- Bomb spam is not as powerful as the last time I played, but some screens feel impossible without abusing bombs anyway. Mostly because enemies approach the player from awkward angles from which they can't be hit without repositioning.
- I think that a lot of enemies are too tanky to reward quick reflexes because they can reliably retaliate against the player when hit.
- I'm unsure of the direction that the game is going towards at this stage, but my recommendation would be main weapon modifiers to mix things up. Such as a weaker automatic gun, a shotgun with multiple projectiles and a small spread, a slower gun with a larger explosion, another slower gun that pierces through enemies like a railgun, and maybe even a weak gun that tracks enemies. In short: Steal all the weapons from Contra and Metal Slug.
"- I think that a lot of enemies are too tanky to reward quick reflexes because they can reliably retaliate against the player when hit." by chance you remember witch enemy felt tanky? since all enemies require 1-2 shots to die, it must be a bug.
"- I'm unsure of the direction that the game is going towards at this stage, but my recommendation would be main weapon modifiers to mix things up. Such as a weaker automatic gun, a shotgun with multiple projectiles and a small spread, a slower gun with a larger explosion, another slower gun that pierces through enemies like a railgun, and maybe even a weak gun that tracks enemies. In short: Steal all the weapons from Contra and Metal Slug." in your pov you are thiking more of a limited weapon, like slug; or a full substitute via pick up, like contra?
not a big fan of bullet hells. they make the player feel weak and helpless this is not helped by the fact that the range of the gun is so limited that it doesn't even reach half of the width of the arena, so i shoot enemies and my bullets just evaporate halfway through, though i understand the balance reasoning to prevent cheesing from a distance i don't really like how the music stops when you receive damage. i get it, you need to communicate to the player that they got hit, but it doesn't SOUND good. it stops the flow
Was a bit hard to get going, I have a very old controller that didn’t work correctly, KB also somehow I couldn’t figure out though I think you just have weird keybind defaults. Anyway eventually I plugged in a newer controller model I have and it worked fine.
Still enjoying Robotemplar’s floating movement a lot.
Bit hard to comment on gameplay otherwise, I think the motivation would come from the power-ups if anything, but so far they seemed to be without effect.
thanks for the feedback and double ty for the video; " I think the motivation would come from the power-ups if anything, but so far they seemed to be without effect."
can you expand on this? i dont understand if you think they are not worty enough, or if you see them outright bugged
ED: i now understand after seeing your vid. my basic tip would be "there is a tutorial for first time players". but your "cold plunge" has value. there is a reason isaac has a start screen with the command layout in it.
i appriciate the effort, but i totally understand why you bounced off the game. my suggestion, if you are still interested on what this game is, and what it can do, is to play the tutorial. It has both controls for kb and pad, so you'll know how to play. (and it's literally 3min).
Pressing LMB in main menu, triggers the selected button even if I'm not pointing at it. When I was doing something on 2nd screen and returned to the game by clicking on the game window, it triggered the start button.
Shooting very close to walls doesn't explode the bullet on the wall, more like behind it. I had to walk away to hit enemy that was right next to me which feels like an error.
I don't understand what's the purpose of walking during combat. It just punishes player for touching the ground.
New spider biome looks nice. I like the pyramid aesthetic. The enemies didn't feel fun to fight though. They require a lot of caution which slows down the game, and even then it feels impossible to clean up those jumping enemies and web slinging spiders without getting hit, especially if they're both present at the same time. At 38:30 I'm trying to bait the spider into more favorable position because I can't shoot him when he's up in the corner due to that bullet collision issue. It's tedious.
Idk something about axe makes it feel like the weakest weapon currently. I think it's supposed to be the opposite of that falling bomb, in terms of hitting only from player height and up, but it's hard to aim. Did it work like that in the previous version? I feel like it was stronger back then. I'm writing this later, after rewatching the recording: I didn't realize axe can cut the web while I was playing. Now I feel like axe is best weapon for spiders.
Some levels feel impossible, I'm not sure if it's due to unlucky rng or because I failed at managing the enemy count and they snowball out of control.
