itch.io

Guys, this was such an adorable game! I think the concept of winning over an audience with magic moves rather than taking the "I can fly on a broom!" route was pretty brave and it ended up paying off. I also loved the billboard art style of the people in your lobby as well. I would have never come up with that style to use in a game. So seeing it in action and seeing it work so well for a game was really something.

What types of cards or upgrades would you like to see? 

There are so many ways that you can go with the cards so you have lots of options here. At least for me, you could start basing things off of real magic tricks, such as being a psychic (when you're really using a mind-reading spell) or using telekinesis (when it's actually a simple object moving spell). You could start getting ridiculous and interesting spells too, like maybe making a pig fly and call the card "When pigs fly". Honestly, your team has a lot of options to explore and to go off of, but those are just some ideas that came off the top of my head if I was working on it.

What types of enemies would you like to see added to the game?

I think it could be different magicians, but they all start looking more put together and sophisticated as the levels progress, both in appearance and in posessing spells that maybe the player has either not mastered or that is off-limits to the player. This could create increase the difficulty overtime.

Does the overall movement of the affection slider feel good?

I like the animation of the slider! And it very clearly shows who has the upper hand at any moment. I would suggest maybe just doing a simple text display underneath each player's bar as well to show exactly how many points each player has at a time.

Is there any other additions you would like to see?

It'd be cool to give the opposing magicians some sort of personality or character! It could just be an easily generated script before each match about them. How skilled are they? Maybe they've won over 4 audiences in one night. Maybe they specialize in a rare type of magic that the player themselves don't. Maybe their name as a magician is known throughout the world? It also creates some intimidation in the player as well, as most games do when the levels get harder and the boss enemies get tougher. But that's just a thought on my end.

Helpful playtesting questions:
1. How does the world feel?

I liked it! I think that for the feel that your team is going for, the environment was excellent and the lighting was perfect. Definitely gave you the spooky vibe that you're after when you're trying to lay low and avoid enemies.

2. How does player movement and camera movement feel?

Player movement could be a little faster. Right now it feels too slow. If you guys would like, you could incorporate a shift key to run or just make the movement of the player a little faster. As for the camera, it could use some work. It would get stuck behind trees, hills, and objects and just jitter very quickly. It needs some work.

3. General things you like?

I definitely liked the environment and the vibe of the game! Even with only trees, bushes, and a green texture, I was impressed by how well you guys were able to run with just that thanks to your lighting and colors. Particles were a cool warning to the player that something was about to happen.

4. General things you don't like?

Mainly, the character speed was slow and the camera scripting needed some work.

5. What do you wish the game did?

I wish the game had a little more variation to the scene so that it was more interesting to look at. You guys did a great job with the few environment assets you had but maybe just something more would be nice as the player has to run through an expansive amount of space. I would love to hear sound effects, even a simple one like a looping grass track or maybe a hissing sound for the enemies? It felt silent for such a tense game.

6. General reaction/comments?

Great job on what you guys have so far! I'm excited to see the puzzles!

How was sneaking? 

Much better this time! I liked the red view cone of the enemies. Much better.

Was it intuitive? 

Yes, I think it was much better thanks to the bug fixes from last time and the viewing cones. Much better.

How was whetzel detection (ex. range, accuracy of detection)?

I found the detection really great this time around! I also think it would follow pretty closely. The only thing I would say is that they didn’t feel super threatening since they would follow you for a little and lose interest. Maybe you lose health if you’re right in the view cone, or it completely ends the game, or some kind of punishment.

Do you like your move speed?

I personally thought it was a good speed. I never noticed it while I was playing, which I think was a good thing.

What do you think of the map size?  

Large but good enough for exploration. I think maybe some decorations in some rooms or something would make the rooms a little interesting and really up the rewarding feeling when you finally find the rocket piece.

What skills would make it more fun?  More challenging?

I still vote to remove the gun, but if you guys want to keep it, I would suggest either limiting bullets and then hiding the gun so that a player can find it in some rooms and use it some time instead of all of the time. I think the same thing goes for the invisibility detection as well.

Did you like the music and volume level?

Still loving the music! Still loving the volume (actually, needs to be a tiny hair lower, but still pretty decent). Nice job and effort guys!  

Initial thoughts: Nice animations guys! Super fluid and it looks like games that I’ve played on dedicated gaming websites. Very great job, whoever your animator/artist is.

I was confused because there was no way to scale the wall at the end and there weren’t platform puzzles like last time. So I’m assuming this is like a playtest scene for your artist while the developers are working on platform logic on a different scene? So I’m running with that assumption as I play this game. I could have missed the puzzle somewhere though but I searched and couldn’t find it.

* How does the dial feel, is it intuitive? The dial was actually super neat! I did love it. Very intuitive, easily tells you what you can and can’t choose (even if someone doesn’t read about how the dial works).

