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(1 edit) (+1)

I would love to try this demo, but your controller configuration is broken.
Not all gamepads have a "select" button (button 9?), and for those without, it is impossible to rebind keys.

Perhaps allow a keybind to be cleared with Backspace in gamepad mode? Or allow a bind to overwrite an existing bind? Very, very frustrating.

EDIT: While you're at it, perhaps don't arbitrarily choose a controller on systems with multiple controllers? Let the user pick one.

Never seen a controller without a select button of some form so not sure what to say there other than I guess they exist then.

I'll be looking into putting that on another button then, and did you try using backspace with a controller plugged in?

Can't remember if it works or not right now but the game should at least switch to keyboard mode as soon as you press a keyboard button, it might not clear the controller button keybind though.

You mean overwrite an existing key as in if the same key is already bound somewhere else (not on the current action you're trying to bind) then just unbind that key for that action?

If so, that can probably be done and I'll put it on the list.

And finally, never actually seen someone use multiple controllers at the same time unless they're making games themselves and use them for testing so I didn't account for that yet.

I'll be putting that on the list as well and it will probably be added as a list you can scroll through and select the controller you want.

(4 edits) (+1)

Here are two that lack a Button 9 that I have at hand:

Those are officially-licensed, but I also have a couple of Chinese clones which skip Button 9, which I assume is what your code is looking for. There are also SNES-inspired controllers that might not map select to Button 9. Yes, Backspace with a controller just switches to keyboard mode, it doesn't clear the button binding.

By suggesting that you might use another button, you're still making some assumptions about what the button layout and mapping of the user's controller will be, and arbitrarily choosing a button that will be gated off. It would be better to have a universal key (such as Backspace) that will clear a button binding or a keyboard binding, and that all PCs are guaranteed to have.

The other option would be to overwrite an existing bind, possibly with the red text prompting for a second confirmation press, instead of simply refusing to remap.

For the record, local co-op and such is still a completely legitimate reason to have multiple controllers connected to a PC. Also, some disability controller setups might still use multiple controllers, although I don't expect indie games to support those out of the gate.

EDIT: Wrong pic for the Gen/MD controller, fixed. Also, I realize that historically, indie games' solution to controllers has been "just use Joy2Key", so I appreciate that you are actually supporting controllers. My suggestions are only intended as constructive criticism.

EDIT 2: Tried a couple of generic PSX controllers of different make/model, which have "Select" mapped to Button 9, and it still doesn't clear the binding. I've tried all of the buttons (including thumbsticks) on both, and none of them do. I'm not sure which button you're looking for in the code to clear the binding, but it doesn't appear to be working.

Huh, well, I never had anything Sega related so that explains that.


I'm not really looking for "button 9", I'm looking for a constant set by the engine I'm using. (which might be button 9 I have no idea)

And regarding backspace not clearing the controller keybind, I've now tested it and it actually does as long as you're in controller mode when pressing backspace, if you press a keyboard button other than backspace before pressing backspace, then it will clear the keyboard key instead.

So you have to press a controller button to enter controller mode and then press only backspace to clear a controller binding.

There is however some issue where "select" is not working as intended, it just gets detected as a menu button press instead of clearing a binding.

But both of these problems will be largely irrelevant after my intended fix listed below.


As for using another button to clear bindings, I'm just going to have backspace clear both the keyboard and the controller binding, that should solve the problem.


I'll be looking into changing how keybind conflicts work, it's probably either going to be the way you described or the way I mentioned in my previous comment.


Yeah you're right there, I didn't really think of local coop at all, probably because I don't really like multiplayer that much so I usually stay way from it.

And the disability point is also correct and for that reason I'll be looking into a setting like this: "Accept input from all connected controllers", therefore allowing input from all controllers without selecting one from a list.

This probably won't magically make all those non-standard controllers work though.

I'll also be looking into adding that list to be able to select controller if the above setting is turned off, which it would be by default.


And using "Joy2Key" is an option I guess but I'd rather just have it work in game.

And finally, for your second edit, refer to the "button 9" part of this post, there is an issue with select apparently.


Anyway, I appreciate the feedback, I'll be trying to add these new features and fix the issues.

I don't mean to be a pain, but I'm trying to use Backspace to clear a bind, and it doesn't seem to be working, even for keyboard bindings. Pressing Backspace just brings up the red-bordered keybinding screen, and the buttons/keys are still shown as being in use, with red error text.

To be clear, my expectation (based on other programs with remappable controls) is that pressing a "clear bind" key should stay on the same screen, and the bound entry would become blank, after which the user could select it to bind it.

Also, the demo shows a notification whenever it loses focus that the controller has been disconnected. Probably not critical, but odd.

I guess I'll just wait for the new version.

Okay I think I see what might have happened, is Backspace bound to any action?

This is the only case I've gotten it to behave as you explained, apparently I forgot to disable that as a key you can bind.. so this will be fixed as well.

To fix this you'd have to bind whatever action Backspace is bound to another key and then Backspace should behave as intended again.

And your expectation is correct, it's supposed to stay on the same screen and just set the action to "unbound".

That controller disconnection notification is normal, I'd have to rework aspects of my controller detection system to *maybe* get rid of that so that probably won't be fixed any time soon.

And yeah, you should probably wait for the next version, I'm on a bit of a break right now so I'll be getting back to work on this next monday.

