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Epsilon Indi's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Sound/Audio | #7 | 3.500 | 3.500 |
| Fun | #7 | 3.833 | 3.833 |
| Overall | #9 | 3.500 | 3.500 |
| User Interface (UI/UX) | #11 | 3.167 | 3.167 |
| Visuals(Graphics) | #11 | 3.500 | 3.500 |
Ranked from 6 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
DevLog Link
https://crashdumpsoftware.itch.io/epsilon-indi/devlog/742140/2nd-resource-type-new-units-buildings
Developer Feedback Questions
Should I add a tutorial or concentrate on new features like additional units?
What would you prefer: A singleplayer campaign or improved multiplayer with chat, ladder, etc. ?
Very special bonus question: Do you have a friend who is willing to test the multiplayer feature? How is the balance of "fast tech" vs "buggy rush"?
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Comments
So I played your game during the previous jam and it's definitely in a better spot now but a tutorial is going to be crucial I think. For the question of balance, I don't think any strategy can outweigh buggy rush currently and unfortunately the AI does buggy rush every time which gives you small room for mistakes, overwhelming you if you aren't prepared. This time I went into it knowing that and tried my best to buggy rush as well but somehow I still lost despite us having the same number of factories. I think the core idea is solid, but a tutorial is pretty mandatory for a very complicated game like this and the AI probably should not be buggy rushing, at least not in a first level. It's such a hard strategy to counter that having that as your first challenge can definitely put people off a bit. That said, when you get into the swing of it and you're head is still above water, it is quite fun. So with a little bit of polishing on the difficulty and the new player experience and I think you may have something pretty special.
Many thanks for your feedback. I will add more versatile AI opponents, with different strategies and difficulties, in the next update. And hopefully also a tutorial.
The buggy rush is really hard to stop. I will put another AI as the first level. What helps to defend is:
Ok, I actually learned how to play, I must say the learning curve is a bit steep, I was always in my ''base'' and never try to venture outside, I thought I just needed to create enough fighters to protect me, and later they just kill the enemy, I didn't know what the scout were for at first, It took several attempts to understand how they worked and how the light works and that you can place your units only where the light is. I could not win against the IA tho, it was too hard, I think I tried 10 times. I am interested in keep playing because once you know how to play it's very fun, maybe trying the online to play against people who suck as much as I do xd. I never got to use all the units and buildings, I was under attack too often to learn how to use them nor have the resource to create them.
Also, I just it would be useful to have an indicator that a bulilding has created a unit, like a flash or something and a sound.
Many thanks for your feedback! I will try to make the learning curve a bit less steep in the next update. The current AI is putting so much pressure that there is no room for experiments ... not the best choice for the first level I must admit :)
overall, this was a fun even through i didn't really follow everything that was going on!
TUTORIAL
yes. i had trouble understanding the game / what everything did. a tutorial would be appreciated!
there's already a lot to understand/many moving parts now, so i think it's better to polish what's in the game currently. maybe additional units could be unlocked as part of progression later on?
SINGLEPLAYER vs MULTIPLAYER
i'm biased since i only play singleplayer games haha
OTHER FEEDBACK
when enemies appeared, i thought they were my creations. having them in another colour would be helpful.
Thanks for your feedback! I will work on a tutorial and improve the singleplayer in the next update. Actually the units have different color (black or white parts), but you are not the first one that complained that they don't. I think it is not noticable enought - I will try to improve that!
Yes, I need a tutorial because I'm lost here, I don't usually play games like that. Also, it would be nice if you add a video to the game page, so people can see how it is played. Sorry, I haven't rated your game yet, I'm still to figuring it out first.
Overall, fun game and I found myself playing several times! (Although it might've partially been because I was trying to figure out how it works. Agree with the other comments that a tutorial is needed.)
Fairly often buggies would teleport to the enemy on the browser version, not sure if this was intentional. It is also unclear what scouts do. Also, if your construction facility is destroyed, is there any way to recover from that? If not, why doesn't the game just end there?
Also agree on focusing on making singleplayer the best it can be before relying on several people playing your game to make it fun.
Thanks for the feedback! I am glad you liked it. Teleporting should not happen, that is probably a performance issue in the web-version. I will add a setting, so that the graphics details can be reduced in the browser version.
The scout just moves quickly around to give vision to the map - currently not very useful I must confess. But that should change in the future.
When the construction facility is destroyed, it cannot be rebuild. In theory it is still possible to win, but very unlikely. Maybe you are right and I should let the match end when it is destroyed.
This is a nice game. Played thrice and got beaten all three times. But possibly survived longer each time.
A tutorial would help this game a lot. The voiceover that informs you a particular resource is not available to build was very helpful.
I liked the concept of no control. I've played a fair share of RTS, and don't really enjoy the unit micromanagement, especially past the early game, where there are a lot of units. So the no control could be a good thing. You could consider a "low control" rather than a "no control". I understand you want to differentiate from a standard RTS. Something simple like "unit stance" would make a lot of difference. This is also present in full RTS games by the way. Something like "defensive" stance would enable my buggies to stay at base for defense, or until I can amass several of them, change stance to "attack", and send them off, etc.
Maybe a bug: Somehow the construction bot that I built doesn't seem to do anything. (The one that's already there does all the work.)
I felt each time that the enemy rushed me very early, and I could do my best to barely hold on. Some "defensive" buggies would have helped a lot here. Or you could consider changing the economy in some way to make early attack difficult or infeasible. You don't have to cut off rushing altogether from the game. I gather that is a viable strategy in RTS games. But right now rushing feels too dominating over anything else.
