Hi! I was happy to finally have time to play the game. It was fun, although it felt a little like it was missing a hook... I don't quite know what. I don't want to come off as negative, but It just feels like it needs more of a "wow." Maybe there just needs to be more game, I dunno, I'm just a dude so it's very possible I'm just flat out wrong!
I took some notes while I was playing, so I'll add them here (please forgive the use of "pickaxe" instead of "mattock"):
Spike plants should have a little more definition to show they're harmful. Presently, they don't really register as anything but background when you first see them, and they also don't even come off as imposing in general.
Pause menu - instead of the slow fade highlight, maybe you should also highlight the selected option with a border so it is immediately apparent which item has been selected. Alternatively, as you only have the four options, maybe just make hitting the corresponding dpad just open the menu?
The Start/Pause button shouldn't select a menu. When I had a menu highlighted, and hit start, and it went into the menu, instead of closing the pause menu. I think this feels odd compared to most games.
I'm not sure if you're making use of coyote time, but if you are, it feels a bit strict. The 3rd jump in the platforming challenge before the pickaxe room seems especially difficult.
Now, during play I didn't initially know of the upward slash, this created unwinnable situations where any enemy was above where I was going. Now that I understand it, and tried using it, why not make it the default slash attack, and reserve the sword locking mechanic for the up button. It doesn't have a different forward hitbox as far as I could tell.
Additionally, making the diagonal downward slash performable during jumping would be very useful. It doesn't diminish the challenge of an enemy waiting for you, it forces you to consider your tools and use them properly.
The ghost you encounter in the pickaxe room feels too close, should maybe be moved a bit more to the left. It feels like you're punishing a player for learning about the existence of floors that can break beneath you.
I activated the sliding glitch after falling all the way from the top of the entrance (to save time, instead of using the ladder) to the pickaxe subsection to the bottom-most I could fall, not sure if that helps you debug the issue.
I also encountered a glitch(?) where I was constantly looking left, and always had an active damage hitbox on both sides of me. Maybe I accidentally activated invuln?
I found one secret! I'm bad at finding them, haha. Not sure if you're considering a late game expensive secrets map for fools like me.
(I understand any of the above may just be due to this being a demo, but felt it would be helpful to mention anyways.)
Please don't take the long list as being largely negative, I did have a good time, and I thought making the first boss not be a simple "keep hitting them" was cool, you had to pay attention to your surroundings! Plus, I felt the platforming besides the couple strict jumps was fun, the sort of go a bit forward to start at lower branches, then left and right to advance, very nice.
I look forward to seeing where you go with the game :)
Thank you!! This is all fantastic feedback. The menus in particular are a part of the game that are still evolving and changing, and don't get as much feedback.
I'm right there with you with those thorn bushes. They're actually listed here on this page in the "Future Features" section above as something I'll be re-drawing before the next build. I do think you'll be happy with some of the new the new sprite animation cycles I worked on this week for Naru:
Naru will now have the ability to attack in multiple directions on ground and in air. These abilities will be upgrades you'll find or learn as you go (which was the original intent, but they were left unlocked so you could try them out in the demo.) This way, you'll be taught to use them in the same way the Mattock gives you a little "tutorial-without-the-tutorial." That is, a chance to use the ability right away as you find it without forcing you read a lot of immersion-breaking text. I'm always tweaking and fine-tuning the controls and overall feel of the game, so again, thank you for the valuable feedback! I hope adding more story and interaction with NPCs will help portray more of a hook and some extra charm to the game. The lost village is right around the corner, and will introduce shops, story, and more quests. I hope you'll give it a try in the near future!
Very nice demo! I have 3/4 secrets, but that last one I'm at a loss for. There's a patch of green platform-y grass under the ground in a map area nearish the start, but as far as I can tell that's just a bug resulting from mislayered textures for the nearby dead tree that's part of the same tile. There's also the log in the ghost area which, if it is moveable, I have no idea how to move.
