I have not been as excited about a Kaiju game since the Movie Monster game for Apple II.
Viewing post in Excidio The Kaiju Game Classic Version comments
Overall I love the idea and execution of the game mechanics.
Random thoughts I had while playing presented in no particular order ... please ignore anything that does not resonate with your vision for this game.
There was a game way back in the day called Mail Order Monsters.
Gameplay wise, it did not have a strong or compelling loop. I enjoyed stomping around and the way destruction was accomplished, but I did not feel emotionally tied to the story. The idea of collecting something, or getting upgrades would help a lot in this area.
One issue was that the story text disappeared fairly quickly, and I did not get a chance to read all of it. Maybe having it pause until the player clicks a button would help.
I think any general game design ideas would work here. Having a tough enemy that you need to fight a certain way would help with the level of challenge.
The idea of upgrades might seem weird with a giant monster. I could see that it might not work. But it could be done more organically. Maybe by destroying the city's power station you could absorb electrical energy and get a lighting beam for instance, something that could cut buildings in half like Shin Godzilla?
As a fellow developer, I would also suggest focusing on the main loop a bit more before doing things like making new kaijus or enemies. Having two static kaijus will not be much more fun (for me) than having one. But having a monster with a more clear objective and goals along the way, with some kind of progression would be really fantastic.
Another gameplay idea is unlocking areas. This is used in more exploration based games. You would have to tailor it to make sense in this context. It would not be "find the key to unlock the door to the boss room." But maybe "destroy the power generators to disable the electric defense system, so you can reach the downtown area..." Something like that.
As mentioned Movie Monster game was also a good one. They had one game type where the humans had captured your monster's child. If you roared, it would respond, and give you a clue as to where they were hiding it. Something like this would also tie our emotions to the monster, who is now defending its offspring, and not just destroying stuff. (again, I did not get to read the full story)
Anyway, just awesome! I hope you sell a million copies :) I will be following your progress.
Thank you so much for the long and detailed comment! I always love to read those because while working on the project I might overlook some things and comments like this help me to get back and fix or rework ideas.
Upgrade system is something I thought about for a long time. Should I do it or not but in the end I decided to leave it out for a few reasons. One of the reasons was I wanted Excidio to feel powerful by default. He is an old creature and he already reached the peak of his power a long time ago. Another reason was If I went the upgrade route I would like those upgrades to be physically visible. Not just new attacks or more Health/Energy. Think Digimon/Shin Godzila style upgrades. And for now working alone part time I just don’t have the resources to pull it off in the way I have imagined. At least for now. If I don’t add it later in this project if ever I get a chance to do sequel upgrades will be there for sure.
I am aware that the gameplay loop is not great. Right now it is to make your own fun type of game. I am working on making the loop batter now and that's why I postponed releasing the new Kaiju. I am working on the story more now with Excidio. The idea is recreating the Kaiju movies with a little added. So the story should follow the creature as it appears for the first time, the world is in shock , and the military is useless. But overtime the military develops new things to fight against Kaiju (giant walls with giant cannons, oversized tanks, etc) so that's where things like destroying generators or something like that will come into play. Also I will be honest and say that when I started working on this I just wanted a giant monster game where you can destroy cities and in the beginning that's where the focus was.
I will fix loading so that text stays longer or find a better way to incorporate it into the game. The small intro cinematics for levels were meant for voice actor to read it out but he bailed on me :D
Well I don’t know about millions of copies sold but just enough to pay bills would be nice! Thank you so much for the nice wishes and great feedback! Feel free to add things if you think of something new or when a new update comes things like this is why I want to be a developer to share ideas and hear from more people, especially fellow developers who are probably in business more than me. Thank you much once again and best of luck to you in your projects and in life!