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[debugchicken]

Hello,

My game is Borealis, a 2D pixel-art sidescrolling "megaman-esque" platformer.

** New Build **

http://gamejolt.com/games/platformer/dragon-slayer-borealis-beta/43864/

Controls:
Z = Attack
Space = Jump

Supports any joypad, defaults to xbox but customizeable.

Feedback I need:

- Is the pixel art aesthetic fine? is something ugly/out of place/could be better?
- Are the controls tight?
- Does the game (the battle system mostly) feel challenging or punishing? Is it engaging enough?
- Is the sound annoying?

Please also feel free to report any bugs or give any other suggestions.

Screen:

[Quicksand-S]

-The first thing I noticed was that my 1600x900 window was not filled completely. The game only renders in a 4:3 ratio, it seems. Why, in this age of wide screens, is 16:9 or 16:10 not the default resolution ratio?

-The second thing I noticed was the completely stationary river of lava in the background which didn't exactly make me feel like I was in a volcanic area. maybe some bubbles or something would be good.

-I'm not a huge fan of the art, but that's just my opinion. I do think that it needs to be more consistent, though. The enemies often have outlines while the player and environment don't.

-I think the animation and the way the sprites are handled could use some work. There's no power, visually, behind the attacks. If you flip back and forth between left and right, your character's feet move to a different position (ie. a problem with the sprite's origin placement). I found it a bit strange that when you wall-jump, you briefly face in the direction you jumped even if you're still pressing the opposite direction.

-This may just be me, but I felt like the camera never showed me enough.

-The combat was really unsatisfying. Watching enemies I've killed just fade away with no animation, sound, or anything just made me not care about them. I jumped past most of them after that.

-There's no indication of where the end of the level is. I expected a sign or an arrow or something, but in the end I just had to guess that I was supposed to walk off the edge of the screen.

-The boss fight was completely broken. I hit it once and then it went offscreen and never came back. It also takes forever to even appear in the first place and I hate the invisible wall. I do really like the idea of showing its body in the background, though.

-When the boss battle got broken, I pressed Escape and was unable to switch menu items with Up and Down. I had to use Left and Right, which seems really strange.

-I really liked the desert and rain world backgrounds as well as the lava-level ground sprites.

-I went back and fought the boss again and it worked that time. I found it strange that when it lunged forward, its background body didn't move. Anyway, my main issue with it was just that it felt so slow and didn't make any sounds to pull me into the combat. In the end, I got it down to about 1/3 of its health and then got sick of fighting it and stopped dodging. I died and the game sat on the death screen, not doing anything.

-The controls work great, though. I found them really responsive and although it was weird to use the spacebar to jump outside of a WASD control scheme, it was all right.

I really feel like the combat needs something more. As it is, there's no incentive to fight (no item drops and no points) and I don't find it fun or engaging in the slightest with just one attack and no blocking or any other moves. I would love to be able to duck too. The levels could also really use some detail objects and ground variation, I think.

[debugchicken]

-The first thing I noticed was that my 1600x900 window was not filled completely. The game only renders in a 4:3 ratio, it seems. Why, in this age of wide screens, is 16:9 or 16:10 not the default resolution ratio?

Hmm The game is actually at 3:2 ratio, because its a ratio I like. But maybe you're right, I guess It'll be better to adjust to the most used screen ration and also it may solve the problem of the camera not showing enough.

-The second thing I noticed was the completely stationary river of lava in the background which didn't exactly make me feel like I was in a volcanic area. maybe some bubbles or something would be good.

You're right. I'll try with one-pixel-size bubbles (because of scale) or maybe just animating the whole sprite to give the impression of a flowing river.

-I'm not a huge fan of the art, but that's just my opinion. I do think that it needs to be more consistent, though. The enemies often have outlines while the player and environment don't.

Well that is strange, nothing should have outlines. I double checked here, but I guess only the boss does have an outline right? My fault. Thanks for pointing it.

-I think the animation and the way the sprites are handled could use some work. There's no power, visually, behind the attacks. If you flip back and forth between left and right, your character's feet move to a different position (ie. a problem with the sprite's origin placement). I found it a bit strange that when you wall-jump, you briefly face in the direction you jumped even if you're still pressing the opposite direction.

Wow. You're tottaly right. That's the kind of feedback I was looking for.

