The vertical slice was an absolute JOY to play. I used to played rhythm games back in the day and this is such a nice evolution / divergence of the genre. There's an intriguing story and world, with plenty of characters I'm genuinely interested enough to engage with to learn more about what the hell is going on in this place (especially with all the cryptic dialogue). The MUSIC though is bloody fantastic and there wasn't a track I didn't genuinely enjoying listening to. I'd buy the OST for this in a heartbeat. Replaying battles was rewarding enough purely to listen to the music again. The visuals were great too and matched perfectly with the theme of the game.
I broke down my feedback into some rough bullet points below so hopefully these help with development! Otherwise amazing job overall - actually SUPER keen to play the full version.
Pros / Keep doing this:
- music is great. would 100% buy the OST - made replaying levels enjoyable just for the chance to hear the music again
- difficult progression was good. new obstacles introduced with each new fight was paced well. intro frog fight was a solid tutorial
- checkpoints were a godsend in the longer battles
- even when shit got crazy with a bunch of notes coming towards you it was relatively easy to adapt and go with the flow. Again the music telegraphed incoming attacks and pauses extremely well
- health is nice and forgiving but not TOO forgiving
- story / world is suitably mysterious. lots of potential to learn more about the world from random NPCs like the ones in the dance club. Feels like exploring the world and choosing certain dialogue options will lead to some interesting story paths
- the music tone-match puzzle was awesome and suited the game very well
- visuals are awesome - match the music perfectly. Seeing the enemy animations as they cast their notes was great. I'll admit I died a few times purely because I was enjoying watching their movements haha
Crits / suggestions:
- bop the player to the beat of the music
- different sprites for each lane position
- make each note light up the square tile that is underneath it as it passes over so it's easier to read timings. Was often difficult to tell when I was clear to jump simply due to the shape of the note graphic. If I can see how quickly a tile is being lit / unlit it'd be easier to read the note timing
- (might already be fixed) if you replay the ATM battle there's no way to forfeit and just go back to the overworld if you've already cleared the battle
- clearer boundaries in the overworld for movement / more definition to the world. I'm sure this is already in development but yeah just general more art assets in the overworld when exploring (although I do like the abundant use of empty black areas!)
- was able to tap my keyboard pretty well along with the beat of the music to avoid obstacles but sometimes it was a little off. Any potential to sync the player actions up more with the notes would be sweet
- the 3D model enemies were awesome but I'm on the fence if they fit the game overall? Either add more 3D elements into the game (battle / overworld environments) or commit to the 2D pixel art for the enemy encounters for consistency, otherwise they feel a liiiiittle bit out of place