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King of Deadlands (Early Demo Update 1.5)'s itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Controls / UI | #10 | 4.357 | 4.357 |
| Art / Graphics | #11 | 4.500 | 4.500 |
| Sound/Music | #23 | 4.071 | 4.071 |
| Overall Fun | #27 | 3.929 | 3.929 |
Ranked from 14 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
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OVERALL FUN:
1. I had a great time playing your game. I'm not a huge fan of puzzles, but you made Tetris fun for me. I love how you tied in combat to solving these puzzles... plus the annoying (but in a good way) spells the enemy would cast. Blackout was a pain, but I loved it LOL
ART/GRAPHICS:
1. This is the best part. Unique artwork, nice tile animations, and maps are decorated nicely. There's never too much going on. They look great!
2. Character artwork, portraits, and sprites look fantastic.
3. Item and card artwork is nicely done!
CONTROLS/UI:
1. Great tutorial. Easy to follow and understand.
2. Controls during exploration and puzzles were fluid.
3. I Love the UI for box maps and puzzle battles!
SOUND/MUSIC:
1. Great music and sound effects during puzzles and exploration. Well done.
2. There were never moments when the audio felt too high/low. It was well-balanced.
Ah, thank you for taking the time to play and leave this comment, it really means a lot to me!
I'm really glad you enjoyed the game! What makes me especially happy is the fact that you liked the art so much, this is what I have the most experience in. However, I will definitely improve it a lot - most of it was done roughly, in order to build a demo faster.
By the way, I also want to thank you for something else! I followed your advice and joined the Indie Questing Discord server. It's a really nice community with lots of familiar faces, it was a great decision. :)
Glad to have you on the server. Say hi next time you're on. What's your name on there?
Same as here and on Twitter. I was active on the welcome-mat channel for a while when I joined, we must have missed each other. :)
Really looks like a classic made in the lat 90s, good artwork that both reminds HoMM1-3 but with with the author's very own style.
The Tetris battle approach is very unexpected and actually a lot of fun!
Will definitely have to play this more. Thanks for this very refreshing game!
Thank you very much, nothing makes me happier than knowing that people enjoy my work! You're breathtaking! :)
A great and refreshing take on the Might and Magic genre.
Art Direction: I like the overall style, it's coherent and with a lot of personality. Everything is quite readable and nice to look at. My only issue is the combo effect during battles which can be a bit distracting.
Controls/UI: UI is clear and there's a lot of information in the compendium that is great to read but can also be a bit overwhelming at the start. Controls are responsive and perfect for this kind of game, I'd love to have the possibility to use the UP arrow (together with Q and E) to rotate a block.
Game Loop: game loop is the usual M&M, the player explores a map, gather resources/artifact, capture points of interest and fight enemies... With a twist: the combat is TETRIS! I love the concept and the execution is great, the skills are fun to use and most enemies can mess you up in different ways (rotating a block at the last second, making a part of it disappear, destroying a part of a placed line, etc.).
Audio: music can get a bit repetitive, but overall the sound design works.
I was a sucker for M&M's games when I was a kid, so this game brought back a lot of memories, but what really sold me was the Tetris-styled combat: it's really fun and opens to a lot of strategies!
Great job!
Thank you, I'm really glad you enjoyed this game! :).
Yeah, the combo effect graphic is an ugly placeholder, it will be changed eventually.
Hmm, I'm curious... Do you mean to rotate it by 180 degrees with the UP arrow? If so, I think it's a very interesting idea and I will definitely consider adding it to the final version of KoD!
I am going through all submissions to make all developers aware of an important Google form I've made.
I'm joining the IQ folks to help organize smaller events in between the main FQ event in order to help prevent us from getting too many games in main events. Right now, I have a planned structure for these events but I would like to hear from everyone who was in this event in order to tune things better. The survey is a bit long, but it covers as much as I could think of. If you can take the time to do the survey by June 1st, I would immensely appreciate it!
You can find the form here: https://forms.gle/P9LPYwERhJtpZzteA
Hello from tonight's stream.
The artwork and UI look fantastic. I love the visual design of this game.
However, I may be in a minority that has no idea what's going on.
