The starting weapon feels really good to use, I wonder if the recoil could be strengthened to act like a dash in the opposite direction without losing too much control like in Cave Story. When shooting the propeller nerd berries I would often take damage right after killing them, I guess they explode when they die? Unclear. Looking forward to more of this.
Compared to your first demo that's a massive improvement. Movement is really tight this time.
Sometimes levels have way too many enemies spawning. That kind of stuff encourages me to just rush through some levels.
The subweapons are amazing. I'm someone who generally ignores that kind of stuff, but they are so powerful they are somewhat essential.
Overhealing is a good mechanic. It could even be additionally buffed since it's something that appears rarely, has time limit and rewards good players.
I wonder if the slow descent rather than just staying in place while idling is really needed?
The recoil makes me wish that I could use it for small movement boosts (shoot, press the opposite direction immeditely).
At surface level our themes are kind of similar. We could do a cameo someday, senpai.
Compared to your first demo that's a massive improvement. Movement is really tight this time.
I'm glad you liked it!
Sometimes levels have way too many enemies spawning. That kind of stuff encourages me to just rush through some levels.
let me guess, It was the long corridor in the sewers? It's a puzzle I need to flash out better
The subweapons are amazing. I'm someone who generally ignores that kind of stuff, but they are so powerful they are somewhat essential.
Overhealing is a good mechanic. It could even be additionally buffed since it's something that appears rarely, has time limit and rewards good players
Yes, the whole point of all my weapons is to make you feel ultra powerful, like you do in brass. Superbomba is already super powerful, but in this early levels is not apparent: It has a ton of range of course, but deals damage for two bombs and also bypasses walls.
I wonder if the slow descent rather than just staying in place while idling is really needed?
some players really want a noGrav mode/player. I'm working on that, and an option to change hold to toggle for strafe
The recoil makes me wish that I could use it for small movement boosts (shoot, press the opposite direction immeditely).
in the beginning I had a similar idea, but then i just made templar ultra fast on its own.
At surface level our themes are kind of similar. We could do a cameo someday, senpai.
no joke! It would be a ton of work, but it could be fun to make a guest character of our games.
The starting weapon is too loud, it feels more like a bonus superweapon. I don't like how moving forward on ground is slower than in air. Strafing feels pointless (it's slow, meaning skilled play disincentives it, the exact opposite of skill-based mechanics). Managing both bombas and subweapons is too complicated. Subweapons requiring ammo feels unnecessary. Projectile spamming/spawning enemies should have a windup animation, so you don't get hit out of nowhere (e.g., those plants spawned enemies on top of me). Enemy spawners should have a limit, as eventually they fill the screen and become unwinnable. Homing enemies trying to slam into you from your weapon's blindspots (up/down) feels lame, since not being able to aim up/down is artificial, and the game should not bring attention to that.
The basic gamefeel, sounds, and graphics are great, but outside of that it's subpar. The mechanics feel slapdashed and don't blend together.
Thank you for playing, and I'm sorry you didn't like my design
The starting weapon is too loud, it feels more like a bonus superweapon.
Apart from the loudness, this seems neutral statement. Anyway this was my intention, a twist on the classic pea shooter from this kind of games. Your shoot is so powerful that knocks you back and pushes the enemy a km away. It's also very powerful so you can have a fastflow of combat.
I don't like how moving forward on ground is slower than in air.
It's a diagetic way to tell the player "you should always be airborne".
Strafing feels pointless (it's slow, meaning skilled play disincentives it, the exact opposite of skill-based mechanics).
Strafing is useful when you need precision movement, like when there are a lot of bullets on screen but not many enemies. Not all levels are to be approached in a "gotta go fast" way, ofc I'm still a noob at designing levels for my game.
Managing both bombas and subweapons is too complicated.
In what way is too complicated?
Subweapons requiring ammo feels unnecessary.
that's my fault, because I shower the levels with candles/energy. In a more classic situation (or later levels) energy should be scarce, and you should think about using your subw or save energy. It's also my fault for not putting in a maxEnergy cap.
