old school game cinematics were unskippable. Skipping a cut scene was something that was added to newer video games. Old games had no save feature, so once you died, you had to start back at level 1. No saving. No skipping cut scenes. It comes with the territory.

Mad Queen Malafide.7512:

The bombs that monkeys throw, sometimes still hit you, after you dodged them.

Haven’t had this happen to me yet, so I can’t comment on it.

Mad Queen Malafide.7512:

If you fall to your death in a pitfall, it will sometimes respawn you in a spot that instantly drops you into the pit again, thus robbing you of two lives at once.

Had this happen once. It seems to be a very rare occurence.

Mad Queen Malafide.7512:

Please provide a quick way for people to rejoin the final boss battle after using a continue coin.

Not sure what you mean exactly. I found rejoining the game to be very quick. Are you talking about loading times or the actual coin buying and then talking to Moto to continue?

Mad Queen Malafide.7512:

The bee queens aren’t much of a threat, due to the fact that they can be stun-locked so easily with the whip.

This is intentional I’m sure. It’s the nooby zones so of course the bosses and mini bosses aren’t going to be like an Elder dragon fight. Most retro games were set up like this. For example, enemy type A could only be defeated by bouncing on their head. Enemy type B could only be killed by ground pounding near the enemy, thus knocking it on its back where you could then jump on it.

Mad Queen Malafide.7512:

It would be nice if it made a difference where you used the shovel. Now it just seems to randomly drop Baubels or bunnies. There is no difference between Baubel rich and Baubel depleted areas. I’m not sure if such a mechanic is possible, but I wanted to suggest it none the less.

There are a few secret spots where using the shovel reveals plentiful rewards.

Mad Queen Malafide.7512:

Waiting for a character to stop talking, before being able to use their services, is a bit annoying. This mostly applies to Moto when you want to hand him your coin.

Same deal with old school games. Had to listen to Professor Oak’s spheal for 10 minutes before you could choose a pokemon. Then you had to wait for Gary to finish dissing you for 5 more minutes. Comes with the territory.

Mad Queen Malafide.7512:

Please don’t make us whip a turtle or crocodile from a sinking lily pad in hazardous water. Those things sink instantly, which means we sacrifice health to hit the kitten animal.

I agree on this one because I know exactly which part you’re talking about. You can toss a bomb and it will flatten out the gator so you don’t need to endanger yourself.

Mad Queen Malafide.7512:

Allow us to smash pots and furniture by hitting them, instead of picking them up.

This would be nice if it’s possible.

Mad Queen Malafide.7512:

I miss snakes and monkeys far too often, even when I’m straight in front of them. make the stick hit in a wider arch to prevent this.Make weapons such as the whip activate faster. The wind up animation to the actual hit takes too long.

Agree with both.

Mad Queen Malafide.7512:

Make the catapult shoot at your selected target, instead of straight ahead.

Agree with this as well. No way to shoot accurately. I think you mean slingshot though.

Mad Queen Malafide.7512:

Allow us to instantly pick up baubels that spawn on top of our characters. Its annoying having to move back and forth for every pot you smash, and every enemy you kill.

Welcome to old school games. Where Mario has to actually run, jump and fly to grab every coin. This is necessary for that old school feel. They don’t cater to the player. They make the character think and work. If you got tired of that, you turned off the Sega/Nintendo and went outside.

Josh Foreman.8250:

Hm. Missed a couple. Being able to smash pots/furniture with your weapons would be good. I hoped we could do that, but our engine doesn’t allow us to make a gadget that is able to be attacked AND picked up. So I just decided to make stuff on the ground pick-uppable, and stuff on the walls attackable. Though we are trying to find a way to make them both. No promises.

I think the cinematic is really only a problem for people who are farming. (It’s also not a real cinematic that can be skipped.) Farming is a bigger issue that I have some ideas about. I’m thinking of tying score to the amount of bauble bubbles you get in the end chests, so you’ll have to actually play the game instead of running from point A to B over and over. Doing that will obviously require re-balancing the cost of skins.

We are literally working on hard mode right now.

We certainly want to get in on the leaderboard action as soon as that’s available to us.

Not sure about a timer. We’ll look into it.

Dagger skins? Yes. And rifle and pistol. And hopefully more.

Special items that are super hard to get… will most likely be stuff that stays in the Box. Otherwise the amount of community outrage would shake the foundations of the earth.

