SaknikaTTV
Recent community posts
Day 1:
- Ashwood Conspiracy
- Olaf the Boozer
- Realm of the New God
- Feisty Fauna Take I (I gave it a second shot)
VOD:
Honestly, I wish I had experienced the jump scares, because traditionally they don't get to me. It is very, very difficult to scare me unless you build that tension. 馃檪You don't have to look at these if you don't want, but here are some examples of my typical when playing a horror game.
This is from when I played Beside Myself, a horror game that relied on jump scares to progress. I'm sure to some people this was scary, but I was unfazed:
Then there's something like Amnesia: Dark Descent which despite being old, really built that environment and you can see the difference: I don't expect you to watch either VOD at all, and certainly not in their entirety, but I wanted to provide them as an example (should you want to watch a few moments at random from each) of the stark contrast of environment, and to give you an idea as to the type of horror gamer I am. To date I've played 39 different horror games, with more in my library to go, so I feel I'm in a unique position to offer you this advice. The only games thus far that have scared me are the ones with the foreboding environment, not just the jumpscares (if any), so I cannot place enough importance on building the tension. 馃槈 And if you can scare the un-scareable, you can definitely scare the screamers LOLTruly, I wish you luck with your project. It's hard to find unique premises and ideas in the horror genre, so if you can accomplish that, and accomplish it well, you'll have a gem of a game.
This is so cute, and so fun! I love quirky puzzle games, and this has my absolute seal of fun approval! It's definitely odd, but I love that you're trying to go for the zaniness of a dog's potential weird dreams. This is also, to date, the only game I've played for Feedback Quest that I made it to the actual end of the demo!
I love the bright, hand-drawn-style graphics, the nods to early gaming culture (Super Mario Bros anyone?), the mini-game to get a hint, and the silliness of the giant dog nose when the dog turns their head. It's just so fun. This is going to be a superb game in its final form, for sure.
If anything, please turn the music down, and the volume for sounds. I could not get the sliders low enough to not have my ears blown out every time I moved between menu and game. I'd also love a back button that doesn't trigger the train if at all possible, when going from options back to the menu.
There were also a couple of spots where the controls felt a bit tricky, to get the correct hint or to click on the right object. So a pass on the collision of some of the closer-together objectives might be in order.
Thankfully though, even if I mis-clicked and woke the puppers, re-entering the dream picked up right where I left off, so that didn't feel too bad.
Definitely looking forward to the full release of this one!
My VOD with your game bookmarked for a timestamp is here:
This game needs work. I may not be the best person to judge how scary it is, because I play a lot of horror in search of things to actually scare me (of which there are few), but to me this game isn't even remotely scary in its current state. To be fair though, I also didn't get very far into it because it seemed to not be functioning correctly.
I think there's plenty that could be done to make this into a unique horror experience, but where it sits right now is not it. You need to expand on the atmosphere to make it more foreboding, and increase the level of tension, if you want to really nail down the horror genre. Darkness doesn't equal scary. Some great examples, which I've played before, on setting up tension are Amnesia: Dark Descent (Frictional Games), You Must (Emika), and Ad Infinitum (Nacon). Amnesia and Ad Infinitum are a bit longer, but You Must is about a two to three hour play if that's more your speed. Generally speaking though building atmosphere has to do with slowly ramping up the types of events a player is encountering, and making them worried that they cannot go back, that they're stuck, that something could actually be around the next corner. Since you're playing with the idea of an intruder, you have opportunities for that.
Thusly, make this a bit brighter. I feel like you can either have the graininess of an old film movie, or you can have it be fairly dark, but both is very difficult on the eyes. Instead of feeling scary or foreboding, it just felt frustrating. Having the house change layout each time does not help at all. It makes navigation more difficult than it otherwise would be. In a similar vein, why is our character so low to the ground?
In the menu, please, please, PLEASE add an option to turn off head bob. Head bob, especially in darker environments, makes motion sickness so bad for anyone sensitive to it, like myself. Almost all horror gamers I hang with too, motion sensitive or not, will turn off head bob. It's the typical preference.
Speaking of menus, they are very small and the font is not terribly legible. The font will probably be fine if the menu is made larger, which I'd advise because you have so much space available to you for it. You can still have it be with a TV screen border, but make it bigger. For one of the menus too, the scroll would not function for me. I think that's probably a bug.
