This is a really good looking game with compelling upgrade and progression systems that unfortunately falls very short in the gamefeel department, which is a shame because had you gotten it right, this would be a smash hit
I think my biggest question is why the map scrolls *so* far? I dont know if you ever do this, i didnt get far enough, but i imagine enemies placed at the complete edge of the map would be just awful to fight - it would take a lot of scrolling to see where your shot landed. I assume that you push the gameplay in that direction because of just how far the catapult can shoot: it is *very* powerful, and fine adjustments are very, very difficult due to how powerful it is. Fighting anything at mid range felt like straddling a very, very thin line between launching 0.1m and the entire map; there didnt feel like much room for precision here, which is a shame.
Level 2 was particularly frustrating - it seems *very* precise. placing demands of precision on the player with imprecise controls (why is it so easy to undershoot???) is a recipe for disaster honestly - if your game was any worse presented i wouldve quit there and then, but you'd built up just enough goodwill for me to push through that major moment of friction.
The main issue that made me want to stop playing was just a lot of clunk that i'll list below
- Sometimes i'd lose and have to restart the level, and i *never* figured out why. I assume there's some kind of counter? but i dont know where
- The tutorial doesnt play automatically - you have to click the "help" button in order to see it. it should really have played by itself
- The tutorial only seems to cover the *very* basics of "click to shoot the catapult". idk
- the "ammo" was quite obviously from an asset pack to me, and not integrated amazingly. Why is there a woman swaying her hips stood in a catapult? Sure, we can launch people as ammo, but why are they happy about it?
- The lore tab was,,,, presented in a way where i doubt anyone read it. It'd be better split up and trickled throughout the game
- Effects felt very inconsistent - they often just wouldnt work? Poison seemed consistent, but the chain lighting one only sometimes activated and I never saw the effects of magic arrow
- On my second playthrough, level 2 bugged out. The clear only registered on my 5th success.
- and for the second time - the catapult controls were so, so finnickly. They need significant changes to feel good IMO.
I do see some of these concerns addressed on the jam page; Inconsistent effects mightve been partially due to your system where you get +1 effect per shot (which i dont love, but dont have much to say about), though that doesnt explain why i never saw the magic arrow do anything. This isnt nescessarily a bug with the upgrade itself - it might be a deficiency in VFX.
The ammo counter, too, seems to be based on the number of total effects you have, but again that system was never conveyed to me through gameplay. I intentionally never read the jam/itch page because i want to judge games on how they tutorialise, and i dont think your game did a the best job in that department (though you tried - which is way more than most aha)
This sounds very negative, but the core of the game is very compelling! Your systems are very interesting, and i genuinely wish they were packaged alongside a better-controlling catapult so i could experience them more