I've beaten the demo again, I can't say too much about the differences in the overworld as I don't remember the old one too much. Exploration is pretty fun but having unique elements in areas would help a great deal - ancient ruins, very big trees, holes in the ground, bridges on top of the trees, you name it, anything like that improves greatly the exploration. Also, since you can gain water pistol, more areas before the first dungeon could be separated with lava. I'm not sure how "secret" you want to make that weapon but it's not necessary to finish the level and can open new way of traversal the overworld.
I managed to gather 5 extra space bags, grabbing enemies from behind is always fun, sword rebound arnoud walls is not ( I didn't notice enemies having the same problems), holding shift to thrust is kinda weird, also swinging could be faster (but then again maybe my dexterity was too low to notice the difference). Stamina was running too fast, please add a new plant that slows down the hunger, or at least a timed buff after eating supplies, as two drumsticks weren't enough to comfortably survive the dungeon.
For the most part this time I was eating just the basic plant, the fire resistant one I actually found after beating the dungeon boss, the exp after death was somewhere in between. *Maybe* linearisation of the tutorial needs some tweaking. Also I want to interact with the cooking mechanic more, so again - gimme more food!
Hey, thanks for playing Moku again. The aesthetic stuff is definitely coming along down the line. Been doing a lot of plant research to figure out what I need to make assets for. And yeah, I've been thinking about reducing base stamina drain in general, cause needing to eat after every fight is kind of a pain.
This game has come a great way since DD 42! In this iteration I was able to find the crafting items that allowed me to craft all the test armors, but I wasn't sure if there was more. I actually like the crafting progression system that persisted through death, it balances the loss of xp on death and makes the game always go forward, although it was a little cryptic at first. On that note there is a huge slump that's possible if you take your time or get lost and run out of stamina before finding the first food, I would die to an enemy with 5% stam, rez with 5% stam and couldn't whack bushes or attack more than once every 15 seconds. I would for sure place the first food a lot earlier to introduce the concept earlier and I guess place the second food where the first one was. The enemies are still their own challenge and the combat is hard, but I assume that is the idea so that's cool, however I really like the Hawaii theme you've coopted and I would love to see the enemies fit the theme a bit more. The equipment system is cool and has a good depth to it and the usable consumables are handy. Once last note is that, in many cases but especially blatant in the iron room, you can just grab items and ignore all enemies, which could be a strategy right, but I would consider locking certain items behind a cage that you need to kill all the enemies to unlock or something. Also why was there an item over the lava river if you can't jump it? Is it possible to jump it with higher stats? If so then put a sign that references that maybe. Overall cool stuff going on, I would lean even harder into the Hawaii stuff because its awesome! Look forward to more iterations and levels!
I would for sure place the first food a lot earlier to introduce the concept earlier and I guess place the second food where the first one was.
Moving the first food item might not be a bad idea. I'll take it into consideration.
however I really like the Hawaii theme you've coopted and I would love to see the enemies fit the theme a bit more
Yeah, there's a lot of art work that still needs doing, which has been low on the priority list for me as I work on improving the tutorial and figuring out other mechanical things.
Once last note is that, in many cases but especially blatant in the iron room, you can just grab items and ignore all enemies, which could be a strategy right, but I would consider locking certain items behind a cage that you need to kill all the enemies to unlock or something.
I had considered that, but for whatever reason chose not to do so though I can't remember why. In general I'm not a huge fan of forcing combat challenges outside of dungeons, because something about it feels off to me, but that's just a personal issue. I might change it.
Also why was there an item over the lava river if you can't jump it? Is it possible to jump it with higher stats? If so then put a sign that references that maybe.
There are 3 (4 if you count something basically impossible to figure out,) ways to get across the lava. One way is in fact to level up strength and agility, which will increase your dodge distance. Another way is to sprint dodge across, which has very tight timing but is possible without leveling. The third way is to find the water gun in the dungeon and use it to create lava rock to walk across. The 4th and impossible to find way is to cast the ice spell which will also create lava rock, which if you're wondering how to cast magic, it's not taught at all in the game yet. Something I greatly want to focus on in the game is having environmental challenges that can be surpassed in a variety of ways based on the player's tools or level, though there's only a few instances of that so far.
Once again, thank you very much for playing. I appreciate the feedback.
I figured there was a way, I just felt like you wanted the player to just jump the lava river and then I died and felt a bit cheated. I totally get the philosophy behind forced combat and if that is your stance then stand by it, I just wanted to give my thoughts based on my experience of course. I look forward to the new art and post tutorial content!
