I like the artstyle, but the low-res nature of it can make it difficult to make out details in the combat cues. It's also hard to tell when I'm jumping or dodging, some additional visual effects might help. Dodging doesn't seem to be particularly effective either.
Later in the comments on this page you said you've dropped the project. I think you should reconsider.
I really like the combat system a lot & I think the white health mechanic is really cool, so for my upcoming criticisms just keep in mind that overall I like the game. I like the way it looks a lot as well, the boss arena itself is a visually composed scene and I'm excited to see more areas & characters in the game! Cool aesthetic overall.
Maybe the dagger should be its own separate button instead of a left control + LMB, since it's awkward to press qucikly press left control while trying to wasd around the boss just for the dagger.
I encountered some difficulty with the options, I tried getting it to not run in full-screen mode but no dice and I also tried adjusting the resolution up from the default 1920x1080 but it still used 1080p (see my attached gameplay footage).
I don't like the stomp move in the demo area at all. I think the playable space is too small + the playable character too slow to properly avoid it (especially the large stomp) and I think I still got hurt by it even when I tried jumping it. I do like its visuals a lot however, it's just a pain to play against in the space provided. Also I'm a little iffy on grabs. Maybe it's because my resolution got goofed, but it seemed like they were hard to see.
It might just be that I just started playing this game so I'm not used to it but the timing on the boss red attacks felt pretty slow, I've included the footage of my playthrough at the end so you can watch for yourself but I think I missed most of my parries because I was too early. IDK, you don't have to listen to me cause I'm kinda salty that I didn't beat the boss so, eh. Still a demo but I'd appreciate future attention to those attack animations--I think some are telegraphed & delivered well, however some are telegraphed well then delivered too slowly. However, I was mashing pretty hard , I probably would've done much better if I played more respectfully.
Anyway, I did like the gameplay even though it's very unforgiving & I'm a salty loser that didn't beat the boss! I recorded my playthrough, I hope it helps:
We had quite a lot of problems with invincibility frames and stuff in this project, we are aware of the issues, however the system itself is quite complicated so fixing all of the problems is a pain that takes a lot of time.
The stomp was supposed to be an area-wide attack that checks your reaction time, but we understand now it's probably a very infuriating attack from the boss.
Funnily enough the game was supposed to be challenging, yet it seems like spamming attacks is usually enough to defeat the boss.
This game seems hard as balls. I was not able to get slide attacks working half the time. I think the game looks nice, but the camera angles and the odd low resolution makes it difficult to read the boss's attacks.
Hey, thank you for the feedback! It was one of our main ideas to make it a challenging game since it was supposed to be composed solely out of bossfights, but we didn't have enough time and feedback to properly test it.
I'm coming from a System overloaded Game, so seeing those Simple controls on your Page really made me happy. Crouch countering thrust sounds odd, you can thrust downwards. the Rest makes Sense. This is just based on your Gamepage tho, and doesn't really have anything to do with the Game right now, just needed to vent a bit. Sorry.
Resolution opening at the right would make Sense if the main menu was at the left. As it is right now, its a bit confusing. But seeing how extra simple it all is, I'm just guessing its placeholder.
The ingame Graphic is really nice. I like the pixelation on the I'm assuming 3D Models. Either its that, or its 3D Models you've sprite-ified. If its 3D Models, did you just render at low resolution without AA and dithered Shadows? Or is there something else going on?
The Combat starts extra hard. It would be nice if you could get a handful of simple enemies, or slow attacks to get used to which button does what.
Maybe start the visual feedback on what kind of attack it is sooner? So I have more Time to react?
A lot of the Atttacks also seem to start very similarly. This doesn't make it any easier.
It also doesn't help, that if you dodge just a bit too early, the Enemy just happily changes its attack mid-attack animation, and goes into one you have the wrong dodge for. so if she pokes you, and you duck, sometimes she just happly stops poking and immediately executes a grab, even tho the animation isn't finished.
In the End the best strategy turned out to be just to spam attacks and hope to get her staggered often enough to win. Final try took 2 minutes of pure mashing.
The combat can be really Fun if it stays a Prince of Persia 1 like one on one duel thing, but please make it easier. Give it slower more predictable and clear attacks, bigger dodge windows and so on. At least in the beginning/with the first enemies, until you've really gotten used to the Controls.
Theres nothing there besides the Combat, so I won't talk about anything else.
Nice and fluid animations tho. I like the drawing/stowing at the beginning and end of Combat.
Comments
Hey. I played your game as part of a Demo Day stream. If you didn't catch the stream live, here's a link to the video:
You can see my other demo day 46 streams as well on my channel.
I like the artstyle, but the low-res nature of it can make it difficult to make out details in the combat cues. It's also hard to tell when I'm jumping or dodging, some additional visual effects might help. Dodging doesn't seem to be particularly effective either.