Please rethink the text flying at you as an explanation before it shows up as a static image, maybe make it linear? It was very fast, difficult to read, and a bit triggering to my barely-neurospicy brain so I can only imagine how it'd be to someone who is more neurospicy. And in that same vein, we really need something of a tutorial to know how the controls work. It'd also be good if the selection tool and interact tool were the same key, not "F" for on the TV and then "E" for the game because "F" there is for the flashlight.
Game play itself, I don't get the connection between the TV and the intruder. I also couldn't complete any of the objectives because I either couldn't reach the final phone, or I couldn't pick up the object needed. Definitely some bugs to work out there. From what I could play, there weren't any jumpscares or anything, just trying to follow sounds and hunt down objects. I don't think that's the environment you're aiming for.
Please let us have use of the "ESC" key to pause or return to the main menu. The only way to exit the game is to alt+tab out and close from there presently.
Overall it needs work. You need to tie in the TV to the intruder for the game, troubleshoot some bugs, and adjust the visuals as the main things to start with in my opinion. Then from there environment and tension building, and finally timing some appropriate jump scares (if that's something you're into).
My VOD with your game bookmarked for a timestamp is here:
This was a lot of fun, and I really enjoyed brutality mode! Being able to also ride around on a toilet chair was top-notch. I love silly little things in games, so more of these would be excellent if you're ever looking to expand on that stuff. I also really appreciate that once you enter a code and unlock something, it stays unlocked--no need to enter a code(s) multiple times!
In the main menu, I'd swap the places of P1 and P2. Having P2 be the left-hand column is very confusing. I thought the controls were broken at first, and it turns out I looked at the wrong thing.
I know you explained each of them in my stream chat, but I'd also like to see a place where all the powerups are listed in game with what they are and what they do. Anything so the player has to guess less is good.
I can't wait for this to finally hit Steam, and allow online play. This will be a great silly party game, and honestly I think that's going to be where it shines the brightest. As a solo player game it's enjoyable, but not nearly as enjoyable as it will be beating up your friends.
My VOD with your game bookmarked for a timestamp is here:
Okay, this is more fun than I expected! It's a really simple game, but I like the graphics and the premise a lot.
It was really clever that you not only needed to gather apples with the correct letter on them, but also items that started with the correct letter. That was silly but fun. It would be nice though if there were a directory of the images to tell you what they are, because for example I wasn't sure if the one with a censored bar was "c" for censored, or "n" for naked. Having a way to just look at all of them from the menu system would be cool.
The goal is really easy to understand for this game, and I appreciate that as you get close to the end it tells you that you have x amount of items left to snag. That is a fantastic feature in my eyes.
It is not clear however if the letter on the goal apple is case sensitive to what you're gathering. Not sure if it's intentional for the player to not know at the start, but unless you intended for trial-by-fire, having that be part of the explanation would be good.
If I had anything I'd really change, it's the volume level of the music. It was so loud to me, and there was no way to adjust the volume within the game itself to account for this. It might be fine for someone who's only playing that game and has nothing else to listen to, as they could just turn the system volume down, but when I'm streaming or if I'm chilling in a VC and playing, or playing and listening to a podcast, then that's not an option as I have other things I also need to be listening to, too.
Overall though I really enjoyed your game, and I think you've got a good thing going!
My VOD with your game bookmarked for a timestamp is here:
This is an interesting game, and I think it has potential, but it's definitely rough right now.
The biggest thing is that this game needs a tutorial. Desperately. I almost gave up on it before I read the game entry page itself and saw the controls. Controls should never be only located on a description page or in a help section--always make sure they're up front and center for the player.
There's definitely something satisfying about smacking people down with a big rock, and I appreciated the fact that you could hit more than one enemy at once. They can be a little tricky to track down though, so maybe a mini-map with dots to help indicate where to go as far as enemies are would be nice. It's definitely awkward running around trying to figure out what and where to attack because you can't see anything.
Boss fight wise, either we need a tutorial on its abilities, or it's glitched. Both times I wasn't close to the boss, but as soon as I hit it with a rock I died soon after. I don't understand the mechanic that was going on, and I'm not sure if that was intended, but two attempts was enough for me.
I also want to note that while Twitch did not flag anything, YouTube did flag "525_Tension_Music" with a copyright notice. No action was going to be taken because it was allowed usage, but I figure that's important information for you to know.
My VOD with your game bookmarked for a timestamp is here:
I had to give this two tries, because the first go-around I was in a time crunch and didn't feel I gave it a fair enough shot, and I'm glad I did! This is a very fun game, and I definitely like its take on the genre of a bullet hell. The graphics are super cute, and I love the emotes in the speech bubbles. The food names as the animal names are just silly, and make me smile.
