How Chonky is this cat compare last one? This cat has the Garfield chonk,
What do you want do want to see? I want to see the weapons actually kill enemies more efficiently. Having to shoot a tiny animal over and over was a bit annoying and weird.
What flaws do you see? I wasn't able to figure out how to set the turrets on the white spaces. I kept right clicking, but no dice.
Are the Shot gun, Pistol and rifle balanced? Not at all, I think they should do way more damage from what they do now. I think all of them should have the ability to kill the small animals in 1 or 2 kills, and then the bigger the animal/enemy, the more ammo needed to kill.
I was unable to spend all the money in order to see the Easter egg. Not sure how to spend it all in a quick way.
Nice over all improvements! I love the enemy and cat art style and animations!!
How Chonky is this cat compare last one?
Definitely chonkier. An absolute unit. Could move a little faster but otherwise he's perfect.
What do you want do want to see?
I think a little grace period before enemies start spawning at the beginning of the game would be really helpful. I was caught off guard and had to scramble to figure out the controls and everything. Labels for the upgrade screens would also help, I couldn't tell if I was upgrading the cat or the turrets, initially. A tutorial/control screen would be really helpful.
What flaws do you see?
I couldn't place turrets on many of the spots nearest to the castle. I wasn't able to upgrade the turrets, if I clicked the plus by the upgrade I wanted it just opened another turret upgrade menu. It was hard to tell where both the character and towers were firing and if they were hitting anything.
are the Shot gun, Pistol and rifle balanced?
I was unable to switch weapons so I couldn't test the other types of weaponry. The default weapon was pretty good once you got about 30-50 levels of damage on it.
I think it's too Chonky. Cat can't move fast enough to defend the castle.
What do you want do want to see?
I definitely look forward to the different weapons mentioned.
What flaws do you see?
I don't think the scroll to switch weapons is working.
are the Shot gun, Pistol and rifle balanced?
Compared to how fast the enemies are and how easily they access the castle right now, I think the starting weapon is not powerful enough. I couldn't test all of the weapons because the scroll switch was not working for me.
I like the progress on the level. What's going on is much clearer than before. I like the UI, though it's a little difficult to see the yellow on white Gold text.
Does the character feel sluggish? Is it fine for the character to feel slow if upgrades will eventually make the character feel better?
The character feels much to sluggish, even with the idea that he will be able to move faster eventually. It feels like there is no way to get to an area and place a tower before enemies are able to get to the base.
Enemies:
Can you see the game becoming too difficult? If so how do you think we should balance it?
I can see it getting overwhelming fast if enemies are able to spawn from almost any directions. If the player moved faster out of the gate and did more damage it seems like it would give a lot more understanding of the game and what I should be doing.
Are there too many enemies? How many unique enemies do you think there should be?
There are too many enemies spawning right away and I think they have too much health for the damage that the player does at the start even with many upgrades. The number of unique enemies is spot on though. I thought it was diverse and each had its own little mechanic. Perhaps as you progress through the game they will slowly start to appear or after a certain amount of time.
Tower defense side:
Turrets:
What upgrades to the turrets do you want to see?
Is the firing speed good for the amount of enemies?
How many unique Turrets do you think there should be?
How many Turrets per X path squares of path should there be?
Are the turrets’ sliders easy to use?
Enemies:
Is the pathing good for the Enemies?
The Pathing is great and feels very natural. They move predictably in a good way.
What kind of improvements should the Enemies have?
I think they have way too much health starting off the game
Cat side:
Cat:
Is this cat chonky enough?
Absolutely
When shooting with the main cat do you see any improvements? If so, what are they?
I miss the 45 degree movement of the character. However I love the design of the cat. Very cute. VERY CHONK.
Is the movement of the cat coherent?
Yeah he moves in a normal understanding way. For a cat with a gun.
How are the cats movement?
Way to slow at first even with the idea that he will gain speed overtime.
Does the character feel sluggish? Is it fine for the character to feel slow if upgrades will eventually make the character feel better?
It does seem sluggish at times but it really depends on how the final scope of the world will feel.
Enemies:
Can you see the game becoming too difficult? If so how do you think we should balance it?
Really depends on how enemies will be
Are there too many enemies? How many unique enemies do you think there should be?
It does seem a bit overloaded but if you can place turrets then it shouldn't be that big of a deal just when you are by yourself its a bit overwhelming
Tower defence side:
Turrets:
What upgrades to the turrets do you want to see?
Increase in attack speed, damage, new animations
Is the firing speed good for the amount of enemies?
Have an upgrade for it.
How many unique Turrets do you think there should be?
3-4 would be fine
How many Turrets per X path squares of path should there be?
2-3
Are the turrets’ sliders easy to use?
They are easy to use just not intuitive
Enemies:
Is the pathing good for the Enemies?
Pathing seems pretty good I didn't really see any glaring issues with it
What kind of improvements should the Enemies have?
different models would be interesting
Cat side:
Cat:
Is this cat chonky enough?
cat is chonky lol
When shooting with the main cat do you see any improvements? If so, what are they?
Is the movement of the cat coherent?
the movement and how the image moves around seems pretty good.
How are the cats movement?
We are planning to add these in the future how do you think they would impact the game?
Gold and items to pick up, level boss
Gold and items would be a nice addition I love having gold to upgrade stuff.
Does the character feel sluggish? Is it fine for the character to feel slow if upgrades will eventually make the character feel better?
- Yes, the character definitely feels sluggish but I guess it would be fine if upgrades eventually make the character less sluggish as the game advances.
Enemies:
Can you see the game becoming too difficult? If so how do you think we should balance it?
- It doesn't seem too difficult.
Are there too many enemies? How many unique enemies do you think there should be?
-It doesn't seem like there are too many enemies as of now. Unique enemies would make the game interesting for sure but I don't know if I am in a position to tell how many unique enemies there should be.
Tower defense side:
Turrets:
What upgrades to the turrets do you want to see?
- It would be nice to see where the turrets are firing.
Is the firing speed good for the amount of enemies?
- I couldn't tell for sure as I didn't see where it was firing.
