This game has a very good art style, I also liked the music a lot. Over all it's a good game, maybe you could make a longer game and publish it on Steam! By the way, would you make a longer game with this characters? Also, are the protagonists portraits inspired by Persona?
Thanks man! Not currently planning on making a longer game with these characters, but yeah the portraits (and a lot of the visual elements) are super inspired by Persona.
Well Im a bit saddened. Like I would love to befriend the Dio with tuberculosis and the final boss emo Za Waurdo. But the game is good as it is and hope to see a full version like 10 hours or something (Not to force you or anything but this idea is really cool and would love to see it more of it) Well whatever you do I wish you good luck.
The delay between the button press and the dodge is insane. For someone used to the reactive dodging system having to dodge well before the attack itself would hit is extremely disorienting.
This game is amazing! I really like how instead of a traditional turn based rpg, Your character doesn't sit still and let the opponent hit. It made the game really fun! I also love the story oof destroying all evil because they evil :D wish there would be a full game with mechanics like this in the future. 9/10 game. Very Fun!
really fun game; reminded me of super star saga. great graphics and color choice. controller support didn't work, but it was perfectly playable on keyboard. kudos!
I just wanted to say umm are you gonna continue it?
because just for the short time e I played it I felt super attached to the characters graphics are awsome the joke 10/10 this game is just amazing and I beat another people thing you should continue it I do wanna pressure it but I home you continued it pls
Best game i have played on itch. Just wonder what a great 15-hour game it could be, mmm... Man u are genius! I think it is best pixel art UI i have ever seen. Masterpiece
Very fun. That last fight was very challenging, and the fourth wall breaking humor didn't overstay it's welcome. I only wish that these mechanics were fleshed out into a full game.
Okej, fantastiskt spel. Jag brukar aldrig palla spela RPGs men det här fastnade jag för. Schyst grafik och själva grejen att man får tillbaka livet efter en strid känns unik. Det löser det ständiga problemet med RPGer, där spelaren sparar på alla specialvapen till ett senare tillfälle.
Skulle gärna spela en längre version. Känns också som att spelets profil skulle passa för Switchen. Grymt jobbat!
Shame this isn't a full game - I'd love to see more battles, hear more music (and sound), and get an answer to the several questions the game raised.
Also, as one of the comments below already said, the fact one can restart immediately after losing a battle with no need to reload a save is very nice.
One of the best itch games Ive played in a while. What a nice, compact experience! Every item and ability feels like it has a place with little bits of synergy to boot. Rethinking how items work the way you did prevents hoarding, doesnt cheapen wins and feel like a genuine part of the strategy.
Love the reset option. Too many JRPGs try to punish losing by resetting progress, which is stupid. Letting you restart right away doesn't make things easier, there's still a challenge you need to overcome to see the rest of the game.
A suggestion about items in your upcoming project in case you haven't come up with the following. Super Metroid has a lot of secret rooms that increase missile or bomb capacity the slightest bit. It'd perfectly fun loot to get like a second Big Cucumber so you can use like two per battle.
The delay before dodging was kind of too much though. It forces the player be a lot too pre-emptive when dodging and the window between some of the attack's telegraphing and execution can be so small to the point of almost being guesswork. imo the dodge startup should be small and the recovery longer. Allows for quick reactions (can get a nice DBZ/Jojo feel) while punishing whiffing/spamming dodge. It might be fun to even have a sort of 'strafing' mechanic where if you dodge within an even narrower window before getting hit, you get a small multiplier bonus for the next attack, rewarding risk.
There's potential for abuse since you can make both characters dodge at the same time. Maybe having them dodge at the same time has longer recovery? Costs a little bit of SP like in Indivisible? I like the suggestion below about less I-frames. It shouldn't be punished per se, both characters needing to dodge a big attack is interesting and I'm sure there might be some programming difficulties when trying to implement dodging multiple attacks in quick succession. It's a bit of a design problem I'm sure you can work out.
