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Hey thanks for your comments! I take note of your comments on being stuck, that's something I typically work on with level design but tanking multiple hits would feel terrible. I have a few ideas in mind such as instantly respawning the player somewhere near perhaps. Thanks for your feedback!

Thanks! Great pointers you’ve made. I havent considered a lot of them especially on the moving camera since I added it for visual’s sake. 

The best part about this concept is its execution. Many games tackle the "gravity-bending" concept frequently but the way the game is put together, including the lack of a tutorial and more of a "just-play" way of doing it is great.  Thoughts:

- Presentation here is phenomenal. It gives off this airy, horror-esque vibe that it feels reminiscent of the SCP universe. I'd say 4/5 presentation because of the lack of audio and sound effects to really fill out the environment.

- I genuinely enjoy moving around with the gravity twisting and camera moving around. It feels quite intuitive and while I'm not normally a puzzle person, this was a pleasant surprise for me.

I bet you included the flashlight just for the pixel normal maps right? It looks great.

Hey thanks for your comment! That's alright, the game is indeed quite action-heavy and fast-paced in that retrospect but I'm glad to hear that it's satisfying for you despite being outside your comfort zone.

Hey, thanks and really appreciate your thoughts!

I'm pleasantly surprised people are digging the minimalist/arcade style to it and how it appeals to an arcade sort of feel to it. Take note of your input on the enemy health, I guess it's time to actually make assets!

Controls are definitely bugged yeah - if it works, it works, otherwise, it's buggy as hell. And your thoughts on the tutorials are really interesting, I'll at least be sure to make it more intuitive (and close all gaps).

Thats an interesting note on being able to destroy the different enemy type. Thanks for sharing your feedback! Really appreciate it!

Haha, something rhythm based at least, as someone coming from an avid rhythm game genre. So I was mildly dissapointed

Swell game, very fun, interesting take to bring-in the player agency back into the autoshooter genre (the survivor-genre, in your words). Thoughts:

- As the game progresses, the sheer number of enemies certainly bring in that feeling somewhat, when you get escalating upgrades that lets you either run away faster or deal with the increasing hordes better.

- I love the aesthetic you're going for. The art and music really blends well to create this insanely, intense feel - similar to ULTRAKILL kind of vibes. Great choice to go for the breakcore kind of music. Only concern was the fact that's its really hard to tell where you're aiming (lack of a cursor) and where enemies are. Otherwise, love it.

- I think you're missing some potential here, as you're going for a survivors-like horde shooter. Since you're adding back player agency and adding a twist to the autoshooter genre, the kind of gameplay you're going for might differ abit. I think the skeleton is there,  consider streamlining the upgrades you get so that rather than just "stats increase" upgrades, you just get more "weapons" alongside your main gun - this lets people understand the upgrades they are going for much easier - similar to Vampire Survivors.

- Piggy backing on the above comment, I can't quite say for sure how you should consider augmenting the gameplay - you can either give the horde some form of range attack, or change up the arena at intervals. The fact that you can attack and destroy spawners is  great mechanic on its own and is an interesting path to take. Maybe different spawners spawn different enemies with different behaviours. It's hard to say. It depends on what kind of feeling you want to evoke.

- Controls feel alright, arena can feel confusing as I can find myself backing up then all of a sudden, didn't really realise I hit the border. Perhaps give the ground some texture, so it's easier to tell if the player is moving, or has stopped.

-The gunplay feels good, it has this erratic spray-and-pray feeling to it which is great for this kind of hit-and-run style of shooter.

- Game is honestly fun though. I find myself replaying a few times to really get a feel of the game and upgrades - good start to the variety of upgrades you have.

Very solid prototype and I enjoy the work you've put into this. I'll be keeping a close eye on the progress!

Neat little game! Unfortunately, I still got stuck even when playing on the downloadable version of the game. Thoughts:

- Mechanics feel solid and good. As a platformer, jumping is great, and even allows for you to do some simple precisiong platforming. Air control is nice and tight. So controls are great!

- Navigating around the UI and the pause menu is easy and intuitive, good job on that! I was able to move around and play the game purely from keyboard.

- Some nitpicks, the obstacle design might be a bit confusing and I didn't realise the liquid dropping from the ceiling would damage you. Making dangerous enemies more clearly and obvious would help round up the rougher edges of the game.

- Game difficulty was alright, nothing to note. The game gives off a casual charm so the difficulty was very simple and easy, which I think fits well.

