I know it's not usually your first concern while making a game but I thought I'd mention that the "noisy" textures throughout this game are bad for video encoding, so my 30 minute video ended up being 15.6 GB.
I defeated the big bug, grabbed the iron key and started my venture into the white void.
Had a lot of good fun with it, especially the fight with the final boss of the demo was very hype, keeping track of the environment while dodging it and swinging at it just. I was about to say the swinging animation could be faster, but I am not familiar with King's field, and judging from the other comments, that appears to be as intended. It does provide a nice contrast with faster slash and slash games, and I also think that gives it a nice strategic feel. Also design-wise, I want to praise the funky slimes with their rainbow glitter going on, I liked the way they looked a lot. The overall "feel" of the world was perfect as well, with the fog, the dead trees and the fortress in the mountain. All in all very promising prototype with a top atmosphere, hope you keep doing cool stuff with it!
Solid prototype, my only criticism is that combat seemed slow at the start and I got bored of it by the 3rd enemy, but idk how to "fix" that if you're trying to stay true to King's Field so ignore me.
Good prototype, you really captured King's Field with this.
But you really have to work on the camera, as its jitteriness actually made me feel sick. Since you're going for a carbon copy, you might consider ditching the mouse control and going all-in with an arrow keys-only camera, and make it extra slow, please!
Yeah, I heard people complaining about motion blur, is it that? I really need to fix it. I do want to make a controller option to play with classic KF controls but it's a good idea to also add an oldschool keyboard control as well.
Just keep in mind that the slow turning of King's Field was part of the gameplay, and that that part could be ruined or ignored if there was also an option for mouse controls, as the player would have much better control of his character and get an unacounted for advantage.
Nice progress! The controls are intuitive enough to start with and the simplistic graphics has a charm to it. The UI could be a bit more helpful - a small thing to add would be a button prompt for interactible objects, most objects are obvious enough they can be picked up but doors are a bit harder to use.
Also, I instinctively mashed space expecting to bunny hop everywhere. I don't know if jumping would be in line with what you're trying to do though.
I actually added a buttom prompt when I started working on the project but ultimately decided to remove it to encourage players to try and interact with things on their own. There's not much you can interact with right now but I plan on adding more. I don't know if you managed to find the secret walls in the dungeon, there are two of them. That said I'm making sure that interactable objects are obvious for the player to notice.
Yeah there's no jumping in the game, that would break the atmosphere and gameplay.
Absolutely awesome. I hope you keep working on this or something similar, can't wait to see the progress by next DD. I'd like to see combat get expanded on, right now it is a bit basic. Feeling and immersion are great, aeasthetic is great, I enjoyed every moment.
I still haven't decided on the final speed for movement in the game so it might change in the future and that includes sprinting speed. As for walking circles, well that's basically how you're supposed to deal with those, later on I'll add enemies that you need to bait their attacks to get an opening and so on.
- I should put the controls in the menu. I did add them to the game's page but if you download it directly from the demo day page you might not see it. That should not be an issue for the next demo
Already very close to nailing that King's Field aesthetic, I'd say one or two art passes and you've got it. Very nice.
Combat is fairly simple, but again it feels in-line with KF. Enemies could do with at least one more attack/behavior to make them more engaging, and the player swings could stand to be a bit faster.
Exploration was enjoyable and gratifying. Opening up shortcuts, getting past the swinging blades, finding an axe, all good.
Its an early project but it feels like you know exactly what you want to make, and are well on your way to making it happen. Looking forward to seeing how this shapes up.
This is your first project, right? It's very impressive if that's the case.
As far as the game itself, it desperately needs more SFX and walls to stop players from walking off the world. I understand it's supposed to be inspired by some old game, but I dislike the way weapons work and would prefer if the equipped weapon was on the screen like all modern RPGs, or at the very least displayed somewhere in the HUD.
Combat is not super engaging, but may be helped by adding a larger variety of enemies. If there was a ranged enemy attacking at the same time, the slimes wouldn't be so trivial (boring) to fight. Also proper sound effects and a recoil animation would go a long way towards making combat feel good.
