This time my feedback will be pretty short, because it's less than a week since I'm from where I had no internet and I had only few minutes to test it and now I'm on an even worse machine (It's actually the one I usually do my no-hit bosses because native Undertale works fine) which in case of WAKER renders with the average speed of 1 fps using wine and it's not even too bad since the Undertale Red Fangame (Unity as well) rendered 1 frame in 9 seconds.

Anyway, I had enough time to complete the tutorial and the first level, and TBH I think the previous build was better.

The most important thing are the colors. I'm not sure how it works since I could't take a longer look at it but for me it seems like it just picks a random color for each level. That's exactly the thing I was talking about earlier, I was rather confused by what the new color means rather than enjoying the gameplay. Additionally the color was pretty much #0000FF so it wasn't too visible.

I never had a problem with staying at the bottom the whole time, actually I've really enjoyed almost every single pattern's visuals, like really I just sat there and didn't shoot when I could and thought like "Boi that looks awesome!" (except the ones where the arms got crazy - I had other things to cary about then), because one could just be a part of the flow. Now with the bosses jumping around it doesn't look quite as good. This opinion however might easily change when I look more into the game, maybe it'just the beginning.

Actually, what I just said isn't that important comparing to the fact that the moving bosses affect the gameplay - you cyn't really stay under the enemy if it's going to the bottom, so something should be changed about that. I'd suggest to either let the boss take only the top 33% (or max. 50%) or change the "aiming" behavior when fighting to "just survive long enough" rather than "stay under it the whole time".

It feels kinda unfair that the bosses cooperate with Aperture Science while the player does not.

To summerize - I like the ideas, it's just that the implementation should be changed.

I'll try to find some time in the next few days and report how the things change.

The most important thing are the colors. I'm not sure how it works since I could't take a longer look at it but for me it seems like it just picks a random color for each level. That's exactly the thing I was talking about earlier, I was rather confused by what the new color means rather than enjoying the gameplay. Additionally the color was pretty much #0000FF so it wasn't too visible.

You are correct - it picks a random colour for each level. I'm thinking of removing pure blue colours from the list - blue does not seem to gel well with the black background. Each type of bullet should have a different colour - though it may not be the case sometimes. I'm shifting the colour selection to a more deterministic system, so that colour differences are clearer.

I never had a problem with staying at the bottom the whole time, actually I've really enjoyed almost every single pattern's visuals, like really I just sat there and didn't shoot when I could and thought like "Boi that looks awesome!" (except the ones where the arms got crazy - I had other things to cary about then), because one could just be a part of the flow. Now with the bosses jumping around it doesn't look quite as good. This opinion however might easily change when I look more into the game, maybe it'just the beginning.

So far, each boss distributes their difficulty evenly between movement and attack. It's going to change next build so that bosses have their movement/attack preferences - some might move quickly, while others don't move, etc.

Actually, what I just said isn't that important comparing to the fact that the moving bosses affect the gameplay - you cyn't really stay under the enemy if it's going to the bottom, so something should be changed about that. I'd suggest to either let the boss take only the top 33% (or max. 50%) or change the "aiming" behavior when fighting to "just survive long enough" rather than "stay under it the whole time".

I'm considering having a "death timer" - bosses naturally lose some health, so even if you are unable to stay underneath, the boss will die after a certain amount of time (like the TH series).

It feels kinda unfair that the bosses cooperate with Aperture Science while the player does not.

I don't quite get the Portal reference :)

To summerize - I like the ideas, it's just that the implementation should be changed.

I'll try to find some time in the next few days and report how the things change.

Thank you for your feedback! I hope you will be able to enjoy the current build.

My reference belongs to the fact that the bosses may go through one wall and then appear on the other side. I'm not sure if I remember it right but I think that it's possible with top and bottom as well. That's why portals came into my mind.

Speaking of whitch maybe you could add those? Though I have no Idea about it I don't think that'd be too difficult.

Now that you mentioned Touhou (at least I assume you mean that) I've never played it myself but I watched  the final boss recently and it was kinda funny to see how the worst you can get from a difficult pattern in WAKER is the easiest in that fight. Anyway, how does that timer work exactly? I'm not sure how a useful implementation would look like.

My reference belongs to the fact that the bosses may go through one wall and then appear on the other side. I'm not sure if I remember it right but I think that it's possible with top and bottom as well. That's why portals came into my mind.