A great tech prototype and with a lot more work on the game feel and additional qualities, there is potential for it to be a neat little fan game. Thoughts:

- Controls is clearly built for very fast-paced, large environments and for that, I like. The climbing mechanic works fine but nothing extraordinary. Controls, all in all, is exemplary actually - great animation work, everything works really well, and it's a joy to move knuckles around the level. (after you rebind the controls in the options). I recommend making the camera automatically follow behind the player, so the player is focused on movement, rather than having to move the camera around too, except for certain sections

- During precision platform sections (Level 3, with the abstract graphics of red and green moving platforms), is where I stopped playing. I find the current control scheme is not suited for precision platforming, which is fine, because I have a feeling that's not the kind of level design you should be going for anyway. But if you want to retain precision platforming elements, I recommend making it so that the ground slam attack locks the player character in a short "slam" animation so you can pinpoint where you land. As of now, the player character will still slide a bit after it slams, making it hard to nail jumps.

- UI is good. UX is a bit off, the radar system can be annoying with its constant beeping. Animations work really well. 

- The momentum-driven gameplay is good, lean into it.

Very nice, has potential for high speed platforming. My 2 cents.

A bit confusing entering for the first time but I got the gist of it as a puzzle platformer. I like the idea that you have a general list of platforming mechanics you can interact with which you "adjust" or "tune" with notes you found around. Some thoughts:

- Tutorialisation is pretty spot on I think. You introduce all the mechanics pretty well and all in all, while there's a bit of a bump in the beginning in trying to understand what the game is about, the average player should be able to pick it up after a bit.

- The way notes interact with the instruments is in general, quite rough though. And I find myself being fling by the instruments as opposed to just wanting to change their tuning. The tuning itself is also somewhat confusing and I find myself unsure which tune colour is the strongest or the weakest. Maybe you could consider simplying the number of tuning you can do to just 3 colours? I imagine that would also make your level design simpler.

I think the messaging and the game presentation can overall be improved to say that this game is a puzzle platformer. The art aesthestics is actually quite unique and I find myself intrigued, only to be mildly dissapointed it is a puzzle platformer. That said, the unique twist of being able to "tune" platform/level mechanics to varying levels of strength is quite nice. There can be much much more polish added to really emphasise on this tuning mechanic.

My 2 cents.

This is pretty neat for a graduation project! The gameplay is quite simple and easy to understand but what really shone through is the controls actually. Some bits:

- Gameplay, as mentioned, is solid. Controls are easy to understand and flow really well. They're pretty solid for a platformer game and I have no qualms about it.

- Camera could use a bit of work. If you would expand on the game, I think panning out the camera so that you can see below you better is preferable. In fact, if you make it so that there is an ability to pan the camera down (Such as when you hold crouch for a period of time) to see below, it'd be nicer.

- Graphics and art is nice but its the pixel scale is not scaled well yet. The UI in the main menu feels inappropriately scaled to the actual in-game and this disjoint causes minor immersion issues. Otherwise, art assets are greatly utilised.

If you were to make a future sequel, consider revisiting your core gameplay mechanics and think on how you can expand on it. The way Celeste did was by adding new world mechanics as opposed to new core player mechanics. New ways to interact with the world creates interesting ways to platform, and by extension, new content.

Hey, just realised I've forgotten to reply to this.

Big thanks for the in depth review! I really appreciate your thoughts on this. I'm glad the attack patterns work well with you. I've received a mix of reviews so I'll have to look at all of them in breadth and see what works and what doesn't.

Super duper take note on the jump angles - I've also got some personal itch with it but I wasn't sure whether to make it more lenient so your feedback really helped me over the edge to commit to making it more lenient.

I couldn't dedicate as much as time as I needed to onto level design which was a sore requirement for a game of this type so that's something for my heavy consideration next time.

Thanks a lot for your input. Really appreciate  it!

The game has a lot of good polish in here and I actually really like what I play! Some thoughts:

- A staggering amount of sound FX that help lighten up the whole presentation on display here - it's seriously amazing. There's alot more to be said about the aesthetics which, while simple, is more importantly cohesive and serves the purpose.

- Slow mode is a good addition for a guy like this but I can't quite seem to find the right place to use it yet. That's just something I'm kind of not sure about. But really, this is just nitpicking

- Gameplay is smooth and easy to understand, although I didn't realise the rocket used normal ammunition - I was under the impression you could only use 1 rocket per "bounce". Otherwise, very nice!

