Gonna be keeping an eye on this one and probably even throwing some money its way when it's further along!
That said I do have some feedback (all with the caveat of knowing shit's easier to say than to do
General Stuff
- Love the pixel art, and the tilesets are very readable. It's always nice to see a project that cares about its aesthetics.
- I wish there was a way to toggle the game between Full Screen, Windowed, and "Windowed Full Screen;" I run a dual-monitor set up and for some reason the game decided it wants to live on the wrong monitor and I can't move it!
- Wish there was audio
- No problem with the MC being a goober, but right now it does feel like too much time is spent on the MC and the fairy hating each other. The way it currently sits I'm actually wondering why the fairy doesn't just ditch the MC.
Gameplay
- Since the game uses a Link's Awakening/Oracles style equipment & inventory system it would be nice if the equip menu could have the same "press to equip to this button" functionality.
- Ran into an issue where upon buying bombs for the first time after getting the Shield, I had bombs and shield equipped to the same button! Issue did not reoccur for later purchases.
- The way bombs are deployed feels.. weird. They're placed with no animation, but also seem to be thrown forward slightly. After the throw they then slide around a bit before exploding. Combined with their small size and weird blast radius it's hard to place bombs with any confidence.
- Since bombs are so essential for getting around rocks (and bushes before the sword), it would help if bombs were added to loot in chests or enemy drops. Cash is plentiful, but it's surprisingly easy to use all your bombs exploring and get forced to death warp just to get back to town for more bombs.
- In general player damage & knockback feels too low compared to enemy health and the sheer number of enemies that just charge at full speed.
- I feel like too much navigation in the current build is driven by "find the gap behind the tree!" It's a fun way to find secrets, but in the map's current state I uh.. dunno how many of those are intended. It's easy to get stuck trying to find those paths too.
Also... I think the shield needs more love. Currently the best way to use the shield is to just hold it up and push right through slimes. Because the shield is so small relative to the player's hitbox it feels iffy to use for guarding against the blade trap enemies, and actively
fighting enemies with the shield & sword is a losing proposition. The lack of knockback from the shield means enemies just bump up close enough that the frame you drop the shield they're already hurting you. The shield doesn't block enemy projectiles of any kind either, making fighting the worms and mushrooms a waste of time (a shame since they're cool monsters). I don't know if the shield graphic needs to be larger, but it would be nice if it would at least cancel the momentum of orange & yellow slimes that want cuddles.
For all that... looking forward to seeing future development!