itch.io

this kicks ass. I got to the third area and got my first death bc of accidental overuse of <UPGRADE 2> it was awesome. I think if the movement was aligned to the rail more cleanly (reset to center of rail unless pressing directional input) it'd probably feel better but otherwise I ain't got no notes. Fantastic job on this. I stopped playing after aforementioned death because I ain't got too much time but I'll probably come back and finish this at some point it was dope. I really like your take on the theme!

edit: wait I do wanna add that some more visual clairity on the warp point barriers would be Pretty Awesome; would have to give them a more visual identity which doesn't wholly fit with the theme I guess but you could probably figure something out.

I didn't play very far in unfortunately because I simply did not like trying to get through the cave area with how it was designed which is a shame because I really like the idea you got here and would like to see it further developed! I like the idea of having to find funny creatures and studying them to get your upgrades that's fun. I also spent an embarassing long time realizing there was a sprint button lol.

My two primary suggestions for stuff to focus on should you decide to polish this more:

• You'll want to work on sharpening the physics a bit though, the player feels too slippery for how heavy they are (my recommendation is lowering the horizontal acceleration sothe player is less likely to launch themselves directly off the edge of platforms). Jumping feels "too fast" but its hard to gauge whether that's because gravity is too heavy or the upward velocity is too much (you can tweak this as you please though, its tricky to get something that feels "just right" for what you want!)
• The cave area is too spacious without actually having anything going on in it aside from too much platforming that isn't doing anything other then "make this one tile jump under a ceiling then get pushed off by this creature who can just snipe you if you time it badly". I think that sort of platforming challenge just isn't really the right call for this sort of game (would probably be fine in other games for the record).

Keep at it! I think you got something Cool here, even if I didn't stick with it. 

I liked it it's cute and a good concept! I think you should put the controls on the page it took me a Hot Moment to figure out the E key was the interact/disengage button.

I liked the backtrack message lol.

This was also Ada's idea and i laugh every time i think about it its great

Yeah the clairity of "using the card matching the character is More Powerful" can be a bit hard but I think Just Doubling Values is kinda boring BUT if you're willing to go the extra mile, the cards could simply have Extra Effects (which could just be Double Value lol) when used by the matching Character.

Quick n Simple: cool and fun I'm interested in seeing where you go with this :3

More specific thoughts:
- The Memory cards feel impossible to use with the pre-made deck because you have to draw the memory generating cards to get a chance of even using them. I assume this would be less of a problem once the concept of relics and building a deck are introduced but something to keep in mind. 

- Stuff that targets enemies should have enemies shake to indicate that they're the ones needing to be targeted.For clarity purposes, you may need to have faint lines pointing from the card to valid targets? Or something. I imagine a tutorial will likely ease a lot of pain points in learning (not that I struggled with it at all personally and the text on the page explains it but yeah obviously its a prototype tutorializing isn't important yet.)

- Having ONLY 4 actions (by default) to work with is cool and fun I think. Having to work within restriction is fun and I think part of the appeal of card games is "cheating out" stuff/manipulating rules to do More.

- I kinda feel like having Commands do reduced values for being used outside of class doesn't feel greaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat but I do like the presence of "Neutral" cards so it might actually be fine. Ideally the values displayed on the card would change depending on who you hover over while targeting with it but yeah. Another thought related to this is that using Commands outside of associated Character could cost Memory but that's like a whole design tangle to think about. 

- I think the symbols/icons were very clear on what they meant at a glance (at least to me who is video game literate so idk how much that's worth lol) so I think its pretty good there!

- good art style big fan you already knew this but I feel its worth stating.

- oh if there's gonna be multiple characters there's a possiblity of having them split into "classes" and then have the cards be for "classes" instead of owners? Idk if that necessarily aligns with what you have in mind but that's something to keep in the back pocket I think.

Apparently I had comments turned off when I uploaded this???? what the fuck was 2017 me even thinking

Finished playing the demo! Here's my thoughts:

- Feels good to play! A step animation for when the player taps left/right while on the ground to inch forward would be really nice I think, but otherwise the Player animations are wonderful!

- Visuals are fantastic! Big fan of the visual style. I think there's potential for some stuff to blend against the background though (the snails kinda blend into the purple background of Hana Sol's stage) but it wasn't too much of an issue for me, just something to keep in mind!

- The flower vine platforms that move in and out could use a bit more visual flair I think; Perhaps having the flower shake briefly before retreating, and maybe have the flower sticking out of the wall slightly or even become a bud when not active would be nice and let the player know where they need to jump to next. I DO like the spiky dangerous version though, I think it was pretty cool!

- (Bug?) Beehives seem to keep spawning bees with no limit after respawning and slightly off screen, or there are bees there that seem to also respawn with the hive, causing an abnormal amount of bees to appear. (Assuming this is not intentional; I didn't really test this further but is worth looking into.)

- I think the stage music should stop when the boss hp bar fills up. Possibly also during the cutscene but there might be plans for pre-boss music? If not that's fine. I THINK I heard an alarm sound effect play but it got drowned out by the stage music?

- Boss fight against Hana Sol and Char-Wuf were a lot of fun! I think you nailed it here. I especially like that you could bounce off of Char-Wuf's bouncy balls to dodge her frankly terrifying melee attack.

- Char-Wuf's stage is a lot of fun. I game over'd and it was great. Bouncy Cannonballs are a nightmare obstacle in this style of game it's great I love it. I don't have anything else to add here it was pretty great all the way through. You could possibly have a segment where the player gets to play with the bouncy cannonballs more but other then that I think it was fun!

- Special Weapons are cool! I think the powered up slide from Char-Wuf's weapon could consume a LOT less energy though, I kinda burned through the weapon energy immediately upon testing it.

- The transition to an already cleared stage is a bit too instant. This isn't really a problem but it's something to consider polishing when the time comes.

- I would consider starting the player with 3 extra lives (3 > 2 > 1 > 0) rather then the 2; The stages are a bit long so I think having an extra starting life would benefit a lot of people. Changing the starting lives can also be a potential difficulty setting option if you choose that route too.

Overall I had a really good time! I don't really have any strong criticisms or issues with the game, and I think ya'll did a FANTASTIC job! This is exactly the sort of game I crave constantly and I'm extremely excited to see it finished!!!

should be fixed in v1.1d now!

DAMN, THATS A NEW ONE LOL THANKS FOR LETTING ME KNOW!! glad you had fun at least!!!!

Thank you for playing!!!! Version 1.1a makes Yukari much less likely to body you with her spellcard, and the game gives you a tip on how to better manage the battle against Alice now. But yeah we overtuned it for the jam version oops (im pretty good at this sort of game oops!!)

hhuuuuuuuuuhh I'll have to look into that bug I havent run into it myself thank you for letting me know and thank you for playing!!!!!!!!!

I look forward to your adventure!