The concept for this game feels pretty cool. I enjoyed playing it and felt like attacks were nice and meaty when they connected, but the time it took enemies to get up pissed me off. Furthermore if I hit a gold skull with a tutorial pop up twice before the actual pop up appeared, I'd get a permanent menu stuck on my screen. I was able to stack this until the screen was pure black with just menu pop ups. Luckily finding my way to the ocean and dying fixed it. Furthermore the dying sound of screaming for years on end is pretty funny the first time you hear it but I could see it getting tiring fast.
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Godfist Demo's itch.io pageComments
Great stuff, art direction is *chefs kiss*, i like sfx too, would be cool if you played around with maybe distortion when combo finishes or they fly away?
Anyway, here are some pointers (sorry if they are mentioned):
UI:
- escape doesnt close menus
- closing menu makes the hover highlight effect on buttons act weird
- if i pause and then level up, game resumes but pause menu is still up. also not sure whats allowing me to levelup?
Gameplay
- it feels more natural to throw items with the left since its the attack button, matter of taste i suppose
- i would limit how close you can get to enemies, you are so close that at times you cant see the effects of punching them. its just a big polygon. This is strictly a esthetic pointer, i dont mind the range of the punch, i think it sells the idea more if im just a little further away, it also helps with awareness of the battlefield
- Would like larger radius on loot pickup and they despawn a bit too quickly, almost makes it crash bandicoot moment of running around picking stuff up while ignoring enemies
- Sometimes enemies get stuck somewhere + combined with there being a delay in the ladder and chest spawning, creates a bit of confusion. Perhaps an arrow or outline highlight of the last 2 enemies?
- slowing down time when its slowed down, uses the power but doesnt extend
- I think it needs some sort of warning when im getting attacked from the back, e.g. the arrows from god of war. You can hear the shooter enemies but more often than not i get punched and fly away from something i cant see. Give the player a small chance.
- there isnt a penalty of just spamming away the skill you dont want to get something useful, there is a design decision to be made here if you want that to be or have some sort of cooldown/buffer/limits
The biggest feedback is the player awareness, its great that you can get overwhelmed and punished, but i think the player needs a little bit of guidance. I dont know if you want to have as little UI as possible, but a little more will only lower frustration. Good job :)!
** Update **
Changes:
- All abilities have been buffed except the spear
- Chest and merchant will always spawn in the middle of the arena
- First merchant won't sell anything and will only appear on every third level
- Buying an upgrade at the merchant will now be removed after bought
- Added more enemies per floor
- Kick now has longer range
- Parry will stun enemies even if they aren't doing an attack animation
Fixed:
- Inputs will now longer work when falling to your death
- The smash ability now works as intended
For a game called Godfist the fists do not feel good. They're not a viable way of killing anything, their hit range is super low, I'd suggest a big spherecast instead of a raycast. I also hate the hit pause but that's a personal subjective preference. I did find it odd that punching certain objects would have a hit pause, like the ladders or boxes or trees, but then the world geo wouldn't. Very confusing. It makes me think there's a point to hitting those objects, that they may break or do something. Overall the sense of feedback needs a bit of work, hitting stuff with anything doesn't feel great and I often don't know how much damage I'm doing. They just glow the more I punch them with seemingly no end, I know I have to knock them off but still.
I don't think I got hit a single time, very easy game, not much enemy variety as they just walk in a straight line towards you. I'd say the levels are too big, there's no dashing or anything, seems like a lot of empty space. Also why am I at the enemy chest height? Being short feels weak.
The viewmodel clips with the world, you know this but Unreal makes it difficult I know. It makes the game world lose a sense of solidity.
I'll repeat the spherecast for the kick, my kicks almost always missed and the range seemed even lower than the fists.
I like the idea of the rolling dice for abilities, maybe a wipe timer visual would be better than just slot machine flicking through them, I often didn't know how long it would take to recharge.
