Watched the whole thing. It was very helpful, thank you.
Getting positive feedback is nice, but seeing someone struggle with the game is much more useful, as it helps me identify the pain points. I got some great notes from your video
I am happy I can help. I am actually curious what your success rate is at beating the boss given you know everything about the game. If it's too low, then the game is either too random, or extremely hard, and if it's high then there must be some crucial information or trick you don't tell players. I like the look of the game, so I hope there is more depth to it, and I was just not able to figure it out.
To be honest, I never exactly measured my winrate against the boss, though I know some builds are more consistent than others (going heavy on Red won't give him time to flood your reels)
Either way, the boss was reworked to give "Chips" instead of "Chip" and Bribes instead of Tips. I'll try to do more balance testing for DD50
I have finally beaten the boss. It took me about 10 runs. It was very frustrating, and I must say it feels like I eventually just got lucky instead of better at the game. I look forward to your future balance changes.
Messed around for a bit, kept getting mega killed by the leprechaun.
Visuals: A bit rough, but the consistent quality keeps it immersive and easy to get used to. The animations and color choice really brings it to life.
Audio: Seemed fine to me, except that there wasn't any sliders to adjust them.
Gameplay: Map is cool, I like the hex grid and the fog of war. It's also interesting to be able to have 100% control over what enemies and items you encounter. I couldn't tell if the bouncers were real time or turn based in how long it took them to walk up a tile. The design of the combat is fun to watch, and the types of slots felt intuitive by description. I still don't know if there's any skill in timing the slots though. The minigames are decent fun and added some flavor to buying new slots.
Combat was unbalanced, sometimes I got pwned or mopped the floor with them. I imagine with more playing I could start knowing what builds to go for and when to go after an enemy or avoid it depending how our abilities would clash. I also probably should have fought more to have more slots for the boss.
Thanks for playing! Nice to see positive feedback on the artstyle, since it's been a huge pain point
Bouncers were based on how much you move and interact with things, perhaps I should add some UI element that unambiguously tells you when they're making the next move.
Combat is indeed imbalanced at the moment, I probably need to make some enemies really easy to let people get going with their builds with no risk.
Nice game. I think the damage/armor/heal/money system works quite well and is really intuitive. Furthermore, the core gameplay loop is fun and definitely has the potential to become addictive. I also like how the protagonist kinda looks like Uma Thurman in Pulp Fiction.
Embracing RNG is most likely the right approach for this game, but I didn't like how easy it's to get screwed at the beginning, especially for the copycat enemies which are frankly kind of boring to fight at the start before you get any items. I think I played 8-9 runs and at least 5 of them ended against the first enemy, otherwise it's quite easy to snowball so balance is a bit off.
This is just my opinion but I like it when roguelikes give you a free item per level because that makes each run different from the get go and would help even out the power level at the beginning. I think the final boss is fine although the permanent greed makes any yellow item worse as a consequence.
I also noticed the tourist guys with sunglasses give you permanent useless symbols and I'm not sure if that's intended because it's by far the harshest penalty in the game which is weird coming from an otherwise easy enemy. Another bug I found was that the curtains from the rewards screen stay on forever if you press F5 to reload the game.
Balance is certainly way off at the moment, there's really no "easy" enemy if you get bad luck. I might do something along the lines of making easier enemies spawn closer to the entrance. Free item per level might be an unlockable thing once I get around to implementing a meta upgrade/unlock system.
The boss does make yellow builds worse, but I intend on having multiple boss options per floor/level so he won't always be there to ruin your day. Even then he might need a nerf honestly, maybe his Greed should be a timed buff that he has to give himself.
Tourist is meant to give you useless symbols because he is otherwise harmless. It's a "time limit" kind of enemy.
This is great, very nice work. I think you have a real knack for game systems design, and make charming, lively artwork. It's a great combination. The map exploration feels really good, with the fog of war effect and all that. Combat is good, it's a fun system. Just enough player input to be engaging, while still being relaxing and enjoyable.
On that front though, I do feel the combat is a bit too hard. I kept getting rocked by random little dice guys. I think the "challenge" should be more about choices in where to go, who to fight, and being forced into choices about when to fight vs when to heal vs when to collect resources. Because there is only a limited control within the battle, it doesn't feel great when a single enemy takes you out.
The best comparisons I can think of are Pokemon of course, and Heroes of Might and Magic. Both of those games rarely put you in a position where a single fight completely rocks your shit (or at least warn you, if you're about to do that). With Pokemon, the challenge is that the places you can heal are separated by enemy encounters, so you have to maintain your resources until you can heal again. Something like that might be smart here, so that you can maintain challenge without feeling unfair.
The core system designs are rock solid though. Well done.
Thanks for playing! Glad your impressions were positive overall.
You make a great point on the balancing and how one battle can end you - this is something I might have been ignoring due to an abundance of experience in stopping the reels right where I want them, but I can see how it might be an issue to newer players. Perhaps the way to go is enemies only doing chip damage, but healing being rare and/or expensive. I'll try to steer the game in that direction and see how it feels
Comments
Video recording of your with some commentary:
https://mega.nz/file/PZlHwTQA#WM685Fyp1ucLn2mvOMkiofQ7mW6baTYsqz_ETVkZ00w
I hope it's going to be helpful to you.
