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[Juan Raigada]

OK...

NEW ALPHA (KS-RELEASE CANDIDATE) VERSIONS ON THE FIRST POST!!!!

As I said, I have decided to release early the alpha in these forums. The reasons are twofold:

1- This will allow me to see what feedback I can get from this awesome community and try to fix as much as possible before making it public on KS. IF YOU PLAY THIS; PLEASE, WRITE YOUR THOUGHTS HERE!

2-This is the community that started it all, so I feel very strongly about coming here before I go anywhere else.

Now, as to what's in the alpha. For those of you following the Devlog it would have been obvious that from August to December I couldn't put too much time on the game. Nonetheless, in terms of weapons, items and enemies, there is more than twice the content than in the previous version. It should be more polished now, and look better, too.

Now, the game is still only half-optimized. If your framerate is not too good, consider going into the video menu and deactivating Depth of Fiel, Antialiasing and Bloom!

[FanFan]

Damn, this is a game i'll definitely WANT to play. Downloading the alpha build!

[Christian]

I don't have a gamepad handy so I played with KB/M, and I'll say those controls have been much improved since the last alpha. With the camera sensitivity down, I found it works great. I had to disable all the visual options for the game to be smooth.

As for the game itself, awesome improvement since the last one. Combat feels better, the new weapons are great, and the body parts are all varied and have their own uses and really change up your playstyle. The game is much more challenging than before, thanks to all the new enemy types.

As for bugs, there were a few times when a defeated enemy would be half stuck in the floor, flickering. But I might be missing other problems but that's the only thing I really noticed.

Two questions:
- How do you get across those corridor gaps? Is the alpha only that one room or am I missing something?
- How do you activate the time stop power?

And a suggestion: maybe have a Replay option when you die, so the player doesn't have to go through the menus and little cutscene at the beginning each time to start playing again.

Also wish there was a way to rebind weapon selection to the mouse wheel. That would make switching between weapons during combat much faster and simpler.

Overall a marked improvement since the last version and nicely tuned KB/M controls

[Juan Raigada]

I don't have a gamepad handy so I played with KB/M, and I'll say those controls have been much improved since the last alpha. With the camera sensitivity down, I found it works great. I had to disable all the visual options for the game to be smooth.

As for the game itself, awesome improvement since the last one. Combat feels better, the new weapons are great, and the body parts are all varied and have their own uses and really change up your playstyle. The game is much more challenging before, thanks to all the enemy types.

As far bugs, there were a few times when a defeated enemy would be half stuck in the floor, flickering. But I might be missing other problems but that's the only thing I really noticed.

One question: how do you get across those corridor gaps? Is the alpha only that one room or am I missing something?

And a suggestion: maybe have a Replay option when you die, so the player doesn't have to go through the menus and little cutscene at the beginning to start playing again.

Also wish there was a way to rebind weapon selection to the mouse wheel. That would make switching between weapons during combat much faster and simpler.

Overall a marked improvement since the last version and nicely tuned KB/M controls

Can you replay? There are supposed to be moving platforms in the corridors. There should be many rooms there...

[Christian]

I don't have a gamepad handy so I played with KB/M, and I'll say those controls have been much improved since the last alpha. With the camera sensitivity down, I found it works great. I had to disable all the visual options for the game to be smooth.

As for the game itself, awesome improvement since the last one. Combat feels better, the new weapons are great, and the body parts are all varied and have their own uses and really change up your playstyle. The game is much more challenging before, thanks to all the enemy types.

As far bugs, there were a few times when a defeated enemy would be half stuck in the floor, flickering. But I might be missing other problems but that's the only thing I really noticed.

One question: how do you get across those corridor gaps? Is the alpha only that one room or am I missing something?

And a suggestion: maybe have a Replay option when you die, so the player doesn't have to go through the menus and little cutscene at the beginning to start playing again.

Also wish there was a way to rebind weapon selection to the mouse wheel. That would make switching between weapons during combat much faster and simpler.

Overall a marked improvement since the last version and nicely tuned KB/M controls

Can you replay? There are supposed to be moving platforms in the corridors. There should be many rooms there...

Sorry for the scare, I hadn't waited long enough from the platform to come back.

[Juan Raigada]

I don't have a gamepad handy so I played with KB/M, and I'll say those controls have been much improved since the last alpha. With the camera sensitivity down, I found it works great. I had to disable all the visual options for the game to be smooth.

As for the game itself, awesome improvement since the last one. Combat feels better, the new weapons are great, and the body parts are all varied and have their own uses and really change up your playstyle. The game is much more challenging before, thanks to all the enemy types.

As far bugs, there were a few times when a defeated enemy would be half stuck in the floor, flickering. But I might be missing other problems but that's the only thing I really noticed.

One question: how do you get across those corridor gaps? Is the alpha only that one room or am I missing something?

And a suggestion: maybe have a Replay option when you die, so the player doesn't have to go through the menus and little cutscene at the beginning to start playing again.

Also wish there was a way to rebind weapon selection to the mouse wheel. That would make switching between weapons during combat much faster and simpler.

Overall a marked improvement since the last version and nicely tuned KB/M controls

Can you replay? There are supposed to be moving platforms in the corridors. There should be many rooms there...

Sorry for the scare, I hadn't waited long enough from the platform to come back.

Uff man... I can't make them faster, sadly (because then they would be faster than your jump...) Maybe something visual so it's obvious they are there...

The replay option is a good idea... I don't think it will make it in for the KS alpha, though.

[William Chyr]

Ok, I was just about to start working, but when I saw the alpha was out, I had to drop everything and check it out.

I just finished playing it and want to give some immediate feedback. I played on a PC with Windows 7 64 bit, with GTX 570 graphics card, and using a controller. Framerate was not a problem.

I really like the look and feel so far, especially the combat. It took a while for me to get used to the Left Trigger Hold and Right Trigger Hold weapon switch system, but once I did, it worked really well. On my third try, I was finally able to win a round, using the Thunder Hammer, which is also my favorite weapon so far.

Regarding the combat, it seems like you can't move forward while striking? I'd noticed the character would stop, and then attack. This seems to break up the flow a bit. Also, have you thought of replenishing the player's health after each round? I think especially for beginner players, this could be really helpful. I was very happy when I finally defeated two enemies, with half a heart left, and wanted more action, but then was eliminated right at the beginning of the next round.

The camera feels a little bit too sensitive, with too high a range of motion (especially in the in-out direction). Too often, I'd end up with the camera on the ground looking up at the character. It's a cool view, but it doesn't let you see much, which can be disadvantageous in combat. Perhaps limiting the angle with which the camera can go down?

There's a few visibility issues, such as some of the parts when the lights go dim are a little hard to see, and the text at the beginning moves too quickly and fades too early.

Other than that, the graphics and animation look really great. You've really got the game feel down. It's incredibly satisfying to knock out an enemy with a hard attack, and I really enjoy watching the character evade all over the place. I don't play a lot of fighting games, but a few weeks ago, really got into playing the combat challenges in Batman Arkham City, and Heart & Slash really reminds of that great flow you can get into. On that note, have you thought of adding a combo counter?

[Voler]

Yo, just started playing the new alpha a little while ago and I'm enjoying it quite a bit! I'll type out some more impressions later once I have a better grip on the game, but I wanted to go ahead and show this funny little thing off:

http://gyazo.com/903fbdfe64939e67eb15e6a692a5efb6
http://gyazo.com/9b6bd45f3d661d8071107920ab58e525

These guys were floating for a little while before I actually took these screenshots and stayed together until I hit them, and this had happened twice during this one fight. Not entirely sure what caused it, all I know is that when the two enemies, which were of the same type, came together in the air, they got stuck like that.

Anyway, just wanted to make sure that possible bug was known ASAP, though, as I said before, they separated once I actually hit them so no harm was done (well, to me/the player at least).

[karlozalb]

We spreaded the word on twitter

I've tested the alpha and it works perfectly in my old computer (2007 components :D) It's really fun and the design is cool, really good work!

Some feedback: the camera it's too sensitive in my opinion, and the character movement too. At the beginning, when you need to go over a footbridge I fell off the first time because of that . Nevertheless, the jump was a little bit laggy or irresponsive for me. I played with a Mouse/Keyboard (yep, I know that it's discouraged in the pdf, but I don't have a gamepad here).

I'll test it more and back you!

[Juan Raigada]

Thank you guys!

I'll look into those bugs. I'm writing this a a sort of to-do list:

-I plan to put walls in that first room so people don't fall so easily.
-Probably adjust camera sensibility scaling, so lower is lower but highest remains as high.
-Voler: did they appear like that or did they come to be stuck during the fight? If it's the former, I know where to look for the bug. If it's the later... well, I hope it's the former... (or it might be something silly...)
-And I will try to tackle visibility issues. It's just changing some lights, but it's time consuming to test...

@jkarlozab: Thank you for spreading the word!!!!

[christopf]

Arr i just keeped me the playing for after work. but it got late and then i encountered a bug in the osx64 version when i tried to map my controller - the game froze. to make sure its not the controller i tried to play supermeatboy (and keeped play way too long) and it worked. now im too tired to try the keyboard but if i get time tomorrow i will try it on win7.
just wanted to make sure you get the info that mapping on osx aint working.
(have 10.8.5 and xbox wireless)

[Juan Raigada]

Arr i just keeped me the playing for after work. but it got late and then i encountered a bug in the osx64 version when i tried to map my controller - the game froze. to make sure its not the controller i tried to play supermeatboy (and keeped play way too long) and it worked. now im too tired to try the keyboard but if i get time tomorrow i will try it on win7.
just wanted to make sure you get the info that mapping on osx aint working.
(have 10.8.5 and xbox wireless)

Mmmm ok. I haven't tested that. I might limit the OSX version to keyboard if I can't figure it out on time...

