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SAGE 2022 - Demo Dono's Tale (SAGE '22 Demo)

General Information


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Dono's Tale is a super cute and colorful action platformer with a familiar art style and super tight controls!


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What's in this Demo?
  • play 6 colorful stages! including 1 challenge stage!
  • race to the finish for the fastest time in time trial mode!
  • a variety of collectibles to find!
  • 6 abilities to master!
  • a super fun time!
  • 1 charming little dragon!
Help us get funding on Kickstarter!

Click here to see the Kickstarter page!

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Demo version 1.1 is now available!

make sure you download version 1.1 for the best experience!

patch notes for v1.1

bug fixes

  • spike wall now works properly and kills you even during i-frames.

  • Dono letters don't disappear after death in 1-2

Gameplay changes

  • thunder dash now has a 7-frame (56 in-game pixels) jump buffer before exiting a tunnel

  • if you have less than 23 frames of thunder dash left when entering a tunnel, the dash timer will be set to 23 frames after exiting the tunnel.

  • spike wall in 1-4 is now 10% slower

  • purple platforms now build up speed as they fall and don't start falling at max speed

Latest reviews

First impressions:
  • Art style is cute and is incredibly obvious what influenced it
  • The different attacks and moves are neat, albeit underutilized (save for one)
  • Level 1-4 is a sharp jump in difficulty with its small margin for error
  • You're able to let the wall of death pass you by if you take damage, though this doesn't let you cheese the stage completely
The game is pretty standard platformer fare with obvious influences with its cute art style. It has a nice variety of levels and mechanics at play, however there were some incredibly and, might I add, needlessly tight jumps in places. The special moves are incredibly underused with the levels provided in this demo, save for the dash move. Switching between these moves gets clunky, and you'll wish the special moves were just simple inputs instead.

Example: The wing move could have easily been used as alternate jump moves: its flutter could be used if you pushed and held jump while in midair, while its high jump could be used if you jumped while pressing down.

As for attacks, I have not found a situation that required the shield move, and so I never touched it, instead opting for the fireball and slash attacks depending on what the situation demanded. Had there been a level or situation where the shield was useful, I wouldn't have minded it being part of your moveset. Its inclusion in the demo as far as I can tell is a wasted slot.

Level 1-4 and Thunder are jarring levels in how much of a sharp rise in difficulty they had compared to the rest of the demo, demanding precise movement and timing, being entirely focused on a specific move, and providing little margin for error. It feels like they were designed for an entirely different game. I did eventually complete them, though. These seem suited for bonus challenge levels rather than part of the main game, considering how overall pedestrian the rest of the level designs were.

Funny observation: Taking damage while the wall of death in 1-4 is near you lets you watch it pass you by, though it's not cheese. It stops at the end of the stage and it will still kill you if you touch it. If anything, I was expecting it to kill me regardless of if I was under post-hit invincibility or not. In fact, I'd suggest making it do so.

Overall, it's not necessarily a bad game by any means but it has some pretty glaring quirks that I think need looking at.
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Super Item Studios
Super Item Studios
thanks a lot for the feedback!

I've addressed some of these issues in a different comment so I hope you don't mind if I copy and paste

in the final game, you will only have the fireball ability at the very start, and earn a new ability at the start of each world. this is why it may feel clucky in the demo. I decided to have them all unlocked in the demo to give players the chance to experience all the abilities. the levels in the demo are actually from different worlds in the game, that's why there is such a difficulty spike in both 1-4 and 1-5. ill admit that the spike wall has been troublesome for many people, so that will be changed in an upcoming patch along with the other glitches you mentioned.

