Ailment by BeardyBirdGames
On Google Play
2019.04.14
Would recommend: Maybe, the sounds effects are a bit off putting.
Would play more: I think yes.
It looks and feels good, with it's pixel art style, and lone, spacey atmosphere. The animations are good, but the background planet looks blurry, as if it's only a resied image.
The background music is spot on, although sometimes it has a really sharp high note, which could be toned down a notch, as it't get really irritating after a while. The Optiona menu slides in gently, but the button response noise is suffering from the same problem as the background music. Really sharp high note with way too much volume.
An exit button could be added too.
A bit faster font scrolling would be nice, and a bit longer delay before entering the main game. The background is still blurry, which now seems as a theme, but is not fitting very well with the sharp pixel art in the foreground.
Looks alright. Matches the whole neon led theme of the game UI.
The map overlaps the appearing text, runing the feeling, and the readability. A led wrapping box for the texts would be good as a text bubble, and would fit the theme perfectly, and as it is transparent, it would not ruin the visibility in my opinion.
I opened the locker in the upper left in the starting area, which did not give a response (or was so fast, that i missed) what it did.
Feels okay, and it's a nice, but confusing touch to lock direction to face enemies.
Feels a bit lackluster. A bit of camera shake, and a sligth knockback on the enemies, with blood affects would enhance the experience. As bloody dead boodies are left after killed enemies, blood effects on hit would not be overkill, or disturbing.
I got hit by an enemy, and got no real feedback. The little camera shake doesn not give a real feel for being hit. A general hit sounds, or a sprite recolor for the player (or a flashing red tint on the HP bar) would help with the immersion and the lack of feedback info.
The ranged enemies shoot even when they are offscreen, and the sounds gets really irriating if i retreat from a room for a bit, to think through, and the still shoot like crazy. Offscreen enemies kill me with their burst before i could do anything, which feels bad.
The shield could use it's own healthbar, as it is really important in a crowded fight, to be able to know when do i need to retreat before my shield runs out.
Generally speaking, crowded room should have better cover to be able to use stratigically.
First level
The first shooting enemy in the upper right room was a cool change after the walking dummies, but it could be handled better. The room is overcrowded and very tigth, which makes dodging really hard. It's damage feedback was a lot better on the player, this kind of thing could be used all around. The medkit in the room feels mandatory at this point, and i hope it is.
The second weapon (the laser smg) has a weird sound, which feel way off.
Second level
The room we require after finding out that the recreation machine is faulty seem way to hard. Most player would use thir shield in the first crowded room, to have better chances, and this room pumps out way too much damage. After finding the shield it got easier, but my second weapon broke down without proper fore-indication in the middle of the fight, which confused me for a second.
Melee These enemies from the first two levels are quite spot on. They are just enough fast to catch you if you mess up your movement, but just not enough fast to be kite-able in you move rigth.
Ranged Ranged enemies seem to shoot you from off screen, which seems unfair, even if the red markes indicates enemies in the room, the should not hit you if you can't see them yet. Maybe program them, to miss their first 2-3 shots, to give room for reaction. They seem to want to shoot through blocks they can't. A raycast or some kind of visibility check could fix this pretty easily.
It's a good place to put Ads in as Watch ad & revive, but i think the first revive should be free, not to feel like it's forced to watch an Ad. For second it's not neccessary. The Ads have a vertical grey line in the middle of them, not sure if intentional or not.
They are okay. Nothing really spectecular. The intro scene's ship and the general tiles look pretty good. The enemies and the player have a mediocre sprites, and the floating gun seems a bit weird. Bullets look cool, and most of the time the effects are good too.
Nothing much more to add to what written before. The general in game background music could be a bit louder, but that's it.