[WIP, feedback] Whiflash

[hatu]

Hi, my new game is kind of in a spot where I'd like to get some feedback from a bigger audience so here we go.

It's called Whiflash and most of the controls are explained in the quick tutorial.
I've taken alot of influence from a bunch of different games like Diablo, Castlevania, Mega Man, God of War.

I've included just one level here and the tutorial and would like to get feedback on pretty much everything.
Combat, controls, graphics, performance and fps, the tutorial, how easy is the weapon to control (give it a few minutes), is everything easy to understand and so on.

The level is hard but you can't die so just take it easy and try everything out. This one also doesn't have an end so just walk around the whole map and maybe kill the boss.

You change your mode (kind of like in Mega Man) by pressing 1, 2, 3, 4 and need to have the red rage bar full enough to use them, that happens later on so it's not in the tutorial. You can get an explanation on each of them by hovering your mouse above the icons for them

Here's the game
http://hatu.biz/whifBeta/

[hatu]

No one has anything to say? Is it working?

[happinessSam]

It's looking nice, and it looks like you have they engine for a cool rpg. My problem with it would be the controls or the weapon.

My main problem is that it feels quite gimmick,y and it would be quite cool in a short game, that's built around it, but I'm not sure I'd want to play a longish rpg using it.

The other problem with it is that it doesn't feel like it requires much skill - just flicking my mouse around on top of the enemies - maybe if you added some feedback to the mace when you hit an enemy if might make it feel more solid. If it bounced off of the enemies when you hit them. Also maybe give it more mass, so the fllicking thing doesn't work.

[fil_razorback]

FPS : About 35, no slowdowns

I went as far as killing the boss but I think I'd have been killed by him. The life meter should really be more visible.
The weapon is quite easy to manipulate and quite fun too, it's really a good idea. It looks a bit weird when it's too extended and you can fire it accross walls but it's still fun. For some reason I didnt use the inventory at all.
The controls are good and AZERTY friendly (you get a cookie for that) but the character moves so slowly. It seems like I'm controling a heavy golem.
The graphics are you weakest point, you did draw a few tiles which look ok but your maps are empty and huge and it creates an impression of boredom and "nothing to watch nothing to do here". The monsters' sprites are a bit noisy but they look ok.
Also, I dont know if the lack of story line and quest was because of the BETA thing, but you should seriously consider this issue too because I reall would have liked to know what I was doing in that cave :P

Small bug :
I couldn't move further up when I was there :

You should blacken the background of the minimap because sometimes I can see the actual map or ennemies through it.


Good luck for polishing :P

[hatu]

Thanks for the feedback, these are really good.

The controls are a difficult issue, some people seem to like them and some don't. I've spent alot of time on them myself trying to get the best compromise of realism, fun and accuracy.
I'll look into making the hits a bit more realistic I think, it kind of flicks around a bit too much now like happinessSam said.
It's supposed to be pretty hectic and with big battles all the time so I think it'll take some kind of skill when you have to use all the different skills and keep the enemies off you.

You can wave it above the enemies which is true, I think I'll look into that a bit more to make it seem not so preferable.

fil_razorback
Heh yeah the life meter is obscured by all the debug data right now.
You are controlling a heavy golem I think I'll make it faster because it is frustrating sometimes.

The maps do feel empty and boring which is a problem. I'll need to work something out about that.

I think when I introduce new things gradually it'll be more natural to use the inventory and the skills. Now it's everything packed into one minute.

There's no story, mostly because this is more a gameplay beta but I'm not much of a writer either. I'll try to come up with something.

Bugs noted


edit: Did you guys test the skills? When you've got some red on the red bar press 1,2,3 or 4.
1 is a piercing attack that goes through all the enemies full speed and doesn't slow down so it's good againts a big mob.
2 is a pushing attack that pushes the enemis much further back
3 is a 3x damage attack
4 is temporary immortality which is kind pointless when you cant die

[fil_razorback]

Oh sorry, forgot about that.
I tested immortality and 3x damage, they both worked fine (even though I was already immortal haha) but I think the 3X damage needs a bit of visual feedback. Maybe you could make the character more red or add some effect to the whip while it's active.

[hatu]

Right, I think it does too. I'll make the whip/flail the same color as the guy changes to when you activate it.

[hatu]

Well it's been a month and it's shaping up nicely, I've been working alot on the more mundane things like preloaders and other data management stuff but there's also alot of new features and graphical updates.

The loot system is working nicely now, theres 6 sets of armor and 9 sets of weapons. You won't get them all yet because all the levels aren't in yet.

Hotkeys for potions: press Q or E or 0 to use potions quickly

All the levels are new and much more hectic.

You have to defeat a certain amount of waves of enemies now to get to the next level.

You can actually progress in the game now and there are 11 levels in this version so that's almost all of the levels with the Cave theme and some Desert levels.

Anyway I'd like to get some more feedback again, especially on how the preloader is working as I just got it finished and didn't have time to test it much.

The address is the same,
http://hatu.biz/whifBeta/
clear your cache if you get a black screen with tons of text