don't click here

Fech The Ferret - SAGE 2021 DEMO (alpha)

SAGE 2021のベストゲーム、Havoc Foxよりも良い。
At this point, I've played through this four times. I'm in love with what's being shown here. I'll admit, it took me a bit to get used to the camera turning mechanic and the fact that Fech drop almost instantly the second you let go of the jump button. But once I got the hang of it, the second half of the demo became an absolute joy. Speeding through is a blast here. The tight controls and the insta dropping allow you to make rapid precision jumps with ease. The insta dropping was a mechanic that grew on me as the demo progressed. At first, I was a little annoyed, but as I got further and further in, I began embracing it. I never had to slow down to make multiple jumps as a result. And I adore the fact the more is added to the music as you hit higher levels of speed.

I will say, the complete inability to stop running whatsoever until you press the Dash button again was baffling to me. Not detrimental in any way, but I figured it out by chance and it just felt like a bizarre design choice. I do, however, appreciate that you're able to stop on a dime at all though. I'm not going to bother commenting too much on the visuals. I liked the simplistic look of Fech and the plains. The water areas weren't stand out in any way, but I'm assuming the majority of the demo space was made mostly as a playground to blaze through with Fech's speed and wall scampering so I wasn't the least bit bothered by that. The rhythm sections were a fun little diversion from the "playground". Music was bumpin'. I feel like a bit more platforming and/or maybe some other obstacles to avoid would spice them up a bit, but as a basic proof of concept, I like them.

I do have one major gripe though. The tutorial section about climbing. That bold pink color was physically painful. And I mean that quite literally. That hurt my eyes the entire way through and some gaps in platforms were hard to see near the beginning because of the color choice. Please, fix that. The sudden change from that section back to the cool blue colors of the water area actually forced me to pause the game so I could rest my eyes for a minute. I've played through this demo multiple times, and I do enjoy it, but I legitimately dread that section every time...

My last criticism is the poor conveyance on where you're supposed to go. On my first playthrough, there were a few places where I had to stop and look around to find out where I was supposed to go and where I had already been. I had also managed to go in a complete circle on two occasions. There was one part in the water section where you actually placed arrows on the walls. That was very helpful; there are definitely other places that needed that kind of signposting though. There are also those little hamster wheels that let you raise and move blocks. I only ever needed to actually use those on two separate occasions in the demo. On my first playthrough, I used them a bit thinking they were crucial to progress. Especially the last one that I failed in the end and couldn't get back up to. Found the second rhythm section shortly after and completely forgot about that section high above me. Now I can bypass all but the first hamster wheel and another one somewhere after it. Not sure if that's intentional, just thought I'd point that out. And one last thing about the hamster wheels. They usually pan the camera a bit to show you the object you're manipulating, which is great. But that camera pan is dependant on the direction your camera is initially facing upon entering the hamster wheel. I've hopped on to a few only to have it pan out to show me nothing of value so I had to hop out, readjust the camera, and then hop back into hamster wheel to see what exactly I was manipulating with the hamster wheel and why. The camera should pan out and rotate to specifically show the object it is manipulating rather than panning relative to your camera's current position.

I'm already sold on Fech the Ferret. He's adorable and his speed and jumps mechanics make blasting through and platforming at high speeds super fun! I want to see more of this. I want to see what else Fech is capable of. I can happily say, like one other demo I've played this year's SAGE, you already have my money. I am eagerly looking forward to this game in the future.
RaoulWB
RaoulWB
First of all, oh god I didn't realize that tutorial was inaccessible to players, I need to at least fix that for the next build. Big apologies!
Then, thanks a lot for the kind words I really appreciate them!! It's really interesting to see what is that you enjoyed the most, I feel like - besides bugs and tutorials - I might be getting an idea on what to focus on.
On that matter, if you wish to, can you check this feedback form? It's just to get a fuller outlook on what was the general experience for those who played Fech during this SAGE
https://forms.gle/USDm5EzL4ZYHXkGq8
GunstarXX
GunstarXX
I enjoyed the speed and control. Plain and simple. Once I got used to Fech instantly dropping the second you let go of jump, I was able to make multiple quick jumps while maintaining top speed. That feels really good! The best way for me to describe it, it's like the nonstop high speed I've always kinda wanted in Sonic Adventure 1/2, except unlike Sonic Adventure, I rarely ever need to slow down. If you'd like, I could record a full playthrough with commentary and send it to you.
Its got really fun mechanics, I love the way the music changes with your speed, I like the way the game controls when at high speeds. Even at low speeds the game handles great. The issue is the in between times when the level design doesn't quite seem to accommodate for the highest speeds possible.

Various instances of certain sections where tight platforming was required and the control at high speeds didn't mix with it. resulting in no choice but to break the flow of the level and slow all the way down.

As much as I like the mechanics of speeding up over time, I feel like it can sometimes be a curse more then a blessing. Trying to do platforming in one speed level to unknowingly shift into another has caused some problems that didn't feel reactable. Perhaps being able to manually raise your speed after a certain point rather then it being after a set period could address the problem.

The game also lacks some fundamental features, which are a bit jarring to be without. Such as the ability to restart a level from the pause menu, or return to the main menu, which would have been very helpful in a few areas where I had no choice but to exit the game entirely, which forces you to replace the entire thing from square one. Which i'm sure you could imagine is quite tedious, and not that fun.

Another issue I had was a lack of direction in certain sections of the forest levels. The environments colours tend to melt into each other causing some important details to fly on past me at high speeds. resulting in random searches for where the path forward is. As well as some environments being rather bland visually, such as the pond area after the rhythm game section, though I fully admit that is entirely subjective and not a real criticism.

All and all, I look forward to seeing where Fech goes from here. Its a really interesting game concept and I'd love to see it fully fleshed out when the game is finished. I know a lot of this is me pointing out issues but I do like the game, and I hope this feedback is useful.
RaoulWB
RaoulWB
Thanks a ton for the criticism! As we keep developing and refining, I believe I'll actually enjoy checking where the level design fell short. And also thanks for noting about the environments, the ferrest admittedly lacks of visual variety as of now.