Feedback on Demo

[Morgan the Manakete]

I realise this is just a Demo, and an unfinished one at that. So any grievances I may have, either now or later, are subject to change.

So far, I have not played much. Just enough to finish the Demo once. However, in this time, I have found a few issues.

Firstly, the Tutorial. From other people's posts, I know you're already aware, but it's a little difficult to finish because of the regenerating crystal. In my first play-through, I simply hit restart in the Esc Menu to get past it. It was only in my second play-through when I noticed the brief mention about Aqua Javelin being a charged spell. Realising this, I was able to destroy the crystal only by charging the spell.
To fix this issue, maybe have a differently coloured bit of text on the spell card that says "Charged Spell" or something. Or maybe have the text in the crystal room change to give you a step-by-step to getting out, though that would detract from the satisfaction a player gets from problem solving.

The second issue, which presented itself almost immediately was the items. Having to spend knowledge points to find items is probably a good idea. It increases their value, making the player need to decide whether to use these precious points to get an item or upgrade a spell. However, I had only 4 points and could find an item despite searching costing 10 points. This is a bug, one that essentially makes all items free. Upgrading spells however will still take the required 20 points and searching does take 10 points if you have 10 points or more.
That said, I wouldn't be surprised if it has been fixed already, given how development versions of any game are always ahead of what the public gets.

Another 3 bugs I encountered during my short time were:
A) The fairy revive book (Revive with 1 Heart and 5 seconds of invincibility) did not work. I was using Temporal Blade to attack the boss, got hit (Only had 1HP) and just died.
B) Enemies that spawn during a Time Stop are able to move and attack.
C) During a lag spike, enemies do not take damage (Not from Disk Cyclone at least)
There is a 4th one, with the Boss being immune to Time Stop, but I think that one is intentional. Not sure.

The last issue I've had was just lag induced. During game lag, the player character's movement speed is reduced, while monsters and enemy attacks retain their normal speed (though obviously look like a slideshow). Which has cost me 2 runs.
I realise this issue is my computer, but figured I'd mention it here just in case there was some magic code that could alleviate this. I realise there probably isn't though.

The last, last thing I'll say is coins. They currently serve no purpose and even when collected, the counter does not go up. Currently an essentially unimplemented mechanic.


So with the bugs outta the way, lets move on to the aspects of the game.

Starting with the menus.
They're simple, and intuitive, though I guess it'd be weird if it wasn't, given how the menu has essentially become a perfect template.

Next is the graphics.
The main menu looks really good and the background is fitting for the game. I'm no graphics designer or artist, so that's pretty much the best I got. The rooms in game are a bit lacklustre, being just walls, shelves, paintings and floor, but I imagine they'll get prettier and more unique as development continues.
I do hope for an option to essentially "worsen" the graphics though. Seems weird, but players with bad gpus or cpus (like myself) will encounter lag if something is too intensive. However, reducing the strain on cpus is difficult to impossible since that would require actually removing game content. But going from "high" quality graphics to "low" quality graphics is still an option, since it's just "worsening" aesthetic features, rather than altering gameplay.

Then we have sound.
The track for the Main Menu is really nice. It gives the impression of being in a calm or peaceful place, which suits a library feeling.
The BGM at the start of a run does give off a mysterious feel and feel appropriate when just roaming. But the "sombreness" feels just a bit heavy.
The enemy encounter music feels a little out of place. Like, it definitely gives the feeling of "action now" but just feels off. I can't really explain it sorry. Might just be a me thing.
The rapid BGM that plays after the first enemy encounter also seems a bit off. It works, implying that there's danger around, but it feels like it's more suited for an action-adventure game, like the enemy encounter music.
The crackle from the torches. Frankly, it sounds too big, if that makes sense. It sounds like a small campfire, rather than a torch.
None of the sound detracts from the gameplay though. They just feel out of place.

Now for gameplay.
Obviously, with only a grand total of 4 enemies, this isn't going to be that long. Frankly, I don't think there's an issue with the enemies themselves, except for the humanoid that shoots the energy balls. The balls seem to shoot out from the air just beyond the hand. This did lead to me losing a few runs since I misjudged the distance of where the projectile would appear and where my character was.
Enemy attacks. The only 3 attacks, aside from the boss', are big laser, red orbs and charge. And honestly, given the amount of enemies, this is fine. They don't need anything more or less.
For the player character, everything seems ok. No issues here.
For the spells, they are pretty interesting. Having different themes through the use of elements is a good, and obvious, idea. All the spells, that I've used, are fine. The spell cards a slightly lacking though, but I'll talk more on that later.


And that's my review part done. Now for some suggestions I thought of.

- Minimap.
A top-down 2D Roguelike will almost definitely need a minimap and this one definitely does. The number of rooms are limited, but I still got lost a couple times. And unless there are ways to improve movement later, getting lost will just cause unnecessary tedium.
- Better Spellcard Descriptions.
Having lore on the spellcards is perfectly fine. But it takes too much room. I recommend shrinking the text a couple sizes and moving it down . Use the freed up space for the stats and effects of the spell. Also, like a suggested near the top of this post, maybe have the very top of the spell card, to the right of the image, have different colour text with a tag that explains the basics effects. Like <Charged Spell> in blue text. It's simple, eye catching and lets the player know the spell can be charged.
- Movement options.
As of right now, I am unaware if there is an item or spell that increases movement speed or has some kinda of faster way to travel. Frankly, the map each run is pretty big. Or maybe just feel that way due to how empty they are. So I'd recommend adding some movement options. Maybe a teleport point in distant rooms that are like 5+ rooms away from either the starting room or another teleport point? (That makes me think of the Floo Network)
- Enemies.
The 3 + 1 boss that you have now are fine for just a demo. But there should probably be more enemies in this first area we play in. Maybe add flying books that cast a spell. You could even colour code them. A red book shoots a fireball spell, a yellow book charges a thunder strike and blue throws a water spear.
- Coins
Right now, they do nothing. Maybe add a "Relic" shop or something that can show up sometimes. Or maybe change them to be Magic Crystals and you can give them to the scientist blob thing to unlock spells for future runs.


And that's it for now. So far, I'd rate the demo as an 8/10. Pretty good but obviously incomplete and lacking polish.

[Rat Kicker 3000]

I agree, and would like to voice some of my own criticisms. Spellcards definitely need some work.
I would use a divider to separate the lore from the rest, just to break up the text wall and make it easier to digest.
Title text could help with balance discussion per upgrade, even if it was just a letter or number to help distinguish them.
The death screen is a little long, and there is a lot of dialogue at the beginning. I wanted to read it, but at some point I started skipping and notices I wasn't even 20% through it. If its not important, just have the text float overhead on prompt. You risk important information being skipped this way.

I didn't play very much, but I did enjoy much of the feedback, graphics, and sound. The game mechanics are promising, and I will periodically check on this game to see what gets changed. Lacking in some polish, particularly QoL and first player experience. Lots of words, which wouldn't be a problem if it was more brief to engage me, and opened up later in more optional ways once I got a chance to be invested and ask questions. Shame how many forum posts are just funny twitch chat, (although I too found this game through tutel man) because this game is looking nice, but it's flaws are pretty apparent. Best of luck veddal, I wanna see some updates!