So I finally got around to playing this--it's really cool!
I really like the art. It's grungy, and creepy, strange, and full of color. Right up my alley! Also, some nicely detailed and interesting menus.
Like a lot of the enemy designs, really neat to look at. I get so tired of vague, small, mechanical enemies in most games, or abstract shapes in others.
The music is pretty cool too, got a weird yet fitting vibe.
And lots of new content.. I think that's what pushed it over the edge for me. That it was really time to sit down and try this.
I'm not the best shmup player, and I think I'm in level 6 maybe? Anyway, it's a good difficulty. Tough for sure, but not terrible. And I've enjoyed the level design in some parts, where I was getting killed and had to change my strategy up. I think that was level 4? There were walls and guy's shooting 4-streams of bullets. They were fun to figure out.
And I love the insane story bits in between levels!
On to some things I hope you'll consider in your fine game:
1. When you die, it is very jarring to come back in so quickly that I usually get killed. I think it's okay to make it jarring and quick, the problem is the invincibility has me blinking and it's very hard to simply see where I am after I died. What if you with a bright white glow always around you (but still flashing on the inside player sprite if you want). I just really want something obvious to let me see my player when I come back in. It's *literally* killing me
2. The sound effects are pretty weak in the game, or very quiet, or non-existent. I think something that could help is a (1) player-bullet hitting something sound, and a (2)player hitting something invincible sound (like a wall), and a (3) big player death sound.
There are many ways to communicate where the player is, to make the player feel more "in the game". Sound FX is one of them, and shouldn't be ignored. Right now I don't feel very much like I'm really in the game.. I feel pretty disconnected. Sure the game is cool to look at, and the music is nice, but when I die, or am shooting something, I'm not feeling it much and I think improved sound effects could help a lot.
3. Okay, I know I just talked about feedback and feeling connected to the player and *usually* I agree more fx are better, but I'm requesting 2 things be dropped. (1) the large muzzle flashes when you shoot your big guns, and (2) the 'boost' effects for when you press up that seem to shoot out your back side but don't actually change the gameplay. The big muzzle flash is interfering with my peripheral vision for checking where my ship is, but focusing on bullets. The size and way it's flashing is confusing me as to just where my ship actually is, as I'm doing that thing where I'm staring at the enemy bullets but moving my ship outside my main vision, and I'm dying when I wouldn't consider I'd usually die. The same thing happens for that strange speed-boost effect that comes out of my ship, but doesn't actually help. It's just an extra flash that again is confusing my "center of gravity" --if you will-- for where I consider my ship to be.
Anyway, congrats on the big update, I'm enjoying the game. Give the feedback above a little thought and see what you think.
And to others out there, do give the game a go! I think it's still on sale for cheap on Steam (at least at the moment).