I got all the way to the first boss, didn't beat it because it wasn't very fun to fight against.


That being said, the art direction and sound desing are simply phenomenal, you really nailed that Metroid vibe perfectly. And the design of the first boss was really cool! The ambience tracks can feel repetitive, they do the trick of being ambience but they don't hold my attention for very long like Lower Brinstar or Norfair get to do, I would make the actual loops way longer.

I also feel like the initial areas are way too small so it's hard to get a feel and identity for each one, so it ends up feeling more like Metroid Fusion than it's bigger brother Metroid Fusion. The fact that a lot of progression is hidden behind shootable blocks makes me feel like they are there without much rhyme or reason and it kinda defeats the purpose of feeling like a secret when they're so many one after the other.

Also, only 2 rockets at the start? Come on, at least gimme 5, let me have fun blowing stuff up! I know the drop rate of rockets is like crazy high but I still feel like 2 doesn't let me get excited to start blasting stuff around.


Overall I think it shows a lot of promise and it can be polished into a great game if you keep working on it. Again, the art is crazy good and the animations feel nice! But there's much more to a Metroid game than the aesthetics of it, and I just don't get the same feeling of adventure with Zordak.

Please keep up the good work! I'll be looking forwards to more updates.

Hey, thanks for trying the demo.

The boss will continue to get improvements over time, for example: currently I think it's still a bit too random and it doesn't always give the player much time to hit it, so those will be improved upon at some point.


All music and most sound will be reworked later so expect these things to change, the current music is just something quick I threw together a long time ago so I understand.


So, I simply can't make everything as big as in Super Metroid so the rooms will be smaller in this game, that being said, there are bigger rooms in the full game than in the demo.

And if you mean areas like full zones and not just rooms, the same answer still applies.


I don't really consider the progression parts as secrets even though they are somewhat hidden, I think of it more like puzzles and this is one of the main mechanics of the game, so this is not really going to stop.

But I get what you mean, things can get a bit repetitive and I'm trying to come up with new things you have to do as the game progresses, not much of that is in the demo after a certain point though unfortunately.


The reason for the low ammo count is that I don't want the player to be able to spam the missiles but rather use them in specific scenarios like tougher enemies, bosses and such.

So this will probably not change, I'm not completely sure though.


Of course there's more than aesthetics to a Metroid game like the music and movement mechanics for example but I'm not making an actual Metroid game here so things will be different.

I'll just say what I always do:

I'm trying to make Super Metroid but not Super Metroid.


Anyway, thanks for the feedback, glad you like the demo overall. :)

If it's puzzles what you're going for I think you're going on a good path, I'm not a huge puzzle fan so I can't comment too much on that. Experimenting with that concept can be a lot of fun if you push the puzzle aspect really hard into the game and you could get away with the smaller areas if they're all full of entertaining puzzles. It would really make Zordak stand on it's own if you manage to pull such a thing since it'll be quite unique.

Just wanted to say that because it did feel more like a puzzles overall. 

Once again, keep up the good work and looking forwards to more stuff!

Yeah, puzzles, exploration and bosses will be the main focus.

General enemy combat is considered more like an "annoyance", most of them are pretty much there to be in your way.

So.. yeah, we'll see how it turns out, thanks again for the feedback. :)

Dude, this looks very promising! I'm a big fan of 2d Metroids and I really enjoyed going through this demo! Amazing work!

I hope that in the full version it will be possible to "unequip" the helmet and jumpsuit :)

Thanks for trying the demo, glad you like it. :)

Regarding your question though.. I'm going to have to disappoint you but the ability to unequip the suit will probably be going away when I add a new planned feature.

So.. sorry, but that is likely not going to happen.

Thanks for the feedback though.

(+1)

I found 'metroid' in new version of demo. And I'm afraid
this gonna be 'serious copyright problem'.  

As you can see, that's definitely 'metroid'. And it's too blatant plagiarism to be called an Easter egg or something.

Of course, I love this game & looking forward to meet the
full version. But, also I feared 'Nintendo' will never go
easy on you for this one.

I hate to say, but I think you should delete that 'thing'.

 
(+1)

I've now done some reading and sadly.. you're probably right.

I'm not going to go more into it than this but let's just say I don't agree at all.. but it's not up to me so it will not be there in the next version, you can't have fun in this world I guess.

Glad you like the game though and thanks for trying the demo.

(9 edits)

I apologize for make you feel uncomfortable.
but nintendo is really ***hole when it comes to copyright issues...D:(

Did you heard 'AM2R (Another metroid 2 remake)'?
AM2R is metroid fan game development began in
2008, completed and released on August 6, 2016.
It was well-made metroid fan game & it also been awarded at the amateur Nintendo 2nd creative
game contest.

As far as I know, The developer has already
received development approval from Nintendo,
and there were no actions or claims during 
development either.

However,soon after AM2R was completed,this
game was banned by Nintendo. A year later,
Nintendo released new official remake named
'Metroid samus returns'.

That was trecherous and cowardly decision..
Not only a betrayal to fans and users, but also
intercepts the developer's ideas and efforts.
Don't you think?

After AM2R was banned, Nintendo has banned the
distribution of over 562 fan made games in the
same way. That's why I really hate Nintendo and
I don't want this game to be another victim of
Nintendo's copyright policy.); 

It's fine, I wasn't exactly feeling uncomfortable, it was more disappointment in how boring companies are.