But what about making it permanent? Or at least stay for a couple of months, not just one. At the cost of the skins (from Moto), I’ll be luck to get 2, though I might only have enough time to get 1, and thats with farming (as you stated above), in the month its gonna be here.

Anyways, thanks for the awesome content. I’m really loving it. It brings back some old memories.

Josh – Just want to say that I really appreciate your engagement in these threads. It’s great to see a content developer discuss the limitations and issues you guys have to deal with in implementing something like SAB in a completely different genre.

Hopefully that’s not patronising .__.

One more “congrats, i love this stuff” shouldn’t hurt, so I’ll say it too… Thanks for the content Josh, I know that my guild and I are all loving it and looking forward to more adventures in the SAB ;-)

just dropped by to thank A.Net for SAB: fun, brings back memories, great OST, very well balanced and casual.
Kudos.

It’s not so much something to improve as an oddity. Two things I’ve noticed.

1) When I ran SAB on my Norn Guardian, the camera appeared to be fixed at max distance. This made some of the jumping a little more challenging.

2) Having run through this instance on a Norn, Sylvari, Human and Asura, I can say the instance is much more easily accomplished using an Asura. I have no idea why this is, but it’s what I’ve observed. I seriously doubt this has to do with the comfort level of playing as that race, as my Asura is level 2 and my other characters are significantly higher.

Josh Foreman.8250:

Special items that are super hard to get… will most likely be stuff that stays in the Box. Otherwise the amount of community outrage would shake the foundations of the earth.

Just remember what old Jack Burton does when the earth quakes, the poison arrows fall from the sky, and the pillars of Heaven shake. Yeah, Jack Burton just looks that big old storm right in the eye and says “Give me your best shot. I can take it.”

One issue I have with SAB is the fact that, if you are in a group, when you are kicked out to Rata Sum with 0 lives you can easily zone back in right back to where you were. This, to me, makes the whole mechanic of additional lives and continue coins completely redundant. I would hope that you remove the ability to do this, therefore making life management an important part of gameplay.

Josh Foreman.8250:

Special items that are super hard to get… will most likely be stuff that stays in the Box. Otherwise the amount of community outrage would shake the foundations of the earth.

I think being able to show off that you’re among the best of the best jumpers is an important thing. Right now, the achievements and everything can all be done and achieved in infantile mode, or with little real investment / challenge. There’s nothing difficult enough that I feel like it merits wearing as either a title or a prestige weapon skin. I mean, I can farm CoF 1 for a couple hours and just buy one of the skins on the TP. There’s no prestige in that.

There should absolutely be something that is specifically for rewarding the best of the best. There are plenty of “for everyone” rewards already; give us challenge-seekers a real goal to go after please!

Kamahl.3621:

Xiahou Mao.9701:

Surprised no one else has mentioned this yet. There’s an easier way to do that jump in the hidden waterfall cave. Rather than trying the max distance jump that you describe, try jumping straight to the ledge you want to access from the second waterspout. It’s a much easier jump to make!

I was about to spout this off actually, the only hard jump to land in the entire SAB is the one with 3 baubles in the air in zone 1. I didn’t remember having to do a dodge jump in the secret room of zone 1, and this was why.

Also, about the frog tongue – it’s INCREDIBLY forecasted, and easy as kitten to dodge. There’s no excuse to not dodge it. If I see him start flapping his tongue, and I don’t have a jewel to throw? Go to the left / middle lily pad, wait for him to start the attack, and dodge to the right. Boom, avoided, easy as that.

I would say world 2 behind waterfall with all the spouts is the hardest part.
and it’s not that hard anyway.

one more suggestion.
Not sure if its been mentioned but how about a min lvl of 5 to access SAB? that way it would avoid new character farming

I’d suggest removing the gem slot from the super coin vending machine, because your monetization manager might get wrong ideas.

how long until we can expect hard mode and world 2?

Josh Foreman.8250:

Those who don’t should get something special. Those who can beat it on hard mode should get something very special.

Yes, please! A unique skin, or something epic that can be shown in combat would be amazing. Make sure it can’t be sold on the TP either; don’t cheapen the prestige of the item(s) by making them able to be bought with gold.

EDIT: Also for the love of God don’t make it a town clothing item. If we get rewarded for something, let us show it off in combat!

Josh Foreman.8250:

Keep in mind we’ve only done world 1, and haven’t got our hard mode working yet. Things will be getting much more difficult. At some point I think most people will have to use easy mode to complete the game. Those who don’t should get something special. Those who can beat it on hard mode should get something very special.
[/quote]

oh josh how your words excite me lol. Your constant updates are invaluable as is THE SUPER ADVENTURE TEAMS work.

Josh Foreman.8250:

Keep in mind we’ve only done world 1, and haven’t got our hard mode working yet. Things will be getting much more difficult. At some point I think most people will have to use easy mode to complete the game.

If the point is to make the mini-game progressively difficult to the point where most people cannot complete it, then why bother having a hard mode at all?

Josh Foreman.8250:

Keep in mind we’ve only done world 1, and haven’t got our hard mode working yet. Things will be getting much more difficult. At some point I think most people will have to use easy mode to complete the game. Those who don’t should get something special. Those who can beat it on hard mode should get something very special.

Yush! LEGENDARY TOY! I KNEW IT!

Just kidding.. :p I hope at some point the crowns will be obtainable?

Josh Foreman.8250:

We scaled everyone down to Asura size (more or less) which means your collision box extends past your feet a bit. The down side is that you can effectively float off of edges a bit, and this can make jumping seem a bit wonky at first. But honestly, you just get used to it. It’s like whenever I start playing Super Mario Bros. or Sonic after not playing them for a while they feel terrible, but after a little while you change your perception and start working WITH the system rather than against it.

This is actually exactly how I felt when I first noticed some of the wonkiness with the seemingly-vague boundaries of platforms. In order to make some of the harder gaps, I pretty much consciously run “off the edge” of a platform and jump slightly late. I also discovered pretty early on that I can fudge some of the jumps my character can’t quite get enough height on, just by mashing the spacebar while I approach the lip of a ledge.
Some might see that as a flaw, but in true old-school platforming fashion, the line between “flaw” and “feature” get can pretty blurry. Floating in mid-air just off the edge of a ledge is nothing surprising or new to anyone familiar with MMORPGs, and using these little quirks felt very true to the “messy” nature of a lot of old games. A lot of the time in Mario or Sonic, you’ll be suspiciously clinging to the edge of a cliff by one pixel, because their toe or heel is still technically touching it.

Josh Foreman.8250:

The reason bombs and slingshot are swapped out is because those will have upgrades in future worlds that cost more to use, and we don’t want you to be forced to throw 10-bauble bombs to open a secret door. (The Super Finisher you can get for PvP is the explosion for the final bomb upgrade btw.)

It’s very encouraging to hear that you have specific ideas for future stuff in mind. I hope you get the chance to make it a reality!

Josh Foreman.8250:

The powerup barrel placement simply suffered from being too last-minute and Lisa and I never got coordinated enough to get them in proper useful spots. Top of my list for the next release.

Was wondering about those. Every time I found those barrels, I thought “Hmm, are these for something specific? Is there a jump somewhere nearby that I need swiftness to complete?” To be honest, I think it would stress me out if I knew there was somewhere that was inaccessible without swiftness… but it would probably be fair anyway.

Josh Foreman.8250:

I love the idea of a different outcome for NOT destroying the guy’s cart. I think we’ll have him tip you for keeping it safe.

I think you should put in a secret achievement for it, which doesn’t even appear until you do it.

Josh Foreman.8250:

Queen Bee Dog will go unwhippable.

Some people might be mildly disappointed by that, but honestly, it would be for the best.

Thedenofsin.7340:

If the point is to make the mini-game progressively difficult to the point where most people cannot complete it, then why bother having a hard mode at all?

I for one like the idea of a super hard mode. It’ll give something to work at, and a prize that truly shows off awesome jumping skillz.

Besides it’s in line with all those old impossibly hard games, so it’s keeping with the theme

My personal philosophy is that if I can beat something 100% then it’s too easy >_>

jaka.9635:

how long until we can expect hard mode and world 2?

Yes please tell us this Josh! I love reading all your replies. The Dev interaction here is so great. I know Devs say they don’t like giving dates, which is understandable, but if there’s anything concrete here I would love it if you could share.

Especially because I hope it comes with my beloved pistol skin!

Add 8bit Lupi as a boss.