There's less hp drops, I think. It makes the game harder, but getting rid of that bomb spamming playstyle I used last time feels like a right choice.
I enjoy playing it, but the difficulty curve is a cliff. You have to thug it out at the start and try again and again until you get good.
thank you again for the lenghy feedback and double for video
"Shooting very close to walls doesn't explode the bullet on the wall, more like behind it. I had to walk away to hit enemy that was right next to me which feels like an error." i'll screen your playthrough to see this, i thought i solved this issue, so ty
"Now I feel like axe is best weapon for spiders." that's the design, lmao. but jokes aside, i find strange that you didnt ever noticed it while playing, just on review. i have to see if this is someting common or not
"Some levels feel impossible, I'm not sure if it's due to unlucky rng or because I failed at managing the enemy count and they snowball out of control."
the rng itself should be in check, but ofc i'm still learning what's "a good level", in this game. The only exception that comes to mind would be if you leave a lot of spawners alive(big plants in slime sewers), but even in that case i have a limiter on how many children they can have at once. on the other side i can say that the feel of being one step from being overwhelmed is kinda the point, since i've setup waves to rush and not wait like classic design does. moreover (this is also a thing that can be useful in your game): since this is an arcade experince, meant to be re-played a lot, making the first stages "too easy" can give boredom to returning players. there is a good balance to be found.
"There's less hp drops, I think. It makes the game harder, but getting rid of that bomb spamming playstyle I used last time feels like a right choice." nice
"I enjoy playing it, but the difficulty curve is a cliff. You have to thug it out at the start and try again and again until you get good." ye you got the design. my aim is kinda the feel of a pinball game, or ubermosh. again, since i dunno yet what's a good level, i can't make a good difficulty curve. another problem is that so far i dunno how long "a run" should be. it's also all connected to "first stage boredom" problem.
since you think this is a cliff, and you seem an action guy like me, probably i need to tune it down at least a little
Comments
- Bomb spam is not as powerful as the last time I played, but some screens feel impossible without abusing bombs anyway. Mostly because enemies approach the player from awkward angles from which they can't be hit without repositioning.
- I think that a lot of enemies are too tanky to reward quick reflexes because they can reliably retaliate against the player when hit.
- I'm unsure of the direction that the game is going towards at this stage, but my recommendation would be main weapon modifiers to mix things up. Such as a weaker automatic gun, a shotgun with multiple projectiles and a small spread, a slower gun with a larger explosion, another slower gun that pierces through enemies like a railgun, and maybe even a weak gun that tracks enemies. In short: Steal all the weapons from Contra and Metal Slug.
- Keep up the good work.
"- I think that a lot of enemies are too tanky to reward quick reflexes because they can reliably retaliate against the player when hit."
by chance you remember witch enemy felt tanky? since all enemies require 1-2 shots to die, it must be a bug.
"- I'm unsure of the direction that the game is going towards at this stage, but my recommendation would be main weapon modifiers to mix things up. Such as a weaker automatic gun, a shotgun with multiple projectiles and a small spread, a slower gun with a larger explosion, another slower gun that pierces through enemies like a railgun, and maybe even a weak gun that tracks enemies. In short: Steal all the weapons from Contra and Metal Slug."
in your pov you are thiking more of a limited weapon, like slug; or a full substitute via pick up, like contra?
also ty for giving feedback again
I think it depends on what the future of RoboTemplar looks like.
Either way I think weapon modifiers are easy wins.
not a big fan of bullet hells. they make the player feel weak and helpless
this is not helped by the fact that the range of the gun is so limited that it doesn't even reach half of the width of the arena, so i shoot enemies and my bullets just evaporate halfway through, though i understand the balance reasoning to prevent cheesing from a distance
i don't really like how the music stops when you receive damage. i get it, you need to communicate to the player that they got hit, but it doesn't SOUND good. it stops the flow
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2865743846
Was a bit hard to get going, I have a very old controller that didn’t work correctly, KB also somehow I couldn’t figure out though I think you just have weird keybind defaults. Anyway eventually I plugged in a newer controller model I have and it worked fine.
