Aaero - Track Pack 2 · published
Fortunately, the vast majority of players seem to be having fun with Aaero. As a developer though, it's impossible not to dwell on the negative comments.
I'm seeing a couple of regular gripes with Aaero. I totally, totally sympathise. We wanted to make this game as good as it could be and therefore, here's an explanation to some of our 'less popular' decisions.
First up.
HOW THE F*%$ DO I SHOOT ENEMIES!?!
The truth is, if you get to the point in the first level and you're not expecting enemies to show up... you skipped the shooting tutorial.
I'm not blaming you. It's happened a lot. It's our fault.
We made the tutorial (too) easily skippable. I made the decision that a previous game had a mandatory tutorial and, as a result, suffered the wrath of "I CAN'T EVEN SKIP THE TUTORIAL!!!!" feedback.
If you replay the tutorial, there's a shooting section that explains how to shoot and, as best I could, how to time your shots.
There's a shortened 'quick start' video here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHQRJRB8ftQ
THOSE CRUSHING TRAPS ARE SO UNFAIR!!
They're actually pretty easy when you notice they are colour coded. Blue for safe path and red for certain death. I know, I know... it's hard to see that when you're looking at loads of other stuff. My bad again. Hopefully this info will sort you out, though.
A PC GAME YOU CAN'T PLAY WITH MOUSE & KEYBOARD!?!?!?!?!
This has upset a lot of people. Hopefully I can at least explain and answer some of the more common questions.
1) Yes, we are aware it's 2019. (It is 2019, right? *checks calendar*)
2) What we may or may not be smoking wasn't a factor in this decision.
Joking aside, here's the truth of the matter.
Aaero was designed, from the ground up, around using a dual analog controller. We literally sat down with an Xbox controller and thought 'how can we make a music game where using this is better than using a plastic instrument?
We were told, in no uncertain terms, that not supporting mouse and keyboard would be a problem for the PC market. So, our choices were as follows.
1) Come up with a decent control scheme for mouse and keyboard.
2) Not release on PC
3) Release on PC but make it very clear that it needs a controller.
The first is obviously the best. We spent a lot of time looking into it. The main issue is that the game's core mechanics are designed around using two matching circular sticks that re-centre when released.
We had mouse/keyboard support working but it sucked. You can't follow circular ribbons with keys. We looked into auto-targeting, auto-following, even using 2 mouses... mice... mices...? Sure, we could've stuck any of these in so we didn't have to say 'controller only' but our priority is making a good game. Trust me, you wouldn't have enjoyed it. If we'd put it in then I would've absolutely agreed with the backlash we'd have inevitably got.
At this point, we were limited to either 'not release on PC' or 'make it obvious that it's controller only'. We went for the latter.
We added as many warnings as possible. In the descriptions text and then, when I worried that I couldn't read the translations myself, as a graphic image. We also got Steam to add an official notice saying that it needed a controller.
We don't expect everyone to read that. Who reads stuff these days anyway? So we would absolutely expect anyone that missed it to get a refund. We don't want you buying a game you can't play.
A POLITE REQUEST
It's your absolute right to complain if you're not satisfied with a purchase. That is an important right, too. If you've been wronged, I will stand with you to the end fighting for justice....
I'm just asking that you temper your responses a little. I don't want to pull the 'poor little indie dev' card but we're not a big corporation. There's two of us and Dan only reads and writes in machine code so every single comment and review on the whole of the internets is picked up by me personally.
I can 100% guarantee that we want you to have a good experience. We would never get in the way of that or try to withhold a refund to 'take your money'. If you bought it and you're not happy then we're not happy and we want to sort it out.
I've reasoned with a few people on message boards about Aaero. They're usually great people with similar interests to me (gaming and... more gaming) It's usually a misunderstanding, a technical issue or something that can be easily explained. Unfortunately, by then there's already an all caps post about why no one else should play the game ever that's been marked as 'helpful' by others.
If the above info hasn't helped with an issue you have, give me a shout. I answer literally EVERYTHING personally. If we can't resolve it or I'm a dick to you in any way then by all means get that CAPS LOCK on and go crazy!
Massive love and respect to you all. Thanks for giving Aaero a shot and we will continue to try to go from 'most people' to 'all people' being happy with the game.
Paul. :)