Hi Meebob,
Just played your demo, I hope you don't mind me providing my feedback - I think feedback is a really important part of the game development process.
Things Done Well:
- The art style is quite unique and very well executed. I liked this a lot and gives the game an immediate identity of it's own.
- I think the character creation, dialogue and humour are stand out elements of the game design. You can tell the Undertale inspiration but it's far from a 'copy and paste'. You are clearly talented in this area.
- The sound design, including music and character speaking audio were also done well.
- The combat 'fetch' system was novel and genuinely fun. Again can see the Undertale inspiration here, but this felt legitimately different and not a blatant rip off.
Areas for Improvement:
- I had some performance issues (noticeable framerate drops) in three of the rooms (the 'second room', the long cave and the big cave). The game ran well elsewhere so unlikely to be my hardware. Could be the ceiling water dripping effect causing the problem? Something to look into.
- I feel adding PC sprites for moving on the diagonal would aid the visuals.
- The positioning of the PC has to be quite accurate in order to interact with some of the on screen elements. I would consider making the hit box on this a little more generous. Additionally, it might help to make it clearer which on-screen items can be interacted with (unless this is a deliberate game design choice to encourage exploration).
MINOR SPOILERS on this last two for those that haven't played yet...
4. I (rightly or wrongly) expected a 'fetch failed' when hitting something during a fetch sequence and the number of 'lives' to persist over multiple fetches. Nothing necessarily wrong with your implementation but it felt a little easy as a result. That said, it is the first encounter of the game and it is reasonable that they would get more difficult as you create additional levels.
5. On similar lines, I 'solved' the box puzzles by using the dash ability given immediately before said puzzle. I think the game expects me to push the boxes around first based on the dialogue provided. If you have just given me an ability then I am likely to just use this immediately - which I don't think is how you currently expect this to play out.
I hope the detailed feedback is useful, I am developing my own game so totally hope you take this in the manner it is intended - to help you make the best game possible!
All the best - Ben.