Setting the bar high for the other mon clones dude! I like the art, has a "made in paint" feel to it, but in a good way.
Had to stop myself from playing more so I have time for the rest of the demos, quite fun. Never played any other autobattlers, but you've definitely broke my impression that they are just mindless nonsense lol. I can see the strategist it takes to be good at this game.
The typeset bonus based on the mons in your party is a cool mechanic, and I can see a lot of fun build coming from picking a type mix combined with certain mons bonuses.
Having the mons effectiveness vs enemy mons show up in green/yellow/red when mousing over them is great. Saved me from having to constantly look at the type chart.
No glitches encountered.
Does evolving do anything other than give a few levels? Stat boost on top of what you get from leveling or something? Wasn't clear to me.
For the autodox, I dont like how the displayed info when you mouse over covers the other mons. It might break the similicity it has right now, but having a scrollable list of mons on one side and the info poping up on the other side would be easier to view I think.
Fun game, maybe with a bit too addictive gameplay.
Evolving gives a 10% increase in stats (20% for second evolution) and an immediate 2 level boost. The stat boost should be communicated better, I'll make sure to do that at some point.
I agree with your idea about the Autodox, it could have a better interface. It was one of the last things added before the Demo Day, so not much time was spent on it.
Thanks for playing and giving the feedback, glad you enjoyed it!
Good stuff. This is the first time I'm playing a game like this, so I don't know how this compares to other titles like this (autobattlers, you call them?) but as I play it I'm definitely getting a Civ-style "just one more turn" kind of vibe. There actually is a decent amount of planning and strategizing for such a simple-looking game as you have to make sure you have a right distribution of monsters to optimize current strength vs. elemental balance vs. collecting monsters to evolve them.
Minor note: The chart of elemental attacks vs. defense took a bit for me to figure out (I kept getting what each row meant mixed up), maybe a tooltip that shows when you put the cursor over the cells might help, but then again that might just be because I'm not used to this genre.
I can see myself spending 20+ hours on a polished version of this. Nice work.
I've been told before by someone who never played Pokemon before that the type chart is confusing to read. I will add an alternative way to view the strengths and weakness, I think it's especially important to be able to view a single type's interactions clearly to know how to prepare against the boss.
It's good. I agree with Donpommelo that it gets less fun when the box is filled. It would be interesting to me if your party got cleared except for one or two creatures, but that might not be where you want to go with the game. Good work man.
Really good game. Art, writing, ui were all filled with soul.
I really appreciated how mechanically minimalistic game was. Felt like it cut out all the fluff and grindiness that these kinds of games often have.
Can't comment on balance, but the abilities of each mon seemed unique. Felt like each post-battle reward was an actual interesting decision to make. As with most games of the genre, finally rolling that triple gives some good dopamine and choosing each route makes the player feel like they have some control over difficulty and rewards.
As others have mentioned, the ability to slow down/fast forward combat would be nice to make it easier for new players to follow the action. Maybe also some sort of "action log" the player can scroll through to see each attack/effect activation?
A feature some other autobattlers have that would be nice here is some form of post-battle stats. Being able to see the damage dealt/tanked/healed etc of both your party as well as the enemies would make it easier to see what is working well and what isn't. It also feels good to make adjustments in build and see that reflected in some quantifiable way.
While I do like having to manage bench space vs active party space, I feel like the game does lose a bit of fun once your box fills up. A lot of other games let the player sink excess rewards into rerolling their offerings, whereas here I just end up skipping things. Maybe there's some sort of "breeding" where you can dump 2 automons at a day care in exchange for something else?
fun demo. looking forwards to seeing more of it in the future.
A lot of people are asking for speed control so that definitely will go on the to-do list. Action log is a good idea too, I can see how that would be useful. I didn't consider anything like battle stats and I'm not sure how useful that would be for this game, but I might as well add it if it helps some people.
I will consider adding new mechanics to make things interesting later, I can see why it might get worse when the box is full, throwing away mons or skipping rewards doesn't feel too good.
Thanks for playing and taking time to write feedback!
