Scrap Story

Hello, do you plan on uploading your demo to your Steam page?

Will you add the option to map controls? Also, I tried this with an Xbox 1 controller and it doesn't work :(

Love it! I don't care if you are bad at development or good at it! Because you r a Paper Mario fan! Me Follow. Me know what it feels like to galore PM64.  =O w O= MEOW!

I absolutely adore this game! Very much reminds me of one of my favorite games Paper Mario! Please keep working on this. Judging by the amount of feedback this game has gotten, its obvious people want this game! Wish you the best and good luck! 

Ok so here is what I found:

Bug: Holding a side direction in the main menu with a sidemost option selected will make Scrapgirl freak out. Eventually, all this turning around and running from side to side makes her sketch graphics to turn completely black (like a shadow) while staying at a weird, half turned angle. 

Suggested fix: disable main menu "wrap around" to make the spamming that makes this posible not available to the player anymore.

Bug: Spinning cards in their overwold form sometimes display a completely black backside, probably due to lighting.

Suggested fix: Give these cards their own light source to both overcome this and give them some "importance"

Bug: Scrapgirl might vibrate or rock slightly back and forth in some complex level geometry.

Suggested fix: Assuming you are calculating Scrapgirl's angle in realtime with some kind of normal calculation: don't. You are better off establishing simple collision maps for otherwise visually intricate objects.

Bug: The second tree (the ragdolly one) in the second room freaks out way too easily.

Suggested fix: Tone down realtime physics and give it an animation instead.

Tidbit: Mr "you fixed the bridge" mouse guy just casually floats across the gaps (snort)

Tidbit: Never though I said this, but this game needs more invisible walls,specially on the front and back edge of the stage. I find myself constantly falling even when paying attention. (The sound that plays when this happens is amazing, though)

Tidbit: Speaking off, the "you fell off" mechanics need some revision. For one, camera needs to stop following the player. Otherwise you start seeing floating level geometry and the innards of the level design. I also strongly suggest getting rid of the "blackout fade" effect and instead implement something more in the lines of Paper Mario TTYD (Where you get your but munched on by some chomp fish and fly back to the next checkpoint).

Tidbit: Speaking-speaking off, the checkpoint system is at a whack. If I'm coming from the right and fall in a hole I should spawn on the other side, not be "rewarded" and teleported to my destination.

Bug: In the paper plane room, the sign that tell you not to speak to the cat displays it's "?" horizontally flipped.

Bug: You are able to pick the plane powerup more than once, as it keeps respawning upon re-entering the room.

Tidbit: You walk SO SLOW in the 2D background section.

Tidbit: Need a "you got something while holding it up" charade for items that are cards and "important stuff" like the fruits.

Tidbit: In the rainy tornado room you could benefir from forcing the player to pick up the card. Don't be afraid to gently trap the player to force them into learning something! If you can't, remember to implement a camera pan towards the missed crucial item upon entering the room right before allowing the player to move (See Luigi's Mansion)

Tidbit: The second gap in the second room is a leap of faith. Mark down a trayectory with coins. You could also benefit from using Mr Mouse again, making him complain about a second missing bridge the player needs to reactivate and being all "Now what?". Also the guy crossing the bridge should really be a mini-cutscene where the player looses control for a couple of seconds.

Tidbit: Need to "gently force" the player to practice the tornado+jump technique in a safe place, probably design the "trap" in the rainy room so the player can get in but needs to do the special jump to get out.

Tidbit: When moving fast the camera fails to catch up. For example, if the player moves right very fast they are on the right side of the screen. What should really happen instead is that the camera looks ahead more, placing the player on the left side of the screen and allowing them to react to incoming level.

Tidbit: Careful with finicky platforming in these game style: it can get tedious FAST.

Tidbit: In the rainy room, the shallow water on the right looks inviting, like it's not deep enough to kill you and that you can probably just walk inside without fear.

This game is undoubtly gorgeous, that's clear, but, it still have some flaws:

 What I struggled the most was with the controllers and the level design, at one point I literally wasn't able to get through because I coudn't jump! (At the mouse and the bridge stuff)

 And also at that part it was soooo hard to get through, and not necessarly bc of the difficulty, (wich, I think it's just right for a game like this) instead for all the times that i saw myself falling off the stage, it was just so odd and felt a litle bit like artificial difficulty, it was not that i couldn't get through the level fast because i was bad at the game, instead because I was falling on an edge that i didn't even saw in the first place, there was no way to avoid some falls, and I think that is a problem, I should be aware of my surroundings in order to get better at the game.

 also i got a lot of input lag, i'm not sure if that was because of my computer or the cable that I used for my xbox controller, but I got lag and the game just didn't felt all the smooth that i'll like, (ik this stills as a prototype but deffinetly something to have in mind)

To wrap up I would like to say two things: 

First: Congratulations, seriously, this is an amazing job and it has a lot of potential that i deffinetly want to fully enjoy in the future

and second: This is a game. give more focus at the things that makes games fun in the first place: playability, mechanics, movement, level design, UI design, etc. I say that bc i see the visuals so pullished and not that level of care at the "gaming" stuff. 

