Is it gonna be related to MOURN?

I get that this game is trying to do something in a style of detective game like Hypnospace but honestly, puzzles feel kinda weird. It doesn't feel like there's any real challenge to them - basically it's like a place in the game asks you to input a word, and you find it elsewhere stated explicitly.

There is no real lateral thinking required, you just do what you're told to, going through the motions.

Like personally I found that to make a deduction puzzle, player should be forced to make a connection that isn't explicitly stated in the game. Hypnospace does it, Obra Dinn does it, every good detective game does it. Like, you're given a hint 1, a hint 2, and you have to make the connection between them yourself using real life knowledge.

The closest thing to lateral thinking is the childhood pet puzzle, but even then it feels bit too easy. You shouldn't be afraid to challenge the player a little bit, especially since you have a hint system.

The writing is decent enough because it's sorta funny. It's not amazing, like laugh out loud funny, but it's okay, and it really salvages the game.

This is my childhood right there. Also my first exposure to the idea of lesbian BDSM as a kid. Which probably explains why now I'm a trans lesbian into BDSM now.

I'm surprised that you removed so much options from the new versions, but I guess since you can just use 1.35 since it's still available that's okay.

1.35 is superior in many respects, including ability to auto-create palettes (which is useful if you're working with larger palettes like 256 colors), different types of dithering, more built-in palettes and in new version it seems dithering doesn't work at all in small pictures. But since you do provide the old version that doesn't matter much.

No idea if my comment is still true, it seems the game was updated since I wrote it.

Okay, that is an *amazing* twist on a Sokoban style game - Sokoban where the player control is also a pushable object. How cool!

V3 is so much cooler of an experience. This is a HUGE improvement honestly over a game that was already fun before.

The movement is MUCH tighter and collectibles add a lot!

This is really nice game. I haven't beaten it fully yet but I'm definitely gonna 100% it and report back!

This is really cute! I really loved it! I think it'd be nice if your character moved a bit faster, and perhaps if there was an actual point (some kind of collectible reward) to optional terminals, but still, this was a really nice play!

Hm. I thought all user settings reset, but it seems only some of them do - onion skin settings and resized interface elements. I also can't reassign tool shortcuts. I guess I could open these as issues on GH.

It's not a dealbreaker, I still prefer it to other editors out there.

It does not currently save my settings. Which is a bit of a shame, as I genuinely think this is better than Asesprite.

Everything inside of me as a designer yells that that's a terrible idea but I'm trying to be openminded. How do you prevent player from getting stuck in an unwinnable situation if patterns are random? It's a game with one hit kills and limited lives, and it might just downright not be your fault if you die and lose all your progress because all enemies randomly decided to surround you.

It's not what I'd personally call good game design but if your primary goal isn't to make a game that appeals to a modern audience with 'fun' but to simply make a clear homage to these games of old without concern of modern concepts of 'fairness' (which to be fair is a bit nebulous) then sure, more power to you.

I guess there's other revivals of classic isometric platform-adventures I can try, like Abbey of Crime, Naya's Quest, King Boo or Lumo.

Am I missing something? It seemed to me as if enemy movements were completely random, which in a game with one-hit kills and limited lives is kinda insane. Isn't entire point of any platformer, isometric or not, is ability to predict timing of your enemies and obstacles so you can plan your movement? I haven't much experience with isometric platformers, but both Batman and Head Over Heels remakes had predictable and easily read enemy patterns - it was clear how to avoid them, the difficulty was in the execution (also in traps and puzzles).

The aesthetics are amazing and so is the idea, but I genuinelly cannot grasp enemy patterns.

Sounds hype!

Followed!

It's ok! This project is still extremely promising so I hope OP will continue updating it. It needs polish, but solid foundation is there.

This is really cool. I'm surprised what can be squeezed out of completely vanilla Super Mario Bros 1. I especially liked the item block puzzle (if you played it, you know what I mean) and the final elevator fakeout.

Maybe a specific version of ROM is needed?

EDIT: "World" version works fine for me. Are you using the Duck Hunt combo rom?

