Post by docnutnut in Rise of the Soulmancer comments

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Something else I can't help but wonder.

Did there used to be more creds earned? Maybe an increase in rewards as the Overworld levels progress?

I ask this as I am saving up for those Production rooms and Generators which are kinda pricey, especially when 25-35 is as much as I can expect for a reward be it on level 1 or level 101. I did just get an Orbin Generator as a Puzzle reward though, so that saved me 5.5k creds.

I ask, because this must have taken a while

Then again, you are the dev so I imagine that cash and objects aren't as much of a hassle for you to get than they are for me.

1StepCloser1 year ago (2 edits)

In many cases, it's mostly just attempting to get the balance right (constant process), info such as this helps.

I do need to work on reward scaling with world level, even if just slightly.

However, like expansion, I wanted some parts of progress to be more long-term.

Originally, the issue was that the tile breakers (used to create space for you to place rooms) were super rare compared to the rooms, so I attempted to slow the rate of gain for rooms to match tile breaker gain.

The next question is if you even have space to use your rooms, without that, you could have 50+ rooms without much use.

docnutnut1 year ago(+1)

I imagine that the finer workings of your game keep you up at night.

I consider myself an ideas person, I don't know how something can be done but I love coming up with new possibilities no matter what they are in connection with. I don't expect any of what I suggest to ever make it in to your game, but if they do, they do. Any time I get into something, I consider the 'What if' variations. I tried years ago to get a message to Quentin Tarantino for what I thought would be a perfect film concept for him to make. Without being in the industry myself, it is exceedingly hard to get a message to one of the top directors of our time and the reply I eventually got sounded like it came from his secretary.

I was thinking of something which would relate to the tree idea I had. You have so much space that will probably remain unused within Sanctum. All those underground squares which are unaffected by the Tile Breakers. I had an idea of a root system from the tree. The roots would uncover one square at a time, each square being a new zone and maybe each of these new zones being uncovered each day or week. A zone could be one level or a hundred. It could be all fighting, all puzzles or something else entirely, and each one would have to be completed before going onto the next one as well as being able to repeat them. I have tried to count the number of squares that the Tile Breakers can break. I think there are a little under 8,000 of them, and there are many more than that that can't be touched if you use the mouse wheel to scroll out.

Assuming the hammers work eventually, it won't actually take THAT long to uncover the whole map in Expansion despite you wanting it to be a slow, endgame feature. Though I don't know what is going to happen within the caves, yet. I also wonder if you plan to add armies to Expansion so that the areas that are populated by other forces can be defeated and built upon. So that eventually the entire map would, I guess, be completed. Would this allow for an Expansion Prestige? A new map but with all or a percentage of your existing supplies? Some new buildings, features or currencies? A crossover potential between Expansion and Sanctum?

Ideas. More things to keep you up at night. Nothing more.

I've been writing a Utopia/Dystopia sci-fi book for a while now and I am constantly thinking of how to incorporate the ideas into the story without making the story overly sci or fi. I don't want to add something that is just stupidly and carelessly included like they did with time travel in Avengers Endgame. I don't really know what I'm getting at here so I'll stop writing before this turns into a novel or I just decide to delete rather than send.

I like to write. You have probably noticed this by now.

1StepCloser1 year ago

I don't expect any of what I suggest to ever make it in to your game, but if they do, they do.

I will attempt to add in as many as I can, but prioritizing what appears to be the most meaningful first.

Assuming the hammers work eventually, it won't actually take THAT long to uncover the whole map in Expansion despite you wanting it to be a slow, endgame feature.

That expansion location represents a single sector of virtually infinite sectors. The main idea is exclusive rewards from beating the sector compared to other parts of the game.

I also wonder if you plan to add armies to Expansion so that the areas that are populated by other forces can be defeated and built upon.

There is combat in expansion, but perhaps you mean something else. (For combat it requires a specific building).

A new map but with all or a percentage of your existing supplies? Some new buildings, features or currencies? A crossover potential between Expansion and Sanctum?

There is an exclusive reward for beating the sector, but long-term I'd like that system to become diplomatic, and universally influential, but that will require proper story systems I think (working on it, but it will take considerable time, I might try prioritizing pushing out a barebones foundation though for testing).

I don't really know what I'm getting at here so I'll stop writing before this turns into a novel or I just decide to delete rather than send. Iike to write. You have probably noticed this by now.

I enjoy reading these.

docnutnut1 year ago(+1)

There is combat in expansion, but perhaps you mean something else. (For combat it requires a specific building).

Maybe I'll get to build one someday :P then we can see if we're on the same page.

docnutnut1 year ago(+1)

Another thought and an easy one to implement.

A permanent Sanctum merchant. He sells everything that the wandering Outerworld merchant sells but at 20% (or x%) more. Now I have saved up enough for a Power Generator, it is a bit annoying that the merchants seem to be out of stock!