Still enjoying Robotemplar’s floating movement a lot.
Bit hard to comment on gameplay otherwise, I think the motivation would come from the power-ups if anything, but so far they seemed to be without effect.
thanks for the feedback and double ty for the video;
" I think the motivation would come from the power-ups if anything, but so far they seemed to be without effect."
can you expand on this? i dont understand if you think they are not worty enough, or if you see them outright bugged
ED: i now understand after seeing your vid.
my basic tip would be "there is a tutorial for first time players". but your "cold plunge" has value. there is a reason isaac has a start screen with the command layout in it.
i appriciate the effort, but i totally understand why you bounced off the game. my suggestion, if you are still interested on what this game is, and what it can do, is to play the tutorial. It has both controls for kb and pad, so you'll know how to play. (and it's literally 3min).
Whoops. Game journalist tier. I will try doing a better job next time.
Pressing LMB in main menu, triggers the selected button even if I'm not pointing at it. When I was doing something on 2nd screen and returned to the game by clicking on the game window, it triggered the start button.
Shooting very close to walls doesn't explode the bullet on the wall, more like behind it. I had to walk away to hit enemy that was right next to me which feels like an error.
I don't understand what's the purpose of walking during combat. It just punishes player for touching the ground.
New spider biome looks nice. I like the pyramid aesthetic. The enemies didn't feel fun to fight though. They require a lot of caution which slows down the game, and even then it feels impossible to clean up those jumping enemies and web slinging spiders without getting hit, especially if they're both present at the same time. At 38:30 I'm trying to bait the spider into more favorable position because I can't shoot him when he's up in the corner due to that bullet collision issue. It's tedious.
Idk something about axe makes it feel like the weakest weapon currently. I think it's supposed to be the opposite of that falling bomb, in terms of hitting only from player height and up, but it's hard to aim. Did it work like that in the previous version? I feel like it was stronger back then.
I'm writing this later, after rewatching the recording: I didn't realize axe can cut the web while I was playing. Now I feel like axe is best weapon for spiders.
Some levels feel impossible, I'm not sure if it's due to unlucky rng or because I failed at managing the enemy count and they snowball out of control.
There's less hp drops, I think. It makes the game harder, but getting rid of that bomb spamming playstyle I used last time feels like a right choice.
I enjoy playing it, but the difficulty curve is a cliff. You have to thug it out at the start and try again and again until you get good.
thank you again for the lenghy feedback and double for video
"Shooting very close to walls doesn't explode the bullet on the wall, more like behind it. I had to walk away to hit enemy that was right next to me which feels like an error."
i'll screen your playthrough to see this, i thought i solved this issue, so ty
"Now I feel like axe is best weapon for spiders."
that's the design, lmao. but jokes aside, i find strange that you didnt ever noticed it while playing, just on review. i have to see if this is someting common or not
"Some levels feel impossible, I'm not sure if it's due to unlucky rng or because I failed at managing the enemy count and they snowball out of control."
the rng itself should be in check, but ofc i'm still learning what's "a good level", in this game. The only exception that comes to mind would be if you leave a lot of spawners alive(big plants in slime sewers), but even in that case i have a limiter on how many children they can have at once.
on the other side i can say that the feel of being one step from being overwhelmed is kinda the point, since i've setup waves to rush and not wait like classic design does.
moreover (this is also a thing that can be useful in your game): since this is an arcade experince, meant to be re-played a lot, making the first stages "too easy" can give boredom to returning players. there is a good balance to be found.
"There's less hp drops, I think. It makes the game harder, but getting rid of that bomb spamming playstyle I used last time feels like a right choice."
nice
"I enjoy playing it, but the difficulty curve is a cliff. You have to thug it out at the start and try again and again until you get good."
ye you got the design. my aim is kinda the feel of a pinball game, or ubermosh. again, since i dunno yet what's a good level, i can't make a good difficulty curve. another problem is that so far i dunno how long "a run" should be. it's also all connected to "first stage boredom" problem.
since you think this is a cliff, and you seem an action guy like me, probably i need to tune it down at least a little