itch.io

As a preamble: I am not necessarily a connoisseur of clicker games (although I have tried at least one), but I am trying my best even in genres I have a lesser grasp in. :)

[Using the Windows version (1.0.0.1); still planning to switch to Linux, by the way, which is long overdue… :S]

1. Small misspelling in the game page: "wheter" -> "whether" (two times)
2. Minor remark: the itch.io app (= launcher) allows me to launch the installer, but not to play the game directly; I am not sure whether you can configure it this way… I know there is a whole manual for this application, which I had taken a look at, but I am unfamiliar with this specific point (and must still learn more clearly…). By the way, ‘butler’ (which I must also try!!) seems to be nice to optimize uploading updates, which can be of interest to you for any game in the future.
3. Small detail, but I like the deadening effect in the settings menu. Cosy atmosphere. :) (And I love the menu music, by the way.) Same for ‘Credits’.
4. The music volume seems higher for in-game music than for the menu; I had turned the volume up a bit for the menu… Perhaps some tuning could help? Or make it also depend on the setting?
5. ‘How to play’: short and clear enough, but as a general remark, it is often a good idea to manage to have an (implicit!) interactive tutorial to make the player understand things. I know, it can be quite some work. :p I am not complaining, though! (I have very recently played through Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story, and there were a lot of explicit interactive in-game tutorials that mixed text with having the player perform the actions, actually; this can also be a solution.)
6. Ah, pausing is allowed, nice! :) (I take time reviewing and sometimes have to pause.)
7. Statistics even count menu clicks! X) Overkill? Or jocular? On the other hand, it does not count pause time as playtime, funnily. :p
8. Apparently, the boot (visually and audio-wise) appears less times than your true number of clicks (if you proceed fast enough); I guess this is intended, but I wonder which way gives the better ‘juice’/feedback for the player. Did you try both?
9. The AutoKicker upgrade sounds like ‘hey, we thought of you, lazy person’! XD To each their own. ;)
10. The story/context looks funny (giving the boot to a heater, the Heatlord), although it is not made that clear; maybe you could convey it some more during the game? It could give a sense of engagement, I guess.
11. Are the multipliers combinable (eg if you have both 2x and 10x, then you get 20x)? Later: no, they are not. Maybe this should be made clear in the instructions?
12. The strategy seems straightforward at first sight: click like crazy, get the successive multipliers whenever you can, then get the AutoClicker. Maybe varying the bonuses could make one think a bit more? But hey, maybe that is not the goal. ;)
13. Typography nerd time: in the shop, are the crosses real proper ‘times’ (×), or just the letter ‘x’? (I am asking, because I changed it in my own Ludum Dare 51 game, since someone had remarked about it. XD)
14. Trying the ‘Deactivate’ button for the 2x multiplier: does not work?
15. Funny, I notice the 2x multiplier actually gets you the first point by pressing (and holding), while the second one is yielded by releasing! Is this intended?
16. Ah, discover by accident that Space also works instead of clicking (because I am using the nearby left-hand button on my laptop computer :p)! Was this said somewhere in the indications or not?
17. Oh, wait, Space only gets me one point instead of two, so it looks like it does not take the multiplier(s?) into account!
18. Visiting the ‘Boss’ room/screen: hey, even clicking there still gives me points! And one instead of two (although I guess I should really get zero).
19. The second multiplier is a lot longer than the first one to get! Maybe intended?
20. Reached the 10x multiplier; a quick calculation leads me to about 5,000 clicks to get to the third (100x) multiplier, so this will be even longer…
21. Ah, now, nine points for pressing, and one for releasing. Is there any real reason, once again?
22. For the record and funny anecdote, the time this takes and the kind of strategy to use reminds me of the Ludum Dare 51 game Far., which took me somewhere about one hour to complete, I think. X) And since you wrote in the info box that this game also needs such an amount of time, this is even more reminiscent.
23. You know, this whole ‘clicker’ concept where I get some kind of carpal tunnel syndrome reminds me of the good old International Track & Field on the PlayStation. Using some clothe’s cloth or a sock to mash those buttons. XD
24. Some of the achievements (such as visiting the shop for the first time) remind me of some cheap ‘achievements’ from Steam and so on (to be frank, I dislike how these platforms add such external pseudo-incentives to an already full game!). In the present case, some achievements are meaningful, but I am unsure you really need all. This is nothing serious, but I tend to prefer the achievements linked to the player’s actual performance. Other people may disagree with me on this!
25. Perhaps some things could happen at some ‘points’, when reaching some score. Funny things, random events, possibly a bonus to catch or a penalty to evade… I think this would break the monotony, although I am unsure if this fits the clicker concept.
26. I realize there are TWO ‘Main Menu’ buttons in the pause menu!
27. A bit after getting the 100x multiplier, trying to save and then come back (with ‘Play’); OH NO!!! I lost my progression!!… <:O (I was suspicious this would happen.) I feel like some buttons have trouble (whether multiplier/bonus deactivation or saving).
28. [Trying again the following day! X)]
29. I may have not been paying enough attention, but are the particles unchanged when using a multiplier? If not, maybe they could be correlated (quantity, for example) with the current multiplier. Same for sound, maybe?
30. The trophy icon seems to sometimes not detect well the mouse (I had to click/move several times).
31. Buying cosmetic stuff and trying to unequip: seems not to work either.
32. ‘Never gonna give you up’: would you believe I have been listening again to Together Forever (which I prefer) several times very recently? X)
33. OH NOOOO!!! Ironically, ‘Deactivate’ does work for AutoKicker, but I cannot put it back on then!!! <:O
34. By the way, the boss target (1,500,000) amounts to 15,000 hundreds, and I get a hundred points out of each click (through the multiplier) (which I make about ten per second) and each second (out of AutoKicker — when it was working…); so, I get about eleven hundreds per seconds. This gives about 1,364 seconds of time to reach the target, which is about 22.7 minutes… I get the feeling this is too much; I could do in some sessions, but as I said earlier, the save system does not seem to work properly for me. ._.
35. I think I may stop here (BUT letting the game run, in case you point out something helpful I missed!), waiting for a possible update in case you are considering one. (No pressure! ;)) I am a bit frustrated not to see the boss fight, which seems more interesting as to gameplay!

Takeaway: I like the whole presentation (sounds, UI including screens, music…), which is a nice effort that you can surely reuse in other games (the shop, achievements…); I just wish the first gameplay phase had some more variety than mashing the button. X) I understand this is more or less the standard concept for ‘clicker games’, but maybe making it more engaging (possible suggestion: sometimes avoid projectiles with the mouse??? Or click on a specific heater amongst a series of heaters, depending on the moment??? I do not know) and less time-consuming (by lowering some targets, for example) would raise interest in my personal opinion. Still curious as to what the ‘tower defence’ boss part looks like!