Simple but fun :]
Art is really cute and damn does the music go hard
Very fun! The high contrast collage style goes as hard as it always has with your projects and the gameplay was unique. I don't quite like how shooting felt here, I just wish you could press a button to shoot instead of having to deal with a charge timer (though this does make sense with a couple of the Jellyfish forms, could've been changed for like the first 2 forms). Though I got over that quickly and just got use to it. Some of the bosses do leave a bit to be desired but I enjoyed them, especially the final boss I really liked that one - Plus it is just very impressive you made a fuck ton of bossfights in just 4 days. Last thing, I like the anti-censorship message - that's a very relevant topic right now.
Finally played this demo and it's fuckin AWESOME!! Super fun and speedy and I love the art direction of it all! I found the controls a lil uncomfortable, but that's probably just cuz my keyboard is kinda ass and chunky. Hoping for the controller support in the full game tho.
For more actual criticisms:
- I wish you could enter into a slide straight from a ground pound on flat land. Having the press S twice to try and slide after landing a jump was kinda annoying. I mean not the biggest deal but I think the game would feel way better if you could
- Having to press E to enter doors and stuff was SUPER uncomfortable to do, especially when trying to get through a level quickly. What makes the E button worse is that the button RIGHT next to it, R, is the restart button. This just means that, if you're speedrunning, there's a good chance you'll accidentally hit R instead of E when trying to enter a door and you'll mess up your whole run instantly. Yeah enable the restart button is an optional thing, but it being so easy to hit it accidentally just makes it obselete.
But anyway this game is SUPER sick, stylish and fun! Wishin' ya the best of luck with the rest of development!
okay played it a bit more, yeah I’d say I’m getting use to the controls and see your point. Though I still think the controls should dynamically change depending on rotation.
Though now I have ✨a bonus criticism✨. If you stand a little close to an edge the game will just *push* you off into the void. I can tell this is likely an intentional thing, assuming it was added to prevent any air floating, but literally this only causes frustration. For a game that has pretty long levels (well less of literally but more in their feeling, since you have to be very focused) and isn’t too forgiving with checkpoints, you want to cut corners as much as possible to optimise the amount of time you spend in a run - but then this mechanic just exists to punish you. Also other weird stuff relating to this mechanic exists also, I was on one of the wire platforms in a level and I wasn’t even that close to the edge and I still got pushed, and I got pushed like CARTOONISHLY far here. It was kinda funny tbh. Basically, I’d say just remove this. I really don’t see why it should be here. Or at least like make it more forgiving, so you can cut around corners.
Played the steam demo and I got thoughts about it! It's a very stylish, polished game and the gameplay is cool and fun... except that the controls kindaa put me off of having the most fun with it.
Having only the left and right arrow keys to turn is very annoying, especially when your character is facing in literally any other direction but up. It's very likely that, when under pressure, you're going to press the wrong key and end up dying because of your misinput.
My reccomendation for fixing would be either:
1. Allowing the player to turn with the rest of the arrow keys. Aswell as having the keys dynamically change how they rotate you depending on your current rotation (so when facing downwards, pressing left would actually make you turn right).
2. Just making it so pressing the arrow keys (all arrow keys, not just left and right) will make the character turn to the key's direction.
If that one issue is fixed, I'd probably only have positives to say about this game! The aesthetic and music is fuckin AWWWESOME, we really need more Y2K-inspired games out there. Also definetley will be seeking out the soundtrack soon (plz be on bandcamp lol). Like, the only other critism I could make is that I don't like how you go out in one hit, but maybe that problem would be less of an issue when the control issue is sorted.
So yeah, this has got potential to be fuckin' AWESOME! Excited for the full release :]
This game is really fuckin badass! The bullet catcher idea is really original and creative, though I wish shooting down each fucker felt more satisfying. Artstyle is SUPER kickass, the bright colours and collages are a pleasure to look at. I also like how the story is like... actually about something from real life instead of just being like "grrrrr,! fuck you, unspecified oppressive system", it shows that you are very passionate about this project.