I'd suggest moving the money, level, and pain stuff to the bottom of the screen so all info is together, and adding a color value differentiation to the numbers vs the titles, maybe even visual feedback of growing the numbers and changing color when each changes.
Couldn't tell if the bar at the bottom the screen was my health, I never got hit so, where is the health?
I never went to the shop because I didn't want to have to climb all the way back up.
What's the point of jumping and throwing? I never had to use either.
You may have made the worst video game ladders, it's like swimming in molasses. Just copy HL2 or MGS3.
I can't condone the enemy's loot despawning, especially without warning (blinking, etc.). It'd also be cool to auto suck them in like Devil Daggers.
Weak SFXs but I'm sure it's just early, the jump and punch are particularly disappointing, and quiet music.
I turned on vsync but the screen still tore, this seems to be a common Unreal thing. Speaking of settings, please make the pause menu actually pause in-game, this isn't Dark Souls. I also had no idea when I was ready to level up, it seemed like I always could? Being able to change settings in-game would be nice too, and separating the opaque Low, Good, Best into actual options, like turning off AA, or vignette, etc. would be super nice.
Also, like my game, your game asked for internet access, not sure why.
I made it pretty far I think but got bored of the enemies and quit. You've got a good base here, I think you should polish up the core gameplay loop before doing any more art though.
EDIT: Thought of something else: None of the upgrades are interesting as far as I played, 10% more jump? It's imperceptible. "Double it or halve it" is a good mantra to live by when it comes to upgrades on stats. I'm sure you have more abilities planned. Having the option to swap out your three slot machine ability choices would be neat. I like the strategy of wasting them between rounds to queue them up for what you want.
Submitted
In The DrinkI disagree a lot with your feedback, most of the things seems to be nitpicking and you don't seem to understand the core gameplay. The tutorial tells you that the enemies are immortal and the only way to kill them is to punch them off the edge. Aiming your punches matter, punching up at angle will launch the enemies at that angle.
I know that the abilities needs buffing and those have been addressed in the latest update, but there's nothing wrong with the punching. Giving the player longer rang will just make the game easier, you're suppose to punch them up close and there is still distance.
The bottom bar is the experience bar, they are like in almost every roguelike/RPG.
The shop has been fixed.
The kick range has been fixed.
Throwing boxed does massive damage and will throw most enemies of the edge.
Try adjusting the volume in the settings if the music is low.
Yes the ladders are wonky, looking to make the better but saying "Just copy HL2 or MGS3" is an over simplification.
Thank you for playing the game even though I disagree with the most of the things you say.
I gave it another whirl since you said you updated it. And I had a lot more fun this time! Mostly because you said it was like a smash brothers system, not a health system. Knocking guys off is a lot more fun than trying to get their health down. But, it makes me even less into the knockdown system. It basically giving the enemies safe quarter for a very long time, until they fully stand back up. When I have an enemy down, I kind of expect to have a huge advantage over them. If you're worried about the enemies being to expendable, take another page from SSB and start having enemies have techniques for getting back on the platform. One of the cornerstones of SSB play is how players interact with the ledge.
I wont repeat what other have said about the power level of the initial skills, seems like you are on top of that. But I did find the merchant a little confusing? Am I supposed to climb back down to interact with him? I tried doing that and died. When i die, it didn't seem like I kept my cash, so I'd have to experiment more to see how that works. I also missed him until a good number of runs, because he blends in with the environment a little too well. I dismissed him as a tutorial skull thing.
Anyway, now that I get it, I think the premise is fantastic. A 3D SSB roguelike with a deckbuilding skill aspect. Some of the other skills I got were a lot more fun than the hookshot.
