itch.io

Great job, I really love this type of game. I could give you a thorough feedback  on this game if you want, but i don't think it would fit in this comment section. unless you want me to of course. 

Yeah, but what about local co-op? We put them on the side of the screen because when you're in co-op they would be quite confusing about what player they're referring to... 

I was not playing co op. and my private experience should probably be a bit different from a Coop experience.  But you know what It's not a big problem, However if you have prompts that says "Cleared" "Big boss approaching" something along those lines just put it straight on the screen. If both people can get that information and use it, it's valuable right.

• another point was when i finished a room i usually thought i needed to find a way forward then i went back and after that i went to far and then i realised there was another door back 2 rooms i went trough that would let me proceed. I guess this game has some form of procedurality to it's level design,  I wonder if this acts against your design a bit. somethings that guides you to the next area wouldent hurt actually in this game. Since i just want to get into the next encounter.

Do you have any suggestions about how we could go to do this? As you pointed out, having such a twist (body snatching) in this kind of game may be confusing at first; we need a proper way to let the player get used to it.

• This is why the tutorial is very importent you have to teach how the game is played. 

Make the player progress in the tutorial so they feel they accomplished something.

• Well introducing concepts you want to teach in a very natural way that makes the player move forward, no one wants to go back after having moved forward. getting cash. Buying items. It should be like a vertical slice of the game  where you show how everything works together. If the game doesen't use puzzle mechanics don't teach them stuff like that either. it's not important, When i played the take over enemys and actually fighting is something that needs to be driven home it feels a little complex. tutorial is hard becasue you need to teach What your game is, aswell as making that tutorial not feel like sitting in school. 

Im not entirely sure if that helps but.

• I think this needs some easing up before throwing the player into too complex situations. Steadily building up confidence in the player with the mechanics. If you have played something like risk of rain it's a very simple engagements at first but it rapidly increases into super hard. I'm sure this game can go harder i don't doubt it. The big Upside and downside is that you have mechanics that are very unique to their application thats really good but its also kind of confusing at first becasue there is the game you play steering switching bodys and picking what to do next brawling with the map you are in and the enemys, It's fine, you understand it after a while of course But it feels a little frontloaded i felt comfy with characters that mimic the tutorial at the beginning so i could play and get my bearing.It feels like you just learned how to steer a skateboard and you demand them go to the X games, It's funny from a devs perspective but is it fair for the player? It's a roguelike so it's probably the point.
• Your presentation is great for the most part, Audio ques are great, game feedback is spot on you are very clear with what the limits are and when things happen you even pause the game when you are infesting a human. However the parasite is pretty hard to see what direction its facing you have arrows for the humans showing what way they are facing but not the parasite it's a faceless blob maybe help show what direction the Blob is looking with out pressing a button.
• the looping music in the tutorial was kind of aggrevating when you are learning the mechanics (i could tell exactly when it looped it's a little too short). 

• I dident like how in the tutorial you mixed the keyboard inputs with the xbox controller inputs in text. I would really like graphical prompts instead of text It's easier to read. Mixing Trigger icons and As and Xs in the tutorial would be super helpful and will get me into learning the game faster.
• Make the player progress in the tutorial so they feel they accomplished something,The tutorial is for learning but it's honestly the first thing most people will play of your game. So make it be a bit of an experience aswell.  Don't skimp on tutorial have them play an arena battle properly.
• The Dodge roll feels clunky when you play the actual game. I think it's becasue the animation of rolling plays after the dodge is done.  So he kind of spins in place. and that casues dissonance
• The update prompts for bosses and such could be shown at the middle of the screen. I think i missed most of those messages even if you prompt people at the middle of the screen people will miss it but the chance is a lot smaller.

It's hard to give more feedback. most of it is nitpicks and some things i might be missing some context, however i don't see a problem with those things either they dont bother my experience so to speak.

this is a very well made game with an interesting little twist. it reads well it's hectic and it feels  like you know what you want out of this game, so i can't really add anything more.

wish i could help more but that's what i get out of it.

Yeah it was pop up blocking me, downloading now.

It doesen't download the game.

I think if you had Devilered a Vertical slice version of the game. That shows all your ideas in very direct sections. Show each mechanic on their own might save you a lot of time and people can also get the idea quicker.

I think you can totaly do it but i think you over scoped a bit with the world.

actually have all your ideas in the game for a vertical slice but after people have played get an idea of what people like the most of these ideas. If they are tight your golden if some stuff aren't as good figure out why and maybe you can remedy that by some adjustments.

