Hi everyone, my game 'Eduardo the Samurai Toaster' came out back in June and six months later I was hoping to get some more feedback from those that have played it. I know it got a lot of mixed reviews, but we tried our best with the little experience we had (not to mention having no resources like a budget) and even though Semnat Studios won't really exist any longer I'm still trying to make games in my spare time with other programmers. I'm proud of the work we did but I have no delusions about it and simply want to improve my craft for future projects.
I won't be defending the game so please feel free to comment any way you like without worrying about getting into some typical forum debate. To become a better designer I must be humble! So please, post your feedback here. Comments of any kind are welcome.
Eduardo the Samurai Toaster (WiiWare) - 3.5/5 This run and gun game features an interesting and creative art style, but the backgrounds usually look pretty dull in my opinion. The gameplay itself is pretty good with 8 directions of fire, close-up melee attack, grab-and-throw ability (directly on enemies or their projectiles), jumping ability (can be combined with attacks), powerups, and up to 4 player coop. Two of the levels also trade in the standard gameplay for jetpack flying and shooting. Unfortunately, the enemies and levels feel pretty repetative, and there are no unique bosses. The sound effects also leave much to be desired. There's also a control issue where the grab-and-throw ability has been mapped to the awkward-to-reach B button (since you play with the WiiMote held NES style). Classic Controllers can be used, but strangely GameCube Controller support is missing, so if you only have GameCube Controllers for traditional controllers like I do, you're stuck with the Wiimote and its awkward grab button.
So why didn't you include GameCube controller support?
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Just to touch on some of the main comments in my review, I appreciated the co-op experience that the game delivered. It's really what made the game replayable even after you completed the game. High-scores would've helped the game in the same regard but I suppose I can see why you would've omitted them to make it more accessible. I still stand by what I said that the visual style is what adds to the game, and the variety of environments and textures were great. They especially helped with the fairly simplistic level designs.
The game had potential to be story-driven but this wasn't the case and the sense of progression would've been a bit stronger had it been incorporated. The enemies repeated fairly often and it would've been better if there were more character models but that's just a minor nitpick. Grabbing was awkward for the first couple times but you eventually get used to it and it is a nice addition. The stages where gameplay shifted in a few levels were the most memorable. For example, I can still clearly recall the levels where you're floating in your jetpack in a corn field (I believe it was) or using the laser machine in the jungle. I also remember the final stage with the whole "sketchy" feel, the China-esque night stage, and the volcano stage. As soon as you say the name of the game, those stages come to my mind.
I hope this helps in one way or another and yeah, humility is definitely the first step. I'd really love to see more games from you guys cause after playing your first game, it seemed to me that you guys have some pretty creative minds over at Semnat Studios. If you'd like more specific thoughts or have more focused questions, feel free to email me and I'd be more than happy to assist!
(Also, the second poster's comments really re-affirmed what I was originally worried about with this release, that it would get overlooked by the masses. I hope sales numbers weren't discouraging.)
Yeah there was all sorts of diverse gameplay scenarios that had to be cut due to lack of resources. Stuff like flying a spaceship to the moon, blowing it up, and then making an escape. The levels were designed on paper but we couldn't complete them sadly. Maybe one day I'll revisit these ideas in one form or another.
Those would've been really great if they were executed properly. Sorry you couldn't execute them but yeah, don't toss those ideas aside! They may come in handy for your next project.
Well there won't be another game on the scale of Eduardo from us, but after we release our little iphone app I'll see if I can find any programmers for future projects.
While I probably have no "official" right to be typing on this topic since I haven't played the game, I'm just gonna do it anyway. Go me?
As for the game in question, I feel that the game was actually good. I feel that a game can be enhanced to amazing levels if the premise is an extremely over-the-top amount of pure awesome. Think about it for a sec; samurai toasters that use more guns than actual Samurai swords? Two words; EPIC WIN!!! That rule also worked for games like Banjo-Kazooie (the original N64 game) and No More Heroes. If you strip away the main idea for the characters in Banjo-Kazooie, it would be very unappealing in some sense.
Well, that's my most likely derailed opinion. I hope to see much more from you in the future!
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It's been awhile since I've played the game, so apologies if any of this is grossly inaccurate, but I don't have the greatest memory.
One of the first and oddest things that struck me about the game was the sound mixing. If I recall correctly, it was very difficult to hear the sound effects without going through the menu and turning the music much lower. Without good sound effects, it doesn't really feel like you're doing anything when you shoot silently and enemies fall silently. I know some people play their games on mute with their own music playing, but without good sound effects, I feel very detached from what I'm doing and overly aware that I am just pressing buttons on a little controller. Of course, it was fixable, but I think it's important that default options should be as good as possible or you'll turn off those who don't check the options and some of those who do will feel like they're "fixing" the game. Quite a minor complaint, but I don't think it's negligible either.
Another nitpick, it felt like I had to force the game to be challenging. When I first started playing the game, I played very, very carefully. It wasn't till I got game over that I realized I could just pick up where I left off and that carry-over lives from the levels before aren't really important if you're trying to run through the game. I think being able to freely select levels with any difficulty / lives options sounds ideal on paper, but in practice it sucks the challenge out of it unless the player forces himself to start over each time and choose the harder settings. This may sounds highly unnecessary, but I would have preferred two separate modes, one in which you have to play through a set number of levels (if not all levels) sequentially, perhaps with more lives to make up for this, and then another mode where you can select levels freely.
I wonder if any of this makes any sense to anyone besides myself... haha.
But overall, I felt the same as most: Not enough variety. Felt like I was doing the same thing over and over again to the same enemies. At the very least I'd have liked a unique final boss.
As for what the game did good, I won't go into as much detail, not because there's less good than bad in the game, but because you already know how to do this, clearly, so don't get the impression I'm a negative nancy over here. Anyway, the graphics and music are great. When I took breaks from the game, I'd just leave it on to listen. The flying levels were easily the highlight of the game play for me and were the levels I came back to the most, especially to show friends. I liked how seamless it felt going from the platforming levels to flying levels, felt very cohesive and yet distinct. The firey levels were my favorites of the more "standard" levels.
I think if the game had fewer, shorter levels but with more varied enemies (even if they are just different-looking but behave the same), it'd have been much better, especially if the sound balance were adjusted and a sort of "adventure" mode were included. As it stands, it's not a terrible game, but not something I'd replay from start to finish. I think there's just too little to it stretched out for too long. What's there is good fun, but not enough to play for as long as the amount and length of levels asks.
I played through the game twice alone and did a few select levels in co-op, so I definitely got some good times out of your game. So thanks! Hope that wasn't too negative or hard to follow.
After getting a North American Wii this was one of the first WiiWare games I picked up after much anticipation and I found it enjoyable. Here's the thoughts from my blog, which basically re-iterates what I said was my main concern in my original comments when the game was announced:
This is a platforming shoot-em up like Contra, but with some very nice artwork consisting of scanned in drawings which make up everything. It's a brilliant effect and the game has an oddball cartoony look as a result but still offers some fun gameplay. The only serious issue I have with it is the lack of any kind of scoring system or leaderboards of any kind. I don't care if they're online, but I do like a little "beat my highest score" incentive, you know?
Without leaderboards my incentive to pick it up again was greatly diminished, though I still think it looks and plays great and am happy to have it in my collection.
Speaking for half of the people here, why was Eduardo the Samurai Toaster not released in Europe? Now that Semnat doesn't exist anymore (why?) is Eduardo an abandoned project? Or is it still open for publishers?
How much points is it? 2 player or 4 player co-op?
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Topic: Would love to get feedback on my WiiWare game
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