I like it. I tried using a controller but it felt kind of weird and had poor menu support, so I switched to keyboard and mouse. Keyboard and mouse felt fine, but I found I kept trying to use 123 instead of QER for the abilities. The visuals are nice and the gameplay fun and unique. I also enjoy that you made it clear you have to punch things to activate certain objects, it's more elegant than adding a button just to interact with those objects. I died trying to go down the ladder to go back to the shop, may have been a skill issue. I used the ground slam ability several times but it just didn't seem to do much at all, even compared to the kick. I wish there was a way to reroll without using the abilities, feels silly spamming all three shield bashes rolling for an offensive move. I got up like 4-5 floors, I enjoyed the random spawns like shop, pain lowering totem, and chest. My favorite enemy was probably the spartan, with how he jumps around and has some decent reach with his sword. Probably needs some progression, like unlocking more classes and abilities to add to the pool of ones you can get (unless I just didn't play enough to unlock some).
All the keys are rebindable so if you want to use 1,2,3 you can just bind it to them. I'll look into the controller, it's tested with an Xbox controller.
You're actually not suppose to go back to the shop since a new shop will spawn every third floor. Maybe I should put it in one of the tutorials that you can't go back after entering a new floor.
Both the shield and kick are being reworked and should be more useful.
I tested it and the slam ability is broken, I will push a fix for it soon.
Unlockable classes (there are 4 in total) and new abilities are coming for the full game .
I'm happy you liked the gameplay and thanks for the feedback!
Page says is unlike any Roguelike, but its pretty much like every other Roguelike. Not that thats a bad Thing.
The Pain instead of health Idea is Fun for the Tower, and the Combat can be pretty intense. Abilities do pretty much nothing tho apart from the Spear and the Trap, and if you use any while punching it just doesn't happen at all and you just reroll. So I ended up just punching my Way through the first Floor, died on the second Floor and stopped. I'm assuming its pretty much the same the Rest of the Way through, punch Enemies until they all Fall off, climb up, repeat. Leveling and Stuff selection etc. seems to work well, I'm hoping there'd be shops on the Way up, not only at the Bottom, or the collected Money feels useless really quickly, as I wouldn't want to go all the Way back down and back up again just to shop a bit.
Controls are fine, apart from the Bug mentioned above didn't really encounter any. Combat Music is intense, made me wish I had some kind of Weapon instead of my Fists only. Feels odd for a Greek Hero or whatever to just punch around. Also the Fists start to far up on the Screen, makes it seem like my Face is on my Chest.
The Bottom Floor is boring Visually, the Water especially, its just black with some white Spots around. I can also walk on it. The simple Visuals work well on the actual Tower Levels however,so they don't distract from the Combat too much. Wished there would be more Enemies.
Also while I understand that the Ability Roulette is one of the main Things probably, I wished it would've been more regular. Attacking/Blocking like the current Punches, and level up passives and Stuff instead of more Abilities for the Roulette. Probably also because they just felt underwhelming, are slow to execute, have a very short Radius and/or seem to not do anything, and just don't work in the midst of Combat. I have to actively stop fighting to use any Ability. And punching just feels more satisfying.
Submitted
GreenCheetahYou're right, the spear is OP right now so I'm buffing the kick and parry.
The gameplay loop is the same but you'll meet more difficult enemies the higher you get. I think you missed the knight and ninja which are more fun to fight. Also the fist are only useful against lower level enemies, later enemies will take more pain before flinching.
Oh you aren't suppose to go down to the shop he's only there to use for the initial gold, the shopkeeper will spawn on every third floor.
Maybe I should remove the shopkeeper at the bottom so people don't get confused.
You are right that most abilities are a bit underwhelming and the ground smash is currently broken. All abilities except the spear will receive a buff.
Thanks for the detailed feedback, I appreciate it.
Steam REALLY didn't like me booting this game, it would register as something called Spacewar. this happened despite me turning on firewalls and not letting Unreal through. I didn't make it past the main menu because of this, since it smelled a bit fishy. I never had this issue with any other DD game and I've played easily upwards of 100+
This is unfortunate, since I wanted to play this after seeing progress posts (and I think somethin on twitter?) a while back. I will try again should you get this issue resolved.