How many unique Turrets do you think there should be?
- Again, I'm not sure if I'm in the position to make that decision.
Are the turrets’ sliders easy to use?
- I'm not sure if it helped. I didn't see much difference when changing the numbers in the sliders.
Enemies:
Is the pathing good for the Enemies?
- It seems okay but I'd like to see them more spread out.
What kind of improvements should the Enemies have?
- Enemies seem to die immediately once they're hit by bullets, maybe the unique ones could be harder to kill?
Cat side:
Cat:
Is this cat chonky enough?
- Looks chonky enough. Chonkier the better!
When shooting with the main cat do you see any improvements? If so, what are they?
- It was hard to tell where the cat was shooting. Seeing where the bullet is going could help.
Is the movement of the cat coherent?
- Compared to the enemies, the cat's movement seems slow.
How are the cats movement?
- Could be a bit faster.
Overall, a great job! I can't wait to play the refined version.
Does the character feel sluggish? Is it fine for the character to feel slow if upgrades will eventually make the character feel better?
-As it stands right now, the character does feel slow, though the view of the game makes it difficult to understand exactly how fast the character is moving. I think some animation could compensate for this, but I would be careful about making it so slow that it becomes frustrating.
Can you see the game becoming too difficult? If so how do you think we should balance it?
-I don’t think difficulty should be an issue, unless there are too many enemies to keep track of
Are there too many enemies? How many unique enemies do you think there should be?
-I don’t think there are currently too many; maybe six or seven different types?
What upgrades to the turrets do you want to see?
-Maybe area of effect attacks?
Is the firing speed good for the amount of enemies?
-I think so.
How many unique turrets do you think there should be?
-Four or five.
How many turrets per X path squares of path should there be?
-1 for every 9 squares (in a square) or fewer.
Are the turrets’ sliders easy to use?
-Sure, but they’re not going to be in the final game, from my understanding.
Is the pathing good for the Enemies?
-It doesn’t seem very random.
What kind of improvements should the enemies have?
-Speed/heath/armor/immunity to different types of attacks.
When shooting with the main cat do you see any improvements? If so, what are they?
-I think an ammunition system could be interesting.
1. Does the character feel sluggish? Is it ok for the character to feel that way if there is the option to upgrade that later?
Yes, the character absolutely feels sluggish. It has nothing to do with the framerate of the animation as others have said, it just feels terrible to try to move the cat around. The animation needs to be fixed and you should be able to move a little faster. Only then should movement get better/smoother/faster. I will be honest the slow movement utterly took me out of the game.
2. Do you see the game becoming too difficult? If so how do you think we should balance it?
Yes and no. Tying into the movement speed, if that was fixed life would be much better. As it stands, the arena is much too large to move around that slowly with as many enemies spawning as you have. Another thing that would make me feel like the game could easily become too difficult is the lack of defined areas for both the enemies and the player. Usually in TD games, you will see some form of path (even if it is just a simple perimeter around the arena) that signals to the player that that area is where the enemies are coming from. Having that on the screen might help make the game a lot better, but will definitely keep it from being too difficult. I also had no idea what each of the sliders were supposed to really do for myself or the enemies even though I kept adjusting them, so I couldn't give you feedback on how that will help with your playtest. Having different abilities, especially the ability to upgrade towers and movement, will probably be the easiest way to balance the game. I do like the addition of the moveable, interactable cat, though. However, I can actually see the game becoming too easy when towers are super upgraded and the player can go around killing stray enemies that the towers cannot kill. There you might want to add more enemies, or enemies that can only be destroyed one particular way (like only the player can destroy them or only a tower can destroy them). That would be a decent way to balance that, but I can't think of anything else.
3. Are there too many enemies? How many unique enemies do you think there should be?
This is another yes and no. Because there was such poorly defined paths for the enemies to follow, I could not quite get where the enemies were coming from and going to until the end. What I really didn't understand was the incrementing "Count" that kept following me around, which I think was keeping track of the enemies that got through my defenses? Since I was so confused, I can't really speak on that. Unique enemies would make the game really, really interesting. I think it would also help to balance the game. I mentioned what I think those unique enemies should be earlier, so I will elaborate in saying that I like the idea of one or two variations of unique enemies would be best.
4. Tower/Turret side
Honestly, I cannot speak much to the turrets. I already found it easy enough to destroy all the enemies with my machine gun once I figured out how to use it. I only had my turrets down because I could. I would say look to other tower defense games for upgrades. Glue, multi-shot, quick fire, hyper rapid fire, constant laser fire, etc I guess. Otherwise, I was super confused at why I even had turrets that I could use in the first place.
5. Enemy Pathing and Improvements
Again, I don't have much because I was completely confused on the pathing. I feel like if I knew where the enemies were going and supposed to end up in the first place, and knew when it was game over for me, I would be able to give more ideas. What might be fun is to add an enemy that will randomly stop at a turret that is on the path and try to destroy it, making it imperative that the player go repair the turret. Just a thought I had while writing this that I felt could fit here.
6. The Kitter
To start, no. That kitter is not chonky enough. Not like "you cannot ever have enough chonk" level of chonk, but more along the lines of we definitely need more chonk. I cannot stress this enough. The next part of the question confuses me, and I do not have a real answer. I can see the player being able to improve the cat as they go to make it more fun, but I can't say anything more, I apologize. No, the cat's movement is not coherent. The animation for it definitely needs to be fixed and they need to move a bit faster. I understand how to move it, though, with WASD and I figured out how to get the kitter to shoot, though, so that is coherent.
7. Gold, Bosses, and Items
Definitely fix the issues before adding these things, but after you do, those are great ideas. All of them. Adding items that are presumably dropped by enemies randomly that the player can move toward and pick up that are then used for upgrades and the like would make the game pretty interactive. It may also help with balancing since you could work drops however you feel works. Bosses are expected and fun in games, and resource management helps game engagement immensely.
Other than the answers to your questions, though, I don't have more feedback. I think the concept is actually super innovative and fun, it just needs some more tweaks. Can't wait to see the final product!
