Simple but somewhat charming. The gameplay was all right, and the way it was taught through the levels was nice. The controls don't really bother me but I'm confused as to why W and Y were used since I think using Z alone is good enough. The main problem is just how it's kinda generic, the final boss wasn't really challenging and the slime monsters could've been used in cooler ways other than just moving around slowly and having to get shot at to be killed. I still liked it but some innovation would've gone a long way.
Reviews for "Convergence"
wish the upgrades had been doled out piecemeal ala metroidvania with some backtracking. stuff like crouch walking and double jump, etc.
nice though.
mmmh
You have a story, that s a nice plus. However, remember how most of these games start: With the player being absolutely alone. The player being able to communicate with HQ from the beginning kind of contradicts the dark atmosphere you are building up with your - nice (!) - graphics. I would recommend to start with the player writing into his diary instead at the beginning, and having him to assemble a radio from parts he finds in a labyrinth afterwards. From then onwards, I would sometimes let him write into the diary (when I want the atmosphere more gloomy) and then again let him communicate with HQ (to lighten up the atmosphere again) Best source for radio parts would be dead groups of other warriors.
Then, I would only add one player as a companion that you find, and have him killed by a surprise monster attack when moving onwards (They could pincer him from left and right side while he is on a platfrom above you, so the player would see him fighting desperately).
The gameplay suffers a bit from the tiny differences of surface height being mandatory to crouch and kill the enemies, and from the double jump height being incorrect in comparison to the height you can actually reach.
Respawn points could be marked in the landscape somehow.
You are almost there. Fix the jump height bugs and consider adding to the story at the beginning, and you will have a decent game.
VascoF responds:
Thanks for the great ideas; I really liked the idea of having him write in some kind of diary, this way the written story can advance without compromising the feeling of loneliness. If I decide to make a longer version of this game (which I would really like to do if time permits), I would definitely want to explore some ideas similar to the ones you described.
I'm not sure what you mean by the double jump height being incorrect, could you please clarify? Thanks.
Very anticlimactic ending.
Not bad, but didn't impress me either.
The only other thing I didn't like was the double jump.
It didn't feel right. It's like I was supposed to be able to jump higher, but my jump is cut off in half, and in place of being able to jump high from the get-go, I have to do another small jump.
If down arrow makes you crouch, why doesn't up arrow make you jump? That would be super intuitive!
Z/Y/W are all so confusing!