itch.io

• What about the current world do you like/don't like?

I think the world looks awesome! I really like the low poly style. The skybox was a little weird but not that bad.

• How do the controls feel? 

The controls felt natural. I think the player speed could be increased, but only slightly. Or having a sprint would be nice.

• Given the game is focused around magical crafting, do you have any suggestions for recipes or items that would fit the theme? 

There are lots of different ways you could go but maybe wands/staves that have different spells based on different crafting materials. Maybe a magic mirror or something that can teleport you to important locations. A broom or something for flying. You can make some potions that do similar effects if you want to go that direction.

• Is there anything you hope to do in the game that has not yet been implemented? 

Jump or sprint. Maybe a little tutorial just to point out important locations.

• Any other general C&C.

I'm excited to see where you guys will take this game!!

-Does the game provide too much or not enough assistance to the player in terms of solving puzzles?

I would appreciate a little extra assistance at the very beginning. Just like a quick tutorial of how to open the grimoire and use a single spell type of thing. Other than that I think the assistance for the other puzzles is at the perfect level.

-Are there any specific puzzles/mechanics you would like to see?

Maybe a teleport or a move/possess object spell would be cool. Puzzle-wise I think that just playing with various combos of spells will help create some interesting puzzles.

-Does this room look like a spaceship room?

A little bit of a sci-fi vibe but also like a castle vibe. I don't think its a bad thing. 

-Does the walking seem intuitive?

Walking is too slow, it was a little painful to get around. Something that I tried to do was click and hold to move the character towards my mouse.

-Does the spell usage seem intuitive?

Yes, once I knew the control to open the spell menu. It might be nice to have an icon or something to indicate if you need to do something with the spell or its just does its effect. 

-Does the information in the text box help?

Yes it did, I really enjoyed reading it. A slightly smaller text box would be nice. That or a journal that you could open and see previous messages. 

1. How does the world feel?

It feels a little big to me but maybe that's just because of the player speed. The trees and bushes add a lot to it. I'm not sure how much it would impact performance but some smaller grass/flower assets would be really cool to see.

2. How does player movement and camera movement feel?

As I said above player movement feels a little slow but I don't think that's a bad thing. It makes the world feel bigger. I didn't really notice the camera when I was playing which is a good thing. It felt very natural and the speed/leading of the camera felt great.

3. General things you like?

I like the sliding down hills mechanic, I thought that was a good touch. I'm excited to see the puzzles you come up with. I thought the wall that chased you was r a good touch. I didn't notice it at first, so I panicked when it first came around. 

4. General things you don't like?

It would be nice to have a little control as you slide down the hill. Not a lot, just a slight bit of control to like strafe as you slide. It seems like the wall monster moves a lot faster than you do, so once it gets close there is no escape. Maybe a short sprint would help give the player an extra chance to get away?

5. What do you wish the game did?

Like I said above, I'm excited to see what puzzles you guys will add.

6. General reaction/comments?

I noticed a bug where you could jump up the sides of the puzzle cylinder. At the top you'll slide down though. I tried to recreate the bug on hills but was unable to.

How does movement feel?

• Movement feels really solid, it didn't feel too slow or too fast. The jumping was a little too floaty but otherwise felt fine. You can also scale walls by jumping next to them.

How does the camera feel?

• The camera feels a little sensitive and moves a little to fast. You probably know, but the camera can go outside the walls of the level letting you see everything.

How does the level feel so far?

• I thought that the level looked awesome! It would be cool to see some more rooms, like trap rooms, etc. I'm excited to see where you guys take it. 

How do the controls feel?

• The controls were as I expected. I'm not sure if there were any extra controls apart from move and jump though. 

I just wanna say I love the animations! They're very fluid and look fantastic, kudos to the artist that made them.

How does the dial feel, is it intuitive?

I think the dial looks great. It's very clear what you are and aren't able to drop. Shift to bring it up is a good control. I did find myself wanting to click on the dial to drop the body part rather than E.  

* How does the arm throw feels? (Trajectory, Gravity, Distance, Strength)

It took me a little bit to figure out how to throw the arm. But once I did I thought it felt pretty good. I think the throw could use a little boost to the strength but otherwise it felt great.

* What do you think of the scenery?

I think there is a disconnect between the background and the actual level. I feel like the character and concrete like level blocks worked well together. I think that a more urban or lab-like background would work better with the concrete stylings of the level. I don't know how this will look but you might want to have the water end at the edge of the block its over, though that may not be a good look. I'm not sure if you would be able to get this working but a water animation would be very nice!

Version 2 Playtest

Nice over all improvements! I love the enemy and cat art style and animations!!

How Chonky is this cat compare last one?

Definitely chonkier. An absolute unit. Could move a little faster but otherwise he's perfect.