Don't get me wrong, I get that the battles are playing Tetris. What I don't get is everything outside of Tetris. So I did the tutorial, I know you're supposed to move around and you can collect stuff and recruit soldiers and so on and so on... but why are we doing this? What is it that I'm trying to do as the player overall? It felt like all I was doing was going randomly around to "fight stuff" then I just play Tetris with some five block pieces added in. I didn't pay attention to what was going on in the fights. I just kept playing Tetris until I won.
Did I just miss something obvious?
Beyond this, my own criticism would be that the battle music gets repetitive. Some changes in song would be nice.
Hi, thanks for comment.
I watched the recording of your stream, but I didn't exactly get what the problem was. Let me make a few guesses in that case, maybe one of them will be accurate.
1. While watching the stream I felt like you would like this game to have more story, be a bit more linear, maybe that's the problem? In that case I'm sorry, but it was never meant to be a story heavy game (although some more story will be added in the future), it's just a roguelite sandbox, where I wanted to give players basic informations and let them explore the game on their own, learn about it and utilize new toys during subsequent runs. Bits of the story and informations about the goal of a game are provided in the first dialogue - there is a lingering, unknown danger and the hero is the one who must lead people out of those dying lands.
2. If the problem was a confusion about mechanics - I saw that during the stream you mentioned things that were actually explained in the tutorial (player health and consequences of losing a battle, hero and enemy power, creatures utility, etc.). That makes me think that maybe I should find some other way of explaining these things, like highlighting them during the tutorial talk to make it more memorable.
By the way, you should be able to find some answers in the compendium, the button is on the side bar. The goal is described on the first page of it too. However, if the problem was the absence of the story... I'll add an intro cutscene to this demo in the future, but I have a lot of other things to upgrade before I do that.
Please tell me more about the issue, if it was something I commented on or maybe you just didn't like some of the ideas/mechanics (which is perfectly fine). It will help me find a solution.
I know that it's a niche genre combination and requires specific mindset to enjoy it. Additionally, it's not meant to be played from the beginning to the "definitive" end in a single run. I would like to use something like The Binding of Isaac as an example of similar approach - in such games you discover, learn and repeat while slowly mastering the game.
I hope I clarified it a bit for you. I also hope you'll find some more value in it sometime and give it another try with these things in mind. :) If you have more questions, feel free to ask.
So before I get into this, I should note... I was high during that stream. Since streams are just meant to be fun for me, I usually consume a bit of cannabis to help me out. This doesn't affect my ability to give feedback, but it CAN affect my memory if something isn't explicitly stated.
I'm going to check through the tutorial again when I'm not high to see how it teaches things.
That said, it was a bit of both for me. For now, let me cover in terms of the first guess...
When the game starts, there are a few lines of dialogue to get you started which sets a vague goal but gives no idea of how you achieve that goal. You're just thrown to this big world with no guidance of what you're looking for, both in the immediate and long term. This could be your intent, but for me it makes it hard to enjoy when I don't understand what I'm going after. I'll try and use an example to explain what I mean.
Let's say this was an MMORPG instead of the game you made. Normally, when you start a new character there's a quest to give your initial direction of what to do or where to go. In the early stages of an MMO, it's never going to stay with that as the goal but it gives you SOME idea of what to do until you figure things out. In this example, this would be the equivalent of a quest giver going "You have to save us" and then you're told nothing about who you're saving them from or what you're supposed to do. Who are you fighting? What are you supposed to do for the quest? They won't give more info, and all you can do is stumble around until you accidentally find what you're after.
And it doesn't even need to give a direction to go, so long as it sets a goal. Like, going with the dialogue you offered, I would say this is what should follow in narration.
"The people of your city call out for help. You must find a new place for your people to live, but there are threats everywhere. You must both grow your army and yourself stronger in order to lead your people to whatever this new home may be."
That idea at least tells you "Ok, so start doing random fights. You want to get recruits for your army and grow your own power while you seek a place far away where your people can live in safety." It doesn't specify what this place is nor the direction to go, but it DOES set a starting goal for the player while they figure out how the game works.
Oh, I think I understand now.
It was indeed my intention to leave the players to experience the game and gather informations on their own, so they can slowly start to understand the game as they learn more. I, personally, kind of like that way of learning, but of course it's not ideal for everyone.
I'll try to balance it a bit thanks to your feedback by adding some guidance at the beginning, when the game is played for the first time. I think the message will tell the player to wisely choose enemies they want to battle, to learn about new tools and utilize them and to gather enough strength to progress through the portal (you would find it if you follow the path). It should be enough both to give the player at least some directions and not ruin the way I'd like them to experience the game.
