Post by Ravery (Ravery.net) in Blueprint — An Incremental Factory comments

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Ravery (Ravery.net)17 days ago (2 edits) (+1)

I like many elements of your game, but overall I felt like it wasn't a good experience for me. Here are the issues:

The beginning was quite slow and there was little to be done.

Then when I could ascend the game was beginning to be quite good actually.

Then I ascended enough so ascensions became trivial and so were the challenges. Many challenges were completed as soon as I started them (due to leveling early start upgrades).

The game felt more and more about just clicking upgrades as quickly as possible. Exhibitions were yet another layer of "just click quickly on upgrades without thinking".

I think you could improve the game massively if you moved some of the challenges into the early game (which makes the early game more interesting), while increases the challenge (or price) of late-game content, so it isn't just mindless upgrading.

Edit: Also let the x1, x100, xMax buy button affect the support upgrades, please.

Despite my comment being mostly listing issues, I do think that the game has good potential, and I hope you continue working on it.

Westicles17 days ago (1 edit) (+2)

Quick follow-up. A lot of what you flagged has landed in two updates since your comment.

v0.9.7 shipped:

- Bulk-buy for supports. The BUY MODE bar now controls Power Nodes and Boost Relays the same way it controls machines. Your specific ask, fixed.

- Challenge goals scale with lifetime patents. Directly addresses "challenges were completed as soon as I started them." A 30-schematic challenge becomes 60 at 25 patents, 90 at 100, 150 at 400, 210 at full mastery. The banner, the grid, and the start confirmation all show both the original goal and the scaled value so there's no surprise.

v0.9.8 just shipped:

- Three challenges unlock earlier. PACIFIST, TALL, and SLOW BURN are now available after 2 prestiges instead of needing a first Publish. This is your "move some challenges into the early game" suggestion, directly.

- Locked research nodes are visible from the start. Before this, anything with unmet prerequisites was hidden entirely. Now the whole tree renders as faint ghosts from run 1 so you see what's coming.

- Welcome Schematic. New games (and existing games where you haven't yet prestiged) start with 1 Schematic so the Research tab is usable in the first five minutes instead of waiting through a full first prestige to open it.

Still on the list, not yet touched:

- Ascensions becoming trivial at high play counts. This is about the Prestige formula itself, not the challenges. Prestige reward scales with production, and late-game production is so huge the formula becomes effectively free money. Needs a softcap or scaling requirement, similar to what v0.9.4 did for the Patent curve. Design risk, so I'm being careful.

- Exhibitions feeling like "click upgrades quickly." The hardest one. Real decision weight would need things like mutually-exclusive Archive upgrades or pool picks that lock you out of other options. Needs design time, not a patch.

Both of those are v1.0 balance pass material. I'd rather land them right than rush.

Thanks again for the writeup. Comments this specific are the difference between a v1.0 that ships with these problems unaddressed and one that doesn't.

Ravery (Ravery.net)16 days ago (1 edit)

Wow! Sounds really good. I'll revisit your game again soon.

itch.io

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