* How does the arm throw feels? (Trajectory, Gravity, Distance, Strength)

I did choose the hand option and the player posed as if he was going to throw it and just never did when I pressed E.  It got stuck in that position. And then when I chose a different body part, like the foot, it still dropped the foot but still kept the hand glued (to the hip I guess) on the player. Major bug there, not sure if I found a side-case or not, but be careful there.

* What do you think of the scenery?

I thought the scenery was kind of bland, if I’m being honest. But you guys have a great artist/animator, so I’m sure it’s going to be no hurdle for them. If you have water, maybe experimenting with a very easy-to-implement water shifting or some slight movement to show that its water. Perhaps some decorations or some kind of background animation to make things more interesting, even if it’s repeating background/animations. Some easy artistic tweaks will make all the difference.

Initial notes: First of WOW guys! I’m super impressed! I loved the beginning screen, the how to play, the gameplay this time was very improved, I even noticed the animation from whenever I would step on the radiated tiles. You guys did an amazing job and improvement from last time and I am very impressed. Round of applause!

Music volume: is it too loud, too quiet?

I think it was a little too loud. It’d be cool if it was lower or there was an option to lower the volume, but I’m not sure if it’s a big deal. I guess I can just turn down the volume on my laptop.

What did you dislike and why?

I’m not sure if I disliked much of anything this time. I still think some of the decorations, like the greyed-out consoles were a little too different, but it could be resolved with some equally-interesting but different decorations that are different from the consoles.

Did you feel like anything was missing and what?

I think it’s just nit-picky things now, like misspellings or more options to improve the robot. But that can be remedied pretty easily, so not to worried about it.

Was there something you tried to do but couldn’t?

Not really, the game objective was more clearer this time around and kind of guided the player to follow a certain task instead of going around trying things that aren’t necessary.

Did the controls feel natural?

Yes, very. I liked the diagonal movement this time around. Nice job there.

Is the objective clear?

Yes, way more clearer. I think maybe the two page explanation could be condensed into one with a little less detail but can still get the message across. That way, it makes a little less confusing if you throw too much detail at the player in the beginning.

Did you feel like you were getting adequate feedback on your actions?

Yes, the controls were quite responsive and I didn’t feel frustrated or feel like anything could be different.  

How do you feel about the brief puzzle mechanics? I actually liked this game and the way the objects were very interactive. It made you wonder how you were supposed to get over the yellow walls, and it very quickly put you in a position to learn how to possible make the yellow walls come down. A+ for gradual progression and intuitively of what was needed to be done.

However, a little more variety of obstacles and objects would be nice as well. Maybe a brief flash on the pressure plate can make the yellow walls/portals slow fade or have stairs appear  could make the level more dynamic.

Puzzle mechanics can be made more difficult later such as chronological syncing of pressure plates.

Were you able to figure them out relatively quickly with a bit of trial and error? Yes, I actually really liked the top-left buttons that very clearly stated what would be dropped, and, along with the standard arrow key/space bar combo, it was very intuitive to navigate.

Did you get an understanding of the physics of the current body parts that were present? Yes. However, it would have been nicer to aim where the body parts were going to go or have them slightly bounce to add more variety rather than just having a rock-like drop-to-the-floor quality.

My initial thoughts: The GUI element of the game really confused me. I understand that the game was explained a little bit in the game page, but it would have been nice to have labels on the GUI elements, such as Enemy Speed, Cat speed, etc. The sliders being on top of the game as it was very confusing. It took me a long time to realize that the gameplay had already started and I was staring at an idle character. A beginning page menu would have shown the separation between the game play vs changing settings.

Art style can also be more consistent, such as the tower/cat matching the art style for the same game, but the enemies being way out of match with the cat/towers feels out of place. Also, the general feel of the green grass needs to have some more variation than just a plain green as it is now.

Look and feel:

• Does the character feel sluggish? Is it fine for the character to feel slow if upgrades will eventually make the character feel better? It’s okay for the character to feel sluggish. A limited amount of towers for a beginning player will be enough to defeat enemies and help the player save up for speed upgrades later. It can still work.

Enemies:

• Can you see the game becoming too difficult? If so how do you think we should balance it? No, not as it is. The enemies don’t seem to feel like a threat and don’t do any damage at this time. You can have a special object that you have to defend from the enemies or make it clear that the player’s life is what is being projected from the enemies.

• Are there too many enemies? How many unique enemies do you think there should be? I honestly couldn’t see how many enemies there were because the camera was too zoomed in. It’s important to balance the enemy count with the towers so that the player has a chance to pass each level while making the enemies challenging. So not a count, per say, but rather a balance that must be maintained. You can use the custom settings that you have now to play around with the difficult of levels and get an idea on how best so strike this balance.

Tower defence side:

Turrets:

• What upgrades to the turrets do you want to see?

Differing amounts of health, speed of projectiles, strength of projectiles, types of projectiles (some interesting ones, like could be water or fire), area of effect type of attacks.

• Is the firing speed good for the amount of enemies? I couldn’t tell what the firing speed was because I could not see where the projectiles were going. The enemies would just disappear if they got close to a tower. So I can’t really answer that.