Good job dude it has a pleasent presentation graphics wise

• instant jump if you quickly tap the spacebar, If you hold for more than a second or so it should stick and charge the jump.
• I dont like the mix of pixel art and than you have antialised text. I know its nit picky but it just looks so wrong.
• music is very adventurous after a while i dident really feel it mixed very well with what i was doing.
• I think the Click E for text is a little too frequent. the noise it makes is pretty aggresive.
• the game is a little slow to get the point across of what you need to do. and i completly missed most of the mechanics beacasue there were so many notes to read i was rushing to play the game. i figured it out though
• The keys "Y" "U" was  kind of strange i dunno it's just weird?  maybe it could work like this instead?
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• Are the notes also the checkpoints?? i was not really sure but it seems that way. maybe you need a better signpost for that.
• the main mechanic is pretty interesting but the stop go jumping sort of messes that fleuncy up a bit.
• the scrolling camera can sometimes place itself really awfully, hiding spikes just right out of view, sometimes there is one small tile than spikes. it feels like it's designed to kill the player rather than present them to a puzzle challenge.
• I think what would be good is a pacer for the game when you click the button to teleport something that sort of pauses and goes and still keeps the speed. just a second or so so the camera can sort of get there first then the action happens, It feels very abrupt and you will just have to trust it will work out. It doesent solve the problem of teleporting in blind.  But it will atleast feel a little bit more fair.
• Double jump puzzle part after that it was a HUGE gap between checkpoints i failed and had to do the double jump puzzle i stopped playing right there because ive solved that puzzle already, and i know i have 5 more once i just failed a second ago. remember to not waste the players time too much.

Good job though it was cool. But some compromises in the design has kind of made it feel really strange?

This is a cool idea imo,

Here is some feedback

• I think you should have more symmetry in your Hud layout. Keep everything that is news straight infront of the player, wave complete all that sort of data. Simulation complete all those things you can just get up infront of the player to keep them notified properly. Maybe also score the player live infront of the player.
• Getting the UI notifiers from where you are taking damage is really importent in FPS games, in this image there are examples of how it could be done
• The buttons are hard to hit i suggest just making them Circles. they read better and are easier to hit. If you make them look pressed you wont need an ON OFF text, Usually its really good to have text in your HUD But in this case i think making graphics that emulate a button being pressed is easier and faster to read, You have to be a complete alien if you cant read that on is when its down.
• 
• For me personally i would like the screen to show more of the actual game, any screen space estate lost is a loss in readability, I know what the point of this is but i think you could open up a bit but still keep the Cramped feeling of a mech, better readability whiles still keeping to the concept. Also show the melee hand on the left side aswell, I had to read i could do melee damage but i undesrtood i could shoot because of the gun on screen.
• The game mechanics are Fine i guess but im pretty sure most will use the mouse as an interaction inside the mech since it has great control for doing small edits.
• I think the buttons should self reset when a function is done, I will never not have the cooldown Go all the way down when im doing it.
• I Wish that the gunplay would be alittle more fun. I guess the running on a flat surface in a circle kind of gets alittle dry after a a while, Maybe have some smaller choices of elevations to reach ramps heightened areas too shoot from i think that would feel more involved.

Does it work was the question. Both yes and no i guess.

it works as a simulation but as an actual immersive game i guess you will need to find  something more substantial to do in this game than  just  slaying bugs.Maybe having you protect a section of the map. where you need to fly there and use your mechanics to traverse a bit. bugs attack you and that area. I'm not sure it just feels A little hollow.

Cool idea though and it's pretty impressive overall, I'm just missing that feeling of this is fun to do.

but that's my opinion.

love to demo it and feedback on it but can't seem to get it to download.

Here are some presentation suggestions.

