itch.io

Been enjoying the game a lot so far. I've read and agree with a lot of the comments on the bulldozers wrt them being slow and expensive. However, I do still like them quite a bit, for three reasons. 

1. The bulldozers are more efficient at delivery. Even before purchasing the guzzler, they deliver ore more directly into the maw, or at least, without the possibility of the ore falling in front of the maw where it'll need to be picked up again. One thing that irritates me with runners is that their accuracy never improves, and the guzzler only compensates for that so much. You can easily get in an infinite loop where runners are picking up and delivering the same ore over and over again. it feels very stupid.
2. I've noticed that when a runner picks ore up, the mountain can no longer reclaim it. However, when the runner delivers the ore into the maw, the second the ore leaves the runners hand, the mountain can reclaim it again. (This is also true for gorilla arms, and is a big reason why i hate it so much). Since runners delivering ore can throw it all the way to the top of the screen, that means a very long period where the ore has been delivered by the runner, but does not count as having been claimed, as far as I can tell. This ore either contributes to the ore count putting other ore at risk of being reclaimed or is at risk of being reclaimed itself. With this in mind, the bulldozers delivering ore more directly into the maw is an advantage worth considering despite the expense and other disadvantages.
3. They're cute. I'll say it. They look like little dogs, and that's adorable.

Now, despite my appreciation for them, they still need a fair bit of work. Here are some things that frustrate me about them:

1. Others have mentioned how expensive they are. I've played all the way to level 100 a couple of times, an I've hit the point as early as level 40 where the restriction on what upgrades you can buy is the amount of mithril or souls. The bulldozers being so expensive worsens this balance dramatically.
2. The fact that they have no dodge as far as I can tell coupled with the fact that a rest/repair cycle does not restore them to full health even after full upgrades means they can easily spend more time stunned than operational. 
3. In the late game, there are often so many falling rocks that it fully negates the health regen over time.
4. It's unclear how they are supposed to protect nearby runners from falling debris, and I honestly don't feel like it's working much.
5. The rock-busting laser also feels very ineffective for the price (so do the other rock-busting turrets tbh)
6. Them not being affected by runes feels unfair with the current limited upgrades and the limited efficacy of those upgrades.

I don't know how to fix all of these, but I have some thoughts for some of them

1. I would honestly rather have them rest for longer and set out at full health than have them set out more frequently at partial health. Maybe a "repair cycle" lasts for a certain number of seconds and repairs a certain amount of HP, and repeats until the dozer is fully repaired, with upgrades increasing the amount of HP and speed of cycle until a fully upgraded dozer only takes one cycle to be repaired. These cycles would need to be shorter by default in order to not feel unfairly long at the end of full upgrades, but you could balance it with other upgrades—a dozer that takes less damage sets out again sooner. Heal over time is another model that would work well, I think.
2. Like the runners, they can take damage while resting/being repaired. This needs to go away, I think, regardless of whether you change the way repair works or not. At the moment, a dozer can conceivably go in to rest and take more damage than it is repaired for. A repair shed as a possible upgrade, perhaps.
3. I agree that a dodge chance doesn't make narrative sense for a bulldozer, but a deflector shield or something like the runner's beard aura would be a great upgrade. As other have said, it's easy to get to a point where all the health upgrades don't matter because you just have too many rocks reaching the ground, even with robust defenses.

Thank you again for the update.

Yeah my experience with Gorilla arms is that when runners yeet the ore, the ore does not make it close enough to the maw to be sucked in. Then, the runner returns and sets back out, picks up and yeets the same ore, which does not make it in, repeating the same inefficient cycle eternally.

I saw you have a shrine building planned? It would make sense, imo, to move rituals to the shrine to free up more forge upgrades. Wizard's tower would be good too, but Shrine feels like it matches the flavor better.

Okay update I have tried the arrow keys and it is significantly more comfortable to play, thank you so much!  I would love a little more precision in the left/right movement, I'm finding that even a short tap will rotate the fabric wider than I'd like. And I'm still having the issue where sometimes the needle will move forward while I'm adjusting the rotation and not hitting the spacebar at all. However!!! I should actually be able to complete the demo now!!

Thank you again!

I did not realize that it was possible to rotate the fabric with the arrow keys! I'll give it a shot and get back to you.

So sorry for the delay in replies! I'm in the middle of a move, so it's been a while since I got to play. I'm on the newest build now, and you've made a lot of changes I really appreciate! I love the trims and lace, as well as the new fabric and patterns. The zoom is also incredibly helpful.

