itch.io

Glad you had a good time! The next update is HUGE with customization, long-term progression, and… dating sim elements?!

Drop in for the latest if you want:

https://discord.gg/YYYtPY4Gsa

Glad you had fun, huge update coming soon including shaping part like Spore! Feel free to drop by if you want the latest: https://discord.gg/YYYtPY4Gsa

Do I take this as a compliment ahah lmao

Thanks for playing! Please consider playing the full version that’s several updates ahead right now :)

https://barelyplayable.itch.io/beatbaes

Thank you so much for playing! I’m really glad the characters already feel distinct and that you found more depth as you kept playing.

The next patch is a big one: a full HUD overhaul, equippable and unlockable parts, part shaping (think Spore), and expanded career progression are all coming next.

There’ll be plenty more to experiment with very soon!

Thanks for playing! You have such a cool game, by the way.

The idea of teaching mechanics in context is really useful, and I’m actively experimenting with how quickly I can get players into the first match. I’m on to my 2nd playtester round so we’ll see.

Also, could you tell me what specifically made the UI feel AI-generated to you? I’m a software engineer with a fair amount of frontend and design experience, and much of the UI was intentionally designed, so I’d genuinely like to understand which elements created that impression. Was it the typography, shapes, icons, colors, inconsistent styling, or something else? That would help me address the actual problem rather than replacing the whole UI with a generic asset pack.

I’m looking to work with content creators at some point, you can add me on discord if that’s something you’re interested in @beatbaes :)

Thank you, this is super helpful. The Smash comparison is especially interesting because that “easy to get moving, but with a lot going on underneath” feeling is very much what I’m aiming for.

Glad to hear the flavor and vibe landed!

And yeah, I just released a HUGE onboarding update this morning with an interactive tutorial!

Also, thank you for the timestamp. I’ll definitely check out the stream section around 36:30.

Really appreciate you giving the game a shot!

Thanks for playing the game and providing feedback!

Hey! I’m working on a major BEAT BAES update and would love your feedback again.

You’ll probably notice this message is a copy-paste because I like to work efficiently, but I specifically picked you based on your previous feedback and want to see what you think of the changes.

The next build should be ready this weekend or early next week. Play as long as you want, then just fill out a feedback form. No recording required.

If you’re interested, message me on Discord with your itch name if it’s different: beatbaes

Hey! I’m working on a major BEAT BAES update and would love your feedback again.

You’ll probably notice this message is a copy-paste because I like to work efficiently, but I specifically picked you based on your previous feedback and want to see what you think of the changes.

The next build should be ready this weekend or early next week. Play as long as you want, then just fill out a feedback form. No recording required.

If you’re interested, message me on Discord with your itch name if it’s different: beatbaes

Hey! I’m working on a major BEAT BAES update and would love your feedback again.

You’ll probably notice this message is a copy-paste because I like to work efficiently, but I specifically picked you based on your previous feedback and want to see what you think of the changes.

The next build should be ready this weekend or early next week. Play as long as you want, then just fill out a feedback form. No recording required.

If you’re interested, message me on Discord with your itch name if it’s different: beatbaes

Hey! I’m working on a major BEAT BAES update and would love your feedback again.

You’ll probably notice this message is a copy-paste because I like to work efficiently, but I specifically picked you based on your previous feedback and want to see what you think of the changes.

The next build should be ready this weekend or early next week. Play as long as you want, then just fill out a feedback form. No recording required.

If you’re interested, message me on Discord with your itch name if it’s different: beatbaes

Hey! I’m working on a major BEAT BAES update and would love your feedback again.

You’ll probably notice this message is a copy-paste because I like to work efficiently, but I specifically picked you based on your previous feedback and want to see what you think of the changes.

The next build should be ready this weekend or early next week. Play as long as you want, then just fill out a feedback form. No recording required.

If you’re interested, message me on Discord with your itch name if it’s different: beatbaes

Hey! I’m working on a major BEAT BAES update and would love your feedback again.

You’ll probably notice this message is a copy-paste because I like to work efficiently, but I specifically picked you based on your previous feedback and want to see what you think of the changes.

The next build should be ready this weekend or early next week. Play as long as you want, then just fill out a feedback form. No recording required.

If you’re interested, message me on Discord with your itch name if it’s different: beatbaes

I appreciate that, looking forward to your updates as well!

Good to hear and don’t worry lol I’m working on my game’s tutorial now and it sucks!

Thanks for playing!

If you haven’t yet, please leave your feedback, it helps a ton!

https://forms.gle/hrA3t6et9t2jqkXp7

Cheers, glad to help!

You’re welcome! Looking forward to your progress!

Yeah these look better and they still are cohesive/look like they come from the same world. I actually like that the red ranger doesn’t fit in the card there lol.

Haha yeah it’s a pain.

ffmpeg and caesium are your friends!

First of all, thanks for sharing the accessibility guide! I’m very familiar with accessibility from web development, but this is a fantastic resource and filled in a lot of game-specific knowledge gaps for me.

Even an imperfect optional control scheme could still help players with CTS or other mobility limitations. Accessibility does not have to be all or nothing, and knocking out the easier wins first sounds sensible.

