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Hello from tonight's stream!

This game's concept fascinated me, and I wanted to see where it was going. So far I like, but I can for sure see points where improvements can be made.

In the beginning, getting started can be very challenging due to restrictive TP. It mostly felt like I was only replenishing my TP from the fights, at least until I got a +1 strength in finally. At that point, it almost too quickly became a steamroll to the point where I worried what I was doing could be game breaking (farming the level 1 enemies to get 1-2 shards of light without using any TP). I tried to not really do this a lot, but it still proved to be so powerful. Simply put, being able to get strength quickly results in getting strength more quickly. Instead of all strength gains costing 10 shards, it should slowly rise up in price.

I'd also like to recommend that when starting combat, there's a moment between when you press the button to try and first strike and when you can hit a menu option in the fight. The reason why is because it can be all too easy to be hitting the attack button over and over and then immediately hitting pummel when the fight starts. I'd also like to suggest that there is an option for the player to let the cursor remember what they last chose so they can easily spam it over and over. That way, if I'm using magic I don't have to spend time setting up to use magic.

I was confused by the second yellow switch in the bottom level of the Western Forest Shrine. It's trapped around blue blocks when you get down there, then when you free it you can go hit it. However, doing this actually wastes your time because the yellow switch didn't need to be hit for you to get an upcoming chest. Hitting it makes it so you can't get it. Perhaps you could make a fourth switch color?

Finally... oh goddd...... that music.... please... i beg of you...

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Hey there, thanks a lot for playing my game on stream and for your feedback! Oh and congrats on claiming that Steam key too ;) There are three different in total so let's see if  others get them.


Regarding the balacing issues: I did realize while playtesting that going for the "Strength" route from start does make things easier early on. It's kind of a way to get a head start, but not many people realize it immediately, so well done! I was precisely waiting for feedback on some of the issues you mentioned and I already have a few tweaks in mind (like reduce the Shards of Light obtained from slugs for example) so it's not THAT easy from the beginning, and especially on the long term. Just as in any other RPG though, grinding needs to be rewarding in some way for the player, it wouldn't be fair otherwise. So you could be farming for EXP by defeating blue slimes forever to grind and reach high levels from the start,  but the downside is you might get bored quickly and want to move on and explore further. Some players have this kind of patience, others don't, I guess. Also, as you've seen, the enemies' defense also increases, some are resistant or immune to physical attacks, obviously their strength also increases, others use magic, etc. so it'll be important eventually not to dismiss the other stats. (By the way, you can get info about the monsters' stats from the "Minions" menu). That being said, I had already thought of the Shard cost increasing by tier for the stats and I'll definitely implement it based on your feedback, on top of the other tweaks I mentioned.

You also said that at first it felt like it was hard to get Shards of Light and they're only used for TP recovering at the beginning. It's true, but it's because I like not giving players too much guidance to encourage exploring right from the start: You can get quite a few "free" Shards as well as TP Dice from hidden chests early on by doing so.

About the fact that you can press the "Pummel" button immediately after getting a first strike, it is kind of nomal... I guess? The first strike hits the foe without using any TP, and then the battle starts normally and you get to select the action. It also allows battles to go quickly. But I may have missed what you meant.

I did also think about remembering the cursor position, but it is actually a lot more work than it seems at first glance, and not everyone might like that. I could add it as an option as you suggest, if more players want it. What I'll definitely do though is swap "Defend" and "Spell", it's much more logical to have both attack options on top of the list, while defending is not used that much during normal battles.

The infamous yellow switch: Yes, it is useless and only there to make players waste a bit of time and TP if they decide to go and press it. I admit it. It's just like that sand castle, you did have the urge to step on it. You see a switch, you have the urge to press it, even though it may not be useful or necessary. The God S is a bit of a bitch towards the demon, after all. ^^;


Two things I also wanted to point out: It seems you noticed quite late that you can get a quick view of your HP and Shards in your possession by pressing Start on the controller without having to open the main menu. Also, you walked everywhere, but you can actually run by pressing X while you move around. It's all explained on the Options/Controls menu, but I will probably add a message at the start to mention these.

Finally the music: Yeah, it's very much WIP and I'm trying to improve, you're not the first one to complain about it . As a matter of fact, I uploaded a revised build with a toned down version of the music, it's not as high pitched and generally I think it all blends togehter better to make it less grating. Let's see. Unfortunately I have no budget to hire a composer atm. Sorry you had to suffer so much from it :/

Thanks again for the detailed, and very useful feedback!

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Yea, there were some things I forgot. I blame being high. XD

To speak on what I meant regarding attacking immediately, allow me to explain. So when you're trying to get a First Strike, you're likely spamming the attack button to get it to work. No big deal. When you get into the fight, you're likely to choose Pummel right away. This isn't a big deal either... so long as the enemy actually takes damage from Pummel. However, there were some enemies that, even with a lot of strength, I couldn't touch and had to use Magic. However, this ends up being a turn wasted if the player isn't fast enough to stop themselves (especially since you won't always get the first strike). Thus, I was suggesting a delay before you can make your first selection so that you have time to stop spamming and get into fight mode.

Also, if that oyster boss doesn't make an appearance in the full game, I will be sad. D: