itch.io

I'm happy to see the hard work you put into your game, really happy to be of some type of help. By chance do you think you'll ever do a kickstarter or something in the future when you feel more comfortable with the game?

Lookin good already, energy and time cost are interesting considering it's a key to a home, but I can also understand for the sake of making the game harder.

Yeah for sure these sound like great changes. Cash Meister sounds like a great addition for the hardcore players and Prepper also works wonderfully both for a "easier" addition while making sense in the setting. I can imagine numerous special abilities a dog companion could have in the game, such as sniffing out animal carcasses for meat/bones, luring/distraction/fighting (All making sense to have risk), among other things.

 Search yeah, it makes so much more sense for search/scout to be used this way as when I was searching I was really just wondering if it did nothing but just scout ahead, seeing you confirm that it does just do only that makes me agree with your idea for expanding the system, as the energy cost of searching vs just clicking A twice is monumental, finding a way to get keys both helps with weapon durability management alongside giving search a new use. I agree fully with those idea changes.

I could also see alternative ways to enter a house with more risks. For example, as it currently stands, you use a weapon durability to break down a house door, even on houses with very obvious easily shatter-able windows attached to it. If you can't find a key, maybe there could be window breaking as an option, with the caveat that you are making a hell of a lotta noise(Though I will say breaking down a wooden door is also loud, but I digress), making it so that either A. Nearby Zombies may attack you. B. Faraway zombies may hear it and start moving to your location over time. C. Some type of Mixture of the two. Or D. just the good' ol simple chance that a zombie encounter occurs. So you can have multiple options to gruel over.  Making you either waste dura, potentially have to fight and waste resources or waste resources to have a chance to get a key. Stays in line with the game's management system. 

I will prolly have more ideas come to mind as you reply, but I draw blanks a lot when it's just me and my own thoughts ahahaha. I hope to help in the best way I can that I think makes sense for a game perspective but also your vision. I am always happy to give feedback, whether it be for the jam or even outside of it I am always up to discuss my opinions on the game as I do wish for it to succeed and I enjoy it quite a lot. 

Oh I am by no means offended at your reply, nor upset at the game. I love the game a lot, ever since the first review I ever did on it. I was not aware of the whip dealing splash damage, that's cool to know and makes sense for dealing with the swarm mobs. As for improved weapons, I still can't see too big a use of repairs in all honesty. Sure if it's very upgraded I can see it's worth in repairing but even then with a slight bit of more resources, just crafting a new weapon is overall better. Maybe some different tiers of weapon repairing could be added. For example with project zomboid, if you are repairing a baseball bat you can repair it with duct tape and it will repair it a bit, but with wood glue it will repair it far stronger as it is a glue specific for wooden repairs. Stuff like that remains within logic and provides more incentive. 

Maybe change in difficulty is the wrong term, maybe a choice of difficulty is better, like loot spawns more often and such so players can have a freedom of choice in that matter. As I have also played The Long Dark and I usually play on Stalker, but even that game has Pilgrim for more casual players as it doesn't not take away from the core which is survival, it only changes how hard you need to struggle to survive. The zombies can be just as brutal, but maybe you have an extra knife or two. Campfires, while I know are good from last time, I could never mentally find it in myself to be worth to place down but that's not a game thing it's a me thing.

Likewise, I agree survival is hard. Which is why I still feel like the character should always draw their improvised weapon first because well, why would you not be armed and ready for a fight. Especially if the player is actively getting ready to fight by either luring or charging in. I can understand if you are surprised/walk into them that maybe you might not draw the weapon at first but would you walk into the frigid cold of The Long Darks winter without a torch or flare ready to be drawn? That's how I view it.

I am also curious on how realistic you wish for the apocalyptic scenario to be as you are taking real life things knowledge for the game, such as steak containing lots of water content. For example acorns. We eat them just fine, but in real life they contain tannins which are potentially poisonous in real life. Or mushrooms, our character seems to pick them and eat them just fine, but mushrooms are notorious for being easily mistaken for their poisonous variants. Look up Destroying Angel(Badass name btw) vs  Field Mushroom. 

I am curious to see the direction you will continue to take as I have been reading your dev logs on your posts as you update. I am invested so I am happy to discuss and give my input as well.

Ah, where to begin. I believe it was around two years ago where I last played the demo for the game jams and I definitely noticed the new stuff. Repairing, the class system, starting gear, so I noticed some recommendations being heard and implemented which is always cool to see. The game is still tough, but it felt even more so this time around. However this time it didn't feel so in a good way, maybe it's been too long so I don't quite remember, but the zombies felt bulky, way way too bulky for the resources you can get. Having a way to change card U.I size or I believe what was mentioned before is a way to compress them would help for cards up top and equipped cards as they do get a lil big (Maybe there is an I just missed it). The Almanac, while I did figure out in this streams as I didn't do the tutorial cause I'm a masochist, was def a great feature I was very glad to see as I continued playin off stream.