I quite like the different movement options especially the air-hook uppercut thing, although that's presently useless lacking moving platforms not to mention a downwards aerial attack. The base run speed is a bit slow, and the pegasus dash hardly helps since you lose dash state when attacking, but you can quickstep backwards across maps pretty quickly if you really want to and I can put up with the slow pace mostly. It's most annoying when backtracking through previously explored areas looking for secrets, because although the movement is fun when dealing with obstacles enemies are quickly not a threat (except for the lack of healing options making even trivial damage annoyingly persistent if allowed to accumulate), yet still take a long time to deal with just because of the self-hitstun and inability to attack and move/dash and in some cases the elevated spawn rates. It really is a minor issue, though; the game is quite fun overall.
If there's a way to beat the boss without just tanking a bunch of hits, I don't know it, but tanking a bunch of hits worked fine. He's a bit tall to jump over without taking damage, and his attack where he briefly goes underground both doesn't have him underground for very long and doesn't have any way to trigger it that I can tell.
I had fun with the secrets so far, but would appreciate more. Like, it would be cool to have a secret area accessible from at least one of: the Pegasus feather room, the dash boots room, the secret hp up room near the mattock. Maybe a combat trial or an obstacle course or something.
Anyhow, thanks for making this and good luck on the next update.
Thank you! It sounds like you were really close to that 4th secret!
A lot of item rooms will be going away soon as the map is much bigger in the full version and items are spread apart. I wanted a way for everyone to try the items early in this small demo, sort of like a vertical slice of the full game. Adding combat trial is a good idea! I’ll definitely take into account more abilities to attack on the move, and I think one ability that’s already in the works will make you happy, it lets you burst forward even in air, like an offensive back-dodge, but forward. Oh, and did you know that you can also climb up onto jump-through platforms you’ve hooked onto from below by pressing up? You’re right on the money with using that ability in the future for floors that move or disappear/re-appear. I think it’s going to be good as a boss mechanic as well, a way to get out of the way when the floor is unsafe from an attack or maybe a lava flood? With the current boss, you can also force him back. Attacking him may not directly hurt him, but it pushes him out of the way until your target is clear. Just be ready to dodge when he starts to swing. His big throw attack also has a very important trigger. :) I bet you’ll catch it next time you beat him, now!
The log was just my idea of a spooky looking bridge, but I love the idea of being able to push/roll a log out of the way to open a new area! Thank you for all the great ideas and for playing! Every bit of feedback helps make the game even better. I love your ideas!
Still looking for that fourth secret. What I've found so far:
There's no light puzzles in the game as far as I can tell. I'd guess a light puzzle with the jack-o-lanterns to open the glitched grass floor if there was anything that could be a hint for it, but I'm not seeing anything.
You can up-hook the top of the screen in both ghosty forest rooms but not in other rooms. You can't crawl up after hooking in any of the spots I could reach, however.
The first ghost forest room, the one with a lot of ghosts, keeps playing ghost sound effects even after all the visible ghosts are killed. Perhaps there's one in a secret somewhere? You can hook the underside of the big block that divides the screen on the right, but again you can't climb up. The log isn't anything based on the last comment, but that's in the room, too. The crow in the boss room has sounds playing even when it's not there, though, so maybe this is similar.
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Hi! I was happy to finally have time to play the game. It was fun, although it felt a little like it was missing a hook... I don't quite know what. I don't want to come off as negative, but It just feels like it needs more of a "wow." Maybe there just needs to be more game, I dunno, I'm just a dude so it's very possible I'm just flat out wrong!
I took some notes while I was playing, so I'll add them here (please forgive the use of "pickaxe" instead of "mattock"):
(I understand any of the above may just be due to this being a demo, but felt it would be helpful to mention anyways.)
Please don't take the long list as being largely negative, I did have a good time, and I thought making the first boss not be a simple "keep hitting them" was cool, you had to pay attention to your surroundings! Plus, I felt the platforming besides the couple strict jumps was fun, the sort of go a bit forward to start at lower branches, then left and right to advance, very nice.
I look forward to seeing where you go with the game :)
Thank you!! This is all fantastic feedback. The menus in particular are a part of the game that are still evolving and changing, and don't get as much feedback.
