itch.io

How many enemies is appropriate per level?

I think that is going to be dependent upon how hard is is to defeat enemy i.e. you probably don't want a lot of enemies if each one is incredibly tough. This might be something that you'll have to play with until it feels balanced. 

Would you prefer a HUD?

I think a HUD would be a good way to show how much ectoplasm you currently have. Additionally, since respawning was added I think a simple health system should be added and could be represented in the HUD. Everytime you get hit by a ghost or fall in lava, then you respawn at the last checkpoint. Once you lose all your lives, the game starts over. But this is just one example of implementation. 

How strong should the enemy attack the player? 

Again as in the first question. I don't think this is something that I'd be able to answer directly and is something that I feel would probably be left to more playtesting by the developers. However, I do think the enemies shouldn't be a one-hit kill or that it takes 1 minute to kill a single enemy. 

How should the player attack? Would you like mouse click combat or full keyboard combat?

A mouse click would probably be sufficient. Maybe one or two extra keyboard key presses could be dedicated to a special ability. 

How do you feel about the jump height/power? Should it be lowered?

The jump feels appropriate. It could probably be utilized as a puzzle/challenge mechanic. In the sense that the player has to jump between pillars posted over lava while also trying to defeat ghosts. 

1. How does the world feel?

I like the vibe it gives so far, I'm sure as development continues the aesthetics will too. However, I'm concerned that without solid direction for the player it might be easy to get lost in the big space. 

2. How does player movement and camera movement feel?

Feels fine. 

3-6. I think one way that the player could sense the monster is through sound. Maybe generally the only sound ambiance is wind, but the wind frequency/sound could change slightly as the big baddie gets closer. I did like the particle effects that were present already. I was confused as if the game is going to be closer to outlast or dead by daylight where you're just always on the run and hiding or if there will be more head on conflict. I expect that I only have this feeling since it's the first playtest and my confusion might fade as development progresses, but it may be worth it for your team to address this question. 

What types of cards or upgrades would you like to see? 

Cards that come at a short term loss for a long term benefit. e.g. "Misdirect":  the enemy magician gets a small percentage increase to his affection on the following turn but the player gets a larger increase on his following turn. Similarly, a card where the player can risk decreasing the enemy magician's affection next turn with a small chance it significantly decreases their own.  Cards that have persistent effects. 

What types of enemies would you like to see added to the game?

Off-brand real magicians. David Plain (David Blaine), Kris Angle (Chris Angel), Pencil & Shouter (Penn  & Teller), etc. 

Does the overall movement of the affection slider feel good?

I think some particle effects would be a nice addition. Or even some shaking of the bar when significant affection increase/decrease occurred. 

Is there any other additions you would like to see?

Real comments: When you win a match, you should be able to spend affection/money earned on items or cards that will impact future matches. Additionally, different 'stages' could have different impacts on how much affection certain cards play out. E.g. a "saw in half card" might do well on the "grand stage", but not as much at "child's birthday party", whereas the reverse might be true for a card like "Pull rabbit from hat"

Meme comment: The audience should move when you win like the hands at the end of this video.

Small comment about development. I think you guys are using normal Unity Text and it's causing the font to come out a bit blurry. Using TextMeshPro will avoid this issue and produce clearer font. If this is just happening on my end or to be fixed ignore this bit. 

-Does the game provide too much or not enough assistance to the player in terms of solving puzzles? 

The information is too direct to the player, this may be of courbse due to i being the playtest. But the game should probably be hinting more than telling e.g. "This hole looks like it might fit a key" vs "i need to find a key". See more on this in last question.

-Are there any specific puzzles/mechanics you would like to see?

This is very general, but you could misdirect the players in some areas to force them to use the spells in unexpected ways. Or in the same theme, produce puzzles that would allow the player different ways to solve it i.e. not making it so linear. 

-Does this room look like a spaceship room?

As some of the others mentioned it does not, I think the lighting may be the core reason why. The current yellow lights make it appear very bright and almost pastel. In a spaceship, I might expect to see smaller lights, but more frequent ones. e.g. neon light bars throughout the room, some areas where darkness is more common (this could even be utilized as a mechanic in a  puzzle, or even windows where light shines in from stars outside. 

