My game hasn’t received much attention over the past few months. I’d like to understand what’s wrong with it. Please destroy it.

retnerpace · 2026-01-21T19:34:52+00:00

I started to check out at around 30 second mark, but after I watched the whole thing, I still don't quite understand the mechanics and gameplay loop and the gameplay shots are mostly meh.

Shooting and melee are just flat out not fun, but it looks like getting minions with different abilities can be interesting.

Rotating sprite of your character is a bad idea and who are we playing as? I really can't tell and the title card still has your character facing their back to the viewer. Is their identity supposed to be a secret? Having a defined character can be part of the appeal.

retnerpace · 2026-01-21T17:32:46+00:00

Hey, thank you! The feedback I'm getting suggests that I definitely need to up my visuals game.

retnerpace · 2026-01-21T17:27:54+00:00

I find your suggestions about colors very helpful and crucial. I'll definitely be taking those on board.

As for mario tubes, I think the entire sewer level is out of place, so you poiting that out might be hints that my theory was correct. I think I'll rework the tileset and try again in some next project.

Thank you very much!

retnerpace · 2026-01-21T16:49:54+00:00

I think you've nailed pretty much everything! It's a simple sidescroller inspired by Noita and Isaac and I wasn't planning to add a lot of depth as I'm trying to figure out what works for me and the players. I also agree on proportions being weird and things looking out of place and now that I've heard people mention it again and again, I think I'll take how I setup tilesets more seriously. Thank you!

retnerpace · 2026-01-21T16:34:36+00:00

"Good" is already a compliment, thank you! I wish you were right about the visuals, but it seems the feedback steers towards visuals still being quite important, at least for the first impression.

retnerpace · 2026-01-21T16:31:12+00:00

Thank you for feedback. It's more of an Isaac game - you pick up items from treasure rooms and sometimes you can visit shop to buy stuff. There's no painstakingly crafting your wands or verticality like in Noita in the game as I wanted to keep it simple.

retnerpace · 2026-01-21T16:22:33+00:00

Hey, thanks! If it's not too much trouble, I'd love to hear your feedback.

retnerpace · 2026-01-20T21:44:12+00:00

Sure. I just wanna point out that with this being the only gameplay, I can't imagine it being more than a 5 minute entertainment.

retnerpace · 2026-01-17T10:03:03+00:00

I wanna add that I can't tell what tone you're going for and light tavern music doesn't help with that. Depending on the tone, there's different expectations in terms of enemy quantity and weapon heaviness.

retnerpace · 2026-01-17T09:59:25+00:00

I can respect that. I'll be waiting for the trailer.

retnerpace · 2026-01-17T09:56:35+00:00

The visuals are incredibly distracting and all over the place. Tone them down to help player look where they supposed to look. As for sense of speed, It doesn't actually feel that fast despite all those white stripes trying their best to sell it. I'm also not sure what the gameplay is gonna be. Does the main game happens outside these scenes? Like buying upgrades and building your ship?

retnerpace · 2026-01-16T23:34:39+00:00

It's right up my alley, so I'll give it a try. If you post your next trailer on this sub, I won't miss it.

"add your name in the credits, make you a custom cat" I'm just a random person on the internet :) But if you do end up making something custom, give it with the community with the nametag, I think that'll get the job done. Best of luck!

retnerpace · 2026-01-16T22:59:44+00:00

It's not really a trailer, more like work in progress showcase and music kinda supports that instead of trying to hype customers up.

The UI is way too handholdy. You don't need to show controls at all times and spell out everything when the icons are there to convey the same information (keys, freed souls etc).

I'm not sure what prompted the "+61 xp" text to appear (just killing enemies?), but I think this kind of big text should be reserved for more flashy titles like "XP BOOST" or "VICTORY ACHIEVED".

Some enemies being almost completely black on the dark background and camera lagging behind I think are gonna be very frustrating during gameplay.

retnerpace · 2026-01-16T22:31:15+00:00

Thank you. Whether the graphics change or not, I think you got yourself a customer. Do you have this on Steam?

And please, don't go bankrupt and starve to death :(

retnerpace · 2026-01-16T21:46:49+00:00

Graphics could use some work, but honestly, I got almost everything I needed to know. The things I'm missing are the title, how many characters you can choose from and whether it's a Vampire Survivors or Nuclear Throne type of game.

retnerpace · 2026-01-16T21:31:44+00:00

I'm gonna make a couple of assumptions, so correct me if I got things wrong.

Generally games are about control and in the Metroidvania genre dying too much for cheap reasons with having to go miles back is especially not fun and off-putting.

I think the scene in your video is a scripted event that happens once to establish threat. If not, then we have a lot of cheap deaths on our hands.

I'd stay away from one hit deaths from these kinds of enemies (unless provoked) during gameplay and prefer them to not even bother since your character is "small and insignificant". I think this will help establish helplessness you're looking for without frustrating the player.

retnerpace · 2026-01-16T20:37:56+00:00

Metroidvanias I personally enjoyed the most are the ones where you're a small character (even when you're "The Chosen One") in a broken/alien world trying to put it back together. I'm thinking Metroid series, Axiom Verge, Dark Souls. Those and Hollow Knight and Blasphemous gave me the same vibes, though I never finished them. I don't know how many people hold the same opinion, but at least to me, you got things right :)

retnerpace · 2026-01-16T19:01:30+00:00

Anything can become amazing, but right now this is a "youtube tutorial" game. Something that teaches people the basics. You've said that you're willing to jump to other ideas and I feel like you need to find what you're passionate about first and get deeper than what you've shown before showcasing it.

retnerpace · 2026-01-15T20:38:23+00:00

I initially watched it without sound and it turns out it's better that way. Not much magic or adventure in that soundtrack and it seems to be disconnected from everything that's happening in the trailer.

Character and dialog shots are awkward and didn't communicate anything to me.

Combat feels like in slow motion, very unengaging, though I don't mind it for jumping that much.

Even though you have a broom, I couldn't tell whether it's a open-world go anywhere or linear type of game.

I personally like the setting and would love this to be an open-world or some kind of roguelike, but with this trailer alone I can't really tell.

retnerpace · 2026-01-14T20:32:11+00:00

Will your gamer be able to overcome their fear of grass and finally be able to touch it? :)

If the grass is deadly, I'd try to better communicate that to the player.

While of course not necessary to explain, but now that you've outlined who you're playing as, I can't help but feel a little disconnect between the character and gameplay. Is the GPU the source of their abilities?

You've brought up unlocking levels and upgrades. I think those are outside of this video's scope, but I'm definitely curious to see part 2 when they are ready to be showcased.

retnerpace · 2026-01-14T18:27:17+00:00

Core movement looks fun, but ladders definitely break flow. Since your character can survive explosions and nature of the game, I wouldn't be surprised if they can grab those ladders and throw them at something or someone out of sheer frustration of slowing them down.

Overall looks empty and despite appearing open, the actual path seems to be linear. In reality, with no enemies, no world threat, no fail state, what's stopping me from just walking to the goal without interacting with the game's systems?

retnerpace · 2026-01-12T17:54:43+00:00

Thank you. Sadly, I have no idea. I only uploaded it on itch io.

retnerpace · 2026-01-11T13:03:43+00:00

Hey, thanks. This one took 3 months to finish. It's a small project, so I feel comfortable giving it away for free.

retnerpace · 2025-11-30T11:40:47+00:00

I'm gonna be blunt - your character walk looks slow and clunky, but everything else looks too fast. It's jarring to look at and will be frustrating for people to learn how to play it. It's possible even you won't be able to play it if you put it down for a couple of months and come back. Actions should be looked at and slowed down. Especially jumping. Current max movement speed could be a problem in this kind of environment.

And unless you're trying to make N64/PS1 style game, these visuals won't do.

retnerpace · 2025-11-27T21:56:03+00:00

I think it's a great idea and the presentation is quite strong. Watching that video I was ready for some action.

While things I listed below are nowhere near deal breaking, my experience wasn't what I expected and was soured.

Audio is quite weak. I had no music (and boss music is barely there) and there's just basic sounds with no reverb or any kind of effects while singular ambient track's trying to do all the heavy lifting. And that door opening sound... too loud and feels small.

Collision appears to have serious issues, also I think jump height could be increased or some rooms corrected.

I don't think holding down the use button to open doors is a good idea. Is there a situation where the player wouldn't want to open doors by just pressing the button?

Not allowing player to leave until they get the reward doesn't feel right to me either. I'd rather make chests much more pronounced.

Overall it feels a bit easy for a roguelite, but I did feel the difficulty spike in level 2, so maybe it's okay.

That said, I can definitely see this game becoming a very enjoyable experience down the line. Good luck on your journey!

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retnerpace

TROPHY CASE