The Artistic Adventures of Painting Gal (Early test build)

very nice animation work!

some polish feedback: playing with keyboard the controls feel a bit confusing. i would have put duck on Ctrl, camera move on mouse move, attack on mouse click, maybe make run a toggle with tab.  bazooka controls are likewise confusing, maybe duck to take it out, and attack to shoot it.  

needing to talk to the bird to get the bazooka is confusing (maybe gray out the bazooka pad and/or put a bird logo on it).  

sound effects are a bit jarring, but maybe with some music will incorporate better.  i would have liked a bigger explosion sound effect when the bazooka missile hits.

switches look the same activated or not, so maybe depress them or gray them out when hit.

sometimes the gophers run in circles around you but don't really hit you, maybe they need to adjust their speed so they can make a tighter radius.

Hiya! Likewise I've been following you on Bluesky - you came up in the Discover feed one day and I've been following ever since. Downloaded the demo to play around with on my lunchbreak, and here's my immediate thoughts feedback.

1. Presentation: Game is extremely colourful, which is great. There's a lot of charm in the style that feels like a throwback to 90s games I grew up with. Big plus.
2. Couldn't figure out how to destroy the big block behind one of the bazooka pads - shooting it just didn't do anything from either bazooka pad.
3. As mentioned, the inverted camera controls took a bit of getting used to, so an option to swap that would be just great.
4. I found the wall-jumping section near the indestructible(?) boulder took a few tries - PG slides down walls quite quickly so you have to be on the ball with inputting the wall-jump, but since the button is shared with the dive attack I found myself diving into walls and not getting the opportunity for a follow-up wall-jump.
5. Enemies were fun to interact with - they have quite a long leash but they're not faster than PG, so outrunning them is always an option.
6. The usage of PGs inner thoughts to explain concepts in the world, like smashing buttons or extra height on mushrooms - was really good, just make sure to use them early and often. I knew to ground-pound the posts because I've played SM64 and that concept is burnt into my mind, but it IS a (nearly) 30 year-old game. Maybe a thought bubble from PG saying "Huh, these moles must have pushed up this post, I better fix that!" would be good.
7. On the other hand, well done with the target gallery section. That was telegraphed so well with the use of camera angles with a level of Rareware polish.
8. I really like how PG sets off from neutral at a decent speed with good acceleration. There's not much need for build-up which means you can get going sooner!

Looking forward to further updates to test! <3

Helloooo!!! I've been following your posts on Bluesky for a long time now but only this week realized there was a demo for it, so thought I'd give it a try!

My thoughts (played with a controller)

• I love the presentation! This really feels like an N64 platformer. Colorful world, goofy enemies and sfx, low-poly style. It's great! Really takes me back. I've played a lot of 3D platformers and yours feels like it has all the fundamentals down. Did not see any bugs at all.
• I was able to complete the entire level without any difficulty. None of the gems felt tedious or frustrating. The gameplay didn't feel repetitive either. There's a lot of variety in the stage. It's also hard to get a good view of the whole stage at once, due to lots of verticality and the cylinder in the middle, which means you have to constantly explore and can't just plan everything ahead of time.
• The (non-??)-inverted camera-X controls took several minutes to adjust to. I've always played games with it working in the opposite direction. I realize this is still an early build and there's not even an options menu yet, but it did impact my ability to test since my brain was not used to it...
• I took damage a few times from enemies that respawned right as I walked by them, which felt unfair.
• When walking towards the camera, there's very little room to see an enemy in that direction, and I did take damage a few times because I didn't see them in time.
• Other than that, I was impressed by the camera. Some areas had it on a rail to help with vision, and near walls it helpfully shifted upwards. I never felt like I was ever fighting with the camera.
• If I tap the joystick in a direction, PGal will start walking in that direction...and continue walking, and walking, even after I let go of the stick. This can happen also when I'm trying to subtly position her for a jump. I'd want her to move slightly, but then she keeps going, and it made positioning difficult.
• Enemies cannot be killed by jumping - the somersault looks like the only way to deal damage. However, PGal can't do it without building some momentum first, which makes it somewhat hard to engage enemies if you're not already moving, especially in tighter areas. If I stand still, then mash the controller in a direction and hit X, it's too early and she does nothing, and might walk into an enemy. There's no audio or visual indicator to let me know when I have enough momentum to attack, which would be helpful if that's a prerequisite for attacking.
• The midair kick felt a bit perplexing. It gains height, so it works like a double-jump, and there were places where it was useful for platforming, except it's mapped to a different button than the jump, which I think is unusual for double-jump mechanics. (It is the same button as the somersault, the other attack, so that makes sense. No actions mapped to the jump button in midair as far as I can tell). Also, I didn't see any times where I was in midair and in need of an attack (ie no flying enemies yet).

