Judge feedback

Judge feedback is anonymous and shown in a random order.

• That's one of these games: you like the game, you want to give it a good score, you _would_ give it a good score; but somehow, you can't justify it... First of all, the game feels complete in terms of features and mechanics. Yet, there is a couple of bugs, some game elements could be more polished... Still, game makes a good impression. Yendor March is aesthetically pleasing. Nice tiles, simple and clear UI. One confusing thing is the mute/unmute button while the game seems to have no sounds at all. Basic game loop kept me interested for a few runs. Basically, it feels like a roguelike with a focus on simple resource management, inspired by memory games :) It's always worth remembering when plains and villages are. Combat is also simple yet satisfying, so it fits the "fun" bill for me. It's not clear for me, however, how the resource loses is calculated - sometimes, for several turns after the fight, I kept losing recruits. At first, I thought it's about low morale, but after a few next combats I'm not sure about that anymore. Enemy knights and bandits could be more interactive - now it's like living labyrinth that forces you to think about alternative paths. And that's OK, but the enemies itself are not dangerous. Yendor March has one really tedious element. To win the game, the player needs to take the castle. But first, player needs to _find_ the castle. And that's the problem - maps are big, FOV irregular due to abundance of trees, and sometimes I had to run into circles several times just to find that one tile on the whole map. Roguelikes rarely focus on resources management in that way. It plays almost like (ultra simplified) Mount & Blade variant. PS. I gave good marks. I just wish I could give even better ratings...
• Original premise, but small in scope. The graphic and map tiles are used well and the island setting is fresh. Some noticeable FOV bugs and randomized levels are frequently unplayable. Very few tactical options, but there is strategy to consider. Needs expansion and polish, but could be developed into something interesting.
• There were some things I enjoyed about the game, and some things I did not. Positives: * The morale/supplies/fighters as resources is an interesting idea, and seems to balance pretty well * Viewing the world generation is pretty cool * With more features, this can be an exciting game to play. This includes both features directed at clarity (like seeing information about the opponents beyond the HP bar), and new mechanics - escape mechanisms, fog of war, perhaps something else that increases complexity and possible strategies. * The music fits the atmosphere well - I think you should unmute it by default! Negatives: * Without some additional features, the game feels a bit empty, at least to me. I imagine that either more complex mechanics, or more involved narrative could help. * There are some bugs, both mechanics-wise (seeds 1 and 12 outright place the player in the sea), and display-wise (somebody called out picking up a peasant - I experienced that as well). I gave 3 for completeness, because my real impression is somewhere around 2.5, but the game doesn't deserve a 2. Rounded the score for fun down to 2 instead, but want to explicitly state that I think this concept can be developed into an exciting game - it just does not prove very replayable in its current state. Gave 3 for roguelikeness for roughly same reasons - it is a roguelike mechanics-wise, but the interactions and replayability aren't quite the same.