Finished playing the demo! Here's my thoughts:
- Feels good to play! A step animation for when the player taps left/right while on the ground to inch forward would be really nice I think, but otherwise the Player animations are wonderful!
- Visuals are fantastic! Big fan of the visual style. I think there's potential for some stuff to blend against the background though (the snails kinda blend into the purple background of Hana Sol's stage) but it wasn't too much of an issue for me, just something to keep in mind!
- The flower vine platforms that move in and out could use a bit more visual flair I think; Perhaps having the flower shake briefly before retreating, and maybe have the flower sticking out of the wall slightly or even become a bud when not active would be nice and let the player know where they need to jump to next. I DO like the spiky dangerous version though, I think it was pretty cool!
- (Bug?) Beehives seem to keep spawning bees with no limit after respawning and slightly off screen, or there are bees there that seem to also respawn with the hive, causing an abnormal amount of bees to appear. (Assuming this is not intentional; I didn't really test this further but is worth looking into.)
- I think the stage music should stop when the boss hp bar fills up. Possibly also during the cutscene but there might be plans for pre-boss music? If not that's fine. I THINK I heard an alarm sound effect play but it got drowned out by the stage music?
- Boss fight against Hana Sol and Char-Wuf were a lot of fun! I think you nailed it here. I especially like that you could bounce off of Char-Wuf's bouncy balls to dodge her frankly terrifying melee attack.
- Char-Wuf's stage is a lot of fun. I game over'd and it was great. Bouncy Cannonballs are a nightmare obstacle in this style of game it's great I love it. I don't have anything else to add here it was pretty great all the way through. You could possibly have a segment where the player gets to play with the bouncy cannonballs more but other then that I think it was fun!
- Special Weapons are cool! I think the powered up slide from Char-Wuf's weapon could consume a LOT less energy though, I kinda burned through the weapon energy immediately upon testing it.
- The transition to an already cleared stage is a bit too instant. This isn't really a problem but it's something to consider polishing when the time comes.
- I would consider starting the player with 3 extra lives (3 > 2 > 1 > 0) rather then the 2; The stages are a bit long so I think having an extra starting life would benefit a lot of people. Changing the starting lives can also be a potential difficulty setting option if you choose that route too.
Overall I had a really good time! I don't really have any strong criticisms or issues with the game, and I think ya'll did a FANTASTIC job! This is exactly the sort of game I crave constantly and I'm extremely excited to see it finished!!!