khaoz-fang 2019-04-30 03:01
I think you should polish one or two elements instead of adding too much of them. Also the tutorial should be briefer..
Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → LD44 → Bloody Accord
By ryfi, Cincerteri and Twenty5Clocks
| Category | Rank | Score | Count | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 982 | 2.93 | 25 | |
| Fun | 921 | 2.82 | 25 | |
| Innovation | 921 | 2.69 | 25 | |
| Theme | 538 | 3.37 | 25 | |
| Graphics | 810 | 3.06 | 25 | |
| Audio | 469 | 3.15 | 25 | |
| Humor | 483 | 2.93 | 25 | |
| Mood | 976 | 2.67 | 25 |
I think you should polish one or two elements instead of adding too much of them. Also the tutorial should be briefer..
Overall really cool, the spellbook is really interesting as a mechanic, the variety of spells is great and the codes can be optimised, that is fun!
I think this was a bit complex for such a short jam. The controls were clunky, even something as simple as switching weapons on the scrollwheel instead of the numbers would make it more intuitive, and the letters for spells were out of the question. The tutorial was VERY long-winded and I didn't even want to finish it. I do like the character models. Actually all the models and environment were pretty impressive. I also liked the music.
@shaolin-dave yeah. We went all out this jam. Scroll wheel weapons switching isn’t in every game and isn’t as simple as you may think, and part of the game is learning the spell codes because if they were easy, you would do them all the time, but instead you have to learn them. You can skip the tutorial but it’s important and you can’t complain about misunderstanding the game if you skip it. Thanks for the feedback!
@khaoz-fang What exactly should we fix in your opinion? Feedback is appreciated.
@torculus Thanks for the feedback! The spell codes are meant to be learned, but maybe they are too difficult. Thanks again.
Introduction was too long and the accompanying commentary was too slow. I fealt that there was too much going on. Once I fully grasped the controls, it was fun though (apart from the jumping, spacebar didnt work properly).
@mza Sorry your spacebar didn't work. In the past, people have complained about the lack of tutorial in our games, so we made one, but you can skip it if you feel it is too long.
Overall I liked the game. However it felt like the balancing is a bit off, because you can get all the upgrades pretty quickly and then cruise through the next few minutes of the game. The pistol seems to have a very low range, which made fighting the flying sorcerers and other flying enemies pretty annoying after a while. But I liked the spell mechanic, especially that the better ones were really expensive and dangerous to use.
I feel a Hexen vibe, which got me interested in seeing more about it! I also think there could be some difficult balancing perhaps ...
I would of like for this game to be more fair but at the same time more harder without having a bunch of enemies swaming the player as difficulty, my suggestion would be to have it wave based and for the player to only be able to upgrade in between waves... also add crosshairs for the bow and the gun... thanks youuu <3
The headbob was a bit much, and being unable to strafe while moving forward or back was a major downer. I was unable to interact with the buying menu. Conceptually, I think you followed the theme quite well.
- Tutorial voice isn't loud enough, but it is hilarious! A pause/fast forward option would be nice here.
- Your textures are nice, you should be able to improve the look of your sprites (sword, bow, etc.) in the tutorial by selecting the textures in Unity and using the _Filter Mode_ with the name _point._
I'm sure, that's not how the game was intended, but I found the strategy of just going to the shop and wait till a bunch of enemies collect, using acid rain to get rid of them, then go back to the arena, collect the heart in the middle, rinse and repeat.
The difficulty level is hard to grasp. I could barely defeat one spider, but once I tested spells, the above "hack" became quickly clear. A fix might be to stop spawning during the time in the shop.
Those spiders are really well made, in general, the models and animations are well done. The sound effects are well placed.
@michaelaranda are you sure? The head-bobbing is tied to the game's frame rate (its a screen effect), if you play on medium or above graphics, it's a lot slower. Strafing is a thing in the game, some computers only allow 1 key to be pressed at a time, you can fix that in your computer's settings. The game does not have a menu for the shop, it is a physical place. You teleport there and click on what you want to buy, you may want to retry the game because the shop is pretty straightforward.
@rac-games The tutorial voice is at the loudest in-game volume possible, maybe yours was turned down? Also we added the tutorial last minute, so I did not have enough time to sort out all the textures. We were originally going to have a video. I didn't have a chance to test every spell thoroughly, and did realize the glitch afterwards, but people rarely actually use the spells. The game is pretty balanced without that one spell though.
I turned my volume up as high as possible, for all other sound it was way too loud, maybe the original sound file wasn't very loud?