Really enjoy your game!

Hey! The DOOM feeling is something I'm actually planning to evoke so I'm really glad that it shone through for you. It's partially inspired by many boomer shooters (specifically, the high-octane movement) to give rise to this sort of pinball-esque gameplay. I'm really happy it resonated with you.

Thanks a lot for your other pointers too, something for me to keep in mind! Appreciate your deep input my guy.

The game is pleasantly charming in a good way, and there's quite a lot to love to be honest. Some thoughts:

- As mentioned by Lily of the Void, this game is positively dripping with charm - I love the sass. If you are thinking of taking this game further, consider giving each character more specific personalities though - but otherwise, this light hearted banter is great!

- The combat is however, somewhat lacking.  Perhaps I am missing something, but all I do is use the skeleton to activate the cannon and just spam attack with the captain - rinse and repeat. The enemy AI might have been bugged but attacks were working. I also see no need to use the dash, or the shield mechanic.

- I see potential in how you utilise the swap mechanic though - with auto-reloading, and shields that activate only when you swap characters away. I imagine other characters could be "turret-mode" chaacters tha activate its full DPS potential when swapped away as other potential ideas. Great design pillars, implementation just needs work.

- Great art and music, presentation as a whole. Music also fits to give this a very light hearted theme, very easy to go into and have fun - even the parrot is such a guy.

Honestly, pretty nice. I wouldn't say its engaging - but it's a great cohesive project.

WE love you for loving the game and the soundtrack! Our composer put a lot of work into it and I am his biggest fan!

Wasssup Aru!

Love your in-depth comments and I super duper appreciate your breakdown on this. Better visualisation/communication on how the platform works is something we could definitely spend more time on but we opt for it to be this way - something to look into after this jam I suppose!

I'll also definitely look into the camera movements, I think that's something we were still grappling with - having to balance either giving focus to player, or to arena. It seems there are multiple comments suggesting the former. Appreciate your thoughts!

Thanks for your feedback! The controls is something we've spent a lot of time on and we believe still requires a lot of work (there are SO many bugs with it it's insane). Some notable ones were that you can find yourself jumping in between platforms and end up being stuck. That's just the nature of developing something new I suppose.

Thanks for your comments! Some players have mentioned about the UI being not too forward, especially with the boss health. Duly noted with thanks!

Thanks for your comments! i'll be sure to check out your game in time.

Thank you! Duly noted on the controls and mechanics, that is something highlighted by many players as well!

Visually impressive game with a very simple auto-ish gameplay that reminds me a lot of bullet-hell style gameplay with inspirations from Ikaruga and other iterations that make you swap polarities to defend against certain attacks. Some thoughts:

- The simple gameplay lends itself to being picked up relatively easily and a very casual sort of gameplay to it. It's very easy to understand and play.

- The visuals alone are so impressive and stylistic that it easily deserves a 5/5. But the sound department could use some help. A lot of effort has been put into the visual presentation including attack telegraphing (the laser attacks and the homing attacks) but the lack of auditory input can make it hard to distinguish what you're looking at and what to react to. Having sound cues for attacks, especially for homing attacks before they're about to be unleashed can help.

- The game is undoubtedly pretty fun though. As mentioned earlier, it reminds me of more traditional bullet-hell gameplay but without the top-down format. Your game design is very smooth and cohesive in that it allows for players to focus on dodging as opposed to attacking. That also means that, when you strip away a lot of the visuals, the gameplay can feel somewhat shallow with no depth. HOWEVER, that does not make it easy! The game is adequately challenging and I find it fun from that perspective instead.

A highly polished, fun game that can be explored in depth further!

Interesting spin on the traditional turn-based game that may have some potential. I gambled on when talking to the Serpent and got his tail and just kind of demolished everyone after that though. That said, a few pointers:

- Great use of the Swap mechanic where you have to identify body parts and see which one is the most dangerous then swap it out. There's a lot of emergent strategy in here. You can even swap out your destroyed body parts with the enemy's pristine one, it's actually pretty smart!

- The way your sprites change according to what body part you got is actually so good and really helps sell the vision of the game! Great work on that, that is definitely something needed to make your game truly shine and the effort put into it is not wasted. No sugarcoating, the technical level of the art can be questionable - but the direction and what you choose to implement (the body swapping sprites) is impeccable and inspiring, because it adds to the experience.

