SAGE 2023 - Demo Bun 'N' Gun - '23 Demo

Not a bad little game, I thought it was pretty fun and I enjoyed my time with it, it's not perfect tho.

The graphics are quite pleasant and the low poly style works quite well, I like how the main character looks, simple yet recognizeable enough, and I can say the same for the backgrounds and the rest of the characters.

The music is very good, while not super memorable it fits the game and has similar vibes to SEGA games of the period like Sonic Adventure or Jet Set Radio, it works well and I like what's there.

The gameplay is my main problem, the level design is fine, I have no major complains on that, but rather how the character controls, it's hard to make precise movement because for how fast they are, and aiming both your weapon or your grappling hook, it can get really awkward when I try to get enemies that move all over the place. I think a way to fix this would be to either make lock-on controlls or allow me to shoot independently where I am aiming the camera, that way I could use both the grappling hook and the gun better, because honestly using autoaim means that I had to get near the boss, which means taking a lot of damage. Actually on an aside, is there any way to die in the game? I guess if you're out of chips.

Nevertheless I like what the game is going for and I think it would be great if those two things were implemented because I want to see the game improved.

Movement and soundtrack are truly excellent in this - It's incredibly fun to just zip around the physics-based playground knowing the grappling hook can always save you even if you dash straight into a pit.

The objective-based gameplay? Ehh not so much fun imo, targets are too small and having to capture them is a bore, I think making them a bit larger and just having the player shoot them (with some small hp bars I reckon) would help a lot in keeping the pace going.

Boss is ok I guess? The camera not really letting you properly move in a circle is kind of annoying when you're trying to aim at a moving target. I don't know if some form of lock-on system would help?

I really enjoy a lot of this game so far! Truth be told, the level of speed is something I actually enjoy a ton, and the grappling hook actually fixes an issue I tend to have with really fast 3-D games - It's a safety net, a fallback for when I screw up a jump or misjudge how far away something is.

The writing is simple and fun so far, and I really like the character designs! They're cute. :3

The level designs work well with the speed for me, lots of broad platforms and curves to use. I will agree that capturing the bats needs a kind of happy medium - I really love the Ape Escape style, but to adapt it to speedy gameplay it feels like a balance of challenge and engagement is needed.

What I mean is that normally, shooting or no, I tend to rocket past a bat or zoom straight into it and catch it no problem. If I miss it, I need to respawn it and try again because it often gets away if it's a moving one. They're pretty small targets. So for the livelier ones, it feels like they need room to run to lead a player on, but a way to keep the player on the trail so they don't zoom off by accident. That's just me though.

The biggest detractor I have is the camera - and that's definitely something that's hard to get working well with the freedom of speed that players have. One option for the game might be allowing players to set themselves a max speed cap for what they feel comfortable with.

Also, one interesting bug I came upon was that the knockback for Bun's charge shot seems to be based around the camera direction, meaning that if you turn and shoot toward the camera, the knockback actually propels you toward the camera.

All that being said, I really want to see where this goes! It's a fun game idea and I'd love to see move of the uniqueness on display poured into it.