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Playing 0.7

- There was a totem thing chasing me and got stuck on a house. http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=888589713

- This seems like a bug: I had a quad laser planted and there was a big spider that was triggering it in mid-jump. Seems like it should only trigger when it's on the ground.

:)

Fixed the link. Steam doesn't make sharing screenshots very easy. I've reviewed their UI 3 times, now. I finally found the magic button that makes it public...

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=871585212

I don't know if this has been mentioned, yet, but I've run into this bug a couple times.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/...

I call it the "Great Purple Nothing". There seems to be a level underneath a giant solid colored sprite. I hear enemies moving around up there and when I enter it, I eventually find a hole to fall through.

An interesting thing to note: Quiting the level and then restarting doesn't cure the game of this. I have to restart the entire application.

Totally understandable! :)

I forgot to mention that I also got the bug where the Diamond-Hole quest never completes.

I've been pushing off with feedback until I was sure that my impressions weren't just knee-jerk reactions. Here's a few things:

Pros:

- New towns, huts, artwork, and underground caverns are all awesome!

- Finding the spring pad challenges out in the wild gave me the encouragement to give them a try. Especially finding them in Region 1. I felt that I hadn't invested too much in the run to give something so high risk a shot. The fact that it was still really freaking difficult still balanced it out. I've tried several times, but only completed once. I don't know what the reward was like in previous versions (I avoided it), but now that I know what the reward is, I can do that cost-benefit-analysis.

- Rebalancing the economy seems like a smart move. Collecting crystals was kind of a casual part of the Alpha, but seems way more important now. It kind of bums me out that the Crystal Seed only gives 2, but I can understand why.

- Trading in seeds in town is a very welcome addition, although accidentally losing your Waypoint Seed because you lingered on the pad a little too long was really really frustrating.

- Giving a limited number of uses on Squash was a good move. That was turning into a crutch, for me. Still very useful, but the reward of money-money-money is a little more balanced with the risk of getting clobbered.

Cons:

- The difficulty is crazy. I just completed my first run where I got to Region 4 since the update. I used to get there pretty reliably, since I continued playing TS right up till the update. I've been playing almost every day since the 0.6 and I just NOW got there, and I have no idea when that will happen again. I used to get all the way to region 4 pretty reliably, but now almost all of my runs end in Region 1 or 2. I'll go into more detail below.

- Region 1: The density of enemies and holes SEEMS a little higher. Maybe nothing has changed. It's hard to tell. But one thing that definitely changed is the economy, and playing as agressive as you can has become almost manditory. This new change in how I have to play just to get 20+ crystals in R1 leads me to get into a lot of situations that I used to be able to avoid. Things like taking down spiders. I never used to take those things on with just thorns, but now I kind of have to, making a lot of my runs end pretty quickly. If there was a little more room to move around, the high density of enemies might not be quite as bad. I'm actually really concerned for new players if Region1 stays like this. My wife wanted to try this out, she's only played a little bit of TS, and she bounced off of this build pretty hard.

- Region 2: Oh my. The denisty of holes in this region has sky-rocketed. Maybe something else effected the math, but the hole-density now resembles the desert, a region where I used to think that the shit just got real. This in turn makes all other challenges really really difficult. The majority of my runs end here, and the majority of those are before I reach the crystal room. I was starting to think I was getting a pretty good handle on the movement mechanics and I even beat 0.5 several times, but Region 2 is my doom in 0.6. If you ask me, the hole density needs to loosen up.

- Region 3 and 4: I don't have much feedback about these since I've only gotten to 3 about 3 or 4 times, and Region 4 once. The new towns are amazing, though. :)

- Region 2 vegetation: I'm a supporter of the new clutter art for Region 2, but there is one problem I'm having. I can't distinguish between plants that are solid and which ones I can pass through, very well. Even when I identify which ones will fuck up my roll or push me into a hole (that's happened a couple times), when they are all bunched up together, it's hard to see them as individuals. I really like the idea of those clusters of plants, though. When there is a seeking enemy after me, it's nice to have a place to go and screw with their pathfinding.

