Sound design is super clean, UI feels nice. But I would really benefit from a tutorial, I felt sort of lost. Would love to play more of this, great job!
Thanks a lot for that playthrough, it still helps to consolidate the next steps. Tutorials and an introduction to gameplay is a total priority for the next demo. I also thank you for the sound design compliment as it's my base skill and first domain! Hope to have your thoughts on the next demo.
Interesting game! After a while I was kind of hooked since everything can happen so fast lol. I think this setting could work great for mobile since it's got lots of unlockables and achievements, consider it if you haven't already! It was fun!
Hey thanks for playing! Mobile was indeed an idea even if secondary. Since last time I'm in fact going to go for something more beefy and mobile adaptation would be less tailored if possible. Hope I can get you hooked in something more complete in the future!
I unlocked everything and got pretty far into the dungeon before getting orced. The start of the game was hectic and there was a lot to process and little time. After lamp oil upgrades the time wasn't a factor but now it was food. It took me a few runs to learn what each item was but some were still unclear. I think you should start lamp time at a minute and have the upgrades increase it by a little less like 10 seconds. I actually enjoy the upgrade system and it works nicely apart from slight balance issues. For the information thing, I think it would be nice if it required two clicks to do anything, but on the first click it tells you what the item/action is and the second click confirms it, similar to escaping but in a way to present information to the player. Overall cool and fastpaced adventure game that has some neat mechanics inlaid in its gameplay loop. What do you plan on adding next?
Hello, thanks a lot for playing!
Hectic is the recurrent impression so far lol.
Balance is all over the place indeed, could not find the time to wrap it up for this build. I don't think pressing 2 times would suit the speed and reactivity I aim, but it's an interesting remark, I'll maybe present the question in the future depending on how it goes.
There's clearly a lack of comprehension too detrimental to the game. My initial idea was to use that top-right box to both act as a "journal" for the journey, and a reference for the player to understand what he just did. But it's too incomplete so far to be useful, and suffers from the fast start and bad readability. Your comment makes me think of a some pop-up boxes I could add on the Action buttons. I'll have to fight with my mind to find the best middle ground between initial ideas and what's best for the game.
For what is next so far, I'm brainstorming from all the reviews I got including yours now. So far I'm juggling with : - Easier introduction to the game (visual tutorials or progressively harder dungeons) - Cleaner and faster to read HUD - Change of game scope/vision (includes ideas like light lore/story, ditching mass collectathon for stages progression and medium collectathon)
Things I ideally want to introduce are a bit more background GFX for immersion, more combat options, more heroes to play. I'm also not against a total art pass, currently experimenting something but that's my field.
Again, thanks for your post, looking forward testing your submission in the coming week.
Hello Welded Bones, I played your game on Sunday. I took my time learning it and unlocked all upgrades in about 40 minutes.
I played on a keyboard with arrow keys and Z and X, which work, but are not in your controls image, so I thought I would mention the I guess engine default keys still work.
I don't know if it was intentional, or the build I downloaded was with a save, but I started the game with many artifacts ready for polishing. It filled up coloured board, except for one slot, which I was not able to find throughout my gameplay.
The "how to play" section of the menu didn't do anything, but I think your tutorial was enough. I just thought there would be more.
I found 2 relics, but I don't think there is anywhere you can see them.
My level was in single digits, and I could kill enemies in double digits, but sometimes there was an orc of that same level that could kill me. The "Sacrifice" button was getting rid of enemies, but I did not see my health going down.
It's relatively simple game, with a solid game loop, so I found myself quickly doing one run after another.
Hello, thanks a lot for playing (and that's a big amount of time!). You're right on everything and I hope I can get this clean enough for the next DD, bindings being maybe the hardest to execute.
I pushed a lot before the deadline and it's clear the game lacks sense, but I'm glad people like you still got something out of it and can both be positive and (justly) negative.
The Artifacts being given was to show/see the system in effect, and give a chance for players to complete the demo at 100% if they wanted. Quick and visual Tutorials will be a priority for next DD as it's too cryptic even for what I believe I'm starting to identify as a target audience. Levels are absolutely not balanced so far for later floors. I'll balance from the end, but I want to build the base first (systems and their context).
I hope to see you at next DD for your feedback is valuable, and I'll play your current submission as well when the time is good for me!
