I really like the recoil mechanic. It feels like a fresh addition to a classic formula. I also appreciated the way damage effects the movement options - that was a nice touch as well.
This is a cool thing you've put together - I like the core tension of the recoil presenting as big a danger to you as the enemies themselves. It's pretty clear what the purpose of the game is and how you're meant to interact with it.
I think broadly I would suggest two areas of improvement. The first would be controls, I had trouble moving around and aiming the way I wanted to, overall the friction felt very low. Second is a bit of general communication - a lot of things happened that I wasn't exactly sure what it meant. I think if a enemy hits you, you lose your little jump pad? My guess is to encourage using recoil to jump, but I'm not sure. Also whether enemies were red or green was confusing to me.
But really this is a cool thing! You have a lot of feedback and nothing here is fundamentally wrong, just needs some overall cleanup, good work!
I’m sorry to hear that you were frustrated by the controls. The movement seems to need more tweaking. I tried to have the gun movement as accurate as the player wanted it to be by including toggle-able gun acceleration and sensitivity in the settings. You’re spot-on about the lack of communication. Since the game is extremely simple, I tried my hardest to communicate everything without a formal tutorial but that apparently needs a lot more work. You’re correct in understanding that you lose your jump-pad upon being touched by the enemy robots and the recoil power of your gun increases so that you can jump using the recoil itself. The enemies turning green was meant to indicate that they’ve completed their objective of touching you and can hence no longer harm you.
Thank you very much for the terrific feedback! Thanks also for playing 😄
Hey - this is neat! I liked that the gun recoil affected the character and could be used for movement. I tend to jump into games without reading many instructions and so the on-screen prompt for the keys was nice and I picked up on it pretty quick.
A couple of pieces of feedback: it would be nice if the crests that the enemies drop had a bit more visual pop - hard to see red on a pink background so I didn't really notice them right away. Also getting a game over when falling meant that I played it really safe and just stayed on the bottom platform so I didn't end a run just by jumping - might be good to bring character back after a fall but with one tick of damage.
Hi! Thank you for the kind comment. I’m glad you liked those elements of my game.
It totally makes sense now that I think about it that the kill tokens needed to be animated or something else needed to be done to emphasize their importance since, as you’ve pointed out, they’re hard to even notice atm.
From your comment and those of a couple others, I understand that the dominant strategy that emerged as a result of the fall and die instantly rule is pretty boring and discourages movement. That is crucial feedback which I really could’ve used during development. Nevertheless , it taught me the importance of playtesting early and often. So, thank you very much both for your feedback and for playing my game 😊
This is really cool! I love the movement mechanics, it's really fun to miss around with. Only downside is that I'm very bad and the arena design really limits playing around with them without dying. Taking damage changing how you can move around is also very interesting, but I wish there was a way to recover lost parts (unless I missed it?) because, again, I am very bad.
It’s totally not your fault for being unable to move around the level that much. I’ve realized that the movement mechanics were begging for a more open level but I failed to understand that while developing.
I was this close to implementing a system where collecting enough kill tokens would grant you lost parts. After reading your comment, I regret not implementing that.
Thank you so much for playing my game and leaving a comment :]
This is a fun little game! I really like the cute visual touches like the sweep behind the gun as it moves, and the damage being actually represented on the robot by the loss of your spring then wheels rather than a generic health bar or hearts count or something
I think the thing I got on with least was the floatiness / weightlessness of the movement with wasd, I definitely get that you don't want the player to be too in control otherwise it would be too easy but there's something about how quickly you can speed up and drift around that feels off to me. Also like the other commenter I actually just used the arrow keys at first and was a bit confused before realising you were supposed to use both hands haha
I couldn't quite tell if the recoil got more powerful over time or as you collect points but I enjoyed how it forces you to adapt a bit, and also lets you go on without the spring and bounce around in the air without touching the ground. I feel like you could probably do a whole game around just this mechanic with no / limited wheel movement if you wanted
I loved hearing that you liked that mechanic! You made me realize that I really should’ve listened to what the game was telling me and should’ve leveraged that fun mechanic more. Perhaps a more vertical level would’ve done it more justice. Thank you for taking the time to play my little game :)
I'm very glad that you found my game fun! Thank you for letting me know about the floatiness of the controls. I did intentionally want the robot to be a bit slippery when it had wheels so that the recoil mechanic and the bombs become a considerable threat but it's clear from your feedback that the values needed a bit more tweaking.
