I had a friend recommend this game to be due to its thematic and stylistic similarities to my own game. and I've got to say, I wasn't disappointed. This is one of the only games I've played on this website where I kept playing because I wanted to, and not because I felt obligated to leave a review. This is very clearly a love letter to to the Zelda series, and boy does it show.
It's a shame that only the first zone is playable, because I felt wanting after finally visiting every corner of the map and getting (most) of the secrets. However, there are some things I did notice that I think are worth mentioning, but I still found the experience to be very enjoyable overall:
-I felt as though it took far too long to find ways to spend mana. I didn't like that I was constantly collecting it but had nothing to spend it on. I kept revisiting the central area to see if there was something I had missed. If I did, then that's just a skill issue on my end.
-I think the game would benefit from a parry mechanic of some sort, similar to how Link's shield can deflect some attacks. Without it, fighting enemies eventually felt repetitive as killing the involved the same time-and-dodge strategies over and over.
-The minimap itself is good, but I did not like how it was implemented. I saw in your Readme how you changed the minimap to switch sides so that it didn't obscure vision of the player, but I found it to be more distracting than anything. What made the original Zelda's overworld map work so well is that it was a part of the HUD and always remained in the same spot, never interfering with the player's vision. I think the way you have it set up would be better as a stand-alone screen or part of another screen, and a smaller low-resolution version could be placed in a corner of the map.
-Button presses to swim faster would be nice. I would also have liked to have an indication if I could afford to buy something without having to check my inventory every time.
-I can see you're using an object-based collision system. This led to some funny behavior if you walked up against objects like trees or gates, where you would move really fast along the side. This isn't a serious issue or anything, but I felt the need to mention it since it looks like your collision code is structured to how mine was before I completely reworked it.
-You mentioned it in the readme, but yeah keybindings would be a huge plus for this game. I don't have access to your code so I can't say for certain, but I once had the same issue with hardcoded keys and eventually transitioned to making them programmable. It was a pain to do and required changing code in a LOT of places, but the game benefited immensely from the change and my playtesters were very happy with it. I think this will be a bigger issue as your game grows in size and scope. As it stands, I found some of the controls to be kind of clunky and found myself wishing I could remap some of them. An example of this is pressing Tab to activate the minimap; it literally felt like a stretch to press the key when my fingers were centered on Z and X.
-Sector F-9 had some trees in the void.
-This game would likely benefit from having a quest system if you plan on adding a lot more of them in the future.
EDIT: I almost forgot to mention, when finding music for this game you will want to remain constant with what kinds of tracks you use. Some are almost pure chiptune while others are not, and it makes the game feel musically incoherent at times. I'm a chiptune composer myself who is writing my game's OST, so I feel like I've got to say something on this matter. ;)
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But most of the above issues were pretty minor. I really look forward to playing the finished version of this game. It definitely needs some polish, but the core loop is just so much fun. I was sad when I finally finishing exploring every part of this world's map. I can't wait for the full release.
Left wanting after the first map, you say? Convenient timing! A new demo that I've been working on throughout this month just released less than 24 hours after your comment, containing the second map!
Thank ya for all the feedback and ideas. Some of the additions/changes would be difficult at my skill level, or are already done now, or planned for future game(s) (adding a shield for example), but you bring up some things I hadn't considered. An indicator if you have the money and stuff required for upgrades being one that I would definitely like to add. (Mind if I add you to the Ideas credits for this?) You're right about the control rebinding too. It really is something I should just dedicate time to, even if it'll take like a month out of development. It's just really hard to motivate myself to do that, knowing how much will break as a result, and have to be dug up from the ancient programming to be fixed. But even if I shy away from it, I definitely at least plan to fix it for future games, before I get too deep into creation that it becomes a pain like it did here.
Also, for the music, admittedly I didn't try too hard to make sure I was only using one style. I just kinda chose what sounded cool and fitting for an area, out of what I could find, as long as it was at least chiptune-adjacent. A coherent soundtrack would be a bonus, but hopefully what's there is at least fun to listen to, that was the main goal.
Either way, I appreciate that you enjoyed despite the issues, and I hope you enjoy the full game when it's done! Many of these issues will unfortunately likely remain, but hopefully I'll at least knock some of them out. One or two, I think, are even already (mostly) dealt with in the new demo!
Have a good rest of the weekend, and thanks for playing!
Sure, feel free to add me - just please don't give me more credit than is due. If you'd like, you can DM me and I can show you how I did assignable keybindings for my game. You used a different engine so accomplishing it would be a different technique, but perhaps it will still be of help.
I appreciate the offer, though I do already know how I would do it at least. The hard part would just be the long process of digging through 4 years of programming, and updating all the dependencies and such. Hopefully I can bring myself to do it some day though, it would be nice.
But for now, I hope you enjoy the new demo if you do indeed check it out!
The offer is still appreciated. I've had all the music for this game for a long time, but maybe the next one. I have a hard time making requests even if offered.
I hope you enjoy whenever I finally manage to get it done! Knowing there's excitement for it helps keep me motivated, so maybe I'll even get it done this century!
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I had a friend recommend this game to be due to its thematic and stylistic similarities to my own game. and I've got to say, I wasn't disappointed. This is one of the only games I've played on this website where I kept playing because I wanted to, and not because I felt obligated to leave a review. This is very clearly a love letter to to the Zelda series, and boy does it show.
