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Playtest for a 3D Reverse Tower Defense - Heroic Assault

A topic by LeekJam created Apr 08, 2024 Views: 203 Replies: 4
Viewing posts 1 to 4
(+1)

Hello everyone,

Heroic Assault is a 3D reverse tower defense game in a medieval scenery, where you get to send the wave of warrior attackers into levels filled with defending towers.
I've been working on it since a few weeks now and I'd like to get some feedback with a playtest so I know if I am going into the right direction or if I should review my concept.

I am mostly looking for feedback about the game loop, and visual aspect (colors are probably to rework, I am not much of an artist...). The UI is very rough so... don't focus too much on it please :)

https://leekjam.itch.io/heroic-assault - Password : playtest

I have set up a 2 min rating google form to gather some feedback, if you could juste take the time to check it after your play, that would be lovely => https://forms.gle/CPGRK5Q1nVNf9Z6cA

I am also obviously very eager of various suggestions here.

Cheers,

(+1)

I played your game, and here are my thoughts on it:

-I think there's a solid idea here. One suggested change I would have is toggling an option to have units either automatically target towers or proceed to the goal.

-Another idea would be to have additional ways to spend upgrade points in between stages in other ways than unlocking new units. I had some extra points that I couldn't use in between matches after unlocking new unit types. I also saw that it said I had 0 upgrade points during battles - is this a bug or are they supposed to be different kinds of points?

-Hotkeys would be nice to have, such as for using the healing spell. I also wanted to be able to disable the music and sound effects while playing.

-The game runs kind of slow for me, but I'm also playing it on a laptop I got in 2017 so it's probably not something to be too concerned about. Still, having the option to reduce graphics settings (e.g no shadows) would be good.

-The dark sword icon against the green Available Units window is really hard to see - it needs to be brighter. Same with other unit types.

-There's a lot of potential to introduce more counterplay between player units and the towers. For example, a special unit that automatically attacks towers adjacent to your units, or one that powers up your units' stats while attacking towers.

-It's not clear how your score is calculated at the end of each match. 

-A way to make the game more fun would be to add additional kinds of challenges for various stages. For example, win a match on wave 2, or win a match without ever healing your units.

-I think you should be able to select groups by double-clicking on one of the units. It was annoying having to use the drag box on units that were actively moving.

-I liked how each stage introduced a new type of challenge to the player. One recommendation I have would be to visually distinguish towers that are out of reach for melee units as opposed to having them look the same as the others. This also applies for any other type of tower.

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The game is obviously very early in development, but there's definitely a good idea here! I didn't see much of an issue with the art given that the game is in the prototype stage, but I assume it will be refined further into development.

(+2)

First of all, thank you for this very thorough analysis, that means a lot.

Double-clicking on unit for selecting all of them is actually already implemented, but not told through the tutorial and the click check is a bit too picky, I need to refine it. Also, you can manage the sound options through the pause menu (Echap > Options > Sound).

The option to switch between auto attacking towers VS going straight to goal is actually on my "ideas" list, I am glad to see you thought about it too, I will prioritize this. I also like your idea of counterplay in unit/tower behavior. I had some vague idea that I needed to do some kind of synergies but I couldn't figure it out, you brought in fresh ideas I need to consider.

Regarding upgrades, after the 4 unit unlocks there are also some meta upgrades for the units and gameplay. I indeed need a few more upgrades and balancing between their cost and the earning rate to avoid the situation you had. On the "in-game" upgrade points, that is a wording and tutorial issue. You actually gather "experience" during a level by destroying towers, and this allows to get some unit improvements between wave (using the "up" button on the right of the interwave screen). I will work on the UX and tutorial for this so it's more readable.

I will also add the QoL suggestions to my todo list (hotkeys, icons, performance, visual distinction of out of reach towers...), they are very valid points.

Thanks again for playing and for your advices!

This was a fun little game, and I enjoyed it. I have filled out the form.

Here is my feedback

Things that I think really worked

  1. The inverted, build an army to kill the goblins lair was fun, and after the first round, I was ready for more
  2. Being able to control the units and attack the towers was fun and interesting
  3. It was really fun to be able to build my units and set up the right combination of units
  4. The guides were helping me great, and I liked it

Things that I think should be improved

  1. The building the setup of units was really fun and showed great potential, and I would work on making that work better
  2. The controling of the units did not have a lot of visual feedback and the "dragging" around the units gives you individual control. But to be honest I would have been just as happy to just be able to select the unit and control that. Chosing individual soldiers seemed a bit to "detailed" 
  3. My units got stuck behind the fence because I tried to attack a tower, so they stopped attacking the fence.

Thank you for sharing your game! 

If you have 10 minutes to spare to test my game and give some feedback that would be really great: https://itch.io/t/3658231/strategy-game-about-bunnies-building-a-rocket-gameplay...

(+1)

Thank you very much for the feedback and suggestions.

The pathfinding is one of my main challenges and I definitely need to work on that, that's right. Same for the UI, still I appreciate that the tutorial system has helped you.
I have fixed the bug you encountered on the start of level 2, good catch! It seems to have been a specific WebGL issue but it made me rework a bit scene loading to make it cleaner.

I will definitely take a look at your game and try to help you back.