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Poi - 3D Platformer out now on Steam Early Access

L

Lijik

Member
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http://store.steampowered.com/app/401810/
$14.99, PC ($10 until Nov 13)

Early Access trailer | Challenge Level gameplay footage

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Poi is a 3D adventure platformer throwback to the 90s era of classic platforming games.

You'll explore large areas and smaller challenge levels in a search for explorer medallions. Getting those medallions won't be easy though, as you'll need to pull off classic 3D platforming feats in order to grab them. Run, jump, flip, bounce, balance, climb, slide, swim and more to collect them all for every level. Equip explorer tools and earn XP to level up in order to meet new characters and unlock additional worlds to explore.

What is the current state of the Early Access version?
The game currently contains two worlds, five complete challenge levels and a work-in-progress hub world. There are 18 explorer medallions to collect, 3 explorer tools, and 2 playable characters. There are online leaderboards and basic Steam achievements. The game is fully playable with a keyboard/mouse setup as well as a myriad of different controllers (Steam controller included). Some story and characters are introduced but not yet finalized.
Click to expand...

How is the full version planned to differ from the Early Access version?
The full version of the game will include more content. We'd like to add additional worlds, challenge levels and explorer tools, as well as flesh out the story with additional characters. Time permitting, we'd also like to experiment with additional features like local co-op and requests from the community.
Click to expand...

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Bartholomuse

Bartholomuse

Member
This is a really cool looking game, reminds me of that game from a few years ago called A hat in time, what ever happened to that?
 
T

Tuck

Member
^A Hat in Time is still in development. Looks pretty good, they've come a long way. But yeah it is taking a while.

Definitely needs some polish on the visual side of things, and the character seems pretty floaty. But there seemed to be a lot of variety on display in the trailer.
 
L

Lijik

Member
Here's Crazyfingers' impressions from the kickstarter thread:
CrAzY FiNgErS said:
Thank you for the heads up. I found this on Steam before referring back to this thread, which is a great thing, because it means that your game has already gotten some well deserved attention on th Steam storefront and outside of NeoGaf. It is definitely worth the $10 plus change I paid for it.

I encourage anybody out there who loves 3D platformers in the vein of Mario 64 to give this one a shot.

So far I have had a few fun hours with this game. I am loving the whole explorer/adventure vibe. It has a good mix of Mario 64 game play with some Wind Waker stylings thrown in for good measure.

Hanging/holding onto ledges is a subtle refinement on the Mario 64 formula which I find fits the whole explorer/adventure thing quite well. It has saved me from falling in some of the platform stages and also saved me from death in the slide challenge. Of course it ruined my time in that challenge, but never the less, I avoided losing a life because of this move.

Also of note, is how charming and inviting every thing looks. Now if you can get some animations in the characters to match this charm, it will be an even better game for it. I also dig the adventurous music playing in the background, but I only wish the tracks were longer and more varied, because after a while they sounded a bit repetitive.
Another great touch is buying items to use in the levels. So far I skipped buying the telescope to buy the shovel which I used to dig up a couple of fossils.

I will leave a positive review on Steam to help attract more attention to this game. I hope Early Access provides you with a steady base of income to be able to finish this project to completion, as I am looking forward to your additions and refinements in the coming months.

I wish you and your team great success and hope Early Access works out for you in getting this game out to the masses.
Click to expand...


and my control impressions:
Lijik said:
Its a bit of a middle ground between Mario 64 and Mario 3D World. The base movement itself is a bit more rigid, you have a basic run speed and then can hold down a run button to move faster. However, chaining jumps together feels really smooth (although I think the consecutive double/triple jumps could use more audio oomph). I personally dont mind this overall setup, but you might.

Theres a roll move when you hold down the run button that you can transition into a long jump, but to me the move feels a little iffy (like its lacking weight behind it). I also kind of wish the game had a mid-air dive move like in Mario. It feels like glaring omission when so much of the basic Mario 64 moveset (triple jump, backflip, wallkick,long jump) is in the game.
Click to expand...




Bartholomew said:
This is a really cool looking game, reminds me of that game from a few years ago called A hat in time, what ever happened to that?
Click to expand...

