1) I'm surprised by the nice graphics! It immediately drew me into the world and everything fit in beautifully
2) UI and controls are very unintuitive. For example, right at the beginning I would at least draw arrows and an interaction button on the ground so that people know how to play right away, because I started playing with arrows instead of WSAD. Also, it would be good to display that you should interact with Space, for example with a small inscription (space)
3) A large part of the game, you will definitely spend digging, so you need to make it as fun as possible. Now it's actually terribly boring because there's nothing to it, I just wait 2 minutes before digging each square, uninteresting. I would put some kind of timer there (for example, before the authorities or locals come to you) so that people can change their mind about what to do. Also add some danger. In my opinion, the point should be that I'm looking for a certain part of the skeleton and I'll go get it quickly and ignore the other bones for the sake of time.
4) Radar, another unexplained thing how it works (and that it looks for bones at all). Too strong for me at the beginning of the game. Significantly limit its power at the beginning of the game. For example, cooldown after use, shorter range, random beam in a specified section. Or for example, set the radar to a specific bone I'm looking for.
5) I looked at the upgrades that can be purchased and it looks terribly uninteresting and boring. Nobody wants to play to unlock "10% faster digging". It is necessary to come up with "game changing" improvements, such as the aforementioned radar, a dog that digs with you or looks for a specific bone.
6) Cleaning bones is a very interesting mechanic and it surprised me very much!! I can imagine that cleaning would take place only in the base (again, the possibility of a whole range of upgrades for cleaning, such as various rinsing tubs, brushes, helpers ..). If cleaning was done at home, it would be possible to bring home, for example, garbage (by mistake of course) and only find out at home that it is not a bone.
7) I can imagine that small bones can be dug up and cleaned on the spot, but larger ones will be more like "clay balls" that could be extracted, for example, by helicopter and cleaned properly at the base.
8) Building a skeleton at the base.. well.. the graphics are nice, but actually kind of unnecessary in the gameplay. It would be more interesting to have the bone and not know what kind of dinosaur it is or what part it is from, so that the player would be happy that he is building a dinosaur from the "pile of bones", there would be some goal there, rather than just drag and drop.
9) Visitors to the museum.. well.. again such an unnecessary and long delay. It is not clear at first glance how it works and what it will bring to the player other than just clicking a button and waiting, it is not a game.
10) The graphics were a bit annoying when digging, when the individual cubes sometimes had a small gap between them and the background was glowing.
11) When building a clearing, the controls were confusing again, when it had to be ended with backspace, add an icon
12) When digging, I was very annoyed by holding the left mouse button to dig, when it then kicked in the air. It would be much more pleasant for me to A) dig using a key than hold the mouse in your hand. B) when I hold the dig and move, then proceed straight in a line, not stop every time, move and start digging again, it's frustrating.
13) In conclusion, I think that with a lot of tuning, the game could be a real success!! But you need to focus on what makes the game fun, what are the main fun mechanisms, what is the gameplay loop and really focus on it.
I understand you that you want to make something like Minecraft, i also like this kind of game. But doin't "core" mechanic is quite hard to do right. It may work now for you but then when you would like to add more chunks you will realize that you don't have optimalized code and you need to rewritte it from ground.
So i would recomend to find some working core system (blocks) and then you can and your custom crafting, monsters, etc...
That is pity, because i think that will "scare" a lot of people hire on itch.io . I don't know how much peopley downloaded your game but if you make "lightweight" version it could increase this number
So my few coments about this game: 1) you should distribute .zip instead of instalation package (if GM2 allow that) 2) i like your graphic, good job done 3) whole game is really confusing, you should focus on improving this so more player can explore your game. You should tell player what to do and is goal. Map is good start but make it open somwhere around "WSAD" so you can open it when you fly and check if you are heading right way 4) i had problems with camera, it's hard to fight where you need precise controll but camera is "randomly" changing. Make camera more "static" in slow speed and then you can move it when player gain speed 5) faster travel, you should implement some "boost" to travel between planet, it's booring to wait until you fly that distance 6) i'm not sure about reloading, first i think that lower ammo you have, faster you reload, but then i realized that i reload faster if i'm moving and slower when i'm statit, that is really wierd 7) also i had problem when two interactible entities was near each other and i could "highlit" only one until i move in some precise spot
But beside this you game look nice on first look, i only managed to play it around 5 minut, then i was demotivated to play more because i didn't know "what to do and why"
I think that it's too big project and there are hundrets of project like this, so you can download them and than add stuff that you want, there is no need to writing "core" again, because you have it really glitchy, you can jump to block if you are holding forward key, you still see through block ..