What do you want do want to see?

I think a little grace period before enemies start spawning at the beginning of the game would be really helpful. I was caught off guard and had to scramble to figure out the controls and everything. Labels for the upgrade screens would also help, I couldn't tell if I was upgrading the cat or the turrets, initially. A tutorial/control screen would be really helpful.

What flaws do you see?

I couldn't place turrets on many of the spots nearest to the castle. I wasn't able to upgrade the turrets, if I clicked the plus by the upgrade I wanted it just opened another turret upgrade menu. It was hard to tell where both the character and towers were firing and if they were hitting anything.

are the Shot gun, Pistol and rifle balanced?

I was unable to switch weapons so I couldn't test the other types of weaponry. The default weapon was pretty good once you got about 30-50 levels of damage on it.

How was sneaking? Was it intuitive? 

Sneaking was really good. It was intuitive. I'm not sure if this was just me but the undetectable ability did not work for me. I was still detected with the ability active. It would be nice to have a little skill icon to let me know about the ability as I only learned about it from this game page.

How was whetzel detection (ex. range, accuracy of detection)?

I think the Whetzel's could use a little boost to their detection range, to make it a little harder. I really like the yellow, speedy Whetzels. However, it appears as if they don't detect the player. 

Do you like your move speed?

I think the move speed is great. I think maybe (workload depending) it would be nice to have a short sprint that quickly runs out.

What do you think of the map size?  

I like the map size. I think adding a bit more props and other variations to the rooms would really improve the map and make it more interesting to explore.

What skills would make it more fun?  More challenging?

I think having some sort of flare gun or ability that could light up rooms you can't see in would be really good. If the Whetzel's damage the player I think that would make the game more difficult.

Did you like the music and volume level?

I think the volume level is perfect.

How does the pacing of the game feel, is it too fast or too slow?

I think the pacing is perfect at this point for the module you have. It was fast enough to pressure me but not too fast that I was failing at the like second room. 

In what ways might we be able to improve the challenge and the 'hectic-ness' of the game beyond the difficulty of the modules and timing?

As others have said, you can spam click the bottom hardest module to complete it. I think if you went from slowest to fastest that would really improve difficulty and hectic-ness of the game. You could also add some blocking props that the player has to navigate around.

Do you like the current module? 

Yes. Apart from the improvement listed above I think it works great.

Would you like to see Ernie have abilities/upgrades and if so what would you like to see? 

I think a time or module slowing upgrade would work really great. Maybe a one-time/once-per-room module auto-fix could also be fun 

Game breaking glitches/bugs?

The module bug was the only one I ran into.

How do you feel about the brief puzzle mechanics?

• I liked how they worked. It wasn't clear at first what was a wall and what was a button but I quickly figured it out. I liked the different uses that each body part had. I would have liked to see another variation of puzzle that wasn't a button and door combo, but I understand under the time constraints.

Were you able to figure them out relatively quickly with a bit of trial and error?

• Yes I was. I thought for a second that I would die if I went into the pit at the end but seeing as it was the only other option I tried it and figured out the puzzle, which was a great bit of game design. Kudos!

Did you get an understanding of the physics of the current body parts that were present?

• Yes I did. I would have liked if the body part dropped based on the direction I was moving. I am interested to see how you use the parts and physics together for puzzles.

How was sneaking? 

Was it intuitive? 

• The sneaking felt good. I was using my sight-line to peek around corners and it felt like I could be seen at any moment. I think it was very intuitive.

How was whetzel detection (ex. range, accuracy of detection)?

• I think the accuracy of detection was good, I would maybe add a small area around the Whetzels so if the player gets close behind them, they will detect the player. I think the range of detection could be a little larger or maybe there is a special Whetzel that can see farther or a larger area. Also a little notification when you are detected would be nice (like a Metal Gear exclamation mark or something)

Do you like your move speed?

• I think the move speed was good, it wasn't too slow or too fast. I would like to maybe have a sprint or something (with stamina so the player doesn't run everywhere).

What do you think of the map size?

• I thought the map size was good, it gave me enough to explore but not so much that I got lost. Some of the tiles had some strange collisions where the player could get stuck or it seemed like I could move through the gap but couldn't. It happened mainly around the single pillar-like tiles.

What skills would make it more fun?  More challenging?

• I think a blink would be fun to have. A flare gun that lights up rooms could be a nice addition. Firecrackers or noise makers could allow the player to distract the Whetzels. I think the glue gun should slow the Whetzels down instead of destroying them. I'm sure you will add it but I don't think the glue gun should have infinite range/the ability to shoot through walls. 

Did you like the music and volume level?

• Loved the music and I thought the volume level was fine, though if you wanted you could add a volume slider to control the level.

How does the pacing of the game feel, is it too fast or too slow?