The music choice is really nice, and I appreciate that it doesn't start at maximum volume when you first join. That's always a bonus, since you never know what someone's setup is like, or their hearing level (I personally have fairly sensitive ears).
There being Twitch integration absolutely surprised me, and was a welcome thing! I did try setting it up, but I'm not sure how exactly it functions so it didn't get used. Definitely some instructions on what chat can do within the game itself for the streamer to reference would be good in that regard.
I'd like to see more checkpoints in the game. I know you mentioned that you get one at the end of each major level, but for the sake of not repeating yourself too-often while learning how a bullet hell works (or learning which weapons are best), having the option to either restart the whole level or start again where one last left off in a level before dying would be nice. It's also nice to have in case someone has to get up for a while due to other obligations, but doesn't want to lose their progress.
From what I can tell, mouse and keyboard needs more work. Controller works great, but my initial attempt with mouse and keyboard didn't go so well.
Spore mechanics need better explanation on how to trigger them. I understand matching colors gets bonus damage on certain dinos, but I couldn't figure out how you actually swapped/triggered spores for your character. I'd also recommend a colorblind mode where the letter for the color is above the mushrooms and above the dinos so that it's more accessible overall.
Finally, I felt there was too much dialog. This could be because it seemed like the test branch started well into the game itself, but it might also be because there are just so many characters. Personally, I'm not a big fan of too much dialog in a game that isn't primarily a story genre game. So having it be more obvious what dialog is necessary, and what's accessory, would help cut-down on that some.
Overall it's a really fun game though, and I've wishlisted it on Steam. I wish you the best of luck debugging that one crash spot!
My VOD with your game bookmarked for a timestamp is here:
I'm a bit of a history nerd, so the butter knife thing really stuck out to me. LOL And whereas I picked up on the historical stuff, yeah, someone else will pick up on other little things. It's weird nuances like that though that add a lot of depth to games. Many won't notice, but those that do will appreciate it. 馃挏
This game was interesting! Definitely a diamond in the rough for the right type of player.
I'm just going to dive right into the things I think could be improved, because for me anyways this game still feels like it's very early on in development. Perhaps I am incorrect, since this kind of shooter is new to me, but that's the overall vibe I got due to the lack of direction on where to go next in the world and much of what I'm about to share following.
In character creation, disconnect the movement of the character from typing in your name for said character. And, unless there's going to be future dialog or a save slot that includes using that name, maybe just do away with the name entry overall.
Please add some music to the menu area. The pure silence is almost unnerving. Just something quiet in the background honestly goes a long way.
Text on screen needs a drop shadow or outline or something to make it more legible when it comes to the story telling. White text on a busy background is hard on the eyes after all.
Being able to adjust the volume of things in-game would be nice, too. Not all speakers/headsets are created equal, and not all hearing is the same. I tend to have very sensitive ears, so I usually turn volumes down in games for that very reason. Other people might be harder of hearing and want to turn them up. Having the option is always good.
Speaking of options, being able to adjust the mouse sensitivity without backing out of the game completely would be top-notch. That way I can see immediately if I've fine-tuned it enough.
I'd also recommend a small tutorial to go over all the mechanics, like picking a weapon, using a weapon, etc. It was a solid start in the beginning (where the bug with the first enemy was discovered), but it could be a little more robust.
With the weapons too, please label them as you pick them up with their function, for choices, and have them labeled in your wheel. "You've found a flare gun. It will light up a space for 30sec and the flares stick" or "A shotgun. Deals heavy damage but has a slow reload"
The pixel graphics are fun, but they don't lend themselves well to visually discerning between firearms quickly in my experience.
Finally, something I mentioned to you as well when you were there in stream with me, a motion sickness warning is going to be important for this game. I wasn't expecting to get motion sick from playing, but I had also never played a game like this before to know. The rapid movement in multiple directions was definitely a lot for my poor brain to deal with (since motion sickness is a disconnect between your brain perceiving/not perceiving movement and your ears doing the opposite), and I think the game would only benefit from that warning like others do for epilepsy warning etc. This way someone who is motion sensitive, like myself, can consider looking up gameplay first or playing a demo to double-check before going full-bore and possibly being frustrated by a game they can't play because their own body has to get in the way. You've done nothing wrong designing the game the way you intend it to be played, and the way probably that genre of games is designed to be played, but warning people ahead of time is always good.