I know about AM2R, not as much detail as you explained but still.

I don't think this will be the same case though
(especially after the metroid has been removed)
for multiple reasons:

1 - I'm not calling this metroid or trying to make it seem like an actual metroid game.

2 - All my graphics are original and isn't made to completely look like metroid. (although with obvious similarities)

Even the actual metroid easter egg sprite was made by me but that one is too similar so it's going away as mentioned before.

So I don't really see how this could be a victim of copyright issues when everything is original.

But with all of that being said, this game is not done and will receive numerous changes over time so other things may or may not be removed/changed as well.

(+1)

I like the feel of this game.  One little issue I have is with regards to the game's conveyance. So many instances where I found myself in a room where I couldn't figure out how to progress.  The cracks in the walls and pipes can be a little hard to see; perhaps it may be worth exploring some kind of map marker like what they have in the Metroid series. Something just to indicate that there is a breakable wall or a hidden item in the room.  

Anyhow, keep up the good work.  I look forward to seeing the finished product. 

Thanks for trying the demo, glad you like it. :)

Well, eventually you did find out how to progress, right?

So I guess it can't be that bad and I can agree that sometimes it's a bit much but this is one of the main points of the game.

So it's probably going to stay this way unless a lot of people get stuck in the same place, then I know there's a big problem.

And regarding a map marker system, this already exists but not in the same way, this one is manual and you have to put the markers there yourself as reminders / notes.

Thanks for the feedback, I'm sure things will improve over time.

I see you implemented a new save system, which makes me glad and sad at the same time.

Demo seems mostly same some rooms changed,ending message is gone.

The code needed and angle shooting to progress feels like secrets, not like early game progression it needs to be bit more obvious this early on.

The first boss improved a lot bug spawn feels like most RNG is removed from it, some attacks that seemed unavoidable can now be avoided.

Great work overall.

(+1)

Yeah, well, that system is going to be changed again in the next version, whenever that is, there are still some issues with this one but it's better than before.


The ending message should be there, it was there in all of my testing so not sure what happened there..

In any case, someone else had this issue as well so I'll be displaying the message in a different way in the next version.


Well, I kinda want people to get stumped / stuck at these points in the game and I've left multiple hints for both places so I'm not sure how much this will change.

Maybe a few more hints will be added, I've got at least one in mind for the diagonal shooting part.


Good to hear that the boss is better, it's still not quite where I want it since it's still a bit too random so more changes will come to that one later.


Thanks for trying the new demo and the feedback. :)

Great job on the demo! You hit the mark exactly. It feels like Super Metroid, but with it's own style and mechanics. I'll be looking forward to the full release! 

I did encounter a bug I wanted to report. I use a dualshock 4 controller on my PC and it incorrectly detected some of the buttons. I have them mapped like this: Square is attack, Triangle is secondary attack, X is Jump, and Circle is Secondary Weapon Swap. However, this is how the game detected that configuration:

If you need any more info from me just let me know. Great job and I'm looking forward to seeing more!

Thanks for playing the demo, glad you like it. :)

So.. do the buttons you bound work like you wanted them to and it's just the name that is wrong right?

If that's the case, I don't think there's anything I can do about it really, I don't actually know what button was pressed because all controllers are different.

And the only reason I know it was one of the face buttons is because it was detected by the built in function from Game Maker Studio, otherwise my own method would detect it but then it would just display a number instead.

So I'm not sure there's much I can do about this issue.

The important thing is that the keybindings work as you bound them, the names are pretty irrelevant as long as they work as you bound them, it could possibly get a bit confusing sure.. but it is what it is for now.

Thanks for the feedback.

If you use Discord and are looking to get more involved with providing feedback, feel free to join my server listed in the "Links" section of this game page.

So, I loved this demo, great concept with great execution. There were a few things that I found frustrating however, such as the diagonal shooting. I understand that the player is supposed to figure a lot of things out on their own, but assigning the diagonal shooting mechanic to a button, and not telling the player about it felt agitating. Maybe put a hint text on the item when you obtain it, or some additional controls related to the item?

There are a few things that I did love however, such as how there are different types of water, and each had negative effects, but in different ways, such as how the beginning water takes away oxygen, and later water pools take away energy. Also, I didn't know if it was a bug or not, but occasionally when I would shoot at a crawling bug enemy, they would stop, wait a second, then flip over. It gave me the impression that the creatures were just as scared of the player as the player was as scared of them. Another nice thing is that the secrets were designed in a way that made me want to start shooting around to find out if there were any other secrets. It felt natural and rewarding.

Overall, loved it, and I look forward to a full release. Keep up the good work.

I had the controls listed on there before but people said there was too much text and I saw in multiple videos that they didn't read it anyway so I removed it.

So I decided to just tell the player about the controls menu instead, same thing with the first missile you pick up.

Not sure what else to do here, the controls menu is the best place to find these things out anyway.

The crawlers flipping over is kind of a bug but I mean.. It doesn't really impact gameplay in a negative way so I've left it in for now.

Anyway, glad you like the demo and thanks for the feedback. :)

What do I do after getting the Geo Suit and green battery? I think everything is too high up for me to get out of this area.

Look around in the room you got the suit. :)

I found the energy tank but I'm still stuck in here.

