Amazing game. I've completed the 10 levels and done about 60% of the quests. I could go on and on about how much I love it, but that won't help you improve, so I will try to find flaws. (Finding issues took me like 20 mins.)
1. Tutorials.
I feel it isn't very beginner friendly. The occasional sign with some tips and tricks could go a long way.
2. Dynamite
Feels like it wants to be a major game mechanic, but it really doesn't have much use outside of ending the level (I feel like it could work well as a high skill tool, maybe for speedrun tech)
3. Your rank
What's the advantage of going for an S rank? If I do a quest or finish a new level, I get resources, but I get nothing for a higher rank.
4. Quests
My only serious issue with the game. My first is the resources given. I feel like actually completing a level should give way more than a quest. That way you can get a decent amount of upgrades and progress without being forced to do quests. The other thing is the difficulty is a bit odd. I feel quests should make easy levels interesting, but the quests on those levels don't add much, so it isn't much fun. I added a graph to show what I think it should be.
(blue is the level, red is the quests, and yellow is what I think the quests should be)
Wow, thank you so much for this detailed feedback!
Let me reply to all points: 1. Amazing idea. I will write it down and add more Hints. 2. I wanted it to be like a risk-reward mechanic. You can quickly follow the dynamite with a gun shot and make it explode faster. This is a more advanced mechanic, but make it much easier to time to dynamite explosion. 3. Right now it's only for Leaderboards. I didn't want to give resources for it, because some players who would be not interested in speedruning would not be able to obtain them. In the future version the ranks will be used to unlock Special Helmets, and of course in-game achievements. 4. Quests. You are definitely right. And I love the idea of Quests giving fewer resources than levels. Right now quests feel a bit like a chore, because you can unlock plenty of upgrades with them. Most of upgrades should come from levels, and quests just give few bonus resources to unlock them 25-50% faster. And I also agree about Quests difficulty. I plan to add more new quests. Like a Bat is spawned randomly above you every 2 seconds and other crazy ideas.
Since you played few quests already, could you share if there were any that you found more fun and more boring? If you have any ideas for other twists on levels with quests I would be happy to consider adding them as well.
Honestly, I didn't even know dynamite worked like that. That could be a good hint.
With the quests, I feel it is more a question of "does this quest fit this specific level," rather then "is this quest boring." That said, I did like the switching walls level. Also, I find the quests which just make the level harder rather then rework it and make it harder boring. That is, the speedrun and fast obstacles quests. Buffing the enemies is fine, because that changes how I approach the level.
An invincible enemies quest could be fun. Apart from that, no ideas.
I really (really) want a boss fight, but I don't think that fits with this game's vibes. Instead, a chase sequence with a hoard of bats might be fun. A rough idea is below.
Invincible enemies is a great idea for a quest! I will definitely add it!
As for a boss fights that's exactly what I am working on right now. At the end of each zone there will be one boss fight. Defeating it will unlock access to the next zone. I plan to have it ready in a week or two.
Hey, I don't know whether this applies to the itch build, but I played the armorgames.com version, and unintentionally pressed S while speaking to the dynamite-upgrade-character right after unlocking them. The dynamite-upgrade shop UI appeared. I pressed X and both the conversation and shop UIs disappeared. Now pressing S in front of any character has no effect and I can't talk to them, even after playing a level and coming back to the cave again. The shop UIs work as usual, though. Minor bug, but could be an issue in the future
Hey! Thank you for reporting this issue. I will try and reproduce it myself and fix it in the next version. Looks like I forgot to block the interaction while the animation of unlocking the building is playing. Should be a simple fix.
Ah hell, I forgot to give my thoughts on the game haha
It's very fun! Controls are snappy, camera movement is helpful. Not being able to see much was annoying but the problem went away with some torch upgrades.
I'm not the best at speedrunning though, so the timed challenges gave me the most trouble. Speaking of challenges, after unlocking the first tier, the very next level had its challenge active (tougher monsters) so I was puzzled at the sudden introduction of a new enemy type (the shooters) AND the drastic jump in enemy health. Might've just been a coincidence, but perhaps consider disabling challenges until the player has beaten a level at least once?
