Skip to main content

Indie game storeFree gamesFun gamesHorror games
Game developmentAssetsComics
SalesBundles
Jobs
TagsGame Engines
(+1)

Hi Tenkarider,

Thank you so much for sharing the web demo of The Rogue of Nexus! I had a lot of fun exploring the game and wanted to share some feedback and observations from a QA perspective.

Gameplay & Mechanics Observations

  • Directing the fighter at enemies was fun, and the physics of spikes and monsters felt smooth and engaging.
  • Green star effects for pickups are bright and satisfying, and notifications/alerts help prevent the player from feeling isolated.
  • The compass is a nice touch! However, I wasn’t entirely sure if it’s meant for directional guidance or for briefly accelerating (“dash”). A dungeon map might be useful for players to track rooms and progress in longer sequences.
  • Resting mechanics work well, but moving the “Rest” button to the top-right (yellow ribbon frame) could make it more obvious.
  • Jumping during combat could add more interactivity and fun.
  • Tutorial city guides are very well-written.

UI/UX & Clarity

  • Coins and shields were sometimes unclear; it took a while to find the shield needed to open the wall in the main map. This may be intentional, but could feel overwhelming for new players.
  • Purple boxes in the dungeon appear decorative; breaking them had no effect.
  • Some pink squares looked different — are they interactive or do they contain rewards?
  • Flower tiles inside the second dungeon are beautiful, but their purpose is unclear.

QA Bug / Game Behavior Notes

  • Dungeon #2 red ball enemy NPC (Reference Screenshot #5 below): Always runs off-screen to the right, creating a loop where I couldn’t engage or exit combat; I had to wait for the screen to reset.
  • Second interaction with Dungeon #2 red ball enemy NPC (SS#5): Physics and mirroring made it impossible to collide and engage in a third fight.
  • Third interaction with Dungeon #2 red ball enemy NPC(SS#5): Attacked me first, then ran off-screen again during battle, leaving me locked in a loop.
  • Compass button inside the dungeon grants super speed instead of navigation — could confuse new players. (SS#3)
  • Main map vs dungeon orientation (West → East) felt inconsistent when exiting tunnels. (Reference: Screenshot #1 below)

Miscellaneous Observations / Suggestions

  • Black artifacts on the main island — are they trash, monsters, or related to The Hand? (Reference: Screenshot #1 below)
  • XP system: no visible increase noticed when attacking/defeating monsters; XP+ effects could make progression clearer. (Reference: Screenshot #2 below)
  • Multiple-floor navigation via stairwells (“Go Upstairs,” “Go Downstairs”) could add fun exploration. (Reference Screenshot #3 below)
  • Red/silver key placement is good; encourages intentional backtracking.
  • +HP recharge elements in dungeons are a nice quality-of-life touch.

Overall Thoughts:

I really enjoyed the game — it’s interesting, fun, and has a lot of depth. I hope these QA observations and suggestions are helpful for future updates. I’d be happy to extend free, collaborative QA bug testing and analysis for a couple of weeks if you’re interested in testing the web version together.

Final note / question: I never got attacked or “pulled in” by the "Dark Hand."

What does that look like, and where does it take the player?

Note: The web demo may take a little time to load and can appear stuck around 95%. Be patient — it will eventually start!

Thanks again for sharing your game!

— William





 

(1 edit) (+1)

Hi William! Wow, thanks for the long feedback!!

First of all i'd like to ask you 3 questions:

1 - Did you choose Adventure Mode or Campaign Mode?

2 - How many artifacts did you found?

3 - Did you reach the end of the demo?


To answer your feedback:

- The Compass Shield is both for Finding Artifacts in worldmap, Special move in dungeon (damage/destroy, exploration, speed and invincibility) and a skillset in battle, so it's a multiuse powerful tool. You mentioned later that the multifunction might confuse the player, would you suggest some extra info for the player? The functions of the Compass Shield are mentioned in its tutorial;

- Actually in dungeon in the box in the bottomright there's a UI dedicated to show the minimap of the current dungeon floor... since in The Binding of Isaac there was no explicit text that would say the UI is a minimap, i thought that maybe it was enough to get the player aware of its existence, but you're not the first one not noticing that, probably i'm gonna boost that UI (and many others), i wonder if making pulsate the white color of the current room could be enough...

- Do you think the current currency UI is hard to notice? Not sure i understood the one about finding the right shield, the wall destroy scene triggers by moving forward it, after finding the Compass Shield;

- When you mentioned purple boxes and pink squares, did you refer to the same thing? Those blocks are the so called Obstacles in dungeon, you and enemies cannot pass through them but you can destroy them (aside few exceptions) by hitting them with a bomb or the Shield Bash skill. Doing that will destroy them and there's a chance they drop a random loot;

- By flower tiles you mean this one?