Bugs:

- One time a grub had a "hole-maker-worm" smash up from underneath it. The grub was now in a hole, and it got stuck.

- I placed a purple spider right next to a node so I could finish it off with one last thorn I needed to plant there. The spider was positioned to the node's 12 o'clock so that as soon as the thorn was planted, I could stab him from a safe distance. For some reason I took damage when the seed was planted, and no thorn appeared (probably because I took damage). The spider didn't take any damage, so the thorn didn't spawn on it. Then, out of curiosity, I was descending from my damage-jump and landed on the node that I had supposedly planted the seed (of which existed a spent thorn plant) and immediatly took damage again, ending my run. Somehow a collider got stuck there that was dealing me damage......or something.....

- I'm still falling into holes that are spawning behind towering sprites, making them invisible. Now that there are so many more things that stand tall enough to obscure holes, this seems like a bigger issue.

I'm still enjoying the game quite a bit, but with Region 2 being as it is, this build has gotten pretty frustrating.

I'm noticing that screenshots on Imgur aren't showing up in the itch.io browser, but they do in Chrome.

I finally won, today! :)

To sum up the run: I chose a Thwomp in my first crystal room and had it go to town on enemies in the Forest and Jungle. My patience paid off. At one point, I had 85 crystals, and that's before I cashed out at the bank post-Jungle. So, I most likely topped out at around 100 crystals. I was able to invest a lot of that money in hearts along the way, which paid off due to some clumsy mistakes in the Desert, costing me around 6 hearts or so.

What won me the game was the Gardener and Storm (?) seeds for the final boss. Being able to create more plots combined with filling other holes with water allowed me the freedom to use a Thwomp to clear the area and maneuver around the missiles from above. That definitely brought down the difficulty, but considering everything I had done for the last 40 minutes, I felt like I earned that. :) I won't be expecting a run like that for a while.

Great game so far, devs! :)

I'm really thinking that the Desert region is kind of re-donk-ulous these days. Way too few of plots combined with lots of ranged enemies = no way of dealing with some situations.

I just had a run that was going pretty well, but then I ran into 3 towers simultaneously firing at me and 2 snakes came in from the top (not to menition no where to run to, since there are holes everywhere). I tried rushing toward the only plot in sight, but it involved going right up next to one of the towers, basically giving it at least one free shot on me. Things didn't go well.

Anyone else just feel the desert is super unfair?

Not to mention that there are plenty of runs where I don't even have the option of a shield of some kind or a decent ranged weapon. When that happens, and a ranged enemy comes up, there isn't much you can do beyond rushing past....which doesn't end well most of the time.

Today, there were 2 instances that I used Red Hot Rock, got hit while I had it active, and then it wouldn't reactivate even though the meter was still there. Is RHR supposed to go away if you're hurt?

I've noticed that they don't seek enemies that are spawned from towers. That may be intentional, maybe not...

That one looks pretty fun! Seems like a good stepping stone to the Ghost Aura (keeping an eye on a perpetual enemy).

If I come up with anything interesting, I'll be sure to write it down for you. :)

(For the record, in case the reader hasn't noticed how much I post on these topics: I love the shit out of this game.)

As a concept, I approve of auras.

As for the particular auras, here are some of my impressions:

