this game fucking owns and I am probably going to work my way through the first loop
(I haven't got past 1-6 😔)

runs fantastic in the browser for me

I'm just making the Rampart-like myself 😎

Joseph Scranderson

Perhaps shorter runbacks make sense in games where most of your improvement is recognizing attack strings and pressing roll/parry at the right time, because you're just drilling muscle memory

So long runbacks would be better for games where you can meaningfully think about strategy and positioning

IMO it's just as easy to say "if the players have to go through a long runback, they'll forget what they learned last time, and be more risk-averse about experimenting"

The answer is probably somewhere inbetween, right? The optimal runback time probably varies from player to player, unfortunately

Extends for scoring or level secrets kind of do this, but are too powerful when they come with free bombs to give out more than a couple times per run

Somewhat related; I think many games don't bother making good scoring because they know most casual players ignore it, and more games should mess with Radiant Silvergun/Zero Ranger rewards for scoring. (Power ups and "health regen," essentially)
Scoring -> Survival instead of Survival -> Scoring

Man, Dirt Rally 2 has ruined other racing games for me, it's fantastic. After getting used to it, it's like you aren't actually allowed to control your car in most racing games.

If I had a few million dollars and a team I'd make a racing extraction game with Rush 2049 / Dirt Rally style controls

I put a turbo mode in my first game and it was surprisingly easy to do. You can just increase the Timescale (in Unity) and for me, it didn't cause a single bug throughout the entire development.
More devs should really look into it, the workload might end up being no more than the UI for the toggle

Could be interesting to start throwing in Shmup versions of those doors with faces in God Hand that force you to learn updodging to get through
Make people clear something like the Blue Revolver streaming tutorial mission before it will let them progress, and don't punish them for failing whatsoever

I fuckin' love Rabbit & Steel, and I like Giga Wing so I'll check out Mars Matrix for sure.

That's definitely what I'm talking about. Use strong gimmicks like Reflecting or Ikaruga swaps or Radiant Silvergun's Exp to ease people in, then somehow make advanced macrododging really clear and learnable

I don't know what that looks like, it's definitely not CYGNI, but I have to wonder how a perfectly-executed version of something like CYGNI would be received.

I've been feeling like Bmups and Shmups are cursed lately. Both genres are largely about not getting in losing positions, which are inherently much harder to recognize than "you died because you mistimed a roll"
IMO the genres need to find ways to adapt to modern gamers without compromising on depth

Basically, if the player is making a mistake by letting the enemy get close enough in the first place, it will feel MORE fair if you punish them for it consistently instead of sometimes, randomly

I tend to make them instant or near-instant, low range, and 100% consistent. That makes it very clear to the player that luck and reaction time aren't the issue. Alternatively you can have them do a startup animation far away, then run up to the player with a fast attack visibly "charged".

The bitrate making the game completely illegible is an artistic choice and proof I'm on the right track