Toadstool bug

Another thing I noticed, is that when you are jumping up and down on the bouncy toadstools, you can sometimes fall from too high. This causes your character to become stuck in the “plat on your face” pose. Unless you dodge roll, your character will keep bouncing on the toadstools while flat on her face, and will jump significantly less high as well.

This happens for example, with the vertical tunnel in stage 3-3 just before the boss, which is filled with bouncy toadstools. Drop from one of the higher toadstools, to one much lower, and your character will get stuck in the pose. Perhaps it is possible to turn this off completely when on bouncy toadstools?

Camera woes

And this is in reply to the none-dev replies, and their many assumptions regarding my comments on targeting and the camera system… I jump while using the mouse to correct the camera (why would you assume otherwise?), and it still bugs out in close spaces, or when objects get in between you and the camera (this is a known issue, so please don’t say the issue is not there). This is why I suggested not making platforms so thin, and not forcing the camera into tight spaces where it doesn’t work well.

Your none existent camera troubles are here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PegX3QH-gy0

Targeting woes

And regarding the targeting, it bugged for me with auto targeting on! (why would you assume I’m not using auto targeting?) It can sometimes refuse to select the frog during the feeding sequence (so please don’t claim for a fact that auto targeting is fine, there are tons of posts in the various sub sections of the forum proving that it isn’t.) That’s just to clarify that this is not an imaginary issue. The frog sometimes refuses to be selected, and it can cost you many lives.

First, I love the Super Adventure Box. When I first saw articles on it, I immediately signed onto the game. Having the intro theme converted into 8-bit was fantastic on its own, but the entire world brought so much nostalgia from the classic video games I use to play. This is easily my favorite update of the game so far, and I can’t want to see the expansions in the future.

Second, I appreciate you developers taking the time and commenting in the various threads here. It really brightens my mood to see such passion not just toward your product but for the fans that enjoy it.

While I am thrilled by the current Super Adventure Box, I do have some concerns about the current state and the potential future.

1. Keybinds

The slingshot and bomb upgrade are applied to the 2 and 3 keys. Both must be bound before activating. I understand (and read) your concerns with the potential of wasting baubles, especially if the cost will increase as the game continues. However, I feel it may be a better idea to add to the HUD the F-keys for alternate bundles. This would leave room for new combat-related items. The whip could remain as it directly applies to combat more than exploration. The candle, while useful in World 1-3, is an exploration upgrade like the shovel. The candle feels more appropriate to be in the 7 or 9 key. As it stands, combat is basic. That is by no means a bad thing, but the gameplay could be lacking in another world or two. Even just a few upgrades to mix up how you approach combat could drastically change the replayability of the game.

2. Hitting maximum baubles

Disclaimer: I do have the bauble purse upgrade. However, I constantly find myself wasting around 150 baubles per run with the massive amount of treasure spots in the game. I stock up on potions, lives, and the occasional key (when necessary), and I still reach the maximum relatively quick. Players are able to leave the instance, trade with Moto, and enter again without an issue. However, playing solo requires you to stay inside of the instance. I have a simple idea: allow us to purchase a bubble item. For a cost of X baubles, players could carry an item to actively convert the standard 250 baubles to a bauble bubble. While this would cost more than a simple conversion, it would make players less reliant on leaving the instance to prevent further loss of bauble accumulation.

3. Spots that I would like to see changed and avoided in the future

There are a few spots that annoy me in the game. World 1-3, while frustrating on its own, has a checkpoint (I believe it’s the second) where a monkey is just above the gate. I have walked through the area multiple times, and I have yet to see a way to dispatch this monkey. The slingshot and bomb upgrades cannot reach. I have seen a number of players die because we are unable to open the gate either due to lack of coordination or a bug where a button will not be properly pressed.

World 2-1, though apparent as a “preview level,” has a very tedious section or two where the player must jump, attack, jump, and attack repetitively to cross rocks and crocodiles. It becomes extremely frustrating to fail as the water constantly pushes you back to the bottom of the cliffs. Of the shortcuts, the first mushroom is redundant as it is nigh impossible to fail unlocking the second mushroom shortcut unless you stop moving on the bridges. Moving that first mushroom a little lower would make the climb less irritating. World 1 has a definite difficulty curve as each zone becomes progressively more difficult, but the jump from World 1-3 to World 2-1 is far too significant.