Regarding your questions above:
1. Tutorial first, then units.
2. My opinion is it's important to get the single player experience right, before going into multiplayer. Again, not to deter you from building the multiplayer. Just a slight leaning rather than a strong preference for this.
Many thanks for the valuable feedback and that you took so much time!
Your suggestions are very good, I definitively will keep them in mind. I am planning to tackle the "rush"-problem in the next release. And you are right: The builder-bot ist not working as intended, I will fix that.
I think that since the AI doesn't upgrade their units, after you survive your early game with economy boom (and don't lose your base as a result), it's just really easy. The second unit is a bit strong since they have so much HP and the AI doesn't seem to use them.
Thanks for your review. You are totally right. I did not update the AI after I added upgrades and new units. Based on the feedback I got so far I decided to improve the single player experience by creating different AIs that use different strategies.
I think you've reached a point where more units arent going to help with the core gameplay much more. I think a tutorial is super important for any game, so you should definitely focus on that!
Perhaps you could experiment with some kind of control over your units. Yes, I know the hook is that they are automated, but I think you could maybe have some kind of very simple controls. It was really frustrating when I couldnt move my construction bot to where I want until I have enough money to build what I want.
I find it very limited in terms of strategy right now, if I dont immediately and constantly invest in buggies I still feel like I am going to just lose even if that is not the case. That prevented me from using any of the new units or research. I think you need to incorporate some kinds of early game defenses that can counter the spam of buggies in some way.
Also, multiplayer is really tough to pull off for any indie dev, just in terms of getting enough players. I would suggest just focus on making the AI a bit better for now
Thanks for your feedback!
"a tutorial is super important"
I guess you are right on that. I avoided it, because it does not seem much fun to implement. I will raise the priority of it ...
"It was really frustrating when I couldnt move my construction bot"
I get your point, but I have no solution yet. Maybe it is a fundamental flaw in my concept that might be difficult to overcome. Adding direct control over units would bring me into the realm of "normal RTS", a world where I cannot compete.
"if I dont immediately and constantly invest in buggies I still feel like I am going to just lose even if that is not the case"
I think that is a similar problem as the point above: A fundamental flaw of the concept. In fact spamming buggies is a bad strategy. It just "feels" strong. The behaviour of the buggies gives enough advantage to the defender, so that defending and expanding/teching can be done. If there where a "metagame" I think no one would rush with buggies. Maybe I could ease out this problem by changing the behaviour of the AI to not only focus on buggies. (Actually I did not update the AI after adding upgrades and new units.)
"multiplayer is really tough to pull off for any indie dev"
That is true. But there is a glimpse of hope: There are multiplayer RTS on Itch that have an active player base. For instance "Tzared Online" or "Little Wargame" always have active players. But they are ranked on Itch even below my game. Which is ridiculous. So those players are clearly not coming from Itch. I think Itch has a good community to get feedback like yours ... but you will not find any players for multiplayer RTS here. So I think it makes sense to get early feedback here ... and if I every reach a point where I think the game could be fun I will move to a platform for multiplayer games.
One thing I would say, is try not to be scared of diving into traditional RTS gameplay. You are already competing with some of the best RTS games, whether you like it or not.
I don't think you have to go fully into traditional RTS movement though. Something as simple as queuing construction before I have money for it would solve the problem. Another idea, is offering options between different paths for your units to take. This could open up a whole new layer of strategy while keeping the same automated feeling it has now.
And for multiplayer, I don't mean you should not do it of course. I personally think that a really good single player AI should instead be your main focus though. This way you can draw in players with the single player experience, which could help boost your player count for multiplayer more in the long run. I think updating it is a great start, and maybe adding some random strategies that it will pick from.
For the buggy spam, I do think it's just a player feedback problem. It's not clear that I can ignore the spam of buggies. Adding some kind of turret that I can build to hard counter buggy spam would make it feel much better.
I just tried playing again and avoided using buggies, only to get absolutely crushed. Not sure what I'm missing but it still seems like you need to play perfectly to counter the AIs spam of buggies, or just keep spamming them yourself and try to sneak in some economy if you can.
Many thanks for your feedback. That are some good ideas. I will definitely do something about the "buggy spam problem" in the next release! Thank you!
"but you will not find any players for multiplayer RTS here"
It is possible that the problem here is much deeper. Perhaps the majority of players on itch do not like strategy games at all, and itch algorithms promote only popular other genres, just look at which games are in the top. Have you already looked for where you can get an active base of players who love to play indie strategy games?
No I have not yet put any effort in that. I first would like to have a game that is worth promoting. And I got a lot of feedback here, that will keep me busy for a few weeks ... :)
This had me feeling like playing Starcraft, used to do that A LOT and I like the potential here.
This is a hell of a challenge though and there are some rough edges like animations, feedback, maybe tutorials (not much of them, just enough so you can survive an attack) well although I think single player campaign is cool and all, I think it might not be worth the amount of work you would have to put into it, so my vote is to focus on refining what you already have and focus on a multiplayer experience
Many thanks for your feedback! And of course it is influenced by Starcraft, I also played that a lot. :)
I think that a tutorial is always needed in each game, then I think you should firstly focus on a better structured single player campaign
Many thanks for trying it out. Both (a tutorial and a single player campaign) are on my list. But I am still not sure if I will be able to do it in the next release ... especially a campaign would be a lot of work.