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Private Mining Company's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Fun | #2 | 3.833 | 3.833 |
| Sound/Audio | #5 | 3.833 | 3.833 |
| Overall | #6 | 3.667 | 3.667 |
| User Interface (UI/UX) | #11 | 2.500 | 2.500 |
| Visuals(Graphics) | #16 | 2.500 | 2.500 |
Ranked from 6 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
DevLog Link
https://assassinmonkey.itch.io/private-mining-company/devlog/707325/improve-my-game-jam-32
Developer Feedback Questions
I would like to see how the core mechanic (tower perma-death) feels, as well as if the core TD gameplay is well executed.
Since there is not yet a tutorial, make sure you click "Manage Army" and hire a soldier before you begin.
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Comments
I think this is a really cool idea! The idea of your towers being characters that carry over between missions is a really good way to freshen the idea up. It did feel a little bit weird that the soldiers couldn't be moved during a mission or maybe I was just missing out how to do it. The difficulty seems to spike incredibly quickly but I know that you have an option to end the mission at any point, it just didn't seem to clearly suggest when you should choose to back out. That may be something that a tutorial can really help with though. So overall I think the core mechanic feels good and if you took it farther, I think you'd have a lot of room to work with that idea.
Thanks for playing, and glad to hear you enjoy the concept!
Moving soldiers is something I haven't added yet, but it is planned for the next update. It is a bit tricky to balance since it could be used to save a tower from getting attacked. I think to work around this I will allow towers to move only in the same area they are placed, and when moved they will move to the new position slowly. I think this will also add another layer of engagement and strategy. Perhaps moving them more freely could become some kind of upgrade in the future like a heli pickup as well.
I am also adding a difficulty indicator to each wave which should hopefully help with suggesting when to back out of a mission, but I will have to see if it actually helps.
Oh, it's a good take! So, I played a bit and restarted like 3 or 4 times until I got the 'perfect' start, and then it felt really good! I like the idea of having my guys come with me to the next mission and upgrading them for the next battle. But...
1 or 2 suggestions:
The font you used is hard for me to read, and I couldn't make the difference between 0 and 8... (Change it or put an option to change to a regular font?)
I like the idea to have my soldiers who are veterans and who have personality. If you give them a name, it would make me love them ^^
Thanks for the feedback!
I am working to avoid the typical loss scenario since I also noticed it kind of ruins the perma death. My plan is to only have a some of your soldiers randomly die at the end instead of all of them. I will also play with having all of the soldiers kept alive and look into some other consequences as you mentioned.
You're second point is something I didn't really consider, but it makes a lot of sense. My original plan is to continue ramping up the difficulty of missions so you never feel too over powered, but this will require a large amount of upgrades and levels, as well as a TON of work balancing. Your idea of temporary upgrades could definitely work, but my concern is that it would be difficult to explain to the player and may feel pretty unintuitive or it may defeat some of the spirit of upgrading your permanent towers.
I will definitely try exploring the idea though, as well as brainstorm some other possible solutions.
Also thank you for bringing up the font. I did feel it may have been hard to read in some places but it's good to hear from someone else.
Oh I didn't meant to keep all the soldier Alive, I really like the Permadeath take. Just after the first of your soldier die, then you can enable a retreat / flee option for the player.
Additionally a Warning / Popup saying that the next Level is way harder can make you think twice before pressing this button Next ^^and it can bring more of the Push Your Luck vibe it already has ^^
Makes sense, I think I will need to iterate on that part of the design a bit until I land on something I think is a good balance.
A danger indicator for the upcoming wave is already planned for the next update!
This was fun! I played long enough to get two of my marines up to gunner level and then steam rolled everything haha!
I lost at my first attempt but soon got the hang of it.
I like the permanent death idea. That combined with the ability to level up soldiers is a nice mechanic. I'm sure I would have cried if one of my gunners died... However I never really got a taste of this. My first run I was overwhelmed by enemies and so lost my entire army before I had leveled any of them up. My second run I had 2 soldiers, used a couple of mercenaries on the first mission and obliterated the enemy as my soldiers leveled up. So I never felt the sting of perma death!
The music was great, the game play UI and controls were easy to pick up. I do think the UI could do with some improvements. It was not entirely clear how to place units whether it was drag and drop or click to deploy etc. And how to level them up. I didn't work this out till near the end of my first round. Although in hindsight clicking on them is kind of obvious!
One issue I had (on my losing run) was that units got a bit confused when there were too many enemies near. They got stuck changing targets constantly but not firing.
Also give me some more levels to play :)
Great job!
Thanks so much for the great feedback! I'm glad to hear you enjoyed the game.
I have gotten a taste of losing upgraded towers during play testing, and it really surprised me how much it stings even with 0 investment into playing! I look forward to adding more difficulty and a lot more content in the coming updates, and I have some ideas to make sure it doesn't feel unfair.
The UI is also something I want to rework a bit in the next update. I have been taking heavy inspiration from Bloons TD UI but if you have any ideas for making the placing of units more intuitive it is highly welcome. I do plan do add some hover effects to placed units to make it more obvious you can click on them
I have also added more in depth tower targeting already which fixes that issue and gives you more control, coming very soon!
PS: Id love to try out your game but currently the only computer I have access to is a Mac. If you are able to release a web or mac version I can give it a try!
I unfortunately removed the web build with this patch! It was getting a bit slow and needs some optimisation. I'll try a Mac build and let you know :) I have no way to test if a Mac build will work though.
Hello, thanks for play my game first!
I play your game in my stream, but is in spanish ... I am FuryCode in Youtube.
I undesteand that art can be placeholders, but the theme of military maybe are not the correct? because is weird.
Anyways I enjoy the game, and can be improve :)
Some topics:
Thanks for playing!
I agree that the current art can feel a bit weird with the current theme since I got it from a modern military asset pack. I do plan to stick with the military theme, but it will be a more sci-fi style in the future. I am not the best artist myself lol.
Glad to hear you enjoyed the game though!
Cool game, I had some fun! The difficulty is very high - I did not found a way to win the first mission. I tried a lot different strategies, buying mechenaries, upgrading mariens, different placements and combinations of these.
Issues I found:
Thanks for the feedback! I still have lots of work to do when it comes to balancing.
I am also looking into some form of comeback mechanic to solve the problem of having to restart after losing, any ideas are highly appreciated!
Maybe you could add an additional resource that the player gets for killing enemies. This resource is not lost when losing and can only be spent between runs. In that way it would be possible to grind a few runs and then start with a stronger army. Also the player should have always at least 1 marine ...
I definitely like that idea. I plan to rework the money system next so that should help as well. Overall I like the idea of having to grind a few easier missions after losing to rebuild your army.
I will also play with giving a free marine/some money if you have run out and have no money
I have released a small update that makes the first level more possible to beat without ending the mission early to collect money. If you would like to give the game another try and let me know what you think it would be highly appreciated!
Tried it again. I had no problem to beat the level now. Maybe it is a bit to easy now. :) Honestly I was not aware that I could end the level early to collect money and muster up my army. I like the concept, but I think it still neads some balancing/streamlining...