It's a shame that only the first zone is playable, because I felt wanting after finally visiting every corner of the map and getting (most) of the secrets. However, there are some things I did notice that I think are worth mentioning, but I still found the experience to be very enjoyable overall:
-I felt as though it took far too long to find ways to spend mana. I didn't like that I was constantly collecting it but had nothing to spend it on. I kept revisiting the central area to see if there was something I had missed. If I did, then that's just a skill issue on my end.
-I think the game would benefit from a parry mechanic of some sort, similar to how Link's shield can deflect some attacks. Without it, fighting enemies eventually felt repetitive as killing the involved the same time-and-dodge strategies over and over.
-The minimap itself is good, but I did not like how it was implemented. I saw in your Readme how you changed the minimap to switch sides so that it didn't obscure vision of the player, but I found it to be more distracting than anything. What made the original Zelda's overworld map work so well is that it was a part of the HUD and always remained in the same spot, never interfering with the player's vision. I think the way you have it set up would be better as a stand-alone screen or part of another screen, and a smaller low-resolution version could be placed in a corner of the map.
-Button presses to swim faster would be nice. I would also have liked to have an indication if I could afford to buy something without having to check my inventory every time.
-I can see you're using an object-based collision system. This led to some funny behavior if you walked up against objects like trees or gates, where you would move really fast along the side. This isn't a serious issue or anything, but I felt the need to mention it since it looks like your collision code is structured to how mine was before I completely reworked it.
-You mentioned it in the readme, but yeah keybindings would be a huge plus for this game. I don't have access to your code so I can't say for certain, but I once had the same issue with hardcoded keys and eventually transitioned to making them programmable. It was a pain to do and required changing code in a LOT of places, but the game benefited immensely from the change and my playtesters were very happy with it. I think this will be a bigger issue as your game grows in size and scope. As it stands, I found some of the controls to be kind of clunky and found myself wishing I could remap some of them. An example of this is pressing Tab to activate the minimap; it literally felt like a stretch to press the key when my fingers were centered on Z and X.
-Sector F-9 had some trees in the void.
-This game would likely benefit from having a quest system if you plan on adding a lot more of them in the future.
EDIT: I almost forgot to mention, when finding music for this game you will want to remain constant with what kinds of tracks you use. Some are almost pure chiptune while others are not, and it makes the game feel musically incoherent at times. I'm a chiptune composer myself who is writing my game's OST, so I feel like I've got to say something on this matter. ;)
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But most of the above issues were pretty minor. I really look forward to playing the finished version of this game. It definitely needs some polish, but the core loop is just so much fun. I was sad when I finally finishing exploring every part of this world's map. I can't wait for the full release.
Left wanting after the first map, you say?
Convenient timing! A new demo that I've been working on throughout this month just released less than 24 hours after your comment, containing the second map!
Thank ya for all the feedback and ideas. Some of the additions/changes would be difficult at my skill level, or are already done now, or planned for future game(s) (adding a shield for example), but you bring up some things I hadn't considered. An indicator if you have the money and stuff required for upgrades being one that I would definitely like to add. (Mind if I add you to the Ideas credits for this?)
You're right about the control rebinding too. It really is something I should just dedicate time to, even if it'll take like a month out of development. It's just really hard to motivate myself to do that, knowing how much will break as a result, and have to be dug up from the ancient programming to be fixed. But even if I shy away from it, I definitely at least plan to fix it for future games, before I get too deep into creation that it becomes a pain like it did here.
Also, for the music, admittedly I didn't try too hard to make sure I was only using one style. I just kinda chose what sounded cool and fitting for an area, out of what I could find, as long as it was at least chiptune-adjacent. A coherent soundtrack would be a bonus, but hopefully what's there is at least fun to listen to, that was the main goal.
Either way, I appreciate that you enjoyed despite the issues, and I hope you enjoy the full game when it's done! Many of these issues will unfortunately likely remain, but hopefully I'll at least knock some of them out. One or two, I think, are even already (mostly) dealt with in the new demo!
Have a good rest of the weekend, and thanks for playing!
Awesome, I'll have to check it out!
Sure, feel free to add me - just please don't give me more credit than is due. If you'd like, you can DM me and I can show you how I did assignable keybindings for my game. You used a different engine so accomplishing it would be a different technique, but perhaps it will still be of help.
I appreciate the offer, though I do already know how I would do it at least. The hard part would just be the long process of digging through 4 years of programming, and updating all the dependencies and such. Hopefully I can bring myself to do it some day though, it would be nice.
But for now, I hope you enjoy the new demo if you do indeed check it out!
waiting eagerly for the full release!
Thank ya, knowing there's excitement for it helps with motivation!
I hope you enjoy whenever I finally finish it.
10/10 would offer to compose the soundtrack for again.
The offer is still appreciated. I've had all the music for this game for a long time, but maybe the next one. I have a hard time making requests even if offered.
Oh, this is exciting! Looking forward to getting a chance to play this.
I hope you enjoy whenever I finally manage to get it done!
Knowing there's excitement for it helps keep me motivated, so maybe I'll even get it done this century!
yesssssssssssssss!! i'm excited!!! (but of course please take your time and don't stress!!)
I may be taking my time too much, started this back in 2020 D:
But thank ya, I hope you enjoy whenever I manage to finish it!