. please don't put anything next to the game folder in the zip (Credits.txt) . sexy menu work, sounds reminded me of GTA SA, probably because I don't usually play JRPGs, which might be closer . Q/W instead of Q/E for tab switching is odd, but minor . nice tutorial intro, would have skipped if it was the whole wall of text instantly . text might be too slow by default . the dungeon diving is pretty exciting even without understanding it directly, the images and sounds feel like solid intuitive feedback at first impressions . I can appreciate the value that time pressure adds, but without the knowledge of what happened, I feel punished for trying to read the text, which seems to be against the point of having the text in the first place, at the same time I don't know how you'd go about fixing that without removing the thril . gem polishing button mashing feels funny after getting read some morals about this not being a gacha . I'm unclear as to what the lore explanation for running out of time is . also was confusing about low health between runs, thought that I'd start the new run with low health, not that I know how health works atm . feels like I'm navigating a 2D dungeon, but not seein it . extremely responsive . all feels good, but I can't seem to predict what's going to happen at all, which makes it hard to plan, not sure if that's a downside or an upside . aggy monke is a nice touch . I see, the timer is my lantern light, that makes more sense now . dance music started, not sure what caused it
This is the kind of game I like to find, both fresh and familiar at the same time, all wrapped up in a smooth experience. I think you're onto something with the quick-fire event system, makes we want to prototype something similar. Definitely gonna make it.
Thanks a lot for the long and detailed feedback. All valid points I take in consideration. I'll answer to some points if you're ever interested.
- The Menu sounds remind me of the Gran Turismo games, but it was not intentional - I'm gonna ditch wall of texts for quick imaged tutorials (idealy) - I differenciate Gacha from Collectathon games, maybe that's a mistake - Having better illustration of what is happening would be hard but I want to get at it - You're now putting too much new ideas into my head! - Might include Lore in the game with progressive content unlock according to feedback so far - Please hire me if your own prototype makes millions!
- I disliked the slow UI with the slow jumping cursor. Going from Adventurer to Options takes waaay too long. Maybe I'm missing some UI interaction here.
Thanks for giving it a go. That UI movement was my attempt to make a more visual menu while dealing with the RPG Maker engine. This is not ideal I agree with you. Got too many remarks about it.
Would you say the navigation in the upgrade screen (mouse like) was a better thing? Or is it similarly bad?
got most of the stuff by level 6 seems like if you just hang around the top floors of the dungeon you can farm materials risk free I might be misunderstanding though. very fun game it definitely has an addictive gameplay loop.
I entered the dungeon many times, watching the dungeon slideshow, never truly aware if I'd escape with my life. I fought orcs and skeletons and avoided dangerous traps. Luckily, I had the power of yedev on my side, and I saw the monkie.
Comments
Thanks a lot for that playthrough, it still helps to consolidate the next steps. Tutorials and an introduction to gameplay is a total priority for the next demo. I also thank you for the sound design compliment as it's my base skill and first domain! Hope to have your thoughts on the next demo.
Interesting game! After a while I was kind of hooked since everything can happen so fast lol. I think this setting could work great for mobile since it's got lots of unlockables and achievements, consider it if you haven't already! It was fun!
Hey thanks for playing! Mobile was indeed an idea even if secondary. Since last time I'm in fact going to go for something more beefy and mobile adaptation would be less tailored if possible. Hope I can get you hooked in something more complete in the future!
I unlocked everything and got pretty far into the dungeon before getting orced. The start of the game was hectic and there was a lot to process and little time. After lamp oil upgrades the time wasn't a factor but now it was food. It took me a few runs to learn what each item was but some were still unclear. I think you should start lamp time at a minute and have the upgrades increase it by a little less like 10 seconds. I actually enjoy the upgrade system and it works nicely apart from slight balance issues. For the information thing, I think it would be nice if it required two clicks to do anything, but on the first click it tells you what the item/action is and the second click confirms it, similar to escaping but in a way to present information to the player. Overall cool and fastpaced adventure game that has some neat mechanics inlaid in its gameplay loop. What do you plan on adding next?
Hello, thanks a lot for playing! Hectic is the recurrent impression so far lol.
Balance is all over the place indeed, could not find the time to wrap it up for this build.
I don't think pressing 2 times would suit the speed and reactivity I aim, but it's an interesting remark, I'll maybe present the question in the future depending on how it goes.
There's clearly a lack of comprehension too detrimental to the game. My initial idea was to use that top-right box to both act as a "journal" for the journey, and a reference for the player to understand what he just did. But it's too incomplete so far to be useful, and suffers from the fast start and bad readability. Your comment makes me think of a some pop-up boxes I could add on the Action buttons. I'll have to fight with my mind to find the best middle ground between initial ideas and what's best for the game.
For what is next so far, I'm brainstorming from all the reviews I got including yours now. So far I'm juggling with :
- Easier introduction to the game (visual tutorials or progressively harder dungeons)
- Cleaner and faster to read HUD
- Change of game scope/vision (includes ideas like light lore/story, ditching mass collectathon for stages progression and medium collectathon)
Things I ideally want to introduce are a bit more background GFX for immersion, more combat options, more heroes to play. I'm also not against a total art pass, currently experimenting something but that's my field.
Again, thanks for your post, looking forward testing your submission in the coming week.
Sounds good, look forward to more!
Hello Welded Bones, I played your game on Sunday. I took my time learning it and unlocked all upgrades in about 40 minutes.
