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Hello and welcome to Feedback Quest 9! My name is Hythrain, and I'm one of the hosts for this lovely event! I'm also one of the streamers, so both the game and this feedback are being done live! If you want to see the see the VOD, let me know and I'll link you to it when it's uploaded to YouTube!

I'm not someone who grew up with Beyblades, but I always knew what they were and thought they were a cool concept. So seeing a game like this was honestly really cool for me. I also immediately fell in love with the style of the game, with all of its dirty jokes. I also loved how you even worked that humour into the "build" of the tops, referring to parts as body, waist and heel. That said, I do need to open with this: you should change the name. While Blade Baes is a really great name, I could absolutely see this coming up as a copyright thing due to how similar it is to Bey Blades. I always advise people to steer clear of copyright issues because large corporations like Takara and Hasbro.

Right off the bat, the gameplay is really fun. Having this sort of control over a spinning top is really cool. While it took me a moment to get used to controls, it wasn't long before I was just rocking it and wasting opponents. I especially was kicking ass with Didi, who I found would just outlast everyone thanks to her ability to regain spin. On the flip side, I was struggling with Miyu due to her having a much slower initial spin (and a bit of confusion over how her primary skill worked due to not remembering what I read when I went through all the characters). I'll outright say that the only character I didn't try in some way was Reina, so I can't comment on her gameplay.

In terms of the gameplay, I can already see that this game is going to be rather challenging to balance. Like I said, Miyu felt really hard to use even when I knew her abilities, despite the fact that she's rated as having the same learning curve as Didi. I do think Miyu could use some more spin, or at least maybe a way for her bouncing to recover some. In fact, I think every character should have some way to recover some spin just so it doesn't feel as hopeless if a player falls behind.

I also think a larger arena would be a good idea. By this I don't mean shrink the size of the tops. Rather, keep them the same (or even make them a touch larger) and make it that the bounds of the arena go outside the screen. That way, you can do more than just 2 additional opponents.

Speaking of opponents, I think every run should begin with a single opponent for one reason: so the player can learn that all opponents have names, descriptions and quotes. I sometimes started with two opponents, and when you do that you don't get to actively see all of this information as easily when it's just one.

One thing I'm also hoping will be a thing is more characters. From what I can tell, each character is built around a specific stat. What you could do in order to have more characters is create more variance between stats such that you can have some characters who are highly specialized in a single stat while others are above average in two stats. I'd love to see some characters from other parts of the world, especially from certain nations that I find can get under represented in video games.

The last major thing I'd like to cover is to suggest trying to limit how far the mouse cursor can move while in the game. This could be harder when it's a web build, but I'd love to see it that during a match the cursor can't go too far beyond the arena itself. That way, a player can't panic move their mouse far outside of the arena.

From here, everything I can talk about is more nitpicking than solid feedback. However, for the sake of wanting to see this game get really good, I'm still going to include it all.

First, the artwork. You already put this in the start up so I know it's going to be changed in the future. However, I think that this being done ASAP would be really good for the game's promotion. It's already a lot of fun to play, so the sooner the AI artwork is gone the better it'll be. Also, Miyu has six fingers on her left hand. XD

Second, this could be a me thing but I am NOT a fan of Didi's voice. Maybe it's because I heard it over and over at the start of every round for some reason, but her voice sounds muddy and uninteresting. I know she's a goth, but I've heard goth people speak with more energy. I think she'd be better by having more energy in her lines but then having her lines just feel more goth-like.

Finally, I'd love to see the visuals for the tops improve. This game is obviously a 2D game and this could be hard, but I feel like just seeing the topside of... well, a top just feels a little visually boring, even with the fun designs. I'm not sure how you could improve this, mind you. Maybe a thing where, as you make sharp turns, you can see the top "tilt" and see the heel poke out a bit? Not sure. This isn't a big deal, just something I think could be cool.

That's it from me. Great job on the game! If I could download it to play off browser, I 100% would because this is fun!

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First of all, thank you so much for hosting the event, playing my game, and taking the time to write all of this out. I definitely want to see the VOD, so please link it whenever it’s ready!

You’re also one of the first people to really call out the dirty jokes and how they’re worked into the game, so I appreciate you noticing that. And yes, Blade Baes is definitely sailing in some potentially treacherous trademark waters lol. I’m keeping tabs on it and still figuring out what to do there. For now, I mainly wanted a name that immediately communicated what the game was about and got people curious enough to try it, while I make sure the game itself is actually fun and worth pursuing.

Didi is absolutely broken right now, by the way lmao. I’m glad you tried nearly everyone because all of that character feedback is extremely valuable. Funnily enough, around half of the things you mentioned have already been changed or are being addressed in the latest build, so it’s reassuring to see someone independently arrive at the same conclusions.

The single opponent for the first fight is a really good call. I think that would make the opening less overwhelming while giving players a better chance to learn the enemy personalities, names, descriptions, and quotes. Then, if they keep playing, we can open things up into the larger battles afterward.

And yes, more characters are absolutely foundational to the idea. I kid you not, my notepad already has over three dozen character concepts representing a lot of different countries. I love the international representation in games like Valorant and Overwatch, so I’ve definitely stolen a little inspiration from them there.

Good call on Didi’s voice too. I literally replaced it today because it was starting to annoy me as well. The repetition certainly wasn’t helping either.

On the artwork and AI usage, I completely understand the concern. The current alpha is partly about validating whether people actually enjoy the idea before I pour my own money into it. I have no problem investing in my own game and replacing the placeholder artwork as it develops, but I also don’t want the prototype to have fewer features, less personality, or weaker presentation than I can reasonably give it right now. Also, yes, Miyu’s bonus finger has been noted. 😂

The tops and arena presentation are something I’ve been thinking about a lot too. In fact, I’ve recently been experimenting with a 3D version of the battles while keeping the existing gameplay and HUD. I’m not deciding anything officially yet, but honestly, it’s already looking pretty sick. If you want to try that experimental build, let me know.

And hearing that you’d actually download the game to keep playing it is genuinely one of the most encouraging things you could have said.

Again, I really appreciate the time you put into both playing and giving such thoughtful feedback. I’m looking forward to the VOD, and I’d also love to connect outside of itch if you’re up for it.

Discord: @beatbaes