itch.io

I understand. Like I said, I'm on a Chromebook. While I doubt I could sideload via Android on a Chromebook, perhaps I could activate Google Play on my machine and at least give a better, more up to date version a shot. Wildfire really is addicting. I really wish I could play a version that performed as intended and expected. So I will likely try the version I can get through Google Play. And, when I do, I will likely come back here and tell you how it went :-)

EDIT: There's an updated version for the web? Hm. Maybe I will try Discord, the one platform I find least user-friendly, at least as far as finding anything goes.

At last I've tried the web/HTML experimental version and, indeed, bullet speed plays a real role. I'm slightly annoyed that attack speed and bullet speed aren't tied together as one, though. It seems while attack speed on a single target can be quite good, the biggest pause can be in changing targets, which increasing bullet speed lessens. I've only played two games of it so far, but I learned a bit too late the second time that I wasn't getting the DPS I wanted because my bullet speed was too low.

Also, if I'm giving critical feedback, I'm not sure how I feel about the... Bestiary. While it seems like a good idea for reference, I was a little disappointed that I couldn't learn about the (new) creatures I was currently fighting in the middle of a game. It just seems like it would be more timely if I could see it as I go and not wait until I lose (or is there a way to interrupt my match, return to the campsite and... see? See how weird that would be?) before I can get the useful information.

Actually, as far as buying abilities between rounds, like regeneration (I love regeneration in games), while I like to upgrade, it seems I can't know ahead of time the web of upgrades. It's painful enough to spend what points I've earned on upgrades I'm not interested to see what it leads to without it leading to another upgrade I'm not interested in. Do you think it would serve your interests as well as mine to give some sort of preview or warning of what upgrades lead to what upgrades? Or, maybe, you could make all upgrades available and price them differently based on their value. Saving up for a better upgrades seems better than wasting money getting to upgrades I wasn't going to be interested in.

I guess that's all for now. I'm going to play some more.

Oh. And there doesn't seem to be that "problem" with the projectiles/bullets/fireballs outpacing the impacts or impacts being skipped. That was REALLY bad in the non-experimental version. Maybe you should consider updating it so people like me who apparently need a bit of prodding to get on Discord to try the experimental version aren't so discouraged that they'd think or say the game was "ruined" by this seeming flaw in the most public-facing web version :-)

EDIT: Actually, as far as the upgrades you buy with embers, I got plenty of Embers during my second... match? I can't remember if I just played another match. No, I had over 20000 embers so it wasn't "painful" to explore the upgrades. It was great, actually. I found the Vampire upgrade that I thought you might have replaced with regeneration. And a bunch of others. And this time when I play, I'll know to use the bullet speed upgrade (I'm still new to it!) and get much further with more embers. If I had a phone... this would be one of the games if not THE game I'd be playing most on it.

I just noticed, after selecting Vampire at the beginning of a new game, losing some HP then gaining in back through Vampire, that I now have 982.05/1000 HP. I suppose precision and not losing the tiniest portion of HP gained is important, but it kind of gives me the impression that I also lost 0.95 HP at some point, maybe. Perhaps rounding is more aesthetically pleasing and draws less attention to itself and is less distracting when I quickly check where I am at HP-wise in the middle of a game before I choose an upgrade or assess what I should focus on next.

I think I'm going to reset my upgrades and carefully choose three ones that I actually want to appear at the beginning and throughout the game, because it seems that some of those upgrades, which I'm seemingly obligated to activate to gain access to further upgrades, are less useful and actually narrow the selection of useful upgrades I might have access to between rounds, even if I refresh each one (which by the way was a great thing to include, a no-cost, single refresh for each option). I'll try something different this time, but since using Vampire last time was far less useful that Regeneration would have been and was the previous game, and I died probably less than 10 rounds (Why get rid of round numbers and use hours and minutes? Now I have a non-standard, less-straightforward way of tracking progress? Hours and minutes? Do I have to figure out how long each round is? Does it vary depending on how long I take to finish a round? Should I multiply the length of a round or perhaps divide how "long" I've played by the time it takes per round?) into the game, which is disappointing. Now I have Assassin, Freeze, and Orbital Flames. Not sure if I should keep trying different things or try to get what I think I want. And look at that! No refresh option for these options. Tsk. And I liked that so much for the rest of the game ;-)

Yeah, you know, I don't like that buying these upgrades on a webbed map crowds my options so much. Ever play Endless Waves Survival? You can actually choose in that game what potential upgrades you'll have for each of Rogue, Sorceror, and all the other options. For me, I chose to reduce which upgrades were available as a strategy to ensure I had access to the best upgrades and that they weren't crowded out by upgrades that weren't very good. In the experimental version of Wildfire, you actually make me earn embers to pay for upgrades that lead to upgrades that are unknown to me and then, when I have my first chance to choose just ONE of these, you give me an ever-unpredictable (depending on the number of upgrades I've bought beforehand) selection of only three of them AND have removed the ability to refresh them to get other options. If I do choose one of them, it's going to be in the upgrades for the rest of the game, crowding out potentially more useful upgrades. I might be forced to choose an upgrade I didn't really want that will follow me around with more options. For example, I chose Assassin in my most recent game, but it turns out it only comes into play when an enemy has 2% or less of their energy left! How useless is that? If I have an enemy with 200 HP to start, they'd have to have 4HP or less for Assassin to be "executed". If they started with 600HP, it would only help with 12HP or less! Did I just blow a PINK upgrade that could have been used for Regeneration that gives me 5HP per second (and much more when the game's sped up) for a measly 12HP attack advantage when a silver upgrade could have gotten me a greater attack of 10HP that would be repeated many times depending on attack speed? And how many upgrades of Assassin or its associated upgrades would it take for it to be useful? Does an additional pink upgrade mean enemies can be executed if they have an additional 20% of their HP for a total of 22% HP? And this is after spending embers to upgrade assassin to allow it the potential to execute enemies when they have 50% or less of their HP. Maybe Assassin does have some useful advantage in the game, especially the later levels, but this is only one of many upgrades that can crowd each other out of the options/upgrades instead of actually enhancing the gameplay for those who've PAID for them ahead of time!

If you're making me pay for upgrades, I want them when I start, not just offered as options as I go that replace the options I didn't pay for but still need every bit as much. Assassin, for example, doesn't properly replace attack, attack speed, or bullet, yet I have to choose it INSTEAD OF them as I go. It's mildly infuriating to spend so much time and focus on getting these upgrades if all they're such inadequate replacements for the core options of the game, which I still need to succeed!

So... I'm glad you allow a reset option. I'm probably just going to choose Regenerate or the most direct path to it, and avoid Assassin until, in playing many matches, I can see that I actually have use for it. When I have to put this much time and attention into sort of carefully playing a game that is basically tower defense, it takes a lot of fun out of it. I think you're the one who should be putting in this kind of effort to ensure those who want to take the game seriously and get into doing their best in it don't find good reason to take it so seriously that they have to kind of work against the way you've set it up, like you're opponents.

You get my drift. I'm going to play one more game, but I'm resetting the options and carefully selecting which ones I want, anticipating how all the other options and upgrades might interfere with my ABILITY to do well in the game later.