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[Quicksand-S]

Is "It's darkening all around" really sound wrong? English isn't my native language, but there is a verb "to darken" and "sky is darkening" is quite valid sentence, I believe.

Yes, "sky is darkening" isn't too bad, but your sentence is different. It's probably technically fine, but it's not something that a native English speaker/writer would generally say. Maybe something like "It's darkening its surroundings" would work better, or something more dramatic like "It's draining the light from all around."

Can you tell at what point in the game did you quit?
(it seems you haven't reached mini-boss...)

I stopped playing during the second stone/castle sort of area (with the poles to jump up). I really like the outdoor areas where I can climb and move around freely a lot more. That said, it wasn't terrible or anything. I mostly quit to go do other things. I'll probably go back and play some more later.

[BLK Dragon]

Is "It's darkening all around" really sound wrong? English isn't my native language, but there is a verb "to darken" and "sky is darkening" is quite valid sentence, I believe.

Yes, "sky is darkening" isn't too bad, but your sentence is different. It's probably technically fine, but it's not something that a native English speaker/writer would generally say. Maybe something like "It's darkening its surroundings" would work better, or something more dramatic like "It's draining the light from all around."

OK, I get it now. Thanks for the suggestions.

I stopped playing during the second stone/castle sort of area (with the poles to jump up). I really like the outdoor areas where I can climb and move around freely a lot more. That said, it wasn't terrible or anything. I mostly quit to go do other things. I'll probably go back and play some more later.

So it should be, how I call it, "need more stuff to do" design problem in action
I mean, there should be something new/interesting in the game every 10 minutes or so to keep player interested; at least in relatively slow-paced adventure game without much combat/action.

[Quicksand-S]

So it should be, how I call it, "need more stuff to do" design problem in action
I mean, there should be something new/interesting in the game every 10 minutes or so to keep player interested; at least in relatively slow-paced adventure game without much combat/action.

"stuff," yes. "stuff to do"? Maybe. In a slow-paced adventure game without much combat/action, I like to explore. If you can give someone like me a few unique areas in each location that I can stumble upon, that would be great. Even if it's just a nice tree, or a waterfall or something. Anything that makes that area special/unique means I get a small reward for exploring.

Maybe that's why I dislike the stone areas. They're bland looking and they're so limited in terms of where I can go. I can't even climb in them, which may be the most enjoyable aspect of the game for me. Once you've let the player had some freedom, I think that if you want to take it away again then you really need to replace it with something great.

[BLK Dragon]

"stuff," yes. "stuff to do"? Maybe. In a slow-paced adventure game without much combat/action, I like to explore. If you can give someone like me a few unique areas in each location that I can stumble upon, that would be great. Even if it's just a nice tree, or a waterfall or something. Anything that makes that area special/unique means I get a small reward for exploring.

Maybe that's why I dislike the stone areas. They're bland looking and they're so limited in terms of where I can go. I can't even climb in them, which may be the most enjoyable aspect of the game for me. Once you've let the player had some freedom, I think that if you want to take it away again then you really need to replace it with something great.

"Stuff to do & stuff to find", I'd say.
This is my primary problem/task right now -- to come up with interesting stuff to find/encounter, for each level or two.

On stone areas, they are visually 'worse' than outdoor ones. They also lack 'interesting' stuff like traps etc.

There is also 'demo problem' -- I have to gradually introduce game mechanics/controls to player (to think about it, whole 3-4 fist levels are one giant game-controls tutorial); so wall-grab appears only in the middle of second level (and wall-grab is kinda unique/key feature of the game).

I suspect lots of people get bored before they get to the 'full game'; for instance, very few people even see mini-boss

[Quicksand-S]

Ok. I went back and played more. Then I typed a whole bunch of stuff. Then I accidentally closed my browser window when I went to click on something.

I'll just say the main things I can remember.

-The boss needs either a pattern or predictable, reactive AI. Hoping it will randomly avoid knocking me away isn't that fun and doesn't feel like challenge, just luck.

-The unlockable cell needs something in it. I didn't see anything in there to make the effort of opening it worthwhile.

-Dark areas are too dark on my monitor. I had to turn off all the lights and kind of squint at my monitor from a certain angle in order to just barely make out the ground.

-All menus should allow thumbstick control unless there's a reason not to have it (like Dark Souls, for example, because you can play while the menus are open).

-I got to the boss before seeing the shrine, just by dropping down. I beat him and started wondering why I'd gotten all those messages about double-jumping if it wasn't in the demo. Then I went back and found the shrine.

-It was annoying to fall down there to the boss entrance and not be able to continue exploring above. I hadn't planned to fight him yet, but I couldn't climb back up on stone.

-Messages fire again in certain areas (like the starting cell and the first dark area) even after you've finished them.

-The tutorial text is, for the most part, really well placed. I like that it feels more "polite" than most games. It's not telling me what to do. It's quietly giving tips for things I'm about to try on my own.

-I really liked exploring the upper areas, and the whole thing with the key (even though the end result was a let-down).

[BLK Dragon]

Ok. I went back and played more. Then I typed a whole bunch of stuff. Then I accidentally closed my browser window when I went to click on something.

-All menus should allow thumbstick control unless there's a reason not to have it (like Dark Souls, for example, because you can play while the menus are open).

Do you mean stick doesn't work for UI navigation?
Or you wanted to be able to move character around while UI (like pause-menu) is active?


Everything else is, it seems, "stuff to do/find" problem in various forms; also some level-design issues; I have some work to do

[Quicksand-S]

Do you mean stick doesn't work for UI navigation?
Or you wanted to be able to move character around while UI (like pause-menu) is active?

It doesn't work. I can use the D-Pad for the shrine menu, for example, but the sticks do absolutely nothing in that case. The stick works on the main menu just fine. It's just that other sort of menu that has issues.

I also had the game freeze my entire computer for a good five seconds or so when I tried to buy the double-jump skill.

I'm actually not a fan of the active "pause" menu. I almost got killed because I thought I was paused. Is there a way to pause the game? I know it's a slow-paced game, but the feature would still be nice.

[BLK Dragon]

It doesn't work. I can use the D-Pad for the shrine menu, for example, but the sticks do absolutely nothing in that case. The stick works on the main menu just fine. It's just that other sort of menu that has issues.

I also had the game freeze my entire computer for a good five seconds or so when I tried to buy the double-jump skill.

I'm actually not a fan of the active "pause" menu. I almost got killed because I thought I was paused. Is there a way to pause the game? I know it's a slow-paced game, but the feature would still be nice.

OK so it's a bug, stick should work in all UI (just like in main-menu).

Buying stuff in shop shouldn't freeze PC or anything; maybe it's some sound issue...

Pause-menu (Esc or P key) does pause entire game (i.e. nothing in game-world moves when pause-menu is active).

[Quicksand-S]

Pause-menu (Esc or P key) does pause entire game (i.e. nothing in game-world moves when pause-menu is active).

I was standing on the ledge just before the boss and I hit Escape. The boss kept moving around like normal.

[BLK Dragon]

Pause-menu (Esc or P key) does pause entire game (i.e. nothing in game-world moves when pause-menu is active).

I was standing on the ledge just before the boss and I hit Escape. The boss kept moving around like normal.

Indeed. Scripts weren't paused.
Have fixed it right now

[BLK Dragon]

Updated playable-demo build.

All art is re-done from scratch,
player-character now has proper model and animations,
tons of gameplay/controls tweaks.

[BLK Dragon]

Re-uploaded demo build -- stupid bug, animated background was missing.

Also updated tigra animations.