-This may just be me, but I felt like the camera never showed me enough.

No, its not just  you. Before, it was showing even less! If you look closer, the camera slight changes frame on where the player should look the entire stage. But I guess this adjustment was not enought. I mean, for me it is because I'm too used to the levels. I'll change the resolution and this will boost more or less 20% of field of view, maybe it will finally solve the problem.

-The combat was really unsatisfying. Watching enemies I've killed just fade away with no animation, sound, or anything just made me not care about them. I jumped past most of them after that.

you're the second person to tell me that. I was trying to escape the "sudden explosion" mechanic. Any other ideas then the cliche explosion?

-There's no indication of where the end of the level is. I expected a sign or an arrow or something, but in the end I just had to guess that I was supposed to walk off the edge of the screen.

Well, I saw that on other that and really liked it. The camera stopping is really enought to notice that. And you learn that in the very first level, which will be smaller and also more tutorial-centric. I like it the way it is :D, people guess always right.

-The boss fight was completely broken. I hit it once and then it went offscreen and never came back. It also takes forever to even appear in the first place and I hate the invisible wall. I do really like the idea of showing its body in the background, though.

People keep telling me that the boss never came back, but I never get that bug. Maybe its just because the boss waits to sync with the music to attack, and so the delay makes it looks like it never came back? I'd like a confirmation on that.

-When the boss battle got broken, I pressed Escape and was unable to switch menu items with Up and Down. I had to use Left and Right, which seems really strange.

Hm ok, this one is easy, I'll change that!

-I really liked the desert and rain world backgrounds as well as the lava-level ground sprites.

Thanks. My idea was to sync the bgs to the music! Originally the Idea was to sync the gameplay to the music but didn't work out, so I decided to sync something that did not interfere directly in the gameplay.

-I went back and fought the boss again and it worked that time. I found it strange that when it lunged forward, its background body didn't move.

You're right, I'll change that.

Anyway, my main issue with it was just that it felt so slow and didn't make any sounds to pull me into the combat. In the end, I got it down to about 1/3 of its health and then got sick of fighting it and stopped dodging.

[/quote]

I guess I'll take off the boss sync mechanism, it didn't work out. Also the music was to take place for the sound effects, didn't work out either.

I died and the game sat on the death screen, not doing anything.

Ahh! I guess its a bug, I'll correct it.

-The controls work great, though. I found them really responsive and although it was weird to use the spacebar to jump outside of a WASD control scheme, it was all right.

nice! But also the attack and jump buttons are customizeable too in the input menu.

I really feel like the combat needs something more. As it is, there's no incentive to fight (no item drops and no points) and I don't find it fun or engaging in the slightest with just one attack and no blocking or any other moves.

Well megaman doesn't give you anything too in order to fight enemies, but you do to get rid of them. But also there are so much more enemies in megaman than in my game, I guess I do need to give something to the player. I'll start by making hp potion drops.

I would love to be able to duck too.

The second person to tell me that. I guess that really is needed, I'll implement that.

The levels could also really use some detail objects and ground variation, I think.

Hmm I guess you're right. I knew it needed something, just needed someone to put into worlds.

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Thanks a LOT for the time spent testing my game, After I correct everything, finish the rain/desert stages and make a second boss I'll post a new version.

[Quicksand-S]

Well that is strange, nothing should have outlines. I double checked here, but I guess only the boss does have an outline right?

The armadillos do as well, around their face-masks and when they roll.

Another graphical thing I forgot to mention is that the default Game Maker explosions don't fit in at all with the pixel art. Why not use the flame effect you already have, or something else that's pixel-based?

It might be worth considering making the bottoms of the ground sprites less square. I know there are little indents, but the ground still looks really blocky.

you're the second person to tell me that. I was trying to escape the "sudden explosion" mechanic. Any other ideas then the cliche explosion?

Well, it depends on what you're going for. Certain Zelda games have a flash of light when you hit enemies, or you could have blood spray out. Something needs to happen when you make contact.

As for the deaths, I think just having an animation would help. Maybe make the enemy get thrown back as well. The bees could fall from the sky or go "splat" in the air. Even the simple act of leaving the defeated enemies in place (at least until you're off-screen if not for the rest of the level) would make combat slightly better because you could see the results of your actions.