Overall it feels like a really solid foundation. I think there's definitely a target audience for this type of game. I was enjoying it while I was playing it, minus my motion sickness frustrations. Honestly I bet it's a game my little brother would get into, and his friend. They're who introduced me to FPS games in the first place, they just aren't content creators.
My VOD is here, your game is timestamped in the bookmarks:
This game looks amazing, visually. I really love the design of it, and I found it engaging for the style of game that it is. Music and sound scape is also top-notch, and I absolutely appreciated not having my ear drums blown out right at the get-go since it defaults to the volume at 50%. That's a very important feature to me.
Having the ability to select a non-alcoholic beverage in stead was really clever. If I might suggest, you could also add "root beer" as an option, since it was something that was actually served at old time bars for the traveler with a sour stomach. They used to say "gimme the ol' sarsaparilla", and that was them asking for root beer by its other name, since the sarsaparilla root does calm an upset gut. You totally don't have to, but I think it could be a fun nod to some random trivia AND it has "beer" in the name. lol
Also really appreciate that the controls were shown on screen, just as a reminder. Sometimes when you're first getting used to a game, that can be really important. Never a bad thing to include.
This might be a bit nit-picky, but when it comes to being told to go to the "kitchen" door, the barkeep says to use the "door to the left", but then the exclamation point goes above the door next to the stairs, not the only door to the left (it's definitely more above than anything else). So I think changing the dialog there could be helpful to the overall story telling.
Level wise, I was stuck by the second level. I skipped it. I'm assuming there's a way to complete it, but I wasn't seeing it. That could just be the way my brain is wired for visual comprehension, not sure, but hints or something would be nice for someone like me that needs a nudge. I don't mind not getting a perfect level, but I couldn't even progress. I think personally I'd like a little more lead-up to the complexity of getting stuck in puzzles, where it at least explained the mechanic of getting stuck (the first time it happened was unintentional and unexpected) and maybe gave a tutorial example of finding your way around things to get the brain looking for those paths.
Overall though, this is going to be the game for someone out there. It feels like some really solid effort and consideration has already been put into it, and I'm sure it's going to be polished into a great puzzle game.
My VOD is here, your game is timestamped in the bookmarks:
I really enjoyed this demo! I'm not sure if I made it as far as one possibly could because I got hung-up looking for a light source, but what I did manage to play was fantastic!
The art style is nostalgic, but well done and clearly conveys the things the game needs you to be able to see/understand. I love the music and sound design for this as well, and I really appreciated that you didn't have the music/sounds set to max volume on load in. So many games do that, and blow my eardrums out on launch.
Use of the environment to lead people around is very clever, most notably with the crow's feather, and I think that's a great bit of subtle guidance and storytelling. Definitely keep going with those subtle little things to help catch the player's eye, it really matters.
Loved the interconnectivity of exploring, clicking on everything, and thus solving puzzles in a seemingly non-linear order. It's just fun to be able to explore and get excited about what you're finding and solving.
Story thus far seems cohesive, and isn't straying off in too many odd tendrils that are going to be difficult to wrap up. Props for that. Sometimes I think people who are designing games forget how crucial it is to just have a to-the-point story--save the more in-depth ones that have multiple things to consider for either the really long games (10hrs+ to complete), or books.
Now, for a few things I think could use some work.
First and foremost, please explain the controls, or have the basic ones on-screen somewhere (even if only when it's relevant). It was pure luck that I realized one mouse button zoomed in, and the other zoomed out. It was also never explained that you could combine items together, I just sort of thought to try because I've played similar games before (like Fran Bow, which I saw on Steam was a similar game after-the-fact). If you get someone who plays your game as their first game in this genre, they may not think to try and combine those items and that could be the difference between them enjoying the game, and them leaving a negative review and/or refunding it.
I mentioned above that I'm not sure if I got through the whole demo or not, but I got completely stuck. Felt like I explored everywhere, and did everything thing, and couldn't progress. If I in fact had not completed the demo, then I'd recommend a "hint" feature that very gently guides you to where you might find the next thing you need to do. Something where it's like "Are you sure you checked all the boxes?" or "Some objects can be turned over for more clues". You don't need to spell it out, but having a hint to help guide the player when they're stuck at a certain point is always nice, in my opinion. You could even make it an option too, perhaps, where you can toggle hints being on or not.
Now for some nit-picky things, because this is who I am as a person but I do feel will help you have a stronger game overall.
In the one article, "Ashwood Protests" dated September 18, I think you need to double-check the grammar. It says "Ashwood mining" at one point that I think you meant to say "Ashwood Mine".