Above all is the second area in World 1-2. The five keys that drop each have a chance of dropping from an enemy that requires you to backtrack from the following area. I have actually found a key from the first monkey on the backtrack path after purchasing a key from the shop because our group believed to have lost the fifth key. Backtrack areas should not have enemies that can drop a key to that area. While it is not required to loot a chest for additional baubles, it feels like a burden to abandon a chest until the group is able to revisit the area from a different elevation.

Other than the three sections above, I do have one request that I feel would add additional nostalgia to the Super Adventure Box. Add in an item (or items) that allow players to change their armor into inspired gear from famous video game characters. A plumber’s outfit (that can be dyed), princess attire, a warrior’s tunic, and more would give players an opportunity to dress up for an appropriate occasion. These cosmetic items would have to be restricted to the Super Adventure Box (or even town clothing) as each set could potentially conflict with the appearance of characters in player vs. player environments.

I look forward to seeing more in the future, and I hope there is some hidden scheme to allow the Super Adventure Box to stay post-April 30th.

Can I haz title for infantile mode completion? Like “Baby Stepper”, “Needs hand held”, or “Infant”. Anyone else with a suggestion title for this?

I think a lot of the jumping issues have to deal with the camera. In 3D platformers like Mario 64 and Spyro, the camera was smooth (most of the time) because it didn’t follow the player’s vertical motion so closely.

Edit: Come to think of it, the camera in those games were mostly fixed as part of certain set pieces, and players at the option of rotating it.

Josh Foreman.8250:

Adamantium.3682:

I know Devs say they don’t like giving dates, which is understandable, but if there’s anything concrete here I would love it if you could share.

I try not to speak to things that are not in my control. So I can’t say.

I am disappointed but I can respect this. I hope it’s very soon and thanks for all the transparency you’ve been showing!

The little monkey above the gate can be dispatched if you manage to get on the platforms during the checkpoint bounce.

In the waterfall cave:

The biggest problem is the timing of the geysers, they desync an awful lot. I’ve watched lots of people have problems and one solution:

Jump to the tall geyser and then immediately jump to the dead-end platform near it. Then use it to jump to the geyser after it spouts again to get to the one across from it you need to reach.

I have, after several warmups, managed to make it repeatedly without resorting to tricks like this “dodge jump” . . . which reminds me a lot of the “Super Pogo Jump” of Commander Keen fame.

Dig spots need to be done better as in a wider area cause a lot of spots i dig around and when i hit a spot a bauble appears in an area i dug and got nothing.

Keep the puzzles with the maximum jump width, these jumps are quite easy with jump rolls if you have trouble making it with a normal jump. The only problem with jump rolls is you can’t use them for precise jumps, like the water jets themselves. I also love the skinny ledges, it encourages exploration and makes it a little more exciting. You need to remove ledges you can stand on by moving but can’t jump from however.

ArenaNet has already done work with the camera, it’s a problem with any jumping puzzles in the game. The camera is still a problem, it constantly readjusts itself at different distances, sometimes fixing itself when it zooms in. The bug with staying zoomed out after leaving during boss battles should be an easy fix, the camera should just reset itself after leaving a zone, just like a readjusts itself when entering a zone. I’m use to the wonky camera otherwise and don’t battle it much.

Remove the bounce from opening gates, it isn’t used to reach any hidden rooms and wasn’t very amusing when you also put objects in the way and send us crashing into branches.

Josh Foreman.8250:

I can tell you’re a keen observer because most of these critiques are landing on content that was added late in the process and didn’t get as much iteration as I would have liked. I agree that the optimal experience is to find your keys on the way to a chest, not after the fact. Although I could cite plenty of examples where this is purposefully subverted, specifically in a lot of Zelda games. But overall I agree with you.

You can purposely subvert it, which would be quite fun for going for 100% baubles, but you also have shops that sell keys, so players will buy keys from the store if they don’t find them along the way and defeat the purpose.

The bonus bauble bubbles should depend on the team score and give more points for the Queen Bee Dog, blue monkeys, and opening chests. Teams can then plan out which enemies to kill to get the maximum number of bauble bubbles in the shortest time.

How many times have you played it? A common feeling in platform and adventure games that I’ve experienced, is the first time you come into a new level, dungeon, or what-have-you, the strangeness of the new surrounds, new color palate, new sounds, new mechanics, etc. build up and form a gestalt impression of overwhelming difficulty. But you push through that, and become comfortable with all those elements, and eventually find out that it really was not as hard as you thought.