Lower left part of the room if you're still stuck.

(2 edits)

Edit: I figured it out! I'm sorry I'm such a dumbass. I didn't realize you could aim diagonally until just recently.

It's fine, that part is there for that exact reason: to try and force the player to learn about diagonal aiming. :)

Since you just released the new demo/build I want to give some feedback. First I want to start by telling you that I was impressed with the visuals, it felt like Metroid but different and it was nice pixel art and sound to enhance the feeling. It did run great on my old potato laptop so that is great work! Kept stable frame rate, good visuals and smooth inputs. I had two small glitches, when a energy pickup was left and I moved away from view distance the purple glow was still there when I came back and the pickup was unloaded. The boss was damaged in its "Serris" attack and it kept doing the sound of damage until it repeated the attack.

I did like what you have done and my main point of frustration was that the breakable blocks where sometimes hard to hit and find. Gave up twice and took a break and then I tried to shoot everything and realised the crack in the wall was breakable but I needed to aim to break it while it looked as my show did connect. So maybe increase the hitboxes.

Other than that I just want to say I am really interested and wants to see where this project ends since I liked what I tested. :)

Thanks for trying the demo, glad you like it. :)

Good to hear that it felt like Metroid but different since the feeling I'm going for is basically "Super Metroid but not Super Metroid".

Also good to hear that it works on a lower end computer, I spent quite a bit of time trying to optimize it a week or so before release.

The light/glow issue is already on my list so I'll be fixing that at some point.

I'm not sure what "Serris attack" would be but the sound playing thing does not sound correct so I'll add this to the list, thanks.

Yeah.. breakable tiles still have some issues and I'll be improving on that over time.

The thing is.. I can't just increase the hitbox size since it's already a bit too big, meaning: if you shoot above the floor for example and the projectile moves along the floor but does not hit it, it will still hit a breakable tile at the same position as the floor even though it's not even close to it.

So, I'll have to look into other ways to improve that aspect.

Anyway, thanks for the feedback. ^^

Here is the deal from my play through - there isn't a lot to get in the game area you are allowed to play in, in the demo. Unless I am missing something. Power armor 6-8 missiles and an energy tank.

If you are taking input for new parts to the game would be some kind of mutagen addition to allow the heroin to get additional powers, even increase energy/health levels, jump, armor and the like. (Though this seems like just surface level things, since there is no metroid flipping here.) Enemies seem a bit too Metroid-esk, Might work on differing them so that there is no conflict with Nintendo. Heroin's hair color could be changed for the same reason. Else include a hair color choice, at least for the few times she gets out of her armor to show... (Though as it is seemingly version .5 a lot of the seen features and things might change over the development... Might suggest also getting in contact with DoctorM64 the one that made AM2R and see if he can help with getting additional tallent to help this get made. )

Well, judging from your numbers, you missed 1 or 2 items depending on if you just left one key item out or not.

But that being said, it is a demo after all so of course it won't have that much content, in fact, it's already quite long for a demo in my opinion.

The main functions of the demo is to show people how the game plays and let them have a way to see if it works on their computer.

I already have A LOT of upgrades and such planned, some are in the game already (not in the demo), so I'm probably not going to be adding many suggestions like that at the moment.

Not 100% sure what "metroid flipping" means but I assume it's like the spinjump maybe? In that case, no there will not be any spinjump in this game.

I mean, sure, many enemies are based on enemies from metroid and behave very similar but it is all original sprites and code so I don't see how this would be a problem really.

Same goes for hair color.. and having the option to change it will likely not be in the game, I'd have to add a lot of extra sprites just for that.

And regarding contacting DoctorM64, I'm not really looking for any help in this regard right now (maybe not ever) so this will likely not be needed.

Thanks for trying the demo and giving feedback.

The new Demo blows the old one out of the water! 

Better graphics and lighting. I love the new jumpsuit and power armor.

And the Boss Slither is so much improved. Good telegraphing on attacks, more time to react, and the bugs that you can kill for supplies is wonderful.

Now I'm even more excited for the full release. Definitely gonna try and buy this day 1.

Also I laughed at the lil metroid easter egg after you get the jump suit. Very cute :)

(+1)

Hey, thanks for trying the new demo.

Yeah pretty much everything has been improved since the last demo in my opinion.

Good to hear that the boss is better as well, I will likely continue tweaking it later as it's not quite 100% where I want it yet, it's a bit too random still.

That homage to Metroid has actually been there since one of the first demos I released but I'm pretty sure most people miss it. ;)

Thanks for the feedback. ^^

Solid foundation but having energy and power on separate bars feels weird. maybe power could be renamed something else to make it clearer what it's supposed to do.

Power does pretty much nothing in the demo, it is used in the full game though.

That being said, Energy and Power does kind of mean the same thing in a sense so maybe one of them will be renamed, we'll see.

Thanks for the feedback. :)

(+1)

Aux power might work depending on what its used for.

I LOVED the demo, it's amazing. It felt so smooth and nice to navigate and explore. The secrets, the exploration... truly amazing! The ambience is great too. The tutorial felt kinda sloppy, without telling you about using W or A to point down or up, but matches the metroidvania style of not telling you anything. Overall amazing demo, I can't wait for more content! I guess that there is no estimated release date? How many years would it take to be complete? I am really hyped up for this game! Will buy it on release, might even support it on patreon once I pay my taxes.