Well, I saw that on other that and really liked it. The camera stopping is really enought to notice that. And you learn that in the very first level, which will be smaller and also more tutorial-centric. I like it the way it is :D, people guess always right.

In that case, I think maybe the start of the level shouldn't let the player get off-screen on the left. I almost didn't try the right side because I figured it was just a level design issue and you'd forgotten to block the player.

People keep telling me that the boss never came back, but I never get that bug. Maybe its just because the boss waits to sync with the music to attack, and so the delay makes it looks like it never came back? I'd like a confirmation on that.

Well, it's waiting for the music because it stayed off-screen for at least thirty seconds or so. I think it just depends on when you hit it. If you hit it too early or something, maybe that causes it to de-sync and throws off everything.

Well megaman doesn't give you anything too in order to fight enemies, but you do to get rid of them. But also there are so much more enemies in megaman than in my game, I guess I do need to give something to the player. I'll start by making hp potion drops.

All the Mega Man games I've played had things that were meant to keep players moving and interested:

-Optional collectables that were tricky to get to
-Tough platforming sections that drive players forward because they're challenging and people want to overcome those challenges
-A decent amount of enemy variety
-A decent amount of gameplay variety. You deal with ladders, disappearing platforms, things that fall when you stand on them, etc. You're never just going through a level by jumping and shooting and jumping and shooting and jumping and shooting.
-A goal other than just getting to the end. Players want to fight the boss and get a new power. I'm not saying you have to have powers in your game, or bosses, just a goal of some sort. Even just having the sign at the end of a level makes a difference because it's like saying "You succeeded". Even if I found the end, not having anything there was a let-down.

Some Mega Man games let you build up power in your shots or dash/slide around, and all of them give you multiple abilities to use. Those games focus on giving players the freedom to try fighting in different ways. While I think there's a big difference between melee games and those that focus on ranged combat, it might be a good idea to replay your favorite Mega Man game and learn from it some more.

[debugchicken]

The armadillos do as well, around their face-masks and when they roll.

Well I did that just in a part of the sprite because the color there was equal between two different parts of the body. But I'll try to diminish the contrast.

Another graphical thing I forgot to mention is that the default Game Maker explosions don't fit in at all with the pixel art. Why not use the flame effect you already have, or something else that's pixel-based?

Yes! This one is on the list already! I'll also change the background volcano lava fall animation to the explotion particle I made.

I wrote in my backlog: "BOMBA TENTAR USAR MESMA PARTICULA" its in portuguese, literally translates to: "BOMB TRY USING SAME PARTICLE"

ps. I'm developing in unity! But yes,I used a default-particle (shame on me).

It might be worth considering making the bottoms of the ground sprites less square. I know there are little indents, but the ground still looks really blocky.

Well noted, I'll make a bigger sprite with more detail.

Well, it depends on what you're going for. Certain Zelda games have a flash of light when you hit enemies, or you could have blood spray out. Something needs to happen when you make contact.

As for the deaths, I think just having an animation would help. Maybe make the enemy get thrown back as well. The bees could fall from the sky or go "splat" in the air. Even the simple act of leaving the defeated enemies in place (at least until you're off-screen if not for the rest of the level) would make combat slightly better because you could see the results of your actions.

Genius. For the bees I'll make them fall and hit the ground, bounce once, and disappear, like you suggested. And for the mantis I'll make he shift his gears a little when damaged and completely break, parts to the air, when defeated. Thanks.

In that case, I think maybe the start of the level shouldn't let the player get off-screen on the left.

Indeed it shouldnt. The colliders arent perfectly placed, my bad. I'll adjust their position.

Well, it's waiting for the music because it stayed off-screen for at least thirty seconds or so. I think it just depends on when you hit it. If you hit it too early or something, maybe that causes it to de-sync and throws off everything.

Yes, maybe its this. Well since I'll take the sync mechanic away this bug will be automatically resolved.

All the Mega Man games I've played had things that were meant to keep players moving and interested:

-Optional collectables that were tricky to get to
-Tough platforming sections that drive players forward because they're challenging and people want to overcome those challenges
-A decent amount of enemy variety
-A decent amount of gameplay variety. You deal with ladders, disappearing platforms, things that fall when you stand on them, etc. You're never just going through a level by jumping and shooting and jumping and shooting and jumping and shooting.
-A goal other than just getting to the end. Players want to fight the boss and get a new power. I'm not saying you have to have powers in your game, or bosses, just a goal of some sort. Even just having the sign at the end of a level makes a difference because it's like saying "You succeeded". Even if I found the end, not having anything there was a let-down.