Projectile spamming/spawning enemies should have a windup animation, so you don't get hit out of nowhere (e.g., those plants spawned enemies on top of me). Enemy spawners should have a limit, as eventually they fill the screen and become unwinnable.
you are completely right on this.
Homing enemies trying to slam into you from your weapon's blindspots (up/down) feels lame, since not being able to aim up/down is artificial, and the game should not bring attention to that.
I could agree on this, but:
You can fly with no limits, so the weapon blind spot is more a positioning problem.
More on that, the subweapons are designed to aid you with that 'flaw': axe helps you for up, granades for down, laser for center far enemies. Bomba also hits 360° (I could amp the range thou).
The mechanics feel slapdashed and don't blend together.
On some level I can agree on this. I've basically pick mechanics from games I like and put them in a blender. There must be a reason why there are no level based shmups; why they are called run'n gun and not fly'n gun; and all action games are also platformers with a jump.
What can I say, I like to make strange stuff. I have a lot of hammering to do, but I hope someone will like this shmup hybrid.
Still feels satisfying as fuck to play, no complaints here.
Asset resolution is still all over the place. Like I said last time, many people won't care but it's something to consider.
I really like the grates you can use with the remote bombs., although the way they're implemented just made the use too obvious.
The movement of the enemies in the last level is way too erratic. They're hard to hit, they're hard to dodge and I could not figure out how exactly they work so they were just frustrating.
Some enemies will fire a projectile upon spawning, feels unfair.
That area in the last level where you first enter a building and then its second half is ruined is confusing because the metaorites behind the windows can't hit you but then there's suddenly the ones flying inside. Maybe add some transparent overlay to the intact windows to better differentiate them.
The little platforms in the last level are hard to see, need more contrast against the background.
Thank you for playing chasmdev, and I have no words for your fan art. It just misses the "see you space cowboy" from bebop to make me cry.
Asset resolution is still all over the place. Like I said last time, many people won't care but it's something to consider.
I'm learning as I go, and till a few weeks ago I was on "fuck pixel perfect" side. Because my tiles are 16x, but Robo is 24... but I want him to be one tile high for balance reasons. One day, fucking around in aseprite, I discovered that if I scale up Robo x2 and the tiles x3 I have a perfect match at 48x (yes I'm that bad at math and I didn't notice it). So a possible solution is to scale up everthing to x48 and maybe MAYBE I could resolve this pixel perfect bullshit. the struggle is real.
I really like the grates you can use with the remote bombs., although the way they're implemented just made the use too obvious.
Glad you liked the gimmick. this mechanic had the response of a puzzle, some got lost, others like you get it on the spot
The movement of the enemies in the last level is way too erratic. They're hard to hit, they're hard to dodge and I could not figure out how exactly they work so they were just frustrating.
the last section+enemies is bullshit because it's not properly tuned. I Could argue myself that even if I get you to fight the first red alien on a secure zone, having just right after the same fight under an energy field and then under a meteor shower is just bad.
Maybe add some transparent overlay to the intact windows to better differentiate them.
Is your hitbox supposed to be constantly visible? Those mixels are pretty ugly, and the cross seems like a good enough indicator to me.
There's nothing that indicates that the slimes explode and do damage when dying until you get hit by it. It's not even consistent. Why don't the ranged slimes hurt you?
Did you nerf the bombs? They don't even kill a slime spawner.
Is it just random whether a shot will make the boss turn around?
What's the point of candles spawning yellow dots in a big circle? It's just annoying.
Those red enemies are fucking terrible. Enemies should be hard to avoid, not hard to hit. And even if you hit them, there's a delay before they die that gives them time to hit you anyway.
The platforms below some of the windows blend in with the background.
Thank you for playing again Qwott, I always appreciate when you destroy my game
Is your hitbox supposed to be constantly visible? Those mixels are pretty ugly, and the cross seems like a good enough indicator to me.