• After trying a few out, I'm starting to get really choosey about which auras I grab since they have such a massive impact on the overall experience of a run. I start getting a groove with a build, and then come to a Teleport Aura and I nope out of the room. There are so many auras that actively take away freedom and force me into particular decisions (like forcing me to stop dead so I can risk teleporting into a wall / hole, or risk getting hit by an enemy while I'm teleporting). In theory, this sounds exciting, but in practice, it adds such an unknown variable to an already chaotic game. I seem to enjoy auras when they are truely passive, and work completely in the background.
• The Teleport Aura.....I detailed in my last bullet.
• Thorn Aura: Seemed like a fun idea at first. I got it in two consecutive runs and it feels massively OP in the Jungle, and then actively ruins me in the Desert. There are 3 things in particular that ruin me in the Desert:
  1. By that time, I have 10+ thorns around me and it obscures the ground, making it really really difficult to avoid holes, etc.
  2. It's useless against ranged enemies (which is good).
  3. Due to all of my crystals going to thorns, my economy is comepletely wrecked, at this point. I've invested so much into this thorn bush of a seed that I'm practically helpless in the Desert. Upon grabbing this aura, my game completely transforms into "Maintain thorn bush," and all the other interesting choices that this game provides completely fall away since I can't gain crystals past this point.
  • Suggestion A: Yellow and Green Crystals only give you one thorn and the rest goes to your crystal stash. (Encouraging me to focus on bigger enemies)
  • Suggestion B: Have some way of dumping the aura without hurting yourself. Once I've invested 15+ crystals into a thorn bush, I really don't want to chuck myself into a hole and lose all that if I want to get back to working on my economy. Besides, once you hit the Desert, this arua is way less usefull, anyway.
• Mushroom Aura: I've literally only seen this in practice once, despite grabbing it mulitple times (due to the randomness of getting things like Bullet Seeds). I liked it, though...
• "Syringe" Aura (gaining quarter hearts when killing enemies): I just got this and I love the shit out of this idea. It ecourages me to be way more aggressive, which also will make me lose more hearts, but I don't care. I'm getting hearts. (I wasn't able to get a feel for the balance of it, since I died pretty quickly after getting it.....See Thorn Seed rant)
• Bomb / Claymore Auras: I really like these, but I stay the F away from them. They be deadly, yo.
  • I whole-heartedly believe that they shouldn't be active in camp. Camp should be a safe place, free of barbarism and violence. I need a break.
  • I approve of these, though.
• Ghost Aura: I like this idea, but it hurt me in town when I went into a shop.....I left it in the shop. It's bad enough when I'm being relentlessly pursued by enemies. Definitely a very high-level aura (obviously...)

That's about as much as I can remember. In general, I feel like auras are best when they augment your play, rather than revolutionize it. When I grab one seed, that doesn't necessarily make my entire run about THAT seed, but that often happens when I grab an aura. All of a sudden, the entire run is about THAT aura, and every other choice I've made in the game becomes secondary.

In the end, I'm starting to shy away from auras in general. Maybe once I've played a ba-jillion hours and I'm a TS Master that kind of augmentation will be welcome, but for now, I just want to master the Bullet Seed.

After playing this a bit more, I've started to get the hang of these.

Still really tough, but I'm seeing the magic happen. I approve.

Just ran into this bug a second time: Grub is on a plot. I squeeze my way into it, planting a Thorn Seed, but I don't recieve a thorn. This time, the thorn definitely wouldn't have spawned on top of the grub since the grub was on my right side.

....but I didn't.

0/10

Worst game ever.

.....I play this a lot.

I just picked up the Re-Roll Aura, but it doesn't tell me how to "spend" it. I went into a shop, hoping to find something to help me undersand, but I still have no idea how it's done.

Also, I got hurt when I came in contact with the spring pad, exiting that town. Maybe there was a claymore under it?

It let me through the second time.

Claymore Aura had one definite bug and one potential bug.

1. The mines were still there the next time I came back to the forest town.

2. Do you want auras to plant mines/bombs in town? The Claymore Aura started that up, immediately, without waiting to get out of town.

http://i.imgur.com/EiHPeMB.jpg

Alright, two things happened:

1. I slipped into a shop and the graphics glitch followed me, exactly as it appeared in the picture. As in, it didn't refresh or start over, but remained exactly as it looked in town. Difference was that a bomb started charging and exploded. I guess the bombs are prevented from spawning in town, but the shop isn't considered "in town" by the aura.