Some of these zombies even at the start of the zones have upwards of 14+ hp, a swing from an improvised axe and a wooden club will still NOT kill that zombie leaving it with 2 hp. Making you either waste precious resources to reduce waste on weapon durability or just use the swing and waste a dura. 

You can avoid these zombies of course, but in doing so you are wasting potential loot and with how the rng is in this game you really need those resources, you will get tired really quickly, so you need to rest, resting tanks hunger and water, which requires you to gather resources which kill your energy which then requires you to rest and repeat the cycle all over again, it's super easy to get into that death loop of very tight resource management. And even if you avoid the zombies, there are still mandatory zombie fights, so if you didn't get lucky to get weapons, good luck fighting them, especially if they are in a group and you fail a lure. And once you start a fight, you better pray you can actually kill them or face a slow death. Homes too, as desperately as you need loot and sleep, are almost constantly infested with rats, and nothing burns resources faster then fighting horde enemies. You either use your stronger weapons to kill them faster but waste a hit that could have potentially chunked a zombie harder or use smaller resources to kill them but because there are so many of them your waste a lot. Houses rarely if at all feel worth it to even attempt, as loot afterwards also has to be in your favor.

Repairs while a great idea, do not work. 3-4 Durability is just not enough, especially when you need to use stuff like axes on doors if you want to loot more since nearly every house seems to be locked and searching has yet to result in actually finding a key of sorts. Not to mention it seems to only repair the weapon by 1 hit, that is beyond useless even as the craftsman as you would need to have a multitude of upgrades on the weapon to even warrant trying to keep it up when you can use a stick and rock to make a fully new item with 3 durability instead.

The game incentivizes keeping items in order to craft and do other things with them, but if you do that you risk the most dangerous thing, weapon draw. Weapons are the only reliable way of inflicting reasonable damage, and if you don't get that weapon, you risk eating lots of hits. The horde encounter at the end I nearly lost, despite me spawning in both an axe and improv axe and adding in upgrades to them just because of that luck of the draw, having equipped items actually be in your hands to fight with at the start is needed if the difficulty is to be maintained alongside the rng. Perhaps a more casual difficulty is required?

Sometimes it does just feel like you either get exactly what you need or get stuck in the constant struggle of needing more, I like the tinge showing you are growing weaker, but sometimes it is a lil hard to see. 

I am very much happy to see this game back on the feedback quest and I was really excited to re-play it, needs tweaks here and there but I was for sure just as invested with it as much as I was the first time around. I cannot wait to see what else you have in store for the game as it progresses as the concept and art are both wonderful. I have high hopes for this game. Thank you for submitting once more, hope to see you next year as well.

Section from 01:56:00-3:32:00 on Vod

Really unique concept in order to compete with the clean-up genre. Admittedly I couldn't fully understand the seed planting and hybrid portion as sometimes it wouldn't refill the bucket  and other times it would despite both seemingly being in their fully mature stage, but that may be as simple as user error. The music is great, I'd greatly enjoy more to cycle through. It really feels like it would be an enjoyable play with friends experience and I assume that's what is in mind for the future. It felt very mindless, but not in the bad way. In the just doing stuff type of way which these types of games hit for. Just playin, talking to others and simply completing the task at hand, it's nice. I did have a crash at the start up of the game but that also could just be my laptop doing laptop things. Great start premise, cannot wait to see more.

Section from 01:24:00-1:56:00 on the vod on the schedule list.

Simple game that reminds me a lot of Endoparasitic from the dark top down survival angle. The pixel aesthetic feels nice but due to the lighting and bobbing, it does seem like it can cause motion sickness as it did for my friend in the call with me during that time. If you lean more so into the horror aspect I think that would be a nice flair to it.

For some areas though, it felt extremely laggy, at some points I believe it to just be my laptop being bad, but I also think it is the game itself, especially when you turn on the generator and are in that safe room the frames just seem to chunk. After a bit of upgrading, one of which has the same upgrades to it, I believe it to be the reload one, the game loses any sense of urgency or threat. It turns into a gas waiting simulator as the resources you get alongside the upgrades far outway the swarm of enemies. Also depositing gas at the end requires you to shoot. Also on start up, the game is loud loud at least it was for me.

Overall, it wasn't a bad experience for a playtesting. More levels, enemies, risk v reward and general quality of life additions.

