After reading this thread, the series of replies intrigued me, so I went to see for myself how the game was, and after ~5 hours of playing I can say this was an enjoyable experience despite the frustrations me and my poor hand had to endure with getting used to the control scheme. In fact I even managed to beat the main game without upgrades to see if I could get any of the special endings (didnât work, donât attempt), so it was captivating at least.
I havenât been able to experience NG+ much unfortunately - every time I got past wave 10 the game would proceed to the ending but it would immediately fade out and cut back to the title screen⌠unless I tabbed out beforehand, in which case Iâd be able to right click (left click would just bring you back to the title screen) and the buttons would show up. Couldnât quite make it to the second ending but Iâll try some more tomorrow.
Anyways, onto my personal feedback:
Summary
- The controls seem to be the most controversial topic thus far so Iâll address them first. I could go into a tangent regarding my opinion on whether controls being made cumbersome for the sake of extra challenge is a valid game design decision but Iâll leave that for some other time. As of now however, the ergonomical implications and the effects it has on some of the game features (like redirecting snakes being a worse alternative to just getting more of them and spamming) are good reasons to opt for a more traditional WASD + mouse control scheme instead.
Note: It looks like the WASD controls will be implemented, but I felt like giving my two cents anyway because I thought it would be useful to have another opinion on the matter.
- With a game that requires such precision and mastery of the mechanics in order to be able to get the two special endings, itâs an odd choice to have most of it up to chance. The end-of-wave cash and enemy drops seem to be all over the place, and it means something when that difference means you can suddenly buy triple the upgrades than you were able to just last attempt, or be able to tank 4 waves because you got lucky with a bunch of weight loss items.
I believe the simplest way to solve this issue would be to just have a rotating table of set drops enemies can use whenever they die. Itâs predictable, sure, but I bet the player would appreciate it on NG+ and that way you can ensure they have an experience you can control with a tighter grip.
- As other people have pointed out before me, the redirect ability (although I found it pretty fun to use and have been making heavy use of) isnât as good to invest into as just doubling down on snake spam. Not only is it much harder to use effectively, the fact that you move while doing so makes it so that youâre actively risking failing a wave by using it and also have to forgo a redirect youâre already committed to if an enemy spawns close by or you need to move away otherwise. The two mechanics clash heavily and as a result, spamming snakes is both a better and easier to execute strategy.
As pointed out by other people, the annoyances that come with relying on redirects would be solved by implementing the WASD scheme so itâs not much of an issue. However, a feature I think would be quite fun to mess around with and make redirects the go-to option if you want to shoot for a high score is to introduce a combo system (players get more money/better drops the more enemies they defeat with a single snake), which would also have the nice side effect of making endings easier to attain (1 million cash sounds pretty unrealistic to me but I guess weâll see what becomes of that later on).
- Bit of a minor nitpick, but whatâs the deal with snakes placing drops JUST short of touching you? Most of the time it doesnât matter as you can just walk a bit into them to collect the drops, but sometimes it can prevent you from getting the drop altogether, either due to there just being too many things going on at once or you spamming snakes and them being stuck in an endless loop of grabbing and dropping the item in question. Why not have them move a bit more so you can collect the drop without doing anything?
And now for the good points:
Summary
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As a result of the demographic that would want to be in a site of this type, most people here play games casually and prefer easier games, so having a game as challenging as this one is a nice thing to see, even if it isnât everyoneâs cup of tea. Getting better results with more skill is a ratio that can be difficult to get right without making the game less fun, but I feel like you struck a nice balance, minus my comments on the last section of the post. It also helps with giving the game a longer lifespan before you get bored of it.
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Aside from the gameplay, this game has really, really solid world design and art. Although they might not have said it, Iâm sure everyone here like seeing snake ladies (and especially snake ladies getting fat), but even if she wasnât a snake I feel like Calamity Cobra could still be a very interesting character - you did a great job at getting across the mysterious, no-nonsense bounty hunter character with both the writing, the cutscenes and her sprite.
Iâll certainly have this game in my mind for a long time, whether it be because of the characters and setting or because Iâm going crazy trying to get the better endings. Hope you keep working on it post-jam!
- Props to the composer, the music is great and really fits the game environment, even if the intro song might take heavy inspiration from another. Iâve tried my hand at making music before and failed horrendously, so I definitely respect anyone who can do so (and well) a lot.
Overall, this is a really nice entry! Iâll regret going to sleep this late when I wake up tomorrow but at least the hours Iâve spent playing and writing about the game (even if the feedback wonât be useful at this height of the championship) were entertaining. I certainly appreciate how communicative you are and how generous you are with letting other people use what you made as well. Iâm not good at drawing but I might make some fanart of this at one point in the future.