Regarding the butter knife, I think you have a typo. You state that it's from 1859 on the card, but I think you meant to say 1959. Firstly, stainless steel wasn't invented until 1913, so if it's not a typo, then that knife couldn't have existed. Secondly, I'd remove the entire sentence about it shining best from "grass fed butter", because the American Grass Fed Movement didn't even really happen until 2003. There were whispers of such things shortly after WWII with the introduction of factory farming that happened, but it did not become a mainstream focus until the year 2000, and was really pushed come 2003. I understand you wanted to tie the butter knife into butter somehow for its own marketing purposes, but this definitely felt like a stretch and you were trying too hard. I'd go for a different angle like "A knife so well made you'll never tear your bread again when buttering it" or something like that. Totally an overreach of a company to say that, but companies in the 50s liked cheesy things that didn't necessarily make sense but would improve the average housewife's day.
Overall though this is a solid game, and I've added it to my wishlist for its future release. I really want to complete the story and learn more. And see if that computer does contain the saucy images the Uncle may have been looking at >_> LOL jk jk
My VOD is here, your game is timestamped in the bookmarks:
Hello! My name is Saknika, but you may also hear me called Sam, and I am a variety streamer on Twitch! I play a lot of horror, puzzles, and story driven games; but sometimes I bake or paint my nails. I'm a member of the Ever Bright Global Gaming and Set the Tone stream teams on there, as well as a member of the Twitch Women's Guild and the Twitch Pride Guild. I participated for my first time last year in Feedback Quest 7, and I'm looking forward to seeing what Feedback Quest 8 brings to the table!
You can find me all over the internet, but here are the links that you probably want the most:
Twitch - https://twitch.tv/saknika
Bluesky - https://bsky.app/profile/saknika.bsky.social
Twitter - https://x.com/Saknika
VODs (in case you want to go see last year's stuff I played and offered feedback for): https://youtube.com/c/saknikasvods
Link to VOD:
(will be live at 9pm EST)Visually, this game is amazing. I really love the graphic design for it, and I think it's solid. Soundtrack feels good as well, not overwhelming. This game however could use some work to really make it shine. I had a lot of laughs while playing, but it's very clearly in the earlier stages of development (and that's fine, that just means feedback is easier to incorporate).
First and foremost, I'd like a button tutorial. It took me just pushing buttons at random to realize that the right joystick would let me control the camera angle, and that's HUGE for some of these puzzles. Knowing ahead of time which buttons do what would be nice--even if it's just a little pop-up that maps them out for you.
Speaking of that camera angle, the fact that the camera spins when you get on top of certain moving objects is funny for about 0.5 seconds, and then it's nauseating. Plus, since you have to keep moving usually once you get off said moving object, you don't have the ability to readjust your camera angle and that's a struggle, too. Please make it so the camera itself doesn't spin with the character when the character goes for a ride on said moving objects, the fate of all of us gamers with even an iota of motion sickness relies on this. 馃挏
The levels, while fun, do not seem to go in a linear pattern for how much skill it takes to complete them. I definitely think this deserves a rework overall. Some of the earlier levels felt particularly difficult, and then the level after could be completed with two jumps and easily avoiding an object. So instead of getting progressively more difficult, it felt more like a wave of ups-and-downs on difficulty.
In order to help the player know where Dave is going to land, having a shadow under our fine feathered friend at all times would really help. That way I could see where I'm aiming as I make jumps to tiny little platforms.
Similarly, some of the platforms that explode need to be a bit more forgiving with timing to get to the next spot, or give you more of a boost. At least one person in my chat watching me struggle with a level said they would have flat out given up on trying to get the timing, and I think that is important to note. You want it to be difficult, but you don't want it to feel unforgiving.
Thankfully though, since the levels are not super long and you can see them start-to-finish, it's not too painful to be sent back to the beginning over and over again. If the levels were any longer, this wouldn't be the case. So if you do decide to add in longer levels as the player progresses, adding in readily spaced checkpoints will also be a good idea so that the player doesn't always go back to square one upon a misstep.
I know this game is early in development, but I would highly suggest adding in a color blind mode for it. I'm pretty sure anyone who is blue and/or yellow color blind would not be able to play this game. I know my father struggles with these colors (yellows are all beige/white for him, and blues are all gray/white), which would mean he would not be able to see this game well enough to play it. Anyone similar to him would also struggle. So adding in that accessibility component would be really helpful to appealing to a wider audience overall.