Rather inexperienced gam0r on the left, me on the right (gamepad)
Was quite funny to play as duo, bit more relaxed. Some points:
- Was confusing that we couldn’t craft what the other had already crafted
- Generally the outline on items is barely visible (e.g. also in the loadout menu), making it often unclear if a click works/worked
- Bit confusing that I see some kinda "shadow" of the mouse cursor on my screen in some menus
- Didn’t understand what the Sprint button was supposed to be on gamepad. Checked it out now in the bindings (it’s "Left Stick Button") and it works, fair enough. But on my pad at least it’s very hard to "press" the Stick at the same time as steering with it.
- Otherwise gamepad worked quite well and intuitively
- Footage was taken on Windows, but I tested in wine a bit and even the gamepad worked just fine in wine!
It was easy to get confused about the 2 screens, especially as there is no boundary line either. Specifically my partner had the problem, when accidentally looking at the right-side screen to control their character, that the mouse cursor was (obv) always treated as being to the right of their char, no matter at which side of their char they seemed to actually put it. So for a split-screen situation maybe it’s a good idea to confine the mouse player’s cursor to their screen, or else make it so that it works as expected no matter which screen the cursor is on, as long as the mouse player’s char is there. If you get what I’m saying.
About the reworked overworld I can’t say much, as I don’t remember the previous one clearly… Seemed to be similar… Maybe the old one was a bit more open? Larger and with more open spaces? But possibly it only felt tighter this time because of 2 players running around, and smaller because I already kinda knew the style. Anw. I really enjoy this exploring and finding things part. Didn’t play all the way to the end this time, as it seemed unchanged. But at least I found both maps this time.
Wow this is great! Thank you for giving the game another go with your partner.
Was confusing that we couldn’t craft what the other had already crafted
Understandable. Just like with all the resources, the way it works is once you have something you just have it.
Generally the outline on items is barely visible (e.g. also in the loadout menu), making it often unclear if a click works/worked
I could make that more visible probably. I'll look into it.
Didn’t understand what the Sprint button was supposed to be on gamepad. Checked it out now in the bindings (it’s "Left Stick Button") and it works, fair enough. But on my pad at least it’s very hard to "press" the Stick at the same time as steering with it.
Yeah I've been trying to figure out a better visual for that. Still thinking on it. That being said, with the gamepad, the default control is it's just a click.
Bit confusing that I see some kinda "shadow" of the mouse cursor on my screen in some menus
Oh yeah, gotta fix that.
It was easy to get confused about the 2 screens, especially as there is no boundary line either. Specifically my partner had the problem, when accidentally looking at the right-side screen to control their character, that the mouse cursor was (obv) always treated as being to the right of their char, no matter at which side of their char they seemed to actually put it. So for a split-screen situation maybe it’s a good idea to confine the mouse player’s cursor to their screen, or else make it so that it works as expected no matter which screen the cursor is on, as long as the mouse player’s char is there. If you get what I’m saying.
Yeah, good idea with the mouse constricting thing, I'll look into that. I'll also make it so a certain setting is on by default that puts a sort of color arrow on your character on your screen, making it easier to tell them apart when they're wearing identical armor and the like.
About the reworked overworld I can’t say much, as I don’t remember the previous one clearly… Seemed to be similar… Maybe the old one was a bit more open? Larger and with more open spaces? But possibly it only felt tighter this time because of 2 players running around, and smaller because I already kinda knew the style. Anw. I really enjoy this exploring and finding things part. Didn’t play all the way to the end this time, as it seemed unchanged. But at least I found both maps this time.
Overworld is larger but more linear. It used to be a lot more open and easy to get lost in.
Thank you very much for the long video, I appreciate it greatly.
Played briefly, looking to try out the "streamlined tutorial" but I guess that was an older change. I ran through the reworked overworld, but got some kinda bug where it did not register the food ingredients I picked up. But they also weren’t there anymore the next day.
Hey, just watched the video. Not sure what bug you think you ran into, cause everything was working just fine. You picked up one ingredient while playing, which was the Hāpu'u 'i'i, which means Hawaiian Tree Fern. The salt is considered a material, and is used for crafting a number of consumables at the crafting table. I can understand your logic in considering it an ingredient though. Thank you for playing, you gave me something to think about more.
