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[Triggerhappytel]

I like how when climbing up the passage there are ledges on either side of the screen that you can stand on. That little detail felt a bit more organic than typical Metroidvania level design in my opinion. I do agree that the screen above from Legend of Iya looks more natural and convincing, but it also looks like a lot more work and isn't necessary for the desolate atmosphere you're going for in Ghost Song. I think perhaps screens that busy would lessen the sense of isolation.

 

[Jobbs]

I like how when climbing up the passage there are ledges on either side of the screen that you can stand on. That little detail felt a bit more organic than typical Metroidvania level design in my opinion. I do agree that the screen above from Legend of Iya looks more natural and convincing, but it also looks like a lot more work and isn't necessary for the desolate atmosphere you're going for in Ghost Song. I think perhaps screens that busy would lessen the sense of isolation.

it also begs mentioning -- the game *does* have a bit of a "square" look to it in terms of many of the environments. not always, but often... and the reason for that is because I originally pitched the game as being this thing that really does look kind of like metroid or mega man or other old school games -- where the environments feature a lot of right angles and straight lines.

when redoing the art for the new build of the game, following the kickstarter, I considered redesigning a lot of things, including a totally different main character -- but ultimately I decided the best and most faithful thing to do is to make the game an improved, but spiritually consistent version of the original game that was pitched. So some of the design choices you see are simply because that's what the game was pitched as in the first place and I'm sticking with it.

 

[Croyles]

This looks amazing! Love the atmosphere: That sense of dread and wonder.
Sound is beautiful and eerie.

Most of the animations/stances are brilliant, especially the dash and the spin jump. The idle animation/stance seems a little timid but that is probably a design choice because of the environment the protagonist is in?

Something felt a little "off" about the standard jump stance though. The arms looked a little stiff and too similar to the idle stance. It lacked a little bit of "weight" I guess.

I have zero knowledge about game development, how far along you are, and what is possible for 1 person to achieve, just thought i'd give my 2 cents in the off chance that it is helpful, and because the game interests me greatly!

Hard to tell if what i thought i noticed is completely baseless or not.

 

[DrROBschiz]

it also begs mentioning -- the game *does* have a bit of a "square" look to it in terms of many of the environments. not always, but often... and the reason for that is because I originally pitched the game as being this thing that really does look kind of like metroid or mega man or other old school games -- where the environments feature a lot of right angles and straight lines.

when redoing the art for the new build of the game, following the kickstarter, I considered redesigning a lot of things, including a totally different main character -- but ultimately I decided the best and most faithful thing to do is to make the game an improved, but spiritually consistent version of the original game that was pitched. So some of the design choices you see are simply because that's what the game was pitched as in the first place and I'm sticking with it.

How many unique "Areas" are you planning on making?

Metroid was actually way more "tiley" than your game but also seemed to use a lot more color. Water areas, Volcanic area, hot pink flowers in between Viney green areas etc.. Its a very high contrast game. Made the areas stand out for sure.

Glad you are sticking to your guns though. Its a healthy mindset to have in order to actually finish and achieve goals.

Iteration can come later

 

[Jobbs]

This looks amazing! Love the atmosphere: That sense of dread and wonder.
Sound is beautiful and eerie.
<snip>
Something felt a little "off" about the standard jump stance though. The arms looked a little stiff and too similar to the idle stance. It lacked a little bit of "weight" I guess.

thank you and you're not wrong, whatever reaction you had is real -- truth is, though, I find jumping animations to be difficult to get right. You're always caught between wanting to do a nice succinct video game jump, or trying to add some more realistic weight to it. Jump animations more than most other animations are an area of real expression when animating a 2d game sprite, because it can be done in such different ways.

How many unique "Areas" are you planning on making?

There are severla different "general" areas, but still some variety within each area as well. We have a rocky mountainous region near the surface, we have, deeper down, a more fungal region with lots of spore type stuff and even stranger glowing things -- have bug tunnels, of course, as well as some man made structures, like labs.

BTW, incidentally, this is a video walkthrough I did of the previous version of the game about a year ago. It looks so wonky now. Though you may recognize a few sound effects that are still being used.

 

[Instro]

I watched some snippets of the new video yesterday, looking good. I don't have much to offer in the way of actual commentary until I fully watch it, but I'm definitely very excited.