Also, to clarify my hook suggestion: I didn’t mean that sentence was your final, uniquely ownable market hook. You’re right that “build weapons until the screen explodes” broadly describes the Bullet Heaven genre. I meant it as the first sentence on the itch page because it quickly explains what I’m about to play. Right now, the page makes visitors work to understand even that much.

The deeper differentiation still needs to come from what is distinctive about your particular game. To me, the most promising candidate is the weapon-slot mutation system, especially if the combinations create recognizable builds that players can intentionally pursue rather than just receiving incremental stat changes. The Space Invaders direction was another possible path to explore, not a prescription.

And lmao at Plan Waifu. I mean, yes, it can absolutely work. The first battle is getting somebody to click and play the game at all, and putting an appealing character on the cover or in a screenshot would almost certainly earn some extra attention. Even placeholder character art might improve the click-through rate enough to teach you something.

That said, if you’re not personally interested in building around characters and would only be forcing them into the game for clicks, then it may not be the right direction for you. Characters do not necessarily require a massive gameplay pivot, though. A pilot could initially function as framing, branding, ship identity, or progression flavor without becoming the entire design.

My extremely biased opinion is that not enough horny or suggestive games have genuinely good gameplay. There’s a large underserved space between completely clean games and outright NSFW games for something cheeky, attractive, and character-driven that is also mechanically excellent and worth playing on its own.

But again, I may be just a tiny bit biased there. 😅

Either way, testing the itch-page restructure before making any major creative pivot is absolutely the right move. If the page communicates the existing game better and the view-to-play conversion improves, that gives you much cleaner evidence about whether the game itself needs a radical new hook or whether people simply weren’t being shown the hook you already have.

Thanks for playing! Really glad the actual Beyblade gameplay lived up to what you were hoping for. And yeah, I’m definitely hearing the tutorial is too much lol.

One thing I’m curious about: what made Breakneck look like it would take too long? Was it something on the menu/UI, or just the idea of doing a full run?

Also if you have 2 mins, I’d love to get your feedback in the form so I can keep it with the rest of my playtest data. If you already filled it out, thank you!

https://forms.gle/TgpNJp2bVzUuq8ea6

Thanks for trying! Please consider playing the full version which is now 3 major updates ahead AND IN 3D!

https://barelyplayable.itch.io/beatbaes

Thanks for playing, this is valuable feedback. I come from a music/audio background so don’t kick yourself too much for neglecting sound. Most of the gaming industry does haha.

If you haven’t yet, please take a minute to leave feedback on the form: https://forms.gle/y5LfqVy5nVK7p9cx9

Btw, I would play your game again. Feel free to hmu anytime with updates :)

I intentionally limited my session to around five to ten minutes so I could cover more jam entries and give more developers feedback. That first window still matters, especially for judging the hook, onboarding, presentation, controls, and whether I want to continue.

First of all, this made me say “what the fuck” out loud, in a good way. I understood the nesting-doll theme from the screenshots, but I somehow did not expect to literally enter another character’s head and discover a world inside. That reveal is crazy, immediately understandable once it happens, and genuinely great game design. I am not normally big on platformers, but this idea got my attention anyway.

The folk-art direction, characters, ornate platforms, wallpaper, and old recording all fit the concept really well. The art could still use another cohesiveness and polish pass, and the unusual mechanics need slightly more guided onboarding because moving, entering heads, hanging characters, and wearing their skills is a lot to understand quickly. Still, this has an actual identity and a hook I will remember. I wishlisted it on Steam, good luck with the release and keep pushing forward.

By the way, I agree with ace24713. I’m not a platformer gamer, but the level design could use some work.

If you have two minutes, climb inside the extremely normal spinning-mech world of BEAT BAES and trade me some feedback.

Open the battle-mech nesting doll · Leave notes inside its head

Played on Windows 11 in Chrome.

Obviously this is very much a prototype of a prototype, but I think it was shared too early for meaningful playtesting. The UI elements were so small that it took me way too long to understand how to interact with anything. I felt reasonably confident that the title alone would prepare me for the basic loop, but I still could not figure out how to begin the first battle. Charmander and the enemy Charmeleon appeared, but there was no clear prompt, card interaction, or next action. Pressing Space brought up another unclear screen rather than moving the battle forward.

The itch page also gives players no description, controls, screenshots, explanation of what is currently implemented, or guidance on what kind of feedback you need. I would focus on building one complete battle with clear onboarding before asking more people to test it. The idea could be cool, but I was honestly a little annoyed that the game promised a combination of Pokémon and Slay the Spire, two things I really like, and I could not get through even one encounter. Also, if this grows beyond a learning prototype, I would develop an original identity instead of building the public project around the Pokémon name and assets.

If you have two minutes, I would still appreciate a playtest trade on BEAT BAES. At minimum, I promise the spinning mechs will actually hit each other.

Start an extremely real mech battle · Tell me where the turn breaks

I intentionally limited my session to around five to ten minutes so I could cover more jam entries and give more developers feedback. That first window still matters, although I actually got pretty far here because the entire interactive story is scoped appropriately for a short session. Played on Windows 11 in Chrome.

