itch.io

Hi, I'm the guy from the "Let's Trade Feedback" post. I did one run with warrior and one run with mage; here's what I have.

The game overall seems... fine? It didn't trigger a strong emotional reaction one way or another. It'll be easier to pick out specifics:

• Although the card and item art is all over the place, I particularly liked the ones that hearkened back to old-school computer RPGs. The music accentuated that nicely.
  
• Though I mostly understood everything presented, there is a lot to parse almost right off the bat. Seemed like every new stage had some cascading set of keywords I had to learn. Plus, the  mathematical expressions regularly embedded in effects often forced me to slow down and make sure I was understanding everything right. (Although this seems so core to the game that I can't really call it a "problem".)
  • I wound up mostly winging fights using the output numbers on the cards rather than engaging with the math. 
    
  • Only the RNG formulas actually confused me even after re-reading. The die icon's hard to make out. :shrug:
• The Impale card might be a little crazy; a single casting finished an entire encounter multiple times.
• There's a typo on the potion(s): "removed form deck permanently".
• Is there a point to fear that I'm not seeing? All it does is reduce sanity, which reads like a weird form of damage?
• Finally, there are two enemies I have complaints about:
  • The cuttlefish grinds the game to a halt if you can't smash it immediately. I got stuck with one as the lone remaining enemy as mage and sat there spinning wheels for who-knows-how-many turns until I could finally chip it down.
  • The deepest one can get you in a spot where it's impossible to win, but it still takes ages to actually finish you off. (This is after passing MANY turns after getting into such a spot, and my hero was still kicking.)

And those are my takeaways.

To close, I think the massive prevalence of symbols, math expressions, and various keywords could stave off certain kinds of players, but in a weird way that presentation plays into the old-school feel you've got going on. It's got a charm to it, even if I didn't 100% have a grip on what's happening.

Thanks to both of you for your help!

I'm too tied up in the rectangles by now to change them. ^^; That's just the aesthetic style at this point. It's also good to hear some ways I could make the input system smoother, but there are other things higher on the priority list at the moment---I'll get to that if I have time and/or enough people bring it up.

All that said, both of your points on the tutorials have been useful. A new update's out with massive aesthetic changes, attempts at early cutscenes, and adjustments to the tutorial to streamline the experience more.

Offer's still up if anyone else wants a part in this: you test my game, and I'll test yours!

Hi! I'm the guy from the Let's Trade Feedback thread, here to uphold my end of the bargain.

So, off the bat, I think you knocked it out of the park with aesthetics; the pixel art is simple but effective and the music and SFX suits it perfectly.

The core gameplay was fun; I did two runs and enjoyed how different they felt even with some overlapping abilities, and it was far from a chore to load up a new attempt after my initial loss. That said, I do have a couple points of criticism:

• The small, plain font was jarring compared to how well the rest of the games look came together.
• I think you could reward bonus points for finishing a stage quickly in order to encourage more proactivity. With enemies that weren't apt to chase me down, I found it too easy to become slow and tentative in my approach (waiting for cooldowns to recharge and such), which runs contrary to your high-action sales pitch. 
• Like the other commenter, there were instances where I got stuck on a piece of terrain I couldn't see, so the lighting/contrast could use some tweaks.
• There seems to be a bug where the game rewarded bonus points for a perfect wave even though I took damage? I think it has to do with Spare Parts healing me above where I started the wave.
• Dashing felt finicky at times; sometimes I'd seem to zip right through (or right past) enemies, other times I'd ram them and shove them in front of me. Felt difficult to plan my maneuvers without knowing which would happen.

But, honestly, if you just adjusted the non-pixel font and expanded the contents, I think you could ship this game as-is and it'd be perfectly fine. Good work!

Here's what I grabbed during my runs in case it's relevant to you:

• First run:  "Tanky" (can't remember the name; slow + defensive) --> Sniper --> Spare Parts --> Collateral Sniper --> Faster Reload --> Spare Parts ---> Exploding Bullets)
• Second run: Improved Dashing --> Gunner --> Spare Parts --> Improved Dashing --> Fast Wheels --> More Split Shots

Thanks for the comment! The tutorial is "on rails" because I've previously had complaints about the mechanics being unclear or confusing (both online and irl); I'll wait for more feedback before I make more changes.

I'll also look into the bug while I'm at it. In the meantime you should be able to refresh the page and use the CHEAT button to skip to tutorial 2 and retry it.

Well met!

I'd wager many of us here know how impossible it feels to get people to play your game, whether you're doing refinements for a small commercial release or just want to make your pet project the best it can be.

I'm in the same boat. So why not help each other out?

My game is NSCG ("Nameless Solo Card Game"); it's a cute little card-based puzzle combat game. You'll overcome enemies by hitting precise damage values to cancel their attacks and maneuvering allies to mitigate what damage does get through.

You can comment feedback below or post on the game's page. I'm happy for any amount, of course, but depending on how much of my game you play and how thorough your commentary is, I'll try to repay that in kind.

Do note that I'm a person with biases and preferences like anyone else, though. I'll give any game an earnest try, but feel free to reply with your game first so I can tell you if I think I can give a meaningful review. (Though I won't actually try it until you've fulfilled your end of the bargain. :P)

I'd like to get as much feedback in as possible before Monday next week (11/24); you can expect my commentary on your game by the following Monday (12/01).

You're fine, that's good info.

What's actually happening is that you're accidentally targeting yourself; the icon is invisible because it matches the target's color.  So clearly I need to adjust the input system and/or make the instructions clearer.

Hey everyone!

My hitherto-unnamed card game sees you playing cards into a timeline for each turn, manipulating card timings, party positioning, and damage numbers to overcome your foes.

For now, I'd like feedback on the tutorial, learning curve, and early encounter design. Though the current demo includes five levels (or "gauntlets"), I want to focus on the Training Grounds and The Road for that reason. But it'd be awesome if you tried any of the remaining gauntlets, too!

Try the game here!

Leave your feedback on this Google form!

Deepest thanks to anyone willing to help out!