Later in the comments on this page you said you've dropped the project. I think you should reconsider.
Hey, thank you for trying the game and giving us feedback!
We might eventually come back to it one day, but we need a break from this very complicated combo system.
I really like the combat system a lot & I think the white health mechanic is really cool, so for my upcoming criticisms just keep in mind that overall I like the game. I like the way it looks a lot as well, the boss arena itself is a visually composed scene and I'm excited to see more areas & characters in the game! Cool aesthetic overall.
Maybe the dagger should be its own separate button instead of a left control + LMB, since it's awkward to press qucikly press left control while trying to wasd around the boss just for the dagger.
I encountered some difficulty with the options, I tried getting it to not run in full-screen mode but no dice and I also tried adjusting the resolution up from the default 1920x1080 but it still used 1080p (see my attached gameplay footage).
I don't like the stomp move in the demo area at all. I think the playable space is too small + the playable character too slow to properly avoid it (especially the large stomp) and I think I still got hurt by it even when I tried jumping it. I do like its visuals a lot however, it's just a pain to play against in the space provided. Also I'm a little iffy on grabs. Maybe it's because my resolution got goofed, but it seemed like they were hard to see.It might just be that I just started playing this game so I'm not used to it but the timing on the boss red attacks felt pretty slow, I've included the footage of my playthrough at the end so you can watch for yourself but I think I missed most of my parries because I was too early. IDK, you don't have to listen to me cause I'm kinda salty that I didn't beat the boss so, eh. Still a demo but I'd appreciate future attention to those attack animations--I think some are telegraphed & delivered well, however some are telegraphed well then delivered too slowly. However, I was mashing pretty hard , I probably would've done much better if I played more respectfully.
Anyway, I did like the gameplay even though it's very unforgiving & I'm a salty loser that didn't beat the boss! I recorded my playthrough, I hope it helps:
Hey, I'm really happy to hear you enjoyed it!
We had quite a lot of problems with invincibility frames and stuff in this project, we are aware of the issues, however the system itself is quite complicated so fixing all of the problems is a pain that takes a lot of time.
The stomp was supposed to be an area-wide attack that checks your reaction time, but we understand now it's probably a very infuriating attack from the boss.
Funnily enough the game was supposed to be challenging, yet it seems like spamming attacks is usually enough to defeat the boss.
Anyway, thank you a lot for trying it!
This game seems hard as balls. I was not able to get slide attacks working half the time. I think the game looks nice, but the camera angles and the odd low resolution makes it difficult to read the boss's attacks.
Hey, thank you for the feedback!
It was one of our main ideas to make it a challenging game since it was supposed to be composed solely out of bossfights, but we didn't have enough time and feedback to properly test it.
I'm coming from a System overloaded Game, so seeing those Simple controls on your Page really made me happy. Crouch countering thrust sounds odd, you can thrust downwards. the Rest makes Sense. This is just based on your Gamepage tho, and doesn't really have anything to do with the Game right now, just needed to vent a bit. Sorry.
Resolution opening at the right would make Sense if the main menu was at the left. As it is right now, its a bit confusing. But seeing how extra simple it all is, I'm just guessing its placeholder.
The ingame Graphic is really nice. I like the pixelation on the I'm assuming 3D Models. Either its that, or its 3D Models you've sprite-ified. If its 3D Models, did you just render at low resolution without AA and dithered Shadows? Or is there something else going on?
The Combat starts extra hard. It would be nice if you could get a handful of simple enemies, or slow attacks to get used to which button does what.
Maybe start the visual feedback on what kind of attack it is sooner? So I have more Time to react?
A lot of the Atttacks also seem to start very similarly. This doesn't make it any easier.
It also doesn't help, that if you dodge just a bit too early, the Enemy just happily changes its attack mid-attack animation, and goes into one you have the wrong dodge for. so if she pokes you, and you duck, sometimes she just happly stops poking and immediately executes a grab, even tho the animation isn't finished.
In the End the best strategy turned out to be just to spam attacks and hope to get her staggered often enough to win. Final try took 2 minutes of pure mashing.
The combat can be really Fun if it stays a Prince of Persia 1 like one on one duel thing, but please make it easier. Give it slower more predictable and clear attacks, bigger dodge windows and so on. At least in the beginning/with the first enemies, until you've really gotten used to the Controls.
Theres nothing there besides the Combat, so I won't talk about anything else.
Nice and fluid animations tho. I like the drawing/stowing at the beginning and end of Combat.
Thank you for playing the demo, and thanks for your feedback!
However, we already decided to drop the project.
Oh and also yes, it's 3d, just rendered at a lower res with some tricks pulled