I played on a keyboard with arrow keys and Z and X, which work, but are not in your controls image, so I thought I would mention the I guess engine default keys still work.
I don't know if it was intentional, or the build I downloaded was with a save, but I started the game with many artifacts ready for polishing. It filled up coloured board, except for one slot, which I was not able to find throughout my gameplay.
The "how to play" section of the menu didn't do anything, but I think your tutorial was enough. I just thought there would be more.
I found 2 relics, but I don't think there is anywhere you can see them.
My level was in single digits, and I could kill enemies in double digits, but sometimes there was an orc of that same level that could kill me. The "Sacrifice" button was getting rid of enemies, but I did not see my health going down.
It's relatively simple game, with a solid game loop, so I found myself quickly doing one run after another.
Hello, thanks a lot for playing (and that's a big amount of time!). You're right on everything and I hope I can get this clean enough for the next DD, bindings being maybe the hardest to execute.
I pushed a lot before the deadline and it's clear the game lacks sense, but I'm glad people like you still got something out of it and can both be positive and (justly) negative.
The Artifacts being given was to show/see the system in effect, and give a chance for players to complete the demo at 100% if they wanted.
Quick and visual Tutorials will be a priority for next DD as it's too cryptic even for what I believe I'm starting to identify as a target audience.
Levels are absolutely not balanced so far for later floors. I'll balance from the end, but I want to build the base first (systems and their context).
I hope to see you at next DD for your feedback is valuable, and I'll play your current submission as well when the time is good for me!
. please don't put anything next to the game folder in the zip (Credits.txt)
. sexy menu work, sounds reminded me of GTA SA, probably because I don't usually play JRPGs, which might be closer
. Q/W instead of Q/E for tab switching is odd, but minor
. nice tutorial intro, would have skipped if it was the whole wall of text instantly
. text might be too slow by default
. the dungeon diving is pretty exciting even without understanding it directly, the images and sounds feel like solid intuitive feedback at first impressions
. I can appreciate the value that time pressure adds, but without the knowledge of what happened, I feel punished for trying to read the text, which seems to be against the point of having the text in the first place, at the same time I don't know how you'd go about fixing that without removing the thril
. gem polishing button mashing feels funny after getting read some morals about this not being a gacha
. I'm unclear as to what the lore explanation for running out of time is
. also was confusing about low health between runs, thought that I'd start the new run with low health, not that I know how health works atm
. feels like I'm navigating a 2D dungeon, but not seein it
. extremely responsive
. all feels good, but I can't seem to predict what's going to happen at all, which makes it hard to plan, not sure if that's a downside or an upside
. aggy monke is a nice touch
. I see, the timer is my lantern light, that makes more sense now
. dance music started, not sure what caused it
This is the kind of game I like to find, both fresh and familiar at the same time, all wrapped up in a smooth experience. I think you're onto something with the quick-fire event system, makes we want to prototype something similar. Definitely gonna make it.
Thanks a lot for the long and detailed feedback. All valid points I take in consideration. I'll answer to some points if you're ever interested.
- The Menu sounds remind me of the Gran Turismo games, but it was not intentional
- I'm gonna ditch wall of texts for quick imaged tutorials (idealy)
- I differenciate Gacha from Collectathon games, maybe that's a mistake
- Having better illustration of what is happening would be hard but I want to get at it
- You're now putting too much new ideas into my head!
- Might include Lore in the game with progressive content unlock according to feedback so far
- Please hire me if your own prototype makes millions!
Cheers
Thanks for suggesting your game! Here's the recording of the stream I did:
Was fun watching you play some games. Hope to catch you for the next DD!
Fun gameplay loop.
- I disliked the slow UI with the slow jumping cursor. Going from Adventurer to Options takes waaay too long. Maybe I'm missing some UI interaction here.
Thanks for giving it a go. That UI movement was my attempt to make a more visual menu while dealing with the RPG Maker engine. This is not ideal I agree with you. Got too many remarks about it.
Would you say the navigation in the upgrade screen (mouse like) was a better thing? Or is it similarly bad?
I didn't particulatly remember it, so it probably didn't feel bad.
got most of the stuff by level 6 seems like if you just hang around the top floors of the dungeon you can farm materials risk free I might be misunderstanding though. very fun game it definitely has an addictive gameplay loop.
Thanks a lot for playing. No misunderstanding, it's just the game has no real balance yet. Will work on making it deeper.
I entered the dungeon many times, watching the dungeon slideshow, never truly aware if I'd escape with my life. I fought orcs and skeletons and avoided dangerous traps. Luckily, I had the power of yedev on my side, and I saw the monkie.
Even though it's not really my type of game, I still had fun collecting stuff. Pretty good!
Thanks a lot, thanks for the comment! Seeing you're level 9, it will be a useful benchmark.