Unfortunately, I'm still really struggling with the controls, particularly in the sewing phase. I love the addition of keyboard controls for the food pedal, but you're still requiring click/hold and drag to adjust the fabric position. What this means is that for any piece with curved seams (which is most of them) I'm having to hold a mouse button and drag to make minute adjustments the entire time I'm sewing or else significantly sacrifice dress quality. I'm sorry, but I'm really not noticing a difference in how painful it is to play.

I'm also noticing that you can still sew forwards with the hold mouse/drag controls, which means I'm making far more mistakes than in the previous build. I keep trying to adjust the angle and unless I'm incredibly precise, the needle surges forward when I don't want it to.

I really appreciate how responsive you've been with requests for features and responding to concerns, and I'm genuinely excited for you that you got greenlit and get to develop this into a full game. However, between the ongoing accessibility issues and the fact that you can't seem to un-place trim once you've placed it, I'm finding the current build to be unplayably frustrating. I'm sad to say it, but I'm probably going to have to sit this one out unless/until you can fully implement a control schema that doesn't rely on keyboard and mouse.

Charming and cozy and relaxing!!! I'd love to see what else you've got up your sleeves.

This game is really charming and fun! My top priority for a full release is a different control schema. I'm disabled, and the mouse controls for the sewing machine are intuitive and true to life, but excruciatingly painful after two dresses. Controller support would be ideal (one joystick for rotating, the other for forward/back?) but honestly any step you take away from the click/hold/drag combo would be awesome. Being able to click to move cut patterns back into storage rather than drag would also be great. Anything that dramatically cuts down on the amount of holding and dragging would make the game miles more accessible.

The hand drawn art style used for the characters/sketchbook is really gorgeous, and I honestly like it better than the textures currently used for the fabrics. I'd take some abstraction in my fabrics in favor of textures that feel more in sync with the art style of the rest of the game.

The design aspect is charming, and I feel like the color/patterns compliment each other pretty well. I'd love to see it a little more grounded in a more specific era of fashion history, though. Right now, the dresses feel a little modern compared to some of the character designs. Fancy purple suit lady's ensemble suggests a very specific historical period, and it's hard to make a dress for her that feels like it matches. The skirts and necklines are the big problem here, I think. Historically grounded colors and patterns would be cool too.

I could easily see myself paying $30-$50 for a full release of this game, depending on included features. The accessibility features are my highest priority (and I wouldn't pay the $50 for a game with the current control schema. I might not even pay the $30.), but some form of story/relationship managements also very high priority for me. 

Some other things I'd like to see:

•  Closures! I love the buttons, but they feel a little superfluous and it breaks my immersion as a sewist to be making these highly tailored gowns that absolutely don't fit over the head.
• More types of accessory. Ribbon, braid, and beaded trims. Possibly appliques? I'd love embroidery but I have no idea how to make that not break the gameplay loop. More decorative elements for the dresses would be lovely as well.
• Ensembles. If you ground the fashion to a particular period a bit more, there are a lot of cases where people would buy a Jacket/skirt/shirtwaist combo rather than a dress, and I'd love to get commissions for coordinated sets.
• A zoom function for the dress model. It's hard to place items on the shoulders or other high areas on the garment, and precision accessory placement is difficult so far away from the dress
• Accessory suggestions: I don't necessarily feel the need to sell hats, shoes, or jewelry myself, but I'd love to be able to suggest things to go with it.
• More detailed commissions and feedback. Do they have a favorite color? pattern? What exactly did they like about my dress??? I want characters to have more hidden preferences they comment on.
• More detailed and transparent pricing. Ngl, I really don't understand how the pricing works. Will customers pay more for quality? It's not very clear.
• Trends. I would love to see certain colors and patterns go in and out, and even have new customers come in and ask for something similar to another clients' commission.
• Menswear. You'd probably want to do this as a paid dlc, but you'd be surprised how many male dress-up game fans there are who would eat this up.
• Corsetry. I think there's a paid dlc here as well.
• Small commissions to break things up. Maybe someone wants some silk stockings? ten handkerchiefs? Hair ribbons and sock garters? Maybe you can make these after hours and sell them ready-made and if a customer is particularly happy, they'll pick one up with their order.

Thank you for the lovely time! I hope this one gets fully developed!!