This one is a trap (a sort of mud pool), which slows you down when you step on it. I wonder if there could be a way to make it perceive more like mud...

- Red balls enemies should be the Potion-type enemy, they are very fast enemies which will always try to run away from you, on the other hand if you manage to defeat them in battle, you'll get an extra prize. Potion minions are too fast but are optional, the boss versions can actually be defeated, but it requires a bit of strategy. Technically if you cannot reach them, you can still escape from the left side of the screen so the battle will end sooner, but i'm planning to enforce their early escape from battle in case they become too distant from the player, without waiting they reach the right edge of the battle screen, by the way. By locked in a loop, you meant that you were stuck in dungeon in a spot in which it was impossible to avoid the potion? Technically if you have the Compass Shield, there's should always be a wayout;

- Could you elaborate further on the West -> East feedback, please? Not sure if i undertood what you meant... maybe that when you exit a dungeon, the needle direction is inconsistent, compared to the actual position of the next artifact?

- I didn't get what you meant by Black Artifacts... maybe the stains of darkness that appear where you walk? Or the eyes and mouths that spawn during the night?

- About the experience, at the current state the weight of exp gain is strongly pushed toward Treasures and Quests, while the exp gain by monster defeat is quite low and might not be perceived... should i distribute the exp budget more on favor of monster defeat? (the core source should still be Treasure and Quests) Or maybe it's enough increase the exp gain feedback, like some particle effect or a UI display, next to the exp bar?

- The Demo barely scratches the surface of the game, actually the game already features dungeons with several floors, in the next areas, in certain biomes (if you find the artifact that allows you to walk through forest tiles, forest dungeons have 2 floors). Not reccomended, but also dark dungeons have 2+ floors;

- There are the silver keys, not sure what you mean about the red one, though;

- Thanks again for the feedback, without any doubt i'll collect those feedbacks to enhance further the game! I'd definitely love to hear more feedbacks from you in feature, especially after i release new updates;

- There's only one way to know more answers about The Hand: playing further! (I'm quite confident you'll inevitably "meet" it, according to luck, skill, game mode and duration of the run)

(+1)

Hi Tenkarider,

Thank you so much for your thoughtful reply! Here’s a follow-up from my QA testing perspective:

  • Game version: I chose the shorter version demo. Not sure exactly which that corresponds to.
  • Artifacts: Are you referring to things picked up off the ground like the shield, purple flower token, or coins, or are they labeled/announced as artifacts during gameplay? I didn’t explicitly track them in my initial testing.
  • Demo progress: I didn’t reach the end; I focused on exploration, testing physics, obstacles, monster interactions, and general cause/effect mechanics. I didn’t encounter major bugs in my brief session.
  • Compass Shield: It’s creative! Some players may not read tutorials thoroughly, so interactive hints, sparkles, or popups could help guide them. Maybe clickable actions or arrows could clarify multifunction usage.
  • Map/minimap clarity: An expandable option (35% larger) with an X exit box to preview the map might be useful.
  • Currency UI: Coins were clear when collected, though I didn’t play long enough to fully explore their use.
  • Destructible obstacles & flowers: I didn’t realize obstacles could be destroyed—maybe an on-the-go hint could showcase this. Flower tiles are a neat touch for slowing movement; I’ll test again.
  • Potion enemies: They often ran off-screen; a UI cue for exiting or avoiding battles could improve flow. Does the Compass Shield allow exiting battles?
  • Map orientation: From main map to dungeon, West → East navigation can feel inconsistent with multiple floors; maybe visual cues could help players orient themselves. This may just be the styling design of your main world map/level, vs. the differences of how the tunnels or dungeons are designed directionally. 
  • Black artifacts: Triangular/stationary items—are these stains of darkness? I noticed them persisting across multiple cycles. (See Screenshot #1)
  • XP & combat: I enjoy monster combat (it's exciting and very visual!); some semi-equal XP distribution for fighting monsters could make it more rewarding. Does defeating monsters currently trigger XP or level-ups?
  • Keys & rewards: Red key observations may need to be replicated; I’ll capture screenshots if needed.

Overall impressions:

I really enjoyed the demo—your mechanics, multiple monsters, and interactive elements are fun and engaging.

Ongoing QA testing offer:

I’d be happy to continue deeper QA testing and provide analysis for free as you release updates.

