I really enjoyed my time with this game, I almost finished it (let's say I only need to get rid of a Clam) and it has been a nice experience. Love the silly tone of the game and the dialogue. The mayor was really fun!
Art Direction: the art style didn't convince me at the beginning but then it grew on me. It's fun, it's coherent and a lot of love has been put into it. I have two suggestions:
1) change the main menu artwork, it does not represent the game.
2) add an idle animation for the main char, it's a simple addition that can give a lot of life to the game.
Audio: music is fun and perfectly matches the art direction. Sound design is a bit lacking, mainly UI feedback, buttons, and so on.
Game Loop: I like the idea behind it, and it works. Kill enemies, get shards, unlock stuff/power up, and help people. It's simple, it's fun. Also, I liked the Sokoban-inspired puzzles. My only gripe is with the combat system, but I will address it in the next point.
Combat: this is a hit and a miss at the same time. I like the speed of it, it's fast and the animations are fun, but I think that at the moment it's lacking in depth: I found myself mostly spamming space to pummel or use the magic attack, occasionally fleeing but nothing more. I think that the speed needs to be tuned down a little bit to help the player make their decision in a more thoughtful manner, also understanding the enemy's behavior without getting punished for it.
Controls/UI: controls are solid, other than the spammy combat, and the UI is ok. I don't really like the dialogue boxing changing size, I find it a bit distracting. Also, I'd rather have the option to make some of the information visible while exploring (TP and Shard mainly) than constantly opening the menu to check them.
Overall a really nice game with lots of potential, 4 out of 5 for me.
Viewing post in Turn By Turn Villain jam comments
Thanks a lot for trying it and for the detailed feedback!
Glad you liked the “silliness” of the game, definitely what I’m aiming for, not taking the game too seriously.
By changing the menu artwork you mean the title screen? Dang I was proud of it for making it myself, it’s the game’s logo and promotional material too, oops ^^;
Also, since you almost finished the demo, did you really manage to defeat all enemies, in particular bosses, by just spamming attack? Even though the first enemies are easy to defeat that way which is to be expected, I tried to progressively introduce new strategies, where you have to defend more and need to make good use of some items too, but maybe something is wrong in my approach.
Oh btw you can see your TP, HP and Shards by pressing start on the controller or T on the keyboard while exploring.
Thanks again, much appreciated!
Hello again!
So, I've reclaimed the 15-digit code and yeah, you can basically brute-force each encounter by having enough endurance and attack. I did it with all the enemies, and the bosses (Vampirelle, Goonther, and the secret one). Also, I think I've encountered a bug with the secret boss: after a couple of hits it slowed me and then never did damage to me again, so I was able to breeze through it.
I'm aware of the T key for showing some info, but I'm talking more about a toggle on / toggle off kind of thing, rather than the 3-4 seconds then disappearing that you have in now. It's a minor thing, just a QoL thing for some players (but it's okay either way!).