The controls are quite innovative and there is plenty of potential to flesh out this type of gameplay, I am really into it. I think this is a true rhythm + turn-based mash up to the core, where what actions you choose to do is done on the beat itself, kind of like Crypt of the Necrodancer but Disco Moon Girls is really more of a turn-based RPG (like able to customize abilities) and that’s an awesome concept. The title screen and menus managed to impress me as well, it is unique and really gives a stylish, funky rhythm game vibe.
There are some ambiguities that this game needs to address in its gameplay. When I first played it, I wasn’t so sure that the direction determines the move. I had a rough idea but I thought I would be selecting it beforehand or something. This can be alleviated with better UI indicating the controls, having actual arrows to indicate it (e.g. up arrow = Blast), and a better tutorial. I was also a bit puzzled on what Swap does; at first I assumes it swaps the target of my attack. As I played on, it seems that the only time I got to use it was in Tutorial 2 with the Granny. I was also confused on whether or not all of this affects the enemy’s choice of target, and my choice of target during the attacks.
The above confusion is worsened when there are times where I just suddenly lose and have to retry, even though I had plenty of HP. Sometimes my attacks miss even though it is on beat. Cooldown refresh time feels like it runs at a slower pace than normal. There needs to be some indication when attempting to use an ability that is on cooldown: play a sound, skip the turn, so it feels more responsive - no second chances on hitting the beat. One gripe I also have is that pressing a button skips the dialogue even though it hasn’t finished displaying all the letters yet; I would very much like a skip to the end of dialogue function rather than entirely skipping it outright. One thing I didn’t like was also the do-nothing run 5 laps (stage 7) after the sure-lose boss fight, it doesn’t feel like it fits the flow of the game; perhaps this can be moved to an earlier stage as a warm-up. The gameplay lacks a lot of polish in these ways, but I enjoyed playing it.
In future, perhaps more mechanics can be included to spice up the gameplay. Maybe have some instances where the player needs to hold down the button instead of tapping it, or instances where player is forced to react, swap or make quick decisions by telegraphing enemy attacks. Or, switch to a defense phase during enemy’s turn so the player can also do something about it. I would very much like to see positioning mechanics being added in as well and would love to see how you tie it with the rhythm mechanics. Just throwing more ideas: maybe there might even be a party member that allows double at-the-same-time rhythm; since you are using red color for the enemy beat, maybe use a color for ally beat and the player needs to worry about their own beat and their party members’ beat.
Haha! I’m going on a tangent here, but it really is an interesting game with great potential. I look forward to seeing it being developed further. Good luck!