Bit Kid

The amount of improvement in this update is incredible. My general almost completely positive thoughts:

1) I don't know if it is just because I am playing it so much or what, but the enemy types are really growing on me. They all have general strategies and there isn't one enemy that I significantly love or hate more than the others. If anything the rats are the hardest to predict, but that is okay because they are also one of the weakest.
2) Huge leap in the quality of the level design. The areas are appropriately complex and require new strategies. They are so large though that minor variations of a similar design could be a good way of mixing it up. For instance the zig zag bridge area with 4 exits, a variation could be to remove the exit from the end of one of the zig zag paths.
3) Graphics WOW! Everything already looked great but the amount of improvement is astounding. Particularly in the parallax backgrounds.
4) Controls. The small adjustment made a large difference in keyboard controls. I still occasionally try to use "A" instead of "S" as primary attack, but much better. More refinement is needed in this area, but still a great fix.
5) Timing of stuff like rolling and fast knife stabs is a nice touch. I don't know if this was on purpose or an artifact of how it was coded, but the timing needed to get the fastest knife jabs is quite precise and satisfying when you get it down.
6) New modes. Great ideas and just need stuff to set them appart from the main campaign in the future.

I probably would have been playing v1.3 for a couple more weeks, but I will be playing v1.5 probably up until release. Excellent work guys.

1. I've been feeling the same about the rats and feeling like they need a minimum amount of 'idle' time. Currently the idle time can either be a few frames or a few seconds and that makes dropping down onto ledges with rats without a downward attack a little frustrating.

2. I'm hoping they do something like that as well, with special care taken to not end up with too many of the same general type of room on a map. Sealing off different exits on a room, making them sometimes a false exit, etc. Seeing a room and knowing where the exits for-sure are is not what I'm used to.

3. Parallax I noticed that too and I was glad to see it.

5. I admit I haven't messed much with either. My playstyle sort of blocked out both knives and rolling. Maybe I should attempt them again next time I play.

1) I am actually fond of the rats as they are now. It is okay for them to be so unpredictable because they pose such a small threat. Also, the bats seemed much improved in 1.5. I think it is mostly that they are just slow enough now that you can actually nab them in mid air.

1) I agree with Cheetah, the unpredictability makes it so even the weakest(?) enemy in the game can occasionally throw you for a loop, preventing you from feeling too invincible. However I still think some kind of downwards attack would be useful against them, particularly in that bridge area you mentioned. Sometimes I had no choice but to take damage when falling down there. Maybe only some weapons could have that particular moveset.

2) I also enjoyed the room with long fall at the top right, which opens up multiple ways to clear the room. Speaking of which, I wonder if rolling could be used to reach certain ledges faster. Right now if you roll off a ledge it seems to be the same as if you were to walk off it, i.e. you cover the same distance while falling.

[before] http://i.imgur.com/DHNQ1Au.png
[after] http://i.imgur.com/CR0BwAd.png

If rolling had some height to it you could reach that bottom ledge without having to land below with all the enemies.

Graphics and everything else looks great so far. The whole game just feels so much more fluid.

EDIT: Oh and thanks for changing the bat AI, it feels so good to slash them mid jump Plus I think their movement feels more organic now.

How do I get 1.5 access?

I tested 1.4 and am excited for anything new I can get!

The kickstarter page has the download link updated to v1.5.

The last build I played was 1.3 so I guess I missed something, but here goes...

1) The updated backgrounds are really, really sharp. Adding in some authentic SNES Parallax scrolling was a winner in my book.

2) Not sure why Book of Blades is locked at 1 damage/blade regardless of Level and/or Wisdom stat, but it makes me sad. Being able to get it to scale - even if only to 2 damage/blade at some point - would be a great way to add a little progression to existing spells/abilities.

3) Is dual-wielding ever going to be a thing? I can understand why you might discourage it, but equipping two knives and mashing the buttons should at least result in some sort of melee combo... I envision getting the timing down and being rewarded with a high-speed multi-stab, or something to that effect.

4) A third floor! Even if it's more or less just like the second floor, I like it. More to explore = more fun.

5) I'd love to see the Gypsy sell some sort of Town Portal Scroll (or gem, or wand, or what-have-you) that would allow you to return to town from deep in the mines, instead of having to walk out. To keep abusability down, have it only work in rooms that have no enemies in them (or have been cleared of monsters)... that way you can't just warp out while being attacked.

Eh, now I'm just rambling. I'm sure you guys have tons of your own ideas that are better than mine anyway.

Just wanted to pop in and say that I'm really enjoying this and am rooting (strongly) for a successful Kickstarter campaign for you.

Thanks for the awesome feedback guys

We'll have Town Recall scrolls as well as a portal system for final game

Book of Blades doesn't scale for the demo unfortunately, and no plans at the moment for dual wield. Thanks for playing!