Do you plan on keeping it to 2 party member fights? I think that could be good, considering the controls scheme. If you plan on a larger overall cast of playable characters, have you tried Child of Light? Its fights have two active members but you can switch freely in such a way it's more like you fight with your WHOLE party, which I really like. Final Fantasy 10 I think does something similar but I havent played that yet.
Overall, I really liked this game! I'm definitely playing your earlier one and am eagerly anticipating whatever is next. I'll look into where else to follow you and I hope you update on your progress there!
Thanks for the feedback! Yes, I do plan on keeping it to 2 party members, since I feel like more party members could make dodging a bit overwhelming. By the way, the dodges are supposed to give you invincibility basically frame 1, so I have no idea why there was a delay for you. I'm gonna have to look into that, because I definitely agree with the "short startup and long recovery" idea.
First and foremost, the length. The game is painfully short; only being 4 or 5 battles/20 minutes long. Take this as a hidden compliment, I really do want more.
Next, the dodging can be easily cheesed by pressing both buttons at the same time, removing the need to determine where the attack is going, and has you only focus on timing. The game becomes significantly easier when you figure this out. This could have been solved by placing a timer on each character's dodge, or perhaps making the I-frames you get from dodging directly affected by how many party members dodge at once. Dodging with more party members gives you less I-Frames, but you also don't have to worry about "aiming" your dodge. Dodging individually gives you more I-Frames, but locks you into a dodge animation. You can shake this up by adding attacks that change target mid-attack, but that might be a bit too RNG. Just a few suggestions.
This next one is a minor nitpick, but I never really saw the need to use the WAIT mechanic in battle. It seemed pretty useless as it offers no advantage (unless I missed something), and felt like it was only slapped on to fill the last face button on the controller.
Some minor nitpicks:
-The pace of battles felt a tiny bit clunky, like I was waiting for things to happen just a splitsecond too long (outside of dodging, where it makes sense for my rhythm to be thrown off), but that's highly subjective; I would just prefer a more snappier feel.
-Most items felt a bit useless, but this is due mostly to how short the game is, but also due to the fact that your HP and SP both refill after every battle.
-The battle menu feels a bit stiff. I feel like even one or two more frames of animation to the UI would go a long way. Think about how Persona's UI is constantly moving.
Here's what I love about the game:
-The art is some of the yummiest I've seen in a very, very long time. I love the blue on pink, I love the pink on black, I love the hard contrast of the colors on the ground against the gradient fade of the water's reflections. I love the overall style and presentation of the game, besides the slight clunkiness I hinted at earlier.
-The humor landed every single time. I got a few good laughs out of this game (all intentional). I'm a sucker for bizarre, meta humor, and this game was like a shot up the arm.
-The characters, for the very few lines they're given (main characters as well as enemies) each have their own personality.
-I'm a sucker for good fonts. This game pleased me very much in that regard. It's not always about how much you spend on a font, or whether or not you make your own, but more so choosing the right font for the job. You did. A lot of game devs overlook good fonts, but luckily the font choice was one of the first things I noticed.
-The music. Pure bangers. I especially love how in one fight, the song crescendoed as the fight got more intense. That really, really rocked.
-The combat UI reminds me of Persona 5, almost like it was directly inspired by it or something.
Things I want in the (hopefully) inevitable sequel/expanded release:
-Jumping in the overworld, even if it's useless. It's fun. Enough said.
-More party members, maybe even enough to warrant worrying about team comp. Self explanitory. Also, with more members comes more dodging, and if you position four party members in the same way as the face buttons on a controller, it might make for interesting attack patterns where you need to dodge with two people for one projectile, one after the other.
-More content (duh). At least 10 hours, but hopefully as long as humanly possible.
-More Ashley Rando (duh)
-Really sad parts that come out of nowhere, but don't detract from the humor (duh)
This made an excellent demo and proof of concept. The raw talent on display here wowed me in only 24 minutes. Tighten it up and make it a full release, and I legitimately think this could be the next big cult classic.
I'm looking forward to whatever comes next, and you've absolutely earned a follow from me.
I have one thing to say...I would absolutely pay for more of this! Everything about the combat system seems finished and polished off, and the element of dodging attacks couldn't have been done better. All in all, a great little game!
I played through the full game and actually uploaded my gameplay to YouTube. I adored this little mock-venture, it was a lot of fun to play through. Unfortunately, I was quite awful at the combat most of the time. The combat, art, and writing were quite superb, honestly. My only complaint would be the length, I would love to see more of this. Thank you for making such a fun little game!
I love this game that you designed and I think it is very interesting! Would you mind that I post a video of my playing the game online(containing Chinese oral translation)? I'll label your name(*^o^)(^o^*) Thank you very much❤！
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The only issue with this game is that it's over too soon. You've made a real gem.
Good art style and music is there any similiar game like this?
this is a masterpiece! liked the art style and the music. it was really fun to play.
This game has a very good art style, I also liked the music a lot. Over all it's a good game, maybe you could make a longer game and publish it on Steam! By the way, would you make a longer game with this characters? Also, are the protagonists portraits inspired by Persona?
Thanks man! Not currently planning on making a longer game with these characters, but yeah the portraits (and a lot of the visual elements) are super inspired by Persona.
I knew it! Do you mind if I use some of your game ideas (like avoiding attacks) in a small project I'm trying to make?
Not at all! Go right ahead :)
Thanks!
Pretty fun game overall. I kinda wished this was expanded upon but visuals and feel were great. Great job!
这是一个非常好的游戏。它打破了一轮游戏只能在另一轮中站立并被击败的规则。我非常喜欢它，这意味着当我的回合结束时，我仍然不能掉以轻心。这是非常令人兴奋。我为它制作了一个视频。当然，我会在视频中注明出处和地址。我希望更多的人可以玩这个游戏。太好了，我玩最终boss的时候死了两次。如果将被更新，并把蒸汽，我相信这将是一个非常不错的，前沿的，先进的大作级的独立游戏！
Cara esse jogo e muito bom você deveria continua ele.
is there a good ending? amazing game by the way
There's only one ending in the game
Well Im a bit saddened. Like I would love to befriend the Dio with tuberculosis and the final boss emo Za Waurdo. But the game is good as it is and hope to see a full version like 10 hours or something (Not to force you or anything but this idea is really cool and would love to see it more of it) Well whatever you do I wish you good luck.
The delay between the button press and the dodge is insane. For someone used to the reactive dodging system having to dodge well before the attack itself would hit is extremely disorienting.
This game is amazing! I really like how instead of a traditional turn based rpg, Your character doesn't sit still and let the opponent hit. It made the game really fun! I also love the story oof destroying all evil because they evil :D wish there would be a full game with mechanics like this in the future. 9/10 game. Very Fun!
Would it be too much to port to mac?
Sadly I don't have access to a mac, so I wouldn't be able to test it!
I’d be happy to help out testing, but I understand. I’ll see about setting up a virtual machine with windows.
really fun game; reminded me of super star saga. great graphics and color choice. controller support didn't work, but it was perfectly playable on keyboard. kudos!
I just wanted to say umm are you gonna continue it?
because just for the short time e I played it I felt super attached to the characters graphics are awsome the joke 10/10 this game is just amazing and I beat another people thing you should continue it I do wanna pressure it but I home you continued it pls
bro i love this game so good sadly it was really short wish it was longer and bro the humor ummm perfect
Best game i have played on itch. Just wonder what a great 15-hour game it could be, mmm... Man u are genius! I think it is best pixel art UI i have ever seen. Masterpiece
this is my favourite game in itch.io
yep, just that.
Very fun. That last fight was very challenging, and the fourth wall breaking humor didn't overstay it's welcome. I only wish that these mechanics were fleshed out into a full game.
Amazin, I love this game...
banger demo. thanks for this
i love how cinematic you made every thing. excellent
I would love to see this become a full game.
This was really cool!
It took a few battles to get the whole dodging thing down, but it was really fun when I did!
The first time I saw the menu, it's kinda like "Is this Persona 4 ref?", and the battle system (Persona 5 or 4?) confirms it. Good stuffs!
Would love to see this turned into something bigger!
the problem of this is that it's have an end, pls make a full game or at least a part 2
wow, this game look awesome!!, what engine you use?
It was made in Unity!
Okej, fantastiskt spel. Jag brukar aldrig palla spela RPGs men det här fastnade jag för. Schyst grafik och själva grejen att man får tillbaka livet efter en strid känns unik. Det löser det ständiga problemet med RPGer, där spelaren sparar på alla specialvapen till ett senare tillfälle.
Skulle gärna spela en längre version. Känns också som att spelets profil skulle passa för Switchen. Grymt jobbat!
Shame this isn't a full game - I'd love to see more battles, hear more music (and sound), and get an answer to the several questions the game raised.
Also, as one of the comments below already said, the fact one can restart immediately after losing a battle with no need to reload a save is very nice.
You should absolutely go for a full payed release for this.
Me:
Just joking it was good game.
One of the best itch games Ive played in a while. What a nice, compact experience! Every item and ability feels like it has a place with little bits of synergy to boot. Rethinking how items work the way you did prevents hoarding, doesnt cheapen wins and feel like a genuine part of the strategy.
Love the reset option. Too many JRPGs try to punish losing by resetting progress, which is stupid. Letting you restart right away doesn't make things easier, there's still a challenge you need to overcome to see the rest of the game.
A suggestion about items in your upcoming project in case you haven't come up with the following. Super Metroid has a lot of secret rooms that increase missile or bomb capacity the slightest bit. It'd perfectly fun loot to get like a second Big Cucumber so you can use like two per battle.
The delay before dodging was kind of too much though. It forces the player be a lot too pre-emptive when dodging and the window between some of the attack's telegraphing and execution can be so small to the point of almost being guesswork. imo the dodge startup should be small and the recovery longer. Allows for quick reactions (can get a nice DBZ/Jojo feel) while punishing whiffing/spamming dodge. It might be fun to even have a sort of 'strafing' mechanic where if you dodge within an even narrower window before getting hit, you get a small multiplier bonus for the next attack, rewarding risk.
There's potential for abuse since you can make both characters dodge at the same time. Maybe having them dodge at the same time has longer recovery? Costs a little bit of SP like in Indivisible? I like the suggestion below about less I-frames. It shouldn't be punished per se, both characters needing to dodge a big attack is interesting and I'm sure there might be some programming difficulties when trying to implement dodging multiple attacks in quick succession. It's a bit of a design problem I'm sure you can work out.
Do you plan on keeping it to 2 party member fights? I think that could be good, considering the controls scheme. If you plan on a larger overall cast of playable characters, have you tried Child of Light? Its fights have two active members but you can switch freely in such a way it's more like you fight with your WHOLE party, which I really like. Final Fantasy 10 I think does something similar but I havent played that yet.
Overall, I really liked this game! I'm definitely playing your earlier one and am eagerly anticipating whatever is next. I'll look into where else to follow you and I hope you update on your progress there!
Thanks for the feedback! Yes, I do plan on keeping it to 2 party members, since I feel like more party members could make dodging a bit overwhelming. By the way, the dodges are supposed to give you invincibility basically frame 1, so I have no idea why there was a delay for you. I'm gonna have to look into that, because I definitely agree with the "short startup and long recovery" idea.
Very tongue-in-cheek, combat is great, love the game overall. Just wish so much it was longer T_T
I have a lot to say about this short, short game.
I have a few complaints about the game:
First and foremost, the length. The game is painfully short; only being 4 or 5 battles/20 minutes long. Take this as a hidden compliment, I really do want more.
Next, the dodging can be easily cheesed by pressing both buttons at the same time, removing the need to determine where the attack is going, and has you only focus on timing. The game becomes significantly easier when you figure this out. This could have been solved by placing a timer on each character's dodge, or perhaps making the I-frames you get from dodging directly affected by how many party members dodge at once. Dodging with more party members gives you less I-Frames, but you also don't have to worry about "aiming" your dodge. Dodging individually gives you more I-Frames, but locks you into a dodge animation. You can shake this up by adding attacks that change target mid-attack, but that might be a bit too RNG. Just a few suggestions.
This next one is a minor nitpick, but I never really saw the need to use the WAIT mechanic in battle. It seemed pretty useless as it offers no advantage (unless I missed something), and felt like it was only slapped on to fill the last face button on the controller.
Some minor nitpicks:
-The pace of battles felt a tiny bit clunky, like I was waiting for things to happen just a splitsecond too long (outside of dodging, where it makes sense for my rhythm to be thrown off), but that's highly subjective; I would just prefer a more snappier feel.
-Most items felt a bit useless, but this is due mostly to how short the game is, but also due to the fact that your HP and SP both refill after every battle.
-The battle menu feels a bit stiff. I feel like even one or two more frames of animation to the UI would go a long way. Think about how Persona's UI is constantly moving.
Here's what I love about the game:
-The art is some of the yummiest I've seen in a very, very long time. I love the blue on pink, I love the pink on black, I love the hard contrast of the colors on the ground against the gradient fade of the water's reflections. I love the overall style and presentation of the game, besides the slight clunkiness I hinted at earlier.
-The humor landed every single time. I got a few good laughs out of this game (all intentional). I'm a sucker for bizarre, meta humor, and this game was like a shot up the arm.
-The characters, for the very few lines they're given (main characters as well as enemies) each have their own personality.
-I'm a sucker for good fonts. This game pleased me very much in that regard. It's not always about how much you spend on a font, or whether or not you make your own, but more so choosing the right font for the job. You did. A lot of game devs overlook good fonts, but luckily the font choice was one of the first things I noticed.
-The music. Pure bangers. I especially love how in one fight, the song crescendoed as the fight got more intense. That really, really rocked.
-The combat UI reminds me of Persona 5, almost like it was directly inspired by it or something.
Things I want in the (hopefully) inevitable sequel/expanded release:
-Jumping in the overworld, even if it's useless. It's fun. Enough said.
-More party members, maybe even enough to warrant worrying about team comp. Self explanitory. Also, with more members comes more dodging, and if you position four party members in the same way as the face buttons on a controller, it might make for interesting attack patterns where you need to dodge with two people for one projectile, one after the other.
-More content (duh). At least 10 hours, but hopefully as long as humanly possible.
-More Ashley Rando (duh)
-Really sad parts that come out of nowhere, but don't detract from the humor (duh)
This made an excellent demo and proof of concept.
The raw talent on display here wowed me in only 24 minutes.
Tighten it up and make it a full release, and I legitimately think this could be the next big cult classic.
I'm looking forward to whatever comes next, and you've absolutely earned a follow from me.
green_keen
Thanks for the feedback! This is really, REALLY helpful!
I have one thing to say...I would absolutely pay for more of this! Everything about the combat system seems finished and polished off, and the element of dodging attacks couldn't have been done better. All in all, a great little game!
I played through the full game and actually uploaded my gameplay to YouTube. I adored this little mock-venture, it was a lot of fun to play through. Unfortunately, I was quite awful at the combat most of the time. The combat, art, and writing were quite superb, honestly. My only complaint would be the length, I would love to see more of this. Thank you for making such a fun little game!
So cool <3
I love this game that you designed and I think it is very interesting! Would you mind that I post a video of my playing the game online(containing Chinese oral translation)? I'll label your name(*^o^)(^o^*) Thank you very much❤！
Sure thing. Go ahead!
Thank you!
This is what happen when you spend too much time on gym in persona
Really great game, i wish it was much longer. the fight is really fun, the stupid writing is funny, and the graphic were great