It's important to note that "towering above all else" is also a common metaphor. It can be a tall object, or it can mean that it is particularly significant. For example, at the height of their success, The Beatles towered over all other artists.
If you could use a metaphor to describe something as being high or a tower, then it can also fit with the theme.
The art and theme is strong in this submission! I agree with the other commenters: there is not enough time for players to meaningfully progress.
I would like to see some direction indicators to help guide the player away from dead ends and towards scrap metal. The minimap is nice, but it doesn't show much more than the screen. It is also typical to move from left to right in most games, so I quickly lost much of my precious time in Level 2 by going to the end of the beach instead of towards the town. Players can be directed away from dead ends by trails of scrap, clear obstacles in the wrong direction, or a big arrow if nothing else works.
Without any guide or a strong indicator of what we have control over, it's hard to tell if I'm even playing the game. I can't provide a solid review if I can't tell what's going on.
The one thing I am sure of is that the game crashed after a bit. An error flashed for a split second but I lost it as soon as my monitor returned to normal resolution.
Interesting execution of a familiar idea. Reminds me of an orbit game I used to play as a kid, but the polarity swap on the magnet makes for a wholly different experience.
It would be nice if getting stuck were a bit harder to do. Some level design adjustments would help, like funneling the ball back towards a soft checkpoint (things like slight ramps where there are currently horizontal surfaces) and help draw the player back into the action instead of a jarring reset each time they time something wrong.
I also wouldn't mind some trails to help keep track of the ball as it starts moving rapidly. Oh, and keep the ball on a layer above the start point so it's clear where it is right off the bat.Edit: I see the downloaded version keeps the ball on the screen at all times. Definitely a quality of life improvement.
Some of those later levels are quite fun to get through. Take those that run the smoothest and figure out what makes them work, then bring that design to the rest of the game.
This is a very interesting mechanic! The way all these moving parts are meshed together into a one-button game makes for a very thoughtful experience.
I wish there were a submit button for the high scores. I think there is a bit of a bug where high scores aren't being submitted until the games after you've entered a name. I'd like to enter my name and submit the score from the run I just completed so I don't throw away the progress from my first game.
The soundtrack is more fire than the lava cubes moving down the screen.
While bullet hell is not my strong suit, I found this quite nice to play! The core mechanic makes a lot of sense and the game is well-telegraphed so it's clear to the player what exactly is happening.
When I finished the game, unfortunately, it seemed to freeze and not allow me to return to the beginning or submit any sort of high score.
That part aside, if I were to make any changes to this game, it would be all pizazz. The player's speed being directly controlled by my keys is nice and responsive, but it feels jerky; perhaps make a fast acceleration to a maximum velocity instead to give the player character more weight. Squash and stretch on enemies can help indicate when they start moving towards you and give a sense of speed. When the enemies die, putting a little score indicator like "+1" where they died helps communicate that they are the scoring component. Small animations like this can vastly improve the feel of a game without changing the mechanics under the hood at all.
Interactive tutorial is a welcome sight! Its level design is solid and the pacing of concept introduction is good as well. I would just make that tutorial part of the main sequence of levels rather than separating it out; It doesn't get in the way of players familiar with the controls and putting it front-and-center ensures new players get a solid introduction to the game.
The physics are a little wonky, particularly around ramps. Occasionally the forces applied to the player result in a feeling of lost control; maybe make some visual indicator that magnets are affecting the player so we can make sense of the odd motions drawn from it?
The pitch shift on the sound to indicate your score is a cool touch. The camera's field of view makes alignment difficult, as does the sudden loss of all horizontal motion. A position curve to give some sense of that momentum shift could do wonders for the feel of the game as well as the brain's ability to align the magnets.
Also, it would be nice to have a prompt to submit to the leaderboard rather than the post being automatic.
The minimalist aesthetic is nice. Perhaps tying the magnet color palette into the UI would make it feel more cohesive.
I'm having a blast with this one. It's very funny and well-polished. It feels just as good to play as the best roguelikes and Zelda clones out there. This game alone is reason enough to buy the bundle, and I'm glad I didn't skip over it when browsing my new collection.
