Pretty awesome so far, although I'm a little annoyed the locals don't react to my no-killing-humans run so far, though I know it's a lot to ask. I do think it would be neat if the sentient enemies retreat or call back up after a bit, though, because, like, if basically 100% of legion members are cool with me when they are dying I can't imagine they'd be that hellbent on throwing themselves at me after the third time I parry their shotgun blast without attacking them.
Also I spent like 2 hours trying to find a way to kill the static guy in the opening area so as to not lead him to Meridian but I couldn't figure one out. I did trap him down an elevator shaft in the bottom left, at least, but oh well.
I think the enemy infighting and passive activities are my favorite things about the game so far, but the combat is also pretty good. Haven't figured out how to fire my pistol, but probably I just don't have bullets. Besides, blasters are crude implements. The beam saber is a far more elegant weapon, of a much more civilised age.
You need to lock the mouse pointer to one screen. I have a two monitor set up and sometimes when my character is close to the edge of the screen my mouse moves over to second monitor and the game switches to the desktop when i LMB click. I like the game, the graphics and being able to interact with NPCs. Even being able to ally with them (although whether or not they come to help when you need it later idk- would be nice if there was a hotkey for that and they materialize and help fight- but only once. So you need to choose when is the best time).
But i am not a big fan of having to restart from checkpoint if you die and often over and over. What about adding an easy mode (perhaps difficulty level can be changed anytime during the game), where you respawn where you died, or nearest safe point if it was a drop when roping over a chasm for example. But the player will only get half of their BM back or something like that.
Those players who love as it is wont be affected in normal mode and im sure you could add a hard mode for players who have beaten the game. Perhaps also for those who have beaten the game- perhaps they can unlock some new weapons and clothing that they can use on their next new game play through.
Thanks for the feedback Daza. I'll definitely fix the two screen mouse pointer error, I generally work with just one so it's never come up for me.
While I do want the game to be more accessible and forgiving, I still think challenge is essential component for Biomass to be what it is. However, there are definitely some parts that are somewhat unfair and a few areas that could use more shortcuts or checkpoints, I will definitely consider that.
I was actually considering an idea where you could restart once from where you died at the cost of all your BM, but your post is making me consider making it perhaps a half of your BM penalty.
Implementing difficulty modes is very difficult. Balancing is hard enough without a choice of difficulty, especially as a one man developer. And in general I am not a big fan of difficulty modes. I prefer to integrate things like that into gameplay like wearing the red uniform in the east tower, and the way most bosses have an easier, sometimes hidden, way to defeat them.
But yeah, I appreciate you took the time to share your thoughts and will consider them in future updates.
An incredible game - brought it right after release in steam. Trully small gem in indie-gaming. Wish your team luck and success in all possible and future projects.
Hey, I was wondering if you had something in the way of cover art for the demo? (it doesn't need to be demo specific or anything). I have the demo added to my steam library, and would love to make it blend in by giving it a cover rather than the blank grey it is now, and I have no art or editing skill myself.
Hey, sorry for the late reply, hadnt noticed it before today! I've uploaded the actual steam library cover that I did when I initially created the steam page, please excuse the quality it was more of a placeholder before I get around to doing the actual thing (probably should do that soon)! Anyway, you can get it here: https://imgur.com/a/c24n2bn
Maybe one day! Initially started development on my old macbook pro (running on bootcamp, but nevertheless!). Once I have everything done and dusted with the game might dig it out from the abyss that is my storage area at home, and see if I can get it running there.
Cool game even though i didn't play it to much because the time's to late now and i have to sleep , but i did enjoy the beginning and the pixel art is good too i would give 7/10 for the art style , and maybe 7.5/ 10 for the gameplay. I will definetely complete this demo to descover the game well, nice job !!
Hello. I really liked the game's aesthetics. Storyline also feels intruiging and I'm looking forward to try the full version.
The only bug I encountered was somewhere after revealing the reset-world-man in tunnels. All buttons and checkpoints became non-interactable. Fix that but exiting and starting the game again.
Hey Alex, thanks for reporting the bug! The reset world man is a demo exclusive thing but I'll have a look at the code for interacting with interfaces to see if theres a potential bug that could affect the final game.
Hello! I just joined Itch.io and Biomass is the first title I've downloaded.
I love the art style and combat mechanics such as sword clashes and dodging. I was concerned that there wasn't a jump button but I found it helped "ground" the experience if you will. I do wish there was some sort of "map" feature to help me get my bearings a bit better though.
Thanks Andrew! I am considering implementing a map, a few people have requested it, but I am trying to design the world to not really need it... I think it will make more sense in the final game.
