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tonehack5 years ago (2 edits) (+2)

This game is a real joy to play.  The story/theme is unique and very charming.  Lot's of interesting dynamics between item properties, monster generation, damage and resistances.  Tying health into time was also a neat twist that opened up a lot of strategic options.  The UI is very well done with colors being tied to item type, monster type, damage type, etc. -- very easy to read at a glance.  

The only thing that wasn't straightforward for me at first was monster damage since there is no message log for it, but after realizing that is was shown by the modifier next to the timer, I quite liked the simplicity of it.  I'm still not quite sure how much "damage" the enemies deal or how the resistances impact that, so I'll have to pay attention to that next game. 

I died at the last boss, but now that I understand the mechanics a little better I'm looking forward to giving it another shot!  By the way, is confusion disabled for the final boss fight?  I couldn't seem to get my paradox weapon to do its thing (even against the bugs).

Confusion effects seemed a little strong in general.  Also being able to swap between equipped weapons at no penalty felt exploitable (wander around with a mythical weapon active for speed, swap to telepathic to occasionally to check for bugs at no cost, swap to damage-appropriate weapon for combat, etc.), but I have a feeling that you purposely balanced it like that (since it is somewhat restrictive by only allowing the player to equip one of each weapon type at once).

I think a nice QoL improvement would be able to hover over out-of-sight items that you've seen before and see the name.  Since your inventory is small, you have to leave a lot of stuff on the ground, but due to how the synergies work sometimes you want to go back for an item which can be difficult if you don't remember what every item is.  Another nice QoL feature would be some way to see what's on the ground in your vision without having to use the mouse.  Every time you enter a new room you have to inspect any new items with the mouse.  A list off to the side that displayed everything in sight would be pretty cool  ;)

Thanks again, I had a lot of fun with this one.  Definitely one of my favorites so far.  Looking forward to seeing your next project  :)

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cpiod5 years ago(+1)

Thank you for the long review. I'm glad you enjoyed the game!

The monster damage question is a difficult one. At first, the modifier was displayed in the log but that made it far too spammy; that's why it's written in the "remaining time" frame.  The combat system works as follows: most of the player's actions cost some time. The modifier (such as "+320s") is the time penalty of his next action, which gives the bugs more opportunities to attack the player.

In fact, this combat system is a snowball effect. The player attacks for 120s, and during this time bugs attack him 4 times, inflicting a 80s penalty. If the player attacks again, it costs him 200s, and during that time bugs attack him 6 times, inflicting 120s penalty. Etc. (I balanced the time penalty so this snowball effect can only happen if the player is attacked by several bugs at the same time.)

That made the game really punishing, so I put some limitations: the bugs can't attack more than 5 times between two player's actions. There is still a snowball effect, but it quickly hits a penalty ceiling. This ceiling is further reduced by the resistance. Resistance diminishes the bugs damage (you only take half damage with resistance = 9).

I don't know how to communicate efficiently this combat mechanics (and it's a shame, since it is probably one of the most prevailing ones).

You are right: confusion doesn't affect the last boss. I should certainly add a log message to highlight it (like I did for the hack). But confusion should affect the bugs invoked by the last boss (if not, I will fix it).

The free weapon change action is on purpose. It wasn't the case in an earlier version. There is a big difference in the game between a free action and a non-free action, since a free action doesn't suffer time penalty, which can get pretty high. I want the player to feel free to swap weapon depending on the situation (for example, basic weapons are useful when the player is overwhelmed). I might change it in the post-7DRL version: the balance is not perfect (I may nerf paradoxical weapons too).

I agree these two QoL features should be integrated in the post-7DRL version. :)

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