itch.io

Thanks for taking the time to have a look, really glad you found it as unique and interesting as we do. 

Onboarding is consistently our biggest struggle - we actually have a new suite of 'stuff' that is almost ready to try to deal with a bit of this. We have had to be pretty creative but I think what we have is something good. 

I agree on the Wall of Death sound, have added that to my list of things to do. 

Thank you!

Like with others - the ZIP file didn't work but I went digging and found the Gamepix link - so no problems there. 

A simple looking, but not simple to play game. Its easy to pick up - but hard to master. It really feels like it would take a bit of practice and timing to optimise a run, which will definitely appeal to a certain audience. 

I thought the controls felt a little unresponsive at times, though I assume that is because the inputs are timing sensitive, and perhaps I just need more practice. 

I liked how quick it was to get into a match - though overall the UI could likely to with some refinement. I felt like there was a lot of menus/buttons/text/stuff going on just to get into the first run. 

I appreciated the graphical styling and it ran well in the browser for me. 

Thanks for a good time!

My team also has a runner (though very different to yours) in the jam https://itch.io/jam/feedback-quest-8-indiegames-x-indie-streamers/rate/3773442 If you get a little time, maybe you would check it out?

Thanks mate!

Solid - there has clearly been a lot of time put into this one. I really enjoyed everything that I got to play but admit that I likely didn't get as far as I should have. 

The spear felt good to use. It was intuitive to both fight and platform with. 

I like having a central element like the spear to tie together all of the mechanics. It was nice how quickly the game got started, and the starting puzzles/platforming was all well sign posted and easy to get in to. 

I found the text effects a little distracting, and whilst I think movement on the core ideas in a string of text, or highlighting certain words is great - I think having all of the characters enter and behave as they do is a little off putting. 

Good work!

Our team has a submission too, if you get a chance we would love to see you over there!

https://itch.io/jam/feedback-quest-8-indiegames-x-indie-streamers/rate/3773442

Hi there!

I was very impressed by the visual identity of this game, it is both unique and beautiful. I really enjoyed the cyberpunk style hyper fluro-neon glow, and the use of dark and light areas for transitions. I think this game presents very professionally and I had a good time with it. 

Combat feels good. It is fast and easy to control. The animations, and once again, their use of light is brilliant. I especially liked the sword swings in the dark that would illuminate the characters face. 

I am usually not a huge reader of dialogue in games, but the pacing in this with the break back and forth between the dialogue and action sections was enough that I read most things. 

All around really good. Keep on cooking!

My team also has a platformer in the jam - https://itch.io/jam/feedback-quest-8-indiegames-x-indie-streamers/rate/3773442 can be found here if you have a chance to take a look!

Thank you for a fun neon glowing time!

This was really fun. I got so much more out of this than I expected. 

Some elements that I particularly liked; 

1 -  His hat being the health indicator. The way that the hat bounces off your head when you land, and needing to pick it up to get your health pip back is brilliant. It feels good, its charming. Great. 

2 - The firing mode being linked to whether I am on a wall or not is great - it ties it all together, it was fun to think about my positioning and was an elegant way to avoid using a second stick for aiming, or locking the aim all together. Great. I acknowledge that others might find the gun frustrating to use but I thought it was great. It is not so much a gun as it is a part of the platforming challenge. Its not a power fantasy. 

3 - I thought the difficulty was well tuned, no issues with getting through levels and enough deaths to keep it interesting. 

4 - Loved the moment at the start of the 'boss level' of the first area where suddenly you are faced with new music and a tight group of 20 or so bats above you - great change of pace, and super fun. 

5 - Placing the torches automatically as you go is super charming - adds to the atmosphere and a very well designed touch. 

6 - The way the vendors in the cave would spawn in when unlocking them was very satisfying. Good work - though would be nice to see generally more 'movement' in that cave space once they are unlocked. Steam coming out of tubes, rumbling the ground, more ambient sounds super local to which machine you are standing near - etc etc. 

Some elements I would focus development toward

1 - The text font feels placeholder, something with some more *feeling* would be nice. 

2 - The game has a lot of charm - a bit more feedback whilst in the game space would be good. The hits and grappling/sliding on the wall feel a little lighter than they should. 

3 - The UI should change if I am using a controller - additionally, I found 'Button North' (Y) as the universal button to interact a little strange. Really feels like 'Button South' (A) would have been more logical -> though I dno if the choice for Y is to keep elements in the game points 'upward'? I dno - felt odd, and with no UI to tell me this was the case I did miss the interactions in the cave for a moment at the start. 

Thanks for this -> super good. 