This was to prevent the boss from getting stuck at the bottom, so they will warp to the opposite side :)

Speaking of whitch maybe you could add those? Though I have no Idea about it I don't think that'd be too difficult.

What do you mean?

Now that you mentioned Touhou (at least I assume you mean that) I've never played it myself but I watched  the final boss recently and it was kinda funny to see how the worst you can get from a difficult pattern in WAKER is the easiest in that fight. Anyway, how does that timer work exactly? I'm not sure how a useful implementation would look like.

Touhou is very difficult (for me, at least), so I wanted to make something more accessible. Touhou also has a lot of variety in terms of boss attacks, many of which I am attempting to implement. However, Touhou can be difficult because it's handmade, while if I made WAKER difficult without any restrictions, the generated boss may be impossible to beat. I'm thinking of raising the side levels' difficulty though, since they are optional!

For the timer, think of it as the boss having poison. So every 1 second it loses 1% of it's health, and after 100 seconds it will kill itself from the poison. The values given are arbitary, but I hope you see what I meant :)

I meant that maybe you could make portals as part of the game - bosses generate them and everything goes through. I think it would make the dodging way more interacting.

Hm, poison? I understand now what you mean but makes no sense in terms of WAKER. I'd suggest it to be energy that gets lost when the boss is shooting but it's not a physical overworld, is it?

Or actually, how much of the game will depend of one's own interpritation? I'm asking because another great thing about Undertale I haven't mentioned yet is that once you start theorizing and reading other's theories you have the feeling like many things are left up to your own interpritation but the deeper you get the more you realize how perfect (almost) everything ties together. That's why I'm trying to think of some logical explanations for how this game works but every update makes it more difficult. 

I meant that maybe you could make portals as part of the game - bosses generate them and everything goes through. I think it would make the dodging way more interacting.

Oh, that sounds amazing! Writing it down so that I won't forget it anytime soon.

Hm, poison? I understand now what you mean but makes no sense in terms of WAKER. I'd suggest it to be energy that gets lost when the boss is shooting but it's not a physical overworld, is it?

I'm still figuring out the diegetic part - because WAKER is set in a space station's computer network, it could be that the player "injects" a line of code to destroy the boss, but it takes a long time to find it's way through.

Or actually, how much of the game will depend of one's own interpritation? I'm asking because another great thing about Undertale I haven't mentioned yet is that once you start theorizing and reading other's theories you have the feeling like many things are left up to your own interpritation but the deeper you get the more you realize how perfect (almost) everything ties together. That's why I'm trying to think of some logical explanations for how this game works but every update makes it more difficult. 

I think that's something hard to achieve for this game, what with all the procedural generation. However, there will be a narrative for the game, but in the form of logs left behind by humans and AIs. When you defeat levels, you unlock 3 bite-sized story logs to read. 

When the boss mechanics are sorted out, I'll begin to work on aesthetics and systems for the narrative/story part of WAKER!

OH! I have now a great analogy! I guess you know how a firewall works (the very basics, I mean, I dunno much about it), so it could be that the gaps between the bullets are open ports where you have to find your way trough. There can be separate firewalls on a single connection and between each device so the "overworld" makes sense as well. As for the timer - it could be a password which is being figured out by brute-force (the technically easiest method of hacking where the attacker tries every possible password until they find the right one) and the more devices you've taken over the faster the password is figured out.

Yes, it's something like that - glad that you can understand it!

"something like that"? Okay, that's amazing that you did intend it this way, but what did I miss? Also what is a "3 bite-sized story log"? I can't really interpret it.

"something like that"? Okay, that's amazing that you did intend it this way, but what did I miss?

You didn't miss anything - it's just that I have not expanded the narrative properly yet, so there might be certain areas that are different in the end product.

Also what is a "3 bite-sized story log"? I can't really interpret it.

I meant that after defeating each level, you unlock 3 short stories. They can be researcher logs, AI console logs, stories, news, journals from last time.

Okay, I've beaten the last version, it took me around 10-20 minutes without the tutorial which is extremely good, compared to the fact that I wasted 1-2 hours for all of my sessions trying to do things which are technically possible :-) This build is actually almost too easy, I even managed to beat the last level at my first attempt (thank you, shield;-)

Anyway, the biggest issue is that it's auto-deletes the game. I mean it's bad for me, since I wasn't expecting this and now I have to redo the whole thing to get a recording. At least it won't take me too long.

