Starlair

I feel a little bad saying this about what's a smaller indie game. But it feels like it's still Early Access and needs a ton more work and polish before it's worth buying. A few issues I had: 1. No controller support. Doing the sidescrolling Metroid action on planets is really bad with keyboard, and they should've known that anyone checking this game out on Steam is going to want to use a controller for that part. 2. Pretty bad physics/gameplay in the sidescrolling part of the game. Most games of this type give you better control over your movement in air. Particularly if you're jumping and moving backwards, the slow movement feels bad. Even if that's intentional, all it really does is give bad comparisons to other stuff in the genre. 3. Amateurish graphics. This is something that also really needs to be addressed. Everything looks like it was part of some free pixel art collection from an old Flash game with no sense of style. I'd expect the sprites in this game as placeholders, but again, it's not Early Access. 4. The UI needs a ton of work. There's no minimap to help you avoid constantly pausing to check your exploration, the big map itself gets loaded with icons that are ha…

Dreaming of creating Worlds? Want others to visit it? Want others to PLAY it? 2D old Schoolplattformer? Metroidvania Style? Then welcome to STARLAIR! A whole Universe with many Planets is waiting for you. Planets made by other Players. Where do you like to go? It´s up to you. Will you you find an easy Jump and Run Planet or will you enter a Bullett Hell. Who knows? https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3481553787 STARLAIR is a 2D Action Plattformer a classical Sidescroller. Part Metroidvania, Part Turrican Style. As a Bounty Hunter you visit Planets and take on them. Jumping, Shooting, getting Loot for Upgrading your Character and Ship. Yes, your Ship. In the other Part of the Game you are flying through Space, finding other Planets or something interesting. Also there are different Kind of Weapons you sometimes not only Need for Harder Enemies but also for destroying harder Walls. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3481554028 As written before, the Heart of the Game are the Planets created by Players. The World Creator is nice done and easy to learn. All you Need to create your very own Dreamworld. Create or Play, or do both! https://ste…

I really wanted to like this. Unfortunately, the moment I started, I experienced the depressing controls and had to peace out. Now, dear reader, you may think think that when I say "the controls are depressing" that I may mean "these controls are too hard waah waah." I'm with you, I think a lot of people say "controls bad" as a placeholder for "I have a skill issue and am insecure about it." But trust me when I say that I wouldn't even want to play a newgrounds game in 2002 with controls this bad. The jumping feels terrible. The gunplay is awful. Nothing about this grabs me. A game like this should have tight controls and combat to start with. You don't design this whole user-created ecosystem and THEN say that you'll make the movement enjoyable later, like StarLair does. If the controls were improved and tightened with more engaging combat, I would recommend this game. But I think it might be too late for the dev to change the controls. There's already a ton of user-generated content that is out there with the assumption that players have certain limitations. I just don't know how this game could ever be fixed. But hey, maybe I'll be surprised.

I really wanted to recommend this one day but Shooty doesn't seem to care about people's lairs. He keeps making "little" changes that completely alter how things play and look, destroying old challenges and designs and just keeps going without warning. -- For example, you used to be able to duck under two tile spaces and instead of building on that, Shooty has made some old lairs unbeatable instead. A lot of bosses were designed around the lingering damage of certain projectiles but he removed that too so now they're extremely easy. It doesn't even make sense because now all the bosses projectile options do the same thing, some just being slower. There also used to be a difference between jumping while standing still and while moving, the standing one going a little higher. Many platforming sections were designed around this unique mechanic and now it's just gone. -- To me it just seems like he doesn't care for the legacy works at all, and I doubt any new lairs will be safe from this either. So if you do decide to build in Starlair, just be aware those rooms you spent hours on might not look like they used to or even function properly one day. And I don't get it either. Most peopl…

This is excellent! Need more games like this!

So far, this game is a winner. It's like Metroid, but with far much more replayability. Flying though space is fun, figuring things out is fun. If you're a fan of Metroidvanias and have a creative streak, give it a go.