itch.io

"players who look at/play larger jams. ..views from jams also helps you stay on "new and popular". my entries to the git hub game off jam .., and most of these views were not from devs."

this is very interesting and good if it is really accurate information, but how did you know this? and why do you think that most jams participants are not game developers?

"other things you can do to make more people play your game is invest in a really great thumbnail and game page"

this topic is covered in darkness, I have seen beautiful, magnificent covers for unpopular games, and terrible covers that shot to the top. It's more like luck and lottery :). IMHO the effort on the cover is not worth it. This can only happen if there is an A/B test.

My current CTR fluctuates between 0.5-2%, what is the average and maximum CTR that is considered normal on itch and steam?

"5-10 players a day is a massive amount, and honestly pretty unrealistic"

But you have 5000 views ~ 1000-2500 plays, jam 7-30 days, that means ~ 1000/30~33 2500/7~350 => 33-350 plays/day

"important to filter feedback"

I agree, we need a balance between the various conflicting wishes of the players and our own vision of the project

"you need to explain the nearby units/unit switching thing somewhere more clearly."

I'll add a note to todolist to make unit selection clearer

Thank you for playing and such a great detailed review,

I can't imagine where I can promote such a small game. Apart from channels like "reddit games" I couldn't find anything suitable. It is unlikely that such small games as ours can interest the respectable reddit gamers that plays large AAA games.

I thought that itch was just a platform for small, beginner indie games, but in fact, probably all the traffic goes to large, already popular games. This means my game is not interesting to the players.

Jams are again game developers, good for getting feedback, but not getting enough players.

The goal was to make a working prototype of the game in a short time, something suitable and working, and then regularly get at least 5-10 players a day. Improve the game according to the wishes of those who want to play such a game. But the game currently only has 20 "Browser Plays". Goal failed :).

"i think you can't move when other circles are moving?"

No, after death, control of the unit is lost, but if there is a white unit nearby, you can switch to it and control it.

"what are the other white circles for?"

You can switch between white circles (units) and manage them one by one.

"quoting yourself is a little pretentious haha"

it was such an exaggerated joke from an unknown indie developer :)), in proportion to the epic theme of jam (POWER)

I took part in the jam game "Improve My Game Jam 33" - a good small regular jam specializing specifically in feedback to improve the game. Maybe someone will find the link https://itch.io/jam/imgj33 useful.

So what did we find out? After adding visual indicators, some people understood how to play, others still don’t understand. The next stage of improvement, there may be one of the options: 1) game bot, 2) scripted bot, 3) animated gif picture 4) static picture

to show the rules, and there may be sound effects for danger, bonuses, water level changes, etc

"I don’t understand what you mean in #6. Which blue circle are you referring to?"

when you move the mouse over a character, an information window pops up: Name, type, and two numeric parameters.

Thanks for playing and feedback,

I added your notes to my todo list

Thanks for playing and feedback,

"The grammatical errors in the instructions"

Tell me more specifically (in which sentence), if you have time, where to correct grammatical errors?

yes, or maybe make a lobby menu and launch a game or a playing bot in the background for demonstration like in old slot machine games

Thanks for playing and feedback. Hmm, you probably didn’t wait until the streak of water reached the very top of the glass, then maybe it would have become more clear what the water was doing.

I’ve been thinking about the lessons for some time now, there are three options for implementation complexity: 1) game bot, 2) scripted bot, 3) animated gif picture 4) static picture

IMHO, my feelings from the game: the game positions itself as an arena battle, but I did not feel that I was fighting an equal opponent in the arena. In the arena, each fight with each opponent must be individualized, and require effort and ingenuity to win, when each new enemy is a challenge. Otherwise it turns into hunting animals.

But if it is still a hunt, then there should be a reward for the player for winning. Loot in the form of dropped items, gold or something else. The loot can be used immediately or later in the camp. Loot emotionally confirms mini victories during the hunt.

I've seen items and gems in screenshots, but I haven't gotten to this screen in the game. And loot should confirm emotions from the very beginning of the game, you know what I mean?

A good example of how to make an interesting game out of the simplest graphics.

In terms of improvements, the potential for adding features is limitless if you want to keep developing. In combination with simple graphics, it will be much easier: different types of weapons, shots for several cells, bombs of different types and power, moving and stationary enemies in the maze, walls of different strengths, collected items that give improvements, etc.

My gaming experience:

1. It was difficult to understand what was happening with gold. Gold increases and decreases. At first I thought that it was produced in houses and did not understand why it suddenly began to decrease. So far, after a few games, I was able to realize that it was decreasing from the purchase of units and cards. It would be necessary to accurately show the purchase of a unit and a card (quickly or instantly reduce gold).

2. During the battle, when choosing a map, it is better to highlight the available units. To make it clear that the card must be given to the character.

3. After the battle, at the campsite, if you click on the character, a fatal error occurs with the loss of game progress.

4. It’s unclear why the cleric doesn’t heal; when I bought them, I expected them to be useful to the party.

5. It is not clear how to cast magic as a wizard, the same as a cleric

6. It is not clear what the “blue circle” indicator under the “red attack circle” means

7. I expected red enemies to be stronger, but they are just as weak as green ones

8. the bosses are really strong, there is a lot to think about in order to defeat them, this is a good meta (think about the game after the game)

9. I didn't like the graphics :), but that's good because most casual players will be fine!

"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?

I tried several times on a PC and a smartphone, and I couldn’t play due to severe freezes and low fps of the game. an ordinary user with a budget device will not be able to play, perhaps optimization is needed, measuring FPS and disabling unnecessary things. Only half of the screen is visible on a smartphone.