But what about the Fresh Water? Didn’t that use to be a food ingredient? The crafting bench told me "you still need to find material to craft anything" that is why I thought I had found 0.
No, fresh water was never a food ingredient. You hadn't found enough things to craft anything at the bench. There was just one material you needed past that little cave that you barely missed to allow you to craft a sword. I think this all really is just me needing to find a better way to communicate some of this stuff, or maybe drop the materials that seem more like they'd be ingredients. Not sure.
Yea idk may have been an issue of me thinking I know the game from last time and thus being actually more retarded than a new player. Had a similar phenomenon with a repeat tester of my own game.
attacks are VERY slow, which makes dealing with multiple enemies annoying
also they don't really drop anything useful, which makes avoiding encounters altogether the optimal play
i explored until i touched some magma and died instantly. i guess it makes sense in hindsight, though i expected to take some fire damage. not being booted all the way back to the beginning.
Were you finding the leiomano slow to use, or the frying pan, because that's intended for the frying pan.
Yep, you're absolutely right about that. They just give experience.
Yeah, lava is dangerous. Can you tell me what you mean by being booted all the way back to the beginning?
Every ingredient and material can only be found once, including the meat. Were you having some sort of trouble that you felt the need to find more meat?
Yeah, something I've had trouble getting across is that once you find an ingredient or material you have it forever, but I also want you to be able to find more to "increase the quality" so to speak, giving you say, better buffs for food.
Ah, yeah you need to rest in the tents in order to make them your respawn point.
Hmm, were you using the leiomano while hungry? If you run out of stamina, especially while swinging a weapon, it can take a bit to regen that lost stamina. That's something I need to communicate better too, maybe.
This game is technically VERY impressive to me, but it seems like a disservice because I find the combat frustrating, getting stunned feels god-awful, and the enemies feel very strong to start. Also what the hell is going on? I figure I would know if I played far enough, but the paradox is that I'm so confused right off the bat I don't feel inclined to investigate, I just want to demand an answer.
Comments
I've beaten the demo again, I can't say too much about the differences in the overworld as I don't remember the old one too much. Exploration is pretty fun but having unique elements in areas would help a great deal - ancient ruins, very big trees, holes in the ground, bridges on top of the trees, you name it, anything like that improves greatly the exploration. Also, since you can gain water pistol, more areas before the first dungeon could be separated with lava. I'm not sure how "secret" you want to make that weapon but it's not necessary to finish the level and can open new way of traversal the overworld.
I managed to gather 5 extra space bags, grabbing enemies from behind is always fun, sword rebound arnoud walls is not ( I didn't notice enemies having the same problems), holding shift to thrust is kinda weird, also swinging could be faster (but then again maybe my dexterity was too low to notice the difference). Stamina was running too fast, please add a new plant that slows down the hunger, or at least a timed buff after eating supplies, as two drumsticks weren't enough to comfortably survive the dungeon.
For the most part this time I was eating just the basic plant, the fire resistant one I actually found after beating the dungeon boss, the exp after death was somewhere in between. *Maybe* linearisation of the tutorial needs some tweaking. Also I want to interact with the cooking mechanic more, so again - gimme more food!
I can't wait to see another areas!
Hey, thanks for playing Moku again. The aesthetic stuff is definitely coming along down the line. Been doing a lot of plant research to figure out what I need to make assets for. And yeah, I've been thinking about reducing base stamina drain in general, cause needing to eat after every fight is kind of a pain.
This game has come a great way since DD 42! In this iteration I was able to find the crafting items that allowed me to craft all the test armors, but I wasn't sure if there was more. I actually like the crafting progression system that persisted through death, it balances the loss of xp on death and makes the game always go forward, although it was a little cryptic at first. On that note there is a huge slump that's possible if you take your time or get lost and run out of stamina before finding the first food, I would die to an enemy with 5% stam, rez with 5% stam and couldn't whack bushes or attack more than once every 15 seconds. I would for sure place the first food a lot earlier to introduce the concept earlier and I guess place the second food where the first one was. The enemies are still their own challenge and the combat is hard, but I assume that is the idea so that's cool, however I really like the Hawaii theme you've coopted and I would love to see the enemies fit the theme a bit more. The equipment system is cool and has a good depth to it and the usable consumables are handy. Once last note is that, in many cases but especially blatant in the iron room, you can just grab items and ignore all enemies, which could be a strategy right, but I would consider locking certain items behind a cage that you need to kill all the enemies to unlock or something. Also why was there an item over the lava river if you can't jump it? Is it possible to jump it with higher stats? If so then put a sign that references that maybe. Overall cool stuff going on, I would lean even harder into the Hawaii stuff because its awesome! Look forward to more iterations and levels!
