BRUTE

Just finished playing this game for about an hour. And...holy crap . I haven't been this frustrated since Hotline Miami....matter fact, the strategic precision of timing elements of this game does kinda remind me of Hotline Miami.

I made it to the "5-second" level, which for the life of me I can't get down to shoot the yellow thing before the laser comes back on. But nonetheless, well done on this one! The minimalist art style works well with the clean aesthetics of the game. It was kinda like playing a modern Atari 2600 game, but like...much much cooler . I like the changing of the colors each time you restart a level (and i'm pretty sure i went through all the color rotations...), it keeps things different which is good for minimalist games like this. The surreal ambient sound felt good and fit well with the game too. However, i do think the sound could be just a tad higher. But thats just me.

Gameplay wise, everything felt good and on point. It was easy to play, and someone once said that "simplicity is the ultimate sophistication". Especially when the game is polished welled. The mouse controls worked well, but i wouldn't mind seeing a gamepad control on it also. The level design was clever and each one does seem to ramp while introducing new gameplay elements. However, i would like to see the actual name of the level that I'm starting somewhere when the level loads so I can 1) know which level i'm am, and 2) what chaos I should be expecting to face within the next few seconds.

Anyways, i really liked this game and look forward to more of it .

Cryptwalker

Thanks so much for testing!

Hah the 15 levels I picked range hugely in difficulty, out of the 50 standard levels, there's enough of a ramp or at least choice about what levels to do that hopefully should calm some of the frustration.

I hadn't thought of Hotline actually, and I think you're right there is some crossover there.

Really happy the aesthetics are working so far, they will be much improved over the next couple of weeks but good to know the core style is okay.

I still haven't tested controller, I think if I added it, I'd need to make specific levels for it, easier ones...

Nice idea about printing the titles of the levels when you spawn in them I'll add that.

Thanks again!

anything to play yet ?

Brute got a mention on RPS today!

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2015/08 ... ore-309753

Brute got a mention on RPS today!

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2015/08 ... ore-309753

I just came to mention this. Everyone seems super excited for it, including myself. <img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_e_smile.gif" alt=":)" title="Smile">

I hadn't thought of Hotline actually, and I think you're right there is some crossover there.

Part of that crossover is the precision gameplay and the way the levels are set up. Most of the time you have to really think about how you would complete each one before dying several (a lot..) of times. A few times I was able to just wing it and got right through knowing full well that was a shot in dark and just got lucky. Otherwise, the game isn't very forgiving and thats *a good thing*. For me at least. But it encourages you to try again, which is an extremely good game design element i wish more games had. Thats part of the reason that made Hotline Miami so enjoyable.

Matter of fact, i bet i could design some fancy levels for Brute too .

[quote:1xqnaz6o]

I still haven't tested controller, I think if I added it, I'd need to make specific levels for it, easier ones...

Eh...i don't think you'd need to change the levels any for it. The game almost already kinda works with a gamepad setup already. For example, Left-Analog and/or Direction-Pad can control the directional rotation of the "ship" or "dude" or whatever that main character is. A-button will add velocity to move it forward, and X-button to shoot. That right where would already work.

Also, I just had another idea in my head a second ago for the game and now i just forgot it....

Thank you for the demo!

I enjoyed the minimalistic aesthetics and sounds very much. Stylish.

However, at the moment the game is way too hard for me to enjoy and made me ragequit quite fast!

That said, I feel that people who love games of this genre prefer them tough as nails and I am just a wussy casual gamer myself.

Setting the difficulty just right is a difficult decision!

After playing for over an hour i have to say i love everything about this game. The design , sounds and music and even the fact its so hard to get right. I will def buy this when released

The only one thing i would really change is the size of the bullets, they seem too big. Odd i know

[quote:29oaxo2f]..Matter of fact, i bet i could design some fancy levels for Brute too .

hah yeah this is why I want to make a level editor in an 'ultra' edition of the game if this one does okay.

[quote:29oaxo2f]Eh...i don't think you'd need to change the levels any for it. The game almost already kinda works with a gamepad setup already...

Yeah the scheme is pretty straight forward, its just some of the level design requires very high levels of precision, like I say though I haven't tested it so it might work, I just think it'd make a hard game even harder haha.

Thank you for the demo!

I enjoyed the minimalistic aesthetics and sounds very much. Stylish.

However, at the moment the game is way too hard for me to enjoy and made me ragequit quite fast!

Setting the difficulty just right is a difficult decision!

— Thanks for playing it!

Man yeah the difficulty is THE hardest thing to get right in this game. So those 15 levels in the test are taken from multiple difficulties, in the main game there are probably enough 'easier' levels in there that anyone who doesn't want to engage with everything can make it through to the end by just finding and picking those more approachable levels. Though that's ME saying that, I've never watched anyone play the game so have no clue about how hard it really it yet haha

this is not mine kind of a game but i really love the looks of it !

...is there a demo to try it?

After playing for over an hour i have to say i love everything about this game. The design , sounds and music and even the fact its so hard to get right. I will def buy this when released

The only one thing i would really change is the size of the bullets, they seem too big. Odd i know

Thanks spongehammer ! Really nice to hear.

The size of the bullets is totally influenced by Vlambeer

this is not mine kind of a game but i really love the looks of it !

...is there a demo to try it?

There's no demo, but there's a technical alpha test if you'd be interested in testing it to see if it runs no your hardware okay?

CrudeMik

sure, i dont mind testing it... might be interesting...

Lol, personally i think the bullet size can be bigger .

For folks who aren't accustom to difficult games, perhaps you can subtlety lower the difficulty a bit without even letting the player know it too. For example after like the 5th retry or so (there will be plenty of this), and also depending on the level, you can slow down some of the moving obstacles, slow down the chasing enemies, increase drag slightly, gravitate bullets towards the target.....etc. But do it all behind the scenes so that a player isn't "forever stuck" on a certain level and will be more enticed to continue playing. This technique was actually done in Resident Evil 4 - not a lot folks know this though .