METAL DOGS

METAL DOGS

24Frame_n  [developer] Jul 22, 2021 @ 11:58pm
Impressions of the closed beta test (7/23 - 7/26)
We are the "METAL DOGS" development team.

Please send your impressions of this closed beta test to this thread or the thread of "METAL DOGS Playtest".
https://steamcommunity.com/app/1681030/discussions/0/3051736373888922014/
* The link to "METAL DOGS Playtest" is
It will be open to the public from 7/23 (Friday) 18:00 to 7/26 (Monday) 12:00 (JST).

Please enjoy "METAL DOGS"!
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Showing 1-8 of 8 comments
Elnidfse Jul 23, 2021 @ 8:48am 
First off. The game is pretty fun. I look forward to the full release.
Now with that out of the way:

Sound
The sound design for the most part is terrific. However the UI sounds in the actual menu are muted and subdued in comparison to the sound in the rest of the game. This removes the feedback of moving through the menus. Adjusting the sound effects adjusts ALL sound effects and the rest of the sound effects are good. It is only the menu sound effects that need to be adjusted.

Lastly, the Wanted Defeat sound that plays after a Wanted is beaten is easy to be drowned out by the music and the action.

Translation
There's not much to say. The translation sometimes reads really dry and other times can be stiff

Example 1: https://i.imgur.com/EpgVtMl.jpeg
The intent isn't lost. But "You can open them by approaching the treasure chest and pressing A button" should be read as "You can open them by approaching the treasure chest and pressing the A button.
For UI clarity, buttons themselves would greatly benefit from colored icons.

Example 2: https://i.imgur.com/NqixLDp.jpeg
Again the intent isn't lost. It just reads awkwardly "somehow or another" is commonly phrased "one way or another"

There's a bunch of other examples but they're mostly just dry nitpicks.

Gameplay
Challenge Rewards
The challenge conditions aren't really rewarding. I had a challenge condition to complete a stage in 4 minutes for a small reward. But by staying in the stage and killing every enemy I earned far more than what the reward could have given me.

Rush
The UI for showing exactly what a rush is, isn't displayed too well. Metal Max seniors will know that a rush means firing all of your guns at once, but newbies to the series may not pick up on what that means by the name alone.

Tutorial
"Dodge" and "Lock-on" are pretty important skills to know exist. On the topic of lock-on, the sound effect when you do it is drowned out. I believe they should be introduced earlier so that newer players will know they exist when they fight their first Wanted.

Aside from these small points, I like the game. Look forward to seeing the finished product!
Franckatana Jul 23, 2021 @ 12:55pm 
The game is exactly what I expected and wanted.

Sound and Music
  • The remixes are great, they remind me of the other games in the series and yet makes everything fresh
  • Sound effects for the menus are nearly non-existent, and are easily drowned by the music.
  • (May be a Bug) The WANTED defeat sound seems to cut off sometimes, it feels off compared to the rest of the series.

Suggestions
  • I hope the finished game will include more already existing monsters and bosses to the roster.
  • I hope we get to have a Monster Book, that could help us know enemy drops and other fun information/tips.
  • Maybe add an equipable Item that will allow us to scan monsters and get rewards for scanning bosses and monsters groups.
Kasseth Jul 23, 2021 @ 5:50pm 
I just finished up the playtest. This has a really solid core, I loved what I played!

I actually feel like the machine guns are in a pretty solid place, since they do still give steady damage per second and it's handy to have something that doesn't go on a long cooldown. On the contrary, I felt like I didn't quite want to use S-E or Missile weapons as much due to their long cooldowns, though that might just be my preference. I wound up with a preferred loadout of two cannons (regular and burst), and a machinegun.

The music has a really fun vibe to it, pleasantly surprising. While the Home Base song is very catchy, the 'sharp' sound to the main synth might get a little bit irritating after a while. Similarly, in the Desert map, the regular floor music has a section where the guitars overlap several times, and that gets a little bit sharp on the ears. Nothing too severe, but I thought I would mention it.

In my opinion, I feel like the perk rerolls through the Weapons Lab are a little bit unsatisfying. Maybe introducing some way to spend more resources but guarantee a minimum quality level might be better? It is still useful when the shop updates with new weapons, to be able to buy one and go add some perks to it.

I do agree with some suggestions I saw, that some floor hazards, and maybe a sprint function (like maybe "Hold down Dodge for 3 seconds, to sprint") will help with the problem of stages feeling a bit too big and empty.

Adding some invincibility frames when you get hit would be much appreciated (half a second sounds good), and some slight cooldown on item usage might be alright as well.

