Judge feedback

Judge feedback is anonymous and shown in a random order.

• The art for this game is excellent! The sfx are pretty good also. The only complaint that I have is that the player moves too slow. It takes foreeeeever to move. But maybe that's on purpose?
• This game is really good, I don't have much complaints. In another word, this is perfect. Maybe you can continue developing this and add more levels and boss fights 😁 Fath11: 5/5 🐢: 5/5
• This demo was a very enjoyable experience. The mechanics are well thought out and implemented, the aesthetics and sprites are great (fantastic job on the music too), and overall just felt like a really polished experience for a jam. As far as the level design goes, I have zero complaints! Every room felt different than the previous, and exploration was both rewarding and fun. The incentive to collect gems in the various rooms was also a nice touch to encourage exploration. I do have a couple of concerns about the game, particularly with the combat mechanics. And honestly, the biggest gripe I had during my playtime was the movement speed, it felt much too slow (even with the faster character). It felt like you were going for a bullethell-lite but the movement system works somewhat against this. This is especially a shame because the mechanics of the two different characters is a cool concept that requires the player to potentially think on their feet and make snap decisions in a fight, which can be a very fun and engaging experience. However, because the movement of both the players and enemies was so slow, I never felt like I had to make any such snap decisions. Every step I took had a large enough window of time to pretty much remove any room for error. In a future version of this game, I would love for the movement and overall game-play speed to be increased in order to fully take full advantage of the combat mechanics. I do also have a small concern about the controls: picking up the gems by holding 'r' feels a bit unnecessary. I think they should just be picked up within a certain range. It feels odd having to press a button to pick up an item in a game like this, at least in this manner. This isn't a big deal though, the more important concern I have for the controls is in regards to healing. Not only does the initial 'r' press conflict with a control (so now the player must remember that key does two separate things), but it also then collides with the attack button (same issue.). Not only is having to press two separate inputs to heal quite clunky, but both inputs conflict with other controls. It is generally better to avoid this. I think all of the controls could be fixed pretty easily, though: No bind to pickup items, they should be picked up automatically Hold r to heal (no mouse click) This way, there are no conflicts, it is still difficult to heal in the middle of a fight, meaning its never an easy out, yet it still only takes one button press. Lastly, I do think 'q' to switch between playstyles is a bit inconvenient. Perhaps shift would be better so the player can keep their WASD placement firm. Also, it'd be great to have customizable keybinds in the final product, as it stands this game can really only be played on American keyboards. My only last gripe is the most minor one: the HUD elements are a bit difficult to read. I think the easiest way to fix this, personally, would be to allow the player to customize the opacity and/or size for themselves. It's not unreadable at all in its current state, but it does take me about a second to see and read my health, rather than a split second, which can cause some friction to the bullethell-lite mechanics. Too much time criticizing, let me go back to praising for a minute. Despite what I said about the movement speed, the combat mechanics really are great. The character switching mechanic is not only neat on the surface, but it provides layers of complexity to each fight you encounter. It's both simple and fun to master. I also thought that making the healing option a slow regen that prevents attack was a smart option (even if implemented a bit clunkily). I like the idea of preparing myself for a fight, knowing there won't be an easy out. It makes every encounter matter that much more. Overall, this game is fun, potentially challenging (esp. in hard mode), aesthetically and sonically pleasing, and contains more content than what you'd expect for its demo state. It is truly impressive, and I cannot wait to see where it goes from here. I'd rate it a 9.5/10, my highest so far. If you haven't tried this entry yet, play it! It's a fantastic experience.