Does the character feel sluggish? Is it fine for the character to feel slow if upgrades will eventually make the character feel better?
I think the character feels sluggish but as most people have said I think that's due to the animation speed of the run is too high. It would be fine for the character to feel slow if the speed had the ability to be upgraded, however, I would suggest a higher initial base speed as its a little too slow at the moment. You may want to make the enemies damage the player as I was using the enemies to move my character around the level faster by stepping in front of them.
Can you see the game becoming too difficult? If so how do you think we should balance it?
It's hard to say at this point. The difficulty curve is determined by the player so they can just make it harder or easier at will. I would recommend developing some sort of spawning system that controls enemy spawn rate and health then I would be better able to answer this question.
Are there too many enemies? How many unique enemies do you think there should be?
Again, its hard to say if there are too many enemies when the player controls the spawn rate, one moment you could flood the level with enemies and then immediately reduce it to a trickle.
I think that it would be nice to see a couple variations of enemies. Some suggestions: a tank enemy (takes a lot of shots), a speedy boi (just runs fast), a healer (every so often heals other enemies in a certain radius).
Tower Defense Side:
Turrets:
What upgrades to the turrets do you want to see?
Is the firing speed good for the amount of enemies?
How many unique Turrets do you think there should be?
It would be nice to see where/what the turrets are firing at. Right now the towers feel like they have little impact on the gameplay as the character can just insta-kill the enemies super fast. I would say that improving their fire-rate would help in fixing that. I think there should be a couple of types of turret. Some suggestions for tower upgrades: lighting (damages multiple enemies), fire/poison (deals damage over time), earth/bomb (something that does like an AOE).
How many Turrets per X path squares of path should there be?
I don't know the range of the turrets or how many path squares you have so I don't know. I would say that turrets should overlap their range a little bit but the player shouldn't be able to place them right next to each other.
Are the turrets’ sliders easy to use?
No. The sliders are hard to use. I would recommend that you switch to a button based system that increases fire rate, range, etc. by a set amount if you have enough money/points to upgrade.
Enemies:
Is the pathing good for the Enemies?
I think the pathing is good for the enemies. I would like to see them maybe break/vary pathing a little bit. Right now it just feels like they're running laps around the level. Maybe you could place a tower in their way or if the player steps into their pathing area they start moving towards the player.
What kind of improvements should the Enemies have?
They should damage the player as right now the player can just stop in front of an enemy and move at a faster rate then using the controls. A health bar for the enemies would also be nice. The variations and pathing changes above I think will improve the enemies.
Cat side:
Is this cat chonky enough?
I liked the pixel art of the cat, I thought it was very well done! He could use a little more chonk.
When shooting with the main cat do you see any improvements? If so, what are they?
A bullet sprite would go a long way. I don't know where the cat is firing or what it is hitting. You should definitely decrease the damage the cat does, it's too easy to kill enemies which makes the towers feel a little useless. Maybe you could add a damage upgrade to help scale the damage with enemy health.
Is the movement of the cat coherent?
The animation speed is too fast to fit with the actual move speed. Moving didn't feel that janky and collisions with objects worked as expected.
How are the cats movement?
I'm not sure what you are asking here.
We are planning to add these in the future how do you think they would impact the game?
I think that you should focus on improving and polishing what you currently have before adding more into the game. That being said, gold would be a good thing to add for upgrades. I'm not sure what you intend to do with items (would they improve the player, could items be added into the towers, do they just give you gold?).
Does the character feel sluggish? Is it fine for the character to feel slow if upgrades will eventually make the character feel better? -I think the character feels sluggish due to the framerate that the run animation is played at. I dont think the speed of the character is necesarrily a big problem especially if he will run faster in the future. Camera is also a bit zoomed in as I did not see where I should go or where enemies were moving from. Can you see the game becoming too difficult? If so how do you think we should balance it? - With the cats ability to decimate all the enemies instantly I dont think it will be difficult. I see no need in the towers at all. I do think if you change the way the cat destroys enemies it will be a lot better. i.e. shoot a projectile or have a cool down on its insta kill. Are there too many enemies? How many unique enemies do you think there should be? - not as of now. I think it would be nice to see enemies that run faster or perhaps break from the pathing? Turrets What upgrades to the turrets do you want to see? -I would like to see turrets fire faster and have more of an impact on the game. Is the firing speed good for the amount of enemies? - I didnt see the towers fire at all. How many unique Turrets do you think there should be? - make like two or three turrets with easily distingushiable designs. How many Turrets per X path squares of path should there be? - I am confused by the question. Are the turrets’ sliders easy to use? - Not at all. The titles on the sliders did not give me any indication on what was happening or what it was affecting. Is the pathing good for the Enemies? -yes, It worked really well. What kind of improvements should the Enemies have? - Maybe add some variety in speed or pathing?
Is this cat chonky enough? - Idk about chonkyness but I do like the design of the cat. I think he is designed well and looks good. When shooting with the main cat do you see any improvements? If so, what are they? - It seems like the cat is able to destroy the enemies too easily. I am able to just click on all enemies and kill them instantly. I think there should be a projectile or a harder way to hit enemies. Is the movement of the cat coherent? -I think the frame rate on the animator is too quick. It is hard to follow. Though I loved the sprites when just aiming around. How are the cats movement? -I think its animation is too fast for the speed that he runs at.
Does the character feel sluggish? Is it fine for the character to feel slow if upgrades will eventually make the character feel better?
It did feel a little sluggish, but I think I wouldn't mind it for the finished product. If there will be upgrades, I think that works for me.
Can you see the game becoming too difficult? If so how do you think we should balance it?
To be honest, I can't tell at the moment.
Are there too many enemies? How many unique enemies do you think there should be?
Again, I can't tell at the moment. Considering killing them isn't hard, I don't think there's too many. I don't feel strongly about having 1 or many unique enemies, as I'm not sure what kind of characteristics those enemies will have.
What upgrades to the turrets do you want to see?
Is the firing speed good for the amount of enemies?
How many unique Turrets do you think there should be?
How many Turrets per X path squares of path should there be?
Are the turrets’ sliders easy to use?