Still in development, you can follow the development on twitter
 
C

CrAzY FiNgErS

Member
Lijik said:
Here's Crazyfingers' impressions from the kickstarter thread:



and my control impressions:







Still in development, you can follow the development on twitter
Click to expand...
Thank you for making this thread Lijik. If nobody was going to do it I was going to. I appreciate the effort you put in to this thread and I don't mind you carrying over my impressions from the old thread.

I think this has the potential to be a great game. It all depends on how much time and money they are able to put into it. I did my part and put money into the early access release. Hopefully this will gain more attention so the team can make the game they want to make. For $10.00 the risk for me was low as I have already had a few hours of fun out of it. I let my 6 year old son play it for the first time and one of the first things he did was change it to the female character, which I think is cool that the devs allow this choice.
 
R

rjc571

Banned
I bought it and I'm loving it so far. It really does an excellent job of capturing the spirit of the late 90s-early 00s 3D platformers that I spent so much time playing, and it's just a joy to run around and explore the expansive environments with the appropriately upbeat music blaring along in the background. I tried one of the bonus challenge levels and it was tough as hell (probably due to me picking the hardest/most expensive one to start), but immensely satisfying to complete. I also appreciate the fact that it recognized my GC controller and mapped the buttons accordingly, which most PC games fail to do. On the down side, I wish you didn't get booted from a level when you collect one of the Stars/Shines/whatevers. It's going to get old collecting the keys over and over again because they reappear every time you go back to the level.
 
K

Kyuur

Member
Ah, I remember seeing this in the indie dev thread a while back. Looking good, they seem to have worked on the camera since then and the female character choice is a nice touch.

That being said I don't buy Early Access games, so here's to waiting for the full release!
 
C

CrAzY FiNgErS

Member
rjc571 said:
On the down side, I wish you didn't get booted from a level when you collect one of the Stars/Shines/whatevers. It's going to get old collecting the keys over and over again because they reappear every time you go back to the level.
Click to expand...


Well, if you think about it the only 3D Mario game that doesn't boot you out of a level after you pick up a star is Mario 3D World. Every other Mario game from 64 through Galaxy was as you describe. So I guess they were going with that feeling when they placed the Medallions in the levels. About the "Key's", you only have to collect all of them one time for a Medallion. When you do pick up a Medallion the "ghost" of it is still there. It's transparent to let you know you collected that one. Also, like Mario 64, you can go out of order and complete Medallions that haven't shown in your list of objectives yet.
 
Tizoc

Tizoc

Member
IMO if you get a medallion, a warp pad should appear next to it in case you want to exit the level.
I think one game that did something like this was Spyro the Dragon.
 
F

FriedConsole

Banned
Cool. I am fine with it but some of these screenshots looks like they are remade Mario 64. The castle, fire level and water. It is OK to be a little more original.
 
R

rjc571

Banned
I found all the power cells in the two available worlds. (Still missing 1 hidden location and I think 1 fossil, though.) That was fun! I hope they put some more hidden stuff in the levels. The jiggies were all pretty straightforward to obtain and I feel there needs to be more incentive to explore the levels than just grinding coins to buy stuff. That said, the level design was superb, especially how the same location can often be accessed by multiple routes, each with their own unique challenges. Now, about that pesky camera...
 
L

Lijik

Member
FriedConsole said:
Cool. I am fine with it but some of these screenshots looks like they are remade Mario 64. The castle, fire level and water. It is OK to be a little more original.
Click to expand...

this just in- Mario 64 invented Castles, and fire/water stages. No other platformers allowed to use them ever.
 
F

FriedConsole

Banned
Lijik said:
this just in- Mario 64 invented Castles, and fire/water stages. No other platformers allowed to use them ever.
Click to expand...

I am not talking about in general. I am talking that those screenshots look like specific stuff in Mario 64. Have you played Mario 64? A lot of these screenshots are direct references to Mario 64 levels.
 
K

Kyuur

Member
FriedConsole said:
I am not talking about in general. I am talking that those screenshots look like specific stuff in Mario 64. Have you played Mario 64? A lot of these screenshots are direct references to Mario 64 levels.
Click to expand...

As someone who has played a shit ton of Mario 64, I have no idea what you're talking about. None of those levels look remotely like Mario 64 ones. In fact, if I was going to make a comparison it would be to Sunshine.
 
A

Alpha_eX

Member
Looks nice but that art direction really makes it unappealing to me, I like the explorers book idea, which is the only thing that stands to differentiate it to something like Mario Sunshine.