It's also funny that every attack that makes use of arms... (may we call them EXP for "EXternal sPawners"? JK, but we should eventually think of some cool names or acronyms for the game's elements) so what I wanted to say is that any attack which uses those, generated patterns which have been easier to dodge than any attack which didn't. It also messes with my head a little when I'm required to dodge something that comes from underneath me.

It would be great to have some kind of an indicator so you can see how long each of the two phases will durate so for the sake of estimating the risk of getting closer while it's not shooting. My suggestion here is to use the same visual element that's used for the shield, maybe just in the boss' or any other color than white to avoid confusion.

Another not build-specific thing you most likely already know but I'd like to put here anyway is that the left and right sides are not really used. I'd like to see some stats there, or at least the layout of the level selection as a ~70% faded background.

That's it for now! :-)

This build is actually almost too easy, I even managed to beat the last level at my first attempt (thank you, shield;-)

I am still experimenting with the new generation system, so the difficulty level might flunctuate between builds until I find that sweet spot! 0.3 is more difficult because I kind of set loose one of the variables for generation. 0.2 is easy because the system was allocating "difficulty points" for unimplemented features.

Anyway, the biggest issue is that it's auto-deletes the game.

This is a known bug - if I recall correctly, it's not deleted, but you have to restart the game for the menu to appear. I'm looking into fixing it now.

It's also funny that every attack that makes use of arms... (may we call them EXP for "EXternal sPawners"? JK, but we should eventually think of some cool names or acronyms for the game's elements) so what I wanted to say is that any attack which uses those, generated patterns which have been easier to dodge than any attack which didn't. It also messes with my head a little when I'm required to dodge something that comes from underneath me.

Be prepared for 0.3 arms then, they are harder and less restrained (but not impossible like those 0.1 ones)! They are still quite experimental at this stage though.

It would be great to have some kind of an indicator so you can see how long each of the two phases will durate so for the sake of estimating the risk of getting closer while it's not shooting. My suggestion here is to use the same visual element that's used for the shield, maybe just in the boss' or any other color than white to avoid confusion.

That's a cool idea - though I want the player to gauge and learn the boss pattern by themselves :)

Another not build-specific thing you most likely already know but I'd like to put here anyway is that the left and right sides are not really used. I'd like to see some stats there, or at least the layout of the level selection as a ~70% faded background.

I'm planning something for those sides, so stay tuned! One side will probably used as a score/completion indicator, while the other side is for flair/decoration.

This is a known bug - if I recall correctly, it's not deleted, but you have to restart the game for the menu to appear. I'm looking into fixing it now.

Oh that's a bug? I thought it was intended like in the pre-alpha where the game just stayed black after the ending. Or was that a bug as well? Anyway I was lucky enough to not start a new game because I was disappointed and that way I could redo it (later). I've already uploaded a no-hit.

Be prepared for 0.3 arms then, they are harder and less restrained (but not impossible like those 0.1 ones)! They are still quite experimental at this stage though.

Sounds great! However could you please make the bosses move to where the 0.1  bosses were staying for the first attack rather then letting the player do multitasking while figuring out the patterns and the movement behavior?

One side will probably used as a score/completion indicator, while the other side is for flair/decoration.

Maybe also put the payers name there?

Sounds great! However could you please make the bosses move to where the 0.1  bosses were staying for the first attack rather then letting the player do multitasking while figuring out the patterns and the movement behavior?

I'm thinking of only adding movement after the first few levels - so after the player has mastered the dodging, they can attempt to handle movement and attack. Not all bosses will move though, and bosses that move will have a easier pattern depending on how difficult the movement is.

Maybe also put the payers name there?

I'm still learning the gist of the engine, so I don't quite know how to make typing inputs yet :) Player naming would be a lower priority compared to game mechanics though.

I'm thinking of only adding movement after the first few levels - so after the player has mastered the dodging, they can attempt to handle movement and attack. Not all bosses will move though, and bosses that move will have a easier pattern depending on how difficult the movement is.

I'm fine with that!

Player naming would be a lower priority compared to game mechanics though.

Of course :-) Thats rather a thing for the final stages.