Amazing game! I've been waiting for ages for something in this style. Ever since I saw a teaser clip on your page and now that it's released I'm more excited than ever.
I've had more fun messing some with this game than I have with any others for months. But then I'm all about hotseat games, so this one's right up my alley. There's still a few things that need some work to make this game really great, but so far it's the most promising game of the year in my opinion:
-Sound effects: First of all they all seem a bit loud in relation to all the other music/game SFX, etc. that comes through the speakers, but that's easily solved by turning the volume down.
Second, a lot of the sound effects started to grate on me a little after a while. Are they temp SFX? They're all very blunt and blocky; it all contributes to a sort of retro SNES atmosphere, but the SFX were one thing I never appreciated about that system.
Smoother, softer sound design would do a lot for the game in my opinion.
-Music: Like HCR said, some music could be nice. Not a bit deal for me since I just cue up some action soundtracks in the background on iTunes.
Some music from professional composer Paul Houseman could be awesome in-game. His demo tracks are free to use non-commercially. Apparently his site's down right now, but here's his
archived page listing his demo tracks and his
Mikseri account where you can still download those demo tracks. His
FAQ says the demo tracks are fine to use but I'm not sure quite what the condition of the site means. You might want to contact him just to be sure.
Edgen also has lots of good "free for noncommerical use" music. I know of a few others as well. All up to you if you want to use it, of course. It's awesome cinematic music but may not fit with your vision of the game.
-Blood: Could you make a toggle option for it in the settings? I'm all about opening games up to the largest audience possible.
-Gameplay: I like the gameplay enough as it is, but have you considered implementing artillery-style aiming like they use in Worms, Liero or Soldat? I think that would work really well for this game and would basically mean I would never quit playing it. :D It would add to the degree of skill and possibility for mastery. To preserve what's already there you could implement artillery-style and have it as a toggle option in the settings for 2 different styles of gameplay.
-Game speed: So I'm not sure if the issue here is the game lagging on my computer or the default gamespeed itself. (Some parts of the Skirmish video are obviously sped up, but is all of it sped up? Usually the video seems to be going at a more normal speed, which is about twice as fast as the game actually plays on my computer. I'm running a really modern machine, so there might be some lag issues with the game.) If I'm not experiencing lag and the game actually is that much slower than the video, I suggest working at speeding up the general pace of the game a bit.
The pace in the Skirmish video looks too fast in parts but it's just the right amount of too fast in other parts. So far this is the main negative for me.
You could also probably make the controls a little less clunky by getting rid of the Drop key and turning that function into a key combo, like holding Change and tapping Up to drop. Just an idea, but it would facilitate more people on one keyboard. It could also be a toggle option in the settings.
Love the graphics. Love the levels and their design. Love the basic gameplay. The weapons and items are perfect. Just needs some polish (ex. in the menus, which I'm sure you'll get to eventually) and a few kinks ironed out (and a minor gameplay change or two?
) ...and you'll have my new favorite game. :D
-Feliz
Developer
