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Thoughts after completing the demo on my GBA.

I am still floored how good the visuals and overall feel of the game is!

One thing that stood out to me on a second playthrough was that there's not a good indication that battling does anything for you.  I mean, it's fun to battle, which at the end of the day should be enough when playing a game.  But there's no XP, or money or anything. Not sure you want to introduce that sort of mechanic, but something that helps the player feel like they've progressed even when they stop to battle someone on the train or in the city they could otherwise walk past might be fun.  Personally it entices me to hunt for fights rather than view them as obstacles.  

You do such a good job story-telling.  Your dialogues feel good and meaningful without being cheesy.  Props!

incredible visuals!  Controls feel nice!  Such a great little game.  Played it on my GBA last night.  Really enjoyed it.  I totally agree with ChunkySteveo below.  If you're finished developing this, I'd just call it Bark Sequelo and leave the Demo off the title.   You might call out that it's a short game, but he's absolutely right.  This is more feature-full than many other GB-esque games on itch.  

That being said, I would love to see a longer version of this game.  If you're interested in working that way, you could also leave this as the demo and keep developing a longer-play game to sell.  Or just leave it as-is!  Haha, it's fantastic!

Whatever you decide to do, props on an incredible project!  I love it!

I can't get over the Solar Striker feel here.  It's absolutely perfect!  Can't wait to get through all the levels.  Thanks for building this!  I can see so much attention to detail all throughout what I've played and in your screenshots.

Oh no,  not misled at all!  It was a good joke, it just got me wondering.  

Btw, this game is so addicting.  Thanks for making it!

Also went through and replayed with the music so I could confirm that it too was a great aspect of this super fun little game!

What a fun game!  Art style is perfect, upgrade system is fun, controls are intuitive! (Sorry, I don't know if the sound/music was good.  I had it muted, but I'm sure it was great too!)

You mention sending it into space on a dusty cartridge... *could* this be released as a .gb, .gbc, or .gba file so that it can be played on a dusty cartridge?

This looks and feels so Gameboy-y, but I'm guessing it's more than a Gameboy could actually handle.  But... had to ask.  

Found you from Eligos' post.  (Started on itch > X > Broke Studio > back to itch.  I thought it was a funny journey.)  I've been hunting GB Homebrew for years.  I can't believe I've not come across this before! Always fun to find there are talented/committed devs I haven't discovered yet!

It looks unbelievably packed and polished.  Will be purchasing soon!  I understand (a bit) how much work goes into a game.  Thanks for all the time and care you clearly put into this!  It really looks incredible!

*happy gorilla noises*

I remember playing this with my brother on my grandpa's DOS computer!  

After playing for hours our favorite cheat became flinging the bananas straight through the buildings at the highest speed possible.  I love that this game recreates even that loophole.  

Well done! You've built a tiny time machine!

I don't have a mini, but now I want one!  Super cool project!

Woohoo!  This is such a fun game!  I haven't quite nailed it down, but it feels like you could bounce pretty fluidly from one fuse to the next platform.

Since every level seems to leave you still trying to escape the blackhole, the dialogue might make more sense if it says something like "you've managed to keep from being pulled in."  

Love the artwork and general feel of the game

This is amazing!  GuitarHero, Jack Sparrow, Tenacious D, killer pixel art and four AA batteries all boldly sailed into a maelstrom together!

I love shanties, chiptune, and retro gaming so this game looks like a must-have in my book! I can't wait to play it on real hardware.  Fingers crossed you all end up selling digital versions too for those of us collecting on flash carts.

This was bonkers hard for me to play on a keyboard since the key layout (although standard) was flipped to what my thumbs would be doing on a handheld console.  I couldn't make my brain accept the flip.  But that just makes me want to play on my GB all the more!

Only complaint is the flash before the portraits appear in the dialogue boxes.  I love the artwork.  Once it's on screen it really sells the immersion.  But the flash on every new set of words became a bit jarring when reading through a conversation or a set of instructions.  

For real, watching intently for the full release!

This looks incredible!  Phenomenal artwork and sprite animation!  Pretty brutal gameplay to start off with, but the difficulty level is not a turn-off.  

Crouch feels like it's missing.  I know it's not referred to or implied anywhere, I just found myself trying to crouch the entire time I was playing.  

Some of the obstacles (spikes) felt a tad out of place on the stairs.  Not unfair or anything like that, but they just visually didn't "fit" to me."

Aside from that, this feels well polished.  Can't wait to see (and buy) the full release!

Cute, cute!  Great job turning it into a complete game such a short time!

