- Why can't I use the D-pad in menus? Who uses the stick to navigate menus?
- Why is there a button to quit the game from the level select screen?
- Why does B confirm in menus and X go back?
- The back button on the file select screen is redundant and definitely shouldn't be selected by default.
- Pressing A before a line of dialogue is fully displayed should skip the animation instead of going to the next line.
- Needs D-pad movement.
- Is holding X at the end of a combo supposed to make the character attack again afterwards?
- Make jump height dependent on how long you hold the button.
- If you mash A, you can "double jump," but your jump height is reduced.
- The buffer window for jumping is way too big and the character shouldn't jump unless you're still holding the button when you land.
- Why does attacking in midair sometimes do a normal kick and kill your momentum?
- What's with the jittering background? It looks like there's Z-fighting.
- Hints are drawn above the pause menu. The pause menu should hide the HUD and other UI elements.
- I don't get why the first boss's bombs sometimes bounce off of you.
- The boss's spread shot attack feels unfair, because it's not telegraphed at all, and if you're not at the correct distance and/or in the middle of an attack when he does it, you're guaranteed to take damage.
- Why is the options menu on the level select screen, and why do you have to navigate through the quit button to get to it? I thought there was no options menu yet at first.
- Checkboxes should always be square to distinguish them from radio buttons.
- I see comments talking about the other levels, but I just get kicked back to the main menu after beating the first level and the rest remain locked.
- The Continue button should be the first item on the main menu.
Viewing post in Masquerader Z jam comments
Thank you for all the notes, I noticed the cause of a bunch of xbox controller related issues and have already fixed a few (i.e. menus, d-pad movement, weird input overlap) so hopefully thats working on your end now. Confused about the holding attack thing because I haven't experienced that, a 4th hit should only happen if you pressed it again in the buffer.
Also tweaked the variable jump height for xbox to work now as well as tap jump working more consistently. I'll take a look at the jump buffer.
Bombs/bullets bounce off when characters are invulnerable, maybe that's not obvious enough or its the wrong effect for that?
I've also changed the civ forms attacks to move in mid-air, before they would assume you were still grounded and force you to stand in place.
Thank you for the feedback on the Bomber, I'm still thinking of ways to make him easier, may need to just reduce the number of bombs he throws along with more animation.
Now that I've separated the options menu code I can work on implementing it into the pause menu as well.
I don't know why the game didn't award you with the rest of the levels, if you go into the save file in appdata/locallow/fxy/masqz/0 you can notepad edit levels unlocked to 4 in the meant time until I figure that out.
>Confused about the holding attack thing because I haven't experienced that, a 4th hit should only happen if you pressed it again in the buffer.
You shouldn't be able to queue up more than three attacks, at least until the third attack is almost done. If you press the attack button 4 times quickly, it can take a full second between your last input and the character starting a new combo.
>Bombs/bullets bounce off when characters are invulnerable, maybe that's not obvious enough or its the wrong effect for that?
Not obvious at all, and like that other guy said, half the time they'd just bounce into the ground and hit you anyway with the explosion.
>Thank you for the feedback on the Bomber, I'm still thinking of ways to make him easier, may need to just reduce the number of bombs he throws along with more animation.
The other attacks were easy to avoid. It's just that one where he shoots three bombs in a spread that's finicky to dodge.
Now that I can actually play the whole thing:
- You shouldn't be able to wall jump off the edge of the screen.
- Wall jumping is a good example of why you need to change the input buffering; try mashing the jump button against a wall.
- The parallax effect on the buildings in the background of level 2 is too strong.
- It took me a while to figure out that you couldn't just hold up to do the launcher attack, partially because of the overly generous input buffering. I don't think that's a good decision, either, because it means you have to let go of the stick and stop moving before being able to do it.
- The dash feels janky with how it doesn't get cancelled by changing direction and gives you the jump speed boost for a second or so after the dash has already ended.
- It's hard to tell what's in the foreground and what's in the background in level 2.
- The second boss's attacks aren't hard to avoid, but she doesn't have any discernible pattern or good window to counterattack, and some of her attacks come out pretty fast. Coupled with the low damage of her attacks, it makes the fight devolve into mostly button mashing.
- The upwards boost on the second attack of the aerial combo can make you miss enemies that are too low. The hitbox needs to extend further down.
- Consider making enemies block your movement or lightly push you away with no damage, maybe with a reduced collision size. It's really easy to just run past them as it is, and the lack of collision makes the combat brainless and the enemies feel like they lack presence in the game world.
- There needs to be some kind of limit to transforming, or it needs to take longer. It's practically impossible to die to the third boss because of all the opportunities he gives you to transform.
- The camera behaves strangely during the third boss; if you wall jump, it'll follow you for a bit before snapping back to a fixed position.
- The hitboxes for the third boss's ground spear attack last a bit too long. It also feels a bit awkward to avoid with the instant acceleration of the character.
- The other attacks are too easy to avoid. Once you've seen how they work, they're trivial to avoid. There's also no dynamism; you dodge every attack the same way every time, and the boss gives you plenty of time until its next attack. Make them flow together more so that the way you avoid one attack affects how you'll deal with the next.
- Boss attack patterns need to be less random. At least make it so that the more they use an attack, the less likely they are to immediately use it again, or have the probabilities change with the boss's health.
- The warnings for the lasers in level 4 should be more distinct from the actual damaging lasers, like by having reduced opacity.
- No idea how you're supposed to avoid the level 4 miniboss's attack. I just abused the lack of collision by staying on top of him and making him shoot in the opposite direction.
- It's not clear that those blue and orange enemies have a shield or that it's blocking your attacks until you stop and take a close look at the sprite.
- The poor foreground/background distinction issue continues. Those caution markings below the lasers really look like platforms.
- The character should count as being transformed and be able to take the extra hit as soon as the sprite changes.
- These little wheel enemies can fuck off. They're so fast and have so much health it's almost impossible to avoid getting hit by them.
- Dying to spikes plays the damage effect repeatedly until you respawn.
- Spikes shouldn't hurt you from the sides; this should not hurt you:
- The beetle should disappear again after you run out of beetle meter.
- It's obviously more unfinished than the rest, but the fourth boss was a complete pushover. Barely does anything, and even if you let it hit you, it only does 1 damage.