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This is incredible!  You did it!  You're composing music in only two months.  It sounds amazing.

I'm only a few minutes in and I had to stop and let you know how much I love the music in this game.  Incredible work.

I really love the music in this release.  Fits the mood of the game perfectly.  Awesome game in general.  Looking forward to the release.

Yeah, I wish there were more 5 minutes pick up and play shooters like yours.  I think you did a great job.

I love your game.  I enjoy it alongside similar games like Omega blast and Ixion.  Charming music themed sprites.  The soundtrack is amazing.

Thanks for writing back, and please know that I understand in my own way what you are going through.  You have a vision for each project that you wish to pull into existence.  But you must stumble around in the darkness and get hold of the vision, before you can start pulling it towards the light. 

It the same as any artist who feels compelled to create something that doesn't exist yet, only your tools and your canvas are more complicated.

Hey, I know you have been busy with other projects, but I'm curious about the status of S.P.K. This game is the kind of arcade game that doesn't get made too often these days.  So charming and easy to jump into.  You mentioned being out of ideas for levels a few months ago.  Any chance you may revisit this at some point?  Thanks, big fan of your work.

Pigsy just posted this.  Maybe you already know this stuff, but it's interesting nonetheless.  

well either way, I will leave you to your work.  I don't want my opinions to sew seeds of doubt.  The creative process can be fragile, even if the designer is confident and clear about what they want.  All respect and admiration for your unique creations.

Hey, nice work.  Please forgive me if my previous comment about the music frustrated you.  I remember several of your titles and experiments having pretty good sounding music.  To be clear, no one is expecting a one man indie dev to suddenly conjure up Streets of Rage quality beats. However, while I don't pretend to be a programmer or a music producer, I am aware of the Gen/MD's ability to produce high fidelity music, including samples and fm synthesis.  If the system's audio hardware were trash, I never would have pointed out the low sample quality in your last revision.  My only regret is the possibility that I somehow took the fun out of your creative process.

Very clever game.  I like that you have to knock the enemies off the canon.  I'm impressed that anyone could program so much happening at once.  My only gripe is the bitrate of the music.  I can hear the lounge stylings, but it's so garbled.  Is there any way you can use a higher quality sample?

I've played most of the projects and experiments you've posted here, and I see the evolution in your game design.  I can see that you have big and creative ideas in both the physics and mechanics.  Very few devs are experimenting to this degree on the Gen/MD.  SpacePantsGames is the one dev pushing innovation, and Safety Stoat Studios is the other.  :)

As of this update, the game's mechanics seem to be coming together nicely.  I love the new arrow system.  I like that I can freeze the green horned goblin thingy or it's pink bullet.  On the graphics, I'm not sold on the glitching effect, but I can see that you have a vision for the game so please keep pushing your vision and the uniqueness of your games.

Oh okay, that's very clever actually... I can't think of any retro games that have done that. There was this strange (modern) Pac-Man game that fooled around with corruption, But more like the game world coming to an end.

Hey, I feel like this project is really coming together.  You managed to make the mechanics feel pretty nice, and the game feels original (bow) while harkening back to some arcade (or Atari) classics at the same time.

I noticed that while testing the game on a couple of emulators that the graphics seem to get corrupted on screen three and beyond.  It starts with some discolored walls, and then takes over the screen.

In reference to the jumping, I don't think you need to change this.  My wife has been playing so much Flicky lately that any other kind of jump feels off to her.  lol

Happy to help.

Yes, this made a big difference for me.  The kick feels just right now.

I think I need to friend you on Discord, and then send you an invite.  You can find me there @megaryeguy if you want to join.

Hm, I'm trying to remember how I got on sega-16... Maybe through the message board.  Maybe I can private message you an invite.

After about ten sessions, my wife and I agreed on a few small issues with the games controls.  While she had trouble with the jumping, specifically timing the jump up to smaller platforms, I had trouble timing the power kick, and missing with the kick felt punishing because we were left open to attack if we missed.  We ended up abandoning the kick altogether and relying on the punches.