Deffinetly lovely, looks fun, I want to play more, keep going, cheers <3

Finally got around to playing this! I was considering making a video, but still have a cold and not sure if I have the right set up. ANYWAYS, good demo. I'll try to say things that haven't been said here already or are worth reiterating.

Visuals and everything are nice, great job. Obviously is an early setup so not all sfx and such will be in (Like wish the cards would make some noise when collected). Lighting is pretty good too. Only issue art wise is perhaps making things more apparent, especially in terms of depth. The clouds at the end could be hard to make out when trying to jump over them.

Menu is aesthetically pleasing but needs work in terms of representation and order. I could see myself and others confused by where certain things were, such as the clothes. Maybe also making it more obvious what section of the menu you're in. So if you're equipping weapons, highlight that area of that menu. Just better indications to really make it crystal clear what's being done.

Controls well, but one thing I noticed was a lack of Jump Buffering. Well, that might be the wrong term, since that's usually for press jump a few frames before you land so a new jump registers. What I ACTUALLY mean, is jumping off ledges. I think having a few frames after the player is "off ground" to press jump so they can make precise jumps would be REALLY helpful. Especially for players who aren't that great at platforming. This demo featured far more platforming intense obstacles than Paper Mario normally did.

I'm not a fan of the text scroll. I've yet to deal with programming text boxes, but I do have some rules for what to do/don't. And since this is an RPG, having good text boxes is crucial. But I'm 100% sure ya know that, cause this is Paper Mario! Where they use wacky text effects like wavy animated text and such. Just make sure it scrolls left, and that the words generated at the end of a line START on the next line; that stuff BUGS me when devs don't do that. Adventures of Pip doesn't do it. You'll see a word spelled out at the end of a text line but then it gets too long for the text box so it suddenly jumps to the next line all weird and stuff and eeeeewww...

Btw I played this demo without cutting any flowers so I could see if the RatBee thing would change dialogue. They didn't... 0/10

Kidding, but speaking of cutting things down, hmm. I didn't do it much cause I had seen my friends the Console Warriors play the demo so I didn't bother, but they used the Sword to cut down the grass. A lot. Now cutting it down with the sword is fine, good way of finding secrets. But there's a LOT of grass, and you're a 2D character slicing the sword in a 3D space. So it feels sort of awkward to slice all this grass for secrets. It's not like Zelda where you can quickly get around and slice multiple blades of grass. I think something you could do is add something to the sword later on to perhaps "spin attack" and slice multiple grass. That would be very convenient. Or combine it with the Spin Ability.

Speaking of which I have mixed feelings with this Spin. It's sort of like Paper Marios, but it's also not. It definitely has more platforming use, but feels far less controllable. In PM I'd use it all the time, jump to cancel out of the end lag, land and repeat using it. So I tried to see if I could find a similar technique. And I did! But even so, I think this ability needs better control, or perhaps something to outright stop you from falling off so easily. But my earlier point about the jumps might help there.

Anyways the technique I found was to spin, then immediately jump. When I landed, I could spin again just about instantly AND it cancels out the daze part if I jump/land before it happens. Perhaps if you could teach this to players or make its use more apparent and easy to control, then it would be even better for getting around. But at the same time, I'm mixed because this ability in PM wasn't something you equipped (well, there was one that made it longer). It was natural, so it makes me question if this should be a slot in the first place and not a natural ability. 

Anyways Hammer feels good. Paper Airplane is good enough, but wish it crafted you at the top of the character rather than the bottom. I'm guessing you had it this way to not have to mess with changing hitboxes on the ground. So I think the feel of you becoming an airplane needs work.

That's about all I got to say. Other than perhaps the sign/menu at the beginning likely wasn't loaded properly because the game pauses for 3 seconds to load it all, then it's all good from there. I think there are a lot of things that could be done to enhance performance, but I'm certain you can figure that out. Also respawns are... not the best. If you can, trying adding something in the character object that detects where it was last on solid land, then spawn back there like PM. Certain pits you fall in can even spawn you in NEW areas you hadn't reached yet which is weird.

Good Demo to test the waters! Definitely has potential!

Really awesome job. Art, environment interaction, abilities and physic are neat!

Are you a solo developer or a team?

This game is going to be a delight when finished :D.  For the most part I really enjoyed what I saw in the demo.  The art style is wonderful, the music is wonderful, the animations.  This game looks like it's going to be a spiritual successor to the classic Paper Mario (not the new ones, they aren't that great).  The only criticism I have is that the controls are a bit clunky when it comes to the abilities.  I would maybe suggest have a hot swap button?  Maybe one fore melee weapon(Sword and Hammer) and one for special ability (Plane and Tornado).  I found myself pressing the wrong buttons quite a bit.  Other than that and what's been mentioned by others (Re-spawn checkpoints, and just a lot of falling off) I really liked it.  I really look forward to the next demo.  Keep up the great work :D.

PS  The video title is a joke XD

This looks so adorable! I cannot wait until there is a Mac version so I can play the demo ^^