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[SweepingAvalanche]

Hey guys, I have a new gameplay showing a new area called "Royal Halls". This area is composed of both inside and outside rooms with several new enemies and traps.
Check out more on the metroidvania Devoul- Curse of the Soulless or get a free playable DEMO: https://sweepingavalanche.itch.io/devoul

[SweepingAvalanche]

As always feel free to comment and give feedback. And if you have time try ou the free playable demo too on the itchio site.
 

[SweepingAvalanche]

Geting close to finishing all the main areas of the game. After that the areana special area is next and I finally reach the final stages of the development. More on it soon

[SweepingAvalanche]

Today I reached a big milestone  , all the rooms of the game are now complete. The final map will have more that 300 rooms!

[ThemsAllTook]

Cool! This looks like it's pretty well put together already. I watched the video in your first post, and I have some feedback based on that. The gameplay looks pretty solid already, so this is mostly about graphical and audio stuff:

- Some of the sound effects seemed out of balance with the rest. The sounds for picking up potions and the ones played when the character or an enemy takes a hit seemed way too quiet - like, getting hit especially is an important event, so I'd expect a big punchy sound to call attention to it. On the other hand, the alternate weapon sounds seemed way louder than I'd expect - they kind of drown out everything else while they're happening. There's also an eating sound effect at 5:08 in the video that's super loud and seems to only play in the right audio channel for some reason.

- There are a lot of mixed pixel sizes being used. I'd suggest choosing a base resolution and rendering everything to a buffer at that size, then scaling up to draw it to the screen. By changing the scale of the main framebuffer, you could still get the camera zoom effects you're using, but all of the places where the overall pixel grid is broken would be fixed. This might require redrawing some stuff or presenting it at a different scale, but it would be a huge upgrade in visual quality.

- In addition to mixed pixel sizes, a few things seem to be drawn at the wrong aspect ratio. The lightning subweapon is stretched horizontally, as are the snowflakes falling in the background.

- The "Stance ready" icon is at an especially awkward scale level. See how the mixed pixel sizes make the lines in the checkmark and the circle around it look like it's broken up at certain places.

- Something is weird with the main character's walk cycle. The frame where his legs are farthest back places his head way farther back than the other two frames, making it look really jolty. I'd suggest offsetting this frame so that the head stays more or less at the same horizontal position, and it might look a lot better.

- It took me a while to figure out that the periodic thumping in the background wasn't part of the music, and was actually the sound of cannons firing. Maybe it would make sense to attenuate this sound effect if you're farther away from it? Like, only make it audible if it's onscreen or close.

Anyway, nice work on this!

[SweepingAvalanche]

Cool! This looks like it's pretty well put together already. I watched the video in your first post, and I have some feedback based on that. The gameplay looks pretty solid already, so this is mostly about graphical and audio stuff:

- Some of the sound effects seemed out of balance with the rest. The sounds for picking up potions and the ones played when the character or an enemy takes a hit seemed way too quiet - like, getting hit especially is an important event, so I'd expect a big punchy sound to call attention to it. On the other hand, the alternate weapon sounds seemed way louder than I'd expect - they kind of drown out everything else while they're happening. There's also an eating sound effect at 5:08 in the video that's super loud and seems to only play in the right audio channel for some reason.

- There are a lot of mixed pixel sizes being used. I'd suggest choosing a base resolution and rendering everything to a buffer at that size, then scaling up to draw it to the screen. By changing the scale of the main framebuffer, you could still get the camera zoom effects you're using, but all of the places where the overall pixel grid is broken would be fixed. This might require redrawing some stuff or presenting it at a different scale, but it would be a huge upgrade in visual quality.

- In addition to mixed pixel sizes, a few things seem to be drawn at the wrong aspect ratio. The lightning subweapon is stretched horizontally, as are the snowflakes falling in the background.

- The "Stance ready" icon is at an especially awkward scale level. See how the mixed pixel sizes make the lines in the checkmark and the circle around it look like it's broken up at certain places.

- Something is weird with the main character's walk cycle. The frame where his legs are farthest back places his head way farther back than the other two frames, making it look really jolty. I'd suggest offsetting this frame so that the head stays more or less at the same horizontal position, and it might look a lot better.

- It took me a while to figure out that the periodic thumping in the background wasn't part of the music, and was actually the sound of cannons firing. Maybe it would make sense to attenuate this sound effect if you're farther away from it? Like, only make it audible if it's onscreen or close.

Anyway, nice work on this!

Hey thanks a lot for the feedback, some of those things are already beeing worked on, so i can say you are rigth on them (mostly the grafic part). About the trailer sounds that was a case of "bad edditing" on my part. I made the video and I am not that good in doing that, so in the end the sounds turned out a bit out of place or too loud.
About that walk cicle you are not he first one to tell me that. I will try to add at least a few more frames to it to make it look better.
Thank you for your help mate Smiley
All the best.  Toast Right

[SweepingAvalanche]

Hello guys, just as promised I have just uploaded a new devlog of the game togheter with a new demo version. To view the full devlog or try the demo check out the game's itch.io site here: https://sweepingavalanche.itch.io/devoul
You will find the links to the demo and the devlog bellow.
All the best 

[SweepingAvalanche]

Complete World Map (no secret areas included) 

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[SweepingAvalanche]

Hey guys, I just uploaded a new gameplay video showing some more areas and game mechanics of the game. Hope you enjoy it
Check it out here:

[SweepingAvalanche]

New video on some of the game mechanics of the metroidvania Devoul- Curse of the Soulless. Check it out guys

[SweepingAvalanche]

New room for a hard boss fight! 