2. When I left the town, things started behaving as expected.

I would recommend not having the countdown start until you have left town. Don't want to be planting a bomb just as you enter a new region.

http://i.imgur.com/SjD6spI.jpg I picked up a Bomb aura in town, and this happened upon the meter filling up for the first time. I haven't left the town yet, so I don't know what happens next. (It'll be an adventure! :D)

Well, that was interesting.

I just got insta-killed by a vertical-moving grub. I think it's because it was moving up and I was up against a log (as in, underneath the log). Maybe, since I wasn't able to pop up into flight, it just hit me for all my 3 hearts in the same instant. That's my best guess.....This happened pretty much in the first screen.

Is there anything in this build that would make you recommend clearing your save?

I know the Bullet Turrets (the ones that home on you) have been discussed a little, but I just wanted to add something to it.

Beware of having 2 of those things spawn next to eachother if you plan on keeping their firerate as it currently is. I just got juggled by those things, going from about 5 hearts to death pretty quickly. I kept thinking that falling into a Crystal Room would save me, but I couldn't land long enough to enter the door...

I'm on the latest version.

The next time it pops up, I'll try it again.

Funny enough, this bug persisted into the next run, after I exited to main menu and hit space to start a new one.

I ran into the "balance beam not responding to up input after entering the town" bug, and I was able to repeat it.

Both times I was flush against the white wall above the launch pad. I'm guessing that whatever bit of code that is preventing the beam from raising while hitting a ceiling is still in effect after hitting the pad.

I was the Gardener Seed and planted next to a Crystal Room entrance. The entrance was filled with a plot. "Whatevs" I say to myself just before I plant on it, resulting in me re-entering the Crystal Room since it was still being treated as a door, by the game...I also seem to have lost the crystals that spawned from said plant, but that's beside the point.

Aiming with the player position is something I'm just starting to toy with, seriously. I can see how it can be good, I think I just need to gain a lot more confidence with movement before I enjoy it.

Thanks on the boomarang explaination. :)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B21bNGf_7lj6cjdBWDdnbnJtS2M/view?usp=sharing

I just had a situation where a Pistol spawned right next to a enemy that was firing projectiles at me. Seemed like a slam-dunk, but the closer I got to the pistol, the more minute changes in my position had HUGE effects on the angle the pistol was aiming (since it seemed to aim in the opposite direction I was). I feel like I'm getting better at controlling this game, but this aiming mechanic seems really hard to predict and execute.

Is there anyone that's been able to control the "aiming away from you" mechanic? I'm wondering how much of this is skill and how reasonable the expectation is on the player.

I just found out they hurt, because they ended my run...

I don't know what this is, but it's freakin' me out.

I just had a really frustrating situation happen.

I was being followed by 3 of those purple fliers, so I decided to see if the boomarang would save me. I made 3 attempts (3 seperate plots) and the boomarang each time flew out in comepletely useless directions, deftly avoiding all enemies on the screen each time. (The screen had more than just the 3 fliers).

Because I was giving the boomarang a fair shake, circumstances forced me against the wall with an overhang. Like this:

(Those plots were boomarang attempts)

Needless to say, I got hit. Problem was that I immediately went up against the ceiling, the game treated me as if I landed on the balance beam, and I was instantly hit a second time (this all happened at the same time). Sooooo I lost 2 hearts and somehow got out without losing a third. Very discouraging.

Don't quite know the solution, but this whole situation (from the boomarang being pretty useless and not acting in a predictable way to being hit twice for an inescapable situation) really took the wind out of my sails...

Quad Laser seems to be broken...or I don't know how to use it.

I've planted a couple now that charge up, don't fire, and even when I run over them again, nothing happens. It makes a sound like something happened and then charges again.

I was in one of the rooms where you choose between 2 seeds (is thera a name for those?), and I chose a Quad Laser seed over a Poison seed. For some reason I had a shield above my seed, afterward...

That's weird..

After making that comment, I went back to the game. The Thwomp saw a grub to the left, but upon what looked like contact, it disappeared and the grub was still there. No sound or other feedback, it just disappeared...