EDIT: Sorry for the long comment. I've been in the periphery of game design for a while so I tried to really analyze different elements of the game from that perspective. Also, your comments about making fun and sex-positive games resonated with me, as I've been trying to come up with ways to approach that very topic myself.
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Turns out the Windows build works -- for the most part -- on Ubuntu Linux under WINE. Thus, take any technical criticisms with a grain of salt. Also, I'm going to use cardinal directions for the right thumb buttons since this seems to be the device-independent standard; South is A on XBox gamepads, X on PlayStation, and so on.
I guess I should lead by saying the style of the game is very well-executed for such an early stage of development. The pixel art all works to tell the story you're aiming for -- rigid corporatism vs freewheelers -- and while the main character's more detailed foreground art (in the lower left) does stick out a bit, I assume once the game is a bit more developed it'll be used for dialogue between her and other similarly detailed characters, where it'll blend in just fine.
I'll need to play it again to have any comments on the music, but the sound effects are all solid as well.
The splash screen would only accept a south button press to begin the game from one of the two gamepads I had connected (A Logitech, for reference), but the game proper would prefer the other gamepad (An XBox One). While it's possible this weirdness is confined to WINE, it might be worth making sure multiple gamepad setups don't replicate this bug.
There are one or two human NPCs I couldn't figure out how to free, due to being in unreachable locations. This might come down to needing to read the intro controls dialogue a bit better, but I couldn't figure it out. (Maybe this has to do with the "hidden rewards" you teased in your response to Impy?)
The game froze for a few seconds on my first playthrough, around where a woman was between two walls you're intended to slide underneath. Of note, I didn't skip the controls explanation that time, so it's possible a dialog box was supposed to pop up? I can do some more testing and report back, if you like.
Is there supposed to be a way to deal with the flying enemies other than just dodging their projectiles or using the bomb? They were never in a spot where I could line up a dive kick, either.
Thank you, we'll be sure to look into these technical issues.
RE: reachability, sliding while lubed will increase your speed, and jumping from such a position will greatly increase your jump distance - some hostages require the use of such a jump. As for the flying enemies, they aren't designed to be shot down (although if you really wanted a 100% takedown rate, you could probably still destroy them with some well-timed O-bombs).
I love the pixel art, there's a lot of character to all the little animation transitions. Very strong game stylistically.
The gameplay is quite fluid, but I feel like it needs more of a hook of some sort. An incentive to play and explore the level rather than speeding past all the obstacles. Maybe hidden environmental interactions or a bonus at the end for rescuing all the people. Perhaps there could be mech-suited human enemies that become naked after you defeat them, or some sort of hub where all the people you save go. Speed as a core mechanic is totally fine, but I don't think that in the current form the game is really well suited for it. The detailed environmental design is really inviting for a more exploratory approach.
Very cool demo. I'm excited to see the next big step for this project.
Thanks! Without giving too much away, there is a main hub, and there will be hidden rewards for those who explore the space, but they still need some more polish before we're ready to share them with the world, so they were cut from this version of the demo.
There’s QWERTZ & QWERTY keyboards so sometimes the “Y” and “Z” are switched compared what you might be used to. My suggestion (other than having rebindable keys, because AZERTY is also a thing) would be to use “J” and “K” as default keys instead. Or “N” and “J”. …Or “Q” and “E” together with WASD instead of the arrow keys so it can be played one-handed! x) (Why didn’t I think of that one first… ;) )
Also got the xinput1_4.dll issue, this is due to the game being compiled for Win10, though I'm running on Win7.
Unfortunately, I don't know quite enough about your engine, but if you would like to support Win7, you'll need to find a way to use XInput 1.3, which should still work with Win10 as well.
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EDIT: Sorry for the long comment. I've been in the periphery of game design for a while so I tried to really analyze different elements of the game from that perspective. Also, your comments about making fun and sex-positive games resonated with me, as I've been trying to come up with ways to approach that very topic myself.
