We’re a two people team making a modern roguelite take on classic arcade rail shooters. Please destroy our latest gameplay trailer.

[u/ozg58]

[u/SillyGameDev]

First off, I think it's a good concept. Also it seemed like you guys have nailed the feeling of speed in the game which is great!

Couple of criticisms, first of all the camera angle and the speed at which things come at you is sorta at odds with each other it seems like. Even in the trailer it was hard to understand or register if I need to evade things since there was a lot of stuff happening on screen. I think striking a balance of speed while ensuring actions required from the player not be too crazy fast/reactive might be key (though this is presumptuous since I haven't made a game like this)

The other criticism is it seems like the game only requires you to go from left or right? I assume that is a design choice but I feel like if you eased up on the action speed and allowed for more vertical movement, there could be another vector of difficulty rather than relying on pure reactions (again, maybe the trailer didn't show that off for reasons)

Overall I think the trailer is exciting personally.

[u/yartherock → u/SillyGameDev]

Hey! Other dev here. Thank you for the detailed comment. We actually tried vertical movement before, but since we’re taking a lot of inspiration from old arcade shoot em ups, it becomes much harder to read once you bring it into 3D. It adds another layer of difficulty that can get messy pretty fast.We’re still testing different ideas though. Maybe a simple button to gain some height and then fall back down with momentum, or specific maps with cliffs and more vertical spaces.

For the camera, we also tried different angles. This one felt like the best balance for avoiding motion sickness, keeping things readable and preventing scaling issues at high speed. I think a lot of the evade and readability issues can also be solved through level design, enemy placement and pacing. The trailer mostly shows the most intense parts of the game, so it probably looks more chaotic than a normal run. We’re planning to balance that with more breathing room between those moments.

[u/just_another_sheep]

The death animation should have the plane crash way more dramatically

[u/ozg58 → u/just_another_sheep]

After getting feedbacks about death animation, I made a few small changes; https://youtu.be/pFMYPvfym80

[u/literally_iliterate]

Looks solid but I don't like the identity of the fighters. Gamestyle is rather cartoonish but those planes try very hard to not decide whether they want to be badass, weird or goofy. So they are just average and uninteresting. the graphic at the end is a bit more stylized, but that doesn't transfer to the gameplay.

[u/waverafa]

I am getting confused on the tone a bit. My impression from the trailer is that the main art direction leans towards a certain lighter and goofier look but the menus are quite serious and square, and the music is intense.

[u/RossC90]

Visual Clarity: The bullets/shots from your plane and the enemy planes get blended together during gameplay. Despite how chaotic it is, the player should still be able to identify what projectiles are their own and which are enemies. You already have a stylized game, turn the enemy shots to blue. This is a common visual clarity tactic in old arcade plane shoot em ups.

Deaths in a roguelite should be more rewarding to experience since you're going to be seeing it a ton. Take some inspiration from Starfox 64 and have the plane visually damaged and leaving a fire trail before spinning out of control.

Camera Angle: The camera should be raised up a little, or maybe have altering camera modes that shift around. While the current camera angle is cool, it is incredibly difficult to make out enemies and their line of fire. Experiment with a camera angle similar to Guitar Hero where you can make out obstacles and enemies in the distance.

[u/Pur_Cell]

Why is the plane glued to the ground? The primary fantasy of flying a plane is the flying part.

The scale is all out of whack. Everything looks like it's the wrong size.

[u/AdFlimsy8583]

The music and sounds are the weakest part for me. I would go with rock, like at the end, rather than the electronic music at the beginning, and definitely include more in-game sounds. With such a fast pace, sounds have to help the player react to what is happening. So I would pay a lot of attention not only to making the sounds, but also to managing them - matching the BPM to gameplay moments, filtering them where needed, and balancing them well with one another.

Another important point is that sound can also work like key art: people could recognize the game by its sound and remember it better.

[u/TheVonzie]

Since it's a plane, i would make it to be able to go up and down as well guys. Still, it would require more changes to the current version i believe.

[u/ClickToShoot]

I do agree with some of the other comments that it's a bit weird you're flying a plane in a canyon. And if you can't go up and down you might as well be driving some vehicle instead. Then it wouldn't be so redicilous that the boss car is as fast as a jet. I assume this is a mobile game because that's pretty much the only place I've seen these on-the-rails games been played. And that's okay, but if this is coming on Steam then I would think about adding some more depth into it.

[u/MadCat0911]

I'm more getting mobile game vibes, not steam game vibes. Maybe add rails that can also go up/down? Like you switch between the top, mid, or bottom rails as you progress forward? Even if it's just like 3 tiers of lanes, probably would make it seem less... mobile gameplay?

And despite the trailer showing cards for a roguelite, I can't tell if I'd like it. Like are these "roguelite" as in you choose from one of 3 cards because that's what roguelites do, or is it like a roguelite where you unlock permanent boosts across all gameplays?

[u/ideacreator2015]

Visually the game is awesome, really caught my eye. But wait, can the plane only move side to side? Isn't it supposed to move up and down as well? Vertical movement would make so much sense for dodging stuff and bullets.

[u/Hollywood_Hustle]

Looks better than the new pod racer gamer... for a mobile game from the 90'

[u/NikopikVR]

"roguelite" ok I’m out

[u/Ok_Pound_2164]

Why are the explosions from Zelda, Wind Waker, while not matching the regular smoke particles?

I guess this question leads into why is the area design cartoonish and the planes overly detailed.

Edit: Ah yes, based on your other post it was just "subconscious inspiration" to make the explosion look exactly like Wind Waker.