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9 Dayz's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Overall Fun | #9 | 4.600 | 4.600 |
| Art / Graphics | #16 | 4.600 | 4.600 |
| Sound/Music | #54 | 3.600 | 3.600 |
| Controls / UI | #66 | 3.400 | 3.400 |
Ranked from 5 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
If you have competed before, how has your game changed?
Since I last competed in Feedback Quest 5 (Sep 2023) I documented all game changes in 12 new dev logs, starting from: https://humane-tiger.itch.io/9-dayz/devlog/612789/in-game-almanac
Genre
Action
Shooter | Platformer | Slasher | Beat em Up | Base Defense | Survival | Racing
Strategy
Turn-based | Card Games | RTS | 4X
Rating
For 13+
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Comments
congrat on being one of the FBQ8 winners, please let me know when you have a trailer of your game on Youtube, so I can collect it and put it on Indiequesting playlist.
Tried your game, I will note I only tried Entryman? Everyman? Will I forgot already which is funny. And the Craftsman/Builder.
Energy is such a difficult thing to balance, and everything that uses it, has low reward. But-
-But because of that, it created an interesting playstyle. I did 3 playthroughs in total, and I learned to not waste time, choose my paths, if I don't need to search something to not search it, not fight what I don't need to, not lure what is alone (I saw no benefit to luring except when there are more than 2, since they don't attack first anyway).
I did not survive too far, but I was able to learn the game better, enough just to survive long enough to feel satisfied to write this.
Has a short learning curve, mainly because of the UI and movement system. I was disappointed I did not have full control over it, could not walk over things, could not walk directly to a zed right below me.
Only issue I really came across was when there were like 10 cards on my screen, and it was very difficult to sift through them to find the 2 zombies and rats.
I did find it annoying I could not loot or rest with enemies nearby, I want to take those risks, I'm not fighting because I was physically unable to as well as leave and go back to where I already looted. So, I would like something, to allow me to force myself to take a breather, to loot, even when enemies are nearby, if they don't see me, they don't know I'm there? Then I can rest, with the risk of getting jumped. I would like that.
Audio-wise, did feel a bit lacking, but wasn't a major issue. lol
Hope you find this useful, and good luck on gamemaking!
Hello! Welcome to Feedback Quest 8! My name's Hythrain, a co-host and one of the streamers for this event! This feedback is being written live as I stream your game! If you're interested in seeing my live reaction, let me know and I can send you a link to the VOD once it's posted to YouTube!
But you know this already, since you've been part of this event in the past! Welcome back!
It's funny... I swear this game was easier the last time I played it, yet I can see so many things in it now that hint at the opposite. New equipment, new crafts, repairing, etc. All of it feels good, but yikes does it feel hard! I think this might be because the energy, water and food usage has all been altered. It felt like I was burning through energy so fast for so little gain.
Mind you, I already know why it feels so hard: it's very RNG reliant. RNG decides if you find stuff, it decides what cards you draw when fighting, it decides if your lures even work. I may have mentioned this last time, but if not then I want to bring it up now as I think a lot of my feedback is going to focus in on this.
Now I never got around to uses the new classes, as I needed to give myself a tutorial again to remember how to play and to learn anything new you added, so I can't comment on that. I did read it over and it seemed interesting. Though one supposed downside to the craftsman doesn't seem like one to me? Maybe I misunderstood it.
One last thing before I dive into my true feedback: there's a typo. When I got a tutorial message about a building being infested, it said it was "invested." Which I'm sure the house was invested... long before this plague.
Okay! So feedback time! As I said, I've realized just how RNG reliant this game is so I wanted my feedback to focus on that. The first thing I think could be useful is a way to improve the chance of luring. Right now it just requires time and energy, but what if you could use an item to help out? It could improve the chances of a lure in exchange for using the item, which would be a fair trade off for the player in a lot of scenarios. However, it should NOT be a random item. Instead, it should be one they choose but has a more limited number of choices. For example, the rags and small fruits can't be used because they wouldn't produce enough noise.
