NEWBLACK'S PROFILE

Deltree's new game O_O... Subscribed.

Nice going. There's a video we have in our secret vaults of Kazesui getting an S rank that I was keeping as proof that it was possible, should the need arise. Guess that's not gonna be necessary now (although it still may get posted at some point in the future). I haven't even got one myself yet D:

Thanks for doing these recordings though, shame about the flicker on the S rank run ;-;

author=Ashes of Emerald
I resent that, lol XD

Haha, sorry :x

author=kumada
I think this game is pretty easy at the moment, at least as far as shmups go. As long as you're increasing player options along with difficulty, go ahead and crank that sucker up.

Also, speaking of options, I think a good place to put the "this is how you play the game" tutorial is as an option off of the main menu. It feels a little bit too hand-holdy to just cram it at the start of the campaign.

First levels are first levels. It's meant to ease you in yet still have enough substance to sink your teeth in a bit. Later levels will be much more complex and varied and generally more challenging without being outright unfair, or at least that's the plan.

The tutorial only runs on your first time opening the .exe, once it's showed once it should never show again. I don't personally think it's that hand-holdy to let people know which keys do stuff in a non-default game where you have limited resources you might not want to accidentally waste, also it doesn't really give you any direction in how to really apply the tools you've been given, it just literally tells you what keys do stuff. Aaaand that tutorial was pretty much only for the sake of the public demo and is not representative of the final product etc. If we didn't include it we'd likely have comments saying that it was negligent to not include an explanation of the controls. You know, usual stuff o_o

So, noted.. But not gonna be like that in the actual game anyway :3

author=alterego
My verdict...
1) Beautiful graphics. I'm amazed by all work put into them, specially in the bosses' animations. And besides tiny graphical things I've pointed out before, the only other thing I didn't quite like were the 'portraits', but I'm confident those were made in a hurry for the demo.

Thanks :3 You're sort of right about the portraits (they were made specifically for the public demo and I wasn't 100% happy with them myself), however I didn't think they were too bad? I'd like to know more specifically what bothers you about them. So critique away.

author=alterego
2)Nice music. It was fitting enough, but not too memorable. (Then again, I don't know much about music) I'm slightly disappointing by the lack of ambient sounds, though. I dunno, bubbles after every kill, and maybe some sonar echoes in the distance or stuff like that.

Noted, glad you liked what was there. It is a little skimpy on the sounds so I guess there is room for improvement and improving the overall atmosphere.

author=alterego
3)Nice controls. I experienced some lag with Zero Base and I was expecting this to feel the same but I'm actually very pleased of how smooth it played. I'm also used to play with the keyboard so changing weapons and stuff was no issue for me.

Yeah, I didn't think the weapon switching would be too much of a biggy personally (although a weapon cycle as kumada suggested will likely be a nice addition). Years of playing FPS on the PC has taught me to use the number keys pretty easily for weapon switching.

author=alterego
4)Overall good mechanics. Just some thoughts: I second kumada's opinion that the main weapon requires too much precision. I think there should be a way to refill more ink bottles and maybe even health. And bosses should definitively have their own health bars.

Not to be harsh but I really think a lot of this is down to the fact the game has a learning curve. The thing I personally like the most about this game is that it has a large skill element and it's not meant to be easy (this is largely thanks to Kazesui). That would, to me, be really boring (and perhaps a little pandering?). A lot of the decisions in the design are very much deliberate (or deliberately not changed to something easier because of the interesting challenges and dynamics that arise from a system with built-in limitations for the player to come up against and make work for them as well as they can). Only having three ink bottles so you need to think tactically about when and where to make the best use of them, lack of boss HP bars, the single-shot pistol with unlimited ammo that demands precision of the player, the relatively high-damage sword that puts you at greater risk when you use it - all of this was decided upon as the way we imagined it working best based on the way the game is meant to play. And although some tweaks to weapon balance may be made - If you could just go through the level holding down shoot and spamming the screen indefinitely with huge bullets I don't think this game would be anywhere near as interesting and challenging to play as it currently is. Weapon balancing is something we've put a lot of thought into for this game. Every weapon has pros and cons and it's meant to be that way.

Bottom line for me is, I guess - If this game was just "Gradius/R-type/Zero Wing, but underwater and with kooky aquatic characters" it wouldn't be a project I personally would want to work on, or really play. It's meant to be different to other shmups because trying to make something different is more fun than making something based entirely on an existing model and calling it something new.

End ramble.

author=alterego
5)I wish there was at least a hint of a story, but I guess I'll have to wait for the next demo for that... =P

Although not present in the demo, if you head over to the main page for the game there is something of a storyline outlined in a hide tag in the game summary :x

author=alterego
Finally, my rank...

Not bad for a first run, right? right? xP ...Btw, maybe it was just me but I felt the final bass was too tricky. It alone took two of my lives and i barely made it-- For a demo I think this is nice, but for future releases maybe you'd consider toning down the difficulty a little? I dunno.

Anyway, keep up the good job, guys! I'll keep practicing in the mean time. =)

;~; actually the game will probably get harder rather than easier in the future D: But you will have new weapons, upgrades, all that jazz. Emphasis is on giving the player a tool set and a world with certain rules and mechanics and seeing how they approach the task of making it through as best they can. Once you get into the flow of the game you start to find a groove and stuff it starts to get a little less frustrating? I think anyway :X

Thanks for the detailed feedback! A D isn't too bad, at least you didn't game over! :D

Hoooly shit, Link_2112, you're a machine o_o

Thanks a lot for the videos, it's cool to see how another person approaches the game.

Looks like you'll be our first S rank ever (other than Kazesui).