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[godsavant]

Finally saw the trailer. Good way to explain the game's premise and gameplay (love that fancy dodging), especially the cinematics (the one of the holo-screen really got me hyped). Also, "Death is not the end" is a great tagline for this game; if it's not, it should be.

However, I'm again confused by the music choice. The gameplay footage of all those different bosses and stages is super-exciting, but the music is constantly droning and dour, like I'm watching the trailer for a suspense/horror movie, not a colorful action-packed platformer. I got hopeful at 1:30 because there was actually a backing beat, but it didn't last long.

There's plenty of up-tempo, exciting songs both in the game that would do the trailer justice. Will find time to play the demo soon.

[Raku]

Alright, I've weakened the first boss, and it does feel better. As for having the right ability and such, I would think that would be up to the player, not me giving the best ability beforehand. Boss stages are labeled clearly as boss stages, being red and having a red title backdrop, so you probably shouldn't go into any boss fights with bullet unless you plan on taking it slow and steady. Bullet is the weakest ability in the game.
I suppose what I could do though, is add special enemies in the stage previous to bosses, that might signify a boss is coming, and prompting the player to get a combo ability they're comfortable with.
I'm always ready and willing to make new enemies.

Ah right, a few of the autoscrollers don't allow you to pause, and it's been something I've been meaning to fix. I so far can't find the cause of the issue, but that's because I've been mostly working on other parts of the game at the moment, and haven't been able focused on it, it will be fixed in the final release of the game. Even if it means making a hack workaround to fix it.
Also I see about the Ophan and Cherub, I'll have to fix that, I didnt take that into account.
As for the enemy who walks off, I'll fix it by just removing him. He doesnt seem to behave no matter what I try.
As for who the statue is, that's a secret for now.

Thanks! I'm glad you finally could see it. The "Death is not the end" tagline could be great, why not?
The music choice was to match up with the video how I thought it should? It wasnt to show off action or anything, the video was more trying to be "storytime".
There are already two other trailers with up-tempo exciting songs, though.
I hope you enjoy the demo when you do play!

[Retroy]

There's so much originality and polish to this game. It's a really nice fusion of Kirby Superstar and high-intensity 90's anime flair without the limitations of the SNES.

I'm really excited for the final release, keep up the great work!

[Raku]

There's so much originality and polish to this game. It's a really nice fusion of Kirby Superstar and high-intensity 90's anime flair without the limitations of the SNES.

I'm really excited for the final release, keep up the great work!

Thank you very much! I appreciate that a lot, and I'm glad that it's becoming the game that I always wanted it to be.

[BMF54123]

Really enjoying the new demo so far! I did notice a few issues, though:



- Looking up or down in an area with these crushers will cause the viewport to snap to center while the screen shakes, and then snap back to where it was. (Also, are you supposed to be able to stand upright in this gap without taking damage? It seems logical that you would need to duck here.)

- The first "shield" enemies you meet sometimes act strange if you knock them back in a narrow passageway, getting stuck to walls and flailing about.



- I had the same issue with one of these guys as LaziJay, except it was the first one in Lion's Den. I knocked it down with my normal scythe, and then it just refused to die.

- Hitting Guutara with gas clouds from a distance doesn't cause him to change expressions like other weapons do, even though he takes damage. Is this normal?

As always, keep up the great work! I may just lock myself in my room and play this for a week straight when it's done.

[Raku]

- Looking up or down in an area with these crushers will cause the viewport to snap to center while the screen shakes, and then snap back to where it was. (Also, are you supposed to be able to stand upright in this gap without taking damage? It seems logical that you would need to duck here.)

Ahh, I overlooked that, it's fixed now. Also I moved that platform up so that it doesnt look weird when you stand there.

- The first "shield" enemies you meet sometimes act strange if you knock them back in a narrow passageway, getting stuck to walls and flailing about.

working on fixing that too, I think I found the problem there now.

- I had the same issue with one of these guys as LaziJay, except it was the first one in Lion's Den. I knocked it down with my normal scythe, and then it just refused to die.

I found what was making these guys behave that way and have fixed it, too.

- Hitting Guutara with gas clouds from a distance doesn't cause him to change expressions like other weapons do, even though he takes damage. Is this normal?

I'm not sure why this happens, honestly. Will look into it.

As always, keep up the great work! I may just lock myself in my room and play this for a week straight when it's done.

Thanks a lot! I'm glad you enjoy it so much!




Also, an update today, I've been adding shadows to the ground below platforms and things, making it a bit more 3d-looking

[Raku]

knockoff Kumamon baddie based on a friend.

[Raku]

I had a new idea for gameplay last night. In each stage, there would be 3-4 collectible items in each stage, which would combine into a small familiar/partner that follows you around and helps attack enemies, but can be killed easily.
The only thing would be that by the time you collect all the parts in a stage, there wouldn't be much stage left to use the partner.
Unless you keep the partner indefinitely (until it's killed) maybe, and you could keep building them up more and more. The only problem with that would be that you could get overpowered, I would think.

