Hi, I have released a demo for my game Deadfire!
What is Deadfire?
Deadfire is a platformer shooter inspired by Super Hot and My Friend Pedro where you kill enemies in fun and unique ways using your slowdown time powerup to help you
Game Links:
Itch.io
GameJolt
Newgrounds
Hi Hutcle, your game looks interesting. I checked all three links and they are all download only. And I’m just not motivated enough to download games just to try them. I haven’t put games on any sites yet so I’m really curious, how did you decide the format to publish? Was there a reason not to have it playable online?
Hi Bubble there should be a playable online version when you click the newgrounds link, if that Dosen’t work try this link: https://liluo.io/hutcle/deadfire
Also in response to your question I usually put an online version if it dosen’t lag to bad or sometimes I don’t put an online version because of browser limitations that might break the game (I’m not an expert but this is what I do)
Ah, don’t know why I didn’t see the play button in newgrounds before. You’ve done everything really well, congratulations. It’s really good. The tutorial is fun and very well done too, the way you’ve made it part of the game. And I like the scene transitions.
I didn’t play a whole lot of levels, I’m really hopeless at co-ordinating direction and shooting when there’s multiple enemies. But that’s just me, the game is great. And I like how you let players discover that using the slide key was necessary in the tutorial.
My only criticism is the movement keys and their options. I noticed there was no mention of this in the newgrounds comments so maybe it’s just me.
For players who use wasd, they’re probably not going to like the default for down being j and s for slide.
I don’t like wasd so manually changed them in the options to the arrow keys.
But could you just make that as a selectable pre-set option? And still have the make your own keys for players who want it?
My final thing is, I suggest you use capital letters in the tutorial and in the input options for the keys. In the options, the W is the only one that’s capitalised. I was getting frustrated thinking my gun didn’t work cos I was pressing i for shoot. I saw the lower case l (L) and thought it was a capital i.
Thank you for your explanation about different publishing formats, that makes a lot of sense. Good luck with the game and well done.
My comments pretty much parallel @Bubble’s, including the co-ordination (or lack of). The key layout is a bit strange (I would have loved the keys used by the old 8 bit machine - Z & X and ‘.’ & ‘;’ with thumbs to fire and jump 
), but maybe it takes a little getting use to.
And also with the instructions on keys, particularly the L key. I was smashing ‘i’ wondering why it wasn’t working.
Having said that, it does look like a neat little game, it appears simple yet fun if this is your genre. Your visuals are good, and it runs smoothly.
Well done and good luck getting it further.
This is some really good feedback, will definitely make some pre-set controls. I will also make all the button prompts in capital. Anyways thanks for all the crucial feedback!
This like Bubble’s comment is some really great feedback. I was just wondering if you’d like to tell me some pre-set controls you’d like to see in the game. Also will make all button prompts capital letters.
I would go with the arrow keys, and then Z to shoot, C to slide and S to slow down time. But that’s my preference.
Do you think at the start of the game It should ask arrow keys or wasd?
Yes, or have both.
Are you able to make it so the player can input the keys they want?
That’s a good idea. You could have just a simple part at the beginning that says
Arrows
Wasd
Custom
Or whatever word is perhaps better than custom.
I love settings, haha, but not everyone will look at them. So, the way it is now, if you have arrows/wasd as default and they prefer the other, they might just not bother playing (again).
You did a great job with this demo!
If there is one thing I would like to be changed, it’s for the enemies to wait until the camera has finished moving to the next level, as it does feel kind of cheap and frustrating dying to the enemies without me even being able to see them.
Again great job with the demo, excited for the full game
I don’t know if I could do both. Also there is already a way to change the controls in settings so yes
Good point, will definitely work on an update and if you wouldn’t mind could you test it?
Yeah, I’ve this complaint before, but I’m still trying to tackle it should be in the next update though. Also it’s great that your exited for the full release!
Yes, of course, it’s clear to see you’ve worked hard on this, so I’m very happy to help out.
I’m assuming you’re using a your own events to control movement (instead of relying on a behaviour’s default controls). In which case, where you have a single 'a' key is pressed, use the OR condition to add a second keypress check.
Good idea, but do you think in settings there should be 2 different settings for changing either wasd or arrow keys controls?
My experience is if there’s no instructions about movement and I don’t bother to check any settings then:
I’ll try the arrow keys. If they don’t work, I’ll try wasd and silently complain why couldn’t the dev have both.
So as MrMen has pointed out, it should be simple to add both controls as default. And make sure that extra things like shoot, slide etc are the same keys and usable for both arrows and wasd.
This means you don’t have to give the player a choice at the beginning. The way I would do it is: for the options tweakers who have specific needs, let them find the settings for themselves and do their own layout. And for the arrows and wasds, it just works for them without having to select anything.