Goblin Dash -- my first game -- finally released!

So my "this'll only take a couple of weeks" project that ended up taking almost half a year is finally done and released for Android! It's free, so please give it a try! I've been "developing games" since I was about 9, but this is the first thing I've actually taken to completion, so I'm super excited. I'd love to hear any critiques or comments on how I could improve it.




Here it is on Google Play!

 

Looks interesting, also, congrats on your first release!

 

Congrats on your first release! I downloaded it and played it for a bit (my high score is 6 )

Here's my feedback...

Negative:
- Some aspects of the combat felt awkward, sometimes it seems like I was blocking when I wanted to be attacking and I'm not sure how I feel about being able to interrupt your own attacks. I understand that this was possibly by design (there was a tip warning about it) but I personally think it would be better if attacks were uninterruptable for the player. It sort of adds a challenge since once you choose you are committed.

- It isn't clear to me if there is any advantage in picking one attack angle over another. Even if the enemy is blocking high and I attack low it seems I have an equal chance of being blocked. If there are some complex strategies at play here they are unobvious to me and maybe should be explained more (maybe I'm just dumb though lol). It's also unclear if hitting a different angle during "clashes" has any advantage

- I think some indicators during combat would be nice. Maybe something that indicates an enemy has begun an attack and what angle it's at. you may not want this because it would remove some of the challenge but I found it frustrating when I misinterpreted an attack as being "low" and got stabbed in the gut.

- I really think there needs to be a pause button

Positive:

- Graphics are great. I don't know if you did it all yourself or used asset store stuff but it all looks very polished and cohesive so nice work either way. The same goes for the animations, they are very smooth and natural looking in their own cartoony way.

- Gameplay is fun. It's a simple concept with some nice strategizing involved. I found myself getting frustrated but wanting to try again and when I know I just have to beat one more to get my high score things get intense.

- UI goes well with the game graphics and I like the fact that everything is animated. It's really annoying when UIs don't move lol. Additionally everything seems to be laid out nice and logically.

- I can't comment on any sound because I played with the sound all the way down but I'm sure it's fine

- It seems like I've written more negative than positive but I think it's pretty awesome overall and it's easier to identify deficiencies than it is to call out small individual things done right so sorry about that

Neutral Suggestions:

- It wouldn't hurt to add in some ad banners here and there that get removed upon donation.
- Some RPG elements could work nicely such as increasing your characters attack speed and possibly health as you play more and level up. That way even if you suck you can progressively get farther. This is just an idea and might not work out at all lol.
- Maybe I totally missed it but I didn't see online leaderboards or achievements which would be nice additions.

 

Awesome! Thanks so much for the feedback! I really appreciate it.

I did all the graphics myself, I'm an artist first, with some programming abilities I've picked up along the way, so art is really my primary interest/skill.

I've had someone else mention that they'd like a pause button as well, so I'm going to add one in with the next update.

The notes on attacking vs. blocking are helpful. I've struggled to nail that mechanic down properly and apparently I still haven't quite gotten it. Typically people just don't realize that you can block at all, and they only attack. I assume you are tapping once to attack and holding to block? Do you think it would help if I raised the "hold timer," so it waits just a tiny bit longer before registering as a hold, rather than a tap?

I see what you're saying about the AI as well. That's a great point, I'll make some adjustments so it's a bit more fair/predictable.

Maybe I could use a shine or a flash on the enemy's sword to help indicate the direction of the attack. I'll experiment with some options.

Anyway, thanks again for the comments! Hopefully I'll be able to push out an update in the next day or so to address most of these issues.

 

It's hard to say what an ideal solution would be. At first I thought it would be better to have a separate button for the blocks, but obviously that would make the UI quite crowded with double the buttons. At the same time I don't know if a longer hold would work because then you would need a quicker reaction to successfully block. I'll play some more and post with anything more quantified (I know "it doesn't quite feel right" isn't super helpful)

 

Oh one other thing I forgot. Consider some sort of UI indicator to show the status of a clash, so you know if you're making progress or about to get wrecked. Obviously the animations provide a clue but they are not as clear as something like a progress bar.

 

Awesome, the screenshoot looks nice.

I really like the graphics and congratz on your first release.

 

I've uploaded a newer version, hopefully addressing some of the major issues TheValar mentioned. Also a shiny new icon!

 

Huge congrats on your first release! Played the game and struggled with the controls a bit but overall I enjoyed it. Left you a review on the play store.

 

Thanks for the feedback and the review, Jallen! What was the toughest part about the controls for you? Any suggestions for making them a bit more intuitive?

 

I couldn't get the character to attack every time. Sometimes tapping the attack buttons was responsive and other times it would either do nothing or defend (which at first I didn't realize was an option). I think the timer on the button hold should be a bit longer for defending. After several playthroughs I was able to control it fairly well but at first it was a bit frustrating. I would definitely recommend putting an easy tutorial in the game to warm players up to the controls first.