Allright, I'll respond to some things here:
The elements are there, although they are not quite linking up for the fun element. Several issues have been mantis'ed and therefore not mentioned here. These points are for discussions, or that I'm assuming the polish will be added into 0.900.
Some notes on the graphics:
A couple bullet effects don't stand out enough from the environment (e.g. a fan of green bolts from XXX). Either white or black will do (consider special attacks to be off different art scheme, like the Hunter's web.
That's probably not changing. The issue though is the actual outside environments, which are random and can sometimes be the same color as certain bullets. Good that you brought this one up, I have a couple of ideas for this actually, I just need to bring it up with Chris. Had totally forgotten.
Similarly, the art-style makes it sometimes difficult to immediately single out enemies from the environment. Enemy flying ships can remain stationary without some sort of engine trail or glow, which may hide themselves from some less-observant players when within a room full of obstacles.
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Intended, but not by me. Some enemies are even labeled "jumpscare" types internally. If the player isnt paying enough attention, well.... yeah, they do pretty much what it sounds like. If it's not moving, but freaks out suddenly when you get close, it's probably that type. I've found though that it's easy to get used to the way they look; my first couple of times playing the game, way back when, I'd had this same issue, but at this point nothing escapes my notice. It only took me like 4 runs to get to that point.
You'd be surprised, actually, at how often this one happens in shmups or games that are similar. It's nearly unavoidable in many cases.
Lack of hit animations, regarding shields on the human player and damage effects. Is a polish thing.
Ooh, good catch. I hadnt spotted this one myself. Usually concentrated on whatever I'm firing at.
Notes on gameplay:
The hunter bot is a lot harder when it decides to chase your beam minibot ally. Are those allies invincible? If not, consider allow them to take no damage from lasers since they just love running along them.
Hm, that one's Pepisolo's design, that Hunter, I'll let him respond to that if he sees this, or you can even just drop it on Mantis.
A little too many locked items/areas per key? It seems to be a 10-to-1 ratio.
Yyyyyup. That's definitely an issue right now. Annoys me.
Blaze cannons at the end of a long room is a very bad idea combined with lots of enemies (screenshot with enemies dead - entered area with full health).
Totally intended!
That's literally it's entire function/purpose.
Notes on bosses:
- Wallmaster is a bit more annoying than the other 3/4 I've played.
Best to stay close to this guy, dont fight him from range.
One big issue with this one right now though, and others, is the way boss room entry is handled. That needs to be changed completely. That's not something I can deal with on my own though, that's an internal thing.
- There's a mini-boss in a 2x2 room that's fairly hard to beat unscathed because the playing screen doesn't give you enough time to dodge the bullet patterns. There are 3 lines of bullets (abreast)bouncing up and down on a screen. It's about 0.5~1 seconds to react to the fast ones. I think bouncing left and right would be much better, and/or spacing them out a bit.
- Several of the "avoid blue sphere firing bullets" minibosses make no sense (see 2nd and 3rd screenshots), as they can be "avoided" without any challenge.
Those are challenge rooms; not my own doing or Pepisolo's, I believe those are Dayton's job? I've had the very same issues with them. The sphere ones are also capable of creating undodgable attacks. The problem actually is the very same problem that leads to most of my bosses being totally stationary: There's no way to create scripted movement in the game. All movement, with one exception, is controlled by pre-set AI. The AI is pretty random, and aside from pathfinding, doesnt know what to do. With bullet patterns in a shmup situation, this is usually a big no-no. Well, with patterns that are complicated enough, that is. For small enemies that tend to be simple in areas with alot of cover, it's fine. But for something like a boss? Rarely is this okay. Particularly if it's something made by me.
The one exception is the Warden's final pattern. I did something unique with that one as I found a way to PARTLY control movement... but it's wonky and strange, so I havent applied it anywhere else.
But yeah, typically in ANYTHING that is shmup like, enemy and boss movements are *completely* scripted, with nothing left to chance, because otherwise, you get a high chance of an undodgable pattern being generated... which as far as I'm concerned is the cardinal sin of this type of game.
But yeah, put that one into Mantis. I intend on mentioning it to Chris, but I may forget.
