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A forum post by TAPgiles

Also, I have feedback on the games... To me it feels like they are balanced for hardcore gamers who want a real challenge RIGHT NOW. But Dreams is for all ages, and for all kinds of people. And the Impys hub is a place that is not about hardcore gamers and competition, but about creativity and a friendly atmosphere.

Pinball

Pinball is pinball. It's fun but frustrating for newcomers, which is how pinball just "is" in my experience--so no feedback on that. ;P

The button to launch the ball is hard to spot, though. Instead of being with the other controls in the corner it's on the screen, in a different font, not using the X button icon. So it's quite easy to miss. For me, and the handful of streams I've checked out, we all missed it and had to either guess how to launch the ball, or search the screen for a bit to find it. As this is the button used to even start playing, it should be in a clear place and very obvious what to do.

It's unclear how the nudge mechanic works. Sometimes it locks the controls, sometimes it doesn't... not sure how the player is meant to use it. And even then, it feels like cheating unless you're used to the "etiquette" of pinball games in general (which I'm definitely not, and I'd guess most people aren't either).

Asteroids

Works well, and is simple but fun. Some will intuit the controls, but it should be put on the screen somewhere at least.

The difficulty curve really ramps up fast. I think for most people, it's slow enough to get the controls for 5 seconds, ramps up the challenge pretty steeply, and is almost impossible (again, for most people) at 10 seconds. This means the game is challenging, for sure. But it also means most players won't enjoy it for more than a couple of tries and then never play it again.

More hardcore gamers will enjoy the rock-hard difficulty that kicks in so early. A slower, steady climb in difficulty would let people stay in that sweet spot for longer, and have more fun playing. While the hardcore gamers, who like to play and replay and try to get the longest run possible anyway, will stick around as it gets harder and harder the longer they play. So it caters to both groups well.

Impy Nightmare

People familiar with games like this will guess at the controls, but again these should be explicitly listed somewhere. I guess the controls, but didn't realise I could hold square to continuously attack with no pauses. This is not how most such games work, and also kind of vital to get somewhere in this game.

The fact that enemies continuously deal damage when they are touching you is pretty brutal. It means the player has to have a very clear understanding of how close they can get to an enemy without taking damage, and how far their attack reaches. Which seems to be a pretty slim margin in this game, and one that is not visually indicated to help learning this.

The single-feather knight has a big pointy "nose" to the helmet, which may actually make it easier to take damage--not sure on that.

Stages 1 and 2 are fine, giving the player time to learn the controls and bit of strategy, ramping up by including more scenery, enemies, and introducing the idea of gold hiding in boxes.

Stage 3 ramps up significantly, throwing a lot more pumpkins at you, and introducing 2 new pickups which are immediately vital to your survival and must be used at the perfect time and with full understanding of how they work, and use of the layout of the stage must be used smartly to stand any chance... all within one stage. A very steep learning curve!

Again, the first 2 stages will be fun for most players, if they have a passing interest in playing the game in the first place. The third is pretty ding-dang hard for people who aren't hardcore gamers who play over and over to push their score. So the casual player will have 30 seconds of fun, whereas the hardcore player will be able to continue through all the stages.

If the difficulty ramp were more gentle, introducing ideas and difficulty more gradually over multiple stages a lot more people would have fun playing for longer.

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