(+1)

Glad you like the demo, thanks for playing. :)

Well, regarding tutorial text, it was just too much text to display so I decided to tell the player to check the control options instead, which is the best way to check controls anyway.

I have no set release date and I don't know how long it will take to finish, all I can really say is:

It's done when it's done.

As for supporting me and/or the game, it's completely up to you and every little bit of support I get on Patreon is extremely appreciated.

Thanks for the feedback. ^^

I love this demo so much!! Lots of fun, and it really feels like Metroid. The bossfight and puzzles are a lot of fun to figure out. The only criticism I have is that the player animations are a little stiff. Great work so far, excited for the release!!

(+2)

Hey, thanks for trying the demo, I'm glad you like it. :)

I'm sure the animations will be improved upon over time but it will not be something I focus on for quite a while.

Thanks for the feedback.

When i launch the game there is 2 diff exe files,which one do i use?

(+1)

Either of them should work, the Zordak_YYC one just has better performance but might have new bugs I don't know about.

More information in the README file included with the game.

(1 edit)

my man why dont you do an early release on steam...this game got me hooked!!! kudos for releasing this to linux my man!!!!!

(+1)

It's not quite ready for any sort of early access release just yet and won't be for quite some time.

I'm not sure I want to do one either but we'll see.

I'll be trying my best to keep supporting linux. :)

Instead of an early access, when a demo that you feel comfortable enough (Maybe near release) is ready, release a demo in steam with the page (No early access). That would be really cool.

(+1)

I will be making a Steam page at some point and likely putting a demo there as well.

And this naturally answers the other potential question, yes, the game will be on Steam at some point. :)

I love the look of this. I will definitely be looking on with great interest, not enough of this flavor of game around.

(+1)

Hey, thanks, glad you like it. :)

Hey there, I'm liking the demo so far.  I see you are close to releasing another demo, so this feedback may be irrelevant by now.

I haven't completed the demo, because I got stuck behind a pedestal that had my second missile pack on it.  I cannot jump back out.  I can provide a screenshot to show you where if you need it.  I will need to quit and reload from a save.

I noticed many scaling artifacts in the intro sequence that look like textures are being stretched in a non-1-to-1 fashion, even though my graphics settings were set to not stretch.

The 'fit to screen' option leaves large black bars on all sides of the game area.  I assume you are doing integer multiple scaling only - a 'keep aspect ratio' type scaling could eliminate the black bars on two sides of the screen (top and bottom in my case) and would be an improvement.

I tried running with vsync enabled.  I usually prefer this to avoid tearing artifacts.  However, the game ran very sluggishly.  The built-in fps counter says 30fps, but it seemed like the game logic (rather than rendering) was executing perhaps somewhere in the 8-10 fps range.

Looking forward to trying the next demo!

(2 edits) (+1)

Hey, thanks for trying the demo and yes, a new demo should be coming up very soon with a lot of changes. :)

That pedestal room issue has been fixed assuming you mean the room which is half submerged in water with spikes at the bottom.


There will always be some scaling artifacts since the game is actually rendered at 200% scale, this is done to be able to render the text as small as it is, it would be double the size if the game was rendered at 100%.

That being said, I'm looking into good ways of rendering the text separately to allow 100% game scale rendering, still have not found a good way though.


"Fit to Screen" will have black bars on any widescreen monitor as the game is not made for widescreen, and this is not possible to change either.

It does not use Integer Scaling and actually does Aspect Ratio Scaling unless Aspect Ratio Scaling means something else to you.

It should not have black bars on all sides of the screen though, just the sides or the top/bottom, a screenshot of this would be nice unless I'm misunderstanding here.


Technically the only reason V-Sync would make the game run at 30FPS would be if your monitor is running at 30Hz, unless something is broken.

Not sure about the 8-10FPS thing though, but one thing you could do regarding V-Sync is to turn on "Alternate Sync" which may or may not fix the issue.


Thanks for the feedback :)

If you're interested in providing more direct feedback or maybe knowing more about the game, feel free to join my Discord server, there's a link to it on this game page.

If not, then that's fine as well, I just respond faster on Discord. (+ there's a benefit or two for being there)

The game is very good, and has a great feel for it.
The lighting, sound effects and music - all create a great atmosphere.

My only gripe is with the boss fight. He doesn't telegraph his attacks in an optimal way, and thus doesn't leave many options to learn his patterns and respond to them properly.

It all feels like a game of chance in regards to how I must position myself before his next attack, and whether or not I'll meet my impending doom. It all just feels like it's out of my control.

Also, the spike in the difficulty level, is too great for such an early phase of the game. It's a bit of a leap to move on from dealing with jumping suicide crabs to dealing with an over-powered water bender that shoots plasma balls out of his eyes.

(+1)

Hey, thanks for trying the demo and I'm glad you like it.

So, this demo is quite old by now and I'm currently in the process of making a new demo with A LOT of changes including changes to the boss.

That being said, you are correct and I agree with pretty much everything you said, many of these things have been fixed / improved upon in the upcoming demo and will continue to be improved upon after that.

So if you find the time to test the new demo whenever it's out (hopefully "soon"), feel free to tell me if you think it's better or not.