I couldn't tell if the turrets were doing anything. I'm sure if I had a clear understanding of what the sliders did, I could give a clear answer, but I can't at the moment.
Is the pathing good for the Enemies?
What kind of improvements should the Enemies have?
I wasn't sure where the Enemies were going. Don't have any specific suggestions for improvements for the Enemies at the moment, I would like to first see them developed a bit more before saying what could be improved.
Is this cat chonky enough?
If I'm being completely honest, it kinda just looks like a cat with an average BMI. The cat could definitely afford some pounds to get it chonkier.
When shooting with the main cat do you see any improvements? If so, what are they?
Having a sound and bullet trajectory would be nice.
Is the movement of the cat coherent?
How are the cats movement?
I don't see any problem with it. I do like the walk animations that are going on.
We are planning to add these in the future how do you think they would impact the game?
Gold and items to pick up, level boss
I think the features would be nice additions.
Overall, I think there is a good foundation here and some nice pixel art going on. I don't feel strongly about anything in particular as I think the game just needs to be developed a bit more to get a feel of the direction this game will take.
First of all, I want to congratulate you guys on your work. There is enough room for improvement, and I will try my best to answer the above questions.
Look and feel:
It’s hard to tell which side the character is facing, and it would have been to better to choose a bit more cleaner image as a character.
Enemies:
The game is not too difficult but certainly hard to follow. I was confused and could not tell the role of sliders in the game.
It would make sense to have less enemies but challenging. These enemies were not too challenging there was nothing to think about or to do.
Turrets:
I don’t think this game has enough for me to answer these individual questions. The boards on the screen were more annoying and should have been smaller or in the corners rather than appearing on the screen. The role of sliders was not that clear either.
Enemies:
The enemies can have different paths, attacks or some sort of surprise rather than seeing a single line of enemies.
The movement of cat is ok but not too clear. The cat logo can be better rather than pixelated. The cat can have some objects to pick that will give special powers for specific time.
My initial thoughts: The GUI element of the game really confused me. I understand that the game was explained a little bit in the game page, but it would have been nice to have labels on the GUI elements, such as Enemy Speed, Cat speed, etc. The sliders being on top of the game as it was very confusing. It took me a long time to realize that the gameplay had already started and I was staring at an idle character. A beginning page menu would have shown the separation between the game play vs changing settings.
Art style can also be more consistent, such as the tower/cat matching the art style for the same game, but the enemies being way out of match with the cat/towers feels out of place. Also, the general feel of the green grass needs to have some more variation than just a plain green as it is now.
Look and feel:
Does the character feel sluggish? Is it fine for the character to feel slow if upgrades will eventually make the character feel better?
It’s okay for the character to feel sluggish. A limited amount of towers for a beginning player will be enough to defeat enemies and help the player save up for speed upgrades later. It can still work.
Enemies:
Can you see the game becoming too difficult? If so how do you think we should balance it?
No, not as it is. The enemies don’t seem to feel like a threat and don’t do any damage at this time. You can have a special object that you have to defend from the enemies or make it clear that the player’s life is what is being projected from the enemies.
Are there too many enemies? How many unique enemies do you think there should be?
I honestly couldn’t see how many enemies there were because the camera was too zoomed in. It’s important to balance the enemy count with the towers so that the player has a chance to pass each level while making the enemies challenging. So not a count, per say, but rather a balance that must be maintained. You can use the custom settings that you have now to play around with the difficult of levels and get an idea on how best so strike this balance.
Tower defence side:
Turrets:
What upgrades to the turrets do you want to see?
Differing amounts of health, speed of projectiles, strength of projectiles, types of projectiles (some interesting ones, like could be water or fire), area of effect type of attacks.
Is the firing speed good for the amount of enemies?
I couldn’t tell what the firing speed was because I could not see where the projectiles were going. The enemies would just disappear if they got close to a tower. So I can’t really answer that.
How many unique Turrets do you think there should be?
There doesn’t have to be unique turrets, so long as the player is able to choose whatever they want. It’s more about a balance to strike between enemies and player firepower. For now, focusing on the core mechanics of the towers is best.
How many Turrets per X path squares of path should there be?
(same as above)
Are the turrets’ sliders easy to use?
Yes, these are actually very useful. Just please label them on the screen next time so they are not as confusing or subject to player memorization.
Enemies:
Is the pathing good for the Enemies?
Not really. What’s the point of having them patrol the outside of the map without any purpose? They can instead be moving toward the player and threatening the player’s life or trying to get at a special object towards the center were the player is.
What kind of improvements should the Enemies have?
(same as above). Plus, some increasing threats, such as some having more damage, certain skills, or number of enemies.
Cat side:
Cat:
Is this cat chonky enough?
Yes! Very!
When shooting with the main cat do you see any improvements? If so, what are they?
Show projectiles when the cat is shooting and impact. Shooting sound would also indicate if the main player is doing any damage.
Is the movement of the cat coherent?
The movement can be improved because right now it is incredibly jittery. Smoothing the movement will help.
How are the cats movement?
(same as above)
We are planning to add these in the future how do you think they would impact the game? Gold and items to pick up, level boss
Definitely! Anything that will make the game more interesting and challenging and rewarding to the player is a good improvement. You can also have enemies drop gold to give a sense of accomplishment and to make the effort of fighting them feel useful instead of just having them scattered around the ground.
Does the character feel sluggish? Is it fine for the character to feel slow if upgrades will eventually make the character feel better?
I thought that the character was a little slow. I feel like I could never keep up with the enemies. Increasing movement speed could definitely be an upgrade but the base speed is far too slow for my liking
Enemies:
Can you see the game becoming too difficult? If so how do you think we should balance it?
I think the game will be extremely difficult if the cat’s movement speed is not increased. I don’t know if I just adjusted the sliders wrong, but I could not get the cat vs enemies dynamic balanced. The enemies died instantly no matter what. The slider for enemy spawn rate did not work. I think that a single turret should not be able to kill all of the enemies when they walk by, so that the player actually has to mop up remaining foes.
Are there too many enemies? How many unique enemies do you think there should be?
