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matte20 hours ago (1 edit) (+1)

What I really liked:

  • the amount of polish! With so many UI effects it felt like a commercial game at times
  • amazing music and overall sound design (hi Ménure! ¦3), with contextual effects switching 
  • a lot of cool features and abilities, great job implementing so many of them!

And let me try to explain my experience in reverse chronological order (it will make sense, hopefully!)

With my last try, I was able to follow the bird, collect all the pickups and upgrades (that was a shame to use the sword only once), and finish the game by getting some "return the color" ability that was just a flashlight.

The previous time, I realized that you can only stick to the wall while in a zero-gravity zone. Sticking to the door breaks controls, and you can only fix it by shooting in some direction and hoping you'll stick to a wall soon. Unfortunately, I couldn't make it, and was left out of bounds.

On the previous one, I was trying to collect all the pyramids, and was hit by a closing door while trying to leave the room. That led to the character floating out of bounds forever until suffocating in the no-oxygen zone. I discovered that resetting the level only resets some of its parameters, breaking others (the bird appeared again, but zero gravity never turned on).

Earlier, I decided to explore the no-oxygen room, and was very surprised to find the charging ability and the bird there. I guess this is how you were supposed to discover them.

Before that, I figured out how the color-eating ability works, but the charge attack didn't work anymore. Should I not eat any color for it to activate? I got stuck on the bottom floor again, but the bird never appeared. Color-eating ability does not seem to work on other colors, though, which is confusing.

On my first play, I fiddled a bit with controls. It was nice to have the charge shot available from the beginning, but it didn't seem to have any effect on the left door. I went down and was able to lock myself in the bottom room by jumping from the elevator. Then a bird appeared, unlocked the door, and turned into a boss. After it was defeated, the light turned off, and the gravity changed with a little tutorial box that disappeared the moment I pressed something, so I got stuck there in the dark, unable to pick up the magical battery (the only thing that seems to be active in this room). The only thing I could do was to slide left or right (completely forgot about the aiming or charge attack by this point, as they were never needed).


I think, you could make your life easier and the game better by removing some of the features and shifting the polishing focus a bit from UI to gameplay, but I can totally see the appeal to challenge yourself in making all of that ¦3

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Matt Chandler16 hours ago (3 edits)

Thank you for all the valuable feedback!  This is start of me prototyping a personal project and I'm definitely finding out what parts worked and what parts didn't.  I wanted to really embrace the space setting by dynamically using zero gravity, lack of oxygen, and electricity as ways to help shape player progression.  It ended up being more work than expected and a month was less time than expected.  Now that the core is done, but needs refinement, I'm hoping to have a better and longer showing for Super Metroidvania Month in May!

When I was playing Pearl of the Deep I appreciated that you used water to gate player progression similar to how I want to use lack of oxygen and zero gravity.  Your game is really great!  

The player character can only absorb red energy, I plan to make that more clear.  I'm happy to hear that you falling out of bounds resulted in the player dying, it's a nice side effect of the space setting.  The zero gravity room you're intended to use the charge shot to power on the door on the right to exit, I will make sure the future zero gravity tutorial room is better.  I think expecting the player to charge shot the door to exit is a bit too much and I should instead make something like a hole in the ceiling that leads back up to a floor with gravity to teach it.

Do you remember which door closed on you to knock you out of bounds?  The doors should not close until the player moves far enough away from them, but I bet if you leave its trigger but then return back fast enough it can close on you.  I'll make sure to add an extra check when the door starts to close to make sure the player didn't come back.  

I think a number of the issues you faced are actually a side effect of the charge shot not being present.  Having it is what triggers the bird to appear, and you cannot escape the zero gravity section without it.  I'll get this ironed out.

Thank you again for the detailed feedback, it helps me a ton!


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