This game is clever as heck!  Thanks for the demake and the link!  I've never heard of this game before, but it looks like exactly what I like to play

This is a cool concept!

Alright I've got to highlight some more stuff I'm seeing that I love.  

The movement being grid-based instead of being just free-movement is *chef's kiss*!  I love tapping left and the character moves all the way over to the next square instead of just moving over a pixel or two.  Such a great feature!

The taller obstacles in the map feel so smooth.  Street lights for example.  Being able to walk behind them, the transparency for their sprite.  With a shadow below it. It's just so well done!

I mentioned the train feeling so cool.  Roll City's Plaza with the cars driving under the walkway- it's visually such good story-telling and scene-setting!

And the battle mechanics all fit together so smoothly.  So well though-out.  I loved when I used the vampire face on a poisoned enemy that I actually took damage instead of healed!  Balanced the mechanic out and just made good sense.  

And the 25 turn limit fixed the ongoing battle issue in BDP.  Simple, clear and more fun.

I can't get over how good this is

What a massive improvement over BDP!  And I LOVE BDP!  The battle mechanics are so much smoother!  The underground gang is such a fun way to start!  The train is so cool!  That's as far as I've got just yet but I want to play all of it!

I'm sure you're working on building more content and smoothing out the content you've got already.  If you're looking for suggestions:

The constantly moving sprites are a bit odd at first.  I didn't notice them after a bit, but when the game first started it struck me. I don't know what your code looks like at all, but maybe the sprite animation taking place only when the sprite's speed is > 0?  Idk.  I'm firing blind there.

The face switching mechanic took me a bit to figure out.  I think if I hadn't already played BDP I might have assumed you couldn't use the new faces yet, because I tried all sorts of buttons in the menu before I sorted out you had to have the cursor on the face you wanted to add instead of the face you wanted to replace.  Not sure what the answer is there.  Realized I was being dense by the time I figured it out, but just pointing out it took some experimenting.

Same topic: I think the stock would be easier to use and may give a greater sense of mystery/discovery for the player if it started with only faces that you own (or have previously owned) and new faces were added to the stock page once you pick up that new face.  Or maybe they're all greyed out or something until you've found one.  

One more stock menu suggestion: Categories would make that easier to navigate.  Instead of scrolling through each iteration of the attack face, just have 1, and maybe an icon showing how many attack faces you have in that "box."  Select it to open and then you can scroll though the different levels of attack faces?

Last one: The two different buttons to fast print text and skip text entirely was a bit awkward (to me).  I'd vote for either instant print all text and have a skip button, or instant print and then skip with the same button.

Sorry for the book.  I absolutely LOVE what you've got here.  Hope the suggestions come across as constructive.  This project is flippin' amazing!  No lie!  Good luck!  Looking forward to buying it!

So good!  I'd love seeing this as a full-fledged game!  It's so fun.  The art is great, and the mechanics are smooth!

Haha, wow!  I love this!  That IS ambitious.  Good luck in development!  It looks and feels so good so far!

Isn't this awesome?  Honestly I think everything from Gumpy Function is pro! Super talented game dev.  

My excitement knows no bounds!  How?  Why?  I want to donate to you!  

My childhood!  I'm not weeping, you're weeping!  

Serious, serious thanks! I'm anxiously working out how to get this playing on my Mac.  Whether I have success or not, thank you so, so much for pouring so much work into one of my very favorite games in the whole world!

I love this style of game.  Really fun.

Seems to get bogged down though as entities start to build up.  But aside from that it's a really fun execution.  

Wow, this is looking amazing!  The previous demo was fire, but this is such satisfying-looking progress!  Keep it up

Not sure what version I installed on my flashcart (6 months ago or so), but it has been one of my favorite homebrews (really one of my favorite GB games including games from back in the day).  The art style and gameplay are so different from - but somehow remind me of - the GB's Donkey Kong (the puzzle/platformer where you play as Mario, not Donkey Kong Land).  

I must've missed the memo that this was incomplete.  I thought the cliff-hangar ending was just that.  I am so excited to read these devlogs and see that you're publishing a full-feature game and that we'll have a product to pay for.  I'd love to support you all.  You are *the* dev dream team for GB homebrew!  I am anxious to learn how to make my own games in this medium and both of you are serious inspirations.

Will we be able to purchase the digital version here or will that be exclusively available through LR? 

Very fun little challenge!  I love Pico-8 games for their bite-size limitations.  And this is a perfect quick playthrough.  

Oh yeah! That looks great! That’s so subtle, but it totally sells that effect! 

This is a fun game.  Is some of the art pulled from GBCamera shots? They look like photos.  

I appreciate how the soldiers following trail along and even path-find around objects a bit.  Feels really fluid.  