• How many unique Turrets do you think there should be? There doesn’t have to be unique turrets, so long as the player is able to choose whatever they want. It’s more about a balance to strike between enemies and player firepower. For now, focusing on the core mechanics of the towers is best.
• How many Turrets per X path squares of path should there be?

(same as above)

• Are the turrets’ sliders easy to use?  Yes, these are actually very useful. Just please label them on the screen next time so they are not as confusing or subject to player memorization.

Enemies:

• Is the pathing good for the Enemies? Not really. What’s the point of having them patrol the outside of the map without any purpose? They can instead be moving toward the player and threatening the player’s life or trying to get at a special object towards the center were the player is.
• What kind of improvements should the Enemies have? (same as above). Plus, some increasing threats, such as some having more damage, certain skills, or number of enemies.

Cat side:

Cat:

• Is this cat chonky enough?

Yes! Very!

• When shooting with the main cat do you see any improvements? If so, what are they?

Show projectiles when the cat is shooting and impact. Shooting sound would also indicate if the main player is doing any damage.

• Is the movement of the cat coherent?

The movement can be improved because right now it is incredibly jittery. Smoothing the movement will help.

• How are the cats movement? 

(same as above)

We are planning to add these in the future how do you think they would impact the game? Gold and items to pick up, level boss Definitely! Anything that will make the game more interesting and challenging and rewarding to the player is a good improvement. You can also have enemies drop gold to give a sense of accomplishment and to make the effort of fighting them feel useful instead of just having them scattered around the ground.

Playtest Questions: 

How was sneaking? 

Sneaking was difficult because there was no stable indicator of when the player was detected or not. Also, depending on where the player was, the enemy’s cone of vision would change and clip and bounce off the walls, making it harder to know where to evade in the first place.

Was it intuitive? 

Yes, the game was very intuitive. The controls were intuitive, the map was large enough to explore but also not large enough to frustrate the player.

How was whetzel detection (ex. range, accuracy of detection)?

Whetzel detection was very good. Whenever I was near the enemy, the enemy would follow the player around for a set distance. During one gameplay, there were around five whetzels crowding my player!

Do you like your move speed? Move speed was fine, but it could also be a little faster for when the player is able to see the enemy’s cone of vision more clearly. Alternatively, you can add some controls, such as shift for faster speed and non-shift for walking.

What do you think of the map size?   The controls were intuitive, the map was large enough to explore but also not large enough to frustrate the player.

What skills would make it more fun?  More challenging? I’d honestly not prefer the gun. If it is to be a stealth game, not having a gun would make the enemies more menacing and the overall game more challenging. Having a small basic predictable patrol of the enemies, or enemies with different patterns and speeds of patrol could also add a strategy element to the game.

Did you like the music and volume level? I liked the music, I think it went well with the stealth theme. Volume was a little high, but maybe a basic volume meter would take care of that.

Playtest Questions:

What upgrades/weapons would you like to see in the game?

Whenever a person buys an upgrade, there can be a visual aspect outlining the upgrade, such as a new interesting projectile or a visual cue of a new gun.

What was your favorite mechanic? How do you think it can be improved?

The ability to upgrade was nice and helped you feel rewarded for your efforts. The upgrades can be improved through UI work, showing whether upgrades have been maxed out, are in different tier levels, or even a hoverover explanation explaining what each upgrade can do for the player. I also enjoyed the creative time constraint of using a battery time limit rather than an actual timer.  

What did you dislike and why?

The most frustrating thing for me was understanding what controls did what and what the motive was in general despite reading. That can easily be remedied by a quick recap of the controls of the game that I’m supposed to know and what my game objective is.

Did you feel like anything was missing and what?

-Adding a count of the robots to indicate to the player progression would make a big difference. I also felt that the robot AI could be a little bit better so that they are standing up instead of flopping around. Maybe an area indicator so they can shoot in the general direction of the player will make them more intimidating. Maybe some can even explode since the game is called “Atomic Robot”.

Was there something you tried to do but couldn’t?

I tried to find the objective of the game to complete it but what I only able to do was collect the parts by shooting the robots and finding the green upgrade machine. I wasn’t able to understand the overall game objective. This could be remedied by a quick little explanation like “Shoot all the robots within your battery life and find the green upgrade console!” to guide the player and give context

Did you find the art aesthetic to be cohesive?

Yes, the art style seemed quite effective and really gave across the environment the game is supposed to show. It also had a diversity of terrain so the environment wasn’t so boring.

Did the controls feel natural?

Yes, controls were quite intuitive with spacebar being an action button as in most games, the standard arrow keys, and the hover-commands (Press c to upgrade) to explain other non-intuitive controls.

Quick Bugs I found:

-Shot a robot multiple times and it gave a very large supply (which seemed bug-like) of parts instead of 2 at a time. - upgrade weapon power didn’t work after clicking (probably bug or needs to have aesthetic like a greyed-out option to close)

- negative percentage of battery reported

- When robots were killed next to a wall, the parts were scattered in or near the colliders so the player couldn’t get to them.