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[hyperduck]

Epic Toilet destroying times.

[MaloEspada]

I think you should make noticable that the toilet and monster-hill can be damaged...

[kyn]

I found a small bug. Having saved in the first save point next to his house and then dying in the cave where the gun is located, what will happen is that the cave music will still continue playing after loading back to the village. And this only happens in the first save point as far as I know.

Another similar bug, and again using the first save point, if you close the game and load it again there is no music playing.


Also, the look up sprite looks a little awkward: It looks like his face stretches. Maybe I'm being a little too nitpicky, but anyway that's my 2 cents.

Besides all this, the game is looking great at such an early stage. The keyboard cat definitely made my day, and slapping people for save points should be a video game standard from now on :D

[JaJitsu]

I think you should make noticable that the toilet and monster-hill can be damaged...

The toilet doesnt get destroyed it just makes a sound.

and the hill doesn't have damage cause its a secret :3
but i suppose i should....

I found a small bug. Having saved in the first save point next to his house and then dying in the cave where the gun is located, what will happen is that the cave music will still continue playing after loading back to the village. And this only happens in the first save point as far as I know.

Another similar bug, and again using the first save point, if you close the game and load it again there is no music playing.


Also, the look up sprite looks a little awkward: It looks like his face stretches. Maybe I'm being a little too nitpicky, but anyway that's my 2 cents.

Besides all this, the game is looking great at such an early stage. The keyboard cat definitely made my day, and slapping people for save points should be a video game standard from now on :D

ahhh i forgot to stop the cave music from that area. nice catch.



also I could make the face look up a little less.

[sereneworx]

Maybe just stick some shadows on the lower part of his head so that you can see the underside of his chin.

[Nate Kling]

Also when the squid isnt with you he is kind of a narrator
I might just take off his graphic to stop confusion

No dont take his graphic out.  Thats probably one of my favorite parts.  I love the interaction between you and the squid.  Some of those lines were really good.  The whole thing was really funny.  I liked how you kind of mocked tutorials that teach you how to jump over things.  I thought the game was really fun but the biggest thing for me was that it was a bit to empty.  The music is really great so make sure to tell your composer great job!  I loved the music.  Im really looking forward to seeing this game progress.  But keep the squid as narrator I love him saying his little useless comments thinking that hes actually helping.  And I love how he just kind of pops up on different screens in different places, very funny.

[JaJitsu]

Also when the squid isnt with you he is kind of a narrator
I might just take off his graphic to stop confusion

No dont take his graphic out.  Thats probably one of my favorite parts.  I love the interaction between you and the squid.  Some of those lines were really good.  The whole thing was really funny.  I liked how you kind of mocked tutorials that teach you how to jump over things.  I thought the game was really fun but the biggest thing for me was that it was a bit to empty.  The music is really great so make sure to tell your composer great job!  I loved the music.  Im really looking forward to seeing this game progress.  But keep the squid as narrator I love him saying his little useless comments thinking that hes actually helping.  And I love how he just kind of pops up on different screens in different places, very funny.

What do you mean empty? like big area with not much to do? Or i just need to add some trees and stuff to mix up the background?

[PsySal]

Hey this one looks cool. Here's what I liked the most:

- Really pretty graphics
- The squid is awesome, quite humorous
- I love that the terrain isn't quite even.

What I think would improve things:

- A little bit (more?) character inertia; feels a bit twitchy
- It seems like a lot of "space" before you get the gun. What I mean is, you have vast stretches of terrain to explore/navigate before you can really interact with that. If you already had the gun, or some way other than jumping to interact with the world, then it would work to put off getting the gun so long. So for instance, if you got the gun in the town, after solving a certain puzzle, and then you entered the wilderness area which was now filled with monsters to shoot, then I think it would flow a lot better. As it is now I think it has a weaker beginning than it should, because there is nothing to do but run around what feels like a somewhat "empty" world until you get the gun.

Awesome, promising game! These are the kinds of indie platformers we love =)

[hyperduck]

Also when the squid isnt with you he is kind of a narrator
I might just take off his graphic to stop confusion

No dont take his graphic out.  Thats probably one of my favorite parts.  I love the interaction between you and the squid.  Some of those lines were really good.  The whole thing was really funny.  I liked how you kind of mocked tutorials that teach you how to jump over things.  I thought the game was really fun but the biggest thing for me was that it was a bit to empty.  The music is really great so make sure to tell your composer great job!  I loved the music.  Im really looking forward to seeing this game progress.  But keep the squid as narrator I love him saying his little useless comments thinking that hes actually helping.  And I love how he just kind of pops up on different screens in different places, very funny.