[Juan Raigada]

Ok, so what is happening in the OSX version is that Unity is not detecting the gamepad. This is probably because I am only pooling the first controller, and most likely drivers for OSX assign gamepads to different controller positions.

So for some people is going to work and for some it won't.

I'm going to see if it's feasible to pool all ten joysticks in unity. But if it's not possible, I will at least allow escape to break away from the control assign menu so the game doesn't lock up.

[Christian]

You're spreading the word on the alpha to the general public on Monday right? I want to make a thread for the game on NeoGAF, but want to wait till the alpha is "out". Unless you don't mind if I post the alpha links now?

Also do you plan on making more GIFs of the combat, enemies, weapons, etc.? I always prefer to use GIFs over regular images in threads

[FanFan]

So i finally have time to try the alpha (unfortunately i got to use keyboard + mouse since there's no Xbox controller around), and gotta say i'm impressed!

The pace are fast enough, and controls are responsive, but the camera is a bit clunky. Also, the jump kinda reminds me of Kingdom Hearts (where you rise up so fast then stops mid-air for a brief second).

Will spread the word of it. Good luck on your KS campaign!

[Juan Raigada]

You're spreading the word on the alpha to the general public on Monday right? I want to make a thread for the game on NeoGAF, but want to wait till the alpha is "out". Unless you don't mind if I post the alpha links now?

Also do you plan on making more GIFs of the combat, enemies, weapons, etc.? I always prefer to use GIFs over regular images in threads

Wow, yes, wait until tomorrow so the alpha is out. a Thread in NeoGAF can definitely help us a lot!!! (I registered, but don't have yet privileges to post)!

I will try to make more gifs, but they are time consuming. Probably not for tomorrow, although if I get to make them I will post here. This is the link to our press kit, where you can find the cleaned up GIFs we have: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/uxjztxpl33cbn49/KLrVPl9UPY

[Juan Raigada]

So i finally have time to try the alpha (unfortunately i got to use keyboard + mouse since there's no Xbox controller around), and gotta say i'm impressed!

The pace are fast enough, and controls are responsive, but the camera is a bit clunky. Also, the jump kinda reminds me of Kingdom Hearts (where you rise up so fast then stops mid-air for a brief second).

Will spread the word of it. Good luck on your KS campaign!

Yeah, I'm not happy with the mouse camera. Down the pipeline, I want to make a completely different camera for the mouse (more overhead, with less movement and slightly more automatic) since what we have now is too clunky/sloppy. Sadly, rewriting the whole camera system (which we need to do for this to work seamlessly) will take a lot of time, so not for tomorrow...

Thank you for spreading the word!!!

[Christian]

You're spreading the word on the alpha to the general public on Monday right? I want to make a thread for the game on NeoGAF, but want to wait till the alpha is "out". Unless you don't mind if I post the alpha links now?

Also do you plan on making more GIFs of the combat, enemies, weapons, etc.? I always prefer to use GIFs over regular images in threads

Wow, yes, wait until tomorrow so the alpha is out. a Thread in NeoGAF can definitely help us a lot!!! (I registered, but don't have yet privileges to post)!

I will try to make more gifs, but they are time consuming. Probably not for tomorrow, although if I get to make them I will post here. This is the link to our press kit, where you can find the cleaned up GIFs we have: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/uxjztxpl33cbn49/KLrVPl9UPY

Great, thanks. Yeah, I've done threads for a bunch of other games (Rain World, Scraps, etc.), could probably also message a mod you could post too.

[Juan Raigada]

You're spreading the word on the alpha to the general public on Monday right? I want to make a thread for the game on NeoGAF, but want to wait till the alpha is "out". Unless you don't mind if I post the alpha links now?

Also do you plan on making more GIFs of the combat, enemies, weapons, etc.? I always prefer to use GIFs over regular images in threads

Wow, yes, wait until tomorrow so the alpha is out. a Thread in NeoGAF can definitely help us a lot!!! (I registered, but don't have yet privileges to post)!

I will try to make more gifs, but they are time consuming. Probably not for tomorrow, although if I get to make them I will post here. This is the link to our press kit, where you can find the cleaned up GIFs we have: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/uxjztxpl33cbn49/KLrVPl9UPY

Great, thanks. Yeah, I've done threads for a bunch of other games (Rain World, Scraps, etc.), could probably also message a mod you could post too.

It's also much better that you (a fan) does it so it doesn't seem to aggressive on my part. But if you could message a mod to allow me to reply to the thread, it would be very positive, yes...

[Juan Raigada]

Just a quick update to say I have released the alpha on Kickstarter (And updated the links on this thread).

It's basically the same alpha, with many minor annoyances and bugs fixed, but many still remaining!