All in all, a fun experience. As I said, the fundamentals feel solid, and there's lots of potential here. Great job!

I've been following you ever since I played your mirror game, just wanted to say your work is cool and I'm rooting for you! Good luck

• The controls feel like a perfect combination of Banjo-Kazooie and Conker’s Bad Fur Day with just a smidge of Bugs Bunny: Lost in Time. For lack of a better word, they’re very crunchy and tight where Mario 64 is a lot looser and more freeform. There’s no doubt in my mind as to where the character will be when I do what I need to do.
• The camera controls are impeccable. Obviously, being able to invert in the full game would be ideal, but as they stand, well done.
• The enemy respawn timer is a bit quick for my taste and I would also suggest not allowing them to respawn while the player is in their respawn zone. That’s something that gets very frustrating in both Banjo-Tooie and Donkey Kong 64.
• The roll ability feels good to use and connect with an enemy, but I’d give the player a bit more control of it while moving like in the Banjo games because there were times where I thought I’d connect, but the Mario 64 Goomba-esque movement of the enemies caused me to miss.
• If you’re going to do fall damage, go for it. But don’t let enemies damage you while you’re in the squished state because then you’re taking damage on damage and can’t defend yourself, so it feels unfair.
• “Ah! Context Sensitive! Clever!” I *love* the inclusion of the Context Sensitive Pads and the Bubsy-eque “!” above the character’s head is fantastic. I can’t wait to see what they do as you go forward.
• A way to make the camera snap behind the player would be very helpful.
• Some of the sound volumes vary wildly. Make sure that their waveform files are similar volume and then set the sound effects volume globally in the engine. Trust me from experience: do this sooner than later or you’ll have to go through and set it manually.
• Signpost the bouncy mushrooms with a little arrow pointing up on a wooden sign next to them.
  • In retrospect, it feels obvious that you can bounce on them, but I’ve learned to never underestimate the player’s ability to just not even consider stuff.
• A ledge grab move would be great unless you’re specifically building the game to not have one.
  • Which I’d get, but be sure to make that decision before you start building more areas, not after.
• The writing and how it offsets the cuteness of the art is especially enjoyable.
• I love the CubeCats and I want a plushie of all five of them yesterday.
• The 3D audio on some of the collectables is a bit far-ranging. I can hear gems basically all the time. I’d suggest making them louder as more of them are collected so that it becomes easier to find them with the audio cue.
  • As an accessibility feature for deaf or hearing impaired players, you could also include a toggle-able arrow pointer or maybe something on the HUD like a treasure compass.
• The swimming controls are really good. Definitely a good call going for different controls between the surface and underwater so you don’t have to keep spamming the swim button to not drown.
• Thank you for not putting a timer on the switch on the paintbrush on the mountain. Donkey Kong 64 used timers WAY too often when just having to hit the switch to activate a platforming challenge is plenty. I’d suggest using timers sparingly.
• The juxtaposition of the art style and the rocket launcher is really funny as is the crates exploding with their eyes going everywhere. You have a strong style here and I really enjoy it.
• The ground pounding posts should be a bit wider than they are. It was easy to miss them when trying to pound them into the ground.
  • That said, the enemy AI chasing me around it when I tried running in a circle around it worked great and was really funny.
• I didn’t experience any major bugs! Everything worked great.
• The art direction in general is fantastic. I can very clearly see what you’re going for here.

I’m always interested in new 3D platformers, especially sandboxes and open worlds; they’re literally my favorite genre. If I had the skills needed to work in 3D, I would be making basically nothing but them. If you need any additional feedback, advice, or anything else I can help with in the future, please feel free to contact me directly. Great job on this! Can’t wait to see more!

Thank you so much for sharing an early build!

I've been following the progress on bluesky with much interest. Played it on my Steam Deck (works wonderfully) and having a lot of fun.

First thing I noticed was that the camera position was snapping pretty nicely for the most part in platforming spots but in the wider "flat" areas it would mostly just be facing the character and not give much visibility on where I'm going. A button to reset the camera to snap behind would be nice in the areas where the camera can be freely rotated.

Is it possible the reach this brush ? I seem to be unable to jump high enough to reach the platform.

That's all I can think of right now.

It has so much charm and personality, so keep up the great work.