Thanks for the genuine feedback, much appreciated! Though, I’ve got a FEW things to clear up!
1: Don’t worry, the Gigi “let’s go gambling!” thing is just here for the demo, and “humor” like that will NOT be in the full game, heck, I don’t even know if GIGI will be a character in the full game.
2: I chose Scratch (or Turbowarp actually) as an engine since I’m like, REALLY good with it. (going on 10 years of experience). Using a niche engine like Scratch allows me to do BASICALLY whatever I can think of if I can figure out how to program it, and I don’t really know how I’d achieve that same creative freedom with other engines I’m not familiar with.
I’d probably AVOID a visual novel engine though, since for this 2D Horror genre I’m going for, there WILL be stealth segments, parts where you run away and hide, and, yknow, like actual GAMEPLAY aside from just walking around and talking to some random characters who are just standing around with no purpose. But, if I’d swap to any engine, it’d probably be Godot.
3: The “horror” elements aren’t really in place yet for the demo, opting instead for a more silly and comedic experience with a HINT of horror every now and then. I intend the full game to ACTUALLY be a horror game (or just, more “horror” than whatever this is 💀) Keep in mind that the STORY of the full game will be VASTLY different from this demo!
4: The sluggishness thing… I personally don’t really see it? Probably biased because I’m the one who made the game, but I think the pacing is fine enough, as I’ve tried to replicate the feel of some other 2D sidescroller horror games that I personally like (i.e., Happy Hills Homicide, Mr. Hopp’s Playhouse). The main thing I’d change (if I could figure out how to do it) is a button that instantly finishes the text but DOESN’T skip to the next line so you can read at your own pace, like pressing C in Undertale/Deltarune, but otherwise I think it’s alright!
6/10 feels very fair though for this little demo thing, as I kinda just coughed it out to give my viewers something to play while I work on the full game, and it doesn’t really reflect what the full thing will be like. Thank you for your feedback!