Post by Mr. Nexus in Some concerns regarding UI and combat mechanics.

Viewing post in Some concerns regarding UI and combat mechanics.

Well that's a relief to hear.

It's kind of funny, makes me think that we must think alike if half the things I suggest are already the conceptual end result, heheh.

As far as the "simultaneous battle" things goes, it makes more sense when explained that way; The only thing i'd recommend (which honestly i'd put money on "is probably going in the game at some point" anyway) is a more descriptive battle log. Something simple even, like: "You used X, SUCCESS" so that it's certain no matter what if it worked or not. So in the case of blocking: "X used Y, SUCCESS...You used Block, PARTIAL SUCCESS! You managed to defend against half of the attack!" or "SUCCESS! You block the attack for no damage!", something alone those lines I feel would really clue the player in much better.

You guys aren't a bonafide company, or development team of size or experience, you're just some really talented folks making your first game, so maybe it was a bit unfair or unrealistic of me to assume the amount of finesse in a game as a fully fledged studio--But when I think of demos, or prototype builds, what comes to mind of this done perfectly is the Indivisible build by Lab Zero of Skullgirls fame. Of course, again, you're NOT Lab Zero and do NOT have the resources, so again, my bad.

BUT, since I like you guys a whole lot, and want you to be as successful as possible, I want to give this bit of advice for the future:

Do what Indivisible did. When you guys are a bigger team or a fully fledged studio, or you have the resources, and you're making something else, please please have everything that needs to be in place, in place, and everything that you can't implement, not in the game at all. I mean it from the bottom of my heart that I like the game, as well as you guys, and that i'm only saying this from a place of endearment...But I think it'll save you guys a lot of trouble in the future, to just have everything that WOULD be representative of the game in from the get go, and then add in the touches that make it a more fleshed out product later down the line.

I really hope that doesn't come across as arrogant or anything of me, because it ain't my intent at all.

With that said: I'm again very impressed at what you guys have been able to put together with such a small (assumedly inexperienced) team. It's honestly quite a marvel, and inspirational to any budding artist in any field...Even if it is porn :p. Cannot wait to try the new version, so hurry up and finish the game already! Just be perfect! Hit the enemy all the time and never get hit ever!

Majalis8 years ago

Yeah, there'll be more feedback about how the techniques worked out for you. We're still trying to figure out what the best way of presenting the information is.

Having things fully working as-is, barring future improvements, is going to be as much as possible our approach from here on in - we did have to do some rapid prototyping early on which led to some of that "insert working stuff here" scaffolding that you're seeing. In my experience in software development in general, you shouldn't push out half-baked things - either something is done or it's not done, and if it's not done, users shouldn't be seeing it. It's a good rule of thumb in general, and in a future project especially, but even as we continue on with this one, we're going to try to apply it.

That said, if we don't have any placeholders, it becomes nearly impossible to tell what direction the game will be moving in. If we had started off with only techniques that had their underlying systems implemented... well, there would be very few of them, and you wouldn't even see the stance system working at all. We're going to do a ton of iteration, and if we had things our way, we wouldn't be showing development this early to anyone... but that's also a lie, because the only reason we've been able to get as much as we have done has been because of feedback, positive and negative, and support that this initial roll-out has (somewhat unintentionally) brought us.

We had actually considered retreating out of public view for a while to release a "public" demo once we reached version 0.2.00, which would be at that "everything is in place and we're fleshing things out" stage that you mentioned. That was our original plan once the game jam was over, but we were pretty surprised by the response we got, and were seeing a lot of people that had come to expect the frequently updated public builds.

It's hard to say what approach will work best - everyone has a different expectation of where we are in the project, which is understandable, but if you think we're at the 90% mark vs. the 20% mark, you're going to see a very different game. I think it would be good if we put together a roadmap, and we've actually started to post pieces of that on our Patreon page publicly; we might compile it and flesh it out and post it as a sticky here in this forum, so that those who are interested know what to look out for and expect, and, if something is missing that they think should be in, to have an opportunity to let us know about it.

I will say that we are learning a ton from this, and as we center in on a more defined plan for this project, we're also keeping it in mind as a template for any future game projects to come. :D

Mr. Nexus8 years ago

Glad to hear it.

I agree that in general, things shouldn't be shown unless it's well under way. It's how we get projects that severely under deliver (coughnomansskycough) based on expectations and hype.

BUT at the same time, testing and public feedback is very important--especially for a small or new team who are still getting their bearings. Nintendo has in-company QA as well as long standing, very experienced members, who can make these sorts of decisions and calls by instinct alone. But ya'll ain't no Nintendo. (if you were i'd be expecting way more Rosalina and Samus)

But I think you guys have handled it in stride, and considering how it's been going, I think it's overall been a good investment. I think at this point, to kind of "retreat" wouldn't do much anymore, except make people worry and help nurture procrastination.

Do the roadmap thing. Conceptualize everything you want to do, and then zero in on what's realistic, and think about just how long you want to be making this. I'm sure you already know all of this, just saying. You're doin' the right things.

Keep it up.

itch.io

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