The game seems far more developed since last time I tried it. I noticed that enemies tend to focus on a few units now which serves to make them seem smarter, increases the chance of a bad play resulting in a unit's death and makes avoiding damage easier given the player makes a good play. That's pretty great.
I could also push enemies to their death this time around. Another great change because it makes positioning and movement far more valuable. Existing interactions seem to be working fine as well.
The beginning for what looks like an X-COM like progression system has been implemented as well. I gotta say unlocking skills is my least favorite mechanic from those games because I tend to prioritize things that benefit the organization as a whole, but that's just me. I like my soldiers faceless because for me it's about humanity vs the aliens (or demons in this case), not particular individuals.
I think the moment to moment gameplay could do with a bit of streamlining. As an example, after a unit finishes movement you have to select them again in order to perform an action which doesn't seem like a big deal until you remember a player is likely to do this a dozen times or more per mission depending on how many times they undo their last action.
The UI could be a little bigger too. I played on a 2K monitor and I could barely read the text. However, the tooltips are concise so that's good.
Alrighty, so this game is legit. I enjoyed it quite a bit. I played for almost two hours once I was playing correctly. I got my buddy to stream him playing it for me so I could see how someone else takes to picking it up. I think the UI is a little small, it's not hard to read but it's a bit hard to notice that it's clickable and the main interface point for combat until you do it and feel around. The tutorial is a great framing device. I only have two complaints that are reasonable. Firstly, the background could be a little more dynamic, or fitting, I just found the red bubbling to be a weak option for background elements, especially considering how much of the screen it takes up, and the second and I seriously need this, it's critical. Please try to get the contextual selection while saving to automatically select the text entry box. I kept clicking the button, then I would type the name of a save because games usually autoselect the box, and then I would see I had to click it to get the text to enter. I know, I'm a dumbass for assuming this, but it's a nice polish and I really recommend it. As for feedback, I've bever played xcom or enter the breach, so for me this was new, and I found it to be really fun and engaging. The combat is a sweet mixture of puzzle logic and tactics. The elements of puishing/pulling units around are wonderful. I wasn't convinced I was making tangible progress despite getting experience points. I tried researching a few times but didn't seem to get anywhere with a lot of results grayed out. I found a nice strategy using 5 flying players with pulling/pushing moves and an aquatic guy with agility and cleave. The overall effect was not taking any damage for any missions once I figured it out. I played maybe 9 or so missions, I saw three mission types. If there are more please let me know, I'd loop back for them. Also, are you planning to have resources and crew recruitment, or is it in and I missed it? Not sure, a lot o options are grayed.
Thanks for playing, and thank you for the detailed feedback!
the background could be a little more dynamic, or fitting, I just found the red bubbling to be a weak option for background elements, especially considering how much of the screen it takes up
I'll see what I can cook up.
Please try to get the contextual selection while saving to automatically select the text entry box.
Will do. Thanks for this, I would probably never felt the need for this if someone didn't point it out.
I wasn't convinced I was making tangible progress despite getting experience points. I tried researching a few times but didn't seem to get anywhere with a lot of results grayed out.
Hmm. So here's what's probably happening, and this is on me for not explaining things:
You can open a unit's detailed status panel by selecting them, then clicking on their portrait. I now realize the only place I've mentioned this functionality is in passing in my update notes, and there's no indication that this would do anything otherwise. Whoops.
Here, you can view what abilities the unit has, how much experience it has, and how many open passive slots they have.
You can view a unit's trainable skills (they may not have any if they started out with good abilities) by opening their inventory.
Mastering a skill in the training yard costs 100 exp per skill star, and lasts 6 days per skill star. Once training is complete, the skill can be dragged to a valid slot from the unit's inventory to equip it.
The Skill Discovery task, once complete, will add new skills to the unit's inventory.
I saw three mission types. If there are more please let me know, I'd loop back for them.
Yeah, there are currently only three mission types, though really they're only permutations of the three mission objectives I've implemented.
Also, are you planning to have resources and crew recruitment, or is it in and I missed it? Not sure, a lot o options are grayed.
Planning to implement resources, recruitment, and the rest of the game's skeleton next Demo Day. Probably won't be many options when I get there, but the framework for content will be there.
Played a couple of missions on normal. Fairly fun and I got the bonus objectives. Was a bit surprising, at first I thought it would be trivial to avoid attacks, but there's more to it since you have to take into account body blocking yourself. There's some fun strategizing since you can sacrifice a unit's HP to do some cool stuff like bounce an enemy into them to kill it.
Added selectable difficulty settings when starting a new game. To play at the previous version's difficulty, select 'Brutal'.
Battle difficulty will slowly escalate as time passes.
Added a bunch of Passive and Aura skills.
Units will now gain experience during battle
Units can spend experience and time in the training yard to master or discover skills.
Skills can be viewed and managed in the advanced unit status panel, which is opened by selecting the unit, and then clicking on their portrait.
Scanning is now continuous: Scan will continue until something happens, or scanning is paused.
Updated and modularized the UI.
Reworked the functionality of the Save menu to make it easier to use.
Normalized the loudness of the background music.
What's not:
This is still an incomplete game. There are no victory or loss conditions, there are only a couple of mission objectives, and the rewards or penalties for those are not implemented.
Comments
The game seems far more developed since last time I tried it. I noticed that enemies tend to focus on a few units now which serves to make them seem smarter, increases the chance of a bad play resulting in a unit's death and makes avoiding damage easier given the player makes a good play. That's pretty great.
I could also push enemies to their death this time around. Another great change because it makes positioning and movement far more valuable. Existing interactions seem to be working fine as well.
The beginning for what looks like an X-COM like progression system has been implemented as well. I gotta say unlocking skills is my least favorite mechanic from those games because I tend to prioritize things that benefit the organization as a whole, but that's just me. I like my soldiers faceless because for me it's about humanity vs the aliens (or demons in this case), not particular individuals.
I think the moment to moment gameplay could do with a bit of streamlining. As an example, after a unit finishes movement you have to select them again in order to perform an action which doesn't seem like a big deal until you remember a player is likely to do this a dozen times or more per mission depending on how many times they undo their last action.
The UI could be a little bigger too. I played on a 2K monitor and I could barely read the text. However, the tooltips are concise so that's good.
Keep up the good work!
Alrighty, so this game is legit. I enjoyed it quite a bit. I played for almost two hours once I was playing correctly. I got my buddy to stream him playing it for me so I could see how someone else takes to picking it up. I think the UI is a little small, it's not hard to read but it's a bit hard to notice that it's clickable and the main interface point for combat until you do it and feel around. The tutorial is a great framing device.
I only have two complaints that are reasonable. Firstly, the background could be a little more dynamic, or fitting, I just found the red bubbling to be a weak option for background elements, especially considering how much of the screen it takes up, and the second and I seriously need this, it's critical. Please try to get the contextual selection while saving to automatically select the text entry box. I kept clicking the button, then I would type the name of a save because games usually autoselect the box, and then I would see I had to click it to get the text to enter. I know, I'm a dumbass for assuming this, but it's a nice polish and I really recommend it.
As for feedback, I've bever played xcom or enter the breach, so for me this was new, and I found it to be really fun and engaging. The combat is a sweet mixture of puzzle logic and tactics. The elements of puishing/pulling units around are wonderful. I wasn't convinced I was making tangible progress despite getting experience points. I tried researching a few times but didn't seem to get anywhere with a lot of results grayed out.
I found a nice strategy using 5 flying players with pulling/pushing moves and an aquatic guy with agility and cleave. The overall effect was not taking any damage for any missions once I figured it out. I played maybe 9 or so missions, I saw three mission types. If there are more please let me know, I'd loop back for them. Also, are you planning to have resources and crew recruitment, or is it in and I missed it? Not sure, a lot o options are grayed.
Great job, thank you for submitting.
Thanks for playing, and thank you for the detailed feedback!
I'll see what I can cook up.
Will do. Thanks for this, I would probably never felt the need for this if someone didn't point it out.
Hmm. So here's what's probably happening, and this is on me for not explaining things:
Yeah, there are currently only three mission types, though really they're only permutations of the three mission objectives I've implemented.
Planning to implement resources, recruitment, and the rest of the game's skeleton next Demo Day. Probably won't be many options when I get there, but the framework for content will be there.
Thanks again for playing!
Played a couple of missions on normal. Fairly fun and I got the bonus objectives. Was a bit surprising, at first I thought it would be trivial to avoid attacks, but there's more to it since you have to take into account body blocking yourself. There's some fun strategizing since you can sacrifice a unit's HP to do some cool stuff like bounce an enemy into them to kill it.
Looks promising, keep it up.
Thanks for playing! Glad to hear I'm on the right track.
What's new:
What's not:
This is still an incomplete game. There are no victory or loss conditions, there are only a couple of mission objectives, and the rewards or penalties for those are not implemented.