Some Mega Man games let you build up power in your shots or dash/slide around, and all of them give you multiple abilities to use. Those games focus on giving players the freedom to try fighting in different ways. While I think there's a big difference between melee games and those that focus on ranged combat, it might be a good idea to replay your favorite Mega Man game and learn from it some more.

Well the world map itself will give the idea of progression. I guess this happens because the game still has no context, but there will be one.
Yeah i do need to learn more haha. But some things are hard to think by myself, that's why its good that you point it out.
I'm basing my game more in megaman x4 with Zero. When playing X4 w/ Zero I never used the secondary attacks, I thought a whole single-attack melee game would be enough. This also helps because I'm doing the project almost all (99,9%) by myself and can't have a too too complex gameplay.

But thanks, I'll keep that in mind. Starting by implementing duck mechanic will already add a little more dinamicity. I will also think about changing a little more the platforms to create different challenges.

------------------

ps. You didn't mention anything about the sound. I'll take that for the sound being ok.
ps2. I'll try the "We want you" game i see on your signaure!

[Quicksand-S]

ps. I'm developing in unity! But yes,I used a default-particle (shame on me).

Oops. I knew that, but I guess thinking of that particle made me think "Game Maker" for some reason.

ps. You didn't mention anything about the sound. I'll take that for the sound being ok.

Actually, it's because the sound doesn't really stand out at all. I completely forgot it was there (and half the time, it isn't because of the whole "music as sound" thing). I think the player's attack sounds are all right and I don't even remember any of the others at all.

ps2. I'll try the "We want you" game i see on your signaure!

I appreciate it. Just a note: It's a few years old and not really up to my current standards from a technical standpoint, but I still think it's pretty decent so I leave it in my signature. Don't think of it as a normal action game, though. That'll probably just get you killed.

[michaelplzno]

Played this too, mostly agreed with Quicksand-S. I liked the music and how the lava seems a bit synced to the tune. I didn't think the wall jumping was that smooth, it just didn't feel perfect.

[debugchicken]

Played this too, mostly agreed with Quicksand-S. I liked the music and how the lava seems a bit synced to the tune. I didn't think the wall jumping was that smooth, it just didn't feel perfect.

Thanks!

I guess the background-sync was a strong in. I'll focus on when making the video to promote the game.

Yeah I do think too there is something wrong with the wall jumping. I already changed what Quicksand said about not looking momentarily the other way and it helped a little. I'll post another version in one or two months.

[ActionGamemaster]

I don't like the slashing animation when my character is standing still. It looks like a 5 year old child got a stick and swings it around with no idea on how to actually use the stick to murder people. Not that 5 year olds usually plan to mu

Didn't you know that Zero had his own game series on the GBA? In those games, you really just swing a sword at enemies the whole time, and that was freaking awesome. There are 4 games: Megaman Zero 1-4. The sprites in there give a clear idea on how to handle sword animations. Here's a weird gameplay video.



(I honestly couldn't find a better video that actually shows the swords. This is actually a hack of the game, with OP weapons and items and everything, where you play as Omega Zero. Skip to 40 seconds in for some actual gameplay, and not WARI MAWARIMAMECHAWARIAMMARIOMARIOMECH)

The hero looks low res compared to everything else in the game, and very pixelated. That could just be my computer's fault, though.

[debugchicken]

I don't like the slashing animation when my character is standing still. It looks like a 5 year old child got a stick and swings it around with no idea on how to actually use the stick to murder people. Not that 5 year olds usually plan to mu

Well, this is actually nice. The character is a young and naive adventurer girl. But maybe this anymation still needs something. Quicksand described this problem differently, he said:

There's no power, visually, behind the attacks.

I guess this is cause by the lack of "pose" in the attacks. I'll review that, but I don't want to take the naiveness away.

Didn't you know that Zero had his own game series on the GBA? In those games, you really just swing a sword at enemies the whole time, and that was freaking awesome. There are 4 games: Megaman Zero 1-4. The sprites in there give a clear idea on how to handle sword animations. Here's a weird gameplay video.



