itch.io

Thank you so much for taking the time to write such a thoughtful and high-value breakdown! This is easily some of the most practical and actionable advice I've received.

Here's what I'm doing based on your feedback:

1. Page Metadata & Discoverability: You completely opened my eyes to itch.io's sidebar filters. I had no idea I was opting out of so many targeted surfaces. I’m updating the edit page right away to fill in Input Methods (Touchscreen/Smartphone), Accessibility (One-button), Session Length, and highlighting the 11 supported languages.
2. Pity Rule for Card Pool: Your point about future-proofing card pool dilution hit the nail on the head. Manually tuning the ratio for each content update would have been a maintenance nightmare. I'm going to implement a pity counter / guaranteed upgrade rule for the main weapon to keep early runs consistent regardless of pool size.
3. Save Durability & Export/Import: The iOS storage eviction caveat is a huge blind spot I missed during testing. Adding an export/import save string on the results screen is such a smart, lightweight solution to prevent silent progress loss.
4. Touch-action CSS: Double-tap zoom and accidental scrolling have definitely caused friction in mobile iframe embeds. I’ll make sure touch-action: none; (or appropriate handling) is properly set on the canvas container immediately.

Really appreciate the detailed feedback and the kind words about the no-gacha/no-ads design. It means a lot to an indie dev! ⚡

Hi everyone,

I've been building GOO BLASTER — a mobile-first survivor-like you play in the

browser. It's out and playable, but only two people have ever played it, and both

of them found problems I never would have found on my own. So I'm here looking for

more people to break it.

Play it here (no download, no signup):

https://davidform.itch.io/goo-blaster

A bit of context on why it is the way it is: I'm building this to be something

kids can play. That decision drove almost every design choice — there is no gacha,

no random paid loot boxes, no timed FOMO counters, no ads, and no data collection.

The whole game is a single HTML file with zero external dependencies, so once the

page loads you can put your phone in airplane mode and keep playing.

What's in it:

- 50 stages across 10 chapters, with a chapter boss every 5 stages

- 3 weapons that each evolve, 16 upgrade cards, 9 chest types

- A permanent upgrade shop between runs, so a bad run still gets you somewhere

- 11 languages (EN / 繁中 / 简中 / 日本語 / 한국어 / DE / FR / ES / IT / PT-BR / RU)

- Touch controls on mobile, WASD/arrows + space on desktop

What the two playtests already caught:

Someone got hard stuck on stage 5. I assumed the boss was too tanky. It wasn't —

the upgrade card pool was so diluted that your main weapon only showed up 18% of

the time, so most players never got it past level 1 and the damage numbers never

worked out. Fixed that, and then the same player told me the boss's bullet pattern

was still unreadable. Turned out I'd accidentally moved the densest attack in the

game onto the first boss players ever meet. That's now 4 bullets per volley

instead of 19.

Two players found two things I'd have shipped without noticing. That's why I'm

posting.

What would actually help me:

1. Which stage did you stop at, and what made you stop — too hard, too repetitive,

   or just bored?

2. Did the touch controls feel right on your device? (Which phone?)

3. Stage 5 is the first real boss. Does it feel fair now, or still unfair?

Even one line is useful. "Quit at stage 3, felt samey" tells me more than silence.

One more thing: I'll be running a closed Android test before this goes to the

Play Store. If you'd like to keep an eye on where it ends up, say so and I'll

put you on the list.

Happy to return the favour — drop a link to yours and I'll play it and write you

something specific back.

Thanks,

David

That's a great update! The YouTube video and extra screenshots make the game look so much more engaging and give players a much better sense of the gameplay. Good luck with the playtests, and I hope you get plenty of great feedback!

Really love seeing such a supportive and constructive interaction here! The game concept and art look super promising, and it's great to see how actively you're working with the community's feedback. Best of luck with the development!

It looks like a really promising project and I love how dedicated you are to gathering feedback!

That said, requiring a 300-word review for a playtest key alongside a 200 MB download might set the entry barrier a bit high for casual testers. Adding more short gameplay GIFs and screenshots to your store page would give players a much clearer preview before downloading, making it easier to attract more playtesters to jump in and share their thoughts.

The shared-board multiplayer concept sounds really promising and seems like a great fit for a party game! It feels a bit like a missed opportunity that the demo is single-player only, as testing the core multiplayer loop would give a better feel for the chaos and pacing. That said, the new screenshots look great, and having a web build will definitely make it much easier for more players to hop in and give feedback.