Looped through the game twice, found it pretty fun, I think that the biggest threat the player can face is a vertical wall of enemies, mitigated a lot by getting the axe special attack. I didn't find myself strafing too often, only when dodging very close clusters of bullets. Anyway, it's got some nice visual and audio feedback, the sprites are readable and I didn't encounter any bugs, great work so far.
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RoboTemplar - Arena's itch.io pageComments
16 hours ago(+1)
>Looped through the game twice
A question for you: on second loop the rooms/encounters felt like replaying the same level, or were there different enough to be still enjoyable with a "novelty" pov?
Glad you enjoyed this demo, and ty for the feedback
16 hours ago(+1)
>In terms of difficulty, the combat feels very hectic but I managed to beat the entire demo without losing a single life. I essentially kept almost dying over and over.
i find v interesting that this demo was found easy by the majority of players. in someway this is very good, because then i can became "evil" on stage 3, like psikyo and cave games (lel)
>I think the game could be really good if it had more enemy types and more interesting upgrades besides flat stat increases. The familiar that eats bullets is a good example of an interesting upgrade.
that's the overall goal for this game. ty for this feedback
>Felt really easy, not because of gameplay (that was in a decent spot), but because I kept getting shields and 1-ups like crazy. Random enemies probably shouldn't drop those.
this first test was to see if the code works(lel). i made health and 1up very rare, but y it's something that needs to be fine tuned
>I didn't think to use the special weapons until I was like "wtf do these books do? Is there a button for them?" so maybe a quick control overlay
that's a mistake i noticed just after i've submitted the demo, sadly i always miss something. of course in the subw tutorial there should be a button tooltip, like the rest of the rooms -__-''
>At one point, I was instantly teleported to the next level because I happened to be at the exact space for a door as soon as those would have appeared.
you moved very quickly to the arena borders (where i place the exits) or an exit spawned in the center of the arena(where you pick ypur reward)? if it's the latter case, you noticd a bug and i'would like to know more
>And I still can't tell if the shot actually has an explosion range or not?
if you talk about the main atk, yes. it has a range after witch it explodes (in a little explosion); if you if an enemy, the explosion will be bigger
Regarding the instant teleport, if I remember right there was a layout where picking up the final reward wasn't in the center but offset. Seemed like what happened was final pickup picked up, switch to the four doors, RoboTemplar is touching a door, so switch to that level. It wasn't super common, only happening the once.
1 day ago(+1)
>game is hard as hell to not get hit in but the health feels too forgiving... so it's really difficult but too easy at the same time.
you think this is a good thing, or a bad thing?
>this really needs a little glossary of what every sub-weapon is and stuff like that
indeed
i think it's kind of a bad thing as it stands right now. i feel like the game would flow better if you just died more easily (so the stress of it being difficult feels reasonable since the punishment for failure would be high) ooor keep the current health but actually reward the player for not getting hit...
basically either punish mistakes more or reward perfect play more, or both
>I think it's a bit too easy now. I'm not sure I like how the secondary weapons work now, you get too many of them and the lunge seemed much better than the rest.
indeed. your opinion is in perfect line with the majority, so it needs to be fixed asap
>Also in the second tutorial you can't use the bomb if your health is too low, it should probably reset your health in the tutorial rooms.
ye i totally get you. so far im "not solving" that problem by giving you 99 lives; also on death you are 3s from that bullet wall
thanks for the feedback dud
2 days ago(+1)
Nice to see you again, friend. Here are some notes I wrote down as I played.
- I wish there was some audio in the main menu, I thought my audio was broken at first on behalf of the silence.
- I'm jumping straight in without reading or doing the tutorial.
- Beat the first room with ease. I like how the player handles, and the gun feels juicy despite its simplicity.
- No clue what the door symbols mean, I went with the green "B" room on a whim.
- I wish there was a way to aim down. I understand that this is likely a self-imposed limitation on your end, but still.
- Took some damage but finished the second room. Went for the cat buddy room next.
- Took more damage but still haven't died. The focus mode when holding space is pretty useful.
