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The boss gets destroyed by head kicks and spirit form, while projectile parries and rocket rides deal good damage but they are very hard to land on him right now. With shooting only you better be good at parries.

Sometimes I would get hurt by projectiles I had no way to see

Thanks for reminding me, I still have to change the aggression ranges to match the screen more (right now they spawn in once they are visible, so the problem is only when you backtrack or pass by them), and I have to make drowning enemies get stunlocked. Enemies and projectiles do have a warning arrow indicator when coming from off-screen but I'm a dummy and I probably forgot to UI scale it.

I'm curious if other levels will be going upwards like that level is

Yeah, usually levels will be vertical. I'm experimenting with some twists to ease the pain like stairs layout or zigzagging room segments, but trying to rationalize anything about the level design literally hurts my brain because of how unique the game is - I have to do all the gameplay scenarios and level design research work from ground up.

Long story short, fighting and platforming is supposed to be one and the same, and you can both quickly travel through the level and kill everything instantly at the same time. I have to adjust to be beginner friendly because the disparity with skilled play makes it less enjoyable at the start.

Thanks for the feedback!