For now, yes. I want to make a toggle to have the core always visible, visible only on strafe, and invisible. You are right the cross was the original hitbox, but too many players got confused. the mixels are a big problem, but dunno when/if I'll resolve it, because who knows what the final art will be.
There's nothing that indicates that the slimes explode and do damage when dying until you get hit by it. It's not even consistent. Why don't the ranged slimes hurt you?
leaf slimes blink (like when an enemy get hurt) before exploding, maybe you want a bigger window to runaway? Both types of ranged slimes should hurt you on touch, I'll check the demo build and see if you discovered a bug.
Did you nerf the bombs? They don't even kill a slime spawner.
A little, so you need at least a bomba + 1 shoot. do You think it stops the flow of the game, or it's more a balance problem?
Is it just random whether a shot will make the boss turn around?
Big cherry has 1/5 chances to turn on shot hit; smaller cherries have bigger chances, but I dunno if I got the sweet spot yet.
What's the point of candles spawning yellow dots in a big circle? It's just annoying.
It's a pinata of energy for adhd kids, if you are near the candle when you hit it, you absorb everything instantly.
Those red enemies are fucking terrible. Enemies should be hard to avoid, not hard to hit. And even if you hit them, there's a delay before they die that gives them time to hit you anyway.
The platforms below some of the windows blend in with the background.
you are right on both accounts, the new zone and his enemies need a lot of tuning. right now it's a pretty bullshit section.
>leaf slimes blink (like when an enemy get hurt) before exploding, maybe you want a bigger window to runaway?
Who would assume that an enemy blinking in the exact same way as when it gets hurt means it's about to explode? Or that a puff of smoke with an anemic squirting sound would hurt you?
>Both types of ranged slimes should hurt you on touch, I'll check the demo build and see if you discovered a bug
No, I mean why don't the ranged slimes do damage when they die? I also noticed the slime explosion hitbox lingers. Explosions should only do damage on one frame.
>A little, so you need at least a bomba + 1 shoot. do You think it stops the flow of the game, or it's more a balance problem?
I noticed now that you reduced the cost. I guess that makes up for it. The radius could be a tiny bit bigger, though.
>Big cherry has 1/5 chances to turn on shot hit; smaller cherries have bigger chances, but I dunno if I got the sweet spot yet.
I don't think RNG is a good way to do it. Make it so that you have to hit it multiple times in quick succession or during a certain part of the animation or something.
I really like the idea of a flying Templar knight with guns, reminds me the one from Shin Megami Tensei. I play your game with a Xbox controller and it feels fine for me, I had no issues playing the game. On the other hand, the strafe is nice to have it but I din't find many situations in which a I really need it, mostly because I can skip the bullet hell sections by just destroying the enemies/cannons with my own guns or using the shield bomb.
The Boss... I like it as first tutorial boss, but in my opinion future Bosses should spawn bullet patters in a touhou fashion, that will make the game feel more like a bullet hell (I also liked the music: BOSHI BOSHI BOM BOM BOM!!!).
The last level with the aliens: the flying ones are too fast and difficult to avoid, and the homing projectiles of the ones on the ground are very sticky/hard to avoid. To the point that is more easy to ignore them a just go forward while using the shield bomb. But Still I like the space design and avoiding the meteors is fun.
Thank you for playing OriginalLoliVampirePlatformer dev (yes you have competiton now XD), and double ty for the video!
I really like the idea of a flying Templar knight with guns, reminds me the one from Shin Megami Tensei.
You got me! my initial idea for the design comes right from smt terminator, a classic zaku, and the memes of templar knights with ak-47/shotguns.
mostly because I can skip the bullet hell sections by just destroying the enemies/cannons with my own guns or using the shield bomb
Again, you got me, and my design philosophy. I've been hammering down the shield bomb mechanic for three DDs now, and most players still don't use it. it's getting better with a warnning sign: "dude bombing is always better than getting hit". Right now you are the best player I saw playing the game.
in my opinion future Bosses should spawn bullet patters in a touhou fashion, that will make the game feel more like a bullet hell
Of course! I wanna keep it... touhou-light because templar has knock on shoot and gravity, (and designing a touhou boss is not easy) but that's the objective. The sister philosophy is having bosses weak to a certain subweapon, like mega/casltevania.