Could be a fun game.
 
P

peterclark1985

Member
I just had a quick go here is my thoughts :-

The Good.

Personally I like the art style and generally look of the game, if they were going for a pretty 90s style I think they achieved it.

The game seems to have taken the Mario Galaxy setup where you play the same level multiple times to collect all the medallions which I enjoy.

Of what little I played the story and the way they are telling it seems pretty interesting.

The OK.

I would say the controls and feel of the game is a mixed bag, generally it controls well but there have been a few occasions where platforming or jumping on enemies felt more frustrating than fun.

My biggest bug bare with the controls is the fact that the Jump has one set height rather than jumping different amounts depending on how hard/long you pressed the jump button, there were a fair few occasions where I needed a small jump to get onto a ledge but ended up missing because the jump took me to high.

You control the camera using the right Analog Stick and for the most parts that seemed to be fine, I found that when I dug up a fossil the camera would reset behind the player rather than keeping the angle it was at when starting the dig animation which caught me off guard a few times.

The Bad.

I have a pretty good PC however there were some noticeable dips in frame rate which I wouldn't expect from a game with a simple art and graphic style, this is something that needs ironing out as with any platformer responsiveness is key and you lose some of that when the frame rate drops.

Overall for under £10 it seems pretty fun and if the OK/Bad points don't put you off then I'd say it would be worth your time/money.
 
J

jb1234

Member
I played three hours this evening and I definitely like it. Level design is very good and the controls are solid enough for this genre. It's very Mario but more 64/Sunshine than the later 3D games.

Complaints? The very repetitive music (the Copland-esque tune for the first major area nearly drove me crazy by the time I was finished with it), an occasionally wonky camera, some bugs and what appears to be a disappointing amount of levels to visit. Most of the stars... er... medallions you collect are from doing various minigames and collectathons, which is a disappointing way to pad out the game. It's also been pretty easy so far (which includes the so-called "challenge" levels).

Still, it's been fun and definitely worth what I paid for it.

(Also, the sky overworld completely blows away Skyward Sword's similar attempt. Much, much easier to navigate around in.)
 
G

Ganado

Member
Game is cool I guess. The artstyle isn't that good, but mechanics are overall solid. Only finished the first world yet.

peterclark1985 said:
The OK.

My biggest bug bare with the controls is the fact that the Jump has one set height rather than jumping different amounts depending on how hard/long you pressed the jump button, there were a fair few occasions where I needed a small jump to get onto a ledge but ended up missing because the jump took me to high.
Click to expand...
That's something on your end, this works for me. It's a very short span until you reach max height, so you just have to slightly tap it if you want anything lower.
 
J

jb1234

Member
Ganado said:
That's something on your end, this works for me. It's a very short span until you reach max height, so you just have to slightly tap it if you want anything lower.
Click to expand...

Yup. In fact, the tutorial on jumping specifically mentions that you can control its height.
 
M

maxcriden

Member
The game is now confirmed for Switch:

And finally, we're super excited to announce that Poi is coming to the Nintendo Switch later this year! Wahooo! #nindie #indiegame pic.twitter.com/xkil4YL9zR
— Poi (@PolyKidGames) June 5, 2017

via GoNintendo.com
 
hoverboarder

hoverboarder

Member
maxcriden said:
The game is now confirmed for Switch:

And finally, we're super excited to announce that Poi is coming to the Nintendo Switch later this year! Wahooo! #nindie #indiegame pic.twitter.com/xkil4YL9zR
— Poi (@PolyKidGames) June 5, 2017

via GoNintendo.com
Click to expand...

Great to hear. I contributed to the unsuccessful Kickstarter a few years back, so I'm excited to finally give them my money for the Switch version which I will definitely buy. Love this type of game.
 
EndlessFloydian

EndlessFloydian

Member
Hopefully Poi, Yooka-Laylee and RiME release at least by the end of the summer. If not, it will be buried by Mario Odyssey, and whatever other first party holiday titles are planned.
 
Andyliini

Andyliini

Member
I once backed this on Kickstarter when it was still coming to Wii U, but that campaign was not successful. Now that it's coming to Switch, I think I should purchase it when I can. The physical release only makes the purchase decision easier.

Bu the way, have they said who publishes this physically?
 
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