Just played the game a bit. Based on the skills learned as you go, the money you collect, and the backtracking needed, such as at the beach in the beginning, I get the impression the game will ultimately be a light-weight metriodvania. If that's the case, I have a few recommendations.
- Give the player the teleport item from the beginning, so they can bounce between visited save points. This helps eliminate potential frustration from traveling long distances just to backtrack when the player isn't aware they can teleport if they find an item, and really doesn't affect difficulty at all.
- Have enemies drop small amounts of crystals/money when defeated. This provides an incentive to beat them, and turns monster fights into a reward rather then just a tedious challenge to get past.
- Alter the first sign at the beach to remind new players that they need to get the dash first, in some platformers they start with that skill and may get frustrated trying to figure out how to use a skill they don't actually have yet.
- Have Maya swing faster when ducking or alter small enemies like slimes to have less HP. They are rather irritating to fight right now.
So far to be honest the game is bare bones. I don't dislike it, but it feels pretty generic and the sword is boring as a weapon. Having her attacks, particularly the combos, be more flashy would help, as would leaning into the metriodvania aspect. Look at Nightmare Sphere or Eris Dysnomia for examples of melee heavy action H-games with good gameplay.
- Give the player the teleport item from the beginning, so they can bounce between visited save points. This helps eliminate potential frustration from traveling long distances just to backtrack when the player isn't aware they can teleport if they find an item, and really doesn't affect difficulty at all.
- Have enemies drop small amounts of crystals/money when defeated. This provides an incentive to beat them, and turns monster fights into a reward rather then just a tedious challenge to get past.
- Alter the first sign at the beach to remind new players that they need to get the dash first, in some platformers they start with that skill and may get frustrated trying to figure out how to use a skill they don't actually have yet.
- Have Maya swing faster when ducking or alter small enemies like slimes to have less HP. They are rather irritating to fight right now.
So far to be honest the game is bare bones. I don't dislike it, but it feels pretty generic and the sword is boring as a weapon. Having her attacks, particularly the combos, be more flashy would help, as would leaning into the metriodvania aspect. Look at Nightmare Sphere or Eris Dysnomia for examples of melee heavy action H-games with good gameplay.