The last level with the aliens:
yes, it's pretty bullshit right now. The only things properly tested are the meteor sections with templar energy fields.
Again, thanks for playing. Dunno if you wanna focus only on fiend heart or also on the bomber prototype/art you posted sometime ago, but good luck.
I'm learning recently that platformer controls are kind of hard to design. so it's understandable that the buttons you've chosen are a little awkward. music's pretty good. I think that constantly falling like it's flappy bird is not necessarily the best choice for a bullet hell. I like the section with the barrel-bomb and the things that spawn the slime boys, for how it teaches this idea that the barrel-bomb goes through grates. completely missed that my first time through and ended up getting swarmed. but the guidance was clear as day my second time through.
Thank you for playing, omnidev. I'm glad you enjoyed the demo.
I think that constantly falling like it's flappy bird is not necessarily the best choice for a bullet hell.
I agree. Do you think noGrav when strafing is not enough?
I have my reasoning to keep gravity, but I won't bore you with a wall of text on my design philosophy.
I'm willing to listen to who is bothered by this mechanic in one way or another. I just need to figure out if having a strafe on toggle is good enough, or if I need to implement a noGrav mode via a powerup, or different loadout for templar(ex: light armor, so no grav, but less hp)
First off, lmao that boss music. Blast from the past.
The game is a unique mix between bullet hell and platformer. I appreciate the button to make the character move precisely and aim in one direction, however the spacebar key is a bit awkward to hold on with the thumb while pressing the Z/X/C keys with the rest of the fingers. Also my keyboard doesn't register the combination of right key/spacebar/Z, so I was unable to shot. I believe switching from holding the spacebar key down to a toggle would be more comfortable.
I have no idea how to beat that level where so many enemies spawn in a small tunnel. I brute forced my way through with bombs, but it felt wrong. Also I like bombs a lot. The red guys at the end had almost no warning when they appeared and damaged me as soon as they got in range. The laser can instantly kill them, but it is still awkward. Maybe this is the kind of game that knowing the level before hand makes it a lot easier (instead of expecting to beat the game first time blind).
The game felt good, I enjoyed having to move subtly while evading tons of shots. The backgrounds and tileset are a big improvement compared to what the agme had before (judging from the screenshots on the side). Nice work with the progress!
Thank you for playing again fafa! also double ty for a video.
we discussed pretty much all your points during yesterday's stream, but I'll write some of them anyways for future read:
I believe switching from holding the spacebar key down to a toggle would be more comfortable.
I'll implement a switch toggle/hold in options for next demo(it shouldn't be very hard I hope).
I have no idea how to beat that level where so many enemies spawn in a small tunnel.
Bombs into the grates, you saw it on the stream. This is a strange place designwise because almost everyone has a different learning experience with this mechanic. Another anon suggested a metroid approach aka "lock me in a room till I understand what to do", and this was my initial idea... but I must confess that I find more fun to see people have different experience with this mechanic. I made that section to be brute forced by bombs on purpose (if you notice you can run past the spawners in the last corridor).
The red guys...
that last section was bullshit because it's unfinished. The idea was to have the red aliens be faster than you, so after you get killed once you understand that it's better to stay near an energy field and kill them (same reasoning behind the green homing bullets). the problem is to find a good speed for this kind of enemy; right now they are on par with the bullshit from ghost and goblins, and they need to be toned down.
Thanks again for your compliments, I'm glad you enjoyed the demo.
Comments
The starting weapon feels really good to use, I wonder if the recoil could be strengthened to act like a dash in the opposite direction without losing too much control like in Cave Story. When shooting the propeller nerd berries I would often take damage right after killing them, I guess they explode when they die? Unclear. Looking forward to more of this.
Compared to your first demo that's a massive improvement. Movement is really tight this time.