Status effects could be interesting, though I would be careful about things like reversed movement, since if the game is pretty dangerous with the damage you take, having reversed controls for some people would make it way too easy to die. I do agree that a critical hit system would be very welcome, and would give an added stat for your equipment to improve.

I haven't checked the store page in a while, so maybe this is already planned, but having more weapon categories and different weapon behaviour is very much desired for the full game, though what's already there is a good start.

Very much looking forward to this, and thank you for adding me to the playtest!
DoctorAllosaurus Jul 25, 2021 @ 6:12am 
Something I noted in the background of the home base menu is that you have a Shell Gas Station complete with logo and I have a feeling that might cause some legal issues down the road, so you might want to change that at some point.
Gintaro Jul 25, 2021 @ 10:14am 
Definitely would be great to have a sprint option, currently sometime it takes too long to backtrack on some bigger maps.

Also would definitely like to have more weapon variants that have different firing style!

Besides that everything is pretty great! Looking forward for the release!
Simakaze Jul 26, 2021 @ 12:43am 
  • It would be nice to switch between controller button prompts and keyboard key prompts. I played with a keyboard and it was cumbersome having to go to the pause menu to check what key corresponded to each controller button.
  • Having a visual indicator (such as a red border across the screen) when the player is hit would be nice. Pochi made a sound upon taking big damage but there were other times where I never noticed I was getting hit. The visual indicator could be optional.
  • Explosion SFX is way too loud. Even lowering to 3, the SFX would often overpower the BGM (set at 5) which drowns out the "Wanted defeated" jingle. This was noticeable against the Bombelion King.
  • I'd like it if Boxes (treasure chests) could be opened with weapon fire instead of having to walk up and open.
  • As others have said, sprinting would be nice.
  • I'd like an option to automatically pick up consumables, such as a heal capsule, automatically. Sometimes I would pick them up automatically from a chest, other times I had to press a button to pick them up.
  • When depositing or withdrawing from warehouse, it'd be a smoother experience if there wasn't a prompt asking the player if they're sure they want to do that.
  • The ENG translation comes off as machine translated. If there's not enough time for a complete rewrite, I'd suggest getting an editor to double check the ENG grammar. To add in yet another line: Dr, Minchi at one point says "Oh my god...I didn't expect to defeat a Gold Ant..." After the Gold Ant mission. God should be capitalized and Dr. Minchi doesn't state who defeated the Gold Ant, resulting in a sentence fragment.
  • Excellent Metal Max remixes. Would buy an OST!
  • I apologize if this comes off as negative. I had a good time and I look forward to the full product. I hope to see more Metal Max games in English in the future. Thank you for allowing me to playtest this game.
Cloudst Jul 26, 2021 @ 4:47am 
I enjoyed the playtest and have some thoughts on the some thoughts/improvements that could be made:

- The keyboard controls need a default layout instead of the xbox prompts. It was often where I was guessing what button to press due to the weird layout

- The mouse controls seem kind of non essential because mostly the movement of the game is done through the keyboard (in my case). Maybe making the mouse a bit more accessible in the main game would help a lot more.

- I enjoyed the general gameplay, the pace of the dungeons and the enemy variety were very well done.

- A sprint toggle would be nice as some areas with bigger dungeons at one speed felt longer than it should have in my opinion.

Otherwise it was a good game and one i'm looking forward to picking up in the future!
cccmar Jul 28, 2021 @ 4:52am 
I posted a couple messages in the Beta section earlier, but I forgot about some other stuff, so I figured I'd reiterate certain points as well. So, here goes:

- definitely agree with one of the other posters about the need to proofread/edit the text. I think that any native speaker could help you a lot with that, but it would be best to get someone who knows the series. I listed the issues pertaining to the main story/some mission descriptions/one or two menu problems. This is definitely the point that needs the most attention IMO. I guess the script is probably short enough that you should be able to get it revised.

- consider adding some hazards - acid puddles, spikes, falling rocks, explosive barrels etc. - that will make the game way more lively and alleviate a bit the problem with emptyish dungeons (maybe some more enemies could help, too)

- I fully agree with adding a sprint function (like some players have suggested) when you're out of battle, or some sorta Dog System (like in the other MM games) to return to the beginning of the floor.

- more weapon variety would be cool, but I guess that's for the later parts of the game I guess.

- mouse functionality for shooting could be good for PC players, but it's probably more of a side thing overall.

That's it for now, I think those are the main points at this time. You may consider difficulty levels, too, since the game seemed quite easy to me... but that's up to you.
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