Reviews for SOLUNA

[Sakuya-Himura]

I'll give you credit for the effort. I know it takes a tremendous amount of effort to program games-- I sure as heck couldn't do it. However, I do have a fair bit of criticism for this game.

First of all, it needs variation. While the atmosphere and music are excellent, the rest of the game can get a little repetitive at times-- particularly the scenery, which pretty much was unchanging for most of the game. I get that you wanted it to be dark, like at nighttime, but it was the same shapes over and over again. Trees. Stone pillars. Grass. You could have added some rocks or bushes, or maybe even some background items, like small buildings or other structures, to differentiate the different areas. When I was exploring, I didn't really feel like I was going anywhere new, just the same place over and over again. A break from the monotony would have been welcome, even if it was just one small area.

Other things that were repetitive were the enem(y)ies and the combat. It was just the same kind of enemy over and over-- same amount of health, same attack pattern. A few different kinds of creatures would have been welcome. Maybe some wolf-like creatures and a flying enemy. And speaking of same attack patterns, the hero's attack, while nice and solid, would have been better if maybe he got stronger at some point, or just speed the attack up a little when he gets to a certain point.

On the topic of speed, that's probably my biggest issue with the game... the hero is a little bit too slow. It seems like it takes forever to get anywhere. Even jumping and climbing feel like a chore (though I do like that he has to ledge-grab to get to higher places, it's not something you see a lot in platformers these days). Of course, speeding up the game would draw attention to the fact that it's fairly short, which I think is kind of a detriment. Even adding just one more area, perhaps when the world is in daylight, would lengthen it suitably.

Now that that's over with, on to what I liked!
The music was very nice, even if it was just five tracks-- it really adds to the atmosphere, which is very dark and almost brooding. If it weren't for the fact that the scenery isn't varied enough, I would have been completely immersed. The story, while short and typical of a retro-style platformer, had me wondering about the world, and the people within it. The final battle was great, too (the homage to Zelda was a nice touch), though I could have gone without fighting the skeletons again.

All in all, while the game needed more variety and was a bit slow, it has an interesting concept and was relatively fun to play. I hope you don't take my criticisms too hard, after all, this is only your second game, so you have lots of room to improve in future projects-- and I really do hope to see some more projects from you.

Keep on truckin'!

VanDiest responds:

Hey thanks a lot for your review. This was my 2nd game ever so I wanted to keep it relatively short since, like you said, it takes a lot of work to make games and I made this almost completely alone. I will take everything you said into consideration for my next game, and who knows maybe there will be a part 2 :)

[Kratai]

As it's your second game, it's not bad to bring it to this. However, as to give you feedback, the game is lack of something. First of all, the global terran is a little bit too plain (though I can feel the afford you bring to the game). Then the control is not much handy. The last thing is difficulty as the first enemy alone can kill a newbie player in no time.
Please try harder and bring us an even better games, I'm sure you can do it.

[PeterKisner]

I liked the color scheme and art in general, and I'm not opposed to the idea of random sprites dispensing cryptic observations and wisdom in a game. But, that said, I have to echo some of the criticisms of earlier commenters:

The world is pretty samey throughout. Although the fallen-bridge lands provide some thematic difference from the under-lands, there is pretty much no difference in enemies and terrain challenges. In a way it's nice that you keep coming back to life, because I died probably dozens of times. But it's also unfortunate that you'd need to keep coming back to life, because as far as I can tell, there are neither strategic maneuvering, nor character growth means to prevent dying due to random lucky hits by the enemies.

The pause after falling seemed an odd choice (unless it's a bug), since it had no effect on either health or game progress. Is it just to provide a moment of being stunned for enemies to take a whack at you?

The boss also had me perplexed. After various attempts at jumping and maneuvering around the featureless plane during a few lethal sessions of plasma-burst badminton, I ran out of ideas on how to even begin to make a scratch on him.

VanDiest responds:

The boss fight was a homage to The Ocarina Of TIme zelda game. You are suppose to hit the energy ball back towards the boss and continue until he missed. Thanks for your review and for playing!

[cainplant]

good concept. the game is there and runs nice but could use some more work. one thing that annoyed me was that every time i would jump and hang on a platform i would have to repress the directional button to continue or else jump in place. the only way to fight safely is to fight one guy at a time and to pay close attention to him; which is boring. remember noone is in any postition to tell you how your game is supposed to be, you are to create a unique game of your own individuality. it just needs more to it

[Selvira]

I have not yet finished the game, and with the slow pacing and lack of saving upon exit I don't think I am likely to finish the game. I do think that the game is good. As many people have mentioned beforehand, it reminds me of Endeavor in its story and gameplay. The music is nice and relaxing, if a bit repetitive, but that cannot be helped. The choice of color palette with respect to the plot and setting, how the sun crystal broke and all, is a smart choice. It does feel a little dull though; a nearly all black foreground with a simple night sky behind it isn't all that outstanding. The character movement is a bit sub-par. Our hero moves somewhat slowly for the scope of the map, and the ledge mechanic is poorly executed. While I do like the idea of our character catching the ledge and pulling himself up, he DOESN'T pull himself up. I'm not a pixel artist; I don't know how long it would take to make two extra sprites for such an animation. The fact that we have to press the jump button again instead of simply holding it down is incredibly annoying. The inclusion of combat is a questionable choice. I see no reason why it is needed other than as an obstacle to overcome, something rather redundant seeing as how in platforming games all things are obstacles to overcome. They also seem random and without reason, but perhaps I have not ventured far enough to learn of their reason. Then there was that bug I mentioned in my deleted review. I probably should've realized I wasn't supposed to be in that area when the ground lost its grass texture. Overall it is a good game, but I am not motivated enough to finish it. There is plenty of room for improvement.