Hi everyone, happy to return the favor. I've had many users try the browser demo (vertical slice of combat). Looking for play testers for the opening act of the game (~15 minutes of gameplay). If anyone could make it to the first boss, feedback would be so greatly appreciated (and I would of course be happy to return the effort for your project).
Hello, I've been playing ur game for around 25 minutes, and I do have some feedback. To start with, some positives, I really like the reflect spell as it reminds me of a parry. I also like the art and atmosphere, as it really reminded me of a fantasy castle. Now I do have some critiques. Overall, the gameplay felt really slow as the player's speed was slow compared to the size of the rooms. And there was a yellow stamina bar, which I couldn't find its use or what it was for (was this a sprint mechanic?) I think speeding up the combat would do wonders and make the fights more engaging, and make manoeuvring around the map way better, especially since common enemies are spread out. Another thing that annoyed me was the save point around the first boss, as when dead, u lose all ur healing potions and food and this problem is exacerbated as the boss, imo, felt a bit dragged out. It felt like it was just 2 attacks repeating, making it feel like a bullet hell but with fewer bullets. I did the fact that u can break his shield by reflecting. Also, since upgrading the sword, it seems to far outweigh the use of fireballs and booma rang, this felt like there was no point to use them and the magic shield that absorbed felt boring. These are really just my main problems. TLDR: increase gameplay speed, add more moves to the boss and maybe make killing him less of a drag, increase player speed, or add a sprint ( or u can make enemies less far apart), make spells more useful, and make save points save ur items used in boss fights. ALSO MAKE THE PLAYER SPRITE SMALLER. The fact that the player is bigger than the environment makes the enemies less intimidating and breaks immersion. That's it really, and I really like to see this project improve, and I would be happy to play future demos.
Thank you so much for taking the time to play and give such detailed feedback, I really appreciate it. Happy to return the favor if you have any projects you're working on.
The yellow stamina bar is for heavy melee attacks. If you played just the browser demo it does not do a great job of introducing that feature, i'm afraid. A sprint mechanic is an interesting idea. Did you happen to try double rolling or triple rolling? I know the demo doesn't explain that but just curious if your feelings of the movement would be altered any by the triple roll speed boost.
Ah right -- dying and no longer having any food or potions is a real drag! I will try and think of something that can help alleviate that frustration. Just to quickly clarify, the boss you're referring to is the cultist leader, not the ghostly spirit, correct?
Again, thank you SO much for your incredibly feedback. I will directly take your comments into account and think about how your feedback can improve the game!
Wow, the game is seriously very good and has a lot of potential. I made it to the first boss, but my browser kept glitching and it eventually got too annoying, so I had to quit.
If the game were fully complete, I would play it 100%. I honestly don’t see anything majorly wrong with it.
The sword combat didn’t fully convince me yet. I liked the inventory, but it feels like it’s missing something — though I can’t quite say what.
One small thing: I don’t really like how the “Potion +1” icon appears right above the character when you craft potions. I’d prefer a cleaner UI where it shows up on the side of the screen with a nicer design. That said, it’s not a huge issue.
The game gives me strong vibes of those titles where you become super overpowered in the end-game with cool, flashy abilities. I believe it can get there while still keeping its souls-like essence.
It has massive potential, and once a complete polished version is out, I’ll definitely play it.
Wow thanks so much for your kind words and awesome feedback! I really appreciate it. I'm sorry that your browser kept glitching! I wonder if it's anything on my end that I could improve. One thing I am in the process of doing is optimizing the browser build to run as light as possible, which should help with issues like that in the future.
I wanted to let you know that the FULL demo is now live, and I implemented many if not all of your suggestions!
- Expanded sword combat, with many cool moves still in the works, including a new ability called "Sunder" (a powerful overhead slam).
- Cleaned up the "Potion +1" icon appearance and draw method to anchor to the processing window, per your suggestion <3.
I played for a bit over half an hour, until the first boss - skill issue, after I died twice schlepping back to the boss (the fire mage guy) room seemed like too much. I am not a big soulslike player, and I couldn't figure out what the solution to this guy is - his attacks that are chasing me seem to just keep on chasing, so there's more and more of them on the screen all the time.
Changing the resolution on Web version disappeared my character.
The movement of the main character is very slow. It was the only thing in the game that I found annoying. I was left feeling that there are secret rooms to reveal, but the movement of the MC is so slow I didn't really try looking for them.
Beyond that - I love the art, it works well. The game has a coherent world feel, very inviting to explore. Combat against mobs was fun and satisfying, with a lot of room to grow. I wish I could use the environmental hazards against the mobs. Also could use more indication of "cooldown finished" or "mana ready" for abilities.
Thank you for such thoughtful feedback! I'm so happy you enjoyed it enough to keep playing <3.
You are not the only one having issues with the boss, so I think it's time I reconsider some of his attacks and mechanics. The solution was either rolling through the attacks, using your invincible frames to clean the up, or using magic parry ability (Q) to deflect them back to him. I think I mistakenly tuned the fight with magic parry in mind, because if the user deflects those projectiles back, it does a ton of damage and makes the fight quite fast. But I can see that, if the player never purchases the magic parry upgrade (which is likely), and doesn't have much practice or experience with rolling to dodge yet, then that fight becomes too challenging and frustrating. Thank you for pointing this out, I will make some changes! One thing that immediately came to mind is giving those projectiles an expiration timer so they don't stay on the screen and keep chasing you -- they would move toward you for a bit and then expire. That might help a bit.
Thank you for heads up on the resolution -- if you don't mind me clarifying, was it any resolution option, or one in particular? I think I will have to just have it be the base resolution or full-screen options in the web version.
Ah the movement -- yes a few people have pointed this out, as well. It feels slow, and the roll (and double roll mechanic) also feel a bit repetitive and annoying to press over and over just to get around more quickly. I've increase the base movement speed just now and it actually feels a lot better, thank you for the tip!
I'm glad the combat felt fun! This has been my main area of focus, I really want it to feel satisfying, especially the combos and synergies between abilities. I will definitely let the hazards hit mobs! That's a great idea, I will put it on my list. I can also give more of a visual indicator when cooldowns finish.
Thank you again for all this insightful feedback, I really appreciate it! I think posts like yours and the above have really improved the game in ways I couldn't have done alone.
Playtime: about 15 minutes
There is a lot here for a demo, and the pixel-art Souls-like presentation has a strong identity. The world feels cohesive and there seems to be enough combat and progression depth to keep experimenting.
Overall, this feels much further along than a lot of demos I have tried. I would mostly keep polishing clarity and accessibility around the existing systems rather than dramatically changing the core experience. Tightening the core game loop would be my top priority if I was building this game at least.
Please consider giving my game a try, it’s browser based with a tight 2-3 minute game loop: https://barelyplayable.itch.io/blade-baes-brawl
Feedback form submissions preferred: https://forms.gle/fsJrAZDhJtP1CFXX8
Let me know if you’d like an invite to try the invite-only full alpha build :)
Hi, I think this is a solid work, especially in terms of its narrative atmosphere. That said, I do think the key binding issue needs to be addressed—it seems like right-click dragging might cause crashes (though I'm not sure if there are other triggers). The pacing of the early combat and narrative feels a bit slow—I'd personally prefer to get into the intense action a little sooner.