To reduce combat RNG, I'd suggest making it that an equipped weapon will always show up in the draw. I'll even give a decent explanation as to why. When you're using other items, you're likely pulling them out of a bag and throwing them. Since you can't know for sure what you're grabbing, this ends up being that you can get various items. However, the weapons are already supposed to be in your hands and thus can be used immediately.
Lastly, to improve searching RNG, maybe have certain locations always have a minimum number of items you'll find. For example, buildings (not including small buildings like outhouses) always have 3 items while vehicles and dead zombies always have 2 items. Note that I'm not saying a maximum number of searches like you currently have; I'm saying a minimum number of found items.
I also have a couple of other small things I want to cover. First, make it that rats can always be lured. It makes more sense for that to work. Second, make attacking take less energy than luring. Luring is something that should take effort to do right, so it makes sense to spend both more time AND energy to make it work. Right now, attacking takes 5 more energy (and if your lure fails, you're only option is to attack anyway). Third, if I'm in a house fighting rats, zombies who are more than one more away from outside the door shouldn't be attracted. Just a personal nitpick. You'll see what I mean in the VOD.
That's it from me! Keep up the great work!
Ah, where to begin. I believe it was around two years ago where I last played the demo for the game jams and I definitely noticed the new stuff. Repairing, the class system, starting gear, so I noticed some recommendations being heard and implemented which is always cool to see. The game is still tough, but it felt even more so this time around. However this time it didn't feel so in a good way, maybe it's been too long so I don't quite remember, but the zombies felt bulky, way way too bulky for the resources you can get. Having a way to change card U.I size or I believe what was mentioned before is a way to compress them would help for cards up top and equipped cards as they do get a lil big (Maybe there is an I just missed it). The Almanac, while I did figure out in this streams as I didn't do the tutorial cause I'm a masochist, was def a great feature I was very glad to see as I continued playin off stream.
Some of these zombies even at the start of the zones have upwards of 14+ hp, a swing from an improvised axe and a wooden club will still NOT kill that zombie leaving it with 2 hp. Making you either waste precious resources to reduce waste on weapon durability or just use the swing and waste a dura.
You can avoid these zombies of course, but in doing so you are wasting potential loot and with how the rng is in this game you really need those resources, you will get tired really quickly, so you need to rest, resting tanks hunger and water, which requires you to gather resources which kill your energy which then requires you to rest and repeat the cycle all over again, it's super easy to get into that death loop of very tight resource management. And even if you avoid the zombies, there are still mandatory zombie fights, so if you didn't get lucky to get weapons, good luck fighting them, especially if they are in a group and you fail a lure. And once you start a fight, you better pray you can actually kill them or face a slow death. Homes too, as desperately as you need loot and sleep, are almost constantly infested with rats, and nothing burns resources faster then fighting horde enemies. You either use your stronger weapons to kill them faster but waste a hit that could have potentially chunked a zombie harder or use smaller resources to kill them but because there are so many of them your waste a lot. Houses rarely if at all feel worth it to even attempt, as loot afterwards also has to be in your favor.
Repairs while a great idea, do not work. 3-4 Durability is just not enough, especially when you need to use stuff like axes on doors if you want to loot more since nearly every house seems to be locked and searching has yet to result in actually finding a key of sorts. Not to mention it seems to only repair the weapon by 1 hit, that is beyond useless even as the craftsman as you would need to have a multitude of upgrades on the weapon to even warrant trying to keep it up when you can use a stick and rock to make a fully new item with 3 durability instead.
The game incentivizes keeping items in order to craft and do other things with them, but if you do that you risk the most dangerous thing, weapon draw. Weapons are the only reliable way of inflicting reasonable damage, and if you don't get that weapon, you risk eating lots of hits. The horde encounter at the end I nearly lost, despite me spawning in both an axe and improv axe and adding in upgrades to them just because of that luck of the draw, having equipped items actually be in your hands to fight with at the start is needed if the difficulty is to be maintained alongside the rng. Perhaps a more casual difficulty is required?