(I honestly couldn't find a better video that actually shows the swords. This is actually a hack of the game, with OP weapons and items and everything, where you play as Omega Zero. Skip to 40 seconds in for some actual gameplay, and not WARI MAWARIMAMECHAWARIAMMARIOMARIOMECH)

No I didnt! I'll try that tomorrow. thanks!

The hero looks low res compared to everything else in the game, and very pixelated. That could just be my computer's fault, though.

Well I guess the hero is just a little taller than compared to most characters. Also the game is hyperrealistic because it doesnt blur the background or the foreground, so everything is at focus. But besides I don't see any reason for that, and I don't think its your pc fault.

Thanks for your feedback and game recomendation!

[Gamedragon]

Played the game. I didn't mind it but I didn't love it as such. The character seemed way too big compared to everything else. The main problem that I had with the game was that when you run into an enemy you take damage. This is fine if it makes sense for that particular character to do damage when you touch it but otherwise it just feels strange. The controls didn't seem quite right to be honest, they felt slow and using space to jump and Z to attack just felt strange.

[Moth]

I love how the game elements sync up to the music. At first I didn't even realize it was intentional and thought it was all a coincidence, since I didn't see it in the original post, so when I realized (rain level) that it totally was in sync I thought that was super cool. That isn't done very much at all in games and I think that's actually a point you could play up a lot to drum up interest. Maybe even try to do more with it!

I like the music a lot, the boss theme reminded me a bit of No More Heroes.

Do you plan to give the character more attacks? If the sword is the only attack in the game and isn't accompanied by subweapons or the like, I think it would be worthwhile for you to flesh it out- give it a combo, different attacks based on direction input (up+attack = upward strike) etc. Even if there are subweapons or different main weapons ala Megaman, I think it would do you well to at least give the sword strike a combo animation to make the players' first moments in the game seem more cinematic.

I feel like the level design could use some fiddling- there didn't seem to be a real arc to the lava level's design, the ending seemed kind of abrupt. Also I think in general platformers should avoid large spaces where the screen scrolls on both x and y axis- you'll notice with Megaman you're generally always going horizontally and vertical movement is the exception.

Your camera may be more helpful if you programmed it in a bit more complex manner than just affixing to the player- for example, you could have the camera go to the right when you're facing right, and then when the player starts moving left for more than a moment it switches to the left. I actually learned a lot about camera programming from

, and it's still inspirational to me. I never thought about cameras a whole ton until I saw it the first time!

[debugchicken]

Played the game. I didn't mind it but I didn't love it as such. The character seemed way too big compared to everything else.

This is the second time people tell me that. I didn't change it until now because this literraly means I'll have to redraw everything. I'll first reduce the size with the distortion and see if it really helps, if I see a significant improve I'll be more motivated to redraw.

The main problem that I had with the game was that when you run into an enemy you take damage. This is fine if it makes sense for that particular character to do damage when you touch it but otherwise it just feels strange.

I strongly beg to differ with this one. I have to maintain a consistency if enemies do damage by touching or do not, or it will make the player really confused. Only if I had some kind of strong contrast between enemies, maybe color-wise, but I'm not willing to implement that. I see many games, even like megaman, if feels a little strange when this dude:



does damage and is in his cap. his cap is completely unhurtful, but it does damage anyway. Its better to be consistent than to be real-life-logic sometimes.

The controls didn't seem quite right to be honest, they felt slow

Well the character is in fact a little slow. This is because I implemented a gem-equip system. one of the gems is AGI+. So the speed you play at the beginning is the most slowly, and you gain agi while playing. I'm having second toughts about this, because If I make the character too slow than the player may not play until he gets a AGI+ gem.

and using space to jump and Z to attack just felt strange.

Well I find they are ok. I think there is no better option on the keyboard for this perspective. But they are customizeable in the input menu. Maybe I'll make this clear on the small text I left in the banner.

Thanks for your feedback!

[debugchicken]

I love how the game elements sync up to the music. At first I didn't even realize it was intentional and thought it was all a coincidence, since I didn't see it in the original post, so when I realized (rain level) that it totally was in sync I thought that was super cool. That isn't done very much at all in games and I think that's actually a point you could play up a lot to drum up interest.

