SAGE 2023 - Demo Bub's Big Blowout!

Very very good! I haven't really played much the original series, but I like what I played here. The graphics are really good, and the game overall is charming.
I did encounter the same issue with my gamepad plugged in, I could not select any character as the cursor was stuck in the bottom right corner. Otherwise a very promising demo!

Congrats!

As short this project is(not that i am anyone to talk) it's nothing short of respectable, not only the game experience was great but the game overall is very well done.

For the gameplay I was surprised, because I tend to have a skill issue playing 3d games, so the fact that the game locks directions help me with movement, of course my dumb brain fell a few times but other than that I think I done pretty well. Level design as well is quite solid, it is indeed a 3d version of the og games, even if I didn't play them a lot, whatever it is the game holds to its own merit and it is fun on its own.

The graphics are beautiful, full stop, they might be some of the best cartoon-style graphics I have seen in 3d, on cases like these I will always push style over realism, and this game nails that, they are very appealing to the eye and the particles are used to good effect too, it runs at a solid 60 frames if that helps. One thing I've noticed is that the eyes are visible below platforms, but that's probably deliberate to know your position.

The music uses some top-notch remixes of the originaal songs and again, to good use, because each area has a different variation of the song depending on the situation. I think there's 3 variations or so for each level, that's already a lot of effort and it helps levels feel fresh!

It has been a very fun, very good looking game, you have a good future ahead! Well done, you deserve all the 5 stars!

First impressions:

• Having a gamepad plugged in caused control issues for the menus and in-game. Unplugging the gamepad fixed this
• Emulates the mechanics reasonably well, and the visuals do a great job of capturing the style of the original game
• Enemies are very passive and don't move all too much. Except for Monsta they do not pose any active threat
• I assume later levels would do more with having a mix of 2D and 3D segments
• Camera could be steadier, as having it follow Bob every time he jumps can get nauseating
• The section where it was necessary to bubble jump I thought I could simply build a bridge of bubbles and walk through but walking onto the next bubble caused me to pop them all instead and fall
• Personal observation: Bubbles in the original popped when touching your characters spikes, whereas here they pop regardless of how you bump into them. Is this intentional?

I think what's here is solid so far, I would only mainly want to point out the lack of difficulty in dealing with the enemies. While I think there could be more that can be done with the 3D segments like the Monsta chase, given that this is an early demo I would assume there may be more to do as you progress.

But otherwise this is a good effort, keep it up.