Post by 《~Aetherpixel~》 in Debriz comments

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I played the whole demo, and I gotta leave five stars. Absolutely peak game!

Most of the gameplay is great, but I have a few critiques.

When I'm running from bullets, I have barely any time to aim and shoot. Could you make the cursor automatically target the closest enemy when the player stops running?
It'd be nice to get your HP restored between battles. That'd make it unique from armor, instead of armor just being extra HP.

Also, regarding the graphics: Can you hire AAA studios? Your art is unparalleled. Simple sprites, readable UI, textured combat environments...

Rebecca decimated me right after I'd gotten my first pair of armor, and then 5 minutes later I smoked that thieving prick with no armor to my name and only 3 stims. Felt pretty good lol

Ishmaru32 days ago

Thank you for your feedback!
So your health does restore after every battle. In the demo you have 3 hp at the start of every battle. Armor does not.

I'm currently brainstorming some ideas to smooth out the pain points everyone is having with combat.

I'm glad everyone's is enjoying the artwork so far!

《~Aetherpixel~》32 days ago

Oh, I guess I didn't notice that. By the way, the tutorial is misleading. You need to anticipate the drone's movements when using a grenade, not center the crosshair on it. Another thing is that caps lock breaks A (Z) and B (X).

Excluding menu navigation, here's a table of all the inputs and how they're used.

	Arrow Keys	A (Z)	B (X)	Select (Shift)	Start (Enter)
Exploration	Movement	Open lootboxes		Open save menu	Open inventory
Combat (Attack Mode)	Aiming	Shoot dem robotz	(HOLD) Switch to movement mode	Open inventory	Pause game
Combat (Movement Mode)	Left/Right moves	Quick dodge	(RELEASE) Switch to attack mode	Open inventory	Pause game

As you can see, there are a few gaps in the keybinds used.

In combat, Start (Enter) is a redundancy, since Select (Shift) already pauses the game. +1 Keybind!
In exploration, Start (Enter) may as well allow for a save/load option on the right side of the screen, which is unused.
U/D is unused during movement. +2 Keybinds!
B (X) is unused during exploration. Not sure what you could use it for, but +1 Keybind!

Here's my version of the controls:

	D-Pad/Arrow Keys	A (Z)	B (X)	Select (Shift)	Start (Enter)
Exploration	Movement	Open lootboxes			Open inventory/save menu
Combat (Attack Mode)	Aiming	Shoot dem robotz	(HOLD) Switch to movement mode		Open inventory
Combat (Movement Mode)	Left/Right moves Up throws grenade above you Down uses a stim	(PRESS) Quick dodge (HOLD) Shoot directly upwards	(RELEASE) Switch to attack mode		Open inventory

In my version, I've removed a few redundancies and even added more functionality!

Select (Shift) is entirely unused, as well a B (X) when exploring.
A (Z) has more functionality in movement mode.
D-Pad/Arrow Keys no longer have unused inputs in movement mode.

Do note that Start (Enter) performs the same function in attack mode and movement mode. (Redundancy!!)

Ishmaru31 days ago

So this is an interesting control setup you have created I keep your suggestions in mind!

I do want to say that there is some logic behind some of the redundancy. For example in classic Gameboy games 'Start' is universally a pause button, and 'Select' is some sort of toggle for weapons,items, or modes for a game so it actually does make sense to have both bound the way they are, as they follow control conventions of games back in that era.

《~Aetherpixel~》31 days ago

Yea, fair point. If you really do need more room for input combinations, this is the path to follow. Otherwise, just keep what you got! The game plays great already, and aside from a few QOL improvements, there's little to change :)

Ishmaru30 days ago

Thank you again!

《~Aetherpixel~》31 days ago

Ishmaru? Have ye seen my reply?

Ishmaru31 days ago

Sorry haven't had a chance to look this over, will look it over today.

itch.io

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