Sometimes it does just feel like you either get exactly what you need or get stuck in the constant struggle of needing more, I like the tinge showing you are growing weaker, but sometimes it is a lil hard to see.
I am very much happy to see this game back on the feedback quest and I was really excited to re-play it, needs tweaks here and there but I was for sure just as invested with it as much as I was the first time around. I cannot wait to see what else you have in store for the game as it progresses as the concept and art are both wonderful. I have high hopes for this game. Thank you for submitting once more, hope to see you next year as well.
Section from 01:56:00-3:32:00 on Vod
Hey Calamitys, thanks again for playing my game and for giving such an extensive review. I enjoyed watching your stream, wish I would have been with you out there, whispering you some hints here and there (you know - "psss - right click..."). In your gameplay as a Craftsmaniac you did pretty well, and who knows, if the Alamanac would have had a chance to tell you that this "what ever it is" is glue made from bones, which you can get from rats... There were quite some opportunities in that run. However, the Craftsman is a tough character and you did pretty well. Playing him I use any kind of tools just when I find them to improve my weapons instantly, as it doesn't make sense to carry them in my pockets. Combine that with crafting tape when ever you can, and you get really powerful improvised weapons which you can sometimes repair and use for 1/2 a run or even longer. Also I eat almost everything instantly when I am not completely filled, so it won't get drawn in the next fight. Each of these characters wants to be played in a very distinctive style - use their strength ruthlessly and you will survive.
You kept one branch, you sharpened all the others, you played smart, you were waging all your choices - perfect. Rats are your friends - cut and roasted, of cause. These steaks pack a lot of calories and water (I googled it, there is a lot of water in steaks). And with a whip you can hit 3 of them at once. Same goes for bees and their honey. And fish. Yeah, I think these were the pieces you missed - the wildlife and campfires are vital.
The game is hard, and sometimes unfair. But it all balances out if you grab every chance to survive. I wish I could find these "protest" vids on Youtube when The Long Dark was in its earlier state. People were outraging and demanded "make it easier". And now, some years later - they all demand "make it harder" :-D Because it just doesn't feel right trying to survive in an apocalyptic world with your base stacked with stuff to the brim. Hope it doesn't upset you when I write like this, it is my reason for not making it easier. Survival is hard, and making it just through eventually feels so rewarding (even for me, still, afterer so many play-throughs).
I hope you keep my game in not so bad memories. Can't promise to make it easier, but to make it even more diverse. Tutorial might be a good choice, though. The masochist in you will be served for, even with tutorial, this is what I can promise you for sure ;-)
Oh I am by no means offended at your reply, nor upset at the game. I love the game a lot, ever since the first review I ever did on it. I was not aware of the whip dealing splash damage, that's cool to know and makes sense for dealing with the swarm mobs. As for improved weapons, I still can't see too big a use of repairs in all honesty. Sure if it's very upgraded I can see it's worth in repairing but even then with a slight bit of more resources, just crafting a new weapon is overall better. Maybe some different tiers of weapon repairing could be added. For example with project zomboid, if you are repairing a baseball bat you can repair it with duct tape and it will repair it a bit, but with wood glue it will repair it far stronger as it is a glue specific for wooden repairs. Stuff like that remains within logic and provides more incentive.
Maybe change in difficulty is the wrong term, maybe a choice of difficulty is better, like loot spawns more often and such so players can have a freedom of choice in that matter. As I have also played The Long Dark and I usually play on Stalker, but even that game has Pilgrim for more casual players as it doesn't not take away from the core which is survival, it only changes how hard you need to struggle to survive. The zombies can be just as brutal, but maybe you have an extra knife or two. Campfires, while I know are good from last time, I could never mentally find it in myself to be worth to place down but that's not a game thing it's a me thing.
Likewise, I agree survival is hard. Which is why I still feel like the character should always draw their improvised weapon first because well, why would you not be armed and ready for a fight. Especially if the player is actively getting ready to fight by either luring or charging in. I can understand if you are surprised/walk into them that maybe you might not draw the weapon at first but would you walk into the frigid cold of The Long Darks winter without a torch or flare ready to be drawn? That's how I view it.
