AGDG DEMO DAY 71

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A jam submission

HEAVEN'S PILLAR (Demo)View game page

Fast-paced co-op beat 'em up with the depth and precision of a fighting game.

Submitted by heavenspillardev (@heavenpillardev) — 2 days, 23 hours before the deadline

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HEAVEN'S PILLAR (Demo)'s itch.io page

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Comments

Jonok4 days ago (2 edits)

Good graphics and music, feels like one of those lost arcade in the 90s during

Between the two character Lin is more fun to control but I thing Jin is much stronger or a bit broken cause once I've figured out his combo I could steam roll every enemy

But the movement became really frustrating at the first big boss, I couldn't figure out how to dodge his attacks and all my tries stopped at that point, I wanted to complete the level but it would take me too long to master so I'll wait for another time or the complete version.

heavenspillardevDeveloper4 days ago

Thank you much for playing! Jin is definitely stronger by design, like most grapplers, he's a total gorilla. He sacrifices combo opportunity for immediate damage, and the enemy types in the full version will show some of his weaker aspects. I am working on addressing the sharp difficulty spike with that big enemy, next patch will see players given more breathing room to figure out his pattern as well as addressing the pseudo touch of death in the corner. It's worth mentioning that this demo level ends in a high score survival mode, so there's no real end! I hope you get more out of not only next patch but the full release. Thanks again for playing and attaching a video, nothing more informative than gameplay footage.

NyLad15Submitted5 days ago (2 edits)

-Music was great. There's a part in the track that kept reminding me of Lakim's A Pimp Named Slickback.
-The background art is really well-done. Character art and animations are great.
-Enemy AI is a little funny. The first enemy type you fight I can walk to the back of the screen and he'll just keep moving towards me without attacking even if he's up in my face. Also managed to get one in an invulnerable state where it wouldn't act at all.
-I was playing it like a fighting game at first, but there's no blocking is there? Not a critique, but laughed at myself a bit when I realized I was holding back on the d-pad for no reason and could get smacked regardless.

The game has an undeniable lots of sauce to the attacks, SFX, hit reactions, and animations. Seems like you have a solid idea of what you want out of your game and are executing well on it in every aspect. Keep up the great work.

Submitted

heavenspillardevDeveloper4 days ago(+1)

Thank you much! Sadly lost touch with the musician, so he'll never know how based he is... As for the enemy AI, that enemy is hesitant to start his attack pattern because he prioritizes getting to his target position over attacking. If you keep wiggling in place in front of him (say 6-10px at a time), he'll never attack. I thought it was fine for this demo because players needed a sandbag to familiarize themselves with the moves on, but I do plan on fixing it at some point. The soft lock is on high priority for fixing as well, every time I think it's fixed, it shows up again haha. You're correct that there's no blocking, I found it slowed the game down too much, I want to incentivize players to use their character's defense option (Meihua's counter/parry, and Huolong's super armor). Thanks again for playing, and I appreciate the feedback.

Penguin GardenSubmitted5 days ago

I played for a bit, it looks great visually but I had some issues with the controls. They didn't seem super responsive, for example you don't jump sometimes when you want to. I think it's because there's no buffer? You have to press jump exactly in a neutral state and you can't hold jump like in other games.

I was doing pretty well until I got to the boss and he bodied me and I wasn't able to move in between his grabs so it felt like a touch of death. Maybe I could have done something but it wasn't clear to me.

I'll try it again in co-op eventually and see how that works

Submitted

heavenspillardevDeveloper5 days ago

Thanks for playing! Jump has a smaller buffer than attacks ( 3 frames for jump input presses, 6 frames for attack input presses, both durations extended by the amount of hit stop freeze frames), but it has one. You're correct that it doesn't respond to being held. I'll experiment with more lenient jumping. Did any other actions stick out to you as unresponsive? I'm aware of the overly strict neutral attack inputs being a problem as well.

That enemy has been a big problem for players. I wrote up some example strategies in another reply, but an information gap is the main theme of the feedback I've gotten so far. I'm working on an update to fix hiccups with the controls, adjust the attack pattern on that enemy, and provide a basic overview of the mechanics in the move list. I appreciate you flagging this stuff for me!