Our team has https://itch.io/jam/feedback-quest-8-indiegames-x-indie-streamers/rate/3773442 if you had time to go and have a look. Its in a similar space to your game, so might be of interest. It is super challenging though - be prepared!

Thanks again,

Rollmop.

Hi Renos,

I am one of the devs on the game - Thank you for taking the time to leave some feedback, I appreciate it. 

What you have outlined is a nice synopsis of our feedback as a whole. I can't disagree with any of it. 

What we have, I think, is technically somewhat unique, and I continue to really like the idea - though its fun is somewhat hidden behind its mastery - somewhat the antithesis of onboarding. The team and I have enjoyed countless hours of running, and really just want to enable others to do the same. 

I was curious; 

- Did you have a read of the 'How to Play' section prior to trying to play the game? - Did you find it unhelpful?/how might you have preferred that information presented?

- Was there a specific element in the visual environment that was obscuring your purpose more than the others?

I am super glad the key re-binding brought someone some utility -> what a pain in the patella.

In a super early build of the game we did actually have a 'tutorial' where the elements get layered in, one at a time. It never felt 'right' -> Honestly I think the trick in our case is integrating the learning into the game's loop, IE as you practice you can use more of your skills to take control of more of the elements but are not required to do so from the outset. 

Thanks for dropping by Renons, 

Feel free to reach out in the future for game dev related bits and pieces!

A really strong, and readable visual identity that is simple and fun to play. 

I really liked that the enemies would shoot a projectile from each corner, and that this corresponded with how much "health" (how many times you have to kill them) they have. This visual language enabling you to have 0 UI (almost) was really nicely done. Your game is very well signaled.

I liked being invincible whilst not looping, and I enjoyed the way you secretly tutorialised this with the loading screen at the end of the tutorial level where the bullets come in from either side, forcing you to be hit. 

Overall well designed, fun, intuitive, good good. 

I would have liked to be able to perform several loops in a row to kill multiple loop enemies in 1 long loop - even if this means that the loop wouldn't 'close' until I stopped holding the button. This risk vs reward would have felt nice. IE - selecting to be vulnerable for longer but not having to wait out the cooldown between loops. 

We have a game in the jam also, if you have some time, go and check it out! https://itch.io/jam/feedback-quest-8-indiegames-x-indie-streamers/rate/3773849?b...

Thanks mate, take it easy. 

This was great! I really had fun with this one and played it all the way through. 

I really liked having 'time spent in the level' as a metric, this was an interesting and unique spin on the tower defence idea. I remember playing very early Warcraft 3 maps where part of the tower defence was to build a maze from your towers to increase the exposure they had to the creeps. Is this perhaps where your idea comes from?

Player onboarding might be something to look at here - it is always a challenge but is usually worthwhile. I got the idea pretty plainly, but I know that someone without the context of old school TDs or gaming in general might struggle linking the concepts together.

Controls where good, UI was good, and the sound design was fine. I would have liked access to more data during the run, even if this was an optional pull out tab or something. I often wondered how much milk I made in the previous run, to try to work out how much more I needed to get from the next one. 

Thanks for some good bovine fun!


https://itch.io/jam/feedback-quest-8-indiegames-x-indie-streamers/rate/3259119?b... -> our team has this one in if you wanted to go and take a look, all the feedback we can get is super valuable. 

Thanks mate!

Wow! What a unique, interesting and well presented identity. This feels hand made, and has that special sauce that I crave in the indie world. Brilliant, right my my alley.

I really enjoyed the limitations of the control scheme, and I think it presents brilliantly as a horror/FPS/FMV situation. I think that the FMV additions are just so key to its feel, and I wonder if you could take this even further with some more animations/set dressings etc etc - All just more time in dev. 

I don't really have any specific critiques that are super helpful, as I think you are on the right track. If you meet the game on its terms and use the tools it gives you (the instant fast turn to keep checking your back) then it plays very well. I wonder if there is something you could sprinkle in early to show players just how important that fast turn is?

Likely one thing I would adjust is the acceleration/deceleration of the A and D component of the turning. I think there could be some 'feel' by having the A and D inputs decelerate and come to a SLIGHTLY slower stop, making it feel a bit more dynamic and human. Add some acceleration would also make it easier to make any micro adjustments to your aim. I thought the hit boxes were very generous and aiming was generally easy enough - this would be purely for *feel*. 

Thanks for a good play session, we have a game in the jam too to be found at https://itch.io/jam/feedback-quest-8-indiegames-x-indie-streamers/rate/3737789?b... if you wanted to drop by. 

Thanks mate, take it easy!

This one has a lot of love in it (pun intended). 

