Hello! I bought and finished the game (3h 35m total playtime). Overall, I really enjoyed it! The characters are delightful, and I enjoyed all the unique ideas you added, from the balloon bounces to the secret passcodes. You clearly put a lot of care into this, and that shows. While I do think $5 is a bit ambitious in its current state, I’m honestly impressed by what you’ve created. I think Bumbleline is a noteworthy project, and you should be proud of finishing and publishing a full game!!!
My Biggest Feedback (no spoilers): The final boss felt kinda overly punishing due to three things, and I think some adjustments could make the fight feel more fair while staying challenging:
- The boss moved very quickly and far horizontally, much farther than in your longplay video. It felt like I was chasing after the boss at varying levels of speed, so during phase two I often ended up bumping into the arms a lotttt. A slower boss, or perhaps a way to stun the boss would be good.
- The hitboxes felt inconsistent or hard to read (the red tie area felt very small and sometimes when I attacked at the red tie area, it would not count it as damage. I had trouble finding which part of the boss was damageable. Having the boss telegraph his attack in advance, and perhaps coloring or showing where the hitboxes are would also be useful.
- I wasn’t able to hover like you did in the longplay video (I had to press W and S a lot which made attacking with X very difficult), and I often drifted too high and lost sight of the boss. Improving the hovering control or adding a ceiling that keeps Bumbleline below the boss’s head would help greatly. Also having the background move down while Bumbleline moves up could help show the movement better, as I noticed that the background seemed to stay still no matter which direction I moved which made it confusing to figure out where I was.
I appreciate your longplay video which genuinely helped me when I got stuck on a puzzle (especially the poop wall at the 35:41 minute mark lol I didn't realize I had to shoot da poop).
Favorite moments: I really liked the ice level, especially the slide → jump → balloon bounce section (15:45 minute mark in your longplay). It felt smooth and satisfying like a Sonic level. I also loved the spinning platforms in World 4, the bouncy purple goo, and the interaction in World 5 with Hairmachine (34:20 minute mark). Also, the animated cutscenes were very charming and fun to watch, and that effort really stood out to me because I think animation takes a very long time to make (at least for me). My biggest sadness is that I never got to see an ending cutscene or picture of all the friends I saved such as the ladybug and Hairmachine; that made me realize how amazing it was to play the game :D Overall, this was a creative and heartfelt project, and I think every game you make will sharpen your skills even more especially as you learn new things. Thank you for making Bumbleline!