- The game is actually very complex, and I meant that in a "can be confusing to players" kind of way. This is a result of a combination of multiple factors I believe: the UI, and the gameplay. I think if you placed the player on the left such that the player will read from left-to-right, it will be easier as a whole. I applaud your attempt at providing a tutorial and teaching as much as possible in the timeframe - it does help but I do miss out certain features. For one, I had no idea the bite attack could lifesteal (so I can swap again).

All in all, the  swapping body mechanic ended up being a lot more interested than I thought. Easy 5/5 usage of the theme on that part for its proper implementation into gameplay too. Given a lot more thought, there could be something here with potential.

This is actually kind of a hidden gem. This game has some strong foundations and  a great use of the exchange mechanic. Some thoughts:

- Once you get going and understand the game, the combat is snappy enough and the boss attacks are telegraphed just enough for players to block or move away.

- Incentivising players to swap weapons by having it restore health is a great mechanic and I applaud you for that! Otherwise, I can just imagine me sticking to a single weapon I enjoy and just use it. That said, the blue musket is extremely strong and easy to use that I actually just end up sticking to it and never took any more damage after that.

- As many have already mentioned in the comments, the game is quite difficult to pick up and play immediately. The game can benefit significantly from a more thorough tutorial that helps explain the mechanics much better.

- The changing arena is actually really fun to play around with, great addition to help mix up the battle either between bosses or during the boss fight.

Very fun and entertaining combat game actually!

This is actually really good! I initially tortured myself by starting on hard mode and decided to revisit it on another day to give it more time to simmer. All I can say is, after unlocking the final weapon, hard mode is so smooth sailing.

Some thoughts:

- Very good pacing and bosses are all so unique to each other. The gameplay is actually not what I'm accustomed to as I typically play very fast paced action-games reminiscent of modern trends today (I'm talking DMC, Armored Core, Sekiro) - but I still strongly enjoy this in the same way, having to learn boss attack patterns and dodging accordingly. The red knight and the final boss are stand outs in this aspect.

- The exchange mechanic is much more well built than I believe anticipated. Whether it is intentional on your part, I think the exchange mechanic somewhat extends to the health/mana system and how if you use mana skills, it gives health, and vice versa.

- Expanding on the first point, I find that I can just almost brute force the green and blue boss (or yokai, in this case) with the reaper weapon with little repercussions, even in hard mode.

All in all, game is actually super well paced and adequately challenging. Very fun! Easy all 5 stars for me.

The art and visuals are definitely the strongest pointers in this game. As someone that playtested the game prior, the improvements made actually do make the game feel much better to play! Some thoughts:

- I must commend the great game juice found with attacking the boss with the camera shake. Overall the combat feels like its standing on a good framework - and now it needs more work on each pillars.

- The changes to the final boss to have anticipation frames are appreciated, none of the attacks in all the bosses feel unfair.

- One notable thing I will mention is that the game is simply too easy. I find that I can just spam attack and walk around the boss. The player can dish out enough DPS such that the boss just dies before they unleash enough attacks.

The game has some real, and solid foundations - and with enough work and polish, it can shine.

Game has a simple gameplay premise that is simple to understand and lends well for people to get into and start playing quickly! A few things to mention:

- The starting variety of spell and skill kit is pretty good with the flame floor, a simple projectile spell and a lighting strike attack. I think investing more time to designing these attacks and giving each spell a stronger identity (especially as you unlock more down the line) helps reinforce this .

- The only big notable thing I would add perhaps is the significant lack of challenge in the beginning. It can detract from the enjoyment and pulling the player into focus when playing the game.

Otherwise, good start! Fundamental are there and can be worked on.

Control scheme took a while to get used to but the implementation of the exchange mechanic as both the dodge button as well as changing weaponry is pretty simple, well executed and overall works great!

Some of my personal pointers:

- I find it funny that you can just get yourself stuck under the boss shields and start laying down hell from within while being safe from all attacks

- Boss attacks, art and visuals is actually insanely good. From the moment I saw it on the discord chat, I fell in love.

- Gameplay took a while to get used to, after the initial hurdles, it gets pretty good. I think it would benefit greatly from a dedicated tutorial within the game but otherwise, neato!

Hey Piggy!

Thanks a lot for your sincere comments. The lack of rigorous and proper playtesting manifested a bit in the comments you have said , so I do appreciate your sincere in-depth look into the mechanics and how things play out and the battle pacing.