Sometimes levels have way too many enemies spawning. That kind of stuff encourages me to just rush through some levels.
The subweapons are amazing. I'm someone who generally ignores that kind of stuff, but they are so powerful they are somewhat essential.
Overhealing is a good mechanic. It could even be additionally buffed since it's something that appears rarely, has time limit and rewards good players.
I wonder if the slow descent rather than just staying in place while idling is really needed?
The recoil makes me wish that I could use it for small movement boosts (shoot, press the opposite direction immeditely).
At surface level our themes are kind of similar. We could do a cameo someday, senpai.
I'm glad you liked it!
let me guess, It was the long corridor in the sewers? It's a puzzle I need to flash out better
Yes, the whole point of all my weapons is to make you feel ultra powerful, like you do in brass. Superbomba is already super powerful, but in this early levels is not apparent: It has a ton of range of course, but deals damage for two bombs and also bypasses walls.
some players really want a noGrav mode/player. I'm working on that, and an option to change hold to toggle for strafe
in the beginning I had a similar idea, but then i just made templar ultra fast on its own.
no joke! It would be a ton of work, but it could be fun to make a guest character of our games.
Thanks for playing dude, and gl for the next DD.
The starting weapon is too loud, it feels more like a bonus superweapon. I don't like how moving forward on ground is slower than in air. Strafing feels pointless (it's slow, meaning skilled play disincentives it, the exact opposite of skill-based mechanics). Managing both bombas and subweapons is too complicated. Subweapons requiring ammo feels unnecessary. Projectile spamming/spawning enemies should have a windup animation, so you don't get hit out of nowhere (e.g., those plants spawned enemies on top of me). Enemy spawners should have a limit, as eventually they fill the screen and become unwinnable. Homing enemies trying to slam into you from your weapon's blindspots (up/down) feels lame, since not being able to aim up/down is artificial, and the game should not bring attention to that.
The basic gamefeel, sounds, and graphics are great, but outside of that it's subpar. The mechanics feel slapdashed and don't blend together.
Thank you for playing, and I'm sorry you didn't like my design
Apart from the loudness, this seems neutral statement. Anyway this was my intention, a twist on the classic pea shooter from this kind of games. Your shoot is so powerful that knocks you back and pushes the enemy a km away. It's also very powerful so you can have a fastflow of combat.
It's a diagetic way to tell the player "you should always be airborne".
Strafing is useful when you need precision movement, like when there are a lot of bullets on screen but not many enemies. Not all levels are to be approached in a "gotta go fast" way, ofc I'm still a noob at designing levels for my game.
In what way is too complicated?
that's my fault, because I shower the levels with candles/energy. In a more classic situation (or later levels) energy should be scarce, and you should think about using your subw or save energy. It's also my fault for not putting in a maxEnergy cap.
you are completely right on this.
I could agree on this, but:
You can fly with no limits, so the weapon blind spot is more a positioning problem.
More on that, the subweapons are designed to aid you with that 'flaw': axe helps you for up, granades for down, laser for center far enemies. Bomba also hits 360° (I could amp the range thou).
On some level I can agree on this. I've basically pick mechanics from games I like and put them in a blender. There must be a reason why there are no level based shmups; why they are called run'n gun and not fly'n gun; and all action games are also platformers with a jump.
What can I say, I like to make strange stuff. I have a lot of hammering to do, but I hope someone will like this shmup hybrid.
Played through the demo.
Still feels satisfying as fuck to play, no complaints here.
Asset resolution is still all over the place. Like I said last time, many people won't care but it's something to consider.
I really like the grates you can use with the remote bombs., although the way they're implemented just made the use too obvious.
The movement of the enemies in the last level is way too erratic. They're hard to hit, they're hard to dodge and I could not figure out how exactly they work so they were just frustrating.
Some enemies will fire a projectile upon spawning, feels unfair.
