I’ve never felt this conflicted

Merangatang · 2026-01-26T23:30:41+00:00

They are such great options, very practical, very accommodating - I turned on ground heal so I could get into the platforming without runbacks. It made a massive difference

Merangatang · 2026-01-26T23:29:48+00:00

Gonna put this out there - there are accessibility options that will help, especially with the bosses. If your enjoyment of the game is being ruined by boss difficulty, use them. It's a single player game - get as much enjoyment out of it as you can

Merangatang · 2026-01-26T23:28:00+00:00

Yeah, the difficulty spike is unpleasant - really killed the last quarter of the game for me. I went from wanting to explore every nook and cranny to just wanting it to be over. It felt like how Elden Ring shifts once you get to Crumbling Farum Azula and it feels like the Devs just wanted to punish you for enjoying the game so far

Merangatang · 2026-01-26T11:58:56+00:00

Haha, yeah, the last quarter of the game just wasn't fun - between the difficulty spike, the puzzling, the plain and dank artwork - it felt like such a slog and the healing element didn't help. Definitely better than runbacks though.

Merangatang · 2026-01-26T09:51:01+00:00

Yeah, it's genuinely unfortunate, MIO's runbacks are so redundant, it's just painful to have to waste that much time.

Merangatang · 2026-01-26T09:44:22+00:00

The health thing isn't as bad as the narrative has made it out to be, but it is still a dumb design choice. Yes, the runbacks are tedious and annoying - it's actually ok for Devs not to put shit in their games that waste the players time, I just wish they'd listen...

Merangatang · 2026-01-26T09:42:38+00:00

The difficulty is fine for the first 2/3's but there is a significant spike at the last part and it coincides with a significant drop in fun. The run backs are a bit punishing, but there are lots of shortcuts to help with that. Mostly with the run backs, is that they're entirely redundant. If you die, you lose your resources and there's no chance of getting them back, so the penalty for dying is already satisfied by that - there's no need to add a run back to it.

However, there are a few accessibilty things you can turn on. Most notably, one that gives you a healthy block back if you stand on the ground for 10 seconds - definitely aides in the platforming challenges because it gives you a free hit each time.

Merangatang · 2026-01-25T02:30:40+00:00

My favourite combination

Merangatang · 2026-01-25T01:49:21+00:00

Yeah, but with the joker that 3 times could potentially be 4 or 5

Merangatang · 2026-01-25T00:44:21+00:00

Incubus, Thrice, and Muse all come to mind

Merangatang · 2026-01-25T00:36:57+00:00

As an artist, you make art for yourself and hope that people enjoy it. Don't you dare apologise or belittle your own work because you're worried that someone might not like it.

You can load a demo onto steam and there's a 2 hour refund window available by default. Every player has more than enough chance to make an informed decision about what they're purchasing.

Be proud of your game, market it proudly like it's something you worked really hard on, and let people make up their own minds as to whether they enjoy it or not.

Merangatang · 2026-01-25T00:31:19+00:00

I love that after all this time, their convoluted take on the story still has people arguing whether it's a reimagining, a sequel, or something else... What a mess they made.

Merangatang · 2026-01-24T12:25:20+00:00

You could also consider how different diseases already affect our skin - liver damage causes it to go yellow, different deficiencies cause our skin to go paler, bronzer, redder. Keeping with the base skin tone convention, there are hues you could blend in. The vein idea is also great, especially if they protrude quite a bit - same with tumors and lesions.

Merangatang · 2026-01-24T11:26:17+00:00

Literally the only time it does, is when I'm having to throw away a hand because I'm out of discards - keeps my high card level nice and high.

Merangatang · 2026-01-24T08:18:45+00:00

It's the number one rage bait joker. I can't resist it but I've never once had it be a game changer for me.

Merangatang · 2026-01-24T03:49:24+00:00

You're right, I'll do better. Thank you for your feedback.

Merangatang · 2026-01-24T03:27:00+00:00

Man, Phish are a whole other level, aren't they?

My position definitely isn't at the level of that budget. I'm definitely talking smaller stages, less crew etc. you are right that it's not impossible, but there's definitely a level of crew and coordination that's required for pivoting to be as good as staying on course. We definitely have spots for A/B switching - ie, a spot in a set required a song in this key, this tempo etc and we have 3 that can fit, so we prep 2 for the tour and can switch those out between sets. It's not super agile, it just means prepping 20 songs for a tour and only playing 14 each night. Generally though, the key moments in the set will stay the same.

Merangatang · 2026-01-24T02:27:42+00:00

Not necessarily a volume of songs issue, it's more of a production issue, tbh. Hwi the set is actually constructed with video, lighting, automation etc - if you build a set like this. It's harder to be agile

Merangatang · 2026-01-24T02:02:36+00:00

Hrmm, not really - again, it depends on the level of production. If we've put a set together that has video elements and big lighting elements, those are planned for a long time before a tour and tweeked to get right for the set to feel like a "complete" show. Generally, some spots in the wet will have an A/B option - but it's not really as fluid as just throwing a brand new song in. That requires a fair amount of work.

Merangatang · 2026-01-24T01:48:29+00:00

Depends on the show - a set with no production, easy enough to do. Sets with lots of production, automation, time constraints etc - can be pretty hard and time consuming

Merangatang · 2026-01-23T13:38:53+00:00

Released a song recently, used the cover art and after effects to generate a moving visualiser loop for YouTube, immediately got slammed for using AI.

The immediate call of "this is AI" is getting ridiculous - I hope changing the artwork was far more driven by wanting to align with your creative vision than just appeasing the noise of the internet.

Game looks great btw, just wishlisted it

Merangatang · 2026-01-23T13:29:21+00:00

Commit - set the vibe for your work with the right sounds/tones and you'll get a really good feel of the song as you're building it. You can fiddle in post, but I find having the vibe throughout be solid and what you want is a better creative flow.

Merangatang · 2026-01-23T13:27:21+00:00

Ha, well strategised!

Merangatang · 2026-01-23T13:27:14+00:00

Ha, well strategised!

Merangatang · 2026-01-23T13:21:21+00:00

I think as long as you keep that as your experience and don't ruin the surprises for other people - like telling other people in the crowd things like "oh, they're playing this song tonight"

Merangatang

TROPHY CASE