I'm not a big fan of Pokemon, disclaimer. With that being said, I really enjoyed this and I think you've got something cool!
- I was audibly laughing out loud at the intro scene where "automons can't bond" and "you are legally obligated to become the champion" lol. It's a funny story
- I like the concept of managing your party vs managing your box, and battles going automatically where you can't change anything. It takes out the boring parts of pokemon and rpgs for me, which is a big plus.
- One thing that confused me -- at first, I would try to swap out automons from my part into my box mid-battle. There was no UI feedback to let me know this wasn't possible, so it was confusing to me. Make the automons "greyed out" during battles, or if you attempt to move them, make them shake side to side quickly to signify "this can't be done". Look at some software UI/UX design videos/blogs on how this works, there are ways to signify to the user "this action can't be done now" vs "this action can be done now"
- Overall, it was intuitive and I knew exactly what I had to do when I started.
I didn't even consider the dragging in battle thing to be honest, it was so ingrained into my brain that I assumed it's obvious. But you are right, there does need to be a visual indicator that you can't move them in battle when you try.
Thanks for playing and taking the time to give feedback. Glad you enjoyed it!
Np! I have so many of those "so ingrained into my brain that I assumed it's obvious" moments lol. Playtest feedback has been crucial to me in figuring out those moments. Best of luck
Hey, it's actually pretty fun! When I heard the concept, I wasn't expecting much, but I like it. My notes:
The combat really needs to slow down a bit and focus on messaging what's happening better. Think about a slot machine as a good analogy for your combat system. There isn't really much control, but it's still engaging because your fortune can be better or worse. However, to make that varying fortune engaging, it needs to be messaged really well when something good happens vs when something bad happens. In a slot machine, you crank a big lever (or push a button these days, not as fun). Then, there is a moment of suspense as the wheels spin. One by one the results are revealed, creating increasingly exciting moments. Oh one cherry, that's good. Oh shit, two cherries, hell yeah. I might get a third! Then, when something good happens, lights flash, it starts making sound, coins are flying out and clinking all over the place. That should be your goal with the combat.
For your game, when you land a critical hit, when you kill their monster, when yours dies, when you miss, etc... all should be emphasized and made very clear. imo, by far the most important part of the game. Give each moment the attention it deserves and you will have something pretty cool here! Keep it up.
I get the slot machine analogy, as I came up with the game shortly after seeing Luck be a Landlord. I agree, it should be really juicy when you land good hits and get a kill. Graphics were never my strong suit so this will take a while to get right, but I'll try different things until it looks nice enough. I understand the importance of getting the endorphins running fast, especially in a game that engages the player with the spectacle, not the interactivity
This is the first time someone has said that combat should slow down though, most people ask for speed control to make it faster
Thanks for playing and taking time to give feedback!
Sure, happy to give feedback. The fact that you're not a super strong artist is fine, just focus on communicating what is happening clearly, not making it pretty. That's what's important.
Really fun! Have replayed the first ~30 areas a bunch of times now. I like how self-explanatory the game is and it surprised me to have quite some tactical depth despite being completely automated in battle. Here are the points that put me off
- Game drops off in fun after area ~20. Mostly because the bank becomes full and it feels like I'm just discarding mons left and right due to lack to space. Maybe just playing wrong though.
- Seems to have quite some disparity mons, e.g. mons with +X on hit seem to be much stronger than +Y on entering battle mons.
- Needs some clearer descriptions in some places. E.g. does the XP boost from the owl stack. Or how much exactly does that mon that increases rarity increase the rarity.
- I have a folder with all the AGDG games, I had to rename the "AGDG Demo" name to something meaningful so I can identify the game.
If anyone else says the fun drops off later, I'll probably rethink some design elements. Agree on the descriptions point, though in case of Jazzap it's difficult to express how it works in few words. I appreciate the balance feedback too - I can't look at it objectively at this point so it's helpful to hear which mons people find good or bad
I've reuploaded the file with a different name now
Comments
Setting the bar high for the other mon clones dude! I like the art, has a "made in paint" feel to it, but in a good way.