Also, this weird thing happened to me: after I realized you can press Down to descend while clinging on a wall, I instinctively started trying to press Up to gain height on a wall, but of course that didn't do what I expected. Now I have to unlearn that... Not sure if it's just me though
Thank you a lot for playing and sharing the video! I noticed you found a bug with tutorials not resetting as expected. I will fix it now. Hope you had some fun playing!
Yay, I managed to finish the first level! Usually not playing such games, so for me this is an accomplishment and I at least wanted to give it a try. Lost my helmet right before the end. :D
Would it be possible to let players customize the keys for the controls? On a german keyboard, z/y are swapped, so it felt a bit weird.
For the WebGL preview on itch.io, you might want to check out the better minimal webgl template for unity builds, you can find it on itch.io for free as well. I'm using it for all my games to get rid of that Unity footer. :)
It makes me really happy that you managed to stick with my game even if it wasn't your type and managed to pull it off to finish Level! Congratulations!
You can also use the spacebar to jump. It's a hard-coded secondary key which should make your experience a bit better better. I am working on key rebinding right now, which is always a bit of annoying work to do in Unity.
I totally did not know about any custom webgl template! I will check it out right now! Thank you for this recommendation!
nice demo , i liked it but had to give up on cave 1 level 8 - there was a jump required that i just thought was just too hard to do after fighting through all those enemies ...
the thing that i found the hardest overall to get used to was the player sticking to walls (and sliding down) without any key input from the player - this lead to many deaths as i would want to drop down quickly while avoiding stuff but accidentally hit a wall and stuck to it , causing many deaths ...
personally it would also be great if spacebar was jump and c or z was dynamite , that would be an easier layout for my fingers !
← Return to game
Comments
Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.
Hey,
Amazing game. I've completed the 10 levels and done about 60% of the quests. I could go on and on about how much I love it, but that won't help you improve, so I will try to find flaws. (Finding issues took me like 20 mins.)
1. Tutorials.
I feel it isn't very beginner friendly. The occasional sign with some tips and tricks could go a long way.
2. Dynamite
Feels like it wants to be a major game mechanic, but it really doesn't have much use outside of ending the level (I feel like it could work well as a high skill tool, maybe for speedrun tech)
3. Your rank
What's the advantage of going for an S rank? If I do a quest or finish a new level, I get resources, but I get nothing for a higher rank.
4. Quests
My only serious issue with the game. My first is the resources given. I feel like actually completing a level should give way more than a quest. That way you can get a decent amount of upgrades and progress without being forced to do quests. The other thing is the difficulty is a bit odd. I feel quests should make easy levels interesting, but the quests on those levels don't add much, so it isn't much fun. I added a graph to show what I think it should be.
(blue is the level, red is the quests, and yellow is what I think the quests should be)
Wow, thank you so much for this detailed feedback!
Let me reply to all points:
1. Amazing idea. I will write it down and add more Hints.
2. I wanted it to be like a risk-reward mechanic. You can quickly follow the dynamite with a gun shot and make it explode faster. This is a more advanced mechanic, but make it much easier to time to dynamite explosion.
3. Right now it's only for Leaderboards. I didn't want to give resources for it, because some players who would be not interested in speedruning would not be able to obtain them. In the future version the ranks will be used to unlock Special Helmets, and of course in-game achievements.
4. Quests. You are definitely right. And I love the idea of Quests giving fewer resources than levels. Right now quests feel a bit like a chore, because you can unlock plenty of upgrades with them. Most of upgrades should come from levels, and quests just give few bonus resources to unlock them 25-50% faster.
And I also agree about Quests difficulty. I plan to add more new quests. Like a Bat is spawned randomly above you every 2 seconds and other crazy ideas.
Since you played few quests already, could you share if there were any that you found more fun and more boring? If you have any ideas for other twists on levels with quests I would be happy to consider adding them as well.
Honestly, I didn't even know dynamite worked like that. That could be a good hint.
