SAGE 2023 - Demo TECHPACK Collection - 2023 Demo

Not really my thing, but it definitely feels like a classic arcade game!

First impressions:

• I switched to windowed mode using Alt+Enter upon launching the game, but when I went into the options screen to adjust some things, fullscreen was forced back on until I turned it off
• Sound effects for the menus would help indicate whether we are selecting anything
• Credits counter doesn't go down when starting a game. Noticeable when going back to the title screen after a game over
  • There's no upper limit on how many credits can be inserted. I inserted 1024 credits and the counter was now being cut off by part of what I assume is the HUD
• Every enemy is thrown at you almost immediately which is problematic and overwhelming for new/first-time players
• The flying enemy's hitbox seems larger than it should be; I've died to it even when I'm nowhere near it
• Using only one button for both running and jumping is not intuitive
• There isn't enough noticeable differentiation in levels despite being hinted at them having different traps.
  • Example: Going from level 2 to 3 felt like palette-swapping as I did not notice anything different or unique going into the latter
• Personal preference: The sprites could be more chibi-like/chunky to better represent the character designs shown in the border artwork. See: Mappy, Toy Pop, Roc'N Rope, or Pooyan

I get what this game is trying to do but it's going to need a lot more work to achieve its intended goal. When starting the game, you're just thrown into the action with every enemy showing up almost immediately and are on your tail with little means of defending yourself outside of running up walls or grabbing the item in the center, which only stuns them for a short moment. There's no period of getting used to how everything works before enemies start coming in to harass you. Since stages are very compact this poses a sizable problem for new players. Enemies being more persistent and difficult to shake off is something I would expect a few levels into the game, not from the very beginning.

Running up walls and jumping off of them as a defensive maneuver isn't as effective as I would expect, considering how persistent enemies can be, and the item that stuns them doesn't last long enough to give you enough breathing room. Given that you only have one to use and where it's positioned in each stage it just exacerbates how useless the item ultimately is. It would also be nice if running and jumping were separate keys rather than the same one, because as it is now it is not intuitive and I continuously forgot I could run because of jumping being comparatively more useful.

I wasn't able to play very far due to the issues outlined above but from what I've played there aren't many meaningful changes besides palette swapping? It's hinted that season changes present different traps but I did not notice any. Having tried again a few times, I was only able to make it to stage 3 once and got a game over immediately so I could not process what was different.

The baseline gameplay is here but needs more tweaking to be enjoyable to play. I would suggest further studying the games that inspired you to better understand why you enjoy them and/or what makes them work and use that to better your own game.