----
Turns out the Windows build works -- for the most part -- on Ubuntu Linux under WINE. Thus, take any technical criticisms with a grain of salt. Also, I'm going to use cardinal directions for the right thumb buttons since this seems to be the device-independent standard; South is A on XBox gamepads, X on PlayStation, and so on.
I guess I should lead by saying the style of the game is very well-executed for such an early stage of development. The pixel art all works to tell the story you're aiming for -- rigid corporatism vs freewheelers -- and while the main character's more detailed foreground art (in the lower left) does stick out a bit, I assume once the game is a bit more developed it'll be used for dialogue between her and other similarly detailed characters, where it'll blend in just fine.
I'll need to play it again to have any comments on the music, but the sound effects are all solid as well.
The splash screen would only accept a south button press to begin the game from one of the two gamepads I had connected (A Logitech, for reference), but the game proper would prefer the other gamepad (An XBox One). While it's possible this weirdness is confined to WINE, it might be worth making sure multiple gamepad setups don't replicate this bug.
There are one or two human NPCs I couldn't figure out how to free, due to being in unreachable locations. This might come down to needing to read the intro controls dialogue a bit better, but I couldn't figure it out. (Maybe this has to do with the "hidden rewards" you teased in your response to Impy?)
The game froze for a few seconds on my first playthrough, around where a woman was between two walls you're intended to slide underneath. Of note, I didn't skip the controls explanation that time, so it's possible a dialog box was supposed to pop up? I can do some more testing and report back, if you like.
Is there supposed to be a way to deal with the flying enemies other than just dodging their projectiles or using the bomb? They were never in a spot where I could line up a dive kick, either.
Thank you, we'll be sure to look into these technical issues.
RE: reachability, sliding while lubed will increase your speed, and jumping from such a position will greatly increase your jump distance - some hostages require the use of such a jump. As for the flying enemies, they aren't designed to be shot down (although if you really wanted a 100% takedown rate, you could probably still destroy them with some well-timed O-bombs).
I love the pixel art, there's a lot of character to all the little animation transitions. Very strong game stylistically.
The gameplay is quite fluid, but I feel like it needs more of a hook of some sort. An incentive to play and explore the level rather than speeding past all the obstacles. Maybe hidden environmental interactions or a bonus at the end for rescuing all the people. Perhaps there could be mech-suited human enemies that become naked after you defeat them, or some sort of hub where all the people you save go. Speed as a core mechanic is totally fine, but I don't think that in the current form the game is really well suited for it. The detailed environmental design is really inviting for a more exploratory approach.
Very cool demo. I'm excited to see the next big step for this project.
Thanks! Without giving too much away, there is a main hub, and there will be hidden rewards for those who explore the space, but they still need some more polish before we're ready to share them with the world, so they were cut from this version of the demo.
There’s QWERTZ & QWERTY keyboards so sometimes the “Y” and “Z” are switched compared what you might be used to. My suggestion (other than having rebindable keys, because AZERTY is also a thing) would be to use “J” and “K” as default keys instead. Or “N” and “J”. …Or “Q” and “E” together with WASD instead of the arrow keys so it can be played one-handed! x) (Why didn’t I think of that one first… ;) )
Needless to say, this is the first step on a long journey. That said, keybinding is definitely on the shortlist of features to add next.
Sadly, the windows version tells me it’s missing “XINPUT_4.dll”. The windows version also has a “__MACOSX” folder. Maybe those things are connected.
Thanks for pointing this out, we will look into this issue. The zip file was compressed on the Mac I use to develop, so that might explain the folder.
Also got the xinput1_4.dll issue, this is due to the game being compiled for Win10, though I'm running on Win7.
Unfortunately, I don't know quite enough about your engine, but if you would like to support Win7, you'll need to find a way to use XInput 1.3, which should still work with Win10 as well.