Death Penalty? Difficulty Modes?

[Chocos Ramabotti]

Game looks pretty cool so far aestethic wise. Though i'm pretty much into retro games I often find myself on indie reminiscenes kinda bored. Since these games lack life-systems and have very close checkpoint they kinda play by itself, kinda hard for me to invest myself if mistakes don't matter.
I understand that some people prefer it that way but I dunno somestimes I wonder why the games look so nostalgic but don't play like that.

Is there something like an actual death penalty or harder difficulty modes (which you don't have to unlock first) that spice things up?

[Mycoscopic]

Damage doesn't just take away hearts, it also resets your accumulated power-up state back to nothing. This gives a big incentive for skillfully avoiding damage, since the two tiers of power-ups (red and blue) greatly increase your weapon's range and damage.

Dying sends you to the previous checkpoint, but the game is balanced with this in mind. Death count is also presented as one of the stats when clearing a level and gives a penalty to currency awarded.

For greater difficulty, you can avoid heart and magic upgrades. There are also more difficult optional levels in the game.

[Chocos Ramabotti]

Originally posted by Mycoscopic:

Damage doesn't just take away hearts, it also resets your accumulated power-up state back to nothing. This gives a big incentive for skillfully avoiding damage, since the two tiers of power-ups (red and blue) greatly increase your weapon's range and damage.

Dying sends you to the previous checkpoint, but the game is balanced with this in mind. Death count is also presented as one of the stats when clearing a level and gives a penalty to currency awarded.

For greater difficulty, you can avoid heart and magic upgrades. There are also more difficult optional levels in the game.

Hmm that sounds serviceable for an retro inspired title I suppose I need to try it out first. Will there be a demo?

[Mycoscopic]

We're open to it, but no promise it would be available in time for launch. In the meantime, there are a few content creators putting gameplay videos up starting tomorrow which might give you a decent look into how it plays.

[Techim]

Originally posted by Mycoscopic:

Damage doesn't just take away hearts, it also resets your accumulated power-up state back to nothing. This gives a big incentive for skillfully avoiding damage, since the two tiers of power-ups (red and blue) greatly increase your weapon's range and damage.

Hmm. This sounds a lot like classic Contra?

[>-FISH-D]

Problem I have with many of these retro "inspired" games is that they substitute difficulty for game length. Meaning the games are far too long and far easier to beat. I call this Shovel Knight syndrome. There is a low sense of accomplishment, due to low challenge, and the game sadly gets shelved after one completion. The paint has been spread to thin as the saying goes.

Personally, I'd love to see some form of NES, hardcore, or ironman mode that has a limited lives/continue system and goes as far as to make you either restart the game or restart an entire map area (EX: NES Mario 3) when all lives/continues are used. Completely optional mode of course as to not dissuade the large base of todays casual gamers from purchasing the product. Perhaps even associate an achievement for beating hard mode to give players who want an old-school challenge something to strive for.