I think there was a good amount of enemies, but I guess at least 2 unique ones would be nice
Tower defence side:
Turrets:
What upgrades to the turrets do you want to see?
Fire rate, health (if they can be damaged), damage output, maybe I could repair them somehow?
Is the firing speed good for the amount of enemies?
I could not get a decent fire rate, but based on how many there were with default settings, I would suggest 3ish shots to kill? Something short.
How many unique Turrets do you think there should be?
There are a lot of ways to make unique turrets, like enemies. I would ask for an area of effect turret, like a tesla coil, or maybe a rocket launcher turret
How many Turrets per X path squares of path should there be?
I’m not sure what this means, but if the enemies are going to become a lot more durable over time, then I would like to be able to add many turrets along the path they follow
Are the turrets’ sliders easy to use?
Not for me. I couldn’t tell if the sliders were working because the enemies died in one hit even if I set rate of fire low, my and the turret’s damages low, and enemy health high
Enemies:
Is the pathing good for the Enemies?
No, Enemies did not seem to recognize me or the turrets. They just pushed me and passed through the turrets.
What kind of improvements should the Enemies have?
I would like them to be able to damage or hinder the player somehow, like maybe slowing them down or placing obstacles?
Cat side:
Cat:
Is this cat chonky enough?
The chonk is pleasing. Also, a pixel on the right whisker is missing on the firing downward sprite
When shooting with the main cat do you see any improvements? If so, what are they?
Is the movement of the cat coherent?
No, the animations are far too fast, The cat becomes blurry from how much it is shaking around
How are the cats movement?
Like I said above, I would like the cat to move faster.
We are planning to add these in the future how do you think they would impact the game?
Gold and items to pick up, level boss
Gold would be a good way to buy upgrades, maybe powerups could drop from enemies. A boss sounds good, maybe they could destroy towers?
Bugs
When I used a slider, moving the cat would affect the slider until I had clicked off.
Does the character feel sluggish? Is it fine for the character to feel slow if upgrades will eventually make the character feel better?
He is super slow, even if you upgrade him eventually, just starting feels like the over-encumbered state from Oblivion and it's a little maddening, lol
Enemies:
Can you see the game becoming too difficult? If so how do you think we should balance it?
Well considering the enemies do not seem to attack you, and I am not all that sure what they are doing exactly(?), it doesn't seem to hard right now. I am not sure what the enemies do, or if you have really implemented that part yet- once it's a little more clear, maybe?
Are there too many enemies? How many unique enemies do you think there should be?
I think as a start there should be at least 3 unique enemies, with unique looks and unique amounts of damage they can do/abilities (damage and the speed they move works just fine)
Tower defence side:
Enemies:
Is the pathing good for the Enemies?
It feels they are very one-tracked and only follow the a certain path directly toward where they are supposed to be getting. I think more randomized movement would be good, or many different set paths if that is easier? They kinda feel like they are running laps on a track field at the moment.
What kind of improvements should the Enemies have?
Attack the player would be my first addition, to add a bit more of higher stakes to the player.
Cat side:
Cat:
Is this cat chonky enough?
Yus!
When shooting with the main cat do you see any improvements? If so, what are they?
Shooting was fine, super simple, don't see any need for improvement other than maybe a targeting arrow/sight cursor would be nice?
Is the movement of the cat coherent?
He looks like he is glitching, I think the animation on the sprite needs to be slowed.
How are the cats movement?
We are planning to add these in the future how do you think they would impact the game?
I think collecting items and gold would be a nice addition, especially in terms of upgrading the character and the towers, maybe getting some aesthetic changes to the sprites as you go too?
-Overall I wasn't really sure of what I was doing or what I could do. The towers did not seem to do much, I wasn't sure what the counter was for either?
Placing the towers anywhere I want is nice, but because the enemies only ever walk to in a certain place on the map, it kinda felt useless to have the towers in the places where the enemy never actually walks.
I also didn't see any turret operations? There was nothing shooting besides the player character, I don't if this was a bug or no.
Also as more enemies were spawned, my computer was having a hard time running all of them, so maybe have a cap on how many enemies are allowed to be created at one time.
I like your concept, and your pitch, and I look forward to the end result and further improvements. ^^
I hope this comes off as more constructive than anything, but I don't think I can answer the questions provided because I was quite confused by the game as is, it was pretty chaotic.
Problems I found with the current build
Sliders were confusing and unintuitive. They didn't appear to have an impact on gameplay, this is likely due to the lack of animations and the fact the sliders were unlabeled (they were labeled with variables names but that didn't help understanding).
At some point a countless number of enemies were generated, I'm unsure if this was due to slider movement but it slowed down the game. Maybe put a cap on enemy count? Rendering that many objects might not be a good idea.
I couldn't tell what towers I could pick up, where I could place them, and what enemies they were actually affecting.
UI and game world layers conflicted and the sliders became overlapped by game objects.
Cat animation too fast, visually conflicted with the speed of the actual object.
Gun didn't work, if it did I was unable to tell visually.
← Return to game
Comments
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How Chonky is this cat compare last one? This cat has the Garfield chonk,
What do you want do want to see? I want to see the weapons actually kill enemies more efficiently. Having to shoot a tiny animal over and over was a bit annoying and weird.
What flaws do you see? I wasn't able to figure out how to set the turrets on the white spaces. I kept right clicking, but no dice.
Are the Shot gun, Pistol and rifle balanced? Not at all, I think they should do way more damage from what they do now. I think all of them should have the ability to kill the small animals in 1 or 2 kills, and then the bigger the animal/enemy, the more ammo needed to kill.
I was unable to spend all the money in order to see the Easter egg. Not sure how to spend it all in a quick way.
Version 2 Playtest
Nice over all improvements! I love the enemy and cat art style and animations!!
How Chonky is this cat compare last one?
Definitely chonkier. An absolute unit. Could move a little faster but otherwise he's perfect.
What do you want do want to see?
I think a little grace period before enemies start spawning at the beginning of the game would be really helpful. I was caught off guard and had to scramble to figure out the controls and everything. Labels for the upgrade screens would also help, I couldn't tell if I was upgrading the cat or the turrets, initially. A tutorial/control screen would be really helpful.