I take note of your suggestions on the input, and reworking on the UI interface, as well as more proper level design to account for the lasers. That was something pointed out similarly by one other playtester I managed to pull into before releasing the game.

Biggest thanks again for your words!

Hey there, thanks a lot for your insightful comments! It really means a lot to me to get these in depth feedback. It's sometimes very hard for us to find rigorous playtesting/critique so this is helpful.

A lot of what you said definitely resonate with me, appreciate your input with regards to creating a harmonious colour language. Something to update or keep in mind in the future!

Very enjoyable game! The controls are very well built and is very smooth to play! Easy to understand and intuitive. The dash distance feels a bit too short for some precise attacks but I'm just nitpicking.

- Boss designs is actually pretty dang good and there is great variety and uniqueness among the next 3 bosses. Attacks all feel fair and adequately challenging.

- Great arena design that's not just a "flat arena". The frog boss is obviously my favourite for how dynamic they feel moving around the arena, and having to dash to specifically hop around the lilies.

- Impacts can sometimes feel a bit lacking though. There is a slight lacking in game juice to sell the impact of the slashing attacks that make it feel absolutely gratifying to hit the boss. 

Overall, very cooooool

Great take on the theme. I think the bullet hell format really works well with the boss rush theme as a whole - and your usage of the exchange mechanic by embedding it in a roguelite format, found in many modern games, is a great take on this.

I just want to say:

- Entering the game from the get go was a positive surprise and I'm taken aback by the art and sound that went into this. Asset pack usage aside, it is clearly very intentional how it was used and I love it.

- Sound design is exceptional (and very important for this kind of guy) alongside the music. Music is INSANELY good. Props to the composer.

- Only notable thing to highlight is the cursor can be hard to see in this game, especially since its no longer in the traditional top-down Touhou-style bullet hell where aiming doesn't matter. Since aiming does matter, I think there needs to be a better way to aim towards the boss(?). Not sure how that's fixed.

Excellent use of the engine to create a very polished experience. I had great fun from start to finish. Also Backdoor B OP

Very Ikaruga-esque! I love the way the game is presented and its very cool that way! But it can be a bit too chaotic sometimes, I think it's best to pace out the enemy bullets so there is some breathing room in between each bullet bursts.

But I do like your novel movement mechanics and the way it has this pseudo 3D feel to it (is it 3D?)

This game really grew on me. At first I was abit confused but once you get past the initial hump, it got quite fun. Although I encountered a bug which made me invulnerable to all damage - so that's probably why I felt like it got easy all of a sudden. Notably to mention:

- Combat and movement is really well done. It feels fast and nice, very reminiscent of modern action games. Would be nice to be able to dash cancel out of the final combo attack but thats not a priority.

- Being able to stagger the boss is a gret touch to reward mastery.

- Most frstratingly however, is one of the boss attacks where it pokes you with its mouth is way too fast and non-telegraphed so I find it initially frustrating to fight that. At least on first glance.

But otherwise, nice!

Very cute game! I think one of the most commendable parts are the great presentation and visuals here. It's all very consistent with a doodly look to it.

I find the gameplay can be a bit confusing and slow though, for example, "Defense" as an action does not seem particularly useful and it's also hard to quantify the trade off between normal basic attack versus just Eating. When I use Brownie to try to heal the team, I just take either the same or more damage on the same turn, also invalidating Lick as a move. So perhaps the cards itself may need some more work or tweaking to be more impactful per usage.

Salmon Slammer bugged out for me so I got myself a free win haha!

I can see what you mean by the game being somewhat incomplete but I do want to take the time and make mention of the few things that are really cool here:

- The boss is actually kinda super cool. Attacks are very well telegraphed which really lends itself well into Boss rushes and action games.

- Player movement is pretty spot-on aside from a few minor hi-jinks. No game breaking bugs or unexpected behaviour.

- Only caveat is that, you find yourself easily devolving into this repetitive meta tech where you just leave your turret up top and stay at the bottom, then swap between the two of them as you see fit. You'll basically cheese the whole boss and play through it easily repeating this. I say that, but I did die a few times doing it, but end up still returning to this tech.

I think this game is pretty sick, and there's a clear dedication to the art direction here. Super cool

Thanks, appreciate your feedback!

Oh thanks for pointing that out!

There are quite a few bugs that propped up as we worked towards the release of the game, this being one of them but didn't have hte time to work on it. Sad to hear it ruined the experience for you.

But thanks for your feedback!

Big props to our musician on that front!