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(1 edit)

Ah, I was playing this just a second ago, but the page disappeared before I could leave a comment! 

It's very good! It feels satisfying to play, and all of the sounds and visual effects are well chosen and well placed; you have a very good understanding of game feel. Movement, for the most part, felt fluid and responsive.

I would note, however, that it isn't immediately intuitive that the player has a Dash Ability, which certainly confused me for a few minutes. Even if I had known that, I wouldn't have thought to try the right mouse button, since that doesn't strike me as an appropriate place for the ability, although that's admittedly very subjective. Showing the player the controls near the start of the game would solve both of these problems handily, making explicitly clear what the player can do and how.

As for the dash ability itself, it does feel restrictive in a way that is dissonant with the rest of the game design. The player and their enemies can aim freely in any direction, but the dash is limited to eight directions. This may be a limitation of the input method, but I will say that it felt fluid and natural to move normally, while dashing felt comparatively clunky. 

There are a few ways I can think of to address this. one is to increase the speed and/or distance of the dash ability to the point where it feels justified that it locks you into a straight line. Another would be to remove that restriction, and allow the player to influence their direction during a dash or cancel a dash by moving in a different direction. It might also be addressable by moving the ability to a button on the keyboard; since this game uses both the keyboard for eight-directional movement and the mouse for aiming and firing at precise angles, it might be that the dash feels clunky mainly in relation to the mouse's other functions, and moving it would improve the feel. That is, if anyone aside from me even thought of it as clunky- it is, again, very subjective.

Overall, I appreciate the mechanical and visual simplicity, and it's supported by excellent game feel.  Very good work!

EDIT: I apologize, I wrote this comment based on what I played before the page was updated; the controls being listed in the game's description certainly helps! I think that solves the communication issue, at least.

I agree. I just added the ability to roll using the space bar (It feels a little better now).

Oh, it feels much better! Now that I've played with both, I'm certain that was the issue. 

Coming back to try the new control scheme also made me realize that the roll ability actually makes you invulnerable for a short time, which makes the Triangle's spiral bullet attack make a lot more sense. I did manage to beat it the first time without knowing that, though, and I'm just a little bit proud of that, haha.

I think a lot of indie devs let the size of more mainstream games intimidate them, and I fully understand, but games like this are proof that sometimes all you need is uncomplicated fun. I can see myself coming back to play this quite a bit in the future, actually.

Kudos!

I was going to say I genuinely can't escape the target missles, and then I read this. Thanks!