Hi Stakes

I think the level size is perfect for the fast-paced game it is. I feel like the blood bar has too much initially and I feel like the bat ability should cause more blood to go away or the blood should go away faster in general because the bat ability can be abused to get blood packs easily and take little to no punishment for using the bat ability. I would like to see a power-up that lets me push the enemies away, I feel like that would be an interesting mechanic to add to the game. The movement of the horde is perfect, I really like how it follows you around rather than just moving in a straight line. Other stats I would like to see would be the current level I am playing. It would be nice to see what level I am in while playing the game. Yes, I think the score helps increase the replayability of the game because it allows for a different goal rather than just living or getting to the next level.  I am not sure what you guys mean by a permanent max blood powerup but I believe adding another powerup to the game would be interesting. As long as it isn’t a broken mechanic and the levels get significantly harder where the powerup-is really useful to the player. Also, I would like to mention that the art style is really nice for the game, however, it is a little bit hard to distinguish what the player can walk through or not. I'm not sure if you guys were going for that but a player can definitely get used to it if you guys keep it this way so I don't think it is a problem/

The art direction for your game is fitting for a game about vampires and undead, especially with the dark tones and bright red blood packs. I got a Dark Souls vibe from the armored enemies, which looks really cool, and I think it would be neat if they were more dynamic and had more movements and/or attacks. The soundtrack to the game is very pleasant, I hardly noticed I had left the game running in the background for 10-minutes, and I was just subconsciously jamming out. The game loop is very satisfying, and the levels last for a good amount of time for the fast-paced gameplay that comprises the game, and it also gave me a perpetual sense of achievement every 5-10 seconds. I noticed that I speed up how fast I press the keyboard to move my character after getting to a new level, as if I feel my character is more powerful from having defeated previous levels. It's a bit like an adrenaline rush. The game also lends pressure to the player when they're playing, because I didn't want to lose after being on a streak for a long time.

I think that the bat transformation is a neat mechanic that makes the gameplay more dynamic, in that it gives you additional ways to avoid obstacles. I could not figure out whether or not there was a penalty for going into bat mode, but it did feel a bit overpowered because there was no perceived consequences for it. The textures for the tree obstacles were a bit difficult to see because they blended into the terrain since they were a very similar green. I also don't quite understand how the blood meter functions, and how it might relate to exiting the level. I'm pressed to figure out if there is a consequence for exiting the level without first collecting all of the blood, because it seemed like my blood meter would jump around sporadically after the end of a level regardless. I actually am curious what a longer level may look like as well, maybe even with more complex puzzles and a slower horde.

Thank you for sharing your game, it was fun to play and I look forward to playing your final version!

Q1) The level size was great. But during gameplay we were not able to detect walls/objects on the level. More defined objects would help the overall gameplay.

Q2) The blood bar was great in the fact of changing into a bat to get out of a tight situations.

Q3) The horde would be more exciting if they were able to move more fluid in the since of getting held back by objects or walls. Give the player some more time to recover.

Q4)  A counter or time for being a bat would be a good addition. If a player had the least amount of time being a bat would tell everyone that they made it through difficult times without flying.

What do you think about the level size?

Level size was good! The thing that would throw me off is what was an obstacle and what wasn't, I think there can be a tiny bit more of a distinction between them to help. 

What do you think about the blood bar? (Too much initially, not enough received from bloodpacks? Etc?)

Blood bar was good, I like that it started off full and slowly progressed down and would go down further you used the space ability. I think the bloodpacks were good as they are because there were multiple around in each level to collect

What types of powerups would you like to see?

Possibly one that slows down the guards or the horde in the later levels so that if you get trapped you have more time to avoid them

What do you think of the movement of the horde?

The horde was very nice! Easy to spot when you are about to be caught and visually nice as well!

What other stats would you like to see besides the score and time?

Seeing the speed of the horde could be a good stat to see as you progress through the levels cause I noticed it felt like they were speeding up as you kept playing. Also seeing a stage stat could be nice so that you can see where you are and not wait till the end where you are. 

Does the score help to increase replayability of the game (different play styles)?

Yes i played multiple times just to beak my score from each previous run! 

Also want to say I enjoyed the music track! it fit very well with the theme and i liked the character designs for everyone as well! It was a visually pleasing game to play! 

1. The level size feels perfect right now, though it'd also be interesting if it varied in size randomly.

2. The blue vial replenishes almost nothing right now, though I assume that's since it's planned to do something special later. The red vials seem to give a fair amount.

3. Here's a few ideas for temporary duration powerups:

  - Something that slows down enemies and the horde

  - A magnet that pulls in nearby blood packs through walls

  - A boost to how much blood packs give, and it allows the blood meter to overfill past its normal maximum.

  - Instantly kill any enemies that you touch

  - Increase max blood by a large amount and fill the meter with 5-10 blood packs worth, but slightly increase the speed of the horde for the rest of the current run.

4. The horde's speed seems perfect as-is.

5. Maybe the amount of blood packs and powerups collected? Distance travelled?

6. Of course, it's fun trying to repeatedly beat the high score and push it as far as possible.

7. I'd recommend either making the blue vial not permanent, or have it permanently increase the max blood but NOT the starting blood. Otherwise, your high score becomes entirely dominated by how many raw hours you've played, and not how skilled you actually are at the game, since you just have an ever-increasing starting pool of health.

Bugs:

- There's no way to restart the game once you die, other than relaunching the entire game.

- If you're holding down a movement key when you exit a level, in the next level your character won't move until you release the key and start holding it again.