Hey, thanks for playing Moku again.
I would for sure place the first food a lot earlier to introduce the concept earlier and I guess place the second food where the first one was.
Moving the first food item might not be a bad idea. I'll take it into consideration.
however I really like the Hawaii theme you've coopted and I would love to see the enemies fit the theme a bit more
Yeah, there's a lot of art work that still needs doing, which has been low on the priority list for me as I work on improving the tutorial and figuring out other mechanical things.
Once last note is that, in many cases but especially blatant in the iron room, you can just grab items and ignore all enemies, which could be a strategy right, but I would consider locking certain items behind a cage that you need to kill all the enemies to unlock or something.
I had considered that, but for whatever reason chose not to do so though I can't remember why. In general I'm not a huge fan of forcing combat challenges outside of dungeons, because something about it feels off to me, but that's just a personal issue. I might change it.
Also why was there an item over the lava river if you can't jump it? Is it possible to jump it with higher stats? If so then put a sign that references that maybe.
There are 3 (4 if you count something basically impossible to figure out,) ways to get across the lava. One way is in fact to level up strength and agility, which will increase your dodge distance. Another way is to sprint dodge across, which has very tight timing but is possible without leveling. The third way is to find the water gun in the dungeon and use it to create lava rock to walk across. The 4th and impossible to find way is to cast the ice spell which will also create lava rock, which if you're wondering how to cast magic, it's not taught at all in the game yet. Something I greatly want to focus on in the game is having environmental challenges that can be surpassed in a variety of ways based on the player's tools or level, though there's only a few instances of that so far.
Once again, thank you very much for playing. I appreciate the feedback.
I figured there was a way, I just felt like you wanted the player to just jump the lava river and then I died and felt a bit cheated. I totally get the philosophy behind forced combat and if that is your stance then stand by it, I just wanted to give my thoughts based on my experience of course. I look forward to the new art and post tutorial content!
2p game https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2292687532
Rather inexperienced gam0r on the left, me on the right (gamepad)
Was quite funny to play as duo, bit more relaxed. Some points:
- Was confusing that we couldn’t craft what the other had already crafted
- Generally the outline on items is barely visible (e.g. also in the loadout menu), making it often unclear if a click works/worked
- Bit confusing that I see some kinda "shadow" of the mouse cursor on my screen in some menus
- Didn’t understand what the Sprint button was supposed to be on gamepad. Checked it out now in the bindings (it’s "Left Stick Button") and it works, fair enough. But on my pad at least it’s very hard to "press" the Stick at the same time as steering with it.
- Otherwise gamepad worked quite well and intuitively
- Footage was taken on Windows, but I tested in wine a bit and even the gamepad worked just fine in wine!
It was easy to get confused about the 2 screens, especially as there is no boundary line either. Specifically my partner had the problem, when accidentally looking at the right-side screen to control their character, that the mouse cursor was (obv) always treated as being to the right of their char, no matter at which side of their char they seemed to actually put it. So for a split-screen situation maybe it’s a good idea to confine the mouse player’s cursor to their screen, or else make it so that it works as expected no matter which screen the cursor is on, as long as the mouse player’s char is there. If you get what I’m saying.
About the reworked overworld I can’t say much, as I don’t remember the previous one clearly… Seemed to be similar… Maybe the old one was a bit more open? Larger and with more open spaces? But possibly it only felt tighter this time because of 2 players running around, and smaller because I already kinda knew the style. Anw. I really enjoy this exploring and finding things part. Didn’t play all the way to the end this time, as it seemed unchanged. But at least I found both maps this time.
Keep going!
Wow this is great! Thank you for giving the game another go with your partner.
Was confusing that we couldn’t craft what the other had already crafted
Understandable. Just like with all the resources, the way it works is once you have something you just have it.
Generally the outline on items is barely visible (e.g. also in the loadout menu), making it often unclear if a click works/worked
I could make that more visible probably. I'll look into it.
Didn’t understand what the Sprint button was supposed to be on gamepad. Checked it out now in the bindings (it’s "Left Stick Button") and it works, fair enough. But on my pad at least it’s very hard to "press" the Stick at the same time as steering with it.
Yeah I've been trying to figure out a better visual for that. Still thinking on it. That being said, with the gamepad, the default control is it's just a click.