I really enjoyed a lot about this title. The presentation of the levels against the black void actually worked quite well, even though I am usually not a fan of this approach. I really liked your character model crumbling as they take damage or as time passes - this was really effective. I liked the difficulty level of the puzzles, and I enjoyed the overall flow of the levels.

My main feedback would be to improve on the character controller, and improve on 'bounds' of the levels to deal with the edge/niche cases of getting stuck/out of bounds/locking out puzzles. The camera was a little frustrating, though manageable. A lot of my feedback is honestly just because it was a 4 day jam, and these things are to be expected. Overall lovely little game. 

Our team has a game in the jam also https://itch.io/jam/feedback-quest-8-indiegames-x-indie-streamers/rate/3773442 , if you have the time go and drop us a line!

Thanks mate, good work!

Hey mate,

Good little game, super solid, runs well, I had fun. 

I did 3 runs, with a max score of about 750. 

I think the Rage Mode could do with some changes. My experience with the Rage Mode was that for a split second I was glad to get a break from the monsters chasing me - BUT I was annoyed that they scattered to the far extents of the map. I was glad to get the break but it was annoying that it slowed down the flow state of the game.

An example of an alternative is that 'Rage Mode' could actually make all of the enemies flock to the center of the screen in a ball. In this way you must strategically see that rage mode is coming, and not get caught in the centre of it as they flock to the middle -> additionally this  makes it a 'shooting fish in a barrel' situation where not only do you get a break but you get some free time to kill as many as possible, possibly even saving up your special attack to use.

The music was incredible (almost like an 8bit crunched Mick Gordon Doom vibe), I really enjoyed the sound design overall - but especially enjoyed the music.

I have a game in the Jam also - Tetromino Runner, if you found the feedback helpful come and drop us a line!
https://itch.io/jam/feedback-quest-8-indiegames-x-indie-streamers/rate/3773442

Thanks mate, have a good one! Keep cooking!

Hi Hythrain,

Thank you so much for taking the time to play the game, the team really appreciates the feedback. 

We would absolutely love to see a link to the VOD when it is uploaded. 

You are the second person to describe the play space as 'visually cluttered' - Heard, appreciated, taken on board. 

Currently, the void that is chasing you eats the blocks that you leave behind, which increases its speed. Clearing lines, and playing 'tidily' reduces its speed to some base level (difficulty dependent). I think this current design achieves a similar thing to what you are describing in your last paragraph. Please let me know if I have missed your point.

There is a youtube video on the game's itch page that can highlight some nice tech to help deal with the obstructions in the environment, as high level play starts to look quite different to beginner play. Our largest challenge with this, somewhat complex, game has been trying to onboard players to the concept in a way that is low friction, and enjoyable from the outset. This is something, that I think we are still failing at somewhat. We continue to work on 'revealing the fun' as early as possible, as we believe that the late game once mastery of the controls has been achieved is very enjoyable -the ramp to that point *can* be less so. 

Thank you again for taking the time, we really do listen, and we do appreciate it. Look forward to seeing the VOD when you are ready. 

Cheers!
Rollmop. 

Brilliant execution, the sound effects were very effective to give some early laughs. The puzzles were sequentially developing the core mechanics. The visual signaling was very clear, instructions came at a good pace. I really liked the naming of the levels having some tie to the solution. 

I think the sound scape could do with a little more variation - despite the character's sounds being initially entertaining a longer play session could see that turn to monotony. 

Overall, really good - I am not a puzzle gamer, but can totally see this is a good one. 

Enjoyed how consistent the theme of this one was, really feels like a Gameboy game early implementation of a twin stick shooter. 

I felt the control scheme was innovative to avoid use of the second stick for 'aiming', though I think that this schema could have been better explained, as it took me a moment to work out how to aim my gun properly. 

Using a control stick on a controller enables you to aim in the inter cardinal directions - whereas a D-Pad does not. I feel like control stick use was mandatory to my success. 

Visually the black slugs could have been contrasted more against the background. Some low detail floor texture might help contextualize the player's movement in the space. 

I did feel like I was playing something from the past - which was fun. The game was stable, performed well, and is my first experience playing something from the Pico-8 engine. Good work. 

Art style was consistent. I liked the little colour distortion effect on enemy death. I felt I needed more feedback on the core gameplay loop. When I die does the wave of enemies reset? How many enemies do I need to defeat? How much health do I have? These are the kind of questions I was asking of the game as I played. The two attack types could be more different, I didn't feel much of a reason to use the zap attack over sword.

Fun little phone game style thing. Would like the blocks to have an edge around the outside of the blocks to make them more distinguishable. Had fun with it though.

I really liked the sound effects for the car.

The steering was a little sensitive, and difficult to control at times. 

I liked the way that the road crumbled away when I tried to leave the track.