Gameplay Feedback Thread - Megabyte Punch

I started playing yesterday, and I've played up through level 6 and finished the single player tournament, but haven't played multiplayer, so take this as you will.

1. The Submachine-Gun Arm and Sniper Arm abilities feel way too easy to just spam, and they're not well differentiated. The SMG stuns, pierces, and does 16 damage total over a second or so. The Sniper Arm knocks back, stuns, pierces, and does 8 damage, but I think you can fire the Sniper Arm twice in time it takes for the Submachine-Gun to fire once, so the Sniper Arm is basically the same as if not better than the SMG Arm. Outside of bossfights, I find myself just spamming the Sniper Arm while the AI runs face-first into incoming fire, and then using the Slice ability to knock the poor saps back either into Sniper range or to their deaths.

2. The AI is just pretty stupid in general. Bots will jump next to you and then do nothing while you wind up a spinkick, stand around staring at you from across the map, spawn with Sniper/SMG arms and never actually use them, run face-first into Giganto missiles, etc. Most of the game is really easy just because the AI is bad.

3. The difficulty abruptly spikes upwards once you hit the Digital Fortress. Not because the AI suddenly gets smarter, but because the platforming suddenly gets a whole lot harder. There's one section in Level 1 of the DF where you have to jump over four steam-release-valves that will knock you upwards off of the map; if you screw up once you die. The Digital Fortress was the first time in the game that I actually ran out of lives and had to restart a level. The previous 5 zones were fairly easy, just because the AI bots are really the only threat, and they're not much of one anyway. I'd love to have more difficult platforming in zones 1-5, even if the AI gets a buff, but I don't like getting instantly killed for one mistake.

4. I wouldn't mind having a minimap. Some of the levels are really huge, and I got lost a couple times. I quite a while wandering around the ancient tech temple, because I couldn't figure out where to go.

5. Some of the mechanics are hidden. You're never told how much damage standard attacks do, so I didn't know how effective Armour Up and Damage Up parts actually were until I did some testing in local multiplayer. The shield supposedly has 4 life, but I've hit enemy shields with attacks that deal more than 4 damage before, and it hasn't broken. How does the shield work, anyway? Does it take 4 hits, not 4 damage? You're never taught how to dash in the tutorial; you dash left or right by quickly pressing the left or right buttons twice. The Sniper Arm also doesn't show the amount of damage it does in it's description, I had to find that out through testing. I'd love to be able to see exactly what parts I have equipped on the stats screen.

6. The shop seems pretty useless. 3 of the 4 items you'll have already, and the last one is always way too expensive to realistically be able to buy at that point in the game. Also, we gain bits in powers of two (2, 4, 8, 16, 32), but the shop items cost rounder numbers of 10s, 100s, and 1000s. Gaining and spending bits in powers of two would fit better with the "digital" theme.

7. Somewhat related to the shop issue is that you're constantly flooded with parts you already have throughout the entire game. There are around a dozen different leg parts that all increase movement speed by 10% and slightly increase jump height; appearance customization is good, but I'm having a hard time navigating the parts collection.

8. The parts collection interface is messy. I like being able to sift through my entire collection at once, but I'd also like some way to search for specific parts. Maybe you could add a menu system that lets people narrow down the amount of parts they see all at the same time? Like, we could select a part slot, and only see parts from that slot, or a part function and only see parts that do that thing. Ideally I could choose a slot, choose a function, and then choose an appearance. Like Leg Slot > Movement Speed > Exo Leg.

Now for the good stuff. I bought the game yesterday, and I can't seem to stop playing. I love the ability to customize your fighter, and I love the way you can combine different parts to form different kinds of fighters. Right now I'm running +30% movespeed, 3 jumps, Sniper Arm, Giganto Missle, Slice, and Drill, and it's very fun and very focused. I feel able to build a lot of different kinds of fighters that all play differently.

The tournament AI is way better than the story AI, and the combat is fast and precise, especially the ariels. The percentage damage system is awesome. It was fun in the Super Smash Brothers series, and it's fun in this game as well. The only complaint I have is that on some of the tournament maps, the ceiling is a bit too high and the walls are a bit too far away, so those maps are less lethal than I'd like.

The music is very good. I'd definitely buy the OST.

Edited by: ercr

1+2 are pretty much the same. You can pretty much spam anything, spinkicks, any projectile, pelvic thrusts, etc, and the AI will eat it up. To me, they still pose a challenge, but it would be neat and fun if they got more challenging at later levels. I really liked how the "undead programs" could just pop out of the ground. It would be incredibly amusing to have a part where you are literally swarmed with them...
3. It is harder than the rest of them, but once you see what you have to do, it's not too difficult to maneuver through. For example, the four vents at the top of the screen? There are spaces for you to stand between them. Run past one at a time and it will be easy as pie. The easy kind of pie. To offset the killing for one mistake, there are tones of byte caches all over, but maybe they could double the bytes given, since it is a much higher difficulty?
4. This. You could even make it a part! Parts are great.
5. I thought the sniper arm says 8? I dunno. An explanation of shield and basic damage mechanics would be wonderful.
6. Yes. Yes. Yes. They do say that it will randomize after you beat the final boss. The one that isn't in the game yet....
7. Work in progress!
8. Could we also change the colors of parts individually?

+3 damage, head-gun, drill, spinkick, rocket pack and +1 defense are my basic loadout. 60% speedboost and +5 damage were pretty nifty.

Thanks for your feedback Ercr,
The most points you are mentioning are valid but are obviously still work in progress for us.

However we've written all you feedback down and will discuss those here at the HQ!

@Jeeves @ Ercr: A mini map parts sounds very quite awesome! However don't consider it likely... as for the minimap in general. We think the solution for getting lost is improving the level designs and adding more directional hints in the levels.
Some parts and mechanics are in need of some further explanation to know exactly what they are doing and why.
The shop obviously need quite some work, we are planning to add shop exclusive parts so you can save up bits for parts you can't find in the adventure levels. Also the prices as power of two is sweet, we'll add that for sure.

It a lovely messy response to both of you. Thanks for your support and suggestions/feedback!