Bit confusing that I see some kinda "shadow" of the mouse cursor on my screen in some menus
Oh yeah, gotta fix that.
It was easy to get confused about the 2 screens, especially as there is no boundary line either. Specifically my partner had the problem, when accidentally looking at the right-side screen to control their character, that the mouse cursor was (obv) always treated as being to the right of their char, no matter at which side of their char they seemed to actually put it. So for a split-screen situation maybe it’s a good idea to confine the mouse player’s cursor to their screen, or else make it so that it works as expected no matter which screen the cursor is on, as long as the mouse player’s char is there. If you get what I’m saying.
Yeah, good idea with the mouse constricting thing, I'll look into that. I'll also make it so a certain setting is on by default that puts a sort of color arrow on your character on your screen, making it easier to tell them apart when they're wearing identical armor and the like.
About the reworked overworld I can’t say much, as I don’t remember the previous one clearly… Seemed to be similar… Maybe the old one was a bit more open? Larger and with more open spaces? But possibly it only felt tighter this time because of 2 players running around, and smaller because I already kinda knew the style. Anw. I really enjoy this exploring and finding things part. Didn’t play all the way to the end this time, as it seemed unchanged. But at least I found both maps this time.
Overworld is larger but more linear. It used to be a lot more open and easy to get lost in.
Thank you very much for the long video, I appreciate it greatly.
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2291816761?t=1h2m34s
Played briefly, looking to try out the "streamlined tutorial" but I guess that was an older change. I ran through the reworked overworld, but got some kinda bug where it did not register the food ingredients I picked up. But they also weren’t there anymore the next day.
Hey, just watched the video. Not sure what bug you think you ran into, cause everything was working just fine. You picked up one ingredient while playing, which was the Hāpu'u 'i'i, which means Hawaiian Tree Fern. The salt is considered a material, and is used for crafting a number of consumables at the crafting table. I can understand your logic in considering it an ingredient though. Thank you for playing, you gave me something to think about more.
But what about the Fresh Water? Didn’t that use to be a food ingredient? The crafting bench told me "you still need to find material to craft anything" that is why I thought I had found 0.
No, fresh water was never a food ingredient. You hadn't found enough things to craft anything at the bench. There was just one material you needed past that little cave that you barely missed to allow you to craft a sword. I think this all really is just me needing to find a better way to communicate some of this stuff, or maybe drop the materials that seem more like they'd be ingredients. Not sure.
Yea idk may have been an issue of me thinking I know the game from last time and thus being actually more retarded than a new player. Had a similar phenomenon with a repeat tester of my own game.
I confused Fresh Water with Mashed Taro…
i enjoyed it more than last time.
attacks are VERY slow, which makes dealing with multiple enemies annoying
also they don't really drop anything useful, which makes avoiding encounters altogether the optimal play
i explored until i touched some magma and died instantly. i guess it makes sense in hindsight, though i expected to take some fire damage. not being booted all the way back to the beginning.
meat seems hard to find? i have only seen it once
Thank you for playing.
Were you finding the leiomano slow to use, or the frying pan, because that's intended for the frying pan.
Yep, you're absolutely right about that. They just give experience.
Yeah, lava is dangerous. Can you tell me what you mean by being booted all the way back to the beginning?
Every ingredient and material can only be found once, including the meat. Were you having some sort of trouble that you felt the need to find more meat?
oh i thought food was some kind of consumable given the hunger status. if it doesn't need to be replenished then one meat is fine.
i meant that i respawned on the beach, even though i unlocked other safe areas i thought were possible respawns
the frying pan and the leiomano felt equally slow to me to be honest
Thanks for the reply.
Yeah, something I've had trouble getting across is that once you find an ingredient or material you have it forever, but I also want you to be able to find more to "increase the quality" so to speak, giving you say, better buffs for food.
Ah, yeah you need to rest in the tents in order to make them your respawn point.
Hmm, were you using the leiomano while hungry? If you run out of stamina, especially while swinging a weapon, it can take a bit to regen that lost stamina. That's something I need to communicate better too, maybe.
This game is technically VERY impressive to me, but it seems like a disservice because I find the combat frustrating, getting stunned feels god-awful, and the enemies feel very strong to start. Also what the hell is going on? I figure I would know if I played far enough, but the paradox is that I'm so confused right off the bat I don't feel inclined to investigate, I just want to demand an answer.
-note, stamina gone noise would help