YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE HAW!
While I do feel a deep shame in missing two weeks in a row and releasing an article late... it was worth it. I feel recharged from unplugging for a couple weeks and I am ready to play some indie games!
This session was a very enjoyable one for me. One of my favorite aspects of doing game feedback is playing games that I would probably not have picked up. It's hard grabbing my attention now and I've got a massive backlog of games to play. I've never even played Mass Effect. This project has definitely been a cure for scrolling my library until I get bored and open YouTube.
I played three very different games on this stream;
- 30 leagues later - by b0ngdragon
- Up With Doznik - By Space
- Wisdom Tower - by
30 leagues later by... B0NGDRAGON!!
This was a pretty tiny game so I will be diverting from the normal written format to avoid fluff. This was a charming game for me. I really enjoyed how all of the sound effects were made by the developer. Love me some mouthy pew pews. Even the singing was original!
I think the character pixel art was very fun. The pistol being as long as the character is tall makes me chuckle. The rest of the pixel art needs work... I think that's probably worth spending similar effort and attention put into the enemies and boat. The boat in particular looks chunky and needs more detail.
As for the mechanics I found them satisfying, challenging and a bit too random. There are several situations on stream where bad luck leads to a bunch of monsters spawning at once and at other times there are brief lulls. One thing to address immediately would be to lock the mouse into the window. I had several playthroughs ruined by clicking outside of the app window and losing control. Full screen would be nice.
Overall it's a interesting concept and a good vertical slice of what the game would be like, but it just needs more work. I think with some effort this being a popular mobile game but I'm not so sure this has an audience in the PC world. It felt like a mini game, so with some more content, mechanics and just overall polish I think it's possible to appeal to the PC gamer crowd. It's definitely unique among the huge number of similar games I've been playing on these streams.
Up with Doznik
BOYYYY howdy do I love me some unreal. There is something distinct about the visual effects in the engine and this game made some very creative use of the particle system.
The Good
The introductory cinematic grabbed me right away. The camera movement in particular was well done. It shows a level of polish and attention to detail that most demos of this scope lack.
I also really enjoyed the models and in particular the morphing animations. The monsters dematerializing is what gave it away as an unreal engine game for me. I found that to be one of my favorite design choices.
The weapons were also creative and had a good feel to them. It was a satisfying gameplay loop and I can see this being taken far. I am very interested to see where this will be taken
The Bad
It was a bit too easy. I think perfecting a more difficult AI would add a lot to this experience. It felt like the monsters were not really attacking me and I could run around them rather easily. I think getting more player feedback and iterating on ways to make this more challenging will be very worthwhile.
It's also worth addressing the save game bug I experienced in my playthrough. I clicked the tutorial first, was confused, quit and was able to "continue". This was a confusing user experience. Personally, I am a fan of tutorials that are built into the actual play through... so either spend some time introducing mechanics very intentionally or polish the tutorial more. It was a bit confusing.
The Ugly
I experienced a couple interesting bugs;
- Potions would spawn in a specific location. Upon picking it up I would throw them immediately. Probably just need to take a look at how potions are spawned.
- I was able to spam dash and potions, bypassing the cooldown.
Conclusion
Very promising game. I really enjoyed the world that was built for this one. I think I would like to see some roguelike or experience gain mechanic added. Something for the player to grow towards would add a lot to the game.
That being said the gameplay loop, with some more difficult enemies, is very promising. I would lean hard into the monster transitions as that's a really fun element of the game. I am also interested in seeing what direction the developer will take the story element. It feels like there could be some interesting lore in this one.
Wisdom Tower
Steam Demo | Twitter | Discord
Platformers... platformers everywhere! When entering into this genre it's important to find unique combinations of mechanics... AND to do it well. Mixing smooth gameplay with a unique aesthetic is essential. Beyond that the game will not make it without an extremely polished and well executed concept.
Wisdom Tower checks the boxes. I had a lot o fun playing this and would have played it longer if I had more time. I didn't complete the demo, so I cannot speak to the depth of the game. With some minor changes in mechanics I think this game will be fun.
The Good
The sounds were great. This is one of the things that really added to the overall feel of the game. I can see the love that went into selecting/crafting(?) the SFX for this game. It reminded me of 90s retro games. The music was good but needs more variance.
The pixel art was top notch. The animations really stand out. The character design (or asset selection?) was very well done. I can't remember if this is an asset pack or not, but it works regardless. My guess is it's custom.
The gameplay loop was really fun. The spell was satisfying and the level design was nice. I had a lot of fun exploring the map and trying to get as far as I could.
The Bad
The game needs some checkpoints OR roguelite element. I'm not sure what the end goal or vision for this is but it's pretty hard. I think adding some more pop to the jump would add a lot. I think the enemies probably do a little too much damage. The invulnerable enemies felt kinda bad. This would be a fantastic starting power for a roguelite game. I'm sure there are more spells planned so maybe that's something I was missing?
The scrolling effect gave me motion sickness a bit. I'm not sure how to address this but there are many great games to compare the transition to. I think Super Meat Boy has a similar mechanic. It's possible just slowing it down would be enough.
The Ugly
The music will haunt my dreams after it was seared into my brain. Maybe adding some more biomes w/ different music would be good? or just a longer loop?
The Menu UX was a bit much. Just do away with the slidey screen animation for this one.
Conclusion
Very appealing game. I think leaning into the spell casting and coming up with as many novel enemies and ways to kill them is the right direction. I could see myself playing this for the sound alone, but the overall feel of the game is fantastic. Depending on the price point and depth of the game I would be purchasing this one.
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