This one is nit-picky, but I also think adding a space between "level" and the level number would visually be good--especially since the lowercase "L" and the "1" look so similar. Or use a dash (ie level-1) to make a visual distinction.
Despite it being rough around the edges as far as gameplay goes though, it's an enjoyable game thus far. I could see myself playing a lot of this game, especially if you were able to get it into Steam with leaderboards shared among your friends? Oh boy, the competitiveness between my friends and I that we could have in this game would be AMAZING. We already get super competitive with the leaderboards for Super Hexagon, so this would be a fun one to add to our mix.
Link to VOD:
(will be live at 9pm EST)This game is so cute! I adore the graphics, the color choices, and the soundtrack so much! It really gives a sense of peacefulness to match perfectly with the calmness of the game itself. I really want to know too, what font did you pick? I have need to add it into my font library if at all possible, it's so nice! I really appreciate the simplicity of this game, with the puzzles slowly getting more difficult as time goes on. Some seem a bit impossible, but I'm sure it's more me not being able to plan moves ahead very well, versus the level actually not being able to be completed in the moves suggested. I am, after all, a bit of a potato. LOL
Before I get into actual gameplay feedback, a couple notes for grammar and spelling:
- "Nice to" would feel much better as "Nice to do", especially in the explanation.
- When we are first introduced to the hedgehogs, it is misspelled in the title.
- "Qwell" is not technically a word, and I think the "q" is actually a typo (since it's next to the "w" on the keyboard). It's on the Bean Beavers card. I think it's supposed to be well-known, not qwell-known.
Okay, so while the game is not difficult to learn, pointing out some key features would be handy. The two big ones for me are indicating that clicking on the home to "go home" ends the day, and that each character gets a certain amount of steps each turn. It took me a moment to realize the little footsteps at the bottom of the screen, so if something actually indicated it to me in the tutorial round, that would be helpful. Then also, as you add in new things (like the sneak with the eyeball symbol), being able to hover over the icon and having it tell you what it means would be a nice feature. It would help to clear up some initial confusion and make the game flow better.
I also found that the chatter was a bit small on the bigger maps, until I accidentally realized I could zoom-in with my scroll wheel on my mouse. Having that indicated in the controls somewhere would be nice; both for reading the chatter (because it is very cute), and possibly for those who need a little bit of a bigger set of game tiles for visual struggles.
Other than that though, the game felt really good to me. I found it easy to get into and to play, and I think it shows a lot of promise and enjoyment. Definitely hope that the full release is a download and not a browser play though, because I can see the need to save and come back later. After all, sometimes with a tricky puzzle the best strategy is to save and walk away, to return later with a fresh mind. 馃檪
Link to VOD:
(will be live at 9pm EST)This is fun! I like the art and the music a lot. I feel like the style of art really suits the game itself, from what I'm able to tell. I was enjoying myself while playing the demo, and I would definitely consider purchasing this game upon a full release. I was definitely getting invested in the story and yelling at the bad landlord! Hahaha
That said, some feedback for you.
First and foremost, please include an "exit game" selection in the menu. It was really awkward trying to exit for a moment because I didn't realize I needed to go back into settings and return to a windowed game, instead of fullscreen, to get the little "x" in the top-right corner. If you're going to offer the fullscreen option (which I think is wise), having the ability to exit the game through the main menu is also needed.
As enjoyable as the game was, I did feel like the "intro" was a bit long. You definitely earn a good bit of money, which you'll likely need for the mall, and get some experience and items--but it took me an hour to get to that part. It might not be able to be reconciled based on game needs, but it did feel a little excessive. Might feel less excessive if it's more obvious how to get money for the inn (I think you might have needed the library, but I was so busy talking to villagers that I didn't make it there in time), and the urgency is noted in getting there. Perhaps something the landlord could inform you of also.
Finally, for QOL it would be helpful if the HP bar was always shown over enemy heads. Sometimes it was there, sometimes it wasn't. Without the enemy HP bar it makes it very difficult to gauge if I should use specific items or attacks, or save them for a different time.
Game mechanics aside now, a couple of items to note on possible bugs:
- On the roof of the apartment building I snagged the $10, but it did not go into my wallet.
- Some of the areas on the map cause the game to lag significantly.