What flaws do you see?
I couldn't place turrets on many of the spots nearest to the castle. I wasn't able to upgrade the turrets, if I clicked the plus by the upgrade I wanted it just opened another turret upgrade menu. It was hard to tell where both the character and towers were firing and if they were hitting anything.
are the Shot gun, Pistol and rifle balanced?
I was unable to switch weapons so I couldn't test the other types of weaponry. The default weapon was pretty good once you got about 30-50 levels of damage on it.
Version 2 Playtest
How Chonky is this cat compare last one?
I think it's too Chonky. Cat can't move fast enough to defend the castle.
What do you want do want to see?
I definitely look forward to the different weapons mentioned.
What flaws do you see?
I don't think the scroll to switch weapons is working.
are the Shot gun, Pistol and rifle balanced?
Compared to how fast the enemies are and how easily they access the castle right now, I think the starting weapon is not powerful enough. I couldn't test all of the weapons because the scroll switch was not working for me.
I like the progress on the level. What's going on is much clearer than before. I like the UI, though it's a little difficult to see the yellow on white Gold text.
FOR VERSION 2
General: LOVE THE PROGRESS SO FAR!
Look and feel:
The character feels much to sluggish, even with the idea that he will be able to move faster eventually. It feels like there is no way to get to an area and place a tower before enemies are able to get to the base.
Enemies:
I can see it getting overwhelming fast if enemies are able to spawn from almost any directions. If the player moved faster out of the gate and did more damage it seems like it would give a lot more understanding of the game and what I should be doing.
There are too many enemies spawning right away and I think they have too much health for the damage that the player does at the start even with many upgrades. The number of unique enemies is spot on though. I thought it was diverse and each had its own little mechanic. Perhaps as you progress through the game they will slowly start to appear or after a certain amount of time.
Tower defense side:
Turrets:
Enemies:
Cat side:
Cat:
Yeah he moves in a normal understanding way. For a cat with a gun.
Look and feel:
Enemies:
Tower defence side:
Turrets:
Enemies:
Cat side:
Cat:
We are planning to add these in the future how do you think they would impact the game?
Gold and items to pick up, level boss
Gold and items would be a nice addition I love having gold to upgrade stuff.
Look and feel:
- Yes, the character definitely feels sluggish but I guess it would be fine if upgrades eventually make the character less sluggish as the game advances.
Enemies:
- It doesn't seem too difficult.
-It doesn't seem like there are too many enemies as of now. Unique enemies would make the game interesting for sure but I don't know if I am in a position to tell how many unique enemies there should be.
Tower defense side:
Turrets:
- It would be nice to see where the turrets are firing.
- I couldn't tell for sure as I didn't see where it was firing.
- Again, I'm not sure if I'm in the position to make that decision.
- I'm not sure if it helped. I didn't see much difference when changing the numbers in the sliders.
Enemies:
- It seems okay but I'd like to see them more spread out.
- Enemies seem to die immediately once they're hit by bullets, maybe the unique ones could be harder to kill?
Cat side:
Cat:
- Looks chonky enough. Chonkier the better!
- It was hard to tell where the cat was shooting. Seeing where the bullet is going could help.
- Compared to the enemies, the cat's movement seems slow.
- Could be a bit faster.
Overall, a great job! I can't wait to play the refined version.
Does the character feel sluggish? Is it fine for the character to feel slow if upgrades will eventually make the character feel better?
-As it stands right now, the character does feel slow, though the view of the game makes it difficult to understand exactly how fast the character is moving. I think some animation could compensate for this, but I would be careful about making it so slow that it becomes frustrating.
Can you see the game becoming too difficult? If so how do you think we should balance it?
-I don’t think difficulty should be an issue, unless there are too many enemies to keep track of
Are there too many enemies? How many unique enemies do you think there should be?
-I don’t think there are currently too many; maybe six or seven different types?
What upgrades to the turrets do you want to see?
-Maybe area of effect attacks?
Is the firing speed good for the amount of enemies?
-I think so.
How many unique turrets do you think there should be?
-Four or five.
How many turrets per X path squares of path should there be?
-1 for every 9 squares (in a square) or fewer.
Are the turrets’ sliders easy to use?
-Sure, but they’re not going to be in the final game, from my understanding.
Is the pathing good for the Enemies?
-It doesn’t seem very random.
What kind of improvements should the enemies have?
-Speed/heath/armor/immunity to different types of attacks.
When shooting with the main cat do you see any improvements? If so, what are they?
-I think an ammunition system could be interesting.
Is the movement of the cat coherent?
-The animation of it is a little strange.
How are the cats movement?
-The movement is fine.
Hey guys!
1. Does the character feel sluggish? Is it ok for the character to feel that way if there is the option to upgrade that later?
Yes, the character absolutely feels sluggish. It has nothing to do with the framerate of the animation as others have said, it just feels terrible to try to move the cat around. The animation needs to be fixed and you should be able to move a little faster. Only then should movement get better/smoother/faster. I will be honest the slow movement utterly took me out of the game.
2. Do you see the game becoming too difficult? If so how do you think we should balance it?
Yes and no. Tying into the movement speed, if that was fixed life would be much better. As it stands, the arena is much too large to move around that slowly with as many enemies spawning as you have. Another thing that would make me feel like the game could easily become too difficult is the lack of defined areas for both the enemies and the player. Usually in TD games, you will see some form of path (even if it is just a simple perimeter around the arena) that signals to the player that that area is where the enemies are coming from. Having that on the screen might help make the game a lot better, but will definitely keep it from being too difficult. I also had no idea what each of the sliders were supposed to really do for myself or the enemies even though I kept adjusting them, so I couldn't give you feedback on how that will help with your playtest. Having different abilities, especially the ability to upgrade towers and movement, will probably be the easiest way to balance the game. I do like the addition of the moveable, interactable cat, though. However, I can actually see the game becoming too easy when towers are super upgraded and the player can go around killing stray enemies that the towers cannot kill. There you might want to add more enemies, or enemies that can only be destroyed one particular way (like only the player can destroy them or only a tower can destroy them). That would be a decent way to balance that, but I can't think of anything else.