This is a genuinely interesting little project. The restrained colors, typography, spacing, and portrait layout make the interface feel like an emotional analysis system instead of a visual novel wearing a sci-fi coat. Choosing an interpretation and receiving an inference error communicates Kay’s struggle naturally without overexplaining it. The story also feels complete at its current size, so I would be careful about expanding it just because you can. The small, focused scope is one of its strengths.

The main things missing are input consistency and some audiovisual polish. I should be able to complete the entire game using only the mouse or only the keyboard. After choosing an answer with a number key, I naturally wanted Space or Enter to continue instead of returning to the mouse. I also think a text-focused game like this needs subtle sound and music, even if it is just quiet interface feedback and a restrained ambient track. Theme it up a little, polish those edges, and honestly, that is probably it. Pat yourself on the back, you shipped something complete, which is more than a lot of people can say.

If you have two minutes, I would love to trade playtests. BEAT BAES has fewer complicated emotions and significantly more spinning metal.

Analyze the Riders · Return your own inference results

I intentionally kept this session to about five minutes so I could cover more jam entries and give more developers feedback. That first window still matters, especially for onboarding, presentation, controls, and the immediate hook.

Good job with the itch page. It is thematic without trying too hard, and more importantly, it remains easily legible. A lot of developers either pile on so much styling that the page becomes a mess or barely present the game at all, which is such an unfortunate waste. Small side note, itch pages are indexable by Google and discoverable through AI search, so I would encourage you and any other indie dev reading this to think about the page copy as part of your actual marketing and SEO. Anyway, SEO sermon over lmao.

The retro sci-fi horror presentation feels cohesive. The CRT styling, grain, limited colors, and lighting all support the same atmosphere, even though this is not normally my preferred visual style. The UI sounds are especially good, very clean and clicky in a way that fits the technology perfectly. I would add WASD as another standard movement option, and clarify the mouse instructions because “Click to move/interact” followed by “Left click to cancel/menu” sounds contradictory. I would also collapse the enormous FAQ or hide the answers behind spoiler sections because it explains solutions and failure conditions before players have a chance to discover them.

If you have two minutes of fuel left, I would love to trade playtests. BEAT BAES has Riders smashing spinning battle mechs together through extremely questionable physics.

Spend your remaining fuel on BEAT BAES · Transmit the damage report

You’re the second person to play on phone and phone support isn’t even officially announced or supported lmao!

Thanks for trying it, glad to hear it’s holding up on mobile. SUPER looking forward to your thoughts when you try again, thank you so much!

I intentionally limited my session to about five minutes so I could cover more jam entries and give more developers feedback. That first window still matters, since it is where most new players judge the onboarding, presentation, controls, and immediate hook.

I really appreciate being able to play as a guest without connecting my Google account. I could just get in, kill some mushrooms, talk to actual people, and admittedly do a little guerrilla marketing for my own game lmao. That ability to casually socialize while killing monsters is the heart of an MMO, and you delivered it within five minutes. Seriously, kudos.

The UI and UX are clean and functional, but the interface has a recognizable Claude AI design feeling right now. I would give the visuals another pass with more distinct theming because the art direction feels promising but somewhat inconsistent and sloppy. The game is also missing a clear hook that separates it from other MMOs. I know the temptation is probably to keep expanding outward with more classes, enemies, items, and systems, but I would go deeper instead. Tighten what is already here, polish the presentation, and define the one thing only MODAK does. At a foundational level though, it absolutely does the job of being an MMO.

If you have two minutes, I would love to trade playtests. BEAT BAES has Riders smashing spinning battle mechs together with extremely questionable physics.

Enter the underground mech circuit · Drop your brutally useful feedback

Cheers, much appreciated!

Anytime, looking forward to updates! This has good, chill on the couch on my steam deck potential.

Maybe strange, but something to consider. I don’t play platformers typically, BUT I would be more likely to play this on my phone.

Thanks a lot for taking the time to write all this out, especially when you already knew this probably wasn’t your kind of game. This is super useful.

Two things I’d really like to understand better:

1. If I cut the tutorial way down, what are the 1 or 2 things you actually did need explained before the first fight?
2. On the agency side, was the bigger problem that you didn’t understand what your abilities were doing, or that even when you did, it still felt like you weren’t really controlling the outcome?

If you’ve got another 2 mins, I’d really appreciate you dropping this into the feedback form too so I can keep it with the rest of the playtest data. If you already did, thank you!

https://forms.gle/TgpNJp2bVzUuq8ea6

EDIT:

If anything, it’d be most helpful to know what characters you played. Right now, there are two characters in particular that are being almost completely overhauled. This is a very hard game to balance already 😅

Thanks for playing! Glad it started clicking once you got into it. The amount of stuff thrown at you early is definitely something I’m trying to figure out.

If you could pick one thing, what UI or skill info would you have wanted me to hide or save for later?

Also please take 2 mins to fill out my feedback form if you haven’t already. If you did, thank you so much!

https://forms.gle/TgpNJp2bVzUuq8ea6