Hey, just started playing, have some thoughts on my first moments in the game:
- one of the maps has player color as white and enemies' as grey - VERY confusing for a newcomer, and that neatly segues to:
- The graphics in general don't give you a clear picture at a glance- shades of grey, flat textures, lighting's not helping - I get style choices, doing it like this to show reinforcing how much it's all a digital hell. Surely we things could stand out a bit more from each other, without compromising the art style? The goal you bring the ball to is especially bad, lost in the light show around the map. I lost several times because of I got confused - it feels frustrating and unfair. There's a reason most games make sure objectives stand out from the environment, characters have easily noticeable characteristics for easy identification, etc.
- most things are well explained, the pointers the game gives you are generally good! The task list helps you to orient yourself without getting in your way - well done. The guards pointing you to where the buildings are could maybe be replaced with labels on the map when paused, or keep both.
- some weapons feel really under-powered, some are quite clunky, a few seem to shred thru everything, incl. energy (like the auto-aim automatic). Maybe additional properties to the cards could be a good addition ( I have not yet played much, idk if you get that later) Ofc I get that balance is going to be be off in an in-dev product :P
- The idea of the news explaining what is currently in rotation, the cards floating up there SEEMS cool, sure, but it just serves to waste your time in the end. KISS - Keep It Stupidly Simple. Put the card stats in a simple tooltip when hovered over in the doll loadout menu (after clicking to select a card, then hovering over another one you could have them compared side-by-side - it'd be rather convenient). In other words "Holy this-should've-been-a-menu Batman!"
- Same with charging the dolls, sex? Sounds fun! In actuality it's just annoying to do it EVERY time.Now, IF you turn it onto a whole minigame with a good amount of content, variety, interactivity, or plain ol' fun - it'd be a fun side activity. Get rid of it until then. Though fun that's mandatory to get the boosts could still get less fun after a while it'd be a big improvement.
- the doll's energy display is not very helpful as it is now. KISS and replace it with a simple bar that's always 100% visible, until a better way to do it comes up. How about a meter that's a part of your character's clothing/equipment - kinda like the energy/O2 display on the backpacks in Astroneer. THAT would be cool!
- clothing/equipment that's a 3D model - that would also be cool! There's tons of art for inspiration out there.
- The tutorial doesn't mention anything about HP, and in the heat of battle I didn't even notice there IS an HP system, though with other ways to lose maybe you don't need the dolls to have health? Instead on hit, you'd lose energy, maybe get debuffs, below like 20% you can't use weapons, at 0 doll's KO'd (maybe sesbian lex to get her back in the fight?). Just some ideas.
To summarize, the LAST thing anyone wants is being annoyed with chores, etc. when they want to relax and have fun. So many games end up making you waste time running around, repetitive tasks that feel pointless - please think thrice before you make us do it twice.
If you ask if the game is too hard? Well, I did lose a few times at first, but honestly it doesn't feel terribly difficult when you can actually see what is happening. At least the first couple runs felt fine I guess. Balancing a game in active development is a sisyphean task - make sure that it's playable, I'd worry about difficulty and balance around the final stretch to release.
The game is Splatoon with sex, but man, does it not feel like an strategy/tactics arrangement of sorts could work better here? You could keep the TPS element: some games are specifically a shooter-RTS hybrid - so it can work. RTS-style controls + active pause could even be the ticket to one-handed operation! (not too much of a stretch given what autonomy for the dolls already exists). Actually, disregard everything here except the last one, THAT is what this game needs the most :P