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[Raku]

Thanks! And yes, now people can say specific boss names if they need to bring up any feedback on any as well.

Also, more screenshots:

[Raku]

Small update, now there are springboards in a few places in the game, not appearing often, but it's something to vary up gameplay especially in some tall vertical segments.

[Raku]

I uploaded a few of the tracks so that people can get a preview of what the music is currently like in the game, in case people who havent played the demo are curious.
I've composed all of these myself in pixeltone collage.
https://soundcloud.com/rakugaki-otoko/green-sprint - casual overworld theme from plains areas
https://soundcloud.com/rakugaki-otoko/hurry - frantic/chase stages
https://soundcloud.com/rakugaki-otoko/crying-ruins - dilapidated ruins stage
https://soundcloud.com/rakugaki-otoko/wipe-away-your-tears - upper cliffs stages before moon

[ashpd]

I love it! Especially "Hurry!" - it's one of the best songs in the game. Well, in my opinion .
Oh, by the way, now Berzerker Poinsetta has a much cuter face. Nice work!

[Storsorgen]

I think the one called "Heartbeat of the earth" or something is one of the best songs i've heard for a game!

[Raku]

@ashpd, thanks a lot! I'm glad you like that song, it appears in a few stages.
@Storsorgen, I appreciate that! Im curious how you knew the title of that track though.
I recently updated that song a bit as well, so hopefully you'll like it even more when you hear the updated version.

[TriStarch]

Hey, just played through the demo.  It's so good!  Art/music are amazing and I love all the character that everything has.  The big unique statues, characters, background elements, etc. make the levels feel really fresh.

I like how you remind the player about the dodge multiple times at the beginning of the game since it's important.  The giant boss in particular was really good since he has that unavoidable barrage of sticks.  I was frustrated the first time I fought him because I was just trying to move out of the way and failing, but after I died I remembered the dodge move.  After that, I was using it all the time.

I really only have a few minor suggestions:

• Make the looking up and down trigger a little sooner.  I thought I didn't have it for while because I tried it and nothing happened.
• Maybe make it so the HUD shows zero lives when you're on your last life?  It threw me off a bit when I died, thinking I had a life left.
• Fire/Bullet and Bomb/Bullet seem overpowered.  Once I found those combinations, that's pretty much all I used.  They do a lot of damage plus they're aimable so they just decimate most of the bosses.
• It'd be nice if the game remembered the fullscreen setting once you set it.

Cannot wait for more of this.   

[Raku]

Thank you very much for the indepth feedback and compliments/suggestions. I appreciate them greatly.
As for the suggestions:

• I could do this. It's actually been something I've been struggling to find the best way to deal with. Since you hold up or down a lot to do certain attacks or shielding, the view moves up and down, and Im not sure if players would like -for example- holding down to shield, and the view shifts downward as if they were intending to look downward. If you or anyone has any feedback or advice on that, I'd love to hear it. But I can easily make it so that it triggers faster of course, I'll try it.
• That can be done easily, I'll try and get that fixed tonight. Plus Im sure people will appreciate having another extra life.
• Oh I see. Bomb should make anything very powerful of course, but it may not be good for it to be so useful against the bosses. I may have adjusted the damage on it since then though, maybe I should put an updated demo out so that people can test it out with all of the changes made since the previous one.
• Oh, I didn't realize this was a problem. Do you know that you can toggle fullscreen at any time by pressing F4? Maybe I should put a note next to the option of that functionality. Just because it's great to have games playing in fullscreen, but I don't like when they can't be minimized, in case something needs to be taken care of in the background of the game or something.

Again, thank you, and I look forward to making more updates!
Feedback and just generally people showing interest is what motivates me to actually post updates here.

[noumenus]

Nice music, my favorite is the Crying Ruins!

I played the Demo and its super fun. Gravity is a bit hard on the jump but it adds to the difficulty. The only thing that was super annoying is that when ever you beat a level, your guy doesn't automatically move to the next level slot by himself. I kept repeating a level because of this on a few occasions because I forgot to move the guy to the next slot.

I really loved the beginning animation of Jack talking to God about the moon falling. I could literally watch a whole show in that style. 

[Raku]

Thanks a lot!
About the stage thing, I'm not sure if I'd like making the player automatically move forward, but I could try it out. Did you play the tutorial? You can exit any stage you've beaten already by pressing pause and selecting the button to go to the map.

And thanks! There are a couple other cutscenes in the game that are like that beginning animation (though without voices) throughout the game.