But the idea has powerful potential for further development, people even love to just watch the show, if it’s fun, then one wins, then the other

weapon bullet, or energy charge (as power bank), when hero make shoots.

Other type energy charge may be also for gravity case.

Good game in retro style. A completely finished product. True, there is a feeling that something is still a little missing. There may be a limitation on weapon charges and gravity that can be obtained from lockers and killed robots. Then there will be a choice to kill robots if there are shots or fly by if there are gravity charges.

You correctly recognized the rules of the game, which makes me happy because adding indicators to the game was useful.

What may have happened is that sometimes a light block, when clearing blocks, can come off and float up sharply, colliding with a dropped block. And this can cause the game to be lost.

I need to think about sounds.

interesting strategy, similar to board games, easy to play without instructions, but difficult to win :). I didn't win 0/4 games.

The colors are nice, but I would add danger and bonus icons on top of the cards. Colored pictograms will give you the opportunity to quickly think through and create an adventure route.

The finish card was not immediately clear. The start and finish can be made in the same color and with explicit Start Finish inscriptions or icons.

"games that are centered around a concept from mathematics":

imho, mostly players who are inside the game cannot appreciate complex concepts because they are inside. Before him is the task of completing the game or at least not losing.

When I got stuck in a game and couldn't go any further, I started to get bored because I was wandering around the worlds and nothing was happening (pressing "I`m Stuck" nothing happens). And then I wanted to close the game. We need some kind of holding elements of the game so that the player would want to stay in case of getting stuck. There may be tips or leveling up of experience, achievements, accumulation of strength to pass directly by force!

Thanks for playing and great detailed review!

oh yes, it would be good to insert auto play before the game. But this will be difficult to implement. To do this, I need to write a gaming bot that can analyze the playing field and make the right moves. But showing the game for an unusual type of game may be the only right way.

Yes, it would be cool to learn how to explain our own games just as Minesweeper did :)

I'm just starting to understand this difficulty. In addition, people are always in a hurry, they have no time to understand, even read the rules, and in games and entertainment, if something is not clear to them, they prefer to quit this and do others. In addition, games has already created many hundreds of thousands, and the attention of millions of people receive more simple and understandable games.

I uploaded the update of the game. Added 5 mini graphic indicators, which, as I hope, can improve understanding of the gameplay.

It would be interesting to listen to the opinion, those who have already tried to play, and those who have not yet seen the initial version

Thanks for playing and meaningful feedback. It is very valuable to have an outside perspective. "stack 3 boxes but when I stack 2 nothing happens" - I will take note of this problem.

What confuses me is that 4 out of 4 players could not understand how to play, because when we learned to play simple games like Minesweeper or something, we did not read any instructions and there were no special tips, we just tried to play and that’s it it worked. Maybe other players, those who managed to figure it out, simply didn’t write anything. Or maybe, having encountered a problem, they immediately left the game. What will happen if you make a slightly more complex game or even a very complex one such as a strategy, RPG, game universe, or new game mechanics...

In any case, I have already started working on and adding simple visual indicators to this game

thanks for playing,

So at the moment the following problems have become clear:

1 critical hazard before LOSE

2 how to get the points

3 what the water actually does

I'm thinking about it, and I already have several hypotheses about what can be added to the game for a better understanding of the game...

thanks for playing, 0 score - this makes me think deeply

hmm, interesting, so you can’t even get points before “LOSE”? 0 score? Or score>0, but it’s not clear how to win?

I fixed a few bugs in the game, if you have time, can you see if it's any better?

I fixed a few bugs in the game, if you have time, can you see if it's any better?

I first configured the access "Restricted - Only owners & authorized people can view the page" so as not to publish ahead of time, I thought "Restricted" was enough for the community

OK, now I have configured "Public" access

Hello indie gaming comrades, thanks for taking the time to view this topic.

I develop a very simple micro game experimental logic and retro old scools in my opinion. If there is no description or tutorial for this game, is it intuitive how to play it? What can be done to make the game more understandable?

Please, let me know if it's understand how to play this game and give me feedback on what can be improved in the game.

https://microsvard.itch.io/drop-down-block-to-water-puzzle

The main thing for me is to understand whether players can play this without description?

very well made and high quality game, nice cartoon graphics, dynamic addictive gameplay, great job

Thank you. What does "A little rough around the edges" mean? need an example

It seems like a simple game, there’s a little green man walking around, what’s wrong with that. But I see under the hood, a lot of work has been done: loading maps, animation, transitions between locations through doors, mini-game battle, quest system, many UI windows (settings, inventory, etc.)... Good job. I liked the solution to transitions between scenes - animation of black circles

Thank you, :) undoubtedly, all games are GREAT, each great game has more than a million players! :)

I already tried to play yours, but I couldn’t get past anything. I'm not good at text quests :)

thanks for trying to play my game

thank you for your participation and understanding :)

hmm "bit confusing", I'll think about how to make it clearer, maybe there may be additional pop-up windows with a pause, showing what is happening, or what needs to be done in the game. Thank you for playing

Controls in mini-games are inconvenient on a PC. And things happen very quickly, I didn’t have time to understand what to do. I'm shocked that you put a ton of minigames into one project in such a short time. In my jam game I tried to combine 2-3 mini-games and it was not easy

It seems like a simple game, but unexpectedly enjoyable. When I come across such well-made, enjoyable games or pixel art pictures, I immediately want to try making a game in the pixel art style myself.