Okay but - you can press "X" to see the controls... but that's X on the gamepad. Not X on the keyboard. On the keyboard it's actually Z I think? I don't own a gamepad so X on the gamepad is meaningless to me.

You see my point now?

I tried to play this and I don't know what I'm doing. I have no idea what keys I need to press in different menus, because they are displayed as gamepad buttons even though I don't have a gamepad plugged in (or own one).

The only tutorial sign I found says to "not waste ammo" and does not explain any controls or mechanics, which are unnecessarily complicated (why is pressing A and D move you left and right if it's not a WSAD game?) and the only way to find them out is to press a key after quitting to main menu - and you have to guess which key, because like I said, it shows gamepad buttons.

You have to do that every time you want to remind yourself controls, and quitting to main menu quits your game without saving - without any warning or a dialog asking you to confirm quitting, so you can easily lose progress by accident. To jump back in back to start of the game, you are forced to sit through the unskippable intro which isn't that bad once, but after sitting through that intro like five times I was fed up.

Obviously if you don't have controls explained in-game, player will try to press buttons to test them - which here can easily waste your precious ammo. Which I did by accident, and then I was stuck on a bat enemy - as it didn't just hurt me, but physically blocked me from progression, so I couldn't even damage boost past him. I can jump over him, but he will chase me forever with no respite. Then I found another tutorial message that the door needs "10 ATOMS" (whatever they are) to open, jumped on the roof, fell through the roof into the facility walls, and fell out of the map.

It doesn't help that pressing up and down also fires weapons, wasting more ammo.

I think I'm done for now. There's makings of an amazing game here, but it definitely needs more polish. The graphical style is great, I really like the whole concept of Mega Man meets Metroid (with clear references to both) the platforming controls are responsive (weapons seem a bit clunky but I'm assuming that is because they can be upgraded later) - if you keep developing this, this can genuinely become an amazing game.

I don't want you getting discouraged by this comment, I see that it's version 0.1 - so it's pretty much an Early Access release, so it makes sense. The graphics are very polished, I especially like the pixelated rain effect, platforming feels nice, and the game is technically playable, so that's a lot for a beta.

Anyway, I wish you best of luck think maybe you should make some kind of a Discord for future development of the game? So people could help you test builds and brainstorm ideas?

This is one of the most unique aesthetics I've seen in my life, will be keeping tabs on this (if it's not abandoned...)

This is amazing and I love it, and should be necessary playing for anyone interested in learning about game feel. One note: version you show in the youtube video has a "?" help button next to the Air Control and Air Acceleration sliders, but this version does not. I had to kinda guess what they mean.

This is made in Game Maker 8, and I'm pretty sure that doesn't support Android. Someone would need to port it to a modern version of Game Maker.

This is immensely cool and good.

Cool! I love the vibe!

Also is the protag like. Amogus. ?

No offense, but this isn't a very compelling story. It begins sad, and ends sad. So there's no major turning point, change in emotions. If you know how these stories go, you know everything that's gonna happen from first couple sentences.

I will praise one moment - it's kind of cool when in school, you are taught that Lucille won't say the dialog options out loud, which is then subverted when talking to the two girls discussing sex.

I can't criticize it because I don't know creator's life - I mean, this game could be something close to a therapeutic journal. In that case that's obviously something that matters. But I can't know that, and as a story in isolation it feels like it tries to be shocking, but with not enough substance.

But it isn't "Russian Nation" that wages war on Ukraine. It's Putin and his army. Putin was not democratically elected and Russians cannot simply remove him. In fact, there are - and have been - protests all over Russia asking for Putin to resign, and now to stop the war.

You know what he did? Arrested the protesters, because he's a dictator.

Anyway the game is great. It genuinely makes me interested in developing a ZZT game myself (I first heard of this engine from David X Newton on youtube).

Glitch report - in the magic library, in the diary on the desk, the line between "March 17" and "March 20" is highlighted as "press Enter" and not "Journal". Not a big deal, I just thought it was a secret or something.

Firefox, it didn't lag. Well actually it did a little bit at beginning, but it pretty much went away - definitely playable.

As a Hellraiser fanfic, I have to admit it's a cool idea. Hell, we can even say this is happening right now, if we assume that Hareraiser-like puzzles now take a pretty common form of ARGs.

I just began but I have to say - criticizing Undertale for being derivative is like criticizing Doom for having too much violence. It's kinda the entire point bruh

This is really great! I love the animations and the vibe.

Minor issues:

- if you get on that tall platform/area with the christmas tree and the sign* that you get to on a chain of bounce platforms, there is... no actual way to get down? You can almost see first platform when you angle the camera maximally up... but then camera gets stuck in the wall and you have no way of jumping down. And this platform has a checkpoint, so when you inevitably fall, you just get transported back to the platform.

* - the one sign that tells you to check said platform after collecting all fruits for a pellet chain, and informs you about inventory in pause screen

- I wish you could control the camera with a mouse, and not just with arrow keys.

This is pretty nice! Reminds me of games like Cannon Fodder. The timer definitely adds excitement! I hope you will continue this, if you want.

Ironically, the Doom-like nature of it reminds me of the Wii crap Spy Games: Elevator Mission. Though this is way better.

Oh no, the boss was fun. I just wasn't able to finish it because the music glitch made fight feel really weird. I will definitely power through, though!

Okay so I much prefer this version to the demo - adding the playground tutorial would help a lot with the controls, I would suggest putting that level in the demo.

I found some glitches. First, it seems rails on the playground can only be grinded on from one direction, and if you try to grind them from the other direction you will get stuck facing the ground. This is notable since the playground is a relatively open-ended arena. I know this won't be an issue on most rails, but it's an issue here.

Second, in mission two I somehow didn't notice how to follow a river, and by abusing the dash item, I was able to ascend the pretty mountain in front of you, and climb out of bound onto a small square green meadow hanging in the void.

Third, and honestly "gamebreaking" (lol) bug - in some levels, like the tutorial and second mission, the music doesn't loop properly. After track ends, there's only silence. That makes the experience really awful because music is so great and adds so much to the game, and there's no ambient sounds. I don't know if this happens every time, but it's really demotivating. It didn't happen in the first mission (the same one from the demo), but it happened in the tutorial and the second mission, and it really sucked.

I don't know if it happens every time, I just quit the game to write this. Will keep you posted.

Because of the third bug, I genuinely couldn't stand fighting the second boss and I quit. Turns out that there is no in-game menu for quitting (escape does nothing) so I tried alt+f4 - it worked, but... it didn't save my progress. Bummer. Some kind of autosave would be nice, or some kind of save menu after hittin Escape. Or you know, a save menu between missions.

That's kinda a shame, since second boss is way better than the first - it's still a bullet sponge, but figuring out how to damage it is kind of a puzzle, and it actually hit me a few times (damage it deals it's still too low, though).

Also a minor problem, but in the first mission train section, i was hit by a train immediately after jumping on the rail with no chance to see it coming.

However, I will say I much prefer the level design of second mission so far to what I've seen in the demo.

Quick fixes I think could improve the experience with relatively little effort:

• currently pressing Backwards is mostly useless. I suggest that "back" on keyboard should do a quick 180 turn (on gamepad, this maneuver should probably be relegated to a trigger or a face button, or maybe pressing in the left stick). This would really help with steering in more open areas.
• I don't think it'd be a bad idea to copy Sonic and add quickstep on shoulder buttons - on keyboard on Q/E, just a quick ability to horizontally strafe without turning. This would help with more high-speed sections
• bosses really need shorter healthbars. Like not even joking, like their healthbars should be like, 25-50% of their current value. Just up their damage dealt by 1000% (not a typo) to compensate with difficulty.

Anyway, I will play more later and keep giving feedback.

______________________________________

If you're a bystander, sitting on this page wondering if the game is worth the price of admission despite what I said about issues and glitches - read my lips, absolutely. Intro cinematic alone is worth the price. When the game works, it works amazingly, it just has some growing pains right now. And the graphics are beautiful, and story is interesting and presented really well. For this price it's an absolute steal. It's kinda like an early access game - it's already pretty fun, and it seems it's only going to get better.

I think the problem is more that their patterns are really hard and weird. They're not just moving back and forth, they do complex swerves - which looks very realistic, I will admit, but it might be hard to learn.

I absolutely loved it. I think this is easily worth more than this price. The controls are easily the best so far out of all your 3D platformers, they're super smooth, responsive and satisfying.

Only gripe I would have is that some patterns in Edge Runner are bit overdone and ridiculous, both the moving enemy patterns and one particular jump where you have to jump from a conveyor truck to ice truck to a conveyor to a purple truck - it just wouldn't line up. Similarly, right after that section there are stars floating in mid-air that are permanently missable - and after I missed one, I simply gave up on 100%ing stars in this stage. But honestly, for this price I don't care, the game was easily amazing in every other aspect.

The only other tiny problems:
- in Hungry Mountain Peak where during the part where you have to jump on moving ice platforms that move in all three axes at once, it was really hard to judge where they are in perspective with no other information.

- sometimes (rarely) I could double-jump off vertical whirlwinds, which slowed down my learning how to do them correctly (edit: by this I mean I could jump off twice, instead of once as usual)

- for some reason once I select a character and I'm in stage select, I'm not allowed to leave. Pressing Escape simply restarts the stage select and if I want to exit the game, I have to press Alt F4.

- in the Starry Sky stage, the red filter made it kinda hard to see how exactly the buildings were constructed spatially, because sides and rooftops blended together a bit. It wasn't a big deal, but a minor annoyance.

I will admit I loved everything else. The game is snappy, polished, controls feel amazing, difficulty is just right, graphics look beautiful... almost perfect game. Might be your best game so far out of 3D platformers.

Also is there any way to download or buy the soundtrack? I would love to add the song from New Osaka to my regular playlist.

Okay so I just played through both Kiwi and Toree. They're nothing like Macbat, which really makes me think - you should really consider making a full-on adventure game with the style of puzzles and exploration from MacBat. Sure, the puzzles are relatively easy (with sole exception of that shadow puzzle in the ruins level) but that's not a bad thing at all! I think there would be a big audience for a cute and accessible adventure game in this style. And there are low-poly 3D adventure games when it comes to visual inspiration, like Discworld Noir, Grim Fandango, Blade Runner or Escape from Monkey Island.

I mean, I haven't decided to not buy it yet. I will admit that when everything works perfectly, the game is spectacular. I forgot to write a section that I originally wanted to - that if you fixed the controls issues, then the game would be definitely worth more than 1€ because when it's fun, it's really fun, and your hard work really shows.

Also I taken the time to write such a long review is because I like a lot about it, but mostly because I think this game has potential to be the next big indie 3D platformer, like A Hat In Time or something, with just a bit more polish. Of course I understand that controls in a platformer are an extremely complex question, and in this case you're making a completely new type of game (there is nothing exactly like it - it's neither entirely Sonic nor Jet Set Radio, even if it takes some inspiration from both - my closest comparison would be 2D Sonic games made 3D), so you can't even simply reuse what others have done before you - you're basically in the same situation as Shigeru Miyamoto when faced with making Super Mario 64, you gotta invent everything from scratch. But I think you can do it.

EDIT: Ah, whatever. Bought it and gave you a tiny tip since again, I think slightly polished version of this game would be worth significantly more than 1€. Even if the controls won't work well, at least I can enjoy the style, and maybe learn something about game design.

I would give a bigger tip but I'm broke, lol, so sorry about that :P

Oh right! I was gonna mention this - I kinda admire one thing that the game does though regarding platforming - your drop shadow slowly fades out depending on how high you are above the surface. So unlike normal drop shadow, this allows you to see not just above which part of the floor you are - but also how high you are. I don't know if this is the dev's original invention or if this is taken from some other 3D platformer, but it's a really cool idea and should be standard - I'm definitely stealing this mechanic for my own 3D platformer, lol.