Feedback Castle Ambush

[zendraw]

So i made a game last year and worked on it for a week or two but stopped working on it, and decided to share it with you guys, to see what you think about it.

Genre: tactical/top-down

Controlls:
arrow keys- move/turn
W- wait
A/S weapon 1/ weapon 2
Escape- menu
E- use[hold button]
F- chess pieces[once you get a chess piece you can assign it to either weapon at any time]

note://each weapon has unique function and uses
red weapons have infinite ammo
yellow weapons have finite ammo
blue weapons have regenerative ammo [mana]

Any feedback is appreciated. Thanks.

game jolt - http://gamejolt.com/games/castleambush/251595
https://www.dropbox.com/s/da7ir7u811omev0/Castle Ambush.exe?dl=0

Spoiler: Screenshots

 

[zendraw]

Game now on Game Jolt.

 

[woodsmoke]

Man I'm digging those screenshots! Except the last one, it's hard to distinguish the player from the world.

 

[zendraw]

thanks, thats a shader effect actually, its supposed to create more of a feel that your in a dungeon/underground.

 

[Hyomoto]

Well, I downloaded it and gave it a try. The graphics are nice and I even thought the 'edge' menus were a nice touch and I was impressed they were at least somewhat animated. However, for the game itself ... I can't say I got into it. The controls were awkward, definitely a game that would benefit from controller support, and honestly the art is really the best thing going for it. As someone doing a retro remake, I'm a big fan of 8-bit computer and early console-styled graphics. However, that only takes a project so far. It would benefit greatly from doing a quality of life pass on it. For example, there are no sounds, no screen shake, no transitions. Anything you do has very, very little feedback and as the player it makes it difficult to know what is happening, if anything at all. If I may make a suggestion, this is a good website that makes it easy to generate your own 8-bit sound effects. They may be rudimentary but even SOME sound would help add some character. I've used this before with my own games, for example Lock Down uses sound effects generated here: http://www.bfxr.net/

If this is a first effort or even an early attempt, I'm impressed. I won't pretend that makes me like the game or want to play it more, but as a technical demonstration of your skills I'll admit it's much, much better than I would've expected. In fact, I won't lie to you, the only reason I played it is because of your comment in the other thread. However, if there's one thing that stands out immediately to me is that you need feedback and to try to examine your game from the perspective of someone who has never played it. To you, it's novel. You built it, of course you like it. That's why you are sharing it here. The people who look at it do not have that same attachment, and the things you don't think are no big deal or ignore because you are impressed with your own technical acumen are exactly what you need to be focusing on. You have a clear concept, the game is at least somewhat user friendly and I really dig the graphics, but it needs work in feedback and QoL. As a more specific example, if I cannot interact with the menu using the mouse, why can I use it at all? It would be wise to hide the cursor when it doesn't actually do anything. Still, putting something out there is more than many people have and as I've said I was impressed by how technically capable it was, so if you choose to continue you could probably develop this into a rather decent project. Have fun and keep coding!

 

[zendraw]

oh, i thought you wrote this comment on the other thread then i realised your talkin bout my game. and thanks for taking the time.
i will be working on this project in future and complete it, but right now im occupied.