3. Are there too many enemies? How many unique enemies do you think there should be?
This is another yes and no. Because there was such poorly defined paths for the enemies to follow, I could not quite get where the enemies were coming from and going to until the end. What I really didn't understand was the incrementing "Count" that kept following me around, which I think was keeping track of the enemies that got through my defenses? Since I was so confused, I can't really speak on that. Unique enemies would make the game really, really interesting. I think it would also help to balance the game. I mentioned what I think those unique enemies should be earlier, so I will elaborate in saying that I like the idea of one or two variations of unique enemies would be best.
4. Tower/Turret side
Honestly, I cannot speak much to the turrets. I already found it easy enough to destroy all the enemies with my machine gun once I figured out how to use it. I only had my turrets down because I could. I would say look to other tower defense games for upgrades. Glue, multi-shot, quick fire, hyper rapid fire, constant laser fire, etc I guess. Otherwise, I was super confused at why I even had turrets that I could use in the first place.
5. Enemy Pathing and Improvements
Again, I don't have much because I was completely confused on the pathing. I feel like if I knew where the enemies were going and supposed to end up in the first place, and knew when it was game over for me, I would be able to give more ideas. What might be fun is to add an enemy that will randomly stop at a turret that is on the path and try to destroy it, making it imperative that the player go repair the turret. Just a thought I had while writing this that I felt could fit here.
6. The Kitter
To start, no. That kitter is not chonky enough. Not like "you cannot ever have enough chonk" level of chonk, but more along the lines of we definitely need more chonk. I cannot stress this enough. The next part of the question confuses me, and I do not have a real answer. I can see the player being able to improve the cat as they go to make it more fun, but I can't say anything more, I apologize. No, the cat's movement is not coherent. The animation for it definitely needs to be fixed and they need to move a bit faster. I understand how to move it, though, with WASD and I figured out how to get the kitter to shoot, though, so that is coherent.
7. Gold, Bosses, and Items
Definitely fix the issues before adding these things, but after you do, those are great ideas. All of them. Adding items that are presumably dropped by enemies randomly that the player can move toward and pick up that are then used for upgrades and the like would make the game pretty interactive. It may also help with balancing since you could work drops however you feel works. Bosses are expected and fun in games, and resource management helps game engagement immensely.
Other than the answers to your questions, though, I don't have more feedback. I think the concept is actually super innovative and fun, it just needs some more tweaks. Can't wait to see the final product!
Eric Hillmeyer
Look and feel:
Does the character feel sluggish? Is it fine for the character to feel slow if upgrades will eventually make the character feel better?
Can you see the game becoming too difficult? If so how do you think we should balance it?
Are there too many enemies? How many unique enemies do you think there should be?
Tower Defense Side:
Turrets:
What upgrades to the turrets do you want to see?
Is the firing speed good for the amount of enemies?
How many unique Turrets do you think there should be?
How many Turrets per X path squares of path should there be?
Are the turrets’ sliders easy to use?
Enemies:
Is the pathing good for the Enemies?
What kind of improvements should the Enemies have?
Cat side:
Is this cat chonky enough?
When shooting with the main cat do you see any improvements? If so, what are they?
Is the movement of the cat coherent?
How are the cats movement?
We are planning to add these in the future how do you think they would impact the game?
Does the character feel sluggish? Is it fine for the character to feel slow if upgrades will eventually make the character feel better?
-I think the character feels sluggish due to the framerate that the run animation is played at. I dont think the speed of the character is necesarrily a big problem especially if he will
run faster in the future. Camera is also a bit zoomed in as I did not see where I should go or where enemies were moving from.
Can you see the game becoming too difficult? If so how do you think we should balance it?
- With the cats ability to decimate all the enemies instantly I dont think it will be difficult. I see no need in the towers at all. I do think if you change the way the cat destroys enemies it will be a lot better.
i.e. shoot a projectile or have a cool down on its insta kill.
Are there too many enemies? How many unique enemies do you think there should be?
- not as of now. I think it would be nice to see enemies that run faster or perhaps break from the pathing?
Turrets
What upgrades to the turrets do you want to see?
-I would like to see turrets fire faster and have more of an impact on the game.
Is the firing speed good for the amount of enemies?
- I didnt see the towers fire at all.
How many unique Turrets do you think there should be?
- make like two or three turrets with easily distingushiable designs.
How many Turrets per X path squares of path should there be?
- I am confused by the question.
Are the turrets’ sliders easy to use?
- Not at all. The titles on the sliders did not give me any indication on what was happening or what it was affecting.
Is the pathing good for the Enemies?
-yes, It worked really well.
What kind of improvements should the Enemies have?
- Maybe add some variety in speed or pathing?
Is this cat chonky enough?
- Idk about chonkyness but I do like the design of the cat. I think he is designed well and looks good.
When shooting with the main cat do you see any improvements? If so, what are they?
- It seems like the cat is able to destroy the enemies too easily. I am able to just click on all enemies and kill them instantly. I think there should be a projectile or
a harder way to hit enemies.
Is the movement of the cat coherent?
-I think the frame rate on the animator is too quick. It is hard to follow. Though I loved the sprites when just aiming around.
How are the cats movement?
-I think its animation is too fast for the speed that he runs at.
It did feel a little sluggish, but I think I wouldn't mind it for the finished product. If there will be upgrades, I think that works for me.
To be honest, I can't tell at the moment.
Again, I can't tell at the moment. Considering killing them isn't hard, I don't think there's too many. I don't feel strongly about having 1 or many unique enemies, as I'm not sure what kind of characteristics those enemies will have.
I couldn't tell if the turrets were doing anything. I'm sure if I had a clear understanding of what the sliders did, I could give a clear answer, but I can't at the moment.
I wasn't sure where the Enemies were going. Don't have any specific suggestions for improvements for the Enemies at the moment, I would like to first see them developed a bit more before saying what could be improved.
