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[Lee]

Love the graphics, they made me want to try out the game. However I get screen-tearing, and to be quite honest the level layout/design is pretty bad. The thwomp type enemies are often placed in areas where they are extremely difficult to dodge or difficult to spot before running into them, this just makes them seem unfair to the player. The enemy respawn is a little ridiculous, it makes the mushroom cavern area very annoying. Speaking of which, the layout of the mushroom cave is pretty bad as it's difficult to traverse (made worse by respawns) and you can easily fall from near the top to the bottom, this is pretty annoying (see this on falling in levels:

).

I also found the shooting to be a bit awkward, you have enemies that come straight down from the ceiling but you can't shoot straight up whilst running past, so you have to stop underneath to shoot up at them. I found myself wanting to shoot straight up whilst running quite a lot. I'm not sure there's much point to shooting diagonally, except in the case where there are the falling enemies that you can't dodge otherwise.

There's a lot of potential, but for a game where the focus is entirely on the gameplay you really need to make sure the gameplay design is as perfect as it can be. Don't be discouraged though, it takes time and a lot of testing. Keep on chugging.

[thomasmahler]

to be quite honest the level layout/design is pretty bad.

Couldn't disagree more with this.

[Canned Turkey]

Love the graphics, they made me want to try out the game.

Thank you, I put a lot of work into graphics.

However I get screen-tearing,

There should be a vsync option in settings.ini

The thwomp type enemies are often placed in areas where they are extremely difficult to dodge or difficult to spot before running into them, this just makes them seem unfair to the player.

The bats might be hard to see because they don't have an idle animation, which will be added later.

The enemy respawn is a little ridiculous, it makes the mushroom cavern area very annoying.

the mushroom forest is where the difficulty starts to go up, it's there to build up to the harder parts later on. The enemy respawn will be extended more though, I do have a few complaints about that.

Speaking of which, the layout of the mushroom cave is pretty bad as it's difficult to traverse (made worse by respawns) and you can easily fall from near the top to the bottom, this is pretty annoying (see this on falling in levels:

).

Although I agree with you that shovel knight is superior to my game, I don't think I'll change the level design. The mushroom part is not there to help you, you've already been through the tutorial area, and up until then the game has been a tad easy. I think the actual issue with the level can be fixed by just extending the range of enemy respawn, which I will do.

I also found the shooting to be a bit awkward, you have enemies that come straight down from the ceiling but you can't shoot straight up whilst running past,... ...I found myself wanting to shoot straight up whilst running quite a lot...

If I made it so you could just shoot up at them while running past, you wouldn't have a reason to shoot them at all, you could just run strait past.

so you have to stop underneath to shoot up at them.

yes, that's right.

I'm not sure there's much point to shooting diagonally, except in the case where there are the falling enemies that you can't dodge otherwise.

That's the point of being able to shoot diagonally.

and to be quite honest the level layout/design is pretty bad.

Okay, I really don't get this. The only part where you reference actual level design is one area, and I'm guessing it'll be fixed with just extending respawns. Although I do like constructive honest feedback, a better wording would be "the level design in this area makes it too easy to fall"

There's a lot of potential, but for a game where the focus is entirely on the gameplay you really need to make sure the gameplay design is as perfect as it can be. Don't be discouraged though, it takes time and a lot of testing. Keep on chugging.

Yeah, that's why I'm alpha testing.

[Lee]

First and foremost, don't attack me with a point for point counter of my criticisms. You are doing a playtesting, I'm telling you about my experience playing your game. My experiences with your game are not invalid, even if you disagree with what I'm telling you. This is a public alpha, if you only want to hear the nice things about it then show your friends and family who care too much to tell you any flaws and risk hurting your feelings.

And secondly I just want to make it clear that I think this has a lot of potential, I've said that already, the art is good, the movement seemed fine to me, the sound effects are good, and the music (before it stops playing completely) is good. I am not attacking you, I'm telling you my experience of the game so just chill and accept it.

I tell you that by default I experienced screen-tearing, because it's useful to know how widespread a problem is and you'd rather not have it go unreported by people and later on find out that it's actually more prolific than you thought. And because it already seems pretty widespread it seems to me that Vsync should be on by default. But in my original post I was just telling you that it was a thing that happened.