[andyfromiowa]

This is looking good so far. The platforming and mechanics look solid. The world looks interesting, and I like that you've added things like a boxing gym and Space Invaders-style mini game. It adds a lot of personality to a genre that can sometimes get overly bleak.

Graphically, there are some sprites that stick out a bit. I'm guessing some are placeholders, though. I really like the backgrounds. The parallax effects and animations give it some nice depth and visual flair.

  Keep at it!

[SweepingAvalanche]

This is looking good so far. The platforming and mechanics look solid. The world looks interesting, and I like that you've added things like a boxing gym and Space Invaders-style mini game. It adds a lot of personality to a genre that can sometimes get overly bleak.

Graphically, there are some sprites that stick out a bit. I'm guessing some are placeholders, though. I really like the backgrounds. The parallax effects and animations give it some nice depth and visual flair.

  Keep at it!

Thanks man, glad you liked it. I tried to add a bit of "new" to the metroidvania game with those mini games and a few other stuff (mainly because I always loved the mini games in games like final fantasy).
The pixel art is were I have to work always harder as I dont have an arts education or anything like that, but I hope ppl like the final work. Cheers 

[SweepingAvalanche]

Working on a extra area for the game (besides main story).
In this new area hard core players can test their builds and see if they can beat several waves of enemies. Good prizes await the winners...

[SweepingAvalanche]

Just uploaded a new video presentation. This time the focus is on world map and monster lore. Check it out

[SweepingAvalanche]

Third presentation video on the game. This time the focus goes to all the game's extra content besides main story. Includes side-quests, mini-games, trophies and much more 

[SweepingAvalanche]

New boss fight! This time is based on dracula from castlevania game series!
 

[Dune]

This game is looking pretty rad! The Castlevania inspiration rings strong, and I think it's seriously impressive how much you've put into the game (levels, graphics, enemies, attacks, extra content, minigames!, etc.). I played some of it and I wanted to share some suggestions for tweaks. A few technical things are a bit awkward but fixable, I think if you address them and can get some more playtesting feedback, you'll be able to tighten up the foundations of your game.

-I think the single biggest issue I experienced was how the camera zooms in and zooms out, depending on whether I am standing or moving. I don't think this feature is very well suited for a 2D action platformer, the zoom-in/zoom-out can take some objects out of view when I am standing still to re-assess my surroundings in preparation of a jump or fighting an enemy. I think if the camera had a fixed scale and didn't zoom in or out at all (unless in a cutscene, when the player can't move), that would be a huge improvement. Alternatively, maybe you could increase the wait time before the zoom-in activates when the player stands still, and have it ease-in more slowly, so it doesn't happen right away and isn't as jarring. Right now the camera zoom throws me off a lot as I play.

-I think you should try some alternate button mapping for keyboard controls, WASD or Arrow Keys to move and KOL or 123 num pad are pretty awkward and unconventional. Something like ZXCV for actions and Arrow Keys for movement is more the norm and a lot more comfortable. Maybe WASD and IOP or JKL instead of KOL would work, too. I think it's worth experimenting with and seeing if other players would find it more natural and comfortable, too. (Spacebar to jump feels fine.)

-I was surprised pressing M while the map screen was open didn't close it. I think being able to press M again to close it would be simpler than selecting the Exit option. Also, it's a little inconsistent that there is a mouse icon shown above the exit when it's selected, but then there's no mouse icon on a map area when it's selected, instead it just turns red. This is not a huge issue and I didn't have a problem figuring it out, but since it's a little inconsistent I thought it was worth mentioning.

I hope this feedback helps! Metroidvania is one of my favorite genres and I am loving what you have so far. I'm excited to keep playing and see where your project goes. I'm sure if you keep polishing it it will totally be worth it in the end, keep up the awesome work!

[SweepingAvalanche]

Thanks for such a complete feedback man!
I will try to respond the best I can about all the topics:

.About the camera zooms, I get you completly. I have been reciving feedback from ppl that like it and dont like it. So in the end it is something I will have to decide if I keep or I get out.

.About the button mapping (you can also map them in the menu to be used with J K L U I O and not just K L O) It's been one of those things I have been struggling since the beggining and I will probably will add more options in the end. I understand some mapings aro good for some ppl but not so good for others, so I will try to add more options defenitly.

.Pressing M and not exiting the map menu IS STRANGE as hell. It should do just that what you said. Probably a bug and I will check it out (thanks for pointing that out!).

Thanks for all this help man, it really helps. I count on finishing the game in the next 2 months, so after that only bug fixing and minor upgrades to the game, so I hope that somewere this summer you can play the full version. I hope to deliver a fun and chalenging game that will give players more that 20hours of gameplay.

Thanks for all the help and see you soon! 

[SweepingAvalanche]