Also, I didn't do a great job of communicating that the recoil got powerful when you lost your jumping-pad so as to compensate for your lack of ability to jump. Sorry about that and thank you for pointing it out. Big thanks for playing and taking the time to leave this comment :)
Hey, this is a fun time! I like the clean aesthetic of the game and the simple nuance of the gameplay: it really clicked for me when I realized I would have to collect the little red chevrons, rather than sitting far away and sniping.
A couple thoughts
I love the clean lines of the background, the enemies, and the menus - the black outlines of the player character sort of stand apart from those.
I'm not sure if I just didn't survive long enough, but I never felt like I had a good window of time to go collect the enemy chevons - I was just in survival mode the whole time, and if they happened to drop where I could get them, all the better.
I was surprised that falling off the edge was an instant fail. This is me bringing my own expectations to the game, so take them with a grain of salt, but I expected either a Smash Bros style lives system (since falling seems to be a pretty likely outcome while jumping around this stage) or even a loop around where you fall off the bottom and appear on the top, even if that doesn't logically make sense.
And a couple bugs you may or may not be aware of:
You can use the arrow keys to navigate the menu, but I didn't know that and was already using the mouse to activate the game, and the mouse cursor also lets you navigate the menu - except, the mouse cursor is hidden for the game! This led to me trying to navigate the menus using an invisible cursor until I got into the game and realized the arrow keys would be utilized.
Hitting "Quit" in the game when it's embedded in an itch page results in a funky state. I'm using Chrome on Windows 10, in case that matters.
I really appreciate you pointing out the positives and negatives of the game. I'm delighted to hear that you liked the aesthetics; I'm not an artist by any stretch of the imagination. Many of the issues that you've mentioned seem like they could've been detected and rectified earlier on had I done some playtesting. So, I've learned a good lesson there. Thanks also for making me aware of the bugs. I did know that they existed but since I only used it how it was intended to be used, it never occurred to me that a user might not realize that and that I should fix it. Goes to show the importance of playtesting again. I am very grateful to you for taking the time to play, analyze, and leave an elaborate comment that taught me good lessons. It is sure to stick with me in the future and help me make better games :D
I played without looking at the screenshots which I realise now would have helped me understand the game quicker.
At first I was a bit confused and thought that AWD and Left Up Right were just two possible different ways to control the movement of the robot, i.e. I didn't realise that the AWD controlled movement of the robot, and the arrow keys controlled movement of the arm/shooting. I worked it out by accident when I decided to try using the arrow keys to move because it seemed like it might be more comfortable.
Because I was playing in a browser that wasn't full screen, I could see all of the play area except the little platform at the bottom. So I was confused why I kept falling and dying. I initially thought it was breakout where you are controlling a thing that doesn't need to stand on a platform, you just hover in space, but for some reason I kept dying. But it was obvious what the problem was when I made the browser full screen.
I like that you can still move by using the gun after you lose your wheels.
It took me quite a while to understand that if you get hit once you lose your jump-pad, if you get hit another time you lose your wheels. The jump-pad especially, I just found that I couldn't jump and didn't make the connection and thought I was pressing the wrong button or something.
I don't understand if there is any significance to the enemy robots starting with grey arrows then that changes to red arrows.
I think Green arrows means the robot has hurt you, but won't hurt you again? I am not sure. At first I thought it meant the robot had become your friend!
It's fun realising that you can get to the higher platforms by using the guns recoil to jump higher. But for me it seems easier to get a high score by just staying at the bottom and shooting the robots while you're there. It's a little bit of a shame that you can do this fun thing, but it seems safer/smarter not to.
Wow. Thank you so much for taking the time to play my game and write this detailed comment. Your feedback made me realize a lot of areas where I can do better at communicating to the player. And you absolutely shouldn't be required to view the screenshots in order to play; I should've done a better job of communicating the rules of the game more clearly.
My intention with the enemy eyes being grey before touching the ground was to communicate that they're not hostile and won't hurt you if you touch them before they've been fully deployed.
Also, you are absolutely right about the dominant strategy being staying in the lowermost platform. I should've done a better job of incentivizing movement to higher platforms.