Also just to comment on the difficulty spike:

The boss should be easier in the new demo as well and thus reducing this difficulty spike.

But it should still be challenging and dying on the boss now results in less of a penalty as there is a save station closer to the boss.

Anyway, thanks for the feedback. :)

(+1)

I would love to play the updated demo when it comes out(and also buy the game when it's finished).

And it's definitely a good thing that the boss will still be challenging.
I don't mind dying often in a boss fight.
I just want to feel like it's my fault for dying, instead of like it's the game's fault.

Israeli?

Yep, I assume you are too?

Indeed.

Know bibi?

(+1)

I agree completely that it shouldn't feel like it's the game's fault and I've tried to fix some of this for the new demo.

The boss will definitely not be perfect in the new demo but hopefully it's better than the old one.

In any case, we'll just have to wait and see how it turns out.

Played on Linux and I can say this game is amazing, you did a really good job on basically upgrading Super Metroid. I love it!

(+1)

Hey, thanks for playing, glad you like it. :)

Good to hear the Linux version works, unless you played with Wine or something, but good to hear either way.

I used native linux to run it :)

Okay, good to know that works then, thanks. ^^

This looks really cool. What engine are you using to make this? Unity?

Hey, thanks.

I'm using GameMaker Studio 1.4. :)

What a treat! I grew up with Metroid, and I can not wait for the game to be fully released one day. Instant buy! Love the atmosphere and all these little particle effects. Really bring things to life! Amazing work so far :)

Hey, thanks for trying the demo.

It's a bit old by now and I'm working on getting it updated, glad you like it though. ^^

Atmosphere is one of my main focuses so I'm glad you like that as well. ;)

love it, looks like an unreleased metroid game for the MS-Dos in the 90s! the atmosphere is certainly one of it's stronger aspects, the same thing that made metroid fusion my favourite Metroid game.

Thanks, atmosphere is one of main my focuses so I'm glad you like it. :)

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Hey great work! I'm not a big fan of metroidvania games myself but from gameplay I can see this is great.

I am a somewhat proficent linux user, and I have a suggestion. Rather than using a VM try using a usb stick with Ubuntu flashed onto it. It has a feature where you can run a trial version off a usb stick/CD/DVD etc. Just be warned that you will need a second (FAT32) usb stick/drive to download files onto as Windows disks use NTFS which cannot be read by linux without other drivers/apt packages.

Sorry for information overload ;) Hope you can properly test this!

PS: If you can compile it into a .deb package or the like that would be good

Hey, thanks, glad you like the game. :)

I've got Ubuntu 20.04 LTS installed alongside windows on my laptop now so I'll be testing on an actual install and not a VM for the newer versions.

The current demo was only tested in a VM, but once I update it I will update the description as well.

As for releasing it as a .deb, I can look into it, but I think Game Maker Studio v1.4 might be too old at this point to create functional .deb packages.

So that might not be possible unless I upgrade to Game Maker Studio 2, which will probably not happen for a while, if at all.

Thanks for the info though, even if I didn't really need it anymore. ^^

I am loving this game so far, great work

Thanks, glad you like it. :)

___________________________________________ ############################################################################################ FATAL ERROR in action number 1 of  Step Event1 for object o_MenuController:

DoAdd :1: undefined value at gml_Object_o_MenuController_Step_1 ############################################################################################

Sorry for the ugly bug report, i didn't know where to put it.

(+1)

No problem. :)

Never seen this one before, what were you doing when this happened?

And was this the whole error message?

I'm going to need more specifics for this one.

yes, that was the whole bug report... i think.  it occurred when i tried to set my left diagonal aim to the keybinding of 1. I presume it's an issue where the game doesn't know what number i'm pressing (aka. numpad 1 or key 1), but i have no clue apart from that, regarding that i don't have your code nor i know your game engine.

(+1)

Okay thanks, and just to be 100% clear here:

You were trying to bind it to the key "1" and not "numpad 1"?

In any case, I'll be testing both, just making sure. :)

i was pressing key 1 (the one that's ! if you hold shift)

(1 edit)

When you finally release this on Steam, please include Steam achievements!

Also, any idea on the state of development? Do we have months or years left until product finished and I can buy it?

(+1)

Steam achievements will very likely be added as that is the main reason the in-game achievements were added in the first place.

There are way too many factors for me to be able to predict an actual date so the only thing I can say about a release date is: It's done when it's done.

Sorry if that's not the answer you're looking for, it's just the truth.

(+1)

It's great to see this gem of a game advertised again. I did a gameplpay (kinda) a while back enjoy.


All the best.

wobbly

Well thanks. :)

A LOT has changed since you last played it so I'll have to comment and say this for anyone new reading it:

This is a playthrough of the demo from 2 years ago so don't expect the game to look like this in it's current state.

I'm not bashing the video or anything though, the video is just fine, I'm just saying it's very old and A LOT has changed since then. ^^

I will update the description to reflect this AND play the new version if that's ok with the DEVs?

Regards

Wobbly

You are free to do what you want of course, I was merely trying to tell people that this was an old version of the game. :)

As for playing the current demo version, it's up to you.

I have to say though, an even newer version is coming at some point which will change things up once again, I don't know when though, could be weeks / months, just giving you a heads up.

