I like the concept however, I think you need to incorporate a more strategic gameplay element. I'm not a big fan of the camera controls. I find they were a bit sluggish. Probably incorporate a camera snapping system to snap to the action easily. I like the UI however I didn't play the old version. Maybe some colors may help it out a bit more. Great game, however, I think there is a lot of room for improvement.
Play game
Mons Badonicus's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Sound/Audio | #6 | 3.182 | 4.500 |
| User Interface (UI/UX) | #12 | 2.121 | 3.000 |
| Overall | #12 | 2.475 | 3.500 |
| Fun | #12 | 2.475 | 3.500 |
| Visuals(Graphics) | #13 | 2.475 | 3.500 |
Ranked from 2 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
DevLog Link
https://enygmatic.itch.io/mons-badonicus/devlog/298784/improve-my-game-jam-17-update
Developer Feedback Questions
Do you think the new battle UI is an improvement over the old UI? How intuitive is the game to paly without watching the tutorial video?
Comments
Yeah the strategic elements are unfortunately buried under multiple levels of jank. The ability to flank is kind of neutered by the poor AI, because while its still advantageous to attack enemy units from behind, the melee combat becoming jumbled messes make it so that basically every soldier becomes outflanked. Friendly fire is present, so if you fire into troops in melee you could just as easily hit your own men. But quite frankly its presence just seems to help as a tactic to cheese the AI, since they won't avoid firing into their own troops currently. And you can inflict massive morale damage by routing or killing the enemy general, thereby routing the enemy army without having to kill them all. But since the enemy units are effectively their own autonomous AI they don't really co-ordinate to defend the general, so I know a couple people who just slipped past the rest of the army and took out the general. The AI needs a massive restructuring in order to get the right of level of strategy working, specifically I'd like them to be able to hold formation.
When you say it was sluggish do you mean it was slow to move around or rotate the camera? Or do you just mean you'd prefer a way to snap directly to one area or another? I plan to eventually allow the player to quickly lerp the camera to a units position by double-clicking on its unit card. May help alleviate the sluggishness.
There's a lot more that I have planned, frankly alongside all the quality of life and AI polishing I'd love to implement artillery, guns and even monstrous units like dragons or giants.
But thanks for playing and for the feedback!
By sluggish, I mean the Camera was slow to move around or rotate the camera. Perhaps a settings menu to up the speed. Yeah, I Killed the general easily and was like ok that was easy. But it's fun. I like the idea of friendly fire being an issue for you the player and enemies to deal with. Make that a feature. However, the AI needs to take this into consideration. You may be on to something cool here...
Ah ok I see what you mean, there is the ability to increase movement speed by holding down shift while moving but yeah the rotating with Q and E is probably still too sluggish. I usually use the middle mouse button to rotate the camera since that's what I usually use when playing Total War. Though speaking of using the mouse I think a mouse sensitivity option would be nice as well.
Oh the friendly fire was fully intentional and I definitely plan to keep it as a feature, just perhaps make the AI avoid it rather than just mowing down their own guys.
I certainly hope I'm on to something lmao.
The sound and music was great, I think I go to the same website for music that you do (FreePD music). I'd have liked to see something going on with the terrain with hills to give the player an advantage or trees and rocks to protect from arrows. Also, the look of the UI could do with a bit of love. Maybe upgrade somehow from the default grey boxes and indent the text from the edges a bit.
The sound I actually got from Zapsplat, and the music is all Kevin Macleod (as per jam submission tradition).
I did think about doing more with the terrain, but seeing how much grief it gives the AI in Total War, I frankly did not even wanna touch it. The AI is bad enough as it is lol. I want to eventually have terrain affect battle and even implement seiges, it's really just a matter of I need to improve my AI skills first.
Out of curiosity would you be able to recall which areas of the UI needed more text indenting? Like in the unit info panel, tooltips, etc.?
I think the main problem was on the front end before starting the game. The text explaining the mission seemed crammed to the left margin. This part especially could use a larger panel or maybe a border. It might save you some time and work if you buy a GUI pack from the asset store. I bought this one in a Humble Bundle but it might not suit the style of your game.
https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/2d/gui/gui-pro-kit-fantasy-rpg-170168
Ah gotcha, yeah I didn't touch any of the UI outside of the battle map, I should fix that. I really only requires me changing the value on the left margin so it would be quick.
I've looked through using GUI packs available online, and frankly I found they either don't fit the style I'm going for, or they were just as annoying to work with as making my own. So thanks for the suggestion, but even the UI packs I use that do kinda fit the style I'm going for, aren't ideal.
Hey thanks for playing! Yeah my goal with this project was to basically make my own version of the older Total War titles like Rome 1 and Medieval 2, with some improvements from the Warhammer games. I never really expect anyone to be familiar with the Total War series when they play this game, so I'm always happy to see other fans!
Yeah there is unfortunately quite a lot of improvements and features the game still needs. I really haven't improved much of the actual battle and control mechanics since I made it in about a week for a jam this past summer. Formations I would love to get in, I especially want to implement the ability to move units in their current width, rather than having to constantly hold and drag. I do plan to eventually get to all of this, and hopefully even implement a form of campaign, but that's a ways out for now.
Thanks again for trying it out and for the suggestions!
Leave a comment
Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.