Also some more furniture would be nice. I have two pieces of furniture for my soulrooms and about 30 items that can be placed on top of furniture.

I was also wondering if these items are purely cosmetic or if they actually do something like increase XP earnings.

1StepCloser1 year ago

I want the incentive to venture into the Outerworld to be high, having a Merchant in the Sanctum even with higher cost would go against this goal in my opinion. Alternative solution would be to slightly increase frequency of the Merchant.

Also some more furniture would be nice. I have two pieces of furniture for my soulrooms and about 30 items that can be placed on top of furniture.

This might just be a probability balance issue. I'll check.

I was also wondering if these items are purely cosmetic or if they actually do something like increase XP earnings.

As of now the items within the rooms are cosmetic, and the rooms themselves are functional.

docnutnut1 year ago

I don't think that you need more merchants in Outerworld.

I noticed that my complaints about Soul Fragments are moot now as, by unlocking all elements of the ---zin character, the Soul Fragment activity has gone.

1StepCloser1 year ago

If you were able to collect all of the Zin's already then you were better than I understood ^^!

Nice!

However, more will arise in the future probably.

docnutnut1 year ago(+1)

I got most of them before the change. The final two took a while, though I did seem to find my groove eventually.

Change is often a bitch, but we adapt or ...

...fail.

docnutnut1 year ago(+1)

Something that has been happening with increasing regularity is the game crashing.

I will finish a level and there will be no way to exit. No menu option and no X. The only way to end is Alt F4 and restart. I didn't say anything at first because I often seem to get extra issues due to being in China. Things don't work, are slow or are blocked, but I don't think this is the case any more. Everything else works fine: uTorrent, Edge, other games etc. I only seem to have a problem with TBD.

When it happened once every few days, I ignored it, but it seems to happen every few minutes now. I play a few levels, the game freezes and I restart with my game pushed back a level or two.

Any suggestions for something that I can do on my end or does it seem like a problem on your end?

1StepCloser1 year ago (1 edit)

Any suggestions for something that I can do on my end or does it seem like a problem on your end?

This doesn't happen for me, however, since other games work fine for you, it's likely an issue with TBD.

I will finish a level and there will be no way to exit. No menu option and no X.

So are we talking soft crashes or hard crashes? If the characters are still animated it might not be a crash at all. Instead, the function that checks for world level completion might not be finding how to end it.

I play a few levels, the game freezes and I restart with my game pushed back a level or two.

Game freezes would indeed be a hard crash, I can release the next version with devtools, so when it happens you can open the browser log to see what the error is. Did this happen before the most recent update?

Is the crash only occurring at the end of levels?

Also what game speed are you using? (x1, x2, x3)

docnutnut1 year ago

I have been using x3 speed ever since the option was mentioned in the game. I shall try using x1.

This has happened for a while but more frequently since the last update.

1StepCloser1 year ago (1 edit)

Ahh ok, I'm wondering if that's a potential issue, particularly for lower-end devices that might not be able to keep up with the demands at that speed.

docnutnut1 year ago(+1)

That may be the issue. I have done 15 Outerworld levels at x1 with not a problem. Hopefully that sorts the issue.

Another little glitch and I think I know what makes it happen. When you remove a character from your party, they are also removed from their Soul Room, if they are in one. I think. I will check this myself if you don't check it first.

1StepCloser1 year ago

Before removal with same character housed:

After removal with same character housed:

However, you are experiencing the disappearance of housed souls?

docnutnut1 year ago(+1)

I have been trying to figure out why my characters rarely level up nowadays and I think I finally have it figured out. Upon leaving the Outerworld, all buffs are reset but also all XP progress towards the next level is reset. Is this intentional?

If it is intentional, maybe I ignored it in the tutorial. If it is intentional and wasn't mentioned, it should be. And if it's unintentional, I'd appreciate it being fixed, as it feels like level 22-24 is the maximum.

1StepCloser1 year ago (1 edit)

Hmm, that shouldn't be the case.

I tested this just to make sure.

1. Used a level 0 Ally and they gained 1 XP.

2. Intentionally lost after they gained 1 XP.

3. Waited for them to show up at the Soul Creator

4. Added them to party

5. Checked EXP -> stil 1 XP.

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1StepCloser1 year ago

Another important aspect of this might be the browser you are using which sounds like Edge. I develop and test in Chrome so I'll see about testing in Edge (Usually doesn't work as well as Chrome).

docnutnut1 year ago

I use Edge. I used Chrome until a couple of years ago when it stopped working so well. This could be to do with Google being blocked in China.

Besides, I download the game and play it on my PC directly. Would my choice of browser affect the gameplay at all?

1StepCloser1 year ago (1 edit)

I checked and your browser shouldn't be relevant in this case.

itch.io

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