I can respect that. As a suggestion though perhaps you could enable the player to view a map of the current area via the checkpoints? In any case keep it up!
Well done on totally breaking the game haha it took me a while to figure out how to fix it, will definitely need to think of a better game for the games release.
But for now, run the registry editor (you can find it by tapping the window key and typing registry editor). Once there, open HKEY_CURRENT_USER and then SOFTWARE. Within there, find the folder 'FinalScene' and delete it. That should reset the input to defaults!
Hey, sorry to hear about that. I think the arrow keys and the enter button on the keyboard should always operate the same way despite bindings - if you manage to get into the gameplay, open the menu up, go to controls, and on the bottom click on reset to default and you should be ok.
If that somehow doesn't work, you can find the save data in the following path "C:\Users\{YourComputerUserName}\AppData\LocalLow\FinalScene" (Replacing {YourComputerUserName} with the profile name you logon to windows with). Delete the BiomassDemo folder and that will clear out all your saved data.
Sorry, I think I didnt give you the right info last time! To reset the controls, run the registry editor (you can find it by tapping the window key and typing registry editor). Once there, open HKEY_CURRENT_USER and then SOFTWARE. Delete the folder FinalScene, and the controls should be back to default!
Cool game! When I first clashed with the beam swords I got pretty hyped.
My only personal gripe is I definitely think bullets should be avoidable by either rolling or crouching. Its collision box doesn't reflect its visual size.
Thanks bdon! The bullets should be dodgeable in terms of if it doesnt hit your collision mask it wont hit you, its just that the invincibility frames dont apply for them during a roll. A crouch should definitely avoid it, as should a roll if it doesn't physically hit you. I will review the collision masks to try to make it more accurate.
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Pretty awesome so far, although I'm a little annoyed the locals don't react to my no-killing-humans run so far, though I know it's a lot to ask. I do think it would be neat if the sentient enemies retreat or call back up after a bit, though, because, like, if basically 100% of legion members are cool with me when they are dying I can't imagine they'd be that hellbent on throwing themselves at me after the third time I parry their shotgun blast without attacking them.
Also I spent like 2 hours trying to find a way to kill the static guy in the opening area so as to not lead him to Meridian but I couldn't figure one out. I did trap him down an elevator shaft in the bottom left, at least, but oh well.
I think the enemy infighting and passive activities are my favorite things about the game so far, but the combat is also pretty good. Haven't figured out how to fire my pistol, but probably I just don't have bullets. Besides, blasters are crude implements. The beam saber is a far more elegant weapon, of a much more civilised age.
You need to lock the mouse pointer to one screen. I have a two monitor set up and sometimes when my character is close to the edge of the screen my mouse moves over to second monitor and the game switches to the desktop when i LMB click. I like the game, the graphics and being able to interact with NPCs. Even being able to ally with them (although whether or not they come to help when you need it later idk- would be nice if there was a hotkey for that and they materialize and help fight- but only once. So you need to choose when is the best time).
But i am not a big fan of having to restart from checkpoint if you die and often over and over. What about adding an easy mode (perhaps difficulty level can be changed anytime during the game), where you respawn where you died, or nearest safe point if it was a drop when roping over a chasm for example. But the player will only get half of their BM back or something like that.
Those players who love as it is wont be affected in normal mode and im sure you could add a hard mode for players who have beaten the game. Perhaps also for those who have beaten the game- perhaps they can unlock some new weapons and clothing that they can use on their next new game play through.
Thanks for the feedback Daza. I'll definitely fix the two screen mouse pointer error, I generally work with just one so it's never come up for me.
While I do want the game to be more accessible and forgiving, I still think challenge is essential component for Biomass to be what it is. However, there are definitely some parts that are somewhat unfair and a few areas that could use more shortcuts or checkpoints, I will definitely consider that.
I was actually considering an idea where you could restart once from where you died at the cost of all your BM, but your post is making me consider making it perhaps a half of your BM penalty.
Implementing difficulty modes is very difficult. Balancing is hard enough without a choice of difficulty, especially as a one man developer. And in general I am not a big fan of difficulty modes. I prefer to integrate things like that into gameplay like wearing the red uniform in the east tower, and the way most bosses have an easier, sometimes hidden, way to defeat them.
But yeah, I appreciate you took the time to share your thoughts and will consider them in future updates.
An incredible game - brought it right after release in steam. Trully small gem in indie-gaming. Wish your team luck and success in all possible and future projects.