- Finished the third room, which was a health room, without taking any damage.
- Figured out how to use my secondary weapon with C. Oops.
- What does the cat buddy actually do?
- The green secondary weapon that launches a roller mine sucks, at least in this version of the game. I haven't tried the red weapon yet, but I can't see anything being better than the blue dash.
- Well, I beat the game. That was fun! Easy, I didn't die once, but fun.
- Went ahead and played the game again to find the red weapon. It's ok, but still doesn't measure up to the blue dash.
I had a good time. I think this could be fun, though I'm not sure how much you can realistically squeeze in terms of content. It feels like the game is already at a bit of a ceiling without introducing brand new mechanics, like items/buffs and whatnot. The blue dash is super busted, there is no reason to use anything else in the game. Hell, you get so much ammo that you don't even need to shoot after farming for a room or two. Keep it up, excited to see more.
>Nice to see you again, friend.
^^
- I wish there was some audio in the main menu, I thought my audio was broken at first on behalf of the silence.
noted. there is a low soundscape, but it's very low, and can cause confusion
- What does the cat buddy actually do?
in short it's an "easy mode" that can take an hit for you. if you check the comment under yours there is a detailed explaination about him
>about subweapons
I hear you. I personally like sword dash so much i thought to make it part of the base skillset. The basic parallel i can make is classic megaman vs X and vs later megas with the slide. I could still totally just make sword an actual base attack, but at that point everyone would just zip around like maniacs. Since it also has an aura that kills bullets on hit, it's just too good to not use.
About remote mine, i most porbably need to power it up, the easier route is to make it a big as fuck explosion that goes through walls.
About the overall subW design: i need to see how i can evolve them with this version of the game, any feedback is always welcome. My main design is/was: you can only shoot forward(as u noted, it's a limitation), and the sub will help you kill stuff up and down. Of course all sub can be useful only if the environment synergize with them. in a very maze-like level, sword could be not very good, but mine and axe could win. a good idea to explore wouls be "let's make some levels where sword is shit".
also consider, sword is best subw for sure, but a classic castlevania design is to make it more rare to drop (holy water).
>I had a good time. I think this could be fun, though I'm not sure how much you can realistically squeeze in terms of content. It feels like the game is already at a bit of a ceiling without introducing brand new mechanics, like items/buffs and whatnot
my idea for this new game is all about "content"; mechanics(traps/obstacles) that adds up and combo wth each other, items and powerups. Imagine it as a mix of hades and isaac. this first demo was to test if i could do "random waves" fun to engage, and the main loop gimmick (stolen from hades) of fighting and moving room to room while powering up. in short this was a main tests was to see if this design could gel with my stuff.
>Hell, you get so much ammo that you don't even need to shoot after farming for a room or two
well that's because i still havent coded-in a limiter for subw ammo ;^) ofc with that i'll also implement a powerup for it, like for hp
Thanks for playing and for your kind words dud.
2 days ago (+1)
>Maybe the pause after receiving damage or triggering the bomba should have some animation, visual clue that this is on purpose (at least I think it is, but it looks a bit like a performance drop).
i agree. in theory i should add a quick anim on both(ed, even just a changed sprite for .5s), but so far i have no idea of what kind of image to do. On the opposite side, it's better for gameflow to remain always in control of your chara, so even when hit u can move/shoot. So.... so far i'm in the "i'll solve this later" stage.
(your partner has a % to absorb bullets when you are hit, and you will take no dmg. his help get more probable when you are closer to death. in my mind he is a support that you can find only on the beginning stages, and works as a diagetic easier mode. the fine tuning of how much he should intervene to save your ass is proably too low, since most people don't even notice when he helps you)
ty for plyaing and commenting dud.
2 days ago(+1)
if you just walked through the grates, i have must misplaced something. ty for stresstesting it
also ty for compliments ^^
2 days ago (+1)
btw, it wasn't your fault about the door.
that room has a shitty flow, beacuse you enter, you fight in the right and then you should exit by goin up and back. I need to redisign that room entirely, since till that point every tutorial room is "go right".
thanks again
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