Post by hythrain in Pouchie The Cat | Alpha 0.5 jam comments

Feedback Quest 7: indiegames X indie streamers » Entries » Pouchie The Cat | Alpha 0.5

Viewing post in Pouchie The Cat | Alpha 0.5 jam comments

Hello! Welcome to Feedback Quest 7! My name's Hythrain and I'm one of the hosts and one of the streamers for this event! This feedback is being written live as I stream your game! If you're interested in seeing my live reaction, let me know and I can send you a link to the VOD once it's posted to YouTube!

So my normal approach for any game in these events is simple: I get the game, make sure it's not a virus, then play it with as little information on how to play as possible. This way, I can judge how intuitively someone can figure out the game. Only if it's obvious that I need to read more will I do so. I note this so you can get a sense where some of these feedback comes from. In addition, I want to note that feedback and rating are different; don't use this feedback to gauge what I'll rate, nor should you view my rating as entirely indicative of my feedback.

Right off the bat, this game made me chuckle with how goofy it was. The old cartoon style works nicely.

That said, there were some issues I felt should be brought up as they'll help improve the game quality.

For starters, there's how fast the player falls. This combined with the control scheme can make it hard to land properly. This is made worse by issues with landing on corners: on enemies, landing on the end will bounce you away. On land, you don't get your footing and slip off. This can make it frustrating for players.

Second, I noticed a few spots where there should have been coins to telegraph a blind fall but there weren't any. There absolutely should be another pass to ensure none exist.

Third, while the wall jump mechanic is cool, I find that if adjacent walls aren't close enough, you can't gain any height. This is because the ability to gain and lose vertical momentum is much higher than horizontal momentum. In addition, before it's explained that you can wall jump it can just come off like a bug. My suggestions for fixing these are to make a new sprite that is used when sliding down a wall and to have the game force some horizontal momentum when jumping off the wall. You're already requiring the player to hold the direction away from the wall, so this should make larger gaps in walls be usable.

Lastly, I felt like the enemies with spikes on their backs should be kill-able with the mallet. I know the mushrooms are what's intended to be the enemy you kill with the mallet, but considering you can still kill them with a jump and escape the spores in the air I don't think it works as well.

Edit: I forgot! One thing I'd like to see is for the music to lean heavily into the old cartoon theme. The use of those old timey public domain bits was perfect, but then the music for stages just doesn't fit.

I can't wait to see more of this! I love Pouchie! XD

Like Reply

ThatElfNerd46 days ago (1 edit) (+2)

Hello, thanks for the feedback! I've been looking at your suggestions for improvement, and do have some responses to add some context, and some future plans for improvement:

So first of all the biggest issue in the game: The Gravity. I've actually been testing and re-testing the gravity of late, trying to come up with a gravity system that works well for Pouchie. The issue previously was that the gravity wasn't strong enough, and people were complaining about the game being too floaty over on Newgrounds. So now I have the opposite problem, lol. I'm going to keep trying to tweak the gravity until I have something that's a healthy middle ground. Changing the gravity also means I need to adjust Pouchie's jumpforce so that he doesn't jump past his set jump height. I'll use that opportunity to adjust the wall jumps.

When it comes to the suggestion of making sprites to indicate wall jumping: A friend of mine had actually offered to make all new sprites for Pouchie that would be better art quality than what I made, and so I've refrained from making extra sprites while waiting for the updated character sprite. That being said, since I don't know when those sprites will be ready, I might end up making those extra frames myself, in the current art style.

Coins to indicate safe fall zones: I do admit that I should better layout certain fall zones. I've fallen into the trap of overplaying my game, so I know where most of the danger zones are by heart that I instinctively avoid them. I will do more to indicate safer zones going forward.

Crys-Tortles being unkillable: The reason I made them resistant to the mallet was mainly that I wanted an enemy that Pouchie straight up can't damage, because it's shell is too powerful, forcing players to have strategize around avoiding direct confrontation with it. I still want to stand by that idea, but I may make a change in the future, that hitting them with the mallet will actually flip them over, and they'll become kickable like cannonballs.

Music: I agree with you that some of the music doesn't fit the aesthetic of the game. In fact, the main theme for the first seven levels has been placeholder music from the very start. It's been a challenge finding music that gives off cartoon showtune vibes while also matching the pixel platformer aesthetic of the game, and that song in particular has been one I've been eager to replace. I've tried making my own music, and in fact, all of the music for World 2 was made by myself. Hopefully in the future, I'll find music that better suits that section of the game.

I will continue to work on and improve Pouchie The Cat to make it the best version of itself. Thank you for the feedback!

Like Reply

Altabestudio37 days ago

Hythrain's playthrough VOD for your game. :D 28:54 Pouchie The Cat | Alpha 0.5

Like Reply

hythrain31 days ago

Spending a bit of time to catch up on the backlog of replies I need to make.

Here's a suggestion: find a platformer where you think the gravity is perfect and where the player avatar is about the same size as Pouchie. Then aim to replicate THAT. For example, maybe a Castlevania game?

I 100% understand holding off while waiting on better graphics. That's fine in my book. :)

I think the reason the unkillable enemy gets me is because it's at the exact same time that you introduce the hammer, and it feels more appropriate that you'd need it for the shell creature than for the mushroom.

Regarding music, I guess it depends on the aim of the game. If you're going for a 1920s cartoon feel, I'd say go digging around for royalty free stuff.

Like Reply

itch.io

Viewing post in Pouchie The Cat | Alpha 0.5 jam comments