I'm right there with you with those thorn bushes. They're actually listed here on this page in the "Future Features" section above as something I'll be re-drawing before the next build. I do think you'll be happy with some of the new the new sprite animation cycles I worked on this week for Naru:
Naru will now have the ability to attack in multiple directions on ground and in air. These abilities will be upgrades you'll find or learn as you go (which was the original intent, but they were left unlocked so you could try them out in the demo.) This way, you'll be taught to use them in the same way the Mattock gives you a little "tutorial-without-the-tutorial." That is, a chance to use the ability right away as you find it without forcing you read a lot of immersion-breaking text.
I'm always tweaking and fine-tuning the controls and overall feel of the game, so again, thank you for the valuable feedback! I hope adding more story and interaction with NPCs will help portray more of a hook and some extra charm to the game. The lost village is right around the corner, and will introduce shops, story, and more quests. I hope you'll give it a try in the near future!
Very nice demo! I have 3/4 secrets, but that last one I'm at a loss for. There's a patch of green platform-y grass under the ground in a map area nearish the start, but as far as I can tell that's just a bug resulting from mislayered textures for the nearby dead tree that's part of the same tile. There's also the log in the ghost area which, if it is moveable, I have no idea how to move.
I quite like the different movement options especially the air-hook uppercut thing, although that's presently useless lacking moving platforms not to mention a downwards aerial attack. The base run speed is a bit slow, and the pegasus dash hardly helps since you lose dash state when attacking, but you can quickstep backwards across maps pretty quickly if you really want to and I can put up with the slow pace mostly. It's most annoying when backtracking through previously explored areas looking for secrets, because although the movement is fun when dealing with obstacles enemies are quickly not a threat (except for the lack of healing options making even trivial damage annoyingly persistent if allowed to accumulate), yet still take a long time to deal with just because of the self-hitstun and inability to attack and move/dash and in some cases the elevated spawn rates. It really is a minor issue, though; the game is quite fun overall.
If there's a way to beat the boss without just tanking a bunch of hits, I don't know it, but tanking a bunch of hits worked fine. He's a bit tall to jump over without taking damage, and his attack where he briefly goes underground both doesn't have him underground for very long and doesn't have any way to trigger it that I can tell.
I had fun with the secrets so far, but would appreciate more. Like, it would be cool to have a secret area accessible from at least one of: the Pegasus feather room, the dash boots room, the secret hp up room near the mattock. Maybe a combat trial or an obstacle course or something.
Anyhow, thanks for making this and good luck on the next update.
Thank you! It sounds like you were really close to that 4th secret!
A lot of item rooms will be going away soon as the map is much bigger in the full version and items are spread apart. I wanted a way for everyone to try the items early in this small demo, sort of like a vertical slice of the full game. Adding combat trial is a good idea! I’ll definitely take into account more abilities to attack on the move, and I think one ability that’s already in the works will make you happy, it lets you burst forward even in air, like an offensive back-dodge, but forward. Oh, and did you know that you can also climb up onto jump-through platforms you’ve hooked onto from below by pressing up? You’re right on the money with using that ability in the future for floors that move or disappear/re-appear. I think it’s going to be good as a boss mechanic as well, a way to get out of the way when the floor is unsafe from an attack or maybe a lava flood? With the current boss, you can also force him back. Attacking him may not directly hurt him, but it pushes him out of the way until your target is clear. Just be ready to dodge when he starts to swing. His big throw attack also has a very important trigger. :) I bet you’ll catch it next time you beat him, now!
The log was just my idea of a spooky looking bridge, but I love the idea of being able to push/roll a log out of the way to open a new area! Thank you for all the great ideas and for playing! Every bit of feedback helps make the game even better. I love your ideas!
Still looking for that fourth secret. What I've found so far:
There's no light puzzles in the game as far as I can tell. I'd guess a light puzzle with the jack-o-lanterns to open the glitched grass floor if there was anything that could be a hint for it, but I'm not seeing anything.
You can up-hook the top of the screen in both ghosty forest rooms but not in other rooms. You can't crawl up after hooking in any of the spots I could reach, however.
The first ghost forest room, the one with a lot of ghosts, keeps playing ghost sound effects even after all the visible ghosts are killed. Perhaps there's one in a secret somewhere? You can hook the underside of the big block that divides the screen on the right, but again you can't climb up. The log isn't anything based on the last comment, but that's in the room, too. The crow in the boss room has sounds playing even when it's not there, though, so maybe this is similar.