There were far more times that I wanted to shoot straight up (not just at bats) rather than diagonally. That's was how I felt when playing but I couldn't do that without coming to a dead stop which wasn't risk/reward in any way (like in the bat situation) but is a limitation of the game engine. Also it's a lot harder to intuitively know if something is lined up diagonally, and made worse by the fact that you can only do so whilst moving. I still think there's no point in having diagonal shooting in the game and I probably always will think that. You can disagree but I'm just telling you my experience with your game and I'm comparing it against all other similar games I have played.

Also:

and to be quite honest the level layout/design is pretty bad.

Okay, I really don't get this. The only part where you reference actual level design is one area, and I'm guessing it'll be fixed with just extending respawns. Although I do like constructive honest feedback, a better wording would be "the level design in this area makes it too easy to fall"

First of all there is nothing to get because I'm telling you how it was for me. Ask me to go into more depth, or even flat out disagree, but you don't argue with the playtester on their playing experience. And in my opinion "the level design in this area makes it too easy to fall" ultimately equates to "this area is badly designed" except the latter tells you about an unspecific problem whilst the other is more specific. So your counter criticism would be valid except that I pretty much said both things. I first summed up my experience in an unspecific way and then specifically referenced a couple of things (enemy placement and a specific example of map design/layout).

If it weren't an alpha there are many other things I could mention but it is an alpha and so I don't expect it to be fully polished. I pointed it out as an area I think needs special attention and, in it's current state, some tweaking.

...

Look, I post quite rarely but I still took the time to playtest your game because it looked good. I then took the time to make a post because I thought it had potential. I started my post with praise and ended it with some praise and encouragement. It is so arrogant to turn around and tell me that my opinions on your game are not valid and pick my post apart and try to counter it piece by piece.

[Canned Turkey]

Okay, first, I would like to say I really didn't mean to be rude or to pick at what you've said. I have been making a point for point reply to everyone that is kind enough to take the time to type out a whole post. I wasn't trying to be arrogant, but if you say something like "this is what i'm experiencing", I'll tell you why that's happening, and if it is going to be addressed and fixed. I'm sorry if I came off as rude, and I hope you understand I'm not trying to say your opinion is invalid, because all the points you made were good.

[newstarshipsmell]

Also it's a lot harder to intuitively know if something is lined up diagonally, and made worse by the fact that you can only do so whilst moving. I still think there's no point in having diagonal shooting in the game and I probably always will think that.

Controls:
...
Shift/LShift - Hold still (Lets you aim diagonally without having to move)

If I understand you correctly, you've simply overlooked one of the controls. And I like it, since it simply locks your horizontal position, but still lets you aim freely and jump around. That's how I kill the bats. Stop at the right distance and jump/shoot at them. Or just run past them if they're high enough and back underneath them to shoot while they're ascending. There are a couple that are annoying since they do indeed attack you from beyond the top of the screen while you're climbing... but, overall, the difficulty doesn't seem that hard to me. I end up getting health drops far more often than I need them. The map is pretty small, so dying doesn't take you very far back. And there's not that many bats that attack "unfairly" like that, so learning where they are and avoiding them isn't too hard.

I would say, the diagonal firing could become crucial if the level/enemy design is done so that there's enemies you need to take out from around corners, that would deal too much damage to approach directly. But I really think that both weapons' projectiles ought to be sped up, as lining shots up with some of the flying enemies is incredibly frustrating. That could perhaps be fixed by polishing their movement so it's a little more predictable. Also, their movement logic ought to detect when they can't approach you any closer due to platforms blocking the way, and move around laterally - and if they can't move closer to you within a certain amount of time, "forget" they're chasing you and resume their normal wandering. I'm kind of hesitant to make too many criticisms like this so early on, since I figure a lot of those things are going to be polished as the game develops.

[Canned Turkey]

...But I really think that both weapons' projectiles ought to be sped up, as lining shots up with some of the flying enemies is incredibly frustrating...

I'll mess around with the speed and see if it helps.

...lining shots up with some of the flying enemies is incredibly frustrating. That could perhaps be fixed by polishing their movement so it's a little more predictable. Also, their movement logic ought to detect when they can't approach you any closer due to platforms blocking the way, and move around laterally - and if they can't move closer to you within a certain amount of time, "forget" they're chasing you and resume their normal wandering. I'm kind of hesitant to make too many criticisms like this so early on, since I figure a lot of those things are going to be polished as the game develops.

Yeah, the flying enemies do a really simple version of what you've said, although it isn't very polished or predictable. I haven't spent much time on fixing them yet, but after I get all of the early versions of the enemies working, i'll go back and fix frustrations like this.