Oh nice thanks for playtesting. Yeah I've listened to some of your music pieces and they fit nicely (and sound good lol)
Yeah it is not polished to a great degree, but I honestly just don't know how to improve it much, at least not without sinking ungodly amounts of resources and time into it. I am cutting corners whenever I feel like it would otherwise demotivate me too much from the project and this is one of those parts sadly.
I know its not easy bro, feels like climbing a fucking montain, but if it's too much at the moment then little increments over time are better than stopping altogether! There are several times I feel exactly the same lack of motivation with music production, but I always remember myself why I got into this in the first place.
Keep posting!
I wouldn't say I have, just went through several burnouts to get that amount in there, lol. However, I'm planning to get a nice Patreon service up in a few months to have a way to help you Devs out with music & SFX. I'll take a better look at the updates in your game a bit later, gotta fix my sense of time-management first...!
I played a bit more of it.
There are some bugs:
1 - The first cave exit where you appear in a open forest when I try to get back at the cave it keeps kicking me back to the forest. Not sure if it was intentional.
2 - I went to a very large area and when I enter I just get stuck in a black screen (though I think you probably haven't worked at that level yet?).
Good stuff I've noticed:
1 - The human enemies were surprisingly challenging to the point where I had to use the shield a lot, there's tons of RPG where you can get away easily with just rolling or parrying which makes the shield kinda useless. I personally like shields! There should be lots of options, even skills that involves shields!
2 - No mini maps, so yeah, that forces me to actually remember places!
3 - It's bleak, there's doom & gloom in the game ambience and story - that is good, there should be way more dark fantasy RPGs out there.
Things I think that should be improved;
1 - The SFX should have a more darker aesthetics, I've noticed some funny sounds which kinda clashes with the overall visual and conceptual design of the game.
2 - There should be more soundscapes, ambiences to blend in with the nature and cave's sound, as well as some minimal music, piano maybe?
3 - I really would like to see a custom tailored assets for the characters (they should look cool, such as Hollow Knight's avatars), and I think that the art style is already giving some hints as to a hybrid art style (not so realistic, not so cartoonish).
4 - More VFX, way more of it, I think we can really have a lot more colors in it as to make the game look beautiful!
I understand it's on a very early development but I think you can really expand a lot on it yet!
Oh wow thanks for the in-depth review :)
The bugs are somewhat weird. I think one level right now destroys the web version completely, maybe you stumbled into it?
Very cool that you found a way to beat those bandits with your shield. I have long ago abandoned it for arrows or just plainly entering god mode ;) They are supposed to be very tough to beat yeah and there are many more options to fight enemies down the line.
To your Wishlist:
- I love the ambiance and atmosphere of games like Darkest Dungeon and the first Dark souls but this game is not intended to be totally grimdark or anything. It's sullen at times but not depressing. My art style is not really congruent with darker settings anyhow
- Music and SFX is the big problem at the moment and you are very right that there needs to be more of it in the game. Some sounds are just funny stand-ins I found and use but most stuff is just mute. I guess that's where your services come into play?
- What do you mean exactly with custom-tailored assets? If it's about changing the graphics of the playable character then it's a no-go for me personally, way too much work lol
- More VFX would be really cool and I am tinkering around with it, but I lack most skill necessary for it. It's hard to make effects that work with the art style I'm working with so it's a lower list issue at the moment
Hello Again!
Yes, I really think that shield-skill-based-abilities are often an overlooked feature in RPG games!
I haven't played Darkest Dungeon but I'm considering buying Elden Rings... lol. I see! As you figure out your general game design concepts I think I'll be able to better understand what you're doing!
About the custom-tailored assets I meant having personalized sprites for each character (maybe?). About the VFX, I think it'd be cool to have more colorful lightnings in the ambiences, in the spells and skills as well... I'm not sure how expensive would it be, but I'm sure you're figuring it all out as you go!
About the Music and SFX, yes, that's where my services come into play, as a matter of fact I'm inviting you to check out my Youtube channel (which is on the grow right now... In case you haven't already!):
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRlJF-O9c-oJmWAalBhhOFw
Also, I'm inviting you to check out my Patreon system... I'm still polishing all the details but we already have a rough sketch to start working together!
https://www.patreon.com/FictiumSoundDesign
Oh yeah elden ring is definitely worth it too!
Personalized sprites sound like a huge investment in resources, I don't think I can do that so easily :/ I agree with the VFXs though, I would like to make stuff more apparent and noticable but not too much.
I guess I will check your stuff out and your patreon, to get your 'game' going too hah. The patreon link seems to link to your youtube channel too though
