First showcase and aiming system rework

I've participated in my first showcase last month in my hometown featuring both the Playdate version and the Steam Deck prototype. To attract player to my booth, I made a giant cardboard cutout of one of the game's iconic characters, Black Jack!

There wasn't any tutorial in the Steam Deck version so I let players try the game on the Playdate console first. But even with that, the way to use the joystick felt a little bit unintuitive so I was always there to explain how to play. You don't simply move left or right to aim. Instead, you need to push the stick forward and then rotate it in a circular motion so the angle of the joystick matches the angle of your gun in the game.

To address this, I added a fast-paced step by step tutorial with animated prompts and did some playtests with new players. It was better but not enough. So I've made the gun appears when pushing the joystick forward so players automatically understand how it works because he has an immediate feedback.

Finally I've made one last addition. Since I wanted a light gun shooter feel where you need to shoot offscreen or holster your gun to reload, I had initially mapped the reload to the A button. However it felt awkward to drop the joystick. So now the reload performs automatically when the joystick returns to its neutral position. It's faster and feels much better now! Watch below the result!