 

[DrROBschiz]

thank you and you're not wrong, whatever reaction you had is real -- truth is, though, I find jumping animations to be difficult to get right. You're always caught between wanting to do a nice succinct video game jump, or trying to add some more realistic weight to it. Jump animations more than most other animations are an area of real expression when animating a 2d game sprite, because it can be done in such different ways.



There are severla different "general" areas, but still some variety within each area as well. We have a rocky mountainous region near the surface, we have, deeper down, a more fungal region with lots of spore type stuff and even stranger glowing things -- have bug tunnels, of course, as well as some man made structures, like labs.

BTW, incidentally, this is a video walkthrough I did of the previous version of the game about a year ago. It looks so wonky now. Though you may recognize a few sound effects that are still being used.

Sounds exciting!

Dude honestly you are on a roll with this. The quality is already beyond what most would expect even in today's bustling indie scene!

Keep chugging away at it! You are gonna blow people away with this

 

[SkullHydra]

The atmosphere, sound design, gameplay, and music in this game is so perfect! I'm going to play the heck out of it.

Great work, Jobbs!

 

[Mister Wilhelm]

This is my most anticipated game of the year, no bullshit.

 

[Jarsonot]

Looks great so far, keeping my eye on it. Nice job!

 

[Croyles]

thank you and you're not wrong, whatever reaction you had is real -- truth is, though, I find jumping animations to be difficult to get right. You're always caught between wanting to do a nice succinct video game jump, or trying to add some more realistic weight to it. Jump animations more than most other animations are an area of real expression when animating a 2d game sprite, because it can be done in such different ways.

I can only imagine the difficulties in getting a good jump animation right. You want force and movement in the sprite but you also don't want the character to flail/flap its arms around uncontrollably. Just gonna go on a whim here and say maybe make a new sprite for the jump animation where the character arcs his/her back a little and have the arms lean backwards, if you know what i mean? I don't know, was just something I thought of on the spot. A nice contrast to the idle animation would be good, and it could also act as a nice visual clue for the gamer that the jump button you pressed did indeed register.

Megaman did this in the most basic way. When he jumped it actually looked like he was shouting "yaay" though.

Part of my reaction to it might also have been because the spring/landing animation is very subtle. I think it was just the shift of one leg when getting ready to jump and landing. If the upper body also bends a little that might help.

I say all this in the knowledge that even classics like Super Metroid didn't get into so much detail. I have only recently gotten into actually thinking about how games are really designed, especially in the basic movement area. It's something I find super interesting but have no access to learning anything about other than just looking at games and trying to dissect what makes basic movement in 2d games satisfying.

None of this should be seen as negative criticism to the game, I would never write all this if it wasn't a game that didn't have massive potential, just find it interesting partly because I never get a glimpse into game design and this thread gives me a good chance.

You are obviously aware/skilled at sound design, which is something a lot of developers ignore I think. This area can help a lot in making all the basic actions of your character work and feel satisfying, by things like giving the player audio clues of the action.

 

[Diablohead]

Game looks really good, nice and moody.

 

[CTLance]

200 rooms, eh? That's a whole lot of work.

By the by, about that controller setup.
How often do you really need to move the viewport around?

I think relegating "fixed-angle" aiming to the right stick by default and using a modifier/toggle button to allow it to control the camera might require less button-pressing over the long term and make enemies outside the traditional "shooting area" less of a pain to deal with.
Obviously this will rule out aiming and shooting at the same time with the current setup, so that would require a workaround. Something like, stick with the chosen direction indefinitely while shooting and revert to the traditional firing direction if no shot was fired for, let's say, three seconds.

Just a suggestion without having played the game, which is admittedly very problematic. It's just, watching you fight those drone/mine things near the map cache and later on when you shot at the Zombie in the pit with the other drone/mine made me think it would be easier on the player if he could aim up or down more quickly.

when redoing the art for the new build of the game, following the kickstarter, I considered redesigning a lot of things, including a totally different main character -- but ultimately I decided the best and most faithful thing to do is to make the game an improved, but spiritually consistent version of the original game that was pitched.

Bwahaha, oh god, Jobbs, if you had completely overhauled the project after the initial campaign you would have never heard the end of it. I wouldn't have minded, but I bet a good chunk of your backers would probably have eaten you alive, no matter whether the changes would have been beneficial or not. Glad to see your survival instincts kicked in and compelled you to stay close to what you advertised on Kickstarter.

Spoiler

Do write down the other ideas you had. There's always Ghost Song 2 or whatever else you might be planning.