itch.io

Wait....the character shoots too slowly? NO WAY. I actually amped up the speed a lot in this version, so if you think it's still too slow....then I'm glad you didn't play the launch ver. LOL. If I were to make it even faster....you probably need to have insane reflexes to even play it XD.  

I don't think anyone is a fan of text tutorials LOL. I'll fix this problem in the next emergency update that will come today. (along with a boss fight map) Also, yes, you COULD just hold down a single 'Z' button while shooting. You only have to press 'A' once to enter aim mode, then press it again to exit.

That's not a bug, it's a feature. You get a fleeting 'invulnerable frame' after you get attacked, and you'll be able to walk through enemies to escape, in case you get cornered. Unfortunately, you can walk into walls during this frame too, which can be remedied by using 'Return' item to teleport back to where you started....but it's not in the game yet. I actually wrote this concept into the tutorial, but you probably (understandably) ditched it XD.

Thanks for playing and commenting!

Easy mode is still hard? LOL. Tbh I DO NOT know how hard my game is to other players because I can play it just fine. I think why it was hard for you was because you ditched the tutorial, though. (which was VERY important because aside from controls, there were core concepts in there too that will help you out a lot). Okay, I will make a graphic, intuitive, easy-to-understand tutorial...TODAY.

Also, you DON'T have to hold 'A' while attacking. You just have to press 'A' once and hold 'Z' to shoot, then press 'A' again to exit aim mode. You CAN walk during aim mode but not run, but you can run while in claw mode. (wait, that's pretty confusing.)

Those stone enemies are resistant to scratch attacks, so it'll take about 20 hits for them to fall from it. However, if you shoot them with magic they'll fall in 4 hits (or 3 hits in the next version, which probably would come out today with better tutorials.). Additionally, you get a fleeting 'invulnerable frame' after you get attacked, where you'll be able to walk through enemies and escape, in case you get cornered.

It was that way in the downloadable version (you get a tutorial only where you need it without dumping them all in your head.). Unfortunately, that version also contains loooooooooooooooong cutscenes that apparently made most players bored before they could even get into gameplay. I think I'll just cut out all cutscenes, dialogues, and story from that version and put it into the browser to replace the current one. That way the problem would most likely solve itself.

Imo that analogy is pretty bad though. You could eventually learn how to play a game no matter how hard it is to get into, but a cat couldn't play badminton even if it tries all its life. (unless it transforms into a human or something XD)

Thanks for playing and commenting!

You don't have to hold  'A'.  You just have to press  'A'  once and then hold  'Z'  to shoot.  You will exit aim mode if you press  'A'  again. I guess I didn't make it clear.  I'll make a better tutorial next time.

Even though I already amped up the speed,  enemies taking 4 hits to defeat is still too much?  I made it only takes 3 hits in the next version, though.  That should fix up this issue.  You can also take perks to boost your damage as well.

Wait, what? Where'd that come from? I put the control keys both in the game description AND in-game tutorial for players to read. And when I was playtesting for hours it worked just fine. Do you mean that you couldn't press attack AT ALL or do you mean that the control keys are unintuitive and should be adjusted? If so, how do you think I should go about it? Press something else to attack maybe?

a) You have to defeat a specific number of enemies for the path to appear. Since it apparently wasn't obvious, I guess I'll add an 'objective' texts that will tell you what to do. (Along with number of enemy required to defeat in order to move forward)

b) This version I'm working on should fix the clunky combat to some extent. Also, after I read your comment I also went to find a way to make combat faster, and the result was.....spectacular. Once I upload it I bet no one will complain about this issue ever again.

c) Each shot actually deals 200 damage. Since the stone enemies have 500 HP, you'll be able to defeat them in 4 hits (1 extra hit because of my shoddy programming XD) So I don't really understand where this problem is coming from, and you're also not the first to report it. I think it's more because the combat was so slow that the enemies seemed tougher than they actually were. Again, the next version will fix this problem.

I'm glad there's some aspect of the story that you liked. Apparently, even the initial 4-minute cutscene was still too long? Hmm...I think I know how to fix this. How about you immediately get right into the action after that cutscene? That'll fix the slow pacing, right? I need to modify the story a bit this way, though. Actually, this seems like a pretty good idea, I'll do this in v.0.1.3.

Not to say that v.0.1.2 will be a trivial update, though. Rather, it will be something that'll certainly fix up the slow pacing and combat issues quite a LOT....though not in a very conventional way.

Tbh I had a pretty negative view of you before, but now I've got a lot of ideas on how to improve my game thanks to you. So, thank you for taking the time to review!

Tbh I think this comment kinda ruined my day here. But thanks for giving me the first taste of harsh criticism since I'm sure I'm going to have to deal with it a lot in the future.

It won't stop me from doing what I want to do, though.

The pacing is too slow and boring, and you have to wait too long to get into gameplay, got it. I think your comment about 'throwing people into the action right away' part is a bit subjective, but I do appreciate the feedback. It's really hard to balance the pacing so it doesn't fall in the extremes like 'too slow and boring' or 'too fast and confusing', though. (I think my game somehow fell into both of these categories, being too slow and confusing XD) Since this is my first time doing this, I'm still learning how to get it right. 