I don't think I will be updating the game any more since I've marked this project complete but your feedback has been precious in making me see what I couldn't see through the lens of a developer and I'm sure those lessons will help me make better games in the future. Thank you very much again. I'm glad you found my game fun :)
Yeah, definitely don't think you should spend time trying to "fix" those issues. Seems better to try working on a different project and see what you can learn from that. Good Luck on whatever your next project is.
Comments
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I really like the recoil mechanic. It feels like a fresh addition to a classic formula. I also appreciated the way damage effects the movement options - that was a nice touch as well.
Hey, thank you. I’m very happy to hear that you like the core mechanic of the game. Thanks for playing and for your positive comment 😊
This is a cool thing you've put together - I like the core tension of the recoil presenting as big a danger to you as the enemies themselves. It's pretty clear what the purpose of the game is and how you're meant to interact with it.
I think broadly I would suggest two areas of improvement. The first would be controls, I had trouble moving around and aiming the way I wanted to, overall the friction felt very low. Second is a bit of general communication - a lot of things happened that I wasn't exactly sure what it meant. I think if a enemy hits you, you lose your little jump pad? My guess is to encourage using recoil to jump, but I'm not sure. Also whether enemies were red or green was confusing to me.
But really this is a cool thing! You have a lot of feedback and nothing here is fundamentally wrong, just needs some overall cleanup, good work!
Thank you so much!
I’m sorry to hear that you were frustrated by the controls. The movement seems to need more tweaking. I tried to have the gun movement as accurate as the player wanted it to be by including toggle-able gun acceleration and sensitivity in the settings. You’re spot-on about the lack of communication. Since the game is extremely simple, I tried my hardest to communicate everything without a formal tutorial but that apparently needs a lot more work. You’re correct in understanding that you lose your jump-pad upon being touched by the enemy robots and the recoil power of your gun increases so that you can jump using the recoil itself. The enemies turning green was meant to indicate that they’ve completed their objective of touching you and can hence no longer harm you.
Thank you very much for the terrific feedback! Thanks also for playing 😄
Hey - this is neat! I liked that the gun recoil affected the character and could be used for movement. I tend to jump into games without reading many instructions and so the on-screen prompt for the keys was nice and I picked up on it pretty quick.
A couple of pieces of feedback: it would be nice if the crests that the enemies drop had a bit more visual pop - hard to see red on a pink background so I didn't really notice them right away. Also getting a game over when falling meant that I played it really safe and just stayed on the bottom platform so I didn't end a run just by jumping - might be good to bring character back after a fall but with one tick of damage.
Nice work!
Hi! Thank you for the kind comment. I’m glad you liked those elements of my game.
It totally makes sense now that I think about it that the kill tokens needed to be animated or something else needed to be done to emphasize their importance since, as you’ve pointed out, they’re hard to even notice atm.
From your comment and those of a couple others, I understand that the dominant strategy that emerged as a result of the fall and die instantly rule is pretty boring and discourages movement. That is crucial feedback which I really could’ve used during development. Nevertheless , it taught me the importance of playtesting early and often. So, thank you very much both for your feedback and for playing my game 😊
This is really cool! I love the movement mechanics, it's really fun to miss around with. Only downside is that I'm very bad and the arena design really limits playing around with them without dying. Taking damage changing how you can move around is also very interesting, but I wish there was a way to recover lost parts (unless I missed it?) because, again, I am very bad.
It’s totally not your fault for being unable to move around the level that much. I’ve realized that the movement mechanics were begging for a more open level but I failed to understand that while developing.
I was this close to implementing a system where collecting enough kill tokens would grant you lost parts. After reading your comment, I regret not implementing that.
Thank you so much for playing my game and leaving a comment :]
This is a fun little game! I really like the cute visual touches like the sweep behind the gun as it moves, and the damage being actually represented on the robot by the loss of your spring then wheels rather than a generic health bar or hearts count or something
I think the thing I got on with least was the floatiness / weightlessness of the movement with wasd, I definitely get that you don't want the player to be too in control otherwise it would be too easy but there's something about how quickly you can speed up and drift around that feels off to me. Also like the other commenter I actually just used the arrow keys at first and was a bit confused before realising you were supposed to use both hands haha
I couldn't quite tell if the recoil got more powerful over time or as you collect points but I enjoyed how it forces you to adapt a bit, and also lets you go on without the spring and bounce around in the air without touching the ground. I feel like you could probably do a whole game around just this mechanic with no / limited wheel movement if you wanted
agreed, i really liked the air bouncing/rocket jump mechanic too! would love to play around with something focused on just that part.
