I fallen through the floor in the map of drills, when start the map, in direction to the exit.
Reviews for "Lulanda Demo 2"
Oh boy, there's nothing like discovering the humble beginnings of the teams that made your favorite indie games. Team Cherry, of Hollow Knight fame, started out as a Flash dev team! Who'd have known. The games they made back in the day were far from spectacular, but they were promising and definitely made with love.
In this game here, I can notice a lot of the stuff that would eventually be part of their most successful project to date was already in their minds. The platforming, the secret hunting, the downward dash, the breakable walls, a lot that was present here eventually made its way to Hollow Knight.
This is a very short exploration-based action platformer where you have to navigate small platforming challenges and get some collectibles, plus a few secret and optional things here and there. Simple, but nice.
The platforming feels a bit heavy, and it's hard to time certain jumps because of that. Also, the combat feels a bit awkward, leading to some frustrating deaths. In spite of that, this is still quite decent to play, and I'm not just saying that because of whom the devs are, so read me out.
Yes, the graphics are simplistic and look like they were made with the MS Paint "circle" tool, and the platforming and combat have their shortcomings. However, in what little the game has to offer, it is always fair (i.e. not too dependent on luck and not punishing you for stuff you can't control), varied and decently paced, so the overall experience of the game is positive, even with all the flaws.
This game could be summarized in much the same way many early games made by eventually famous devs can be: flawed, but earnest and promising. If I played this back in 2013, I'd probably have noticed the promising aspects of it even without knowing what this team would one day become.
The UI and graphics look truly excellent in this game.
However, your storytelling is a little too deliberate. It would be easily possible to let novice gamers understand the principle of the game without the need for expository dialogue like that.
This very good article talks about some stuff like that: http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3408/the_cabal_valves_design_process_.php
WilliamPellen responds:
Thanks for the link! I erred on the simpler side because it's just a demo, and normally a few levels would come before it that would introduce mechanics a bit more organically. It is definitely something that's tricky to balance!
if you ever got anywhere with this it probably be a sidestory and costume for another game... it wasnt bad though
WilliamPellen responds:
Sidestory and costume for another game?? What does that mean?