Overall though the game is solid and I look forward to where it goes! Definitely a unique premise for a story line, and I have to say, I really like the character classes. Much better than the typical fighter/mage/rogue/healer type stuff. Plus, Bob became an agent of Chaos, who doesn't love that? LOL
RE: The Note
If the disjointedness is intentional, and you're looking to make it seem like the rants and raves of someone who isn't in their right mind, then might I suggest the use of excessive ellipses, and almost a more inner-monologue style of writing. That way it comes across as more unhinged-stream-of-consciousness and less of a planned nature. 馃檪
RE: The Knife
Totally an interesting idea about the double-edged sword. Just think if that's the mechanic you want to go with, you'll definitely want a quick pop-up explaining that light comes at a price. And again, that HP items might need to be a bit more plentiful.
RE: Possession
Since it is separate, an additional bar would be good. As far as I could tell my HP was going down as I was looking at The Rot, but not touching it, so this is perhaps a bug? But yes, maybe next to or above the heart icon for HP you could do a brain one for Possession level.
I really do think it's a solid game though, and with enough time and effort you could release it to the horror world--even if just on itch.io. Steam would be awesome too, but I know plenty of horror content creators who scour itch.io as well for good horror games.
Yeah, the "your mommy" would work for sure if the relationship was already established. And the speech impediment did occur to me, but I never want to assume a disability. Somehow mentioning both ahead, or making note of it somewhere, would help.
As far as the horror genre, I trust you. It just doesn't come across in the demo. 馃檪
Link to VOD:
(live at 9pm EST tonight)The game is adorable. I visibly squee'd when I realized the cat we're playing meows on jump--too cute! I really like the color pallet, and I enjoy the artwork. That much is down solid.
However, I almost feel like this game is a version of BattleBlock Theater without the story or the enemies. Both games are puzzle platformers where you're trying to get yarn balls and currency. As soon as I started playing I was immediately struck by how uncannily similar they are. Not to say that's a bad thing, but you'll want to make sure to add plenty of elements to keep it feeling unique as a stand-alone game.
Puzzle wise, I don't like the random element to whether or not an item is going to work--such as with the gum. I got stuck a lot because I had [seemingly] mistimed when to use an item and I bounced the wrong way, or didn't make it quite high enough, etc. I finally called it quits when I had to somehow use the cat to get to the ghost because I just did not have it in me to try and figure out how to use that item. I think it's really cool that the items let us morph the character to do different things, but we need more control over what's happening, at least to some degree. With the gum if we could set the direction of left and right that would help, and with the cat I don't mind clinging to the walls so long as I can pick when I am or am not moving; and in which direction. I get the challenge is that I cannot control it, but it got very frustrating, very fast. So some sort of balance is probably needed.
Music was a bop at first, but as someone in my chat noted, it could become a bit much after a while. Possible room for improvement there.
Link to VOD:
(live at 9pm EST tonight)Honestly, I straight-up love this game. Immediately wishlisted it on Steam once I hit a stopping point, and I will be buying it when you're done. If this didn't say it was a pre-alpha build, I would have guessed it was at least beta, if not early access.
Everything is beautifully done; I love the art, the music is fitting and enjoyable, gameplay is really fun, and it's challenging without being frustrating.
I couldn't really get a solid feel on the story from what I played thus far, so perhaps introducing a bit more of the story to us early on would be helpful. Get an idea on Sol versus Luna, and the like.
Would also be nice to have a healing station of some sort right before big boss fights. While I was able to manage it (eventually), there was a certain sense of frustration brewing at having to go so far back, and make it through a lot of hazards to reach the boss, with only six mishaps available to me.
Regarding the boss fight I did do, the area where you can stand and try to strike the boss is very narrow. It was difficult to maneuver my character to be facing the boss, while simultaneously avoiding the whirling danger around it. A little bit more space to be able to maneuver would be appreciated just for ease of navigation.
Overall though the game is solid, and I really look forward to the full release!
Link to VOD:
(live at 9pm EST tonight)As it stands now, I feel very neutral on this game. Some of that, I think, comes from not really feeling sure if this is a horror game... or just a story game? I found it in the horror genre, but what little I could experience in the demo didn't lead me to feel like this was a scary game. Perhaps that comes later as the story develops, but that genre didn't come across much in the demo.
I like the pixel art style for it, but I will say the buildings feel rather flat compared to the trees and such. Some of the objects too, like the soccer ball, feel a bit out-of-place design wise. It's oddly more detailed, somehow? If I were you, I might also change where I place the bottoms of walls as far as the walking grid system goes, so that the character doesn't appear to climb them.
The music is beautiful, I love where you're going with that.
