Ok, so first of all.. I LOVED the game, the idea was simple but the implementation, game design and boss designs were crazy :var:
Now most of the stuff Ill complain about be just nitpicks as the game is already very well made!
- The fall speed, you already mentioned the problem, so wont drag along that one :var:
- While talking about the movement, this wasnt THAT big a problem at all, but nonetheless i want to mention it. The walking felt just a bit too quick, like i had many cases where i just walked into spikes or slipped off of platforms
- Also when changing screens, i think the player movement should stop, cuz lets say i dash into the next screen and it has a pit close to the start :var: Ig you know where this is going, but it was frustrating when you cross a screen just to miss the checkpoint and slip over the edge
- Varying difficulty of screens, most screens were pretty easy to finish, I loved that before every ability you unlocked, there'd be a screen you might need to back track if you didnt already get the ability (Also another thing that whenever i needed to backtrack, it wasn't hard to figure that out, Id say those screens were very well designed to tell the player that they were missing something without outright stating it). But especially in the final area, some screens towards the end did feel a bit too hard. Ngl, the hard ones are a mixed bag for me, I usually hate dying like 500 times, but just finishing the thing after that makes it even more rewarding. So ig the game provided variety :var: there were some very easy screens and then their were some VERY hard screens
- For the boss's moveset and how they select their moves, instead of just randomly picking a move, id like it more if they had a weight system for the moves in the set, cuz as you already know, the random picking system CAN cause the same move to be picked quite frequently. Tbh i didnt notice this as much in the final boss as she had a larger moveset with varying styles. But it was much more noticeable in the 1st boss fight.
Speaking of boss fights, the first 1 was fun, but getting 1 move where it just spat some slime balls in a row just cheesed it FOR me :wah:. Other than that, the hitbox and the hurtbox of the boss was also kinda weird.
Like the back part of it while ramming wasnt part of the hitbox but when it rotated to face the player after the ram, iirc, the collision came a bit forward (as the rotation wasnt an animation and the collision also just popped a bit ahead). So, if you were close to the boss when it was NOT facing you, you were fine, but as soon as it, the front body HAD the collision and you were suddenly inside it. It just became a bit hard to guess how close you could get to the boss
The second one was interesting, i liked the ranged attacks as in the boss was like a mage, but it felt too easy without any cheese required
The third one.. Omfg i LOVED that fight, the variety of moves(ALL of which were really good!), the length.. it was perfect, down to the last minute detail. Well maybe im exaggerating a JUST a little bit
2 things which kinda made it annoying were
- It kept moving ahead very slowly, that combined with the small attack range of the player which required us to be close to the boss was bad combination. Like I needed to be really close to attack but the boss moving forward required me to also distance myself pretty quickly
- The attack indicators, right before attacking. When doing the slime/fireball attack, the particles and it flying back made it obvious to what was about to come, but for the mele attacks, the boss just did like a shrug animation which was either the same or just similar to other animations and then attacked pretty quickly. This gave less time to react, I could say that this was intentional but the 2 ranged attacks not following that pattern makes it look unintentional :var:
But that doesnt mean at all that i didnt enjoy that final fight, it was literally peak. The way it started made me feel like how am i even gonna beat that thing, but as i kept on trying, i kept getting better at predicting what it was gonna do
But i DID kinda start to cheese it as in, Id just stay away from the boss and easily dodge the range attacks. And when it did the ram attack, it took way longer to recover than other attacks (which I really liked at start as that attack was kinda quicker and thus made the boss vulnerable for longer) but with the double jump, its VERY easy to dodge and so, i just waited for the boss to do the ram attack, got loads of hits in and repeat. Tbf i dont think this is a full on cheese but a pretty viable strat to make the boss easier
Alr, so for the other stuff, the artstyle was simple but well made, the color pallette was good and the music fit in very well, but i think the amount of juice you managed to stuff in really made a difference, the sfx, the wobble, the particles, not to mention the variety of enemies, bosses and 3 whole areas.. All of it really elevated the experience!
I seriously cant believe the amount of polish you managed to pack in this game. This does NOT feel like it was made in 9 days, so seriously hats off to that dedication, you took a simple idea and made it really enjoyable with clever level design and cool bosses :comfy:
Most of the stuff i criticized was just what CAN be added/worked on, as you know, you cant really expect anyone to make a perfect with years of work, let alone 9 days :var: But you did MORE than a solid job!
Keep up the great work! :comfy: