Re: Another Dimension Heavy Ryona Game
This was meant to be feedback sent directly to Aologos blog, but it turned out to be too long for blog standards. Therefore I have decided to post it here, so that you guys could elaborate. Note that there are many spoiles in the text below.
Hi,
The last revision I chacked before this one was 0.2 and I see a lot has changed, mostly for the better. Allow me to share some feedback.
There are a lot of changes that are generally for the better. Sprite animation is still very good, especially for main heroine. Actually the good animation of heroine make the simplistic background look a bit awkward, but lets assume this is the feature of the fourth dimension (though the intro BG and lighting bolt effect are very simple as well). I see two CGs added and they are both very appealing.
A couple of new enemies have been added and I must say that you introduced many interesting mechanics in the game. I like the accelerating/decelerating nature of Humiliator the most out of them. Same goes for level design – many traps are placed in smart positions and I found myself often falling into an acid pit just to slap my face with ‘I have seen that pit before…’.
The levels, especially at the beginning, are much easier now, than they were before. I prefer games that are more difficult, but I guess that is fine for the general public. You are very unlikely to die even once before the first robot level. At that point difficulty level begins to ramp up to a more challenging level. The only level that was truly frustrating was the spider level. Clearly since this is an end-of-stage level it is supposed to be difficult. However in 0.2 where levels were very difficult, when you died it was always due to miscalculation or lack of good control. In spider level however you just randomly die to a projectile that was shot by an enemy that is out of your sight and you can do nothing to avoid it. It just felt like I had to repeat the level until I got a lucky combination of spiders in final room (unless I missed something here). Also I am not sure about the degree four equation in this level. Maybe I have finished school too far ago, but I don’t know how to properly solve it. Unlike previous math problems it seems extremely hard to solve this without taking notes on a piece of paper. The way it is positioned in the level and the small number of possible answers will likely cause players to solve this by trial and error rather than actual math problem solving. I think the old calculus question would fit here much better.
Let me now cover three semi-issues before one major change I particularly dislike.
First of all it seems pointless to reload all sprites after death on a given level. Sprites should be loaded once and if you die you shouldn’t have to wait for them to load again.
Secondly, apparently you intend the game to be enjoyed in an erotic way. In that case some of the animations are too short. Especially the humiliator animation is over way too fast.
Thirdly – the way she lost her skirt is sort of lame and doesn’t seem convincing from physical point of view.
Finally, the major change since 0.2 is in narration and I liked the previous revision much more in that regard. Let me elaborate. In 0.2 the whereabouts of Allie were unclear since the beginning. She woke up in an awkward place without a recollection of how she ended there. She might have been kidnapped by a quite mundane psychopath, she might be asleep, abducted by aliens or trapped in different reality. Virtually everything was possible and Allie was very lost because of that. Right now since the very beginning we know she was struck by a lighting and we know the nature of the place she is in. As I have mentioned before you can reach the first encounter with the smoke entity very fast and you get an exact description of the features of the fourth dimension there. I don’t know how many plot twists you have planned for further stages but in current iteration I find the way story unfolds way less interesting than in 0.2. Unless you have so many events to happen later on that the answer to the question ‘where am I’ must be apparent from the very beginning you could consider delaying the moment when the explanation is given. Perhaps Allie could not recall the lightning bolt and remember about it only later on? Perhaps also smoke entity could give the description of fourth dimension when you reach it for the second time?
The second change in the storyline is the attitude of the heroine herself. In 0.2 she would cry all the time for God/Mommy/Somebody to help her. She was utterly shocked by the horrors surrounding her and that made her feel very realistic. You could tell how terrified she was. Right now she became more of the classical heroine style, thus loosing her appeal. When she meets the girl in the cage she tries to calm her down and promises to save her. Old Allie, I imagine, would run away thinking that this can’t be really happening. New Allie also gets a grip of herself very fast. Instead of her previous despaired calls she quickly states that she needs to focus to get out of this place. She is much more rational and no longer as vulnerable as she used to be.
The game is heading in a good direction and I am looking forward to next updates. Good luck with your work !