• Never obstruct the player in the puzzle space so dont have a lower wall at the bottom screen I managed to Hide the cog in this level specificly and it's not good. get rid of this wall and have us Xray trough so that game objects don't get obstructed.
• 
• when you have finished a puzzle have a proper level transition something like GOOD JOB or in my example CLOCK JOB! 
• The hook shot is weird. If i want to hook a cog i go to the cog while i still drag it towards me?? That's really strange you should set rules for this. why not just have the cogs come to you and you can hook shoot walls to go to them. make these different so the player clearly understands the limits of the design or else it feels super yank.
• The cogs final placement should be Automaticly adjusted at the end. If it hits the area it should Automaticly Glide into place and start spinning Should not be able to move it afterwards.
• make the screen space larger I dont like the scrolling it cant keep up with the player properly and i lose sight of a big part of the puzzle. if you can, fit the entire puzzle on one screen thats better. it feels like im looking trough binoculars when i move around right now.
• Keep the cogs reasonably the same. Im okay with the larger once but the smaller cogs i dont understand? you have opportunity to create puzzles with these like you cant hookgrab the gold ones but you can push them for example.
• The push mechanic is really SLOW it doesen't feel right.
• I think this game would work better on a grid system rather than a free movement.
• I find that a puzzle should be able to be finished quite quickly if you know what to do. You have some mechanics that slows down the flow a bit its not super bad but some stuff that you need to do that could be automatic would be better.
• I think the story is just fine i guess.
• the music could do with something a bit more pizzicato esque instead of this long droning Nes noises. Lolos adventure? I know you are going for a sad sort of tone but Maybe this could be more like an adventure
• I also think you need more audio to indicate what's going on in the game world to spice up the experience.

Good job though i think you just need to tighten things up.

My pleasure.

Wow this was cool.

You have both third and first person gameplay which is just grand. The music and audio is great aswell. you are clear most of the time with what's going on.

The game play is nifty and has small details in it thats super fun to experience.

Time for feedback

• I think this game moves Too fast. It's a bit jittery especielly when you are fighting the goblins goddamn.
• you taught me some mechanics context that i dident use in the actual game thats too bad those things were interesting
• I think the battle aspect of dungeon crawling is a little too much especially when its mixed with traps, (It feels unreasonable)
• i found that i was moving in a very flat world, i wish there was more elevation in the game.  i saw stairs but i dont remember walking on any.
• The traps are very hard to see i know thats the point but.. They are small holes with out any geometry to show somethings up. I Guess in a game that moves this fast.. It feels a little contradicting to have traps that are almost invisible when you are moving this fast.. you know what im saying?
• I dident understand why after i died it changed my equipment. I would have liked to find stuff in the dungeon to use, start with a rock and maybe find a sword in the dungeon and gear yourself up with what you prefer. Maybe this isen't the point i was just yearning for that.
• It seems that you changed hero after you die, This was not very clear, I dont really see the point either. If you are going for a rogue legacy approach flip the entire map aswell into something procedural If i died and want to adjust my play with the same character and im forced to use a poisoner it's kind of unreasonable and breaks flow.
• Enemys need to have a standard of size imo  the really tiny enemys are obnoxious so the smallest size should be alittle bigger than a bat Maybe make the bats bigger also. some graphical definition

• the melee combat is pretty good? but it could be better. How? Im not entirely sure, It just feels like the dash when you strike could be a little more subtle a sweet spot of throwing a blow but not maybe launch across the map so far?  
• Enemys should definetly show more damage impact  if you strike them you could freeze them up and show you hit them like old school beat em ups or something like zelda, Since its so hectic its hard to tell if you are landing Hits.
• 
• The dashpower move doesent meld well with the level design, i wish i could use it in the game for actual gameplay. though it's random to get the character and if i get the character the move is pretty much useless in the context of the game.

I played this mostly in first person to get the best sort of experience.

I think this has a lot of potential if you start narrowing down some stuff,  Keep going polish it up this could be Baller.

I'm sure im missing something more but that's my feedback 

You deciding if you want to keep working on it is your choice. 

Im only here to feedback on the experience

• First is presentation, a layout thats more centered plays and reads better.  showing the boarders of the arena is also very good since you want to know what and where the game begins and ends. Having a Physical shop In the arena is more fun but also  Reminds you about that choice of buying, An "I" for shop isen't really something you will notice that easily
• I think waves would help this game a lot. a timed pause until you get hunted by more pumpkin creatures
• i found it a little intersting how  you aim and miss most of the time. I think it wouldent hurt to have the collision of bullets hitting be more generous. also if the enemys shake or something for impact feedback.
• A soft moonlight (Directional light blue color low intensity) in the scene wouldent hurt either to sort of make the whole game more readable
• I dont super like the Glidey feel of the player but this could just be me. I like things to be very direct unless the game is about Having flowing movement that extra glide doesent help when you are maneuvering between enemys as you glide into them.
• dont let the player go outsied where the enemys spawn. have the enemys come trough predictable gates.
• I wonder if the reload mechanic is really needed in this game? i think it would be fine if you had another mechanic that supplements that like a dash move or something that you can do whiles reloading but, i think after 20 bullets most of them  miss the target it feels a little bad.
• music is fine the audio is fine.
• the fail state should be harsher. Give me like 3 health and the choice to upgrade my health.
• Picking up candy is the point but I feel like it sort of needs.. Something more but it's fine i guess =D

This ended my playtrough of the game. I got stuck in a wall  and that made the music get stuck aswell. 