Few tips: 1) Don't make instalator for those small indie games, noone want to instal "something" when they just want to try it + windows is trying to report it as virus
2)I like idea of small fast paced map with lots of ideas, but ... you maybe want to create "hardcore" experience, but please add things like treshold for jump after you "leave" ground (make 5 pixels wider collider than actual image) and walljumps works wierd because you jump further than with regular jump and also try to make them more "sticky"
3) Pixel graphic looks nice but some sprites don't fit it, like doors or spikes, also made UI more "pixel"
4) Main menu is funny when you need to jump instead of clicking, but i'm missing some level selection (i don't want to play it all again every time)
5) You should made some "tutorial" or hints how game work, noone know that there is wall jump or what watter do to you
It's better with next level button, but you should also adjust zoom level on level load so all tiles are on screen + it would be more intuitive to start drawing when you click on color, not clicking on brush icon
I found some things that need atention: 1) i have random flickering in game (GTX 650 Ti, but i can run 95% strategy game without problem) 2) rotation (with middle mouse button) is too fast and there is no way to set it to original position (like small "North" arrow somwhere on the screen) 3) when i want to build some building it shows me "you need to place it on road" (or something similar) but it overlap description, try to move it a little bit
For now (early-early acces) you can distribute just .rar (or .zip) of your files. I don't know what engine do you use, but Unity for example compile everthing to single folder, so you just "zip it" and post it hire. Trust me, instaling something from someone you don't know is not good idea. Also you can do web build and upload your game directly to itch.io so anyone can play it without even download
I kind a like idea of random stuff in this genre, so if you make level more wide (to open more ways) and add other types of platform, it could be enjoyale, especialy if you port it to mobile :)
This make no sense, you are saying that your game is for hardcore players becaus your game is hard to master, but on other hand you are saying "it's okay, noob players won't notice it"
I'm sorry but this is not really game, just image that is fliping and moving on screen. I don't know the purpouse of uploading it on this site. Or you should make it private to share it with your friends, not with internet when it's only moving picture
Nice to see some space strategy, you almost done basic of your game to be playable. But i would redesign UI, now it's looking like 1990 game, i would simplify icons and gave them uniform look, also screens like research have really anoying background so you focus more on background than on information displayed. In planet overview you should add hints about how resources are produced, like +1 100 credits (+800 mines, + 400 taxes, -100 fleet maintence) and same for those % stats. Also ship building should be improved, listing through list of weapons isn't fun, i love how they done it in Stardrive 2, but that would take some serious time to implement.
Anyway, i will folow you for your future improvment, keep working you are on good way ! :)
I don't have problem with sliding, but this acceleration make it really uncontrolable, not hard to master. So i played to second "jump" level, but you can beat all previous levels just by sliding on edge of platform, that should be changed
I ended after third level, for me it's really unplayable on keyboard (maybe it's diferent on gamepad where you can control your force). Or if you want to keep your sliding you could add walls so you can bounce of them (and make some levels also without wals)
Hi, i seen that there should be some early build download, but i didn't found any. Also you should consider relasing demo, because it's hard to buy some game (specially early acces) without trying it
I think that lowpoly graphic and those shiny effect dont go very well togeather, i would recomend to switch to more carton look like "Train valley 2". And for the trailer, i would like to see some UI when loading train (like how much cargo it loaded), your game don't have that beautiful graphic that you can focus only on "cinematic" video. But music fit this video really well and those "cut" with train movin along the camera was cool !
1. that colision model that react to your arm is really wierd and make game glitchy when you turn next to a wall 2. that installer isn't good thing, lots of people would not instal it because it throwing potential virus alarm from Windows
Hi, i'm also starting developing similar game, so i'm glad that i can play your game. I have few sugestions, first the movement feels really wierd, accelerations for vertical movement is really low i think. Next is graphic, i know that you want something like pixelart but textures of tiles making me sick when moving, i would sugest to make them more "clean". I also found that pressing "enter" on my keyboard don't close any menu (when clicking on close) (but mouse can do this) :D Idea of building that structure is great ! that should be main motivation and plot, that you unlock new upgrades by reciewing more data with upgraded structure. Also you could add some way to remove stones, like they could have 10x more HP than regular block. And mayby work on some balancing that would encourage players to dig also into sides. But anyway, keep working, world deserve more games like this ^-^
