Thank you for the detailed feedback and playing through the demo!
funnily enough, the thing that hooked us for this game was the audio settings menu 'n the fact it had real-time visualizers to show you how loud or quiet that particular channel was. (and just the settings in general displaying what they're affecting, rather than just text giving you a vague idea of what it is changing)
I'm glad you like that aspect of it. I want everything to be as visually interesting as possible, even if it's just something like a settings menu.
it does have afew issues though, mostly with visual clarity/eyestrain problems with the player mech, mostly in more grey/beige environments (i.e. the first mission) since the colors blend together so well it becomes hard to distinguish where you are when you're stood still.
This has been a pretty common complaint from players. I'm still trying to find a way to have more varied/colorful environments where enemies and the player stand out while retaining the overall muted desert aesthetic. It's a difficult thing to balance, but hopefully I'll have it sorted out.
same with weapons being way too strong or way too weak for what you need them for. (though the progress report does show that's being fixed so this is really only a problem with the current version) but the grenades seem to be fitting into their own niche, though the incendiary, from our experiences, tends to out-perform the H.E. grenade more oft than naught.
At the moment while all weapons are unlocked, the plan is to have different arms dealer characters who you purchase them from; plus different types of missions where excessive collateral damage will actually be punished so as to incentivize using less destructive weapons sometimes. I think the very standard H.E. grenade will be a lot more useful in those types of levels.
music is currently only for the menu, bay, and mission select screen so missions tend to be very silent. which tends to make the places you fight feel very "dead" for lack of a better term, which if it's intentional then it sets the mood really well 'n adds a sense of tension. but if not then it makes things feel far too empty despite the fact that you've turned half a city block into swiss cheese via a minigun, attempting to kill some fodder and a heli at the same time.
Eventually stages will have music added in. I know right now things can feel pretty quiet/dead even with the slight stage ambience in the background. I've just been struggling with trying to figure out what the gameplay tracks should actually sound like, honestly. I'm still looking for a composer since I don't think I'll be able to compose the combat tracks myself.
the melee, though, in our experience, tends to go unused alot since getting close to enemies is really not good when they can just shred you to shit at close range with, y'know, their bullets. outside of maybe the worms/grubs since it seems to one-shot them but that's a gamble due to the fact they come in hordes. hopefully it finds a place in the kit in the future.
Different melee options are still planned. Some have suggested a charge/shield function with it too, and I think the plasma slash will just serve as the basic level 1 attack.
all 'n all it's just a really good game, minor issues here 'n there but that's to be expected. 'n we had a relatively fun time playing through what's available currently. damn good job so far, keep up the good work mate.
Thank you! I really appreciate it.
(apologies if this sounded overly negative, that was far from our intentions with this.)
Not at all, no worries. This kind of feedback and criticism is invaluable to me, thanks again!