Okay so you have a lot of Convayance issues in your game. (Where do i go what do i do)

I think this game could be alot stronger if you have levels that are less Sloped and keep tightly with the more Squareshapes just for clearity.

It reads better and it's easier to design challanges if you keep to a structure.

just tidiying up things visually helps a alot. 

theres a big save code bar in the browser though which is really strange. 

Do you want feedback or are you only questioning your own will to proceed?

Because i can feedback it if you want me to

I guess I'm a bit confused. I ate berries i guess from 5 bushes than a text prompt came up and the game started playing itself. and i just looked at it for a few seconds while the character played the game?  Is there something im missing here.  I'm really confused.

So do i play it or will it just keep playing itself. 

It's an MVP i can't really help all that much, And seeing as the hands on gameplay was so short im not sure what to make of it.

i really want to help but i dont understand the game? is it like that cookie game where you have it in the browser and come back after a while? 

First off i found the presentation pretty pleasent. 
The audio is really good very pleasent and very fitting for the activities you do.

Im going to Feedback your game now.

• First this needs to get optimized. Maybe you can split scenes up into smaller pieces and load chunks when they are needed. im running a pretty good rig here and this game Was fluctuating on the FPS often i had to run super low to get the right experience.  is it running occlusion culling? seems unreasonable since the game isen't that graphicly intense.

• the introduction for the game is way too long. before you learn how to play. I think this should be one of the first things you get to touch and have the player not be punished while learning them. You can introduce jump, double jumping and dashing before you actually get into a gauntlet. 

• Have reachable areas somehow show where to go the Graphics now arent super clear. Think mirrors edge with RED as an indicator you can have a RIM showing that thats the next area you need to get to.
• 

• I think the jumping puzzle are alittle Too samey and might need to reinforce some methods before forcing the player into something Too difficult. 
• The best areas are the once that has a sort of safe but puzzly layout the coart yard is probably the most Flowy feeling part of the game. even though it could be so much better with a bit more tweaks.
• The grabbing mechanic is YANK as f*** I undestood it after a while but it's unreasonable to have players use it sometimes, I would increase the players stamina A LOT so people can get to think  and process the layout a bit.  Or completly rework it into something else. Im not sure. It feels really strange i will just put it that way.
• The dash is TOO aggresive with the FOV it's a cool effect but it's impossible to judge distance when the camera warps the world.

• The player feels... very short like you are an incredibly small child.
• The lock on the door needs a better asset. I couldent tell it was a lock, make it larger and more like an actaul keyhole. 

• The recall mechanic is kind of underutilized in most of the game.  The best was the coartyard where you used it. But otherwise. I could have just landed on a checkpoint and it would have done the pegging thing it does when i hold Q.. maybe it's used later??  it seems alittle arbitrary.
• Some level layout feels unfair sometimes where you have very little capability to see where you can jump. and yet i have to somehow figure out how to get there in the hang time i have for the grab so i jump and fail. I guess it's just go back up again, However i dident learn what i did wrong and when im up there again i have pretty much forgot the layout for that part, It feels neglectful from my perspective.

So i think you need to start thinking about flow more than challenge. and maybe Give the player some choices instead of railroading every room. Maybe there should be 2 solutions in a room sometimes unless it's really importent that there is one solution. It has to be fun aswell you know can't force too much complexity with out any form of levity. 

I dident have a moment in the game where i felt WOW i did it. it was more oh fuck i did it what now... oh okay... i see let's learn a completly new maneuver. Game is To eager to show how the mechanics work but you aren't willing to dive into when your game is fun for the player.

Try to pinpoint the experience you want from the player.  Now it seems like you are still testing out whats interesting which is fine.

I found the game to be very dead aswell. A lot of cubes but nothing really moves in the game. Maybe you can have simpler jump puzzles with moving platform.

I think it needs a lot of introspective Look at what the idea of the game is. and start scraping the weak level designs and replace it with more interesting stuff.

Otherwise good job you made a game. I'm sure it's has been a lot of work.

I'm not paying to help you dude. 

Looks great i. Would sharpen up the Black a bit. 
it's your choice it just feels a little washed out to me anyways.
This is a simple Curve pass in photoshop It reads alittle better IMO.