[ashpd]

By the way, combination of gas+bullets is overpowered too. With that I was able to defeat Samuel within 20 seconds:

[Storsorgen]

@ashpd, thanks a lot! I'm glad you like that song, it appears in a few stages.
@Storsorgen, I appreciate that! Im curious how you knew the title of that track though.
I recently updated that song a bit as well, so hopefully you'll like it even more when you hear the updated version.

I used the pxtone player to listen to the files in the jack-folder

[godsavant]

@ashpd, thanks a lot! I'm glad you like that song, it appears in a few stages.
@Storsorgen, I appreciate that! Im curious how you knew the title of that track though.
I recently updated that song a bit as well, so hopefully you'll like it even more when you hear the updated version.

I used the pxtone player to listen to the files in the jack-folder

HE KNOWS THE SECRET.

[Raku]

By the way, combination of gas+bullets is overpowered too. With that I was able to defeat Samuel within 20 seconds:

Oh my..
Thank you very much for pointing this out. I've beaten that boss that way myself before, but I never realized how it didnt feel right. Most of the big bosses (and Samuel is one of those) have weak-points that only show up for a moment where you can damage them, and Im not sure why I didnt do that with Samuel yet. I'll fix it so that you can only damage him once he lunges at you and chomps down. Guutara will be fine as he is, being the first big boss.

@ashpd, thanks a lot! I'm glad you like that song, it appears in a few stages.
@Storsorgen, I appreciate that! Im curious how you knew the title of that track though.
I recently updated that song a bit as well, so hopefully you'll like it even more when you hear the updated version.

I used the pxtone player to listen to the files in the jack-folder

HE KNOWS THE SECRET.

EVERYTHING IS RUINED.
no, but really, I was going to release the soundtrack along with the game anyway. A lot of those files are early versions of the tracks though, so a lot of them are better now in the current versions.

Also in the official release of the game, the music files wont be littered all around with the exe, they'll be hidden inside it (thanks to a nifty thing you can do in gamemaker) so as to keep everything tidy, also you'll be able to have the exe file anywhere without having to keep it tethered to the folder it's in and everything.

[noumenus]

Thanks a lot!
About the stage thing, I'm not sure if I'd like making the player automatically move forward, but I could try it out. Did you play the tutorial? You can exit any stage you've beaten already by pressing pause and selecting the button to go to the map.

And thanks! There are a couple other cutscenes in the game that are like that beginning animation (though without voices) throughout the game.

Oh right I must have missed that sorry. But that reminded me in the tutorial, I think it would be cool to give the player a dummy soul, so they actually see how the catching and release system works instead of just telling them. Just an idea.

I'm on the flower boss btw, its hard   haha

[godsavant]

I'm on the flower boss btw, its hard   haha

Berzerker Poinsetta: Use Shield and lame it out. Just press down to duck and hold the shield out in front of you (something people forget), which blocks all of her Gas shots and 99% of her seed bombs; since the latter come at an arc, one might land on you from above, but you can just press C to dodge (something people also forget). Keep in mind that you can still attack while shielded, so just stand within melee distance when she bends down and keep swiping (not too close, since her head can still collide with you through the shield). This will probably take a few minutes, since you have to wait for her to come back down, but it's faster than trying to master dodging gymnastics this early in the game.  

[Raku]

I think it would be cool to give the player a dummy soul, so they actually see how the catching and release system works instead of just telling them. Just an idea.

That's an idea, I might do that.

As for what godsavant said, that's probably the best strategy. Also you can hold the shield in front of you any time, even in midair/jumping, as long as you're not holding left or right.

[niartyzarC]

• I could do this. It's actually been something I've been struggling to find the best way to deal with. Since you hold up or down a lot to do certain attacks or shielding, the view moves up and down, and Im not sure if players would like -for example- holding down to shield, and the view shifts downward as if they were intending to look downward. If you or anyone has any feedback or advice on that, I'd love to hear it. But I can easily make it so that it triggers faster of course, I'll try it.

Maybe you could cancel the look function when holding the attack button or double tap up/down to look or add a "look" button, like "D+up/down."

[Raku]

Maybe you could cancel the look function when holding the attack button or double tap up/down to look or add a "look" button, like "D+up/down."

true! That's what I was thinking as well. I'm working out the programming where it won't let you look up or down if you're holding down any attack keys, and it'll allow you to look up or down quicker that way.

[James Edward Smith]

Trying to download your demo from the openning post of this thread results in chrome throwing a Malicious Download Warning at me  ?

I like the look of your game though, It reminds me a lot of Kirby's Superstar.