Just played the SAGE demo.
Here's the link for anyone who hasn't seen it yet.I'm playing with a controller, not keyboard. Not sure if that makes a difference. Very glad you have controller support even at this early stage, though.
First of all, as expected, Rote and Twinkelen's interaction is extremely cute. What confused me a bit is the X + up/down/left/right popup. At first, I was assuming I had to hold the d-pad, rather than just pressing it once, to get into the "interact with Rote" state. Once I figured that out, I was expecting four different animations based on the direction, something like the taunts in Super Smash Bros. (from Brawl onward). I guess I just don't see why I need to press X
and a direction, if it doesn't matter which direction I hold and I need to start press the D-pad to start the interaction anyway.
On the other hand, obviously, it does matter how long you hold X because it affects the bonus you get and the ending animation. So you need
something to encourage players to hold X instead of just tapping it.
I'm assuming that in the final game, Rote will appear in areas where there are enemies. That way, players will have to make a tradeoff: The longer you're distracted with kissing, the better the bonus, but also the longer you leave yourself vulnerable to getting attacked mid-smooch.
Incidentally, I really like Twinkelen's little meow emote when you hold down on the d-pad for a moment.
Moving on, I
love the way a room lights up once you clear out all the enemies and dust. That bit of feedback makes it abundantly clear whether or not you've missed something, and it makes it feel really good to get that last dust bunny and light everything up.
In general, Twinkelen's moveset feels more polished than in the previous demo. My only quibbles are that she seems to fall a bit too fast for the fully charged aerial moves to be really usable in combat, and that I couldn't really make her use the slide move on surfaces because you have to hold down on the joystick, which is the same input that makes her hop down to the floor. Even with those issues, controlling her felt really good.
I really enjoy being able to combo enemies and finish them off with a fully charged move. I don't know what the style points end up being used for, but regardless, I appreciated them as a little pat on the back for playing better. They're not strictly needed for that, though, because the combos and fancy moves are fun on their own. You can absolutely just stand there and beat enemies (the weaker ones anyway) with your broom over and over again, but using a more varied move pool is both more effective and more fun.
I was excited to find that little hidden area in the upstairs room on the first level, but I think it might have a bug. Once I had gone through and cleaned everything, the level didn't end. The hidden area never lit up even though I couldn't find anything else to clean. On my second playthrough, I didn't manage to get that area to open up again; I couldn't figure out what triggered it. I was able to finish the level, though. I can't promise you that those two things are related,
cum hoc ergo propter hoc fallacy and all that, but it's the only lead I have.
I think that about covers it for the time being. Overall I'm really impressed and excited. Keep up the good work!
Hey there! Thanks for playing :D Feedback has been noted, however I need to address some things. This demo was halfway rushed because I couldn't get all the rest of the planned stuff in before the event's deadline. (that's part of why I didn't advertise the demo here yet)
- There
are alternate interaction animations with Rote, hold that direction and tap the button once you're in the hold state where the two are close (not all directional are implemented yet tho). As for explaining the benefits of hold/tap interactions, that will be explained in the tutorial (which couldn't make it in before the deadline ^^;) The romance system is still highly WIP right now, the upcoming patch will expand on what i've got so far, including Rote interactions during levels.
- As for sliding on objects, that's a different thing than grinding on objects, which requires either a
dash-jump or
downward dash to stick to the surface. Once you've actually started grinding, you don't need to be hold S/Down at all. As long as you have speed, she'll stick to the durface. (some surfaces are a bit buggy, will be fixed soon)
- As for finding the hidden areas, I won't spoil what triggers those haha But the level might not have cleared because of one or two particular objects not being obvious enough in terms of needing to clean it, I'll be sure to work on that.
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Can't wait to show off everything (LOTS of animation work to do)
The combos especially! I really like the ones with more detailed wallpapers and rooms that aren’t so incredibly tall but more like real ones, those look fantastic!
) Thankfully I'm close to being done with that! Here's how things are lookin' these days. I'll explain some new stuff in future posts but for now, enjoy the gifs 
Continues to look amazing.