There is a rule in game jam making called the 4:44 rule, 4 hours making and 44 hours polishing. I think you wanted to add as much as possible to the game, but then the end product is quite unpolished and clumsy. For instantance; the teleporting is an interesting mechanic, you could teleport between a high and a low position so that you can better attack the bats when needed. Here's a list of other thinks: - It's good that the enemies have a healthbar above them. - The gun has a very limited range. - The bow doesn't shoot very far and it's hard to see were the arrow will go. - You can just stay at the shop indefinitely, defeating the purpose of the game. - I never bothered with the spells and just used the gun. - The bats attack you with hinting that they are going to attack you. - Player movement is very slow and jumping doesn't work all that well. - The ground enemies seem to all do the same thing. - The enemies are introduced to quickly after each other (doesn't matter now, since they all do the same thing). - Split the enemies up into rounds (each round you have a different enemy, later you combine multiple types). - If you die from an enemy attack from behind, you can't see that since the screen just fades to black. - The tutorial only explains the controls, not the gameplay (do I just endlessly defeat increasing amounts of enemies?)
Making videogames is all about slow improvements, but all of these change shouldn't be to difficult to make or keep in mind for the next game. I do also want to say that the models look quite good. You good also flip it around and make a game that is so bad that it is good, but that is difficult in its own way.
@mika-la-grand I am going to try and hit on all of your points really quick so here we go. We did polish everything and I feel like the game was quite fun on its own, but you have to play it right. A game made in only 4 hours for a 72 hour game jam would not be very good, I participated in 5 jams total and it's always idea/basics day 1, finish mechanics day 2, then polish day 3, always seems to work really well. The teleporting isn't a game mechanic, more of just a clever way to access the shop. There are spells that help you attack bats, but you said you didn't use them, that's on you. I also assume you didn't sit through the tutorial which, while made quickly towards the end of the jam, so I admit graphics aren't great for the tutorial, it does cover a lot of things that you had trouble with.
- The Gun and bow do not have limited range, you learn how to aim over time, otherwise they are too OP. The gun can shoot infinitely far and you can pull back the bow to fire all the way across the arena. - Staying in the shop, while strategic, does not increase your score, and actually hurts you because your score is not increasing, so the shop has its time and place. - Like I said earlier, there are some really good spells that improve the game experience, so you should consider playing the game again if you did not use spells at all. - Bats fly at you and you must kill them before they hit you - You just have a bad computer. If you play on medium graphics there is no issue with the game speed. You must select a level of graphics your computer can handle, and we even said above in bold how important that is. - If you think our game isn't polished you can't also tell us to add more features. Each ground enemy has a different speed, but all are melee. - I would rather prefer a wave system in the game. There is one, it is just hidden in the code, unannounced, and can sometimes be fast. This is a change that I would make. - If you sit through the whole tutorial it give you everything you need to play the game. From your comments above, it seems you skipped the tutorial.
Your list of changes is mostly not changes, and they are not difficult to add because they are in the game. Thanks for the comment on the models. The game isn't bad, it is meant to be comical with the enemy types, and intriguing with the gameplay. If played correctly after watching through the tutorial, the game is quite fun, it has some issues, as any quick game may have, but not many.
Great amount of content! A lot of possibilities of play~ Movement itself felt a bit weird for me, the headbob felt very strong, the jump didn't seem to do much and I think it wasn't possible to go diagonally? Aiming was a bit difficult for me also, I couldn't tell if it was the range or some other rule regarding accuracy. Great work!
Interesting game. It's cool that you've spent time to record the tutorial :slight_smile: And the background music gets you ready for battle. I also loved that you've added the spellbook as a dire situations weapon, really helps to mix things up once in a while, when you blow enemies up with a fireball or freeze them, and then slice through the hordes with your sword. To make game's style more consistent I think you should give player something like musket instead of a pistol, but that's not a big deal.
I wish there were some sounds of the enemies or at least visual indicator of the direction, from which the damage is coming. Because some times it gets really hard to understand what deals damage to you right now, especially when a swarm of bats starts bombarding you. Also, the walking animation can be a little bit less "shaky". And of course a crosshair is a must for ranged weapons :smile:
Besides that, it was a nice arena shooter. Good job.
@ryfi @twenty5clocks @cincerteri Nice game, guys. I can really appreciate the 3D modeling and the arena-style battle system. Took me a few tries to realize how the upgrade system but worked but it was fun to play with once I got it figured out. As others have said, probably a little too much headbob and some other gameplay mechanics maybe need some fine tuning, but all in all a pretty cool experience. Solid entry!