Penguin GardenSubmitted5 days ago(+1)

I think the jump was the only thing that bothered me but I'm used to older fighting games so I don't mind shorter input windows that much

xChimpSubmitted7 days ago

Visually i love it and the soundtrack is nice. I think you just really need a tutorial because even having played a bunch of fighting games it didn't really feel intuitive just by looking at the move list and trying to figure it out from there. It wasn't clear what my defensive options are, how to chain moves etc. Short explanations on what the moves can be used for in the move list would be helpful. Pls also consider a third strike style parry.

Submitted

heavenspillardevDeveloper6 days ago(+1)

Thanks for playing! The information gap seems to be the sticking point for a lot of players. I didn't want to rob players of discovery, but it's true that the move list is a bit too vague. There's probably some magic combination of textual info and opportunity to experiment that would satisfy people lmao.

3S style parry was implemented at one point, but in a PVE game, it trivializes encounters. The enemies in the demo reward aggression by having large gaps in their attack patterns to exploit. Allowing you to take your turn at any point means you can ignore their patterns by reacting quickly.

shiroigadevSubmitted7 days ago

i really like and appreciate the amount of effort put into the art, please keep it up!

it's a bit frustrating when i press a button and nothing happens, i think this is happening because there's no actual move associated with that direction+button? such as forward+kick as the guy.

i'm not very good at fighting games, but i definitely feel like some of my inputs are getting dropped. i don't feel as powerful as i would normally think with a game like this, with normal enemies being able to wreck me. if the intended audience is fighting game players, this might be fine?

Submitted

heavenspillardevDeveloper6 days ago

Thanks for playing! Your point about inputs resulting in nothing is a huge oversight on my part, you're right that it happens when there's no move associated with a direction. Neutral inputs are too strict. Beyond that, would you mind specifically noting when you felt like inputs were getting dropped? I recently reworked the input buffer so it's worth investigating.

As far as normal enemies being tough, that's by design. Normal beat em' ups build their challenge around crowd control and dealing with hordes of enemies, the natural consequence is feeling powerful mowing down a ton of dudes. This game aims to make encounters micro fighting game matches where understanding your tools and how they relate to your opponent's tools is the reward.

JuicyChickenSubmitted7 days ago

I love the aesthetic. I feel like we are not given the tools to beat the first boss. There seems to be a combo system but didn't figure out any significant combos.

Submitted

Eternal Enigma: Avarice's Abyss

heavenspillardevDeveloper7 days ago

Thank you so much for not only playing, but posting that video, very informative! The large enemy is definitely a hurdle for everyone who's tried the game lol. There is a pretty robust combo system, though if you don't have a background in fighting games, you may not know what to look for. The game uses both Hunter Chains (Punches can cancel into kicks and vice versa) as well as Magic Series (Attacks can cancel into one another in ascending strength: normal attack > command normal > special), additionally, at the cost of 50 meter per cancel, special attacks can be canceled into one another. Based on your video, you found the character specific target combos, so I won't mention them. In terms of tools specifically for that enemy, both characters have attacks that will break the super armor that enemy uses. Once his armor is broken, he receives double hit stun. I also recommend learning both character's defensive options to deal with that projectile of his and using rolls to get out of tight spots. I wasn't planning on including a tutorial in the demo, but there may be a need for some sort of onboarding!

JuicyChickenSubmitted7 days ago

bruh I've been on top rank of many anime fighting games. guilty gear, dnf, gbvs, umc3, mb etc. I could not figure ts out.

St0rmbringerSubmitted7 days ago

Loved the soundtrack and the sfx for the punches that feel like an old school anime ( please don't change em ). This game is pretty solid! Although I don't really play fighting games, I had a blast trying to rack up aerials and fighting the small guys before the big one stun locks me into death. Very interested in more!

Submitted

Air-Strip Angel

heavenspillardevDeveloper7 days ago

Thank you much! That big guy sticks out for a lot of players, kind of a knowledge check enemy. I plan on making a tutorial or some sort of onboarding at some point so you have the requisite knowledge he checks lmao. Thanks again for playing

Big Greg GamesSubmitted8 days ago(+1)

Love the art. game is fun. co op is for sure huge for this. No bugs found, no complaints..

Submitted