I loved hearing that you liked that mechanic! You made me realize that I really should’ve listened to what the game was telling me and should’ve leveraged that fun mechanic more. Perhaps a more vertical level would’ve done it more justice. Thank you for taking the time to play my little game :)
I'm very glad that you found my game fun! Thank you for letting me know about the floatiness of the controls. I did intentionally want the robot to be a bit slippery when it had wheels so that the recoil mechanic and the bombs become a considerable threat but it's clear from your feedback that the values needed a bit more tweaking.
Also, I didn't do a great job of communicating that the recoil got powerful when you lost your jumping-pad so as to compensate for your lack of ability to jump. Sorry about that and thank you for pointing it out. Big thanks for playing and taking the time to leave this comment :)
Hey, this is a fun time! I like the clean aesthetic of the game and the simple nuance of the gameplay: it really clicked for me when I realized I would have to collect the little red chevrons, rather than sitting far away and sniping.
A couple thoughts
And a couple bugs you may or may not be aware of:
Thanks for making this!
I really appreciate you pointing out the positives and negatives of the game. I'm delighted to hear that you liked the aesthetics; I'm not an artist by any stretch of the imagination. Many of the issues that you've mentioned seem like they could've been detected and rectified earlier on had I done some playtesting. So, I've learned a good lesson there. Thanks also for making me aware of the bugs. I did know that they existed but since I only used it how it was intended to be used, it never occurred to me that a user might not realize that and that I should fix it. Goes to show the importance of playtesting again. I am very grateful to you for taking the time to play, analyze, and leave an elaborate comment that taught me good lessons. It is sure to stick with me in the future and help me make better games :D
You bet!
This is pretty fun!
I played without looking at the screenshots which I realise now would have helped me understand the game quicker.
At first I was a bit confused and thought that AWD and Left Up Right were just two possible different ways to control the movement of the robot, i.e. I didn't realise that the AWD controlled movement of the robot, and the arrow keys controlled movement of the arm/shooting. I worked it out by accident when I decided to try using the arrow keys to move because it seemed like it might be more comfortable.
Because I was playing in a browser that wasn't full screen, I could see all of the play area except the little platform at the bottom. So I was confused why I kept falling and dying. I initially thought it was breakout where you are controlling a thing that doesn't need to stand on a platform, you just hover in space, but for some reason I kept dying. But it was obvious what the problem was when I made the browser full screen.
I like that you can still move by using the gun after you lose your wheels.
It took me quite a while to understand that if you get hit once you lose your jump-pad, if you get hit another time you lose your wheels. The jump-pad especially, I just found that I couldn't jump and didn't make the connection and thought I was pressing the wrong button or something.
I don't understand if there is any significance to the enemy robots starting with grey arrows then that changes to red arrows.
I think Green arrows means the robot has hurt you, but won't hurt you again? I am not sure. At first I thought it meant the robot had become your friend!
It's fun realising that you can get to the higher platforms by using the guns recoil to jump higher. But for me it seems easier to get a high score by just staying at the bottom and shooting the robots while you're there. It's a little bit of a shame that you can do this fun thing, but it seems safer/smarter not to.
Wow. Thank you so much for taking the time to play my game and write this detailed comment. Your feedback made me realize a lot of areas where I can do better at communicating to the player. And you absolutely shouldn't be required to view the screenshots in order to play; I should've done a better job of communicating the rules of the game more clearly.
My intention with the enemy eyes being grey before touching the ground was to communicate that they're not hostile and won't hurt you if you touch them before they've been fully deployed.
Also, you are absolutely right about the dominant strategy being staying in the lowermost platform. I should've done a better job of incentivizing movement to higher platforms.
I don't think I will be updating the game any more since I've marked this project complete but your feedback has been precious in making me see what I couldn't see through the lens of a developer and I'm sure those lessons will help me make better games in the future. Thank you very much again. I'm glad you found my game fun :)
oh, cool. Glad it's helpful.
Yeah, definitely don't think you should spend time trying to "fix" those issues. Seems better to try working on a different project and see what you can learn from that. Good Luck on whatever your next project is.
Thank you :D