What a fun game!  It's simple, but what's here feels so fun!  Music is stellar (props to CoffeeBat).  I love the jump mechanic!  So good!  I'd love to see this turned into a full-featured game, but even as is, this is fantastic!

You may be done with this game, and if so, props to a fantastic looking game!  It really does feel like an F-zero game!  The art, the track, the others cars, the drift during turns, it's all there!  I love it!  

If it's still an open project, here are my thoughts.  F-zero had like a limited speed boost mechanic that's not here.  And tbh, it missing makes the race feel a bit flat.  And maybe the answer's not a copy of that mechanic, but it needs a little something to give the player a bit more control or something to do during the drive.  

I like the damage meter.  It forces a bit of control as you drive, especially on the second track.  You can't just hold the gas down and try to weave through everything.

Last thing would be sprites.  A left and right turning sprite for each car would help give this more visual depth and help the player "feel" the turns more.

All-in-all though, I really enjoyed playing this.  It really fits that F-zero feel, but with a new look.  Sound, art, feel.  It's all there.  Great job!

If this game is done, props on a big game with lots of varied content!  If you're still polishing, I'd recommend focusing on collision.  I think combat would benefit from a little knockback when taking damage and a second or two of invulnerability.  There are a couple places where the player has to be really precise to walk through an area (like in shops in town) where it doesn't seem like it should be.  The goblin's shop for example has a narrow stairway that's easy to get stuck on.  

Overall though, great game! I bought Basketbrawl and am loving that.  I was surprised by how different this game was in mechanics and style.  Both are great games.  You've got a broad range!  Keep it up!

Makes sense.  I'll be on the lookout! I've been watching this one for a long time!

Love the new artwork!  Congrats on the new distributor.  Do we need to bug them about a digital download version or is that totally off the table?  

My mouth is watering (and not just because of the beautiful candy art).  This game is going to be phenomenal.  I love the attack/"boo" jump mechanic.  Feels unique, challenging, and (most of all) FUN!

Can't wait for the full game.  Are you publishing the full game on itch, or will you be doing a physical run and/or rom purchase somewhere else?

Cute little game!  Maybe 15 minutes of playtime in here.  There are a couple of situations where the character catches on blocks unexpectedly, but not bad.  

I love the wind-up mechanic at the beginning of each level.  The circular movement you have to make with the arrow keys feels "windy" and I can see how it would feel even more like that on a d-pad!  I love it!

I feel like you could incorporate that as a timer or something.  Maybe you can run out of time and the toy loses power and either have the player wind the toy back up or restart the level.

Character feels slightly floaty and slow to me.  Not bad, but I think it could be sped up to feel a little better.  

That and more levels and you've got a great game!  I mean, it *is* a great game already.  But a great full-length game.  For a 24 hour jam, this is fantastic.  

Artwork, animation, music and sound are all really, really good!  Great job!

Sweet!  In the meantime, I'm buying it!

Looks great!  You've got a big map set up already!  Can't wait to play the finished version.  

Feedback when taking damage is a bit tame.  I died without realizing a crab was hurting me.

Love the artwork and feel so far!  Good luck!

So I know this game's been out for a while, but I think it's worth commenting on.  

This is a VERY short game, but the art, music, presentation is next level!  I hope it gets revisited and turned into a full feature game.  The quality of what's hear is worthy of a full-fledged purchase or even a physical cart.  Just needs more content.  

Character design (both sprites and splash screens) are excellent.  And I love the room transitions.  The art in this and Cosmic Courier is on point.  

Alright, this game may be done, but if not...

I feel like some splash screens occasionally would help build the feel of the game.  Not for every single event, but for starting the journey, or ending or every 10th turn or only when staying at an inn or finding an ingot or something.  The story-telling via text is really really great.  The artwork you have is so so good.  And the music really adds to the atmosphere as well.  Some full art sprinkled in would really be the icing on the already tasty cake.

If the screen would move forward looking ahead more spaces instead of being drug along behind it would smooth the play experience a lot.  I find myself having to hit select to look ahead every other turn.  If the screen "kept up" with the player a bit better (keeping the player icon in the lower half of the screen by default) you'd hardly have to use the select button to look at the map.

I agree with LDG above about auto-moving until a choice needs to be made or you've reached the end of the roll.  Hitting A for every space slows the pace of the game down a bit and makes it less obvious that it's time to do something.  I find myself hitting A rapidly to move along and then accidentally selecting the first choice because I was rapid firing to move.  This feature sounds small but I think it would make a huge impact on the feel of the game.  

I love the gameplay and the achievements.