itch.io

Oh wow, you responded quickly this time!

Anyway, about the teleporter level, I think the easiest band-aid solution would be to dig a hole in the ground before the finish line and put a new IN teleporter in there that leads back to the third painting's room. I went back to check, and all other rooms have their own IN teleporters that (eventually) lead to previous rooms, effectively allowing the backtracking I'm asking for (even if unintentionally sometimes); the only exception is the goal room. If you're feeling generous, you could maybe even add an extra room in the top-right of the level for the teleporter to stop by first before sending the player back to the third painting's room; that way, players who already have the paintings but are curious will get a small bonus instead of just being sent back.

By the way, since the Snow Queen abruptly summons hazard snow around her after she finishes teleporting, I think the teleportation-effect snow should be widened to cover that entire attack area instead of just the spot where the boss is spawning. Maybe you could even have some flashing bomb-snow appear there that's harmless at first but "explodes" when the hazard-snow appears. 

Oh, and maybe have some warning for the boss's stalagmites, too.

Also, I know you said you don't want to overdo it with the stronger powerups, but I gotta admit, I'm a little disappointed that each boss room doesn't give you a different one; the Snow Queen just gives you the same whip as Patient Zero. Like, not even the long whip instead? I don't think you'd have to worry about the long whip reaching past the hazard snow, so it wouldn't make the fight that much easier (it may even mean the stalagmites don't need a warning since you'd be far away enough that the first one or two would be the warning), but oh well. I wouldn't mind if you didn't take this suggestion.

(edit: at least the long whip wouldn't make the fight be nearly as easy as the Reinforcements' flame cannon makes that fight; one charged flame drained basically all of its health in seconds. In fact, I suspect that this world as a whole is easier than the previous two; this might need to be the new world 4 and Caldera Keep moved to world 6. Admittedly though, my main issue with Caldera Keep was the blind jumps that you may or may not fix later, whose absence might put it back down in difficulty.) 

EDIT: I was thinking about the inventory mechanic some more, and I realized: because you can only use an inventory item in the overworld, it's effectively not much different than just going back to a Reinforcement. This suggestion might require too much overhauling for this game, but for the sequel, I recommend letting the player use inventory items within the levels, but counterbalance this by having fewer powerups throughout the game in the first place. That way, there's more of a risk/reward system because if you keep dying on a hard segment within a level, you can try to use one of your now-much-more-limited inventory items to help you out at the cost of maybe not having it later when you might need it more. Plus, it would justify stuff like the original Dismemberment Ward's second painting because it would be rewarding players for keeping the right item in stock rather than punishing players that didn't go in with the right item equipped in the first place. Oh, and it would provide more incentive to buy powerups from the store, something I almost forgot was a thing.

Hey, I think one of us isn't fully understanding the other. I wasn't saying you should design the section to FORCE the player to use ice; I was saying that an obvious series of floating enemies that can't be jumped on would be a better way of subtly conveying your intentions, as opposed to a single enemy that CAN be jumped on and a platform that just barely can't be reached from bouncing on said enemy. In the second chandelier level, the second time the game requires ice for non-Matts without traversal powerups to reach a painting, you use one of those electrified black sphere enemies, and that's a much better clue than the ghost cat since, as I said, they can't be jumped on safely without freezing them, but the platform visibly can't be reached otherwise. All I'm asking is for a similar clue to be implemented in Hellfire Mountain.

Anyway, I've beaten the game and gotten all the keys, and to reiterate: I think the game is good overall; decent graphics, good humor, fun gameplay, solid level design, and the hints for missed keys are also just as helpful as I was hoping they'd be, even if said hints are a bit out of the way. I just have a few final points of feedback:

1) There's no cat claw powerup in Unstable Footing Underside, so the only way to get the key is to bring the power in from elsewhere. Once again, I feel the need to point out that all other worlds' keys can be gotten using the powers within each of their respective levels (and that this would be a non-issue if Inventory items could be used within levels--even if only at checkpoints). Also, I think you should add one more coin to the bottom of that coin trail that leads to the Underside's key.

2) I know now that the long whip was taken by the Rich Reaper, so I'm not sure what a good whip replacement would be for the Snow Queen or Dan Maku. However, I do think some of their patterns could use some clearer tells: when Mr. 44 is about to stomp, have it move upward for a split second, and likewise, right before the Rich Reaper dashes to the other side of the arena, have him move backwards for a split second. Also, instead of the Rich Reaper's melee attack appearing all at once, have each purple arc appear one after the other.

3) When a zombie is coming out of the ground, there should be some indication of this happening on the solid tile the zombie is coming out of, because the zombie itself appears behind the player and can result in a cheap hit in the dark levels.

4) The notes in the final world are well written, but I'd appreciate if they appeared in (or at least quickly moved to) a less-obtrusive part of the screen, such as the top or bottom--or better yet, have them appear as standard text boxes that pause the game until the player pushes a button.

5) You did a great job at introducing the shadow ghosts by having the player fall into that gap and having the shadow ghost float by above right afterward. Unfortunately, the first static level (with the gibberish name) does not do a good job of introducing the shadow hands because the ledge looks safe to fall off...right until you do so and crash face-first into the enemy you didn't see. My recommendation is to have the player fall down a one-tile-wide vertical shaft (so there's no room to move left or right), then have it drop the player into a left/right split path except the shadow claws are right there beside the player.

6) A couple more typos: in the ending, Matt says "a ethereal" instead of an ethereal, and one of Jason's lines mentions "asbesthos" (there's not supposed to be an h in asbestos).

7) Personally, I was disappointed that the keys only unlocked more playable characters instead of postgame levels, but I guess different players value different things.

8) The final boss's large downward laser should have a bit more warning since it covers almost the whole arena. Maybe, instead of just having her float there, have the laser instantly show up but expand slowly for the same amount of time she spends waiting in the game's current build. EDIT: For another clue, you could have the laser's slow expansion rate also slowly speed up.

9) Speaking of the final boss, I found the spinning sword weapon to be rather unreliable at destroying the boss's bullets, and I also found that the bomb weapon made it much more clear when the boss suddenly becomes invulnerable while still pretending to react to damage. Would you consider tweaking the boss's pattern so that the bullet spiral has more frequent but smaller gaps that can be slipped through without destroying any bullets, then swap the given weapon for the bomb and move the spinning sword to the world 6 or 7 boss?

10) Is there an alternate ending? If so, are there any in-game hints on how to get said alternate ending? I already got all the paintings and notes. 

EDIT: Couple more awkward phrases in the bestiary: Court Mage has "they did the correct choice" when the more natural way to phrase that is "they made the correct choice," and Water Balloon Girl has "water balloons is" instead of are. Oh, and Soul of Art says "it once were" instead of either "it once was" or, depending on what you were going for, "they once were."