Thanks a lot for taking the time to respond. Appreciate it.
That is great news and I'll be looking forward to the *potential* mac release!
frocco
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Auro: A Monster-Bumping Adventure comments · Replied to SuspensionOfDisbelief in Auro: A Monster-Bumping Adventure comments
Hey there - I finally had time to go back to the updated game (v3.4).
The bumped up difficulty is great and really gives the game a more strategic and high stakes vibe.
Ran into a bug though: a volcano erupted right beside me. I was standing in a forest tile. When the forest caught fire - and me too - the game crashed and became unresponsive.
Hey Brett. I've been a huge fan of your games and design for quite some time, so first off, thanks for making them with such care and passion!
I'm wondering if would be willing to add your two other "classics" to Itch: Solar Settlers and Axes and Acres?
Why I'd like it: I am not planning on going back to using Steam for various reasons (my Mac is way too old to run it, not a fan of DRM, don't like that it promotes an environment of constant game buying).
I've heard several others in your Discord would be super into buying your games on itch too. I'm sure we would all be happy with them as-is, even if updates trickle through slower and online capabilities are turned off.
Anyway, something to consider as I think the upload effort would be small but there might actually be quite a bit of lurking interest. I'd be happy to promote the games too.
Just like with Brough's games, I think itch is a natural platform with a large overlap of interested audience.
Please consider this merely a kind provocation from a fan who is a happy owner of Militia on itch.
All the best!
Hey! Thanks so much for the response and effort.
I know you have looked into already, but as far as I know you can completely ignore all the stuff about signing / notarizing the app and needing Xcode and a Mac. I think you can just export normally and than Mac users will have to run the app unsigned, which is how most indie stuff is exported to Mac anyways.
Feel free to not bother with the hassle, but in case you do look into again, I think it can be much simpler!
If you ever end up building something, I'm happy to test. Cheers!
Like it very much! Expanding is always welcome but as is I think it's great already.
One issue I have is geysers seem a bit 'overpowered' in the sense that they create vast ocean spaces too quickly. I'm not sure but would assume you can exploit that with the sea abilities too.
Maybe limit the geyser spread a bit? For thought...
Looking forward to it.
By the way, have managed to get maybe 3-4 runs in since my last few comments, and the game balance is so good!
I've died quickly all times, which I think goes to show the danger level is great! Sprinting to the altar feels good too, and gives a sense of urgency I think was one of the few points missing before.
Hopefully will be able to play more soon!
Happy to keep this discussion going, and super happy that ideas are useful!
I'll be looking forward to the updates and playing this new version in the meantime!
Btw, agreed on your comment re not subtracting points. My main concern balance-wise there was to create a system where a player would not be able / incentivized to wander right (away from the VOID) endlessly, after fully upgrading, and achieve a highscore this way - even if slowly.
I think a good way to approach this problem would be: to calculate how much missing an altar should speed up the VOID, in a way so that a player, even with the best upgrades, cannot outrun the VOID for too long without going for altars. These parameters might also be good ways of 'defining' how long the average session goes on for.
Cheers!
Hey, was passing by to comment on update 3.0 (gave it a quick spin) and just saw 3.1 dropped. Exciting times - like the changes very much! Few of points to consider:
- Snake visually was bugged to me once (tile was all white) - was the only time I saw it
- I do like the idea of dangerous events being more common, which I see 3.1 has implemented
- The Geyser event is neat!
- Altar balance: Do they spawn more than 1 at a time? I think a key consideration to strategy is where the next altar is, especially if it's towards the left / VOID (vs. being on the right side). To make sure there are correct incentives score-wise for players to put themselves in danger to seek the altar, I think (a) the altars points should be much more significant than exploring points and (b) players should lose points AND be penalized by VOID closing in for letting altars be destroyed by the VOID or by other means (i.e. volcano, geyser). A UI note saying "the last altar was destroyed" would be nice. All these comments I think would work best if only 1 altar spawns at a time, with another one spawning if player either uses the altar or it is destroyed. And what this aims to do is make sure the endgame is about chasing altars dangerously, and not simply running from the VOID and slowly racking up points endlessly, with little challenge.
Anyways - sorry for the wall of text! Happy to hear what you think about the last point. I think it would really add to the 'balance' of high-scoring the game / making the "endgame" more interesting.
Congratulations again on the game and changes! Keeps getting better!
Thanks for getting back! Very nice to hear an update is in the works focusing on difficulty balance.
I do feel like the game has all the ingredients to be very replayable (more than most "jam" games) - the design choices are incredibly solid, with so many trade-offs and different resources at odds with each other.
I've given it some further thought so might as well share some ideas in case useful at all:
- Adding additional "dangerous" events like the bear or volcano might be clever, as it would attack two fronts: increase difficulty + add greater variety. Plus, I think it is more interesting dying due to events than simply the VOID moving faster and faster
- On the same point, new "dangerous" events could cause you to lose a random ability - this would be a new type of setback to deal with in addition to food and water
- Since you have the coding in for "cycles", these could probably be used to tweak ramp-up of the VOID. This means being efficient from the start gives you an advantage, which is nice
- Might be worth giving bonus points proportional to time you take to get to the next altar? This incentives sticking to the game's goal and finding the best path towards the altar. Speaking of altars, I'm not sure how many generate at once, but might be worth only 1 (or 2?) generate at once?
Finally, would highly appreciate you keep putting up Mac builds =) (I am more often on that)
Cheers!
Great game! I think the idea and execution are very solid. Polish is incredible too. Some design suggestions + 1 bug report:
- I just got a game that went on for very long, and for this type of game, I believe you should strive for short and sweet sessions where losing is just around the corner (or else it gets repetitive and the player loses the will to think strategically due to fatigue). Being turn-based, this is especially true.
- I'm convinced ramping up the difficulty quicker will make the experience more enjoyable, increasing the feeling that every decision counts. This can be done is several ways (increasing 'bad events' spawn over time, ramping up speed of VOID quicker, adding more 'bad events', etc). To illustrate my point: the most fun I have in the game is when the VOID is near and I have to think carefully where to go next. When the VOID is far away and you are just chasing points, the game is the least enjoyable, in my experience.
- If you feel increasing difficulty might reduce enjoyment for more casual players, might be worth adding a "hardcore" game mode or similar.
- EDIT: Forgot to add the request to save game - perhaps this would be less important if games were shorter (see points above).
- When switching upgrades, if you hover over the old ones (to be switched out), their text is bugged in several cases (but not always).
Finally, congratulations on making such a clever little game. Looking forward to updates in case you plan on supporting the game further. Cheers!