I am also curious on how realistic you wish for the apocalyptic scenario to be as you are taking real life things knowledge for the game, such as steak containing lots of water content. For example acorns. We eat them just fine, but in real life they contain tannins which are potentially poisonous in real life. Or mushrooms, our character seems to pick them and eat them just fine, but mushrooms are notorious for being easily mistaken for their poisonous variants. Look up Destroying Angel(Badass name btw) vs Field Mushroom.
I am curious to see the direction you will continue to take as I have been reading your dev logs on your posts as you update. I am invested so I am happy to discuss and give my input as well.
Hi, after playing the Craftmaniac yesterday again, came here to add some info, or backpaddle, if you want. He is really hard to play, half of my advice plainly doesn't count as he is a no-cooker. And after reading your 2nd answer, I think I will do some changes hopefully in your and other players favour. You convinced me with having the weapons at hand when going into a fight. This is mainly what they are there for, and in the game they even have their dedicated places close to the player. I wanted this to be the special ability a dog companion is giving you, but this guy can help in other ways as well ;-) And I will introduce a chance of finding keys as well. Atm scouting often has no effect (it reaveals a further area, but often there is nothing new to reveal). So when using this action on locked buildings, there will be a chance for a key popping up, same for locked cars. So, weapons at hands at all times and unlocking houses and cars with keys - how does that sound?
And lastly, there is already this banker guy (Cashmeister, in preview), which has only negative traits and barely a chance of survival (like the Misery mode in TLD). I will think of their counterpart, a kind of Prepper-dude with perfect knowledge and abilities and pockets filled with prepper stuff. One that is made for staying on top of an apocalyptic world.
These are all things which can be added fairly easily, thank you so much for inspiring these additions. Please let me know if you have any more ideas around this.
Yeah for sure these sound like great changes. Cash Meister sounds like a great addition for the hardcore players and Prepper also works wonderfully both for a "easier" addition while making sense in the setting. I can imagine numerous special abilities a dog companion could have in the game, such as sniffing out animal carcasses for meat/bones, luring/distraction/fighting (All making sense to have risk), among other things.
Search yeah, it makes so much more sense for search/scout to be used this way as when I was searching I was really just wondering if it did nothing but just scout ahead, seeing you confirm that it does just do only that makes me agree with your idea for expanding the system, as the energy cost of searching vs just clicking A twice is monumental, finding a way to get keys both helps with weapon durability management alongside giving search a new use. I agree fully with those idea changes.
I could also see alternative ways to enter a house with more risks. For example, as it currently stands, you use a weapon durability to break down a house door, even on houses with very obvious easily shatter-able windows attached to it. If you can't find a key, maybe there could be window breaking as an option, with the caveat that you are making a hell of a lotta noise(Though I will say breaking down a wooden door is also loud, but I digress), making it so that either A. Nearby Zombies may attack you. B. Faraway zombies may hear it and start moving to your location over time. C. Some type of Mixture of the two. Or D. just the good' ol simple chance that a zombie encounter occurs. So you can have multiple options to gruel over. Making you either waste dura, potentially have to fight and waste resources or waste resources to have a chance to get a key. Stays in line with the game's management system.
I will prolly have more ideas come to mind as you reply, but I draw blanks a lot when it's just me and my own thoughts ahahaha. I hope to help in the best way I can that I think makes sense for a game perspective but also your vision. I am always happy to give feedback, whether it be for the jam or even outside of it I am always up to discuss my opinions on the game as I do wish for it to succeed and I enjoy it quite a lot.
It's never as easy as I think, but I got something prepared today (not published yet).
Lookin good already, energy and time cost are interesting considering it's a key to a home, but I can also understand for the sake of making the game harder.
Was compiling everything here https://humane-tiger.itch.io/9-dayz/devlog/1026638/feedback-quest-5-feedback-by-...
Here the list of things you inspired and which I very possbily will add to the game:
Hi, and welcome to Feedback Quest 8!
First and foremost, the art in this game is absolutely exquisite, and I love it! You are very talented as an artist! The sound choices and music are really well done as well.
