HEY GUYS o/
First off, thank you all for checking out the first ever build of Go! Go! Womb-chan!, I got so much feedback, it was amazing and I was super happy to hear so many of you have fun with it despite the early build it is!!
I'm really excited to keep working on it and updating it <3
I'm sorry about how the first week of June was very quiet, I was extremely burnt out after crunching the last week of May so I took the first 3 days off, and after that I had to spend the rest of the week finishing up outstanding commissions that I took on before the game was out, but had to postpone due to the tight deadline I set on myself for that first release. BUT I am all caught up now yippeee :D
SO, feedback!!
While overall positive, there were quite a few bugs and well deserved criticisms!
Bugs wise, the main reoccurring one that is the biggest deal is Nezumi's Pins showing up as 2 different items in your inventory. I have found the issue and am working on a hotfix later this week, alongside some other minor ones such as the Projectile Count item showing a % amount when each level upgrade should be a flat amount.
Criticism wise, the main ones I will try to address in the next hotfix are:
Certain objects & obstacles aren't visible enough, especially the "folds" and heart pickups. I will be working to update the visuals of these first and foremost to make sure they aren't as hard to see!
Pillows feel like they get in the way too much, partly due to collision boxes being bigger than they should be but also I'll be reworking the graphics slightly to make em more apparent as an obstacle
Magnets are dropping too much, this is a problem with the RNG and will be looking into fixing the numbers to make it not as abundant!
There is other things such as game balance, xp gain and overall the 2nd half of the first stage feeling too easy that I wish to address in the next big update but will get back to you guys about it once I have something more concrete in plan on that front!
This hotfix will hopefully be out end of this week!
Now, plans for the game!
Last month I had mentioned how I was going to work on the 2nd character immediately to try to push out a public demo ASAP. But, after much testing and having released this build, I realise that rushing a public release and the 2nd character isn't the correct course of action. Instead, the next couple of big updates will be focused on implementing the rest of the "core" mechanics that I had envisioned to be part of the game, as well as content such as new weapons and items to better make each run feel varied and interesting with a wider selection!
On the start up of Go! Go! Womb-chan! you may have seen some of the things I have planned for the game already and I will get to all of them in due time, but I'll be focusing on what I'm prioritising for the next couple of updates instead for now. Mechanics wise, the things I'm going to be working on first are:
Stage Events & Items
As I've mentioned previously in the description of Go! Go! Womb-chan!, one of the inspiration to the game is Risk of Rain! As part of that inspiration, I've always planned for there to be randomly placed "events" across the map for players to do.
One such thing I had actually started to implement for the first release but unfortunately had to put to the side due to time constraint was a "power shrine" in which if you stood next to it for x amount of time without leaving its radius, you'd get a stat increase of your choice until the end of the stage! Other things included were also little pills scattered around the map you could open up to gain coin or xp.
I will show more of what I'm working on as I implement them, but I believe adding these sort of interactable events across the map will help make each run feel more unique as you'll have to venture out and make decisions based around what you find!
Weapon Combinations
For anyone that has played Vampire Survivors, Holocure and other such games, you've seen what weapon combinations are. Depending on the game, getting 2 of specific weapons or items and making them reach max level, will allow you to combine them into a brand new more powerful weapon!
This is a high priority mechanic I'm working on at the moment, having combinations to work towards to allows for more strategy when picking which items/weapons you'd like to add to your inventory and without it, it can make each run feel a bit too same-y as you dont have incentive to pick weapons/items aside from whichever you believe is the strongest or your favourite. In womb-chan, you'll be able to combine weapons and items into a more powerful weapon by visiting forge(s) on the map once you have maxed out the correct items/weapons to combine them!
Meta Progression & Shop
The final high priority thing I am looking into is to also add meta progression through a shop, where you can spend the wombcoins you have gathered to get permanent stat upgrades across all runs! This will also mean having to implement a save system as the game will have to keep track of what has been purchased across each time the game has been played, so it was unfortunately put into the back burner due to the time it'd take to implement it.
Boss & Enemy Patterns
At the current moment, the current stage ends after reaching 21 minutes and surviving. This wasn't the intended way for a stage to end, I had originally planned that each stage would have a unique final boss that you'd have to fight and beat to complete the stage, but unfortunately wasn't able to implement one in time.
I also plan for each stage to have more ways to spawn enemies in interesting patterns to make each run more hectic and force you players to stay on your toes, you've already encountered one that I have implemented which is those times when enemies spawn around you in a circle and slowly close in. I plan to expand upon the mechanic to add choreographed enemy spawns where they fly across the stage in various patterns, reminiscent of bullet hell games.
Replacing & Improving unfinished graphics
While not a mechanical change, this is also extremely high priority. As you have all noticed, many of the enemy sprites, menu graphics and even weapon/item effects aren't finished and instead are filled with placeholders. While I work on the mechanical additions and changes, I will also be putting extended time into prettying up the game and making sure every nook & cranny looks like a finished product!!
After these are all added in, I will be working on the 2nd character and will also talk further about what else is planned after that! For now, I hope you guys are excited to see what's next!!! Will see you guys again in the next devlog! <3