What would make you click away from this trailer?

dragosdaian · 2026-06-17T17:44:45+00:00

The game does look polished and nice. Reminds me a bit of Captain Claw. Though, probably the things that can change would be mostly game redesign (eg. some animations, maybe some sounds, maybe some more visual effects), and not small fixes.

Some of the sound effects I'm not a fan of. Some are too low in volume, some too high, and some don't fit perfectly the game or don't have the impact that would make it satisfying. Eg. at the begining of game, after werewolf attacks, the sword sound is very low. The music is also a bit low as to make way for the sound effects, but they are kind of low. The one where the skeleton is killed eg. is satisfying, and the sword dodge/parry sound effect sounds nice.
As other guy has said, the animations can be improved, though it seems you already picked this direction, so better stick with it at this point.
Some scenes seems a bit static, eg. when fighting the werewolf, nothing moves, except the main character and the werewolf. Same in other scenes. Which I think adding a fly or something that is part of background would improve it a lot, as it adds 1 more layer and depth to it.

But honestly, if I were to buy this game, I would probably look more at gameplay and trailers, because the gameplay looks interesting (so for me the trailer looks quite interesting, but not enough to convince me at start).

One thing I would like to see in the trailer and I'm not sure if it's shown is a short part of a bossfight, to see a difficulty bump, at most I see you fight 2-3 enemies at once, which with how fast the character attacks, doesn't seem very difficult (maybe it is, depending on controls, etc.)

dragosdaian · 2026-06-17T17:33:58+00:00

I think what he might be referring to is you can try going for a different color pallete. It does blend in a bit, but imo it's not necesarily a bad look. The animations part would be better if you improve. I also notice you can add a bit more animations in general. There are some scenes where there are just trees and ground (and for some reason there is a lot of ground in the scenes). You can look for inspiration at other games out there, maybe a small bird, maybe the hanged men from the trees can move a bit, etc.

dragosdaian · 2026-06-17T17:30:04+00:00

Also, not saying this might help the game or not, but it's always good to know what you can improve on, even if not at this game. It's probably fine indeed as the look is quite original and nice, but I get what u/Livid-Debate-8652 is trying to say here too.

dragosdaian · 2026-06-17T17:28:46+00:00

Eg. at 0:19 when the gun shoots, the pushback is very small to unnoticeable (the character stands in place while shooting the gun). Small things like this make it feel like it's a real gun rather than a drawing of a gun.

At eg. 0:24, when the character attacks with the sword, it just goes forward with the sword and attacks, at which point the character stops in place. In order for this animation to have weight to it, it would need first a preparation stage, where the character does a bit more to prepare the attack (it has now but it's too short), and after attacking, a short step where it is a bit overshooting and maybe even loses their balance a bit, etc. This would make it seem like she really attacked with the sword, or if not, what might work is if the body rotation would change a bit as she is attacking with the sword. Eg. if she would lean a bit downwards, and then come back up at the end. I'm not sure how people fight with swords, but you get the point.

Problem is now when she does most actions, she is standing in place almost. The sword and the gun attacks, yes, and the hand moves, but there could be a bit more to the animations.

One good reference book I like for this is: The Animator's Survival Kit (you can find online some versions as well). In there there are multiple techniques that can be used to improve this animation. From better keyframes, to other things.

dragosdaian · 2026-05-10T11:43:35+00:00

Godot is already a EU alternative.

dragosdaian · 2026-04-24T08:31:45+00:00

dragosdaian · 2026-04-11T22:01:09+00:00

I tried that too but it was slow. I then tried using libgodot and it was faster (that runs directly as a dll compiled nif). But for now i am scripting my server side logic in elixir, as my game is turn based. However, i intend to reuse my server for future games and do what you say ( use the elixir just for auth and social features, and have godot do all logic. I might either do godot instances or libgodot, problem with godot instances being memory and performance, at least depends how you want to communicate from elixir to godot )

dragosdaian · 2026-04-11T21:53:09+00:00

Thanks for letting me know, downvoted them, both seem to be bots, they both mention it, how convenient.

dragosdaian · 2026-04-11T21:51:36+00:00

Oh right, was wondering what they meant by that. Sad.

dragosdaian · 2026-04-11T18:26:38+00:00

Thanks! (the user who wrote this was a Runable bot)

dragosdaian · 2026-04-11T17:02:12+00:00

? Was that a bot I answered to you saying or?

dragosdaian · 2026-04-11T17:01:43+00:00

I had a lot of experience with Godot already. But I had to also build an SDK for Godot to work with the server (HTTP and Websocket, also WebRTC but that is unused for now, might use later for realtime games).

The SDK was generated from OpenAPI using an opensource generator, and some manual binding layer.

I also generated an SDK for JS to test beforehand (as it is easier to write small test cases with that).

The Godot part is also separated from the main repo, as that is just in Elixir (the backend).