Thanks a lot! I needed to hear that.

Maybe even try to do more with it!

Now we do have a problem. You see, this is not the first time I try to make this game. The first time I tried it, I wanted to sync the gameplay to the music as well. It didn't work out. And I'll tell you why - you are the first to hear my struggle.

Some games do have gameplay synced to the tunes. Like guitar hero, or geometry dash. But these gameplays are, or directly related to music, like guitar hero, or so simple, that the whole gameplay is linked to be in sync, like geometry dash.

Making a combat synced is impossible. A combat is not a synchronous thing. A real combat at least.
Obviously you could make a video of a combat, or a draw, that the attacks syncs with a background music, like this video I made:



But a combat is something completely chaotical, which you change actions all the time. So it was impossible to sync the gameplay to the music.

So I tried to sync what I could: background and bosses.

I like the music a lot, the boss theme reminded me a bit of No More Heroes.

Thanks! I wanted to escape from the clichê. The boss is a fire serpent, but the theme is completely outer-space. I didnt mind remixing, I thought it was ok like this.

But Quicksand-S said he didin't like waiting for the boss to be synced to the tunes, he got bored. How did this work out to you? Was it boring waiting for him? Or was it ok? I'm thinking if I should or should not take the sync of the boss away, or maybe just improve it a bit.

Do you plan to give the character more attacks? If the sword is the only attack in the game and isn't accompanied by subweapons or the like, I think it would be worthwhile for you to flesh it out- give it a combo, different attacks based on direction input (up+attack = upward strike) etc.

Well, I wanted to keep the gameplay simple in order to port it to mobile. If I use the "up" axis, then it'll be impossible to play on mobile because of too many buttons. But I'll rethink this, maybe It'll be better to make two versions, with and without all the attacks, to suit every input. But this is not the main concern right now, I'll try to fix other stuff first.

Even if there are subweapons or different main weapons ala Megaman, I think it would do you well to at least give the sword strike a combo animation to make the players' first moments in the game seem more cinematic.

Well but there is a combo :^( if you hit the attack button fast enough the character attacks 3x!

Your camera may be more helpful if you programmed it in a bit more complex manner than just affixing to the player- for example, you could have the camera go to the right when you're facing right, and then when the player starts moving left for more than a moment it switches to the left. I actually learned a lot about camera programming from

, and it's still inspirational to me. I never thought about cameras a whole ton until I saw it the first time!

Wow, this is actually genius. I'll implement right away!

Thanks for playtesting my game!

[Moth]

Oh, there is a combo! My bad then. Also it makes sense that you want more simple controls to accomodate mobile devices.

And no problem, I hope I helped!

[Quicksand-S]

Be careful with the left/right camera movement. It's the sort of thing that can take a lot of tweaking to get right. If it's too fast, it'll give people headaches, and if it's too slow it's just annoying because you end up having to start your movement while the camera isn't yet showing what's ahead of you.

About the boss, I should clarify that the problem was probably not that I had to wait, but that the waiting was boring with so little sound and movement. Maybe some attacks should play out while the boss is off-screen (ex. rocks falling from the sky or that sort of thing, though maybe not so cliched).

[debugchicken]

Be careful with the left/right camera movement. It's the sort of thing that can take a lot of tweaking to get right. If it's too fast, it'll give people headaches, and if it's too slow it's just annoying because you end up having to start your movement while the camera isn't yet showing what's ahead of you.

Roger that!

About the boss, I should clarify that the problem was probably not that I had to wait, but that the waiting was boring with so little sound and movement. Maybe some attacks should play out while the boss is off-screen (ex. rocks falling from the sky or that sort of thing, though maybe not so cliched).

hmm now I see, thanks for clarifying. So I guess improving the sync so the boss would use better the time before the synced attack would solve most of the problem.

Thanks again!

Ah, I also played your game. Liked it, the gameplay was very consistent. But it was kinda simple (intentionally for sure). Are you dedicated to another bigger project?

[vitorlanna]

Aew outro brasileiro! xD

So I played the game. There is a lot of potential! Does the protagonist have a name?
She looks a bit awkward from the side, like there's not enough volume. But no one else said anything so maybe that's just me. The hair looks a bit plastic - was that intentional?

