Sandfire Demo [2024]

Great game but there are many problems. 

first the great stuff:

- Great atmosphere and world design. it makes me want to learn more about what happened.

- great soundtrack and music.

- great weapon, enemey, level etc designs, though i wish some would relate to the world more.

- game looks beautiful.

however there are many problems which i couldnt overlook:

- bad enemy ai, just because i attack it does not mean the enemy should roll back. there should be more variation for that since all enemies do the same roll and it leaves the player unsatisified. also combined with the animation it is difficult to tell what the enemy is going to do.

- combat needs more work. dont get me wrong i love the combination of physical and magic attacks but it just feels floaty and needs more work overall.

- the healing item should automatically go to the slot. not sure why i have to keep going to the inventory to add the new healing items i got.

- why are there no pop up of the new items i got?

- game runs poorly, in some parts its fine but other parts it drops a lot.

- animations can be stiff at times.

- no demo end screen. i would much rather you tell me the demo ended then me running around thinking there will be more to do. or maybe make it clearer where i am supposed to go.

- no npc's.

overall, i do think this game has potential and i want to see it Succeed however it just needs a lot more work and needs to be optimised more. im sure if you keep working on it OP you will have an amazing game at the end.

Very cool game, i like how it does't try to be dark souls.

it's really a shame that after the tutorial part the FPS drops to unplayable number

GREAT WORK!!

World design is really good, can't wait to see where this is going

wow

Immensely impressive work! Cannot wait to see more 👏🏻

This is a true work of art. I hope you keep developing it! Amazing!

Pretty fun :D . 

Though the animations are floaty and there needs to be a system to smoothly move the player up objects of a certain height. as having to jump over parts of the floor that are slightly too high can be a bit annoying.

Its a good base. Maybe, the player’s phisics controller could be better. Less stamina regen, better hitboxes, no movement stops after rolling, or heavy attack not appliying damage after landing… Just litle things that have to be polished.

With some Quality of Life improvements like pressing B to exit menus, or autoequiping healing potions… I see potential.

AND, PLEASE, ADD SOMETHING TO DECREASE DARKNESS IN DARK ENVIRONMENTS! Couldn’t see nothing when you go under de stairs.

Start new game can crash the game sometimes.

If you need a helping hand, just landme and email! I’ll try my best to help you! mjmorales.mcv@gmail.com

First of all, I'm impressed of what you achieved here but I have some criticism. The combat system doesn't feel snappy enough which I think could be improved by being able to cancel some animations or having less buildup time. Also I think enemies should be staggered when hit to be able to prepare a dodge or block. Also I think knockback should be a thing and some weapons should have a bigger hit range when doing a light attack. I've encountered some bugs when changing settings, for example that I got thrown back to the main menu and then respawned at an entirely different sandglass. Otherwise I think the graphics and atmosphere is spot on. Well done, but it needs some work! Kepp it up!

I am worried about that i can't express my real meant in my poor english after playing this game. so i write my thought and advise in chinese.

这款游戏能够以一个人去完成，有这样的程度是非常了不起的，但是依旧有很大的改进空间，参考作品《Elden Ring》，你也许是下一个宫崎英高，或者是超越他的男人，改进建议如下：

1. 允许玩家可以自定义按键，建议你去学习一下设计模式

2. 增加动画，坠落死亡动画，后跳动画，处决动画，丰富不同武器的攻击动画，允许按键组合攻击，比如Shift+鼠标左右键

3. AI的表现非常糟糕，我不清楚你是如何实现的，但是建议了解一下GOAP或者HTN，让AI变得更加具有攻击性和狡诈。

4. 地图调亮一些，我非常不喜欢一直用光照魔法，而且这也非常考验开发者的地编水平。

5. 建议重修一下地图，我一直都在找可以到下一个关卡的路，闯过沙漠关卡之后，我在一座非常大的宫殿里面，我完全迷路了，不知道走哪里。

6. 每次获得一个新物品时，可以像艾尔登法环那样弹出

7. 我整个路途上没有遇到一个可以对话的NPC，说实话这让我非常孤独。

8. 我也是一名独立开发者，拥有unity一年和godot半年的经验，但是每次我进入存档点后，有些物品竟然重复出现了，建议作者要了解一下怎么持久化保存场景。

Damn, the demo is really good. Loved the sound design and the atmosphere! Combat system can be improved tho, but overall, the game feels and looks good!