This is pretty well made in that the movements are just right. The camera is handled pretty well. The controls are intuitive and the explanation at start is good.
The boss after the drop is difficult to figure out however. I didn't know what to do there.
Well made but seems to hew too close to Castlevania. Unless you are trying to appeal to hardcore Castlevania fans who just want more of the same. For anyone else, it's going to be difficult to make the case that your game is more worthwhile than just playing the original.
- In options menu I would suggest to ask player for confirmation of changes instead of instant changes. Feel somehow wrong that way.
- Also, I don't know how about character shaking during walking on stairs - is it on purpose, or is it some bug? (Another thing when it comes to shaking - https://i.imgur.com/qoJhSG7.png - when I happened to be there after dying, when I was trying moving to right, it felt like some clanky shaking. )
I don't know what else to say. I'm just impressed, because you are doing really good job. Keep on going, man!
Second stage felt suddenly like 500% of first stage difficulty, so it felt like too much. I gave up on moving platforms fragment, where there are archers and skeletons on top. It felt like too much. But don't get me wrong. For sure you shouldn't make game easier, but if you targeting not only into old castlevania players, but for totally newbie players too, then just try to do something in-between, so player will be able to learn some tricks and stuff.
- Music was great. It felt dynamic, a bit stimulating, but wasn't disturbing gameplay. Made me feel like playing on old console, which is nice feeling (good thing you have made gamepad controls).
- I'm assuming that it's just castlevania mechanic, but personally, I don't like that falling mechanic (for example, when you are going in direction of stairs, but will fall if you won't press down near them).
Well, I've played your game at last, but before you will read that comment, be aware that I've literally never played Castlevania before, so I'm for sure not your target. Or at least that's how I felt while playing.
Part 1:
- First thing - game feels solid. Not buggy, not clunky, mostly everything seems to be working, how it should be.
- Difficulty is a bit unbalanced for me (maybe because I didn't knew mechanics already, when I started playing?). At first it was super easy, like "come on, jump over here, kill that guy, you are the best". Then first boss happened to be. He was tough, just like boss should be, but as a newbie player I felt like I wasn't prepared. Every other enemy before was super easy to dodge/kill, when boss suddenly was super fast in comparison (it was ok, but sudden rush without warning felt a bit cheap).
- In the (I think) second section of the first (Cave) stage it's not possible to go down the stairs of what seems to be a passable segment - the character just shakes back and forth.
- Mechanics are still very solid overall, but stairs feel too sticky and take too much priority - especially in the tower section of the Hell stage I often found myself trying to duck or use the alt weapon, but instead unintentionally interacting with the stairs and taking damage. Perhaps their sensitivity should be tweaked.
- I feel the section after the Tower in hell stage is a bit of an unfun romp with the same short moving platform passage - enemy pattern repeated a bit too many times.
Comments
This is pretty well made in that the movements are just right. The camera is handled pretty well.
The controls are intuitive and the explanation at start is good.
The boss after the drop is difficult to figure out however. I didn't know what to do there.
Well made but seems to hew too close to Castlevania. Unless you are trying to appeal to hardcore Castlevania fans who just want more of the same. For anyone else, it's going to be difficult to make the case that your game is more worthwhile than just playing the original.
Part 3
- In options menu I would suggest to ask player for confirmation of changes instead of instant changes. Feel somehow wrong that way.
- Also, I don't know how about character shaking during walking on stairs - is it on purpose, or is it some bug? (Another thing when it comes to shaking - https://i.imgur.com/qoJhSG7.png - when I happened to be there after dying, when I was trying moving to right, it felt like some clanky shaking. )
I don't know what else to say. I'm just impressed, because you are doing really good job. Keep on going, man!
Part 2:
Second stage felt suddenly like 500% of first stage difficulty, so it felt like too much. I gave up on moving platforms fragment, where there are archers and skeletons on top. It felt like too much. But don't get me wrong. For sure you shouldn't make game easier, but if you targeting not only into old castlevania players, but for totally newbie players too, then just try to do something in-between, so player will be able to learn some tricks and stuff.
- Music was great. It felt dynamic, a bit stimulating, but wasn't disturbing gameplay. Made me feel like playing on old console, which is nice feeling (good thing you have made gamepad controls).
- I'm assuming that it's just castlevania mechanic, but personally, I don't like that falling mechanic (for example, when you are going in direction of stairs, but will fall if you won't press down near them).
Well, I've played your game at last, but before you will read that comment, be aware that I've literally never played Castlevania before, so I'm for sure not your target. Or at least that's how I felt while playing.
Part 1:
- First thing - game feels solid. Not buggy, not clunky, mostly everything seems to be working, how it should be.
- Difficulty is a bit unbalanced for me (maybe because I didn't knew mechanics already, when I started playing?). At first it was super easy, like "come on, jump over here, kill that guy, you are the best". Then first boss happened to be. He was tough, just like boss should be, but as a newbie player I felt like I wasn't prepared. Every other enemy before was super easy to dodge/kill, when boss suddenly was super fast in comparison (it was ok, but sudden rush without warning felt a bit cheap).
- Knockback cancelling mechanic is brilliant.
- Death screen is a nice touch.
- In the (I think) second section of the first (Cave) stage it's not possible to go down the stairs of what seems to be a passable segment - the character just shakes back and forth.
- Mechanics are still very solid overall, but stairs feel too sticky and take too much priority - especially in the tower section of the Hell stage I often found myself trying to duck or use the alt weapon, but instead unintentionally interacting with the stairs and taking damage. Perhaps their sensitivity should be tweaked.
- I feel the section after the Tower in hell stage is a bit of an unfun romp with the same short moving platform passage - enemy pattern repeated a bit too many times.
- Second boss was awesome.