I will say this, I have cleared 2-1 several times, including many of the optional paths and the water puzzle, just so you understand that I’m not crying because I can’t beat it. 2-1 is significantly harder than 1-3. Now, there are still optional elements of the earlier levels that I haven’t gotten through, so perhaps it’s harder to get a full-clear on 1-3, but it’s fairly easy to get from one side of 1-3 to the other, while even with the available shortcuts, it can be hard for a poor jumper to reach the end of 2-1, and it also takes far longer to reach a checkpoint than any other zone.

I do think that these levels can start requiring that at least one player in the group knows how to jump, but they should also allow the team to drag poor jumpers along by the scruff of their necks.

It might help if there were some sort of horizontal shortcut to get stragglers across the final “croc jumper” string. I also hope that when 2-1 is complete, there will be stronger weapons available, because the ninja enemies are real jerks on a linear bridge. Does the tech allow for horizontal or diagonal jump pads? Maybe a bridge that only opens when activated from the other side?

Josh Foreman.8250:

Yeah, we wanted to do this. Just another limitation we can’t change. Can’t have F keys when the player is transformed.

I can understand this. By that logic, I’m assuming you undergo a transformed state in the Super Adventure Box although not distinctly apparent.

Josh Foreman.8250:

Without access to the entire range of items it’s hard to tell. We have them all planned out, but not all implemented. We may re-evaluate where the skills reside as needed.

I’m all in favor of seeing more appropriate keybinds. On a side-note for both this and the former, is it possible to still use the switch weapon key while transformed? I figure it’s unlikely, but one weapon set could easily be linked to your bauble-consuming skills while the other is directly combat skills.

Josh Foreman.8250:

On the one hand we like things to be streamlined. On the other, we don’t want to encourage farming with our mechanics. And I think as you upgrade your bauble wallet this will become less and less an issue.

I can see why you want to discourage farming with the massive demand for the skins.

Josh Foreman.8250:

Aw, I like that little bugger. It’s the first time where you’re not safe on the gate. And it’s easy to avoid by just waiting further back on the branch until everyone is together.

I’m sure the feeling will pass as more players become familiar with the mechanic.

Josh Foreman.8250:

Agreed. I will move it. Just a matter of pushing that stuff in at the last minute. We were debating whether or not to preview World 2. We felt it was important to the future of the product to communicate that there was more coming.

Well that’s good to hear. I’m glad you attempted to push some additional content out to show players of future content, but I honestly figured as much by the small visible areas of the world map. I’m assuming four worlds from the heart containers, but there appears to be five from the map.

Josh Foreman.8250:

How many times have you played it? A common feeling in platform and adventure games that I’ve experienced, is the first time you come into a new level, dungeon, or what-have-you, the strangeness of the new surrounds, new color palate, new sounds, new mechanics, etc. build up and form a gestalt impression of overwhelming difficulty. But you push through that, and become comfortable with all those elements, and eventually find out that it really was not as hard as you thought.

I’ve actually completed World 2-1 aat least 10 times now. I realize that it’s not how I find the jumping puzzle aggravating, but rather how any mistake that throws you into the water. It’s frustrating to watch your character endlessly bounce around before sending your character over the falls. I’d much rather Moto take a page from the Sonic the Hedgehog playbook and kill your character on contact with the water like the rafting part. I’d feel much more comfortable climbing again instead of waiting for a lucky opportunity to jump back onto a rock or my inevitable death.

Josh Foreman.8250:

I can tell you’re a keen observer because most of these critiques are landing on content that was added late in the process and didn’t get as much iteration as I would have liked. I agree that the optimal experience is to find your keys on the way to a chest, not after the fact. Although I could cite plenty of examples where this is purposefully subverted, specifically in a lot of Zelda games. But overall I agree with you.

That means a lot to me coming from a professional developer. As I push for finding a career in the industry, it’s nice to know that I have the ability to spot key issues of content nearing a release which could ultimately aid in better design choices before given to the players.

Josh Foreman.8250:

This is something I’ve been looking into over the past week or so. It would be great to have as rewards, and/or as gemstore purchases. I would LOVE it if you could only unlock some incredible Mega Man or Sonic knock-off transform skin for beating various places on hard mode. It’s just a matter of figuring out how much time is involved. Might be a pipe dream.