Misc:

- I'd recommend tweaking some of the shrub sprites, they blend in easily with the background and are hard to see at a glance.

The level size felt good.

The blood levels felt fine but I had a difficult time noticing the bar changing while I was running through the levels. It may help to have a different color (maybe just a darker gray) underneath the red bar to make it easier to see how much is missing.

I'm still not sure what the purple vials do. Even just adding a little description for everything on the pause menu would be great. As for powerups, it would be cool to have some kind of timed spectral power that allows you to walk through enemies for a short period.

The horde was great. It's visually clear so it's easy to spot as soon as it creeps up on screen.

The score definitely helps with replayablity, especially with people sharing their highest level (16 for me).

I think a max blood power up would be good but there also needs to be more ways of getting blood. By the double digit levels, I don't think I ever had a full blood level.

Additionally, I think the obstacles and hit boxes are a little too unclear. Either changing the color of obstacles to something more distinguishable or adding outlines to obstacle sprites would help with that!

Great game! I love the art and mechanics, it all fits the tone so well.

What do you think about the level size?

I think the level size was fine. Although I wish the camera was a bit more zoomed out so I can see more of what's going on.

What do you think about the blood bar? (Too much initially, not enough received from bloodpacks? Etc?)

I think the blood bar is fine. Perhaps increase the about of blood per blood pack? I was more stuck on the fact that I couldn't distinguish between the walkable area and the boulders and trees etc. that blocked your path. I think that there needs to be a way higher contrast between the two. 

What types of powerups would you like to see?

I'm not really sure but I can say that I had no idea what the potions were for and what they were doing. 

What do you think of the movement of the horde?

I think the movement of the horde is fine.

What other stats would you like to see besides the score and time?

I would like to see the effects of the potions have a more visual representation. If the potions are meant to give you a speed boost or something then there can be a symbol of two little feet running or something.

Does the score help to increase the replayability of the game (different play styles)?

Yes, I think it does since focusing on getting a higher score is the bases of the game. 

We are planning on making a permanent (between runs) max blood powerup - the blue vial (currently just replenishes blood). Does this sound interesting or fun?

Ah, so that was what the blue potion did, my bad. I think making a permanent power-up can be a reward for reaching a certain level. Congratulations you made it past level 20 here if your reward type thing. Then the player might wonder what power-up they will get after making it to level 30 and so on.

Overall, it was a fun game, great job!

Level size felt fine.

The blood felt very feast or famine.  I like the blood pressure, I'd recommend increasing the background decay rate and increasing the amount received from bloodpacks because both of those felt unnoticeable.  The rates given for the horde and bat mode are good.

Speed boost could be nice, temporary immunity to blood damage might be good, some mode where you can eat the enemies for massive blood boost would be fun.

Movespeed of the horde felt good, pressing but not unfair.

With how minimal the mechanics are you could maybe do stuff like distance run, blood drank, blood lost, time spent as bat, etc.  It would be a fun novelty to help distinguish runs.

Not really, some variety of environment or enemy types may help.  As it stands it can feel very repetitive and one run feels indistinguishable from anote

The idea is interesting, however if that is the plan concerns about blood have to become more pressing.   As it stands I feel like there's more than enough blood meter at the moment.  So maybe start off with a smaller meter that gets bigger over time or make blood drain much faster so it feels like a worthwhile buff.

Other Notes: Only major issue is with the obstacles, the color pallet is very dull in this game and that's fine but it means that obstacles are hard to notice and it is not amusing when I die because I got stuck on something I can't see.  In addition the visuals scream 2.5 D but the game plays like a 2D side scroller which lead to strange issues with hitboxes when my head would pump against a bush I'd argue is above my current position.

Overall a solid game, the music and visuals are really charming, and the core gameplay loop is solid.

This game was quite interesting. I really liked seeing your retextured assets. I got to level 21. The hitboxes feel pretty chunky as the entire character is considered in the hitbox. These chunky hitboxes made a lot of the spacebar feel quite required as you needed to change the hitbox to avoid getting blocked. Additionally, it was quite hard to tell which portions of the map were passable and which were not, especially with the big hitbox as you may be hitting either side with it. I would like to see blue potions implemented. At ~level 18 i got 2 red potions and had nowhere near enough to escape further. I really liked your horde animations. I would much appreciate a start menu and a restart button as my first run it took me a while to realize that it was the horde :D.

Hi Stakes is gorgeous and plays great! Congrats to the team for all of your hard work for the playtest! Below are a few of the notes I had while playing:

The level size feels good! I like that the size randomly changes as well, makes it feel more fresh in each room. I think that the readability could be a little better on the obstacles though as I found myself running into them often.

I found the space button to be a little overpowered, at least early on. You can really hold space for awhile without much repercussion. I think it might be interesting if early on in your playthrough you have to spend it wisely to get out of tough spots, then get more and more powerful as you continue.

I'd love to see a powerup that slows down the horde, perhaps paired with more collectibles you can get in the level? This way the player could explore the level more for upgrades.

The movement of the horde is really cool and fits the theme. Perhaps an arrow indicator for when they're off screen for those larger levels?

The score definitely helps the replayability, though maybe there could be some local leaderboard for each session so the player can see their progression. An interesting mode would be "no space bar mode" which gives the player an extra badge on that leaderboard.

One special note, I really LOVE LOVE LOVE the addition of the extra track of music when you're in space bar mode. It layers perfectly and makes the whole experience that much more immersive. Great job guys!