Section was 01:01:00-01:22:00~

Firstly, I am glad to see how the game has been improving throughout the years. New areas, new character, dialog, etc. It still keeps the same charm it is presenting itself to have. If you hadn't played the previous versions, the story leap right into the fourth stage is a little jarring but not too huge a problem for me as I have already been aware of the title. Gameplay is fun, definitely intense as I always play on Feisty mode and the twitch intergraded commands make for a nice interactive experience.

As for cons, despite being editable, I would say as a default setting, Feisty makes enemies very spongy, they are killable for sure but it takes a long long time to do so. Some enemies don't seem to have Feisty in mind, such as the Draken who's speed and fire damage is far far too oppressive. While a good a idea, the spores seemed a bit weird to figure out what exactly they do, even when the characters explain it will give some type of buff, it's hard to tell with everything else going on. Back on the harder difficulty talk, without the twitch integration there would have been so many scenarios in which I would have died, which again isn't the worst issue as it is the hardest default settings without a huge amount of the coin buffs, but maybe something to look into.

Cute game, simple premise and an overall enjoyable experience. I cannot wait to see how much more it grows and what else is added to it, such as the mini game it had before and things of similar nature.

Section on the Vod starts from 00:00:00-01:00:00

Streaming Wednesday, September 3rd from https://www.twitch.tv/calamitysecho Time brackets listed below for 

2PM-3PM PST - Feisty Fauna  

3PM-4PM PST - Within the Bunker

4PM-5PM PST - Goreticulture

5PM-6PM PST - 9 Dayz

All times are subject to change depending on the length of the game and if completed before the 1 hour bracket is up.

Hello, I am CalamitysEcho or simply Echo for short. I am a very very on and off streamer only really doing so when I please. When I do play. it's typically a variety of games as I have a interest in a lot of genre's. I quite enjoy seeing what Indie dev's make and will assess them to the best of my ability. Other then that, I am a pretty run of the mill streamer and person.

Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/calamitysecho

VOD: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2237352013

Games played: 4

Games: Feisty Fauna | Chronomon - Monster Taming Farm SIM | Untitled Dwarf Game | 6-Sided Stories

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2237352013 3-end of stream Time Bracket

I adored this game. It's simple, it's relaxing and it portrays a cute story as the title suggests. The music is my type of music so I am biased towards it, I love it, it fits the vibe and portrayal of what the games wants to be to a tee. I got through the game pretty quickly, the shake hints alongside the initial flips that are shown do make it easier, but I take it the game isn't meant to be super channeling in the first place, merely to tell a cute story in a nice game. My only desire out of playing this game is simply more content. I enjoyed it, didn't seem to run across any bugs, the game was rather easy due to the tile shake, but not hard where I necessarily needed it either. The mechanics are easy to follow and add a nice layer to the gameplay compared to other puzzle type games. Was a great way to end off the stream.

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2237352013 2-3 Hour Bracket.

I am a biased man towards Dwarf games. Deep Rock, Cave Crawlers, I love Dwarf content. The game was fun, I enjoyed the difficulty as you go down levels, I enjoyed the level of customization already available for a prototype game, hadn't really noticed all to many bugs either, some of which I believe just made the game funnier. Such as some tools causing you to speedily bounce around. Mobs can be more polished in how they are when they aren't aggro'd such as patrolling around noise or waiting in ambush instead of spinning in circles. I think having buildable would be cool, such as turrets as our character does look to be an Artificer. Fun game, can't wait to see what it is like in it's later stages of development.

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2237352013 Timestamp 1-2 Hour bracket.

Pokemon+Stardew, two games to which I enjoy greatly and this game definitely hits the mark. However, in the hour I played there was a decent amount of bugs and features I would like to see improved/added.

 Firstly, adding the ability to return to the main menu rather than have to quit the game. 

There was a bug that the hotbar didn't exist and my mon had the favorite info box stuck there, only until I restarted the game were the brought back. 

Going into and outta houses bugs the volume, increasing it to be louder until I adjust the settings again. 

Random interactions alongside the world might cause error pop-ups and one battle I had was impossible to view, most likely due to being near the edge of the map.

For a post apocalypse-esc setting, it seems rather chill, street lamps and all, it doesn't feel like it's a hostile environment like the starting setting and dialogue seem to suggest. I do however like the air raid sirens when it turns night and the mons getting stronger, it does have a sense of curfew from danger.

Movement can use some work as it feels a little delayed/non responsive if you try to move in certain ways.

Overall has potential though, I like the Stardew referenced design and wish for a little more post-apocalypse aesthetic both in the environment and hopefully with player customization. Farming is nice with sleep being pretty strong all things considered, a more polished version of this game would definitely have my interest, especially if multiplayer is in mind.