-Does the walking seem intuitive?

Not really. I think if you want to stick with the clicking to move and WASD camera rotation, you should implement a path finding algorithm so the player does have to click as frequently. I found myself repeatedly clicking in one direction. Regardless of the approach you use, the movement was too slow. 

-Does the spell usage seem intuitive?

No, using a menu is quite clunky. A good alternative would be to either use the num row or a circular selection hud (see the witcher 3 sign casting). 

-Does the information in the text box help?

I think at minimum, the text log should be replaced with a single pop up that appears on screen either for a moment of time or until the player clicks away. This is the area where you could provide hints as mentioned in the pop-up. If you want to keep providing more direct goals, which you probably could but make them a little more abstract (e.g. "Find a way out of the room" vs "Turn into a cat to find the ke), you could place these goals in a small bar at the very top of the screen. 

How does movement feel?

I like the movement. It feels smooth, I think the jump animation is nice. 

How does the camera feel?

I really like it, I think it pairs well with how the character moves. 

How does the level feel so far?

Visually it looks cool. I feel like it'd be to your advantage to make levels linear. In that there's different areas to pass through or waves of ghosts. As well as utilizing with the jump mechanic to have puzzles based around the terrain, maybe you can jump higher by spewing out ectoplasm from the wand, or you need certain amounts of ectoplasm to trigger certain parts of the puzzle (there could even be specific types of ectoplasm that do different things, like some ghosts give a green ectoplasm that increases speed and a blue one increases jump height. 

What upgrades/weapons would you like to see in the game?

different styles of guns, fast or multiple bullets.

What did you dislike and why?

Did not feel like there was a concrete goal. 

Was there something you tried to do but couldn’t?

Interact with robot enemies

Did you find the art aesthetic to be cohesive?

The art was very clean and I liked it. Maybe add a background so the unity 3D world isn't visible.  I especially was a fan of the UI.

Did the controls feel natural?

The movement felt too rigid and too fast. 

I hope this comes off as more constructive than anything, but I don't think I can answer the questions provided because I was quite confused by the game as is, it was pretty chaotic. 

Problems I found with the current build

• Sliders were confusing and unintuitive. They didn't appear to have an impact on gameplay, this is likely due to the lack of animations and the fact the sliders were unlabeled (they were labeled with variables names but that didn't help understanding). 
• At some point a countless number of enemies were generated, I'm unsure if this was due to slider movement but it slowed down the game. Maybe put a cap on enemy count? Rendering that many objects might not be a good idea.
• I couldn't tell what towers I could pick up, where I could place them, and what enemies they were actually affecting.
• UI and game world layers conflicted and the sliders became overlapped by game objects.
• Cat animation too fast, visually conflicted with the speed of the actual object. 
• Gun didn't work, if it did I was unable to tell visually. 

How was sneaking? /Whetzel detection

I was unable to concretely tell when I was detected by the enemies. So the sneaking just felt like trying to avoid them completely. 

Do you like your move speed?

a little too fast

What do you think of the map size?  

Map size too large felt directionless and lost. Maybe reduce the size, add defining features,  or make it more linear in layout. 

What skills would make it more fun?  More challenging?

Ability to disable enemies within a certain radius temporarily. 

Produce distraction to distract enemies. 

Did you like the music and volume level?

thought it was fitting and level was okay. Maybe add some dynamics if possible so that high intensity music is playing while you're detecting and low intensity music when undetected and trying to stealth. 

Other

• Probably on a to-do list already, but adding informative UI to show ability statuses and detection status. 
• Remove moving floor parallax issue. It made the game disorientating. 
• Increase light in areas that or not visible, it felt like I was completely blind and increased the feeling 'lost-ness' on the map. Maybe a mini-map or highlight areas previously visited.
  • or maybe make some harder enemies detectable in dark areas and others not

Thanks for letting me know, guess I missed them when they were zipped. Necessary files were added.

View game page for playtest questions.