Watched the whole thing. It was very helpful, thank you.
Getting positive feedback is nice, but seeing someone struggle with the game is much more useful, as it helps me identify the pain points. I got some great notes from your video
I am happy I can help. I am actually curious what your success rate is at beating the boss given you know everything about the game. If it's too low, then the game is either too random, or extremely hard, and if it's high then there must be some crucial information or trick you don't tell players. I like the look of the game, so I hope there is more depth to it, and I was just not able to figure it out.
To be honest, I never exactly measured my winrate against the boss, though I know some builds are more consistent than others (going heavy on Red won't give him time to flood your reels)
Either way, the boss was reworked to give "Chips" instead of "Chip" and Bribes instead of Tips. I'll try to do more balance testing for DD50
I have finally beaten the boss. It took me about 10 runs. It was very frustrating, and I must say it feels like I eventually just got lucky instead of better at the game. I look forward to your future balance changes.
Messed around for a bit, kept getting mega killed by the leprechaun.
Visuals: A bit rough, but the consistent quality keeps it immersive and easy to get used to. The animations and color choice really brings it to life.
Audio: Seemed fine to me, except that there wasn't any sliders to adjust them.
Gameplay: Map is cool, I like the hex grid and the fog of war. It's also interesting to be able to have 100% control over what enemies and items you encounter. I couldn't tell if the bouncers were real time or turn based in how long it took them to walk up a tile. The design of the combat is fun to watch, and the types of slots felt intuitive by description. I still don't know if there's any skill in timing the slots though. The minigames are decent fun and added some flavor to buying new slots.
Combat was unbalanced, sometimes I got pwned or mopped the floor with them. I imagine with more playing I could start knowing what builds to go for and when to go after an enemy or avoid it depending how our abilities would clash. I also probably should have fought more to have more slots for the boss.
Fun game, hope to see it improved.
Thanks for playing! Nice to see positive feedback on the artstyle, since it's been a huge pain point
Bouncers were based on how much you move and interact with things, perhaps I should add some UI element that unambiguously tells you when they're making the next move.
Combat is indeed imbalanced at the moment, I probably need to make some enemies really easy to let people get going with their builds with no risk.
Nice game. I think the damage/armor/heal/money system works quite well and is really intuitive. Furthermore, the core gameplay loop is fun and definitely has the potential to become addictive. I also like how the protagonist kinda looks like Uma Thurman in Pulp Fiction.
Embracing RNG is most likely the right approach for this game, but I didn't like how easy it's to get screwed at the beginning, especially for the copycat enemies which are frankly kind of boring to fight at the start before you get any items. I think I played 8-9 runs and at least 5 of them ended against the first enemy, otherwise it's quite easy to snowball so balance is a bit off.
This is just my opinion but I like it when roguelikes give you a free item per level because that makes each run different from the get go and would help even out the power level at the beginning. I think the final boss is fine although the permanent greed makes any yellow item worse as a consequence.
I also noticed the tourist guys with sunglasses give you permanent useless symbols and I'm not sure if that's intended because it's by far the harshest penalty in the game which is weird coming from an otherwise easy enemy. Another bug I found was that the curtains from the rewards screen stay on forever if you press F5 to reload the game.
Glad you enjoyed the game!
Balance is certainly way off at the moment, there's really no "easy" enemy if you get bad luck. I might do something along the lines of making easier enemies spawn closer to the entrance. Free item per level might be an unlockable thing once I get around to implementing a meta upgrade/unlock system.
The boss does make yellow builds worse, but I intend on having multiple boss options per floor/level so he won't always be there to ruin your day. Even then he might need a nerf honestly, maybe his Greed should be a timed buff that he has to give himself.
Tourist is meant to give you useless symbols because he is otherwise harmless. It's a "time limit" kind of enemy.
This is great, very nice work. I think you have a real knack for game systems design, and make charming, lively artwork. It's a great combination. The map exploration feels really good, with the fog of war effect and all that. Combat is good, it's a fun system. Just enough player input to be engaging, while still being relaxing and enjoyable.
On that front though, I do feel the combat is a bit too hard. I kept getting rocked by random little dice guys. I think the "challenge" should be more about choices in where to go, who to fight, and being forced into choices about when to fight vs when to heal vs when to collect resources. Because there is only a limited control within the battle, it doesn't feel great when a single enemy takes you out.
The best comparisons I can think of are Pokemon of course, and Heroes of Might and Magic. Both of those games rarely put you in a position where a single fight completely rocks your shit (or at least warn you, if you're about to do that). With Pokemon, the challenge is that the places you can heal are separated by enemy encounters, so you have to maintain your resources until you can heal again. Something like that might be smart here, so that you can maintain challenge without feeling unfair.
The core system designs are rock solid though. Well done.
Thanks for playing! Glad your impressions were positive overall.
You make a great point on the balancing and how one battle can end you - this is something I might have been ignoring due to an abundance of experience in stopping the reels right where I want them, but I can see how it might be an issue to newer players. Perhaps the way to go is enemies only doing chip damage, but healing being rare and/or expensive. I'll try to steer the game in that direction and see how it feels