What do you mean empty? like big area with not much to do? Or i just need to add some trees and stuff to mix up the background?

More Enemies, more variation of enemies, and a few more trees and rocks now and then would be interesting. Plus maybe little random quirky (nothing major) defining details of certain areas of what is seemingly a large map at times, least the non cave section is. I think he might mean that, I'm not sure though!

[Nate Kling]

Yeah, I just mean that it needs more trees and rocks and some interesting things other than just ground.  Its especially noticeable in the cave.  The first time you go down there, there is a straight tunnel that is way too long with just nothing in it.  The whole cave really has nothing in it except for the spikes, it needs some variation, maybe stalagtites or something to break up the blandness.  Played through it again and found all the extra health powers ups .  This is gonna be a good game , i just know it!

[FranticPandaKev]

Yaaa!
    "The music is really great so make sure to tell your composer great job!  I loved the music"

      Great stuff, But remember there are more intense! darker places to come, the music will change from our very happy go lucky safe place..as Jables progresses further into his adventure :D

[Poor Lazlo]

This is pretty great! Two minor quibbles, though.

#1: It doesn't make a sound when you hit the ground! This is fine when just jumping, but when falling off a ledge it is kind of... jarring?

#2: You can't look down! I realise this wouldn't make much (or any) difference, but being able to look up, and not down, again feels odd.

As I said, minor.

[hyperduck]

Well if it is using the Cave Story mentality, then it's perfectly normal you can't look down. If you jump up and look down you'll notice it works fine. Considering down is used to open stuff, interact etc, looking down each time you contact something would be a bit strange 

[JaJitsu]

Chris is right down is used to interact, so I took out looking down while standing.

if you jump its perfectly fine :]




Also for the landing sound. I tried to figure out how to make it for for like 10 min and gave up  :D

I think i might know how to do it now.

[tim_the_tam]

i just finished playing the game and i have to say its got potential but it needs a lot of improvement.

first off.. i have to say that im confused at the games genre. it felt like a metroidvania/exploration platform game but.. exploring is unrewarding as theres a lot of paths that lead to dead ends. also while i really liked the pixel graphics, there was a lot of repetition with the same sprites being used over and over again which demotivated me to explore because i didnt feel like im going anywhere or it just takes too long. but at the same time if there were a heap more enemies it would be like a cave story action platformer

which bring me to my main criticism which is that the game felt really empty. i dont know if you just havent had the time to add enemies or its intentional but yeah.. its really empty and well.. to be honest boring. 

the levels can get really confusing at times because if you fall you dont know how far you have fallen and because its so maze like especially with the grass level. i suggest adding a mini map.

nitpicks!
when you are walking down a slope is feels clunky. especially since walking up is nice and smooth.
saving and talking to people is unresponsive.
the enemies should have a hit animation
when you look up your face stretches which is wierd.
you cant control how high you jump which really sucks
cant look up or down

ok now i got that out of the way heres what i like.
the graphics (though really repetitive at times) are really nice and goes well with the happy background music. theres also some great little detail like the blades of grass.

the game is genuinely funny and the story of being a hero is what kept me going so keep this up.

so yeah.. thats all i got for now. hope this helps and good luck =]

btw it took me like 5 to 10 mins to finish the game

[nyarla]

Very nice, great dialogue like others said

A couple little game engine things I noticed:

Walking up hills, you seem to go faster than walking on flat ground - the steeper the hill, the faster you move.

When you shoot, the shot sprites appear a bit far away from the gun (or maybe they just move so fast I can't see them as they come out of the gun).. and this gap seems wider when you're facing right than when you're facing left..

Also, it might be intentional, I dunno, but you can't shoot while holding down the jump key. There's no reason to hold down the jump key because you always jump to a fixed height I think, but I find myself doing it anyway.  Or hmm, maybe this is just because of the keyboard on my Eee? not sure..

Love the Underside references. "I will now bestow upon you the power to jump"  :D

[demolam]

Also, it might be intentional, I dunno, but you can't shoot while holding down the jump key. There's no reason to hold down the jump key because you always jump to a fixed height I think, but I find myself doing it anyway.  Or hmm, maybe this is just because of the keyboard on my Eee? not sure..

That's your keyboard for sure. I got the same problem. This is one reason why customizable controlls are always nice.

As for the demo I really liked the feel of the controlls, the graphics, the sounds and the music. It feels very polished in those aspects. I agree with most of the other previous comments, however I though I should point out two things which I noticed. Number one is, as some has mentioned, that the game feels a bit empty. I think some more content needs to be added, such as more enemies and more graphical details. That's my biggest concern. Other than that I noticed one other minor problem; the background in the cave area. It is way to easy to see how the pattern is repeated, which one shouldn't if perfected. Other than that, it looks really nice and I'm looking forward to see how this progress.