This is a great demo and I look forward to seeing the final product. For a game of this current era it is pleasantly pleasing to the eye with a great "retro" vibe and interesting gameplay. Make sure to poke me when the full version becomes available ;-)

(+1)

Hey, thanks, glad you like it! :)

I can't exactly promise that I will be able to remember that.

But if you use Discord I have a server up where you will get pinged whenever I post an update.

Server Link: https://discord.gg/fTTEUNZ

Anyway, thanks for the feedback. ^^

Did you make this in gamemaker studio 2 or 1? Really cool game btw!

(+1)

Hey, thanks.

I'm using GameMaker Studio v1.4. :)

Cool!

(1 edit)

hi there, very nice game indeed! controls feel fluent, the gameplay is fun. even my cheap generic controller was recognized - something steam fails to achieve. :D 
i just wanted to let you know that windows (win7 in my case) tends to "forget" border-less mode when window loses focus. i'm not sure if it can be fixed, i've run into same issue with game maker. 
also the game freezes when i enter the door on the left in this room: 


i have to admit i failed at boss as well and i agree with Schnoerkel that save point is a bit too far away from the boss room. i'm more of the explorer than boss slayer, so it would be more convenient to respawn closer to boss for multiple attempts.
apart from that i haven't come across anything what would really bother me (but i second a notion to be able to shoot straight up and down when hanging on the ledge). 

overall, this is very promising so far. as a huge 2d metroid and AM2R fan i'm really looking forward to finished game. 

(+1)

Hey, thanks, glad you like the game! :)

Nice to hear that the controller seems to work, I test it all on a super cheap generic controller myself. (it had a price of around 3 dollars or so)


As for the borderless fullscreen issue, I'm not sure there's much I can do about that for at least two reasons:

1. I can't really test the game on windows 7 right now as windows 10 is the OS I use, but the game should work just fine on windows 7 which is why I put "windows 7 or higher" as system requirements.

If I get to a better living situation I could put windows 7 on my other computer but this will probably not happen for the foreseeable future.

2. The game is not actually running in borderless fullscreen, it just runs in a window that is the same size as your screen which in turn hides the borders.

No clue how other games do this but this was the only native way I found to do it with Game Maker.


For the room issue, this happens because you entered a room that does not exist in the demo.

The way you reached this room is a bug that has been fixed in the internal version.


As for save points, there will be a closer save point in the full game. ;)

And aiming straight up/down while ledge grabbing is on the to-do list but I'm still not sure when or if it will be added.

Anyway, thanks for the feedback! :)

Really nice game, only some suggestions. 

Please change the text font, for one who be more clear, I have myopia, I have to make an effort to be able to read the text fluently.


And (isn't essential) but i want in Spanish hahaha


Thank you very much for your demo and good luck with the project.

Best regards

Hey, thanks, glad you like it. ^^

Try going into the "Accessibility" options and turning on "Large Font".

Let me know if that helps.

In any case, I'm working on minimizing text usage as text is not really going to be a big focus in the game.

As for Spanish language, I'll be looking into translating the game to multiple languages after all text has been finalized in the game.

Can't guarantee anything though but I'll be trying to get as many languages in there as possible.

Thanks for the feedback. :)

(2 edits)

Solved with large font, the another before it was so minimalist. Thankkyou 

One more thing. Sorry i buged de game in this point xDDDDD

Glad to hear that the large font setting worked better.

As for the room issue, it's technically not a bug, you just entered a room that does not exist in the demo and therefore causing this.

The way you reached the door is a bug though and this has already been fixed in the internal version.

Thanks for letting me know though. ;)

Congratulations! Very polished game!

Thanks. ;)

Game is great so far. Good luck!

Thanks. ^^

your game is great !!!

Thanks! ;)

(2 edits) (+1)

Based on the demo so far, this game is a great example of re-imagining super-metroid for the modern era. You've managed to improve on almost every single aspect of the game, and brought it into today. How great!

I got to the boss, died 3 or 4 times, then gave up -- It's so tough for a first boss! I could get it down to about 50% health on my best attempts.

I'll be sure to keep an eye on this game! Love it so far!

(+1)

Hey, thanks trying the demo, glad you like it. :)

The boss still has some tweaks planned, mainly reducing randomness and improving visibility for attack patterns.

So it may or may not get a little bit easier when I have improved on those two things, we'll just have to wait and see what happens.

Thanks for the feedback. ^^

(+1)

Hi, I just finished the Demo. It took me two hours, and well over half of that was owed to the boss.

What you made so far is looking great, I appreciate the many options such as custom sharpness to the pixels. All the particle effects (I hope that's what they are, I'm not really a dev myself) look really good, such as when you fire and when you vaporize small enemies. The sound effects are quite nice too, especially the enemy sounds. The ambient music is nice, but a bit of a short loop.

What I'm missing is the ability to shoot straight down and up when hanging from a ledge. It seemed to me that using the triggers might be used for that, like when you're in the air. Also, it's weird how you lose a tad of momentum when landing from a jump. Oh, and the screen tearing is unfortunate since V-sync does add a bit of input delay. But good on you that you put that warning on the option, since I would not have noticed it otherwise.

Now, the boss is a real killer. As I died a few times, I felt myself getting better at it and stuff that I thought I was going to complain about seems fine in retroperspective.

There are a couple of things though: I started crawling to avoid the super-quick overhead dive the Slither does, but I found myself getting hit three times by it anyway only when all of its eyes were gone. I might just have crawled a pixel too far to the edge, but I'm unsure so I mention it regardless.

