ANATHEMA - Classicvania Coming to Steam

Sorry, I couldn't reach it on this playthough, either I failed clinging on the last ring, or I got killed by the lizardman just after via boomerang while trying to progress (and unluckily it happened each time).

I could not recover the screenshot either, since I though it would be posted successfully.

Well, I do hope you will find the spot by my explanations alone.

You see, there are vines just before a cursed tree before the boss. You have to climb down the tree to make the platform appear. If you don't and directly jump, you will die.
 
Oh wait, this will do:

Strangely, the scrolling worked there, not when I played.
The lingering issue with the lizardman is at 15:34.

By the way, the floating armored enemies on the bridge part... Have they been nerfed? I remember having to hit them twice to defeat them, but on my last session, they fell with one attack (which was much more convenient, given the falling parts of the bridge and the jumps to make).
I also managed to successfully leave the secret passage. A close shave for sure.

Have a good day!

Lestaroth - Thank you for clarifying. If it's the spot I think you mean, I am raising a platform so it's more clear to the player the way to progress. Yes, the Torso Knight's were nerfed to encourage a faster pace of advancement in that area of Stage 1. Thanks for playing!

purifyweirdshard - Trailers are a tough thing to approach. However, we think it will all make more sense once the game is released and the personas of the characters are further expounded on and stand by the actors as they represent the personalities for the characters perfectly. What we're trying to get across is the game will actually have a story that is pretty layered. We figured not going the extra story mile for the trailer would not give anyone that idea but again, trailers are a very tough subject. Sometimes it feels like "damned if you do, damned if you don't" with a lot of different things in game development.

Can you shed a little more light on what it was about the trailer that gave you the idea you would play as the guy (villain)?

XombieMike welcome to the lizardman-haters club!

Pause, yes. I thought that the config menu was the pause, but if you mean freezing the action, I'd love to see that. screen-dimming would be the best option.

Skipping cutscenes. yes, some just press a key for that, like "back/select" (FF XIII series, for example)

I spammed the subweapon usage and crossbow on bosses, especially that vampire. It was so fun. But yes, why not have mini-bosses (but again, I'd want HP items in the levels then).

XombieMike - Thank you for the kind words! I'm glad to see the like list is longer than the do-not-like list.
For the Lizard Men, it seems their placement is unfair and this has been a pretty common complaint so I will make sure they are moved into more fair places. After some testing, I was able to reproduce the bug where you fell through the floor and I believe I have it fixed now. Extensive testing will confirm for sure. But thanks for pointing this one out! For the branch to branch jump, was this in the Forest area?

I actually did discuss a dive kick today and would love to see something like this in, but my worry would be if people accidentally performs this move over a pit. It makes sense in metroidvania games where you don't have pits o' death, but in a classicvania style game, it may cause some people to accidentally send themselves to certain death. I'll think on a control method that makes sense that may get around this.

I'll see what can be done about shortening the period between slides.

A lot of the AI does have certain random patterns that I do intend to revise and make more intelligent. For example, I'd like the see the Lizard Men jump up to your level when you're above them in a certain part of stage 2-B instead of chucking the sickles. The enemy AI is far from what I'd call finished.

A speed running timer has been implemented, it just isn't active in the version out now. This will skip the cutscenes and will be used for the speed run contest at Good Ole Gamefest.

Enemies have various responses to subweapons, and not all subweapons are used in the demo. But every enemy does have a weakness against certain subweapon(s). The crossbow is meant to be more of a power attack for when you really need it, such as against bosses. The deathbringer in the demo as it is now is actually an offensive one, that some enemies are weak against. There are more and they serve a wide variety of effects, such as resurrecting if your health falls below zero, temporary unlimited use of subweapons and more.

I will see what I can do to implement a standard pause feature without use of the menu. The engine this is built in is very fickle about pause functions without looking like a standard windows app.

Version 1.1 supports xinput and DirectInput controllers. We've tested with wired/wireless Xbox 360, Xbox One, Logitech F360, Logitech Chillstream, PS3 and PS4 controllers of various types and the only one that didn't work was the PS3 controller. Using Joy2Key actually causes more problems than it fixes but most controllers are supported out of the gate with v1.1.

One useful key to fighting Aeron, the first vampyr is when she starts evading you after you whittle her health down a bit, slide at her and whip at the same time, she will mostly fall onto the whip. Using this tactic in tandem with your crossbow and/or soul fireball subweapon will really tear her apart. While the AI has a ways to go, the demo can be beaten without taking a single hit.

The logs spawning is also still undergoing refinement. In the meantime, a shot from the trusty crossbow takes the Legion enemies right out.

The AI being a bit randomized can cause the erratic puzzle-less aspect that you mention. The Legion skulls don't attack very fast and can be killed before you really have a chance to see what they can do so I can see exactly what you mean. AI refinement will go a long way in the end which of course is something I am absolutely going to improve.

Lestaroth - For now cutscenes can be skipped using whatever is assigned as the jump button, but I can make the "back/select" button also work. That's no problem. I suppose I could make "escape" work for keyboard controls also since you're not going to launch the pause screen from here.

The Wood Witch is technically a mini-boss since it's only halfway through stage 2. There will be more mini bosses of varying degrees of difficulty throughout the game. Some even guarding completely optional items.

Hopefully I can try and get some input tomorrow (depending on timezones).

XombieMike I beat the vampyr by staying on the ground far from her. Jumping is counter-productive to me.
Obviously it's a pure avoiding phase when she goes into the background, but it's straightforward lock and shoot from her then.
Grats on defeating her!

As for the logs, I keep jumping forward and whipping, as fast as possible, so the multi-faceted demon doesn't blow that strange mist.

Really, when it comes to the mire, the hard parts were the 2nd chain and the 2nd lizardman.

Esperware I would enjoy battling the lizardman on wide, solid ground. I never minded fighting Axe Armors in CV (as long as there are no medusa heads floating around).

Ah yes, stage two is made of part A and part B. That is also why you need to make Aurora leave the screen.

As for the button-holding to skip cutscenes, I tried it and it works. The requested holding time is a bit too long for me, though. Two or three seconds would be perfect.

By the way, I found three secret sections in the demo. I wonder if there is one in the mire. Heh heh.

Congrats Mike! Your time of 7'09" is going to be hard for anyone to beat.

It was cool to meet and hang out with you. Thanks for your feedback and ideas too. As we wrap up the final planning of Anathema we just might be putting some of your suggestions to use.

Thanks very much Mana !!! We hope you enjoy the demo! We would love to hear your feedback.

A level builder!! Woah!

I knew exactly what this was at a glance.