This game is looking promising! I know you're quick to explain that the visuals are in an early state, and most textures are plain for now, but what's done so far is done well! The models have pleasing shapes and an appropriate level of detail, and the lighting for each area sets the mood. The music sounds great, too; compliments to your composer.
The first few minutes of play are vital to a first impression; I feel that this game could do well to give the player some action or at least some visuals sooner. I walked through several dark scenes, reading backstory that I hadn't yet seen a world or other characters to contextualize. Once I woke up into the world, an NPC gave me a large menu of information to read up on, but when I saw the battle in front of me, I wanted to know what button I could use to fight, to join one of the many skirmishes I saw to help my side, but I couldn't find that in the menu. I eventually gave up and walked on. (My guess, looking back, is that no battle opportunity for the player is intended here. But I didn't know that at the time.)
To be honest, with all the walking I'd done, and all the information I had access to, I still didn't know what sort of battle format to expect: whether this was an action RPG with on-map battles, or a turn-based RPG with a separate battle scene, or something else. Once the with an Archdemon started, that answered that question for me. Though there were many menu options, they were easy to navigate, and the tooltips explaining the various skills helped me understand exactly what I'd get from using them. The Archdemon's challenge level was appropriate: there was room to make mistakes without being wiped out by them, and enough time that I could see the effects of buffs the characters cast, try different skills' effectiveness, etc. The battles are solid.
I have a few nitpicks on out-of-battle UI aesthetics:
- The font used for most of the text is very square; it seems like it would be more at home in a blocky-looking or futuristic game; I'm not sure it's a good fit for your game, given its classic fantasy setting and objects with more-or-less organic silhouettes. I'd probably pick a serif font that has a little bit of character but is still highly readable.
- The "confirm" sound effect strikes me as too "extra" for something that the player hears with every button click. I'd advise picking a more subdued sound effect for ordinary selection-making, and repurpose the current confirm sound for something more special, such as accepting a quest or receiving an item.
- I felt like the info NPC's menu could have required much less scrolling if vertical space were managed differently, such as by letting longer lists of choices appear to the side in a taller window, or letting choice buttons be arranged in more than one column, or simply by shortening the button heights and vertical space between buttons a bit.
Thanks for letting me try out your game. Though I've barely scratched the surface, I can tell the game offers rich gameplay and story. I hope my feedback will help you see it from the eyes of a player who's just getting started, so that you can make the best first impression possible.
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