Thanks so much :)
hi im from turkey. i think verry good game. I wish you continued succes
Thanks for the kind words :)
Really Amazing game, Art style and story telling suck you in immediately
hey bfar re-downloading this game again, I had to delete it to free up some space.
Hey, I was wondering if you had something in the way of cover art for the demo? (it doesn't need to be demo specific or anything). I have the demo added to my steam library, and would love to make it blend in by giving it a cover rather than the blank grey it is now, and I have no art or editing skill myself.
Either way, hype for the full release!
Hey, sorry for the late reply, hadnt noticed it before today! I've uploaded the actual steam library cover that I did when I initially created the steam page, please excuse the quality it was more of a placeholder before I get around to doing the actual thing (probably should do that soon)! Anyway, you can get it here: https://imgur.com/a/c24n2bn
Thanks a bunch! You're too hard on yourself, it looks great! And I'm sure whatever you end up using will look fantastic, like the rest of the game
mac version ?
Maybe one day! Initially started development on my old macbook pro (running on bootcamp, but nevertheless!). Once I have everything done and dusted with the game might dig it out from the abyss that is my storage area at home, and see if I can get it running there.
not bad kiddo
Thanks Jaden :)
Cool game even though i didn't play it to much because the time's to late now and i have to sleep , but i did enjoy the beginning and the pixel art is good too i would give 7/10 for the art style , and maybe 7.5/ 10 for the gameplay. I will definetely complete this demo to descover the game well, nice job !!
Thanks SabiGames, hopefully the full release will be 10/10 worth ;)
Hello. I really liked the game's aesthetics. Storyline also feels intruiging and I'm looking forward to try the full version.
The only bug I encountered was somewhere after revealing the reset-world-man in tunnels. All buttons and checkpoints became non-interactable. Fix that but exiting and starting the game again.
Hey Alex, thanks for reporting the bug! The reset world man is a demo exclusive thing but I'll have a look at the code for interacting with interfaces to see if theres a potential bug that could affect the final game.
Hello! I just joined Itch.io and Biomass is the first title I've downloaded.
I love the art style and combat mechanics such as sword clashes and dodging. I was concerned that there wasn't a jump button but I found it helped "ground" the experience if you will. I do wish there was some sort of "map" feature to help me get my bearings a bit better though.
Keep up the good work!
Thanks Andrew! I am considering implementing a map, a few people have requested it, but I am trying to design the world to not really need it... I think it will make more sense in the final game.
I can respect that. As a suggestion though perhaps you could enable the player to view a map of the current area via the checkpoints? In any case keep it up!
i uhhh, may have accidentally bound interact to my down key. this completely broke the game and i cant navigate menus, have resorted to reinstalling.
EDIT: didnt work
Well done on totally breaking the game haha it took me a while to figure out how to fix it, will definitely need to think of a better game for the games release.
But for now, run the registry editor (you can find it by tapping the window key and typing registry editor). Once there, open HKEY_CURRENT_USER and then SOFTWARE. Within there, find the folder 'FinalScene' and delete it. That should reset the input to defaults!
Thanks for letting me know about this issue :)
I fixed it already, thanks for replying though! Since i didnt get very far I just deleted the entire folder, not just the demo one. Great game!
Hi, I changed the controls and now I can't play the game. Is there a way to reset the game? Uninstalling doesn't help.
Hey, sorry to hear about that. I think the arrow keys and the enter button on the keyboard should always operate the same way despite bindings - if you manage to get into the gameplay, open the menu up, go to controls, and on the bottom click on reset to default and you should be ok.
If that somehow doesn't work, you can find the save data in the following path "C:\Users\{YourComputerUserName}\AppData\LocalLow\FinalScene" (Replacing {YourComputerUserName} with the profile name you logon to windows with). Delete the BiomassDemo folder and that will clear out all your saved data.
Sorry, I think I didnt give you the right info last time! To reset the controls, run the registry editor (you can find it by tapping the window key and typing registry editor). Once there, open HKEY_CURRENT_USER and then SOFTWARE. Delete the folder FinalScene, and the controls should be back to default!
Se ve bien, a probarlo, luego te lo califico ;D
Gracias, avisame como te va! :)
Cool game! When I first clashed with the beam swords I got pretty hyped.
My only personal gripe is I definitely think bullets should be avoidable by either rolling or crouching. Its collision box doesn't reflect its visual size.
Thanks bdon! The bullets should be dodgeable in terms of if it doesnt hit your collision mask it wont hit you, its just that the invincibility frames dont apply for them during a roll. A crouch should definitely avoid it, as should a roll if it doesn't physically hit you. I will review the collision masks to try to make it more accurate.