That area in the last level where you first enter a building and then its second half is ruined is confusing because the metaorites behind the windows can't hit you but then there's suddenly the ones flying inside. Maybe add some transparent overlay to the intact windows to better differentiate them.
The little platforms in the last level are hard to see, need more contrast against the background.
Thank you for playing chasmdev, and I have no words for your fan art. It just misses the "see you space cowboy" from bebop to make me cry.
I'm learning as I go, and till a few weeks ago I was on "fuck pixel perfect" side. Because my tiles are 16x, but Robo is 24... but I want him to be one tile high for balance reasons. One day, fucking around in aseprite, I discovered that if I scale up Robo x2 and the tiles x3 I have a perfect match at 48x (yes I'm that bad at math and I didn't notice it). So a possible solution is to scale up everthing to x48 and maybe MAYBE I could resolve this pixel perfect bullshit. the struggle is real.
Glad you liked the gimmick. this mechanic had the response of a puzzle, some got lost, others like you get it on the spot
the last section+enemies is bullshit because it's not properly tuned. I Could argue myself that even if I get you to fight the first red alien on a secure zone, having just right after the same fight under an energy field and then under a meteor shower is just bad.
that's a great idea! thank you man.
Thank you for playing again Qwott, I always appreciate when you destroy my game
For now, yes. I want to make a toggle to have the core always visible, visible only on strafe, and invisible. You are right the cross was the original hitbox, but too many players got confused. the mixels are a big problem, but dunno when/if I'll resolve it, because who knows what the final art will be.
leaf slimes blink (like when an enemy get hurt) before exploding, maybe you want a bigger window to runaway? Both types of ranged slimes should hurt you on touch, I'll check the demo build and see if you discovered a bug.
A little, so you need at least a bomba + 1 shoot. do You think it stops the flow of the game, or it's more a balance problem?
Big cherry has 1/5 chances to turn on shot hit; smaller cherries have bigger chances, but I dunno if I got the sweet spot yet.
It's a pinata of energy for adhd kids, if you are near the candle when you hit it, you absorb everything instantly.
you are right on both accounts, the new zone and his enemies need a lot of tuning. right now it's a pretty bullshit section.
>leaf slimes blink (like when an enemy get hurt) before exploding, maybe you want a bigger window to runaway?
Who would assume that an enemy blinking in the exact same way as when it gets hurt means it's about to explode? Or that a puff of smoke with an anemic squirting sound would hurt you?
>Both types of ranged slimes should hurt you on touch, I'll check the demo build and see if you discovered a bug
No, I mean why don't the ranged slimes do damage when they die? I also noticed the slime explosion hitbox lingers. Explosions should only do damage on one frame.
>A little, so you need at least a bomba + 1 shoot. do You think it stops the flow of the game, or it's more a balance problem?
I noticed now that you reduced the cost. I guess that makes up for it. The radius could be a tiny bit bigger, though.
>Big cherry has 1/5 chances to turn on shot hit; smaller cherries have bigger chances, but I dunno if I got the sweet spot yet.
I don't think RNG is a good way to do it. Make it so that you have to hit it multiple times in quick succession or during a certain part of the animation or something.
Here is a gameplay of your demo:
I really like the idea of a flying Templar knight with guns, reminds me the one from Shin Megami Tensei. I play your game with a Xbox controller and it feels fine for me, I had no issues playing the game. On the other hand, the strafe is nice to have it but I din't find many situations in which a I really need it, mostly because I can skip the bullet hell sections by just destroying the enemies/cannons with my own guns or using the shield bomb.
The Boss... I like it as first tutorial boss, but in my opinion future Bosses should spawn bullet patters in a touhou fashion, that will make the game feel more like a bullet hell (I also liked the music: BOSHI BOSHI BOM BOM BOM!!!).
The last level with the aliens: the flying ones are too fast and difficult to avoid, and the homing projectiles of the ones on the ground are very sticky/hard to avoid. To the point that is more easy to ignore them a just go forward while using the shield bomb. But Still I like the space design and avoiding the meteors is fun.
Overall, I like your game, keep the good work.