I found the concept very unique and interesting, with the way you mixed elements from the different inspiration games to make something that stands apart very well. I enjoyed the mechanics overall all, especially with having to decide when it was worth it to risk a fight for potential resources and when it was better to just move on and hope you find something further on. Having to decide when to risk a fight and not always remembering to check resources, added a lot of strategy, which was fun.
In terms of issues, the text in the tutorial was a bit confusing, as it said items would go away permanently when used in battle, but then mentioned weapons having a durability and being repairable. Every weapon I used in a fight, even an axe on a rat, disappeared. That seemed a bit unrealistic and contradictory to what the tutorial mentioned. Though after my second round, I spotted the durability indicator at the bottom, so it's also entirely possible I just broke my item. It would be useful to have that more visible.
Some kind of message indicating why a lure failed would be good. Wouldn't mind the option to at least attempt to flee from a battle as well, but also makes sense why it isn't there. The cards did get a little unwieldy if you were in an area with a lot of stuff and no way to clear the cards, for example, three dead rats but no knife to harvest from them, plus three zombies and locations. Was it intentional that you can't walk past the car/train wreck to the area beyond?
Suffice to say, all in all I love this game and look forward to seeing how it develops and where it goes!
VOD Link: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2556703658?t=00h17m24s
Hi Collectonian, thanks for the nice review :-) Was really enjoying watching your VOD - you are such a lovely and joyful person - was laughing together with you quite a lot :-D Yeah, bee meat - slap it on a grill, enjoy it with a sip of honey and you are all good to go ;-)
Also thank you so much for your kind words regarding my art. I enjoy this part of my game dev journey, grabbing my brushes and colors and creating assets on paper. It's a nice contrast to all this coding and staring at screens.
Was so happy seeing you using the almanach quite a lot, and in general, getting such a good hang of the game. You were however quite unlucky with gathering around trees - there is a good chance to find branches, which open up a lot of crafting options (axes, sharp sticks, fire places and cooking). But not much branches in your run, which was really a pitty.
I will check the tutorial texts again, seeing where they can do better. I want to keep them short and sweet, but there is definitely room for improvement. You can repair weapons with tape - you can see the option when hovering the durabilty indicators (more improvments are possible, they all get revealed by hover).
I have this luring mini game still on my list - which will replace the random 50/50 chances. Also, when animal companions will be implemented, they will also have an affect on that.
Again, thanks a lot for your encouraging words and for giving my game such a nice try.
Great game!
Arts, sounds, music, controls, UI, atmosphere, tension... everything is great!
I played only the tutorial for the whole 9 days which felt very long for a tutorial. Perhaps too long :)
Also sometimes on a cross road I found it not very intuitive which key (WASD) will lead me to the road I want to go to, especially with diagonal roads.
Well done!
Hey, thanks for leaving this review and for your kind words. You played the tutorial and survived for 9 days?! Well, yeah, this is possible - I would never have thought that someone is doing that good right from the start :-D Maybe I then should add at least a tutorial card mid-way, where players get asked if they want to continue or start with a "real" playthrough. In these 9 days, have you been reaching the ship or did you run out of time?
Is there a recording of your journey? I would love watching this, it's always so interesting to see people play my game.
Yeah, the crossroads are kind of a gamble when branching in diagonals - I just don't have any good idea of how to do better with that.
Thanks for playing my game and for leaving all the good feedback!
I didn't reach the ship. TBH I found it easy to survive for 9 days but not so easy to reach the ship in time. I didn't think it would be that far away so I took my time and was going everywhere and doing everything I could. Wrong choice XD
No recording, sorry.
About the crossroads, perhaps you could show the keys [W] [A] [S] [D] on top of the map, around the point marking the player's position, showing where which one will lead to? Another idea would be to use the mouse instead of the keyboard to move.
Another thing I forgot to mention is that I found it a bit hard to notice which icon on the map is highlighted when you point a card with the mouse. Now, it only gets a bit bigger which I think is not enough. Maybe you could animate it in a loop and/or make it glow.