The art style is charming in a retro way, but the gameplay needs more attention and the lack of sound effects is seriously hurting the game. Even some generic looping background music would improve things a lot. If I were to suggest what to prioritize, it would be getting a few more types of enemies and seeing what kind of combinations make for the most engaging combat, as well as working on sound effects. Also the "exit" button on the menu made me think it would exit the game, not just exit them menu.
Looking forward to see how this project evolves over time! If you're this far on your first project, you seem capable enough to turn it into something great.
Yes, I started about a month ago. I'm aware of the lack of sound and music but I had to prioritize something so I spent my time implementing the basic mechanics of the game. I'll be adding sound and music as I work on the game. There's a lot to polish still and I was thinking about showing your equipped weapon in the HUD so that's nice to hear. I do think having the weapon show on screen all the time would kinda detract from the atmosphere though.
Yeah I'm aware that the combat is pretty boring yet and I do plan on adding ranged enemies, having lots of spell casting enemies will be nice but that will be in the later areas of the game. As for the exit button, there were two exit buttons in the menu and I was going to change both to return but I forgot about one of them it seems.
-Even though it hasn't been long since you started, this demo already has much to offer. I didn't encounter anything that broke the immersion, rather the opposite. Some encounters are intimidating in a fun way (like that first scarab with glowing eyes you come across 5 min into the game)
-There's something very comfy on the way how things are designed and it works well together. It's a game which is overall fun to explore.
-Sometimes the mist reminds me of the darkness on Tenchu 1 and 2, which at that time was a limitation of the engine, but it created a gorgeous atmosphere)
-Since atmosphere what I liked the most, I think adding sounds and music that enhance it would be great.
I'd love to see how far you can go with this. Good luck!
Comments
I defeated the big bug, grabbed the iron key and started my venture into the white void.
Had a lot of good fun with it, especially the fight with the final boss of the demo was very hype, keeping track of the environment while dodging it and swinging at it just. I was about to say the swinging animation could be faster, but I am not familiar with King's field, and judging from the other comments, that appears to be as intended. It does provide a nice contrast with faster slash and slash games, and I also think that gives it a nice strategic feel.
Also design-wise, I want to praise the funky slimes with their rainbow glitter going on, I liked the way they looked a lot. The overall "feel" of the world was perfect as well, with the fog, the dead trees and the fortress in the mountain.
All in all very promising prototype with a top atmosphere, hope you keep doing cool stuff with it!
Solid prototype, my only criticism is that combat seemed slow at the start and I got bored of it by the 3rd enemy, but idk how to "fix" that if you're trying to stay true to King's Field so ignore me.
Good prototype, you really captured King's Field with this.
But you really have to work on the camera, as its jitteriness actually made me feel sick. Since you're going for a carbon copy, you might consider ditching the mouse control and going all-in with an arrow keys-only camera, and make it extra slow, please!
Yeah, I heard people complaining about motion blur, is it that? I really need to fix it. I do want to make a controller option to play with classic KF controls but it's a good idea to also add an oldschool keyboard control as well.
Thanks for playing and the suggestion as well.
Just keep in mind that the slow turning of King's Field was part of the gameplay, and that that part could be ruined or ignored if there was also an option for mouse controls, as the player would have much better control of his character and get an unacounted for advantage.
Nice progress! The controls are intuitive enough to start with and the simplistic graphics has a charm to it. The UI could be a bit more helpful - a small thing to add would be a button prompt for interactible objects, most objects are obvious enough they can be picked up but doors are a bit harder to use.
Also, I instinctively mashed space expecting to bunny hop everywhere. I don't know if jumping would be in line with what you're trying to do though.
I actually added a buttom prompt when I started working on the project but ultimately decided to remove it to encourage players to try and interact with things on their own. There's not much you can interact with right now but I plan on adding more. I don't know if you managed to find the secret walls in the dungeon, there are two of them. That said I'm making sure that interactable objects are obvious for the player to notice.
Yeah there's no jumping in the game, that would break the atmosphere and gameplay.
Thanks for playing and the feedback.