Story wise, as I mentioned earlier, I think that infos from the intro cutscene I'll add in the future will suffice, but for now I have to leave it as it is.
That said, this game is quite complex, which definitely sets a kind of barrier for a new player. Only by learning and memorizing new mechanics and content we can make a meaningful progress. It can cause a confusion and frustration, but I am careful not to make it a "tutorial festival" too.
I will try to make it more player friendly eventually, for example by using special animations in tutorial and by using popup windows when some of mechanics are encountered for the first time. I predict this game to be in development for about a year or more, so it will change a lot for sure.
Thanks for providing more details, it's the first time someone brought that issue to my attention, so it definitely helped :).
The user interface is INCREDIBLE. I would not change a thing on your UI. I feel like a lot of tetris fans would adore this game. We feel like it is a really amazing game as is and there is nothing in particular that needs revisions.
VOD Highlight:
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1819996786
Hello there!
Thank you very much for those kind words. I'm glad you like the UI, it's really nice to hear.
Wow, I didn't know you streamed it, it's awesome. Sorry that my game led to a ragequit right after the tutorial, haha! Still, it was very fun to watch. :)
Yeah, we had 3 of us trying games and your game got the hothead (raging is her style). I want to try it myself soon.
I hope you'll have fun. :)
King of Deadlands https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1821178810
Very in-depth game! A lot was said in the VOD but ultimately the game is fleshed out and working very well. Just needs a few minor tutorials or seamless popup tips during gameplay to help players understand all of your features over time. More explanation on BUILD MODE. King of Deadlands adds a fresh spin on an RPG with Tetris-style combat so this was really different and enjoyable.
Introducing additional tutorial systems during the game is a really good idea, I'll put it on my list.
Thanks to you, I learned a lot about how systems implemented in KoD can be interpreted by new players :)
Thank you for such a positive comment. The fact that you enjoyed King of Deadlands already makes me feel fulfilled as a game developer, although I still have a long way to go :).
It's a pretty interesting game, though a little too complex for me, it seems like it has great potential for roguelike fans
It's a bit complex for sure :). Anyway, thanks for checking out my game!
I cannot rate this highly enough. I decided to try a bunch of the jam games when I had some free time.
This just absorbed the past hour and I want more. Will definitely be coming back to it tonight.
Love the style of everything, the overworld exploration mechanics and because I went into it blind... finding that it's a tetris based battle system just blew my mind.
Only bits of feedback I really noted was there are some sounds that play too often and get a little grating (I think it's the wind sound effect in the tutorial?) and a few little typos here and there. Nothing game breaking.
Excellent job on this!
Thank you for your kind words, I'm really glad you're having fun with King of Deadlands!
These are "flavor" sounds that start to play when the object is visited. They repeat for a while, apparently for a bit too long (like the wind sound that you noticed - it came from the Magic Tablet).
English is not my first language, but typos will definitely be corrected someday :) .
Thanks for comment once again!
Hey, glad to see you here! I could've missed the event if it weren't for your tweet! :D
This version of the game is quite addicting! I like all the improvements you made!
That being said, I spent several hours playing late into the night. You're building a cool game, I can't wait to see what you'll improve next!
Good Luck!
Hi! Happy to see you here too, glad to know my tweet was of use :). Thank you for checking out current version! I'm going to start reviewing games in a few days, I'll try out yours as well (I hope I'll defeat a boss!).
Let me answer to your feedback :)
Thank you so much for your feedback, it was really helpful :). I'm glad you like where the game is going!
hey Przemyslaw! figured i’d leave feedback my feedback on your latest build here!
some non-tutorial stuff:
thanks as always for making this awesome game, Przemyslaw!
Hi there, thank you for awesome feedback as always
I'm really glad to hear you're enjoying it even more than before! I wanted to keep spells count relatively low (13 at the moment), but I think I'll add few soon, especially for you :)
Referring to the last issue you pointed out - it is highly possible that it was due to the randomness, but it could also be because I wanted to make the map management feel like a puzzle sometimes, where you have to look for the best option for that specific moment, maybe even one that is seemingly a bit "too hard", to add some difficulty ;). Anyway, I'll make sure to test it more.
Thank you once again! :)