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(1 edit) (+1)

Played it in Chrome on macOS just now. I couldn't get far enough to answer your balance questions, and the reason why is probably the most useful thing I can tell you, so I'll lead with that.

1. Keyboard input didn't register until I clicked inside the game canvas. I hit Enter on the title screen and nothing happened, twice. Once I clicked into the frame it worked immediately. A lot of people will read that as "the game is broken" and close the tab. A one-line "click here to start" prompt on the canvas, or auto-focusing the iframe, would fix it.

2. I then got stuck on the pause screen. It auto-paused (I assume on focus loss, which is good behaviour in itself), but pressing P didn't bring me back — I tried several times and stayed on PAUSE. Possibly the same focus problem biting again, but from the player's side it just reads as being stuck.

3. Two overlay strings collide. On that pause screen, "PUSH P TO RESUME" and "PLAYER ONE READY" render on top of each other and both become hard to read. Easy fix, and it's the first thing I saw when things went wrong, which is the worst possible moment for the UI to look broken.

4. The control list under the canvas is Japanese only, while the in-game title screen is English. Worth mirroring, especially because the Japanese line mentions A/D for movement and Z for fire — the English title screen only tells you arrow keys and Space. You're hiding your own accessibility options from English readers.

Everything I did see looks good, for what that's worth — the title screen with the enemy score table is a genuinely nice touch and immediately signals "this person knows the genre". The formation and the sprite work read clearly at that resolution.

Fix the entry friction and I'll come back and actually answer the round-one difficulty and weapon questions properly — I'd like to, the game clearly deserves a real playthrough.

Thank you so much for taking the time to play and leave such thoughtful feedback. I’m sorry the focus and pause issues stopped you from getting far enough to properly try the game, but your explanation was incredibly helpful. I’ll work on making the game easier to start, fixing the pause screen and overlapping text, and adding clear English instructions for all the controls. Your point that some players may assume the game is broken and leave is especially important, so I’ll make these improvements a priority.

I’m also really glad you liked the title screen, enemy score table, formation, and sprite work. That was very encouraging to hear. I’ll let you know here once I’ve updated the game, and I’d be very grateful if you feel like trying it again. Thank you again!

(3 edits)

Thank you again for the detailed feedback. I’ve now uploaded the updated build and published the v1.0.1 devlog.
I’ve addressed all four points you mentioned. 

  • The game now attempts to grab keyboard focus when it loads and whenever the canvas is clicked, and the title screen now says “CLICK HERE OR PUSH ENTER” so players know they may need to click first. 
  • The pause screen can now be resumed by clicking as well as pressing P, the overlapping pause and round messages have been fixed.
  • The controls below the game are now shown in English first with Japanese underneath. 
  • The title screen also lists A/D and Z. 

Thank you as well for the kind words about the score table and sprites. The score table was actually the first part of the game I built, so I was especially happy to hear that. 

If you have time to try the updated version, I’d still really appreciate your thoughts on the first-round difficulty and how the weapons feel once they begin stacking. No pressure, and thank you again for taking the time to give such useful feedback.