Absolutely awesome. I hope you keep working on this or something similar, can't wait to see the progress by next DD. I'd like to see combat get expanded on, right now it is a bit basic. Feeling and immersion are great, aeasthetic is great, I enjoyed every moment.
I'm glad you enjoyed it. I'll try my best to add more enemies, polish and expand the combat.
Thanks for playing and the feedback.
Very cool aesthetic. Would play if it nails sound design. Obviously a WIP considering I walked out of bounds so won't harp on those points, but...
Speed up sprinting? Also I just walked circles around the slimes
I still haven't decided on the final speed for movement in the game so it might change in the future and that includes sprinting speed. As for walking circles, well that's basically how you're supposed to deal with those, later on I'll add enemies that you need to bait their attacks to get an opening and so on.
Thanks for playing and the feedback.
-I like how you're ballsy enough to just name the folder "Game".
-Oh my LORD the motion blur. My comp's awful and the whole game is blur city.
-It took me half a century to find that tab was the inventory menu. For the demo you might wanna add some instructions for that.
-Combat was bad, but mostly not in a bad way. Hitboxes were a bit too stringent, so I whiffed a lot of attacks, but it still has some charm to it.
This might be interesting in the future. I'll keep a watch for it.
- Well it doesn't have a name yet lol
- Yeah I really need to remove the motion blur
- I should put the controls in the menu. I did add them to the game's page but if you download it directly from the demo day page you might not see it. That should not be an issue for the next demo
- Combat still needs to be polished.
Thanks for playing and the feedback.
Some thoughts:
Its an early project but it feels like you know exactly what you want to make, and are well on your way to making it happen. Looking forward to seeing how this shapes up.
I'm glad you enjoyed the exploration bit. The combat does need some polish I agree with that. Thanks a lot for playing the demo.
This is your first project, right? It's very impressive if that's the case.
As far as the game itself, it desperately needs more SFX and walls to stop players from walking off the world. I understand it's supposed to be inspired by some old game, but I dislike the way weapons work and would prefer if the equipped weapon was on the screen like all modern RPGs, or at the very least displayed somewhere in the HUD.
Combat is not super engaging, but may be helped by adding a larger variety of enemies. If there was a ranged enemy attacking at the same time, the slimes wouldn't be so trivial (boring) to fight. Also proper sound effects and a recoil animation would go a long way towards making combat feel good.
The art style is charming in a retro way, but the gameplay needs more attention and the lack of sound effects is seriously hurting the game. Even some generic looping background music would improve things a lot. If I were to suggest what to prioritize, it would be getting a few more types of enemies and seeing what kind of combinations make for the most engaging combat, as well as working on sound effects. Also the "exit" button on the menu made me think it would exit the game, not just exit them menu.
Looking forward to see how this project evolves over time! If you're this far on your first project, you seem capable enough to turn it into something great.
Yes, I started about a month ago. I'm aware of the lack of sound and music but I had to prioritize something so I spent my time implementing the basic mechanics of the game. I'll be adding sound and music as I work on the game. There's a lot to polish still and I was thinking about showing your equipped weapon in the HUD so that's nice to hear. I do think having the weapon show on screen all the time would kinda detract from the atmosphere though.
Yeah I'm aware that the combat is pretty boring yet and I do plan on adding ranged enemies, having lots of spell casting enemies will be nice but that will be in the later areas of the game. As for the exit button, there were two exit buttons in the menu and I was going to change both to return but I forgot about one of them it seems.
Thanks a lot for playing the demo.
-Even though it hasn't been long since you started, this demo already has much to offer. I didn't encounter anything that broke the immersion, rather the opposite. Some encounters are intimidating in a fun way (like that first scarab with glowing eyes you come across 5 min into the game)
-There's something very comfy on the way how things are designed and it works well together. It's a game which is overall fun to explore.
-Sometimes the mist reminds me of the darkness on Tenchu 1 and 2, which at that time was a limitation of the engine, but it created a gorgeous atmosphere)
-Since atmosphere what I liked the most, I think adding sounds and music that enhance it would be great.
I'd love to see how far you can go with this. Good luck!
Thanks. I do need to add music and more sound effects. I just focused more on adding the basic mechanics to the game first.