Submitted
Tower of KalemonvoSorry about that, Spacewar is the standard AppId that comes with UE4's steam plugin. Changed it to show the correct app now.
If you're using steam you might as well download the steam demo instead
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2205260/Godfist/
I played it on steam and had lots of fun. Here's my feedback in a somewhat chronological order
My run starts with Spear, Kick and Shield. I quickly learned that shield and kick are worse than useless, but spear is phenomenal. It absolutely destroys anything. There seems to be an extra second or so of time where the spear connects, but the baddies stay still before being sent to the stratosphere. I think that could be trimmed so that it all happens seamlessly for a stellar spell. The shield and kick have either minimum range or bad collision detection because I couldn't make them work at all. I was able to beat the first floor by basically spamming spear, and if I rolled anything else, I'd just press the key and walk away while waiting for the spear.
The ladder is a bit tricky. I think it needs either an animation or for the arms/hands to disappear while on it. Theyre also placed in tricky spots when leading to the next level, and I can surely imagine someone sliding off when on them, causing an untimely gameover and a fast ragequit.
Speaking of dying, the screen fades and the sound plays, but I can still cast and move my character when the screen is black. Perhaps mute all player input when dead to avoid potential issues
The merchant is very RE4-like and charming. I found out if you buy something, leave and click him again, he restocks. So I bought a bunch of speed boosts and I am now zooming. I like this
Some levels are very easy. Level 5 was just two guys, who both needed just one spear each.
At this point I started getting new spells. I got the soulmine and groundpound. Soulmine I think works, but groundpound does nothing. While ingame I saw that groundpound played but no enemies were harmed, so I paused to make a note. While paused, it turns out enemies are still active and able to move, so I got knocked out. Unfortunate. I made it to I think level 6 or 7.
Another annoyance was how tricky boxes were. When they worked, they worked great (same issue w/ spears where after impact, it would take a second or so for the enemy to fly away in pain). Something I don't like is the default throw key. Right click to pick up is fine, but since my hands are used, I'd figure left click to throw would make sense. After all, you attack with LMB so pressing LMB should attack with what's in your hands.
That's basically it. The enemies were cool, but nothing particularly interesting. Just some guys, I guess.
I think the main focus should be colliders and collision detection across the board (and I guess trimming extra time for attacks to propel, but I'm putting that in the same category). Once this is clear, with perhaps a faster pace you have a very interesting game on your hands.
Keep it up!
Ok, changing the mouse sensitivity fixed it somehow. I didn't have a gamepad plugged in. Really wish I could lower the mouse sensitivity more. I think I'm an outlier and something is up with my mouse, because every FPS game I played today has been way too sensitive. But for people like me, going to like 0.2 mouse sensitivity is what feels good.
Anyway, cool game. Played a few levels and had fun. I like the premise, the look of the game is fantastic. And it feels pretty good. Few random thoughts:
- I like the skill system. Feels pretty unique. Encourages you to use all your different abilities.
- The combat itself feels pretty good, but can also be a bit odd. When a guy is knocked down, you can keep hitting them but its not clear if it does anything. Same for when they're getting up. I like that they only fly away after a couple hits, but they kind of go static for the first few, so its not as responsive as I was expecting. In kung-fu movies, the jabroni getting beaten usually way over-reacts, I think something similar would work here.
- Enemies feel like they have a ton of health. Might be because you're trying to encourage knocking guys off rather than taking away their hp. But I'd almost rather have guys just die instead of getting knocked down over and over. Then you could have a lot more enemies. Feels a bit like im just mindlessly grinding against a small handful of goobers for a very long time.
- One guy bugged out and was just standing there not dying. I had to keep kicking him until he fell off the tower.
- Hookshot feels kind of whack. I hook a guy and he goes behind me so I cant even hit him. I was trying to hook guys and knock them off the cliff behind me but it wasn't really working.
Overall, really good. I think getting the feel locked in a bit more will make this a great game.
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