Story could use a few clarifications and consistency to it. I think it's a really nice touch that our main character has two moms, but I was confused for a bit because of the way it was brought up in the story by saying "your mommy" instead of just "mommy". I'm also confused on the age of the character we're playing, because sometimes the character seems to be speaking with muddled consonants like a toddler, and sometimes not. And me personally, I'm not entirely sure how comfortable I feel about playing a horror game as a possibly toddler character, that feels a little morally weird.
Finally, we definitely need more guidance on what controls handle which action when, at least to start. I did a lot of guessing to get certain prompts. And with items that have a specific use, like the keys, having part of the description be something like "seems to go to a small lock, perhaps on a drawer?" would be helpful. If you aren't controlling how or when folks make certain discoveries (I certainly discovered the well before I discovered the lighter and thus the bedroom), then you'll want to give them an idea of what the item might be used for so they don't make an assumption and possibly get stuck/frustrated thinking the game broke.
Oh, and one nit-picky thing. The fourth-wall breakage where we seem to "speak" to the character we're controlling, not sure how I feel about that. Is that supposed to be us? Some sort of guiding voice? It just felt really odd, and almost out of place to me, but that might be an entirely me thing.
Wishing you all the best with this game, depending on where you take it I would consider trying it again in a completed state.
Link to VOD:
(live at 9pm EST tonight)I think Purple Rot has a solid foundation going. It feels like you have something of a story that you want to tell, and you're emulating the walking simulator for it nicely. I really like the music and the color pallet for this, too. Great selections. This game has a lot of potential, and I look forward to seeing where it goes.
As someone who has played a lot of walking simulators (Emika, anyone?), I do think you need a little bit more information in the game. So far it seems fine as far as the discovery of items and notes; but to make sure people find everything they'll need you'll want to make it so they cannot leave the memory, for example, until they've read the note with the passcode. Similarly, if the only light source is going to also injure you, you should be made aware of that more than just the heart icon ticking down; and I'd also say the game cannot be so extreme on brights (and maybe tone these down anyways because I almost didn't see the body in them due to the neon blindingness) and darks, and you'll need a lot better health items (or keep them plentiful) laying around. Otherwise you'll want to introduce a flashlight, or similar. Possibly the power boxes were supposed to be said light, I'm not sure. Regarding that heart icon though, it remains unclear to me if that's just HP, or also possession rate? If it is both, then there was a glitch when I was at the power boxes I believe. If it is not, then adding in a bar indicating how possessed you are would be helpful.
Now a few nit-picky items, take these as you will. First and foremost, definitely go back and re-read your notes and such. If you do choose to watch the section of the VOD where I play your game, you'll notice me mention it as I spot it, but there are a few typos and some areas that could be better grammatically. In addition, one note feels like it should be two, or have a better segway--the one in the outside drawer bank. I think you have the story in your head, which means you know where it's going and such, but as a player I don't have that insider knowledge so it feels a bit disjointed to me. If you didn't plan for it already, I'd also add in a head-bob option and a motion-blur option, because there is a decent portion of gamers (like myself) who get motion sick if one or both of these are on. Having the ability to turn them off can be the difference between us playing your game, and us having to put it down.
Finally, a word of advice. If you ever plan to put this on Steam, please try to make sure the playtime for it will be greater than 2hrs. I say this so you don't run into the same struggle that Emika has; where people buy the game, do a full playthrough, and then refund it because the total game time is less than 2hrs, and they played it within the first two weeks that they bought it. It's a really garbage move on the part of the gamers, but Steam continues to allow it to happen.
Overall though I look forward to where you take this game, and I think once complete I will see it among the games played by the horror community on Twitch. I've offered my ratings for where the game stands at present, as there is plenty of room for growth and improvement on a solid base like this.
Hi everyone! I'm Saknika, though sometimes you might hear me called Sam, and I'm a variety streamer on Twitch. I play a lot of horror games, but I also enjoy the cozier side of life, and sometimes we paint our nails or bake together! My channel is 18+ because I have a potty mouth and sometimes adult themes come up, but despite that I incorporate my knowledge as a licensed massage therapist into my stream for a self care vibe to help create a chill space for everyone. Stream is very lurk-friendly (I love my lurkers), and I'm just here on the internet to have a good time. I try to stream consistently on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays--but sometimes chronic illness, mental illnesses, and/or life gets in the way. Times vary based on my work schedule, but I try to post them weekly in Discord and on Twitter and Instagram. This is my very first Feedback Quest, and I'm looking forward to it!
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