Had to stop myself from playing more so I have time for the rest of the demos, quite fun. Never played any other autobattlers, but you've definitely broke my impression that they are just mindless nonsense lol. I can see the strategist it takes to be good at this game.
The typeset bonus based on the mons in your party is a cool mechanic, and I can see a lot of fun build coming from picking a type mix combined with certain mons bonuses.
Having the mons effectiveness vs enemy mons show up in green/yellow/red when mousing over them is great. Saved me from having to constantly look at the type chart.
No glitches encountered.
Does evolving do anything other than give a few levels? Stat boost on top of what you get from leveling or something? Wasn't clear to me.
For the autodox, I dont like how the displayed info when you mouse over covers the other mons. It might break the similicity it has right now, but having a scrollable list of mons on one side and the info poping up on the other side would be easier to view I think.
Fun game, maybe with a bit too addictive gameplay.
Thanks for the fun demo, and good luck with game!
Evolving gives a 10% increase in stats (20% for second evolution) and an immediate 2 level boost. The stat boost should be communicated better, I'll make sure to do that at some point.
I agree with your idea about the Autodox, it could have a better interface. It was one of the last things added before the Demo Day, so not much time was spent on it.
Thanks for playing and giving the feedback, glad you enjoyed it!
Good stuff. This is the first time I'm playing a game like this, so I don't know how this compares to other titles like this (autobattlers, you call them?) but as I play it I'm definitely getting a Civ-style "just one more turn" kind of vibe. There actually is a decent amount of planning and strategizing for such a simple-looking game as you have to make sure you have a right distribution of monsters to optimize current strength vs. elemental balance vs. collecting monsters to evolve them.
Minor note: The chart of elemental attacks vs. defense took a bit for me to figure out (I kept getting what each row meant mixed up), maybe a tooltip that shows when you put the cursor over the cells might help, but then again that might just be because I'm not used to this genre.
I can see myself spending 20+ hours on a polished version of this. Nice work.
I've been told before by someone who never played Pokemon before that the type chart is confusing to read. I will add an alternative way to view the strengths and weakness, I think it's especially important to be able to view a single type's interactions clearly to know how to prepare against the boss.
Thanks for playing, glad you liked it!
I never played Pokemon, so can't say much. It feels like trading card game.
It's good. I agree with Donpommelo that it gets less fun when the box is filled. It would be interesting to me if your party got cleared except for one or two creatures, but that might not be where you want to go with the game. Good work man.
Really good game. Art, writing, ui were all filled with soul.
I really appreciated how mechanically minimalistic game was. Felt like it cut out all the fluff and grindiness that these kinds of games often have.
Can't comment on balance, but the abilities of each mon seemed unique. Felt like each post-battle reward was an actual interesting decision to make. As with most games of the genre, finally rolling that triple gives some good dopamine and choosing each route makes the player feel like they have some control over difficulty and rewards.
As others have mentioned, the ability to slow down/fast forward combat would be nice to make it easier for new players to follow the action. Maybe also some sort of "action log" the player can scroll through to see each attack/effect activation?
A feature some other autobattlers have that would be nice here is some form of post-battle stats. Being able to see the damage dealt/tanked/healed etc of both your party as well as the enemies would make it easier to see what is working well and what isn't. It also feels good to make adjustments in build and see that reflected in some quantifiable way.
While I do like having to manage bench space vs active party space, I feel like the game does lose a bit of fun once your box fills up. A lot of other games let the player sink excess rewards into rerolling their offerings, whereas here I just end up skipping things. Maybe there's some sort of "breeding" where you can dump 2 automons at a day care in exchange for something else?
fun demo. looking forwards to seeing more of it in the future.
A lot of people are asking for speed control so that definitely will go on the to-do list. Action log is a good idea too, I can see how that would be useful. I didn't consider anything like battle stats and I'm not sure how useful that would be for this game, but I might as well add it if it helps some people.
I will consider adding new mechanics to make things interesting later, I can see why it might get worse when the box is full, throwing away mons or skipping rewards doesn't feel too good.
Thanks for playing and taking time to write feedback!
