Post by ayuusweetfish in Pictomage jam comments

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I really appreciate the polish and the depth of content. I finished at 221 deaths (on a trackpad, I guess this makes the game harder) and had a lot of difficult but fun practice! I don't have much experience with shooters, but some levels clearly remind me of those grinding moments in platformers and rhythm games. I find such grinding very enjoyable in moderate amounts, which this game succeeded well in providing.

Sometimes I feel that I'm clearing a level by luck rather than practice or strategy, probably due to the fast pace and the tight timing window, which to me was a bit discouraging. I'm particularly curious about the intended solution of the level in the third screenshot (the one with three layers of glass).

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Blatnik2 years ago (2 edits)

Thank you very much for your detailed feedback! I’m glad to hear that you still enjoyed most of the game despite the genre not being your usual choice. Congratulations for beating it with a trackpad as well! I playtested the game with a trackpad a couple of times myself, to make sure it is still beatable in that manner - I glad that payed off :)

The levels are short enough that they can be beaten by luck. But having longer levels would have been quite frustrating due to dying in one mistake and having to replay the whole level.. I’m not sure what we could have done about that. But I would love to have a suggestion :)

And as for the intended level solution:

SPOILERS

None of the playtesters found the solution. It’s one of my least favorite levels. Usually we try to make the intended solution significantly easier and safer than a straight up fight with the turrets, but fighting the turrets here isn’t much harder..

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ayuusweetfish2 years ago(+1)

I surely enjoy exploring different genres, it's fun and refreshing! I also greatly appreciate your testing effort. (That level is hard but very interesting to know!)

For the luck aspect, I'm really nitpicking here as there is so much to like about the game. I guess a difficulty/accessibility setting as other participants have mentioned could ease it, because some levels are more of an action puzzle than a fast-paced shooter, and the core mechanic (efficiently defeating enemies within constraints of the terrain and the layout of objects) always stays fun no matter the timing windows or the game speed. Maybe an option to slow down the pace will encourage players to better revise and execute strategies instead of blindly wishing for luck. It's only my own idea and it may or may not be useful, but I write it out for reference. I find the game very enjoyable already!

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