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Ran d'Reille3 years ago (2 edits) (+1)

First stage took me three tries; second and third stage took me no retries, fourth stage took me ~4 retries I think. But I finally did it. Really took a while to get used to the control and the hitbox.

First, the good parts:

The graphics are top notch, especially the background. It's apparent the amount of effort put into this game.

The boss designs are awesome. Putting ominous overpowering boss right at the start -- love it.

The theme interpretation is pretty creative -- and I like the story with the ancient sanctuary.

And the music -- as expected. Esp. the one for the last boss is epic.

Kinda hard to believe you started somewhat late.

I can't overlook, however, the issues I had with this game:

  • The movement control... is the biggest complain I have with this game. It's way too slippery; and since it seems you are indeed somewhat aiming for a bullet hell with the amount of bullets there, in my opinion slippery control like this is a big no. Can't squeeze through tight gaps with this control y'know... which imo is one of the main funs of playing bullet hell games XD
    • Also... I have got a feeling there are some issues with the arrow keys control input. I found the WSAD control to be much more responsive; the arrow keys seem to sometimes fail to let me move diagonally.
  • I think it'd be more fun if the shooting attacks is a little bit more powerful... or at least give an illusion that it's more powerful than it looks -- for example by making the shot rate (much) faster, adding some enemies that are easily mowed, etc.
  • Minor issue: The wave attack. Since its bullets go up and down I don't think wave bullets should be deleted when going off screen vertically
  • Idk... but personally I find it just a liiittle bit annoying when a gigantic boss with gigantic area of denial can only be damaged in one specific spot with tiny hitbox :P. Just a suggestion: how about if you make the boss be able to be damaged anywhere but gets more damage when hit at the weak spot(s)?

Overall still a good game. Keep up the good work!

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ShibeyFaceGames3 years ago

Thanks for playing! Glad you were able to complete it, despite the issues. Also, thanks for the thorough feedback, it's appreciated!

Your at least the 3rd player who has mentioned the movement, so I guess it's time to accept that needs another look. I'm going to leave the hitbox as is though, as I'm really not going for true bullet hell. I've been referring to it as "bullet-heck". With the large health bar, and power ups healing the player, I feel like there's plenty of room for error. I've never played a bullet hell game personally, and was really going for the feel of a 90s era SHMUP overall.

The arrow key thing... I'm aware of that problem. I always recommend AWSD, but with other keyboard arrangements and settings, I feel like I'd get complaints if I took out the arrow keys. Googling around, it seems this is a hardware issue, with most consumer keyboards "locking" the number of inputs of certain buttons. Higher end keyboards may not experience this issue. Another solution is to use the mouse + arrow keys. I always use the mouse, though I realize this may not be every player's preferred input. Though I guess I'd have to rethink the dialogue advance button if I expect arrow keys + mouse.

Good catch on the wavy shot! I rarely use that one, once I was past testing it, so that problem slipped by me. I'll have to change how the bullets get culled.

For my Devtober project, I'm updating and expanding this with a new play-mode (a Camilla play-through) and three new stages for that mode... I'll see if I can address some of these issues in that update as well! I'll be posting it at the end of the month, before Devtober is over, but at the very end of MGGJ2 judging, as I don't want these updates to be considered on this jam's judging.

I hope you'll give it another try then!

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Ran d'Reille3 years ago (2 edits) (+1)

Not really complaining about the hitbox lol I do realize you are not aiming for Touhou; for the hitbox it just took me a while to get used to was all (since y'know... Bullet Hell games I play usually have really tiny hitboxes). I do think it fits your game well with the amount of bullets on screen

Hey that Devtober project sounds cool.

Just make sure precise control is possible the next time you make a SHMUP. Slippery control is very, very uncomfortable when playing SHMUP games -- and the more bullets there are the more necessary precise control is.

I think if you check the controls of the more normal 90s SHMUP games like Strikers 1945 (II), Raiden (I played Raiden II), G-Darius, Raptor CotS, etc., their movement schemes are usually either instantaneous speed (i.e. pressing a direction instantly gives you a certain speed) or at least very high acceleration/decceleration (from what I remember).

For further reference Touhou's (...which technically is a 90s SHMUP game since the less well known earlier games were released since 1996) control scheme is instantaneous but it has got a "focus" button for moving slowly for more precise dodging :P

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