I'm not a big fan of Pokemon, disclaimer. With that being said, I really enjoyed this and I think you've got something cool!
- I was audibly laughing out loud at the intro scene where "automons can't bond" and "you are legally obligated to become the champion" lol. It's a funny story
- I like the concept of managing your party vs managing your box, and battles going automatically where you can't change anything. It takes out the boring parts of pokemon and rpgs for me, which is a big plus.
- One thing that confused me -- at first, I would try to swap out automons from my part into my box mid-battle. There was no UI feedback to let me know this wasn't possible, so it was confusing to me. Make the automons "greyed out" during battles, or if you attempt to move them, make them shake side to side quickly to signify "this can't be done". Look at some software UI/UX design videos/blogs on how this works, there are ways to signify to the user "this action can't be done now" vs "this action can be done now"
- Overall, it was intuitive and I knew exactly what I had to do when I started.
This is a neat concept, well done!
I didn't even consider the dragging in battle thing to be honest, it was so ingrained into my brain that I assumed it's obvious. But you are right, there does need to be a visual indicator that you can't move them in battle when you try.
Thanks for playing and taking the time to give feedback. Glad you enjoyed it!
Np! I have so many of those "so ingrained into my brain that I assumed it's obvious" moments lol. Playtest feedback has been crucial to me in figuring out those moments. Best of luck
pretty cool and easy to get, no complaints here
Hey, it's actually pretty fun! When I heard the concept, I wasn't expecting much, but I like it. My notes:
The combat really needs to slow down a bit and focus on messaging what's happening better. Think about a slot machine as a good analogy for your combat system. There isn't really much control, but it's still engaging because your fortune can be better or worse. However, to make that varying fortune engaging, it needs to be messaged really well when something good happens vs when something bad happens. In a slot machine, you crank a big lever (or push a button these days, not as fun). Then, there is a moment of suspense as the wheels spin. One by one the results are revealed, creating increasingly exciting moments. Oh one cherry, that's good. Oh shit, two cherries, hell yeah. I might get a third! Then, when something good happens, lights flash, it starts making sound, coins are flying out and clinking all over the place. That should be your goal with the combat.
For your game, when you land a critical hit, when you kill their monster, when yours dies, when you miss, etc... all should be emphasized and made very clear. imo, by far the most important part of the game. Give each moment the attention it deserves and you will have something pretty cool here! Keep it up.
I get the slot machine analogy, as I came up with the game shortly after seeing Luck be a Landlord. I agree, it should be really juicy when you land good hits and get a kill. Graphics were never my strong suit so this will take a while to get right, but I'll try different things until it looks nice enough. I understand the importance of getting the endorphins running fast, especially in a game that engages the player with the spectacle, not the interactivity
This is the first time someone has said that combat should slow down though, most people ask for speed control to make it faster
Thanks for playing and taking time to give feedback!
Sure, happy to give feedback. The fact that you're not a super strong artist is fine, just focus on communicating what is happening clearly, not making it pretty. That's what's important.
Really fun! Have replayed the first ~30 areas a bunch of times now. I like how self-explanatory the game is and it surprised me to have quite some tactical depth despite being completely automated in battle. Here are the points that put me off
- Game drops off in fun after area ~20. Mostly because the bank becomes full and it feels like I'm just discarding mons left and right due to lack to space. Maybe just playing wrong though.
- Seems to have quite some disparity mons, e.g. mons with +X on hit seem to be much stronger than +Y on entering battle mons.
- Needs some clearer descriptions in some places. E.g. does the XP boost from the owl stack. Or how much exactly does that mon that increases rarity increase the rarity.
- I have a folder with all the AGDG games, I had to rename the "AGDG Demo" name to something meaningful so I can identify the game.
Thanks for the feedback, appreciate it
If anyone else says the fun drops off later, I'll probably rethink some design elements. Agree on the descriptions point, though in case of Jazzap it's difficult to express how it works in few words. I appreciate the balance feedback too - I can't look at it objectively at this point so it's helpful to hear which mons people find good or bad
I've reuploaded the file with a different name now