With the quests, I feel it is more a question of "does this quest fit this specific level," rather then "is this quest boring." That said, I did like the switching walls level. Also, I find the quests which just make the level harder rather then rework it and make it harder boring. That is, the speedrun and fast obstacles quests. Buffing the enemies is fine, because that changes how I approach the level.
An invincible enemies quest could be fun. Apart from that, no ideas.
I really (really) want a boss fight, but I don't think that fits with this game's vibes. Instead, a chase sequence with a hoard of bats might be fun. A rough idea is below.
Invincible enemies is a great idea for a quest! I will definitely add it!
As for a boss fights that's exactly what I am working on right now. At the end of each zone there will be one boss fight. Defeating it will unlock access to the next zone. I plan to have it ready in a week or two.
Hey, I don't know whether this applies to the itch build, but I played the armorgames.com version, and unintentionally pressed S while speaking to the dynamite-upgrade-character right after unlocking them. The dynamite-upgrade shop UI appeared. I pressed X and both the conversation and shop UIs disappeared. Now pressing S in front of any character has no effect and I can't talk to them, even after playing a level and coming back to the cave again. The shop UIs work as usual, though. Minor bug, but could be an issue in the future
Hey! Thank you for reporting this issue. I will try and reproduce it myself and fix it in the next version. Looks like I forgot to block the interaction while the animation of unlocking the building is playing. Should be a simple fix.
Ah hell, I forgot to give my thoughts on the game haha
It's very fun! Controls are snappy, camera movement is helpful. Not being able to see much was annoying but the problem went away with some torch upgrades.
I'm not the best at speedrunning though, so the timed challenges gave me the most trouble. Speaking of challenges, after unlocking the first tier, the very next level had its challenge active (tougher monsters) so I was puzzled at the sudden introduction of a new enemy type (the shooters) AND the drastic jump in enemy health. Might've just been a coincidence, but perhaps consider disabling challenges until the player has beaten a level at least once?
Also, this weird thing happened to me: after I realized you can press Down to descend while clinging on a wall, I instinctively started trying to press Up to gain height on a wall, but of course that didn't do what I expected. Now I have to unlearn that... Not sure if it's just me though
Interesting platformer game.
Thank you a lot for playing and sharing the video! I noticed you found a bug with tutorials not resetting as expected. I will fix it now. Hope you had some fun playing!
Yay, I managed to finish the first level! Usually not playing such games, so for me this is an accomplishment and I at least wanted to give it a try. Lost my helmet right before the end. :D
Would it be possible to let players customize the keys for the controls? On a german keyboard, z/y are swapped, so it felt a bit weird.
For the WebGL preview on itch.io, you might want to check out the better minimal webgl template for unity builds, you can find it on itch.io for free as well. I'm using it for all my games to get rid of that Unity footer. :)
It makes me really happy that you managed to stick with my game even if it wasn't your type and managed to pull it off to finish Level! Congratulations!
You can also use the spacebar to jump. It's a hard-coded secondary key which should make your experience a bit better better. I am working on key rebinding right now, which is always a bit of annoying work to do in Unity.
I totally did not know about any custom webgl template! I will check it out right now! Thank you for this recommendation!
nice demo , i liked it but had to give up on cave 1 level 8 - there was a jump required that i just thought was just too hard to do after fighting through all those enemies ...
the thing that i found the hardest overall to get used to was the player sticking to walls (and sliding down) without any key input from the player - this lead to many deaths as i would want to drop down quickly while avoiding stuff but accidentally hit a wall and stuck to it , causing many deaths ...
personally it would also be great if spacebar was jump and c or z was dynamite , that would be an easier layout for my fingers !
good luck with it all
Thank you for playing!
I know exactly which jump do you mean. There is a pretty problematic spike on the right side of the cave. I plan to rebalance this level soon.
I am currently working on adding key remapping settings so all will be able to change to what they prefer.
And thank you for the kind words!
Fun game, the helmet is awesome. I like the challenge and the controls work smoothly. I need more levels though! :D Be aware of the bats hehehe
Thank you for playing!
I'm really glad that you noticed the hat! I am really proud of this mechanic.
More levels coming in about 2-3 weeks.