I didn't really find the story mode fun gameplay wise but endless mode I find quite enjoyable! Though I gotta be honest... THIS AIN'T CHAOTIC ENOUGH! MAKE ME STRESSED, GIVE ME A PANIC ATTACK, GRAHHHH!! Okay I'm exaggerating lol but things could've definitely been amped up a bit, mainly just make the spawn rates faster and such. The slowness kind of makes it feel less like an arcade-y game and more of an idle game. Also, whilst the best planks look fucking sick, they do make the game a bit *too* easy, but honestly ah well.
What I can absolutely gush about is the writing and artstyle! The story has the dumb fun attitude of a Newgrounds cartoon and the art style is extremely fun and silly to match! Atlas's design is what drew me to this game in the first place, absolutely epic little bug-eyed thing. All of the items are well drawn and OH MY GOD, some of the plank designs are fucking BEAUTIFUL to look at. I absolutely loved the art, it's sooo charming and really made this game feel fun even if I thought the gameplay wasn't the best. Def going to follow y'all and see what cool stuff you lot make in the future :]
Very creative idea! Quite fun, but I wish most of the enemies had more going on then just chasing you mindlessly til death. Though the stage hazards do somewhat make up for that.
Artstyle and art direction is sick too, 3D models and pixelart are truly an unmatched vibe. The character designs are simple and cute, very charming little critters. I could totally imagine this being a 3DS game or something!
Sound design and music ain't bad but not very remarkable. Overall, this is a very good game little roguelike game! Good job :DDDDDDD
Very cool little game! Immaculate vibes all around. I kind of wish there was an in-game timer though, being able to like personally speedrun this would of had increased the replayability for me like ten fold.
Also I wish the character ran faster or had a few extra methods of traversal, at the moment the most efficient way to get around is to move... diagonally? Kinda weird but I guess the jank would make sense given the game's story/theming.
But this is a very good and polished little game! Good job, y'all :D
Felt like dumping my lil review in the comments so...
I can't believe it took me so long to get around to actually playing this. Ever since I first saw this game in a youtube video, I fell in love with it and it's style. But now, I appreciate it way more than before. I love the story and the world with odd sci-fi stuff, the exploration of Petal and Bio's relationship and Petal's whole situation.
This game just gives me a vibe I take comfort in. Especially the art style. The use of photographs for backgrounds really makes the walk Petal and Bios are going on feel real, it also is oddly inspiring. Whenever I see this game, I want to go on a walk. I rewatched a different youtube video that also mentioned this game and then I proceeded to spend about an hour walking around my town and trying to go places or routes I hadn't gone before. Oh and don't even mention the character designs and character art! I love the child's drawing + early 2000s aesthetic going on here, that shits my bread and butter.
Lastly, the music is great. It feels both warm and comforting yet eerie at the same time, a perfect fit since this game has very stark contrast to it (bright and colourful characters in sunny enviroments contrasted with the sad story). Then there's the final song in the game which feels really satisfying to listen to after listening to the rest of the, much slower paced, songs. I also like the final song's early vocaloid/utau (atleast I assume it's either 2 softwares) voices, they add to the 2000s vibe.
In conclusion, I love this game! It makes me want to make games, stylish games, odd games! The "be cringe, be free" nature and aesthetic of this game is infectious. All I can say is thank you for making a cool ass work of art. Uh... yeah!
Sweet! For the speed thing, I'd say just add a very barebones momentum system. Speed up over time, coffees add to the speed, obstacles takeway speed, cap out at some max speed, very basic stuffz. But that's just my opinion, do what ya want!! :D
Excited to check out these updates whenever they come out!!
Gameplay is pretty basic, fun but could be doing a lot more. But... WHO CARES!! This is a jam game afterall.
Immediately played this after night circus and just like DAMN, you are just like a great artist! Please keep on creating, especialy with games, I can imagine you making some absolutely insane game projects one day.
This is just like, really cute and fun. Only negatives I can give is that the constant voicelines get a bit annoying after a while and that slowing down is just really fustrating and confusing as to how it works.
Other than that, this game is just like comfort food embodied in game form. I hope this game either gets expanded into something bigger or just gets more updates, It'd be nice to have more levels :>
Link to the LD53 is here: PAINT PANIC: commission chaos! | ldjam.com | Ludum Dare game jam