The gameplay was disappointing? How? Was it because the slow animation when you press aim? If that's the case, then it's already been fixed, but not released yet. In v.0.1.2 you will instantly go into aim mode without having to wait for the animation to play.

Or was it because the enemy keep getting up? Then I don't see what the problem is. It's literally just an enemy respawning system, but instead of making them disappear and reappear at the corner of the map, I made it this way to show that Mikka didn't actually kill any of them.

Or was it something else? I can't read minds, so I can't improve my game if you don't tell me what the problem is. If you don't want me to improve it, then why wrote that part of the comment in the first place?

I'll try to patch up the pacing and narrative problems in v.0.1.3 so it doesn't take 20+ minutes to get into the gameplay anymore. Would it be better if you can move around and talk to people to advance the story instead of using cutscenes?

Tbh I enjoyed the gameplay part so far in the playtesting process, but that's probably because I'm the creator. If even I can't have fun playing my own game than other people's not gonna have it. I hope the next version will be more fun overall, though, after the combat's been fixed.

Thanks for playing and commenting!

You know what? That's a good idea. I'll remove all info dump about Argetrai in the prologue out and instead focus on introducing the characters and some backstories there instead. I think I'll put the story of Argetrai in after the first dungeon, where the player would have already gotten to play around for a bit first

This will probably have to wait until v.0.1.3 though since I want to focus more on character arts, presentation, and fixing up combat issues in v.0.1.2. Cutscenes also tend to take very long to create, and it seems like I have to create several new ones here.

No, I want to change the combat system in the next game (each game tells a story about one arc, this one is arc 3). We're going to stuck with this one for a while XD

Thanks for playing!

Whaaaat, that picture actually looked good to other people? I thought it was kinda bad XD

I only used stock music 3 times on three separate occasions (always when you encounter a new type of enemies or traps, as something of a gimmick but I can change it if you don't like it). Do note that the music used during the market and transformation scene were not stock, there were 'Freshing your EYE' by koosin486 and 'Rapid3' by PeriTune.

Yeah, I think the storytelling is pretty confusing, but I honestly don't know how to tie these scenes smoothly together. I'll try harder next time, though. Also, the intro and the prologue were supposed to take place in a completely different time, like months apart, but I guess I didn't make it clearer in the game. In the rooftop scene she was trying to get a better view of the sky but there were people blocking it.

That dungeon was taking place in the Argetrai with its inhabitants fighting you for reasons that will be revealed later. I guess I'll change the layout into some kind of a road that the Stoneguards were traveling on, so it'll serve more purpose than being just a dungeon. I think I'll add some notes that you can collect to read more about the lore as well. 

The tutorial images were blurry? That's weird, I thought it looked fine. I literally just press printscreen and use the image as it is without changing size, resolution, or anything. 

I think there were 2 technical limitations that you may be talking about, one is where you can get stuck in a wall during invulnerable frame and other where you can't use the teleportation after the first dungeon. The first was a legit technical limitation, but the second was something I could fix given enough time. Do note that it wasn't lampshading for fun, but as a guideline to the player so they'd know what to do in case they encounter these issues.

Yeah, I thought the frame where you're preparing your aim made it too slow during playtesting too. I think I'll remove that frame in the next version so the movement will be smoother. (Which is a shame since I spent some time making that frame, but it seems that it has to go) I'm actually planning to do a combat overhaul in the next arc of the game (not the next version, the next ARC) with WASD control and mouse to attack. And also maybe learn some JavaScript to create custom plugins for it.

The scene where they all died were....well, it's kind of a long story. Let's say I didn't know how to do stuff quite well while making the first dungeon, and that scene (and the other one a bit after that) was a demonstration of it. This problem was solved in the next dungeon, though. I think I'll remake the first dungeon to make it less janky.

Wow, your comment gave me a lot of ideas and feedback I desperately needed to improve my game. Thank you for taking the time to review!

Thank you for playing! 

The combat system was inspired by old RPG maker games I played as a kid. I thought it was really cool, so I decided to use it in my game. 

Yup, there's actually a lot of lore about the 'other side' but unfortunately couldn't put a lot of it in due to time limitation. (You may notice that the cutscenes before dungeon two were very rushed. There were actually supposed to be a few character-defining moments and storytelling there. But I thought the cutscene I made was too long and I didn't have time to fix it so I cut it off entirely.)

The intro cutscene probably took the longest time to make out of any cutscenes, so I'm glad you liked it. But is there too many? Cutting that cutscene off was the right choice then. If I made it so the player has to move to interact with people to continue the story instead of using cutscenes would it be better?

I agree that the first battle with the Goldborns was waaaaay too hard (Even I got beaten up several times during playtesting XD). They were much stronger than I'd thought. I think I'll remove one of them along with some obstacles so It'll be easier to pass. But if you want to win in that battle in its current form, wait for the enemies to line up and then use the burst attack to hit them all at once.

Got it, so that's one more bug to the list.

Thanks for taking the time to review!