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2237352013 Time bracket from 0-1 hour. A great game with potential. It was enjoyable the first time I played a year ago, and to see the progress was rather enjoyable. The combos are definitely a step in the right direction for this type of game. Difficulty is definitely increased which is quite enjoyable to me, as previously on the hardest difficulty it wasn't too bad, now it's more of a challenge.  More variants of combos would be a nice addition for replay ability, alongside longer levels that let you go to the hub world for more interactions and potentially hiring people to help in levels via coins. Overall, great game. 

Will be streaming in 30 minutes for 4 hours, so 8/29/24 2PM PST at https://www.twitch.tv/calamitysecho

Games played will be

2PM-3PM: Feisty Fauna

3PM-4PM: Chronomon - Monster Taming Farm SIM

4PM-5PM: Untitled Dwarf Game

5PM-6PM: 6-Sided Stories

It's really cool seeing some of me suggestions coming to fruition, I really look forward to seeing the game develop more and more. U.I looks really good too.

The new design looks sleek, and for the loadouts, it's exactly the type of thing I had in mind, I can already see this adding new gameplay options and playthroughs.

Interesting premise for a tower defense, active playing tower defenses are not too common, with Citywars being the most similar in terms of having to actively play. Some stuff needs to be said more, like what towers do and what upgrading does. A mini tutorial to show what each tower does, level select needs music and maybe changed to theme a kitchen. Fun, but rough, like the stage before the economy stage feels impossible to beat with the lack of DPS but that could just be me. However, it's fine, a tower defense that is engaging always feels coolio. 

Really nice concept, old games brought into a 3D plane looks fantastic. I especially enjoyed Space Invaders in the 3D format, admittedly though, it was hard to gauge where they were exactly with hitbox. Some bugs were there, pinball softlocked and Asteroids let me play a little longer even though I gameovered. Pinball felt slow, Pacman felt super clunky too. However, it was an overall fun and somewhat nostalgic experience.  

09/04/2023 https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1917289247

Titles Total: 4

Back to the Arcade 01:19:18-02:11:20

Crazy Kitchen 02:12:40-02:54:37

Going to play some demos for a lil again https://www.twitch.tv/calamitysecho

A very, very enjoyable game for me. I've never been one for card games, and barely have played any Turn-Based games, outside of a select few games. So my enjoyment for this game, came out beyond expectation. It was engaging, tactical, and had you going. The game is brutal, and that is fine, it's meant to be that way, however some things do need to be tweaked in my opinion. Equipped weapons should be drawn first in combat, if it's equipped, it should be at the ready. RNG might have to be changed just a little, as sometimes, you can just get acorns or 2 rocks, one of which can create a far bigger impact than the other. Maybe other ways to get inside houses, as a whole axe swing to break down a door feels too much, considering some houses visually look like they have windows. Careers/Occupations for starting could be a way to further spice up the game, selecting a character giving different buffs/debuffs, starting gear, things of that nature. A journal would be great, every day the character can write down lore on the journey, something like the game 60 seconds, it would also be a great way to have recipes and crafting information written down so you don't need those items to have to check what to keep. Luring to the minigame is good, as it stands, it's a 50-50 and with someone with bad luck, it felt like it was pointless to even try to lure sometimes. Repairs are coming so that is nice. As for the character, giving them more background would be great. Or even just having the player have the options to give them background and a name would work as well, especially for those who wanna do some type of RP. Lore, and or story would be wonderful as well, while searching houses, you have the option to read something that may have been found during the search, giving lore as to what happened to the family, the world, such as the start of it all, all depending on the location you are getting this information from. All and all, a very solid game that look forward to seeing more from.

A overall fun and engaging experience, enemies can hurt if they rack up enough damage over time, most noticeable with the fire enemies, but otherwise somewhat do little damage(Situational). From the two characters that I had played, I noticed a distinct different in power. This can be a positive and negative depending on who's asking, but perhaps some balance changes there are needed. Twitch integration was a great addition, and definitely makes the game more engaging for both the streamer and viewer. Some additions such as cosmetics, lore(such as secrets or hints), access to the coop, and base customization would be nice to see. It's a very homey feeling game, and that adds a nice coziness to the genre making it feel different from the other vampire survivor esc games. In the campaign, during the level select, maybe add the option to go to a shop. Shops could have in game buffs for coins, that are stronger than the owl ones, but aren't permanent; Or you could have the shop be where you get the cosmetics in question, so you have to play in order to buy things from the shop if you want collectables. 

09/03/2023 https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1916440249
Feisty Fauna 00:00:00-01:11:41

9 Dayz 01:11:41-03:07:02

Gonna start streamin a couple of games soon at https://www.twitch.tv/calamitysecho

Hello, you may address me as Echo, https://www.twitch.tv/calamitysecho