It looks like we have another Game Maker user here haha! I loved the game! Starting with the introduction, I found it really beautiful and engaging. It captured my attention in every aspect, from the animation to the composition and sound effects. The text also did a great job of providing all the necessary context. However, I noticed that at certain points, some of the text appeared slightly blurry compared to the rest. It didnât affect readability, but it stood out a bit.
The screen resolution is interesting, but I noticed that it cut off part of the fullscreen instructions in the bottom corner. This could be a bit problematic since playing in fullscreen makes the experience much better. However, since we donât start in fullscreen by default, I think this kind of instruction should be more centered or placed at the top, as the current position might cause some players to miss it depending on their monitor.
The art style was very pleasant—beautiful and quite charming. I liked the enemies; even though there wasnât a huge variety, each one had its own unique personality in terms of design and behavior. I also noticed that sometimes the basic enemies would collide with the planets (I assume theyâre planets?) and get stuck. Maybe using an A algorithm could help fix this issue, or perhaps an mp_potential_step to make the enemies avoid obstacles.
The difficulty level felt quite high—perhaps because we start at a relatively advanced stage already? At times, it was a bit frustrating to die without having a chance to react, particularly when enemies suddenly spawned at the edges of the screen without any indication that danger was near.
The aiming arrow design was great, but at first, it confused me a little—I initially thought it was pointing towards my objective haha! I later realized it was simply following my mouse cursor. In this case, I donât think the arrow is entirely necessary, as players will naturally focus on the target itself. I believe investing in the crosshair design rather than an indicator like this would be more beneficial. Since all attacks are long-range, the arrow would make more sense for melee attacks like dashes, where knowing the player's exact direction is crucial.
When picking up weapons, I would have loved an option to choose which one to keep at that moment. It seems that when we pick up a weapon (which automatically moves toward us), the other disappears, forcing us to change our strategy on the spot. Perhaps allowing players to keep a default weapon and a secondary one that could be used with the right mouse button would be a good solution.
I genuinely had a lot of fun playing this! You did a fantastic job. I wish you the best of luck in the jam and success as a developer!