I would love you see this, definitely. I just hope I have some insight before a release as I would hate not to have saved some extra cash aside (gold or currency) to purchase these potentially amazing skins. Besides, you need to give yourselves some credit. You’ve added an amazing game into an already amazing game that has captured my attention for longer than it should, and the Super Adventure Box has only been released for five days! Calling this a pipe dream is practically discrediting what you are capable of doing. I’m not saying I expect these skins in the next release, but rather I know you can do it.

Relic.7148:

ArenaNet has already done work with the camera, it’s a problem with any jumping puzzles in the game. The camera is still a problem, it constantly readjusts itself at different distances, sometimes fixing itself when it zooms in. The bug with staying zoomed out after leaving during boss battles should be an easy fix, the camera should just reset itself after leaving a zone, just like a readjusts itself when entering a zone. I’m use to the wonky camera otherwise and don’t battle it much.

I think it would help if the team could somehow slow the readjust speed within certain thresholds. For instance the camera won’t adjust as fast until the player moves ~20% from the center of the screen. Additionally, I think centering the camera above the players model would help too as it would increase the vertical field of vision.

Aside from the readjust speed, the problem with the camera is that it zooms in whenever a static, interact-able object comes between it and the player’s view. I’m not sure if this can even be fixed at this point in development but maybe if some exceptions to the rule were written for certain objects. For example tree trunks would cause the camera to zoom, but the roots, leaves and branches wouldn’t.

IMO, f they could somehow do this, the game’s camera would be infinitely more fluid and intuitive not just for SAB, but for the entire game.

The jumping takes a bit of getting used to, but it’s pretty easy once you do. Dodge jump ftw and the Frog Boss is so stupidly easy once you get the rotation down. I solo him with no problems after doing him a few times.

In fact he’s easier solo because he has less HP and you don’t have 3 people who don’t know what they are doing

Idk, I probably sympathize with Josh because I make games really hard at first but that are easy once you know exactly what to do. Old school games that kids today don’t favor as much as when I was a kid. Mabye that’s why I love SAB so much.

WakeskaterX.6947:

The jumping takes a bit of getting used to, but it’s pretty easy once you do. Dodge jump ftw and the Frog Boss is so stupidly easy once you get the rotation down. I solo him with no problems after doing him a few times.

In fact he’s easier solo because he has less HP and you don’t have 3 people who don’t know what they are doing

Idk, I probably sympathize with Josh because I make games really hard at first but that are easy once you know exactly what to do. Old school games that kids today don’t favor as much as when I was a kid. Mabye that’s why I love SAB so much.

Old school games were more about timing based on perception, so the potential skill ceiling is could be very high and the game can become challenging again once the player’s learned reflexes dull. I think I’ve finished the very first Castlevania many times over, but the game still remains one of the most challenging games I’ve played every time I went back to it. Speaking of games with high difficulty ceilings, a very recent game that comes to mind is The Binding of Isaac, although that’s more of an old-school action shooter, rogue-like, whatever it is and not a platformer.

I have a couple of questions:

1. Will the upgrades (shovel, bomb, slingshot, etc.) remain saved on our characters for the next time SAB reappears or will we have to repurchase them?
2. Are there any plans on making said upgrades account bound? I’m really regretting getting them on an alt I planned to delete. :P (It’s just been so convenient to have a character permanently parked outside of SAB.)

I think it would help if the team could somehow slow the readjust speed within certain thresholds. For instance the camera won’t adjust as fast until the player moves ~20% from the center of the screen. Additionally, I think centering the camera above the players model would help too as it would increase the vertical field of vision.

I originally put this in the suggestions board, but may as well mention it here, I really wish that on the world 1-2 boss fight, on the big tree stump, the camera axis would shift to the center of the tree and remain at an absolute fixed distance so long as you were up there, so that it wouldn’t go bonkers as you pass in front of the various crenelations of the tree.

Is this where I post to show support for SAB? I Support it completely, its great fun for me and I have been really diving into the entire event.

A question i have is what is the duration of this event. The email i got mentioned just the month of April but I am confused with a lot of what I have been reading. Such things like it is not complete and will be receiving updates and the amount of updates depend on how well it is received by the player base. Does that mean you have to gauge the reception of SAB and at the same time change how much work you’re putting into it in the space of a few weeks? Will we know when the final update for SAB will be before the event ends (in case we are saving Baubles)?

Also I like that Dev Josh mentioned Mega Man!