It would be nice to have dust particles when she slides on walls.

When I hit the boss in that moment in which it just stares at you, he goes away and doesn't come back.

The music synchronization is pretty cool! It made me think about headphones, they seem like something that would fit the main character design and further establish the music connection.
Perhaps the idle animations could be synched as well?

I thought it was interesting that her weapon is a baseball bat (right?) and that she is able to hit some balls (such as the armadillo and the cannon balls in the Rain Stage). Maybe that could be explored further? You know, with maybe you defeating some enemies by bouncing their attacks back at them, or when a armadillo is in ball form you use it like a turtle shell in Mario...

About multiple attacks (that someone mentioned), if you want to add more attacks without adition input, you can! There are options like a different attack when you press attack+jump, or a different attack if you attack when falling, etc.

[debugchicken]

br br br \o/

So I played the game. There is a lot of potential! Does the protagonist have a name?

Yes! Name Is Asellus. Asellus Borealis. Its the name of a star of the cancer constellation. The game plays in a planet that circle the Asellus Borealis Star!

She looks a bit awkward from the side, like there's not enough volume. But no one else said anything so maybe that's just me.

Are you an artist? If so, you are the third one to tell me this. Everytime an artist tells me this I add volume, and add pixels, and add, and is never enough! Could you please, if possible, take a print and make a rough demonstration of what would be a good volume? Thanks!

The  hair looks a bit plastic - was that intentional?

Well... no xD. But I think its ok. I mean, it fits in the character style.

It would be nice to have dust particles when she slides on walls.

Ah! Thats already a task! I'll bring it up the to-do list.

When I hit the boss in that moment in which it just stares at you, he goes away and doesn't come back.

I NEVER get this bug. But I'll review the code.

The music synchronization is pretty cool! It made me think about headphones, they seem like something that would fit the main character design and further establish the music connection.

Thanks! Well in fact when I first thought about the character, like some years ago, I thought about the headphones. But then I think that add this object would also have to add meaning more than being just there - like changing the whole game theme, even interface style, and given more focus to the authors and type of music. I'll write down this idea and give it a second thought later (after I resolve the gameplay issues).

Perhaps the idle animations could be synched as well?

Well I didn't get this idea. You mean for the character to dance to the music? (syncing the speed of the dance to the beat?)
because sync the up-and-down simple idle animation I implemented... I don't think would be of much value!!

I thought it was interesting that her weapon is a baseball bat (right?) and that she is able to hit some balls (such as the armadillo and the cannon balls in the Rain Stage). Maybe that could be explored further? You know, with maybe you defeating some enemies by bouncing their attacks back at them, or when a armadillo is in ball form you use it like a turtle shell in Mario...

Yes! Its inspired by a baseball bat, but its just a bat.
Well I thought about it but I didn't implement because I didn't see much practical use. But I guess this is not the question right? Its not very useful, but its a fun thing to do. I'll note that to implement later.

About multiple attacks (that someone mentioned), if you want to add more attacks without adition input, you can! There are options like a different attack when you press attack+jump, or a different attack if you attack when falling, etc.

Well, you're right. With the mobile market in mind, I had thought about a final charged attack. So the input will be press and hold the attack button, then release, to create a small wave of power. It'll be the only way to attack the enemies at some distance. It will be a power given by one of the last collected gemstones!

Thanks for playtesting my game!!
You thought about many thinks that crossed my mind but I feel I need to give a second chance. Please keep tuned to the next update o/

[Quicksand-S]

She looks a bit awkward from the side, like there's not enough volume. But no one else said anything so maybe that's just me.

Are you an artist? If so, you are the third one to tell me this. Everytime an artist tells me this I add volume, and add pixels, and add, and is never enough! Could you please, if possible, take a print and make a rough demonstration of what would be a good volume? Thanks!

Thought I'd comment on this. Personally, I don't see a problem with her "volume", but there are weird aspects to the character's design. The angle she's viewed at is a bit strange, but I don't mind it that much and the pose is odd but it just seems like part of the style.

For me, the main issue with her design is that her proportions are really off. Her arms look like they're different lengths when she's standing still, and they're both too short. Fingertips should be able to reach a person's mid-thigh when arms are extended fully. Of course, if you did that here it might look weird because she's got a long torso, but you could probably extend the arms a little bit.