We feel that if you make the jumps a little smoother, and make the kicks more accurate and maybe more powerful, we would be more likely to use them.

Smaller requests would be the following, these are just ideas to make the game feel more flushed out.

1) An opening story screen to give us character motivation.  It could be something as simple an a still image of our characters with some text.

2) The boss battle would feel more fair if we had a quick indicator to jump out of it's path.  A boss power bar would be nice too.

3) After comparing SPK to Snow Bros. we thought it would be cool if the score for each kill would pop up briefly (where the character dies).  This is a minor request but it would add to the feeling of racking up a high score.

Please be encouraged though because we obviously felt inclined to keep on playing.  SPK is just a few tweaks away from being a classic style arcade hit.

I shared this post on Sega-16 Discord and it seems to have gathered some interest.  Here is the link to the conversation. https://discord.com/channels/516764139608211456/608027227514470400

Okay, I think you have the right amount of credits now.  On first try I got to the first boss with some credits to spare.  Definitely not too hard for high-score/arcade gamers like myself.  

I'll pop this on my flash cart and my wife and I will try to beat it tonight.  We have been trying to master Flicky, so I think this will be a good fit.  

The numbers up top are fine now because they don't flicker or flash.  This game would have been an arcade hit in the mid eighties for sure.

This project really has a great feel to it.

Oh okay.  I thought it was something to do with performance. It didn't seem like a score counter or the frame rate.

I like all the improvements you have made, and I'm so glad someone is making high quality arcade style games for the Gen/MD.  Q: What is the number at the very top left of the screen?  It keeps twitching and pulls my eye away from the playfield.  Is it necessary for it to be there?  Sorry if it sounds like I'm complaining, I guess maybe it is just one too many things going on on the screen.

Made me want to watch a Shaw Brothers movie, or maybe an homage film like Kill Bill.

The color palette feels warm, like a kung fu action movie from the late seventies.  Something filmed on super 8.  I can't speak for other's taste, but this is nostalgic for guys my age.

I love the music and the backgrounds.  You have created a nice atmosphere.  Feels nicely flushed out, like a mid-eighties arcade game.  Tested successfully on flash carts and emu.

Thanks for the heads up.  I'll test it out on my flash carts first thing tomorrow and report back.

Hey, that's exciting news

hm, I'll mess around with my hardware and see if I can figure something out.  Thanks for getting back to me.

I understand now.  I don't think you will be able to convince others to stop using retro in a casual way.  That said, I respect your conviction good sir.

Hi, I was playing Megarunner on a couple of emulators, and loving the game.  However, there is no sound when playing from a Mega SD or a Mega Everdrive. (on real hardware)  Just curious, could this be something to do with the header?  Maybe a region error or a checksum issue?  Thanks.

Hi, I was playing Power kick on a couple of emulators, and loving the game.  However, I noted something strange when playing on real hardware with a flash cart.  There is no sound when playing from a Mega SD or a Mega Everdrive.  Just curious, could this be something to do with the header?  Maybe a region error or a checksum issue?  Thanks.

Can you please expand on that?  I can't say I fully understand.

As of the release client, this game feels like an indie game that just so happens to be on a retro console... but it also plays snappy and lag free, like a Mega Drive game.  Great choice in a port, and great work sir.

I like what you did here.  You made an arena shooter out of Metal Slug.  Very fun.

This is the perfect mini game.  My wife and I love these quick challenging games.  Simple mechanics and charming graphics.

Ah, now I see how you implemented the powerups.  I found it to be a fun system for the Knockabout mode.  Thanks for clarifying.  I follow the Genesis/MD developer "Nemesis" here on itch, so I thought it made sense if the two of you had collaborated.

Nice to see this game get some exposure.  It brings back fond memories of the cartoon show.  I remember the villains having fun personalities.

Based on the description, did you and Nemesis make another pass at the game?  Add in some missing powerups?