• I think the pacing of the game could be slowed down. I wasn't able to get past the 4-5th level walking to each of the modules, it just ended too quickly. If the player is also completing mini-games during this time then the time should definitely be increased.

In what ways might we be able to improve the challenge and the 'hectic-ness' of the game beyond the difficulty of the modules and timing?

• I think other obstacles like oil slicks, or sticky patches could help improve as the player would have to balance speed or directness to a module. Maybe failing a module takes a couple seconds off the timer so there is a pressure to be perfect. Random room modifiers could add an interesting layer to the game. Some examples: a dark modifier (the player can only see a certain distance), +-2x player speed, icy (you slide around more), boss module (one really hard module that takes a while to do).  

Would you like to see Ernie have abilities/upgrades and if so what would you like to see? 

• I think a bullet time would be nice to see, like the player could move in real time but the clock went down at half speed or something. A player movement speed, module difficulty reduction, closer modules, and player blink (teleport a few meters) would be some cool upgrades to have.

Game breaking glitches/bugs?

• Apart from the solve any module from one, I didn't find any bugs.

General QoL improvements

• Those little circle sprites on the ground by the tree should either be larger or have no collision. I found myself thinking I could go over them because they were so small but I ended up colliding with them.

Look and feel:

Does the character feel sluggish? Is it fine for the character to feel slow if upgrades will eventually make the character feel better?

• I think the character feels sluggish but as most people have said I think that's due to the animation speed of the run is too high. It would be fine for the character to feel slow if the speed had the ability to be upgraded, however, I would suggest a higher initial base speed as its a little too slow at the moment. You may want to make the enemies damage the player as I was using the enemies to move my character around the level faster by stepping in front of them.

Can you see the game becoming too difficult? If so how do you think we should balance it?

• It's hard to say at this point. The difficulty curve is determined by the player so they can just make it harder or easier at will. I would recommend developing some sort of spawning system that controls enemy spawn rate and health then I would be better able to answer this question.

Are there too many enemies? How many unique enemies do you think there should be?

• Again, its hard to say if there are too many enemies when the player controls the spawn rate, one moment you could flood the level with enemies and then immediately reduce it to a trickle.
• I think that it would be nice to see a couple variations of enemies. Some suggestions: a tank enemy (takes a lot of shots), a speedy boi (just runs fast), a healer (every so often heals other enemies in a certain radius).

Tower Defense Side:

Turrets:

What upgrades to the turrets do you want to see?

Is the firing speed good for the amount of enemies?

How many unique Turrets do you think there should be?

• It would be nice to see where/what the turrets are firing at. Right now the towers feel like they have little impact on the gameplay as the character can just insta-kill the enemies super fast. I would say that improving their fire-rate would help in fixing that. I think there should be a couple of types of turret. Some suggestions for tower upgrades: lighting (damages multiple enemies), fire/poison (deals damage over time), earth/bomb (something that does like an AOE).

How many Turrets per X path squares of path should there be?

• I don't know the range of the turrets or how many path squares you have so I don't know. I would say that turrets should overlap their range a little bit but the player shouldn't be able to place them right next to each other.

Are the turrets’ sliders easy to use? 

• No. The sliders are hard to use. I would recommend that you switch to a button based system that increases fire rate, range, etc. by a set amount if you have enough money/points to upgrade. 

Enemies:

Is the pathing good for the Enemies?

• I think the pathing is good for the enemies. I would like to see them maybe break/vary pathing a little bit.  Right now it just feels like they're running laps around the level. Maybe you could place a tower in their way or if the player steps into their pathing area they start moving towards the player.

What kind of improvements should the Enemies have?

• They should damage the player as right now the player can just stop in front of an enemy and move at a faster rate then using the controls. A health bar for the enemies would also be nice. The variations and pathing changes above I think will improve the enemies.

Cat side:

Is this cat chonky enough?

• I liked the pixel art of the cat, I thought it was very well done! He could use a little more chonk.

When shooting with the main cat do you see any improvements? If so, what are they?

• A bullet sprite would go a long way. I don't know where the cat is firing or what it is hitting. You should definitely decrease the damage the cat does, it's too easy to kill enemies which makes the towers feel a little useless. Maybe you could add a damage upgrade to help scale the damage with enemy health. 

Is the movement of the cat coherent?

• The animation speed is too fast to fit with the actual move speed. Moving didn't feel that janky and collisions with objects worked as expected. 

How are the cats movement?

• I'm not sure what you are asking here.

We are planning to add these in the future how do you think they would impact the game?

• I think that you should focus on improving and polishing what you currently have before adding more into the game. That being said, gold would be a good thing to add for upgrades. I'm not sure what you intend to do with items (would they improve the player, could items be added into the towers, do they just give you gold?).