itch.io

Anytime! I hope my feedback didn't come across too negative, its a really fantastic game overall and I'm really excited to see where you go with it!

I'm really enjoying the game so far, I've unlocked most of the upgrades, though I haven't made it past stage 4 yet haha.

The Good:

• Art, UI and animation are excellent.
• Music is very atmospheric
• The player character stands out, as do the enemies (this isn’t a guarantee in playdate games).
• Enemy designs are really fun
• Overall gamplay loop is great
• Crank-based movement works very well and much better than I’d expected

Could be improved:

• Beam and subterranean rocket are just kinda less fun to use, especially if picked first (this could just be a personal preference)
• None of the weapons feel super impactful
• The static field’s sound effect is a little grating over time
• The Beam animation is pretty basic. Some extra particles, a fade or something could go a long way.

Bugs:

• When entering a new stage your mineral core shows 0 until you break a mineral
• Enemies can spawn in and walk through walls

Suggestions for future content:

• It would be nice to separate weapons from other upgrades and allow equipping three of each. Maybe one can be based on XP from kills and another from finishing a stage?
• Would love to see an end level with a boss. This could give some urgency to complete levels quickly before the time runs out. (I'm just assuming this doesn't already exist, but maybe I'm just bad and haven't made it far enough)
• Games like Vampire Survivors have cool synergies between weapons and upgrades. Would be neat to see something like that here.
• More variety in stage design, or maybe a new “planet”. Could be as simple as swapping the walls for water and creating different enemy sprites.
• Single use abilities or items would be neat. Like a screen clearing bomb for example