I look forward to exploring future updates and, of course, meeting The Hand!

—William

(+1)

Thanks again!

- Ok, it should be Adventure mode;

- Artifacts can be found only by opening treasure chests, and are announced with a huge box UI entitled "Artifact Found!"; any other thing you can find in the ground of a dungeon are consumables (potion, bomb, time rune, key) and currency (4 colour type coins, gems and dark matter);

- Yeah, i noticed that people is not paying much attention to the compass in worldmap so i'm currently boosting a lot the UI in order to make sure a player will be bound to notice it.

- I see, i'll consider a button to enlarge/shrink the dungeon minimap, thanks!

- Ok, coins can be used to shop consumables in cities, or they can be used in the inventory to upgrade your weapons;

- I think i got what it happened here... there's a flaw in the resolution of WegGL version that won't show up the boundaries of a battle screen, that means that you won't see the UI that shows you/the enemies can escape from battle when crossing that red line:

In the downloaded version it can be seen, maybe even the current web version, at full screen should be able to show that line on the screen;

- Ok, the spinning needle in worldmap only refers to worldmap position, there's no connection to your position, while inside a dungeon;

- So, about the "black artifacts", in the screenshot i noticed only those 2 things:

  this is the "enter city" icon, and clicking it will open the city UI;

  those instead are dark stains, they appear and enlarge when you pass through a tile in worldmap, if you pass through the same tile more that x times, after y time has passed... something will happen;

If you're talking about anything else, related to that screenshot, then i have no idea what you're talking about @_@;

- Yes they give exp and coins and potentially they can make you level up, though it's quite unprobable... for example in a lv1 dungeon, enemies give 2 XP; the dungeon boss gives 20 XP; the treasure chest gives 200 (or 250, i don't remember) XP, this is what i mean when i say it heavily depends on treasures gaining XP. To level up from lv 1 to level 2 you need 300 XP. In Adventure mode the XP gain is 3x and artifact chests is 6x;


I'm definitely glad if you provide further QA in future! While you say it's free, you still call it offer... why? I mean, i don't think it exists any developer who would reject a free offer of testing, especially when it's quite detailed, unless i'm missing any implication.

The way you write your feedback seems professional and seems to follow a sort of template... could it be you're practicing to become an actual professional QA tester? 

(+1)

Hi, Tenkraider! 🙂

Thank you for the new screenshots and references — they really helped clarify and connect the dots on several points.

You were right about the dark stains — those are exactly the objects I was referring to.

I’ve only tested your web build so far (I’ll request a Mac-friendly download or check your profile for one if available), and I noticed the red potion-ball enemy sometimes runs off to the right, out of the visible area, leaving the player stuck in-frame. I’ll double-check, but if I recall correctly, the player can’t chase the enemy off-screen due to fixed left/right boundaries — or the enemy may simply disappear. That’s why the interaction can feel “stuck” in that moment.

Thanks again for clarifying the artifact and minimap systems — that helped a lot.

And yes, you’re right — I’m currently practicing QA professionally and building a cross-engine QA demo portfolio. There’s nothing expected in return; I treat these sessions as a shared learning and collaboration experience with developers.

I really enjoyed testing Rogue of Nexus and would be glad to re-test after your next update or continue testing with more screenshots and reports, whichever works best for you. I appreciate how open you are to feedback — it genuinely helps testers like me learn and improve.

My QA portfolio and cross-engine demo projects are linked on my Itch profile if you’d like to check them out. With your permission, I can also record private gameplay testing sessions with screenshots and annotations to help pinpoint findings and improve clarity for future builds.

(+1)

You're welcome!

Aww, too bad for the Mac... in the page of the game you can find the downloads, but at the moment there's no plan for Mac versions...

Ok, about battles against potions, this is what happens: the length of the battle screens of potions is very long (more than 10 times longer than average, or something), the potion keeps running away in that direction, until it will eventually reach the right edge and will successfully escape. That gives you enough room to chasing them, assuming your speed is enough to even attempt (without boosts it's impossible for minion potions). If the potion gets out of your sight, it's still in battle, it dindn't run away yet (it will be pretty clear when that happens)... anyway probably that will mean that you have no chance to reaching them, so it's more convenient to retreat.

Aha, i see! I'm glad i can be part of your practicing, i'll take a look to your profile

As soon as i have a web version update i'll let you know! A video recording would be gold: watching a player, a developer can grasp details about their behavior that cannot be turned into words, and actually several information that the player wouldn't even be aware about as well

(+1)

I'd like that a lot, and look forward to collaborating together. The Rogue of Nexus is a cool game and well built :)