1-5 is actually an unlockable challenge stage so its difficulty reflects that, but I do admit that the tunnels could use some under-the-hood work to make the experience less frustrating, and ill do everything I can to do so!

character limit reached, part two in a second comment lol
Super Item Studios
Super Item Studios
the action selection has been another thing we have gotten a lot of feedback on.

yes, the mechanics could all be mapped to their own dedicated buttons, and at one point in development that's how it worked. However, during testing, we saw that people would neglect the majority of their abilities, opting to use the fireball and wing jump exclusively, especially younger 5 to 10-year-old players who tested the game. but when those same players used the current action switching controls they would explore more options and use the rest of the abilities more often.

again, thanks a lot for the feedback. I really appreciate it. I want to make this game the best it possibly can and ill take all the feedback to heart and try to fix all the issues. and I hope you can give Dono another try in the future!
Kunedon
Kunedon
This actually explains a lot of what I've observed while playing. Thank you for providing some clarification! While mapping the moves to their own buttons is a way to fix the issue, I believe a more organic way of using them is by presenting them as upgrades to the player's starting moveset, for example. Besides the wing move possibilities I described in my initial post, I can also see the swipe attack also being used to grab onto walls, if the design allows for it. But this is only a suggestion.

That being said, best of luck with your game! You have a cute project here, so keep up the good work.

Comments

Man...
I really want to enjoy this game. It's got a charming aesthetic, and fluid movement.


But I'm not a fan of the gimmick, or how heavy (low and fast-falling) the jumping is, considering the precision and tight timing the game demands at times. 1-4 and 1-5 are probably the worst offenders for this, demanding you to think fast and memorise the layout with the platforming capabilities of a rock, and a superspeed move that is restrictive on when you can use it again (This will mess up your jumps so many times until you learn the exact timing.).

So I thought of a way to make the speed boost more intuitive and a little more forgiving to use;
Have it change colour to show the point where it stops letting you fly off the floors.
And let the player use it more often rather than having to wait after it ends.
Have a little more buffer to squeeze into 1 tile open areas, like if you almost touch the floor. I suppose this could work for platforming in general, though.

So, about the action selection gimmick; It seems cool at first but then I realised: Couldn't most of these actions just be mapped to their own dedicated buttons, or be activated in a simple combination? When you're starting out, you're fumbling out a lot trying to memorise and remember which thing is which. Rudimentary actions like movement and attacking are treated like a mode. Unique? Probably. But fun? Clunky. It feels way more suited to a puzzle platformer/shooter than a precision platformer where you may need to go super fast. Even after you memorise them, it still feels like unnecessary extra actions/s to press.

I can't imagine a whole lot changing, as I would think the devs have well memorised the whole action selection by this point. At most I expect that the jump will feel less heavy and that 1-4 wall chase section will be made way more forgiving. And saving your loadout after death (for the love of dinos, plz).

Could I spend more time trying to get good at the game? Sure, but the process isn't much fun for me personally. I'd rather use that time instead to check out more games or speedrun ones I can already flow with.

TL;DR: In any case, if you are a fan of somewhat trial-and-error gameplay, heavy jumping with semi-convoluted controls, you might enjoy it more.

As for bugs I found;

If you get hurt by an enemy right before the wall of death kills you, your blinking will bypass and phase through. Kinda enjoy this bug since it lets you explore and practice the layout somewhat lol. But it softlocks the game.

Sometimes if you pause/exit to menu while your controller is rumbling, it won't stop until you enter back into a level.
 
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Man...
I really want to enjoy this game. It's got a charming aesthetic, and fluid movement.


But I'm not a fan of the gimmick, or how heavy (low and fast-falling) the jumping is, considering the precision and tight timing the game demands at times. 1-4 and 1-5 are probably the worst offenders for this, demanding you to think fast and memorise the layout with the platforming capabilities of a rock, and a superspeed move that is restrictive on when you can use it again (This will mess up your jumps so many times until you learn the exact timing.).

So I thought of a way to make the speed boost more intuitive and a little more forgiving to use;
Have it change colour to show the point where it stops letting you fly off the floors.
And let the player use it more often rather than having to wait after it ends.
Have a little more buffer to squeeze into 1 tile open areas, like if you almost touch the floor. I suppose this could work for platforming in general, though.

So, about the action selection gimmick; It seems cool at first but then I realised: Couldn't most of these actions just be mapped to their own dedicated buttons, or be activated in a simple combination? When you're starting out, you're fumbling out a lot trying to memorise and remember which thing is which. Rudimentary actions like movement and attacking are treated like a mode. Unique? Probably. But fun? Clunky. It feels way more suited to a puzzle platformer/shooter than a precision platformer where you may need to go super fast. Even after you memorise them, it still feels like unnecessary extra actions/s to press.