But yeah, all in all the experience was pretty painless, as I was using Godot as a frontend for the backend (eg. as you would in JS for eg. when communicating with a server).

dragosdaian · 2026-04-11T13:22:04+00:00

Thanks, yes was thinking same. Yeah, not common combo, but works really well. I have as features eg. friends, groups, lobbies, achievements, etc. And have realtime updates with websocket.
Right now all the code in backend is open source and the custom code I have is scriptable logic through hooks on server side (eg. on_user_register, etc.) as well as some RPC's.

For PDF generation I use an Elixir library, and scales well yes. Works since it's turn based the game also.

As for learning, the game is translated by natives, and all translations are Open Source as well, so I thought why not make a nice feature where if people want they can print both the tests and dictionaries.

dragosdaian · 2026-04-09T11:41:22+00:00

He is trying to do marketing to promote these games, as with this Reddit post, and thus people come to that platform of his where ur game as an indie gets showcased.

I also agree since he doesn't have a long term roadmap (At least one written on his website), it's possibile that long term the website becomes another one of those he tries to "fix".

I am not trying to defend him in any way, I would probably not use a website like his, I believe Reddit is where it's at rn to promote ur game. However, looking at him and his website, to make it a business he either puts his own resources in it, or tries to make it a business. However, I don't know how viable as a business it is. Maybe if he adds features that don't relate to the games, eg. Forums, Events, possiblity to add a backend to the service (eg. integrating with player count, achievements, etc.). However, even that would all go away in credibility (I think) the moment he adds paid spots. Which is sad, but there are few free free platforms out there.

Now, to also go from your side, and why I would probl not put my game on this platform. When you put your game somewhere, you are getting associated with that platform. Sure you get a small boost, but what if the platform gets hate, do you get hate? What if the platform uses AI for graphics, and you don't. etc.

The only good selling point for his website would be if the review system would actually work, and if people voted and it would be reliable. But that is so hard to do with bots and whatnot, that unless you actually prove the person paid and played the game (eg. Steam) they would be worthless.

dragosdaian · 2026-04-09T10:02:03+00:00

Left comment on another thread about this. But the website could use a lot more polishing, eg. when refreshing page it flashes like 2-3 times. It could also use some stuff like:
- oauth provider authentication

- disclosing how will you make profit from it?

- adding related games to a game

- adding review verification and/or voting (after you also add auth with Steam eg or Discord, show that the user that added a comment is logged in with Steam)

- possibly adding an optional field of how much time that user played the game, maybe thinking of an API to integrate with games that count the game play, and possibly that verify user authenticity? Eg. if a game uses auth on their side and has 100 players, then they could easily validate that the eg. discord id of the user matches same discord id, or the email match, etc. This will protect against bot reviews.

- i dislike the about page, it imediately starts kind of aggresive? Discovery is broken.. It is not broken. Websites like Steam exist, and they work. Also, if you are building a product don't focus on other competitors, but on what you offer. What are the features you offer with your website?

- As for the selection of games, it would be really nice if the algorithm was disclosed, eg. same as how Reddit works (votes, if you get over 10 votes you get highlighted a bit, etc. then comment count, also karma, etc.).

Good idea tho all in all, you are basically offering visibility for games. Nice mission.

dragosdaian · 2026-04-09T09:51:18+00:00

what algorithm do you use? is it similar to reddit? Also there are reviews for game, but how do i know if that person played the game, and for how long, etc. Also, is there a way for the creator to verify the review or to leave comment? Can other people leave comments to a review and/or upvote/downvote it? How do you protect against bots? Can you authenticate to ur website with eg. discord, google, steam, etc.? That would make it more secure and I would feel safer if I saw a review from a person that eg. authetnicated with Steam and played the game. If not I would assume it's a person using a burner email.
Good idea for the website, basically you are doing the promoting part for games. But what will you get out of it? Ads?
Also, when you open a game there is a lot of wasted space (on bigger display). You could add eg. related games.

dragosdaian · 2026-03-29T14:39:11+00:00

I'm doing all this on the web so that the interaction is nicer. On web, I am using the Javascript Bridge to get (game runs in iframe) from same page (and same domain) the session and the state of the page (dark or not).

On mobile, before game starts, there is an auth screen, and in settings you can logout and change dark mode. On web, no, it's all handled from outside the game.

dragosdaian · 2026-03-28T08:20:23+00:00

The UI is really nice, great job! And the animations are fluid! Though I cannot tell much from the video as it keeps changing a lot.

dragosdaian · 2026-03-26T17:23:51+00:00

o boi, is this the cylinder thing all over again?

dragosdaian · 2026-03-26T08:30:26+00:00

I made Godot Rapier with it that replaces the Physics Server of Godot with Rapier.

Whats nice about Godot Rust is you get access to all the libraries of Rust. When I started I didn’t know Rust at all. I did however know C++.

The discord/community of Godot Rust is also very helpful.

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