This seems like a great idea but to be hoenst, I just don't understand how to play. I'd really like to see an updated version with clearer instructions, good luck
Play Fortress Swarm
Fortress Swarm: Chain Attacks's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Gameplay/Design | #5 | 4.000 | 4.000 |
| Enjoyment | #6 | 3.933 | 3.933 |
| Originality | #11 | 3.933 | 3.933 |
| Overall | #11 | 3.583 | 3.583 |
| Theme | #33 | 2.467 | 2.467 |
Ranked from 15 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
How does your entry fit the theme?
A bit far-fetched, attacks are "echoing" through the monsters on the battlefield
What would you like feedback on?
First, are rules easy to understand with the single picture-tutorial, and then, how is the overall playability. Is it worth taking further, and in what direction?
What assets did you use (if any)?
All assets were done by myself and some AI
Comments
Thank you! These are some really good points indeed, for when we want the monsters to go back especially for instance, we need to still see the board to decide what to do.. and the tutorial and art style definitely need a complete rework. The piercing allows you to attack a creature while ignoring 1 or more defense (for example, if he has 2 physical def and 2 hp, and you attack with a physical attack with 3 damage, he will have 1hp left, while with 1 point of hysical piercing, he will be dead). But in fact it is only usefull at start, when creature have low HP: If a creature has 3 physical def and 1 hp, and can still kill him with a physical attack with only 1 damage and 1 piercing. However it becomes useless once you have way more damages than the creatures defense..
336 days ago(+1)
Thank you so much for your kind review! I really appreciated it! Adding a correct tutorial is definitely something I need to do ASAP for the very first update of the game. But I think instead of an interactive buton, will integrate it directly in the gameplay in the first levels of a puzzle version of the game, progressively, so that should be easier to understand while playing. Yeah, I must say I’m not a big fan of AI art either, as I’m trying to learn to draw and it’s a bit discouraging to see what AI can do while I’m struggling to draw a simple body.. But that felt like a good opportunity to try it for this time especially since I wanted to use sorts of tokens, so any monster head would be fine for that… Again, thanks a lot for your review, that was really nice of you!
Thank you! I’d say all it requires is some practice. Take some basic idea and refine it, twist it to reach something really promising, then all is left is finding some consistent element to show to the player and add some feedback elements to make it alive..
For instance I started this game with an idea of a character isolated in the middle of a grid, and he had to select the right direction (top/left/right/bot) to attack and move, while propagating its attacks to the neighbors of the target. Then I reused some elements from classic rpg (def/magical def, brut attack) to make the choice more complex (going from 4 actions to 12).. I tested a few things (At some point I had also critical damage for instance, but it didn’t work so I removed it.) but It didn’t seem to work like that, because I wanted both the player to be moving in a grid, and also that all direction would be occupied by monster so that the choices of the player really matters, and the strategy allowed him to anticipate something and feel rewarded (it all comes down to how does the player feel rewarded for its efforts).
So I refined the idea and reconsidered the player entirely, as well as the gameplay.
I needed the choices of target, but I didn’t need the character, so I put the grid at the center of the game and I found a new objectives for the monster, destroying a castle. I ended up with this castle and the grid which is pretty much clickable everywhere..
Only mental idea at start, trying to simulate the gameplay in my head and imagine what the interface of the game would look like, what would be the player actions what would happen on screen, and what were the issues with this idea. But once I had the grid idea, I tested it with a simple prototype with pieces of a board game, which can be really helpful too to help visualize ideas
339 days ago(+1)
Woah, nice ideas, some range monster would be clearly cool, it would change strategy quite a bit, but that’s clearly a good idea to make the game evolve into something even more interesting. Thanks a lot for the suggestions, I’ll keep them in mind!
339 days ago(+1)
Thank you! I think I will develop it further, and indeed the art will be a challenge, especially all the backgrounds and the clarity of UI. I might evolve it into a puzzle game too, this way I’ll be able to integrate the tutorial into the gameplay itself, which should definitely be better. Thanks again for the kind review, I appreciate it
Wow, thank you so much for the heartwarming review! I’m definitely thinking about going further with this one indeed. It could clearly fit on mobile although it might be a bit small to click on the right buttons, so UI might need some deep rework… And be sure I’ll keep your proposition in mind in the future, I’ll have to try a few things with the gameplay before going bigger.. Thanks again, really
340 days ago(+1)
Woah! I was gonna put the “developer highscore” on the itch page, which is 446 000 at wave 64… You totally crushed it, day one :D well done!! I have to go back replaying it now :D Yeah more late game content could be nice, I coded a diagonal propagation for instance, but I had no time left to add it to the upgrades… I’m not sure what you mean by abilities, but I thought about selecting a row/column to clear it for example, but that was too complex to implement (new buttons to add and so on…). And thank you, your remark made me think about other types of levels, and I think puzzles could be interesting, meticulously crafted with a single solution. And it could be used for the tutorial as well.. Thanks again, really glad you enjoyed!
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