itch.io

I hope you're all landing on your feet! Beacon is great and you should all be proud.

For the record, you're welcome to play whichever version of the game makes the most sense to you. If I change something and you like the older version better, play that!

Made some more clarifications and rolled back some changes after playing at Forge Midwest this weekend. Uploaded the latest version. Enjoy!

Fun and clever. I look forward to playing the full version.

Clarified a bit of the text and reuploaded!

Sounds cool! If you play, let me know how it goes.

welp, 12 seconds after my initial upload, I made another few revisions and reposted it. so... the system is working?

Is there a way to adjust the mouse sensitivity? My hands are not that steady.

So, I tried this game, but other than trying to lay blocks down to fill in horizontal lines (I think?), I have no idea what I'm doing. I don't know what the clear or not-clear spaces on the board mean. I don't know why it keeps making an obnoxious noise and adding "Burn", whatever that means. I don't know why I can't rotate the pieces all the way around. I don't know how I'm supposed to place pieces on a board once it's shrunk and there's nowhere to put anything. I don't know whether the red blocks that get added are good or bad. You say it's hard to get a game over, but I got a bunch of them right in a row.

A tutorial would be nice. Or instructions. Or anything, really. Might be a cool game, but I can't tell.

Oh, nice! Looks like you already caught most of my notes, ha.
1. I didn't even get that far, nice catch!

4. I love the idea of planet bonuses, that's a great fix!

I also considered adding the leftover enemy cards to the remaining decks, but I thought it might just drag things out?

Ooh, what if planets have a bonus for the player on one side, and when destroyed, they flip over and have a bonus for the enemies? So instead of moving the leftover enemies to the other decks and making the game take longer, it just boosts the existing enemy decks? Plus it would make a way bigger incentive to protect every planet!

5. Hm, being able to discard unused ammo cards as a way to cycle them does help a bit with having junk ammo cards. That didn't even occur to me. 

6. I like the idea of a mint-tin sized game, it would take up way less tablespace than full size cards- I threw mine in full size sleeves, and it's got a fairly large footprint that way.

7. I did, in fact, line both sides of the board with the duplicate zone markers. Not really necessary, but it did slightly enhance the old vertical screen arcade cabinet feel ^_^

I like the idea of a beam weapon option! Also maybe a supermissile that damages adjacent enemies?

You could use the extra cards for the rules- it's fashionable these days to just make everything cards. But it'd also be cool to just add more stuff to the game.

Good notes!

Notes! 

1. So, first thing, this game is pretty difficult! Unless you just let 2 planets explode and focus on one lane, and then it's really easy.

2. There's no line in the rules to tell the player to move the first set of enemies into Zone 1. I assumed I could attack the decks on the first turn- maybe that was correct? CAN you attack the decks? That seems fine, if so, but then later the rules say that you move "remaining" enemies. If the enemies on the deck are "remaining" then the note about Zone 1 being empty after movement are false, and you don't need a separate step to move enemies off the deck. And if enemies on the deck are not "remaining" then there are no enemies in the field until turn 2. Any of these scenarios is fine, it just needs to be clear which is intended.

3. I was going to say all the enemy ships should be facing down, but then I realized what I had taken for cockpits was actually drive flames, and they are, in fact, all facing down, so... well done.

4. The counter bar divisions should be clearer, I had to squint sometimes to see how many pips each one has. Partly that could be due to the scaling, and partly because my eyes are old, but it would be pretty easy to just make them clearer.

5. It was not immediately clear that I could target *any* enemy in a column, until I read the text on an Astrolith card, and then doublechecked the rules. As it was, I still forgot I could do it and that probably made the game more difficult for me.

6. 4.B says the enemies shoot the card directly beneath them- which would seem to imply they are shooting their own in the back? I assumed this was not the case, but it could be clearer.

7. Needs more pickups. Astroliths should drop heals that restore 1 life to your ship. Or grant a shield- like if you have it in your hand during enemy attack phase you can discard it to ignore 1 damage.

8. I kinda want a way to get junk ammo cards out of my deck, but maybe that's not desirable? Maybe I have to discard an ammo card to purge another ammo card?

9. Game should end if ANY planet is destroyed, but player should get more lives, or at least more options. I think making the Astrolith pickup a shield or heal makes defending an at-risk planet with your ship a more viable tactic.

The art is great, and I dig the theme. I'm working on a similar game, I'll try to get some playtesting done at Forge Midwest this month and hopefully I'll have more ideas to share.

*sigh* Why did you give Hexia Mana-Burn? She wasn't enough of a pain in the rear? I don't mind the swingier RNG in 2.0, but Hexia is BS.

ahhh, I think I have the same problem. no wonder I've been stuck for 40 minutes!

I also had the bug that prevented me from finishing, but after a restart, no problem. Clever rework of a classic concept.

I was confused for a moment, but honestly, I dig it.

So, I literally just picked up the 2.0 beta like, 2 days ago... if I get the actual release version, 1) is it basically the same? and 2) will it reset my progress?

You added the one thing I really wanted, which is the ability to skip class changes, so I'm more than happy.

I can't remember if I played this one back in the day or not, but Willow writes quality games, so it's definitely worth a gander.

Finally catching up on things, and this looks super dope!

Looks cool, can't wait to try it!

Thanks! I'll give it another shot.

Cute! I couldn't really tell if sniffing did anything, but it was fun peeing on everything. Especially my owner's leg when they pulled my leash in all the way. SCREW YOUR LEASH MAN I DO WHAT I WANT!

4500 points. I am a very impatient dog.

Awesome, thanks! Good to know it's not just a quirk of my setup. 

Fortunately, the game works just fine without it ^_^

Just "wrong username and/or token".

I assume "token" = password, right?

This is a super fun game, but it won't accept my gamejolt login =\

Good to know ^_^ Maybe Cow won't smash me this time >_<

Nice. I just started playing the game yesterday and encountered every single one of those bugs, so your timing is perfect! ^_^

The game is really cool, thanks!

(btw, do I need to download the files above or is it updated automatically?)

I mostly only used my tablet when my PC is in the shop, or I'm out somewhere- and I just got a new PC, and nobody can go out anywhere =\

Check!

Nice! I have that on my tablet I think? But I don't see it on itch...

ooooh! is that from MGM2 or did you just extrapolate with your own art? It's fabulous!

indubitably!

=O

excellent!

Nice!

Faboosh!

<3!

=O
amazeballs.

Really like the monochromatic design!

So cute!