I can't imagine a whole lot changing, as I would think the devs have well memorised the whole action selection by this point. At most I expect that the jump will feel less heavy and that 1-4 wall chase section will be made way more forgiving. And saving your loadout after death (for the love of dinos, plz).

Could I spend more time trying to get good at the game? Sure, but the process isn't much fun for me personally. I'd rather use that time instead to check out more games or speedrun ones I can already flow with.

TL;DR: In any case, if you are a fan of somewhat trial-and-error gameplay, heavy jumping with semi-convoluted controls, you might enjoy it more.

As for bugs I found;

If you get hurt by an enemy right before the wall of death kills you, your blinking will bypass and phase through. Kinda enjoy this bug since it lets you explore and practice the layout somewhat lol. But it softlocks the game.

Sometimes if you pause/exit to menu while your controller is rumbling, it won't stop until you enter back into a level.
I'm sorry to hear you didn't get to enjoy Dono at its fullest! I really appreciate the feedback!

ill go ahead and address a few of your concerns.

in the final game, you will only have the fireball ability at the very start, and earn a new ability at the start of each world. this is why it may feel clucky in the demo. I decided to have them all unlocked in the demo to give players the chance to experience all the abilities. the levels in the demo are actually from different worlds in the game, that's why there is such a difficulty spike in both 1-4 and 1-5. ill admit that the spike wall has been troublesome for many people, so that will be changed in an upcoming patch along with the other glitches you mentioned.

1-5 is actually an unlockable challenge stage so its difficulty reflects that, but I do admit that the tunnels could use some under-the-hood work to make the experience less frustrating, and ill do everything I can to do so!

the action selection has been another thing we have gotten a lot of feedback on.

yes, the mechanics could all be mapped to their own dedicated buttons, and at one point in development that's how it worked. However, during testing, we saw that people would neglect the majority of their abilities, opting to use the fireball and wing jump exclusively, especially younger 5 to 10-year-old players who tested the game. but when those same players used the current action switching controls they would explore more options and use the rest of the abilities more often.

and like I said earlier, the game will give you an ability at the start of each world, and the levels in that world will ease you in and teach you everything you need to know about each ability. so I hope that resolves the issue of having to memorize the abilities.

the jump is a bit more complicated to address. so far we have gotten a lot of positive feedback on the movement and feel of the jump. if we did change the jump, this would impact the entire game, entire levels may need to be redesigned. so unfortunately I think the jump won't be changing much anytime soon.

and finally, the game remembering the last abilities you had selected. ill add this in as a toggle, for those who prefer the current way (the game defaulting to fireball and wing jump) and those who want it to remember your last loadout.

thank you soooo much for the feedback! ill make sure to address all the issues and hope you can give Dono a second chance in the future!
 
Got to say, this was a cute little game, I am always up for kirby-style games and this def this fills the quota. I have no real complains about this game, I can't really say either if it's perfect since I have to see the final product, but I'd definitvely say this is a hit.
Well done, fine fellow.
 
I'm sorry to hear you didn't get to enjoy Dono at its fullest! I really appreciate the feedback!

ill go ahead and address a few of your concerns.

in the final game, you will only have the fireball ability at the very start, and earn a new ability at the start of each world. this is why it may feel clucky in the demo. I decided to have them all unlocked in the demo to give players the chance to experience all the abilities. the levels in the demo are actually from different worlds in the game, that's why there is such a difficulty spike in both 1-4 and 1-5. ill admit that the spike wall has been troublesome for many people, so that will be changed in an upcoming patch along with the other glitches you mentioned.