And then there are the flies. Oh man, the flies. The varying distances they come out at sometimes meant that I would miss one because it barely ducked under my shot, and I'd get hit. Also the screen going all grey when you get to low health made me straight up not see them when I was looking out for the bright purple boss, resulting in the flies killing me. It's rough when you get hit by an unlucky fly and get ten energy or nothing at all in return. Or when you then jump in to collect the energy and immediatly get bodyslammed by the boss coming up the middle. By the way, do sometimes more flies spawn than normal? I think I was facing down ten one time.

But what gnawed on me more than the boss or the flies (pun sadly not intended, it was one of my better ones) was the way back to the boss room from the save point. Might there be a possibility for some sort of soft checkpoint outside of the room for when you die to the boss only?

You wrote that you unlocked all doors after the boss, but I found myself unable to go anywhere new except for the charge beam in the adjacent room. All the colorless doors are still locked. I thought I might be able to return to the starting area with the green door, but I couldn't jump up at the point where you get the Geo Suit. Did I miss something newly explorable?

And here's something that just happened as I'm writing this: when I tried to start up the .exe a second time, it didn't work. I opened task manager and found it just running as a background process, loafing around at 0% CPU usage. Killing it and trying again sadly does nothing different. I'm currently playing on Windows 10, if you want to know.


The characterization of our protagonist so far is minimal, and that is quite alright. Not that I'm saying I don't want her to have any character, but in this regard one can overdo it.

The environments are great and quite detailed. I like the glowing green spikes in subterra, and all the havoc caused in the facility. Of course the purple slime is a highlight in being so dynamic and truly looks goopy. It's good to see that the underwater stuff doesn't slow you to a slugs pace and make it a chore that way.

I think that's finally everything I wanted to say. I'm stoked to see what further things you'll do with Zordak. And thank you for what you've made and shared with us so far.

Hey, thanks for trying the demo.

The music will be reworked at some point so this will be improved upon, likely when the game is closer to being finished.

I'll add aiming straight up / down while ledge grabbing to the list and we'll see when or if this will be added.

The speed loss when landing is just another way of trying to make the character feel more heavy as I want it to feel a tiny bit clunky but not too much.

As for vertical sync, I don't get any tearing without it on but this differs from monitor and graphics card I would imagine so there's not much else I can about this.

So.. there are many things still wrong with the boss which I'll be trying to improve upon at some point.

The main thing right now being randomness, I'll be looking into making it less random.

Right now it's pretty much purely random in what pattern it chooses, this is why you sometimes get no flies and other times 10 flies for example.

And yes, the overhead dive does not work as good as I want it to, it's probably too quick with little to no warning before it uses this attack and the avoiding it is probably a bit too hard when it does the low dive.

So yeah.. as mentioned, will be looking into improving this at some point.

As for the screen going gray etc, I actually agree and will add this to the list, I'll be looking to make it less intense or maybe even completely rework it.

A checkpoint system will very likely not be added, but this is not to say that I won't add more save stations. So we'll see what I do about this, I do however, want there to be a bit of a "punishment" when dying, but this particular one might be too much.

The "doors unlocked" message just means the doors in this current boss room and exploration means collecting secrets you missed that are available in the demo. Maybe I should have worded this better, some people miss the entire text as well so yeah..

Never had that issue before where the game doesn't start up so not sure what is happening here, the only thing I can really suggest is going to "C:\Users\YOUR_USERNAME\AppData\Local\Zordak" and deleting the "settings.ini" file.

Or maybe editing the "options.ini" file located in the .exe folder:

CreateTexturesOnDemand=0 (0-1)
AlternateSyncMethod=0 (0-1)
VertexBufferMethod=1 (0-3)
SleepMargin=15 (1-30)

I do not have control over this file since it is included by Game Maker Studio so I don't know what value ranges are correct or if all of them even do anything, so the numbers within the parentheses are just my guesses.

SleepMargin does affect cpu usage and performance however, higher value = more cpu usage, so this is probably the one you should try changing.

I'll add this to the list but if I can't reproduce it there's not much I can do unfortunately.

As for the protagonist having character, I'm trying to keep this very vague and not super "special" since you are supposed to be something like an ordinary person, I don't know how else to describe it.

I'm glad you like the environment and detail since this and atmosphere is somewhat of a main focus.

Thanks a lot for the extensive feedback, very much appreciated. :)

Alright, I just tried to start the game again and it worked. Seems a PC restart fixed whatever was going on.

And actually I was thinking being able to aim straight down could be useful even when standing normally. I found myself trying that when standing on ledges. It could also be used when you're hit by a little bug, so you don't have to run away to shoot them. I know it's just a little thing, but it would be nice to be able to do it.

I do enjoy the "character weight" thing, it makes actions more deliberate. And it really isn't too much. Cheers!

Good to hear that it works again, no idea what would cause it to not start up. :/

I'll add aim straight down while standing/running to the list as well, same deal here: we'll see if it gets added or not.

Thanks again for the feedback. :)

Deleted 2 years ago

Hey, I check all relevant places. ;)

So, I left a comment on youtube. ^^

Whoa. Excessively endowed protagonist notwithstanding, this looks amazing so far.

Thanks. ;)

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