So, I just came to play the demo (at least once, I might go throught it again).
Let me start with this: I LOVED IT! It felt really good, controls worked and came in quite natural (I am using a Logitech F710 which acts as an XInput Controller). I didn't even die once (I am so proud of myself right now
), so you can say I got the basic grip of it.
As a kid born in the early 80's, I of course adore the art style you chose for Heart Forth, Alicia. Pixel graphics done right always get to me in a special way, as is the case with this prime example. Thanks for that! Also, the map is done pretty well, had that handheld Castlevania feel to it (like in Aria of Sorrow, for example).
I'd like to point out two (minor) things which I feel worth mentioning.
First, I got shown a wrong button symbol when picking up the Charged Strike. In the menus, it would show the correct 'A' button symbol for the strike attack, but the tutorial text for the Charged Strike put a red circle button symbol instead. I know this is just a demo and that it's probably already on the list but I thought I'd mention it nonethelss.
The second thing is kind of twofold, both parts being in regard to the dialogue / text message system. In the beginning, when the prologue text is shown, I would have liked the option (and actually thought it was done this way at first) to proceed with the text at my own pace. When the little sysmbol showed up in the lower right corner, I took it as a means of saying "this page of text is done and when you press a button, it will continue". Which it does, but it also went on automatically if I didn't press anything. Now I'm not saying that the display time for the text was too short, but for a slow or non-natural English reader it might be too fast anyway. If it only proceeded manually, you'd never run into that issue, of course.
In combination with that, I felt that the two (I think) different symbols in the dialogue windows were not quite consistent. What I mean by that is, I could not really tell what each symbol stood for exactly. I at least had the impression that, regardless of the symbol, text would sometimes proceed automatically (which, after the prologue, I thought would only be the case with the page symbol, not the block symbol). This impression might be wrong, I'd have to check that properly in a second playthrough. Still, I personally didn't feel the need for a second symbol overall but that's just preference, I guess.
Still, these two little things did not disturb the fun I had with the little demo and I was kind of sad when the end screen came up
This is really getting the look and feel of those 16 Bit Metroidvania games well done and I am totally stoked for the finished game. So, keep up the great work (and take your time, as HFA deserves to be awesome!) and make this as good as the demo suggests
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