Any thoughts or criticism on this idea would be appreciated.

[Kyuugatsu]

I'd like to know why you decided to add Japanese subtitles to your trailer. They didn't seem to add much, and mostly served to be a distraction...just curious why you made the effort.

[Raku]

To recreate a feeling of imported trailers from the 1980s and 1990s where English text is used but needed to be translated for an audience that couldn't read them. Just like how the rest of the game is meant to feel like it's from that era. I'm not sure why it bothers you.

[Krisoyo]

I really like the collectible idea actually, though yeah, unless you disperse those collectibles throughout just the first part of the stage or something, you might not have a chance to really use it. Unless of course we're talking about a stage with a mini-boss at the end.
But yeah, if you take those things into consideration I think it could be cool!
You could also just put in that type of collectible, and instead of having the amount linked to the level or something, just have it so that collecting enough of them through several stages gives you the familiar.
And you could still keep the 'building up', just put a limit on it.
Another idea I'm just gonna throw in here, is that what if instead, those collectibles are actually spread throughout the whole stage and you get the familiar only on that stage as originally though, BUT you get the familiar permanently, but still only on that stage. So that it's with you each time you re-visit the stage.
If you put in more than just one type of familiar so that you get some diversity and if some of those have abilities that are needed to reach certain bonus levels or something I really think it could be a good incentive to collect them too. They could still be destructible as well, so that f.ex. when you're gonna try to reach the bonus level at the end of some stage, you have the added challenge of keeping your familiar alive.
And then, maybe an emblem on each stage for having collected all of the collectibles on each stage, unlocking some sort of bonus for finding them all. Kinda like the DK coins in the donkey kong series.
Though yeah, just ideas, and it might create way too much extra work to be worth bothering with anyway.

[Raku]

That goes along with what I was thinking too. I think I've decided that there are going to be a small finite number of partners you can gather.
What I'm thinking here is that you'll have to gather maybe 5-10 parts to construct a partner, and those parts will be spread throughout many stages.
 
-there will be 10 possible partners
-you will only be able to have one out at a time, and can recall it at any time.
-They each have their own HP and they die when it reaches zero and their parts are scattered back to where you found them.
Most likely all of this will be viewable from the pause screen and possibly the map screen as well.
-If a partner dies, you have to go back and collect all their parts again to reassemble them, simple.
-If you have a part already, it'll be greyed out if you revisit the stage.

This will be an optional thing you can do in the game, the parts will be hidden in little places you'd have to explore to find.

[Krisoyo]

Ooh, that sounds pretty cool. Will each of the parts occur in more than one stage though, or will the parts only exist in one location each?
Also, what if, once you have assembled a partner, you unlock the option to buy it in the store as well? For a good amount of cash though presumably. Would probably be kind of a struggle to remember where exactly each part is if for re-assembling a particular one, especially if they are all unique.

[Glyph]

I don't like the idea of having to replay numerous stages, sometimes multiple times, just to re-obtain a partner I already got. Maybe just a nominal cost to revive any downed partner? This is assuming you go with the multiple, permanent partners idea.

Personally, I'm fond of just having X collectibles in the early parts of a stage (and probably only in certain stages, with the particular partner you get predetermined to be relevant to the rest of the stage). If you went with this approach, I'd probably suggest a low number of collectibles, like 3.

[Kyuugatsu]

To recreate a feeling of imported trailers from the 1980s and 1990s where English text is used but needed to be translated for an audience that couldn't read them. Just like how the rest of the game is meant to feel like it's from that era. I'm not sure why it bothers you.

Well, it distracts me because it switches randomly from honorific to casual language and isn't otherwise fluent. That's not a huge issue, I was just curious why you would do this.

[Raku]

Kyuugatsu, I see what you meant now. That was bad translation on my part, my mistake.

Krisoyo and Glyph, I see both of your points.
That actually sounds like a better idea than the having to re-hunt them. I think having to pay to resurrect them in the shop would be good. Some fee like 200-300 might be reasonable.

[Kyuugatsu]

Kyuugatsu, I see what you meant now. That was bad translation on my part, my mistake.

It's cool, looks like you put a lot of effort into it and it's fine if it's for stylistic reasons. It'd be a different story if your purpose was different, e.g. to actually market to Japanese people.

[Raku]

Thank you.

Also, for the partners thing meantioned earlier, I made the bullet partner:

This one will hover behind Jack's shoulder and shoot when he attacks, but some I plan on making them follow along with Jack, and maybe have to teleport back to him if they get trapped offscreen (like Kirby Superstar partners)

[lai-studioguts]

WOW! Great retro feel and looks like a fun game! I can't wait until I have time to try the demo!

[Raku]

Thank you very much, Lai-studioguts!

Also, here are some sketches I drew today so that I could visualize a few of the partners I wasnt able to think of designs for initially