Thank you for playing OriginalLoliVampirePlatformer dev (yes you have competiton now XD), and double ty for the video!
You got me! my initial idea for the design comes right from smt terminator, a classic zaku, and the memes of templar knights with ak-47/shotguns.
Again, you got me, and my design philosophy. I've been hammering down the shield bomb mechanic for three DDs now, and most players still don't use it. it's getting better with a warnning sign: "dude bombing is always better than getting hit". Right now you are the best player I saw playing the game.
Of course! I wanna keep it... touhou-light because templar has knock on shoot and gravity, (and designing a touhou boss is not easy) but that's the objective. The sister philosophy is having bosses weak to a certain subweapon, like mega/casltevania.
yes, it's pretty bullshit right now. The only things properly tested are the meteor sections with templar energy fields.
Again, thanks for playing. Dunno if you wanna focus only on fiend heart or also on the bomber prototype/art you posted sometime ago, but good luck.
I'm learning recently that platformer controls are kind of hard to design. so it's understandable that the buttons you've chosen are a little awkward. music's pretty good. I think that constantly falling like it's flappy bird is not necessarily the best choice for a bullet hell. I like the section with the barrel-bomb and the things that spawn the slime boys, for how it teaches this idea that the barrel-bomb goes through grates. completely missed that my first time through and ended up getting swarmed. but the guidance was clear as day my second time through.
Thank you for playing, omnidev. I'm glad you enjoyed the demo.
I agree. Do you think noGrav when strafing is not enough?
I have my reasoning to keep gravity, but I won't bore you with a wall of text on my design philosophy.
I'm willing to listen to who is bothered by this mechanic in one way or another. I just need to figure out if having a strafe on toggle is good enough, or if I need to implement a noGrav mode via a powerup, or different loadout for templar(ex: light armor, so no grav, but less hp)
to be honest I didn't strafe a single time after it was explained, I forgot that mechanic existed. so I have no comment on whether it helps or not
Beat the whole demo. Video:
First off, lmao that boss music. Blast from the past.The game is a unique mix between bullet hell and platformer. I appreciate the button to make the character move precisely and aim in one direction, however the spacebar key is a bit awkward to hold on with the thumb while pressing the Z/X/C keys with the rest of the fingers. Also my keyboard doesn't register the combination of right key/spacebar/Z, so I was unable to shot. I believe switching from holding the spacebar key down to a toggle would be more comfortable.
I have no idea how to beat that level where so many enemies spawn in a small tunnel. I brute forced my way through with bombs, but it felt wrong. Also I like bombs a lot. The red guys at the end had almost no warning when they appeared and damaged me as soon as they got in range. The laser can instantly kill them, but it is still awkward. Maybe this is the kind of game that knowing the level before hand makes it a lot easier (instead of expecting to beat the game first time blind).
The game felt good, I enjoyed having to move subtly while evading tons of shots. The backgrounds and tileset are a big improvement compared to what the agme had before (judging from the screenshots on the side). Nice work with the progress!
Thank you for playing again fafa! also double ty for a video.
we discussed pretty much all your points during yesterday's stream, but I'll write some of them anyways for future read:
I'll implement a switch toggle/hold in options for next demo(it shouldn't be very hard I hope).
Bombs into the grates, you saw it on the stream. This is a strange place designwise because almost everyone has a different learning experience with this mechanic. Another anon suggested a metroid approach aka "lock me in a room till I understand what to do", and this was my initial idea... but I must confess that I find more fun to see people have different experience with this mechanic. I made that section to be brute forced by bombs on purpose (if you notice you can run past the spawners in the last corridor).
that last section was bullshit because it's unfinished. The idea was to have the red aliens be faster than you, so after you get killed once you understand that it's better to stay near an energy field and kill them (same reasoning behind the green homing bullets). the problem is to find a good speed for this kind of enemy; right now they are on par with the bullshit from ghost and goblins, and they need to be toned down.
Thanks again for your compliments, I'm glad you enjoyed the demo.