[JaJitsu]

i just finished playing the game and i have to say its got potential but it needs a lot of improvement.

first off.. i have to say that im confused at the games genre. it felt like a metroidvania/exploration platform game but.. exploring is unrewarding as theres a lot of paths that lead to dead ends. also while i really liked the pixel graphics, there was a lot of repetition with the same sprites being used over and over again which demotivated me to explore because i didnt feel like im going anywhere or it just takes too long. but at the same time if there were a heap more enemies it would be like a cave story action platformer

which bring me to my main criticism which is that the game felt really empty. i dont know if you just havent had the time to add enemies or its intentional but yeah.. its really empty and well.. to be honest boring. 

the levels can get really confusing at times because if you fall you dont know how far you have fallen and because its so maze like especially with the grass level. i suggest adding a mini map.

nitpicks!
when you are walking down a slope is feels clunky. especially since walking up is nice and smooth.
saving and talking to people is unresponsive.
the enemies should have a hit animation
when you look up your face stretches which is wierd.
you cant control how high you jump which really sucks
cant look up or down

ok now i got that out of the way heres what i like.
the graphics (though really repetitive at times) are really nice and goes well with the happy background music. theres also some great little detail like the blades of grass.

the game is genuinely funny and the story of being a hero is what kept me going so keep this up.

so yeah.. thats all i got for now. hope this helps and good luck =]

btw it took me like 5 to 10 mins to finish the game

In my devlog I just called this a platformer with some exploration. Like you said It does not have enough exploration to actually be metroidvania, but in the finished game there will be some areas that will open up with new items.

So some things similar with the gameplay of metroidvania, and some not.



I am working on making more objects to put into the levels along with enemies.


As for the mini map. I do not think it would be helpful in the game [aside from that one grass area]
And I can tell you not there will not be an area as big as that one [or maze-like] in future demos along with the finished game.


"when you are walking down a slope is feels clunky. especially since walking up is nice and smooth. "

Fixed.

saving and talking to people is unresponsive.

Fixed.

the enemies should have a hit animation

Added. [Along with Jables' hit animation and a slime death animation]


you cant control how high you jump which really sucks

Ah you are right. Doubt i will add this though. I won't add anything where you would need a smaller jump

cant look up or down

Yes you can.
Looking down, however, you can only do when jumping.
So yes you can shoot down.

I'm glad you liked it, and thanks for such large feedback!

Very nice, great dialogue like others said

A couple little game engine things I noticed:

Walking up hills, you seem to go faster than walking on flat ground - the steeper the hill, the faster you move.

When you shoot, the shot sprites appear a bit far away from the gun (or maybe they just move so fast I can't see them as they come out of the gun).. and this gap seems wider when you're facing right than when you're facing left..

Also, it might be intentional, I dunno, but you can't shoot while holding down the jump key. There's no reason to hold down the jump key because you always jump to a fixed height I think, but I find myself doing it anyway.  Or hmm, maybe this is just because of the keyboard on my Eee? not sure..

Love the Underside references. "I will now bestow upon you the power to jump"  :D

The movement object does walk uphill funny, but Idk how to fix that.
doesn't mess with the gameplay and why would you want to go slower in a game anyways.
Maybe that's just me.


"Love the Underside references. "I will now bestow upon you the power to jump""

I actually don't remember this in The Underside.

[demolam]

The movement object does walk uphill funny, but Idk how to fix that.
doesn't mess with the gameplay and why would you want to go slower in a game anyways.
Maybe that's just me.

I didn'n even notice this while playing so why care to fix it? Anyway, I think it's because you move at the same speed horisontally as on flat ground while at the same time moving vertically (due to the slope). So to fix it you would have to lower the horisontal speed depending on the slope. But I woultn't care to fix that, it's not really an issue anyway.

And if you still want to know, I think it took me around 15 mins to finish the demo with 9 HP.

[JaJitsu]

The movement object does walk uphill funny, but Idk how to fix that.
doesn't mess with the gameplay and why would you want to go slower in a game anyways.
Maybe that's just me.

I didn'n even notice this while playing so why care to fix it? Anyway, I think it's because you move at the same speed horisontally as on flat ground while at the same time moving vertically (due to the slope). So to fix it you would have to lower the horisontal speed depending on the slope. But I woultn't care to fix that, it's not really an issue anyway.

And if you still want to know, I think it took me around 15 mins to finish the demo with 9 HP.

Yeah, i'm sure that would fix it.

By the way you can get 11hp in the demo ;]