If I'm being completely honest, it kinda just looks like a cat with an average BMI. The cat could definitely afford some pounds to get it chonkier.
Having a sound and bullet trajectory would be nice.
I don't see any problem with it. I do like the walk animations that are going on.
We are planning to add these in the future how do you think they would impact the game?
Gold and items to pick up, level boss
I think the features would be nice additions.
Overall, I think there is a good foundation here and some nice pixel art going on. I don't feel strongly about anything in particular as I think the game just needs to be developed a bit more to get a feel of the direction this game will take.
First of all, I want to congratulate you guys on your work. There is enough room for improvement, and I will try my best to answer the above questions.
Look and feel:
Enemies:
Turrets:
Enemies:
Cat:
My initial thoughts: The GUI element of the game really confused me. I understand that the game was explained a little bit in the game page, but it would have been nice to have labels on the GUI elements, such as Enemy Speed, Cat speed, etc. The sliders being on top of the game as it was very confusing. It took me a long time to realize that the gameplay had already started and I was staring at an idle character. A beginning page menu would have shown the separation between the game play vs changing settings.
Art style can also be more consistent, such as the tower/cat matching the art style for the same game, but the enemies being way out of match with the cat/towers feels out of place. Also, the general feel of the green grass needs to have some more variation than just a plain green as it is now.
Look and feel:
Enemies:
Tower defence side:
Turrets:
Differing amounts of health, speed of projectiles, strength of projectiles, types of projectiles (some interesting ones, like could be water or fire), area of effect type of attacks.
(same as above)
Enemies:
Cat side:
Cat:
Yes! Very!
Show projectiles when the cat is shooting and impact. Shooting sound would also indicate if the main player is doing any damage.
The movement can be improved because right now it is incredibly jittery. Smoothing the movement will help.
(same as above)
We are planning to add these in the future how do you think they would impact the game? Gold and items to pick up, level boss Definitely! Anything that will make the game more interesting and challenging and rewarding to the player is a good improvement. You can also have enemies drop gold to give a sense of accomplishment and to make the effort of fighting them feel useful instead of just having them scattered around the ground.
General:
Look and feel:
I thought that the character was a little slow. I feel like I could never keep up with the enemies. Increasing movement speed could definitely be an upgrade but the base speed is far too slow for my liking
Enemies:
I think the game will be extremely difficult if the cat’s movement speed is not increased. I don’t know if I just adjusted the sliders wrong, but I could not get the cat vs enemies dynamic balanced. The enemies died instantly no matter what. The slider for enemy spawn rate did not work. I think that a single turret should not be able to kill all of the enemies when they walk by, so that the player actually has to mop up remaining foes.
I think there was a good amount of enemies, but I guess at least 2 unique ones would be nice
Tower defence side:
Turrets:
Fire rate, health (if they can be damaged), damage output, maybe I could repair them somehow?
I could not get a decent fire rate, but based on how many there were with default settings, I would suggest 3ish shots to kill? Something short.
There are a lot of ways to make unique turrets, like enemies. I would ask for an area of effect turret, like a tesla coil, or maybe a rocket launcher turret
I’m not sure what this means, but if the enemies are going to become a lot more durable over time, then I would like to be able to add many turrets along the path they follow
Not for me. I couldn’t tell if the sliders were working because the enemies died in one hit even if I set rate of fire low, my and the turret’s damages low, and enemy health high
Enemies:
No, Enemies did not seem to recognize me or the turrets. They just pushed me and passed through the turrets.
I would like them to be able to damage or hinder the player somehow, like maybe slowing them down or placing obstacles?
Cat side:
Cat:
The chonk is pleasing. Also, a pixel on the right whisker is missing on the firing downward sprite
No, the animations are far too fast, The cat becomes blurry from how much it is shaking around
Like I said above, I would like the cat to move faster.
We are planning to add these in the future how do you think they would impact the game?
Gold and items to pick up, level boss
Gold would be a good way to buy upgrades, maybe powerups could drop from enemies. A boss sounds good, maybe they could destroy towers?
Bugs
When I used a slider, moving the cat would affect the slider until I had clicked off.
General:
Look and feel:
He is super slow, even if you upgrade him eventually, just starting feels like the over-encumbered state from Oblivion and it's a little maddening, lol
Enemies:
Well considering the enemies do not seem to attack you, and I am not all that sure what they are doing exactly(?), it doesn't seem to hard right now. I am not sure what the enemies do, or if you have really implemented that part yet- once it's a little more clear, maybe?
I think as a start there should be at least 3 unique enemies, with unique looks and unique amounts of damage they can do/abilities (damage and the speed they move works just fine)
Tower defence side:
Enemies:
It feels they are very one-tracked and only follow the a certain path directly toward where they are supposed to be getting. I think more randomized movement would be good, or many different set paths if that is easier? They kinda feel like they are running laps on a track field at the moment.
Attack the player would be my first addition, to add a bit more of higher stakes to the player.
Cat side:
Cat:
Yus!
Shooting was fine, super simple, don't see any need for improvement other than maybe a targeting arrow/sight cursor would be nice?
He looks like he is glitching, I think the animation on the sprite needs to be slowed.
We are planning to add these in the future how do you think they would impact the game?
I think collecting items and gold would be a nice addition, especially in terms of upgrading the character and the towers, maybe getting some aesthetic changes to the sprites as you go too?
-Overall I wasn't really sure of what I was doing or what I could do. The towers did not seem to do much, I wasn't sure what the counter was for either?
Placing the towers anywhere I want is nice, but because the enemies only ever walk to in a certain place on the map, it kinda felt useless to have the towers in the places where the enemy never actually walks.
I also didn't see any turret operations? There was nothing shooting besides the player character, I don't if this was a bug or no.
Also as more enemies were spawned, my computer was having a hard time running all of them, so maybe have a cap on how many enemies are allowed to be created at one time.
I like your concept, and your pitch, and I look forward to the end result and further improvements. ^^
I hope this comes off as more constructive than anything, but I don't think I can answer the questions provided because I was quite confused by the game as is, it was pretty chaotic.
Problems I found with the current build