Playtesters HATED This...I’m KEEPING it Anyway

[@meliodas8409]

Yes, sir. If the game needs testing I'm gonna test. You can call me Johnny Test 🔊🦅

[@Wheatly_Portal2]

You can call me cave Johnson🔥🔥🔥🔥

[@theokushi1236]

Cool game! After a bit I got used to the attack timing and dodging, and its cool that you get a choice between zap vs attack depending on which of the two minigames you're better at Looking forward to more!

[@SethAbercromby]

To be honest, the mechanic feels very overcooked at the moment. What you missed about your undertale comparison is that it keeps its rules extremely simple and straightforward. Enemies have a bunch of gimmicks for the bullet hell sections, but by using the clear rules of a turn-based system the game gives you clear indicators which enemy is about to attack and what pattern they're about to use. The markers might be the worst option to go with in terms of game design, since you're basically no longer actually interacting with the enemy, instead just forced to watch whether or not a symbol happens to appear on your position. It's better than fakeouts or other random behavior that's obfuscated to the point of being virtually unrecognizable to a normal player, but you're just trading one bad design choice with another. What are the intended design goals for the combat system, and what is combat meant to communicate to the player?

[@StuHol-jb1hh]

This, honestly one of the other things I noticed is that all these minigames are pretty demanding right out the door. I'm seeing the attack minigame, and for your most barebones attack that you start with, the zone getting that small is already pretty bad, but the fact that its either hit or fail, no secondary zone around the goal zones where you get a partialcredit for the attack(or in truth you expect players to on average hit this secondary zone, and thus balance the damage around this as the standard expected output). Also the miss forgiveness system is honestly just a bandaid on an underdeveloped system, and it's clear that while this guy has taken inspiration from undertales combat, he hasn't actually studied or analyzed any of the actual things going on under the hood, or explored different ways to actually build upon the concepts and systems.

[@Cloud-HeadedDev]

Okay, so I just updated the game with a revamped dodging minigame. If you get the chance, let me know if this addressed things or if I'm off the mark still. I wasn't able to address every issue, like the warning for a fakeout, yet.

[@SethAbercromby]

@@Cloud-HeadedDev I'm not sure what happened, but the links to your project are kinda busted. You didn't link to it in the description here and in the annoucement video the links are just plain text that are cut halfway down the line.

[@Cloud-HeadedDev]

@@SethAbercromby KZbin's not letting me put links in the description or pin comments. It's kinda doodoo. cloud-headeddev.itch.io/divorce-the-princess-exe cloud-headeddev.itch.io/divorce-the-princess-web +_v1B3z_0n7y

[@saiyanbacca]

@@Cloud-HeadedDev I tried it today, and I gotta say the base mechanics feel great. I found myself playing longer than I thought I would. One thing I'd tweak has to do with the parry mechanic. If I understand correctly, when you wait during an enemy attack it parries and damages the enemy, but you don't see anything until the end of the turn. I'd just like a little feedback to see the parry damage being done as you press the button instead of after the enemy is done attacking. Gonna feel more dynamic that way too I think.

[@Kaisharga]

Stopped at the boss guarding the heal spell. Found out after I died that it was because the game failed to load the skeleton_boss image, it seemed at the time that it was just a weird gimmick, like I should know how the enemies move and just react to the "!!!" crossover indicator. Decided I did not want to give it a second shot.

[@Cloud-HeadedDev]

I’ll look into that when I can. Thank you for playing and giving feedback. Are there any other critiques you may want to share?

[@Kaisharga]

@@Cloud-HeadedDev I should note I was playing the web version when I encountered the above error. Running Firefox. Technically Noscript addon is present, but I think I had all relevant domains set to Trusted at the time. I think the controls of swap-or-stay could use a second pass. Z and X are not super intuitive for which is which, and I found myself wanting to move but hitting the pass button in a moment of confusion quite a few times. Thinking left/right for Swap, and down/up for Stay might be easier to sync with, just at a first thought. Everything else seemed basically fine. I liked the encounter tick-down meter, although it would be a lie to say that I made plans of any sort because of it. Mistake counter in combat was appreciated. Timing game was enjoyable and engaging, though in fairness I am a person who is pretty decent at such things. Could have seen myself playing a good bit more if not for the technical error!

[@Cloud-HeadedDev]

So, I wasn't able to recreate the issue with the skeleton boss, unfortunately. It could be that the image is taking longer to load in for whatever reason. I've noticed that the web version does take a bit longer to load in images. That's the best guess I have. Also, thank you so much for your feedback! I really appreciate it.

[@akirabaes4644]

The enemy could move up to wind up and move down to attack if you want to hide the timer and indicators. (not even animation, just teleport up then down to keep with the aesthetic, and the player remembers the timing as long as it's consistent) Edit: I don't see any link in the comments

[@ShinoSarna]

What you actually need is a SPECTRUM of results. Having only options be binary success or failure is boring. Add more options: minor success, full success, critical success, critical failure.

[@ShinoSarna]

Consider people playing DnD - how hyped everyone is when someone gets a natural 20.

[@chartroniumdude5870]

I had a try of it, i think the dodging minigame is still kind of unpleasant. the swap/stay nature of it is a little confusing. i think it would be much less overwhelming if you pressed left or right to go to the left or right, maybe pressing in the direction you are already at could take the place of waiting (i do think this would make the gameplay a lot like the champions(?) in one finger death punch, but that's not necessarily a bad thing, and you can always add originality in other ways if that's a bother). I do also think the flashing of the warnings is a little distracting, perhaps putting a soft red glow in the area that's dangerous would be easier on the eyes. as for communicating when the character is going to attack, i think moving the character sprite in a windup-like motion (moving slowly back) before moving forward to attack would work well to communicate the timing involved while also giving the game a bit of liveliness those are just my opinions anyway, i will be watching this game's developement to see how it goes from now on.

[@Cloud-HeadedDev]

This might be the key

[@Cloud-HeadedDev]

All right, I just updated it. Let me know if this is better, if it's not too much to ask.

[@chartroniumdude5870]

@@Cloud-HeadedDev i really like this change! i hereby declare the dodging minigame is now fun.

[@Audiodump]

There's a Gameboy advanced game called "Zone of the enders: The fist of Mars" that handles this idea better.

[@nernguan995]

I love the dragon quest graphic placeholders lol

[@Cloud-HeadedDev]

Who can resist their charm? (rip Akira Toriyama)

[@sugoiuseismoeabuse4058]

Got this recommended to me. This does seem fun so I might give it a try. We look forward to more.

[@hotworlds]

hell yeah stick to your guns Also dunno if you're planning it but I wonder if people would get it more easily if the enemies had some animation frames for attacking to give you intuitive tells. Grab the spritesheets from DQ3 ;)

[@fractalamb]

is that white box with a butt?

[@SMGJohn]

K