1-5 is actually an unlockable challenge stage so its difficulty reflects that, but I do admit that the tunnels could use some under-the-hood work to make the experience less frustrating, and ill do everything I can to do so!

the action selection has been another thing we have gotten a lot of feedback on.

yes, the mechanics could all be mapped to their own dedicated buttons, and at one point in development that's how it worked. However, during testing, we saw that people would neglect the majority of their abilities, opting to use the fireball and wing jump exclusively, especially younger 5 to 10-year-old players who tested the game. but when those same players used the current action switching controls they would explore more options and use the rest of the abilities more often.

and like I said earlier, the game will give you an ability at the start of each world, and the levels in that world will ease you in and teach you everything you need to know about each ability. so I hope that resolves the issue of having to memorize the abilities.

the jump is a bit more complicated to address. so far we have gotten a lot of positive feedback on the movement and feel of the jump. if we did change the jump, this would impact the entire game, entire levels may need to be redesigned. so unfortunately I think the jump won't be changing much anytime soon.

and finally, the game remembering the last abilities you had selected. ill add this in as a toggle, for those who prefer the current way (the game defaulting to fireball and wing jump) and those who want it to remember your last loadout.

thank you soooo much for the feedback! ill make sure to address all the issues and hope you can give Dono a second chance in the future!
I can see why players would stick to using the same few moves. Without any repeated enforcement, it's difficult to push a move into a players muscle memory, so they'll abuse same same few ones that work, even if they're not always the most effective (I've noticed this in other games where they give you lots of attack options). The first levels (except the tutorial) are very open-ended so you can pretty much beat them any way you like. That to be said, my preferred approach is doing that through level and enemy design. Enemies could be weak (and maybe even immune) to certain types of attacks which encourages the player to use a more wide arsenal of moves.

But it does makes more sense that the abilities would start small and be gained throughout the game. This demo seems chaotically thought out. Along the difficulty spike (by pulling from much later levels), It's perhaps trying to show too much at once while not being able to properly utilise all the provided mechanics, not enforcing much past the tutorial and challenge levels.

..Also I like the idea of combining wallclimb with the melee attack.

That to be said, I still wish luck on improving the game!
 
  • I've read the other comments here and your replies concerning the control scheme. I agree with the other comments about wanting a spread out control scheme and feelin dissatisfied with cycling actions with the bumpers and triggers. I understand the concerns in presenting elements in a demo more quickly than they would be presented at launch and playtesting with more inexperienced audiences. I think there's a potential compromise to be made in having an alternate spread out control scheme available through an options menu or the pause screen (like the Patient and Hasty options in Yoshi's Island), along the lines of this:
    20283

  • A separate control scheme with a spread layout also opens the door to more rebinding options through Steam or other external programs.
  • Separate input prompts for playing with a keyboard would be helpful during the tutorial. If it's possible for you to detect the presence of a controller while the game is running and automatically toggle between them would be great.
  • The music and graphics are both very well done and work well in tandem. There's a lot of variety and a high standard of quality for both. I wish I knew more music and art terminology to compliment them properly, but I'm definitely a fan.
  • There's a lot of subtlety to the camera movement I appreciated. In 1-3 alone, there's zooming the camera out for more visibility when platforming across the leaves and locking to scroll only vertically in the ascending tree trunk. A change I'd like to see is keeping the camera farther in front of the player as they're moving forward. Right now the player is more than halfway past the screen when running forward. Giving some more room ahead of the player to anticipate enemies would be much appreciated. At times it felt like properly avoiding the enemies felt like trial and error because of this lack of camera space.
  • I also really like the idea of combining the melee attacks with wall climbing to minimize the amount of buttons in play ( as mentioned by Kunedon). Along similar lines, If you are never required to angle shots with the shell shield, it might work better to map it to pressing down. You could pogo across enemies when holding down in mid-air like Shovel Knight, and automatically bring out the shield when crouched on the ground.

    Best of luck with this game, there's a lot of great elements and potential here.
 
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The game is pretty adorable. I love the throwbacks to older platformers, like the DONO (KONG) letters, the Yoshi's Island art style, and the Kirby-like music. As a fan of platformers, that is a great thing to me.

But as far as the gameplay is concerned, I have to say the most fun I had with the game was when I was playing like Mega Man, by jumping and shooting. The Yoshi flutter is great and fun, but the other options don't add much to the gameplay. Of course, this is only a demo and in the final game, things could be different. But maybe it is just me, I prefer games that are design around fewer verbs.

Looking forward to the full release.
 

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