Suggestions / complaints / timing bug confirmed

[Shinji16]

I love Kickbeat. I do however have some suggestions/complaints/potential issues I've spotted (these are all for the PS3 version by the way):

1. Only mentions -/+ for late/early in basic training. No mention in "how to play".
2. Perhaps have the + sign appear to left of your timing judgement if you were early? This will make it similar to other music games with such indicators.
3. Regarding the opening poses your character makes at the start of level or on a restart: are they unskippable because they're disguising/hiding a load process for the song and it's data? If not, in a future update could they be made skippable?
4. There's no indicator once your Chi is full. Once it's full, perhaps have the icon in lower right glow gold/some other color instead of silver? Or maybe something similar for the center area, such as a minor glow/aura on your character?
5. I was surprised at the inability to remap controls as you've had that for Zen Pinball. The main thing I'd love is the ability to remap Chi and power up activation to different triggers. My dream request would be for Chi activation to be moving the right stick in any direction. I never hit right stick so moving it in any direction would be great. I say this because I never use the directional pad as higher difficulties have triple red enemies, and hitting those are really only feasible if the buttons are involved (as opposed to using only the d-pad) so I'm fairly confident I'm not the only one that mainly uses the right side buttons and nothing else. Having to reach/keep a finger on L1 is very tricky/cumbersome.
6. Cellardweller - Switchback has some definite timing issues, however it's very interesting as to how. If I'm in story mode for either Lee or Mei on any difficulty I get pretty much nothing but late Great judgements. However if I play the song in Free Play on any stage (including the wrestling one) on any difficulty with any character I get all perfects. I made sure to double and triple check this, and it's consistently reproducible. Given my history and mastery of music games in general (especially IIDX which has the strictest timing in the music game genre, along with that I've nearly full perfected every song I've played so far in Kickbeat) I don't think it's due to mistakes/timing issues on my part

I'm really looking forward to any feedback/support you can provide. Also, if you need any more info or have questions on anything I've mentioned, please let me know. I love helping out, and I've been a beta tester and indie studio fan for over a decade.

[Solitude]

1-2. good suggestions: We tried #2 but newer players had trouble following the indicator from one place to another relative to the text. Since the game's already info/skill overload for newer players, we kept it like this. BTW we also have +/- as a loading hint, but it still should be in How to Play as well.
3. Yes, there's loading going on
4. That's a good suggestion. I'd also rather have the button hint just not appear until it's full.
5. Also a good suggestion - by the way, you can use the directional buttons and face buttons at the same time. In fact, this is my recommended way to play to keep one hand from getting overloaded with tasks (plus those double-tap triples in Master can be brutal with just 1 hand). So for a triple red you can press 1-2 directions on the left hand and the remaining 1-2 on the right at the same time. If they have a powerup, then double-tap with both hands. The only limitation to using both sets of buttons is that for a single enemy with a powerup, you must press the same button twice to perform the double-tap; you can't hit the enemy with one button and collect the powerup with a different one.
6. I'll look into it. I don't think there's anything that would alter the timing or generate additional video lag between game modes, but those are some pretty wicked scores you're posting, so who knows!

How far into the game are you in terms of difficulty progression? (Edit: just saw your other post about being halfway through Master)

[Shinji16]

1) I double checked all of the "how to play"; no mention of it anywhere.
2) I've never seen that as a loading pro-tip; I'll take your word for it. *shrug*
3) Figured as much. Nicely done, both in being able to keep those assets ready and being able to pull all the level data that quickly!
4) Thanks for considering my suggestion. I wouldn't say having the button hint appear until would be good. Sometimes you want to use it ASAP because of a break coming up or you just hit a multiplier power up. Trying to think of anything different or better and coming up empty at the moment.
5) I'm very much aware the D-pad is usable. However, it's a bit slide-y in comparison to having four distinct buttons. I did briefly try using it for kicks, but it was a trainwreck. Also, for fun, here's how I'm currently holding the controller to play:
IMAG1062.jpg
6) Yeah, I couldn't think of anything that should be affecting it either! Only thing I could think of was the stage itself (maybe some of the background assets were causing lag or something) but the same stage in Free Play, different stages in Free Play, different characters were all problem free. A reminder that this is on the PS3 version, not the Vita (I do have one, just haven't installed/tried it there yet). If you're not able to reproduce it on your end, I'd be happy to take some video footage (I'll be doing some filming later anyways because...)

I just cleared Master earlier today and I'm looking forward to recording some score runs! (Got Construct as a boss on the first try, but I think that's because I've been playing the ever-living bejeezus out of the Expert chart).

those are some pretty wicked scores you're posting

Well, that just made my day. Slightly off topic question: Do we know if anyone's full perfect combo'd any of the Master levels yet?

[Solitude]

1) I double checked all of the "how to play"; no mention of it anywhere.
2) I've never seen that as a loading pro-tip; I'll take your word for it. *shrug*
3) Figured as much. Nicely done, both in being able to keep those assets ready and being able to pull all the level data that quickly!
4) Thanks for considering my suggestion. I wouldn't say having the button hint appear until would be good. Sometimes you want to use it ASAP because of a break coming up or you just hit a multiplier power up. Trying to think of anything different or better and coming up empty at the moment.
5) I'm very much aware the D-pad is usable. However, it's a bit slide-y in comparison to having four distinct buttons. I did briefly try using it for kicks, but it was a trainwreck. Also, for fun, here's how I'm currently holding the controller to play:
IMAG1062.jpg
6) Yeah, I couldn't think of anything that should be affecting it either! Only thing I could think of was the stage itself (maybe some of the background assets were causing lag or something) but the same stage in Free Play, different stages in Free Play, different characters were all problem free. A reminder that this is on the PS3 version, not the Vita (I do have one, just haven't installed/tried it there yet). If you're not able to reproduce it on your end, I'd be happy to take some video footage (I'll be doing some filming later anyways because...)

I just cleared Master earlier today and I'm looking forward to recording some score runs! (Got Construct as a boss on the first try, but I think that's because I've been playing the ever-living bejeezus out of the Expert chart).


Well, that just made my day. Slightly off topic question: Do we know if anyone's full perfect combo'd any of the Master levels yet?

There's a trophy for 100% perfect hit on Master, and I don't think anyone's gotten it on either platform. The closest I've gotten is maybe 95%, which still meant I had more than 10 non-perfects.

Interesting way to play. I hadn't thought of using 2 hands on the face buttons. I can certainly see how L1 would be a problem there.

[Shinji16]

There's a trophy for 100% perfect hit on Master, and I don't think anyone's gotten it on either platform. The closest I've gotten is maybe 95%, which still meant I had more than 10 non-perfects.

Interesting way to play. I hadn't thought of using 2 hands on the face buttons. I can certainly see how L1 would be a problem there.

Ah, so there's still time to make a video and yell "FIRST!" to the world! I shall do my best!

Also, yes, hitting L1 is a bit... odd at the moment. Below please find some motivation to allow remapping:

ok240.jpg

[Shinji16]

There's a trophy for 100% perfect hit on Master, and I don't think anyone's gotten it on either platform.

I AM SO PSYCHED IT'S TOTALLY HAPPENING TONIGHT!