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The current game manual is probably one of the weakest point of the game. I have a lot of information to convey, and I also had a lot of system to create to this is a trade of to have something playable.

This needs to be reworked at some point to allow a better "on boarding" experience.

Hopefully you can have an early game were the game takes you by the hand and introduces you to most concepts, and gradually let you do things and glitches on your own.

Still a lot of work to be done, but thanks for the feedback!

Oh, I've already seen it!
A friend of mine sent me the VOD already xD

I laughed a lot. I think you're the player which had the most chaotic experience I've seen so far.

The game central mechanic is getting chromatic creatures (creatures with perfect random stats and a different sprite) to beat tough trainers. But you completely skipped that aspect xD.

Not a criticism by the way, I know the game manual is pretty hard to get into. The big game manual is a compromise of the other ideas I had so I could actually release my game in less than a year and still communicate the pretty complex mechanics... But it's still a tough read.

Though it was very informative. It seems you still managed to have some fun while avoiding one of the main mechanic, which is a good sign I guess x)

I'll try to make the onboarding experience more palatable in the future.

As for the controller support, you're not the first person to ask for it. I'll see what I can do!

Ok, fun fact: I have the exact same ID as you on my personal save (I know this can happen, not sure why people tend to get the same ID but not an issue).

Anyway, I don't have the same result as you when using the encounter tool...

For me, Rand 174 is just a normal Tortolodon.

To get a chroma, I have to go to Rand 319.

I think someone had this issue in one of my playtest, but it was a while back, it happened only once on a really old version, and I think the problem resolved itself by doing a hard reset on their save...

I should probably look into it more (I'll add it to the todo list) but I think you should try to fully reset your game using the overall option menu, and then uninstall and reinstall your game...

Sorry, but without knowing what causes the issue, I can't really give more recommendations...
The only thing that comes to mind is that the ID displayed in the encounter tool is not the same as the one being used for calculation for some reason (maybe an issue with how it's saved...). But right now, I have no idea...

Links give me a 404 not found sadly

The max health is just twice the STR.

Did I somewhat forgot to write that down somewhere? I feel a bit dumb if that's the case... I'll check that out later as well.

Hi, thanks for playing!!!

I think that's actually a really good idea... I got focus a bit too much on explaining the different glitches and how to do them, but if you look at old game's guide, they usually were centred more about how to beat the game. They weren't trying to be exhaustive.

I had an idea to replace the game manual with a forum where you could be a bit more proactive in how you got glitches and found out new bugs, but having both (an obscure forum to search for the hidden stuff, and a guide on how to beat the game) might be what I'm looking for...

I'll think about it

About the cursor problem : 
Very weird... I had a similar bug reported to me during play test, but I wasn't able to reproduce the issue and have no idea what can cause it. Though an option to use the hardware cursor might be a good idea as a work around.

About the countdown timer number display shift :
Saw it, absolutely no idea what causes it, and also no idea how to reproduce it consistently... It's still pretty minor at the end of the day...

About the Audio calibration :
could be an idea, but it might be a bit redundant with the timer offset calibration which can be used that way.

About the ink stamp :
In my head those are pretty cheap... Stickers could be cool as well, but they more or less do the same purpose here.

About the countdown volume not changing : 
Dully noted, clearly a bug, I'll test that out later.

For the wait in between each chroma attempt : 
My goal is to be between 10 to 30 seconds for early game chromas. Right now that's how it mostly is, with some outlier being way earlier or later than that, but usually not more than a full minute.
I plan to have some encounters which makes you wait longer, but they would use a mechanic which helps you "save" a moment in time and reload it, to like, skip the first 5 minutes or something.

About the button being repeated when held :
All buttons do that EXCEPT the game console face buttons. At least they shouldn't, so I assume this is a bug. I'll test it out later

For Primavolt (or Primeape as you said) : 
I'm torn on this one... The offset between the moment you start the battle and the moment the encounter is decided was unintentional. I added a small animation, and it created this "issue". But when doing play testing, some players just got to work, read the game manual and figured out how to time it correctly (as the solution is written down), which is what I want this game to be in the end. A puzzle game where you go through a big game guide to find useful informations. But yeah... This has been a point of frustration for many, so I'm hesitant about keeping it... Maybe just giving more hints about the solution would be a good idea (I saw a really good suggestion in an other comment about making the Game manual an actual guide on what to do in the game in what order. I need to think about this...).

Also, the issue you had is very unfortunate... My conclusion is that the "here how you can correct the timing" is not working as intended right now.

About the success popup timing before you did the caputre : 
That's pretty minor, but I should probably look into it... Feels better if it appears right when you do the capture.

About being able to still use outside of combat abilities of creatures that are dead : 
That's intentional. It's just for convenience.

About the creatures you can't really get back to (Primavolt and Tortolodon) : 
There are ways to get them back, but I count that as "hidden" content :D.
Do know that it requires the use of glitches though

About not being able to equip items in the team menu : 
Huh... That's weird... maybe I broke something when adding the option to equip from the computer? I'll test that out later.

About the bug where pressing the menu doesn't work : 
I think I know what causes this... I'll look into it

Anyway, thanks a lot for this HUGE feedback.
The game being kind of "directionless" has been a common criticism, and I think it's a fair point. I'll try to think about a way to better guide the player...
Also, the current game manual is definitely an other issue (kinda hard to find the information you want... Or even to know if the information is there).

I probably won't fix those aspect before a while (because those are a lot of work) but I take note!

Well then, I guess either you struggle with how to time it (happens), or something is done incorrectly... Kinda hard to tell without seeing a video sadly.

Your Encounter tool seems to be correct though

The important parts are : 

• Start the timer and your save file at the exact same time (not a new save file, the one you saved with the ID you wrote down on the Encounter tool)
• Trigger the dialog that displays the Tortolodon right when the timer reaches zero (It's the dialog just after "And to go with it...")

Using the timer audio cue helps a lot.

If it still doesn't work, it might actually be a bug, but I doubt it as this part was tested out extensively...

Maybe I just forgot for the small bone audio... I put it kinda low to begin with x)

In deckbuilding games, limitation tends to help yeah.

If you have access to everything right away without any sort of grouping ("hard" grouping forcing you to play cards together, or "soft" grouping which just hints at synergy), it can become overwhelming.

Hi, thanks!

The randomness isn't frame dependant.

Right now, it changes 16 times per seconds, but you also have an auto-correction if you're off by a at most 2 frames so the precision you need to have is 5/16 of a second (so about 0.31 seconds).

Though if you have difficulties, there is an option in the"escape" menu to increase this auto-correction (the "Encounter Assist" option).

You can increase it up to "8" which means you can be up to 8 frames off. This way, you have about a second of leeway (0.5 seconds before and after the correct timing), which should be hopefully enough for everyone.
If you still have difficulties, I would assume you're doing something incorrectly... If you want I can give help if you can provide a video of what you're doing.

Played the game. Fun mechanics, even though I got stuck on the screen with the totem x)

I managed to get on the right arm, but I didn't understand that the "Kleene" was grabable and that I needed the key to reach it. The position of the key to get to the second arm of the totem feels a bit too precise as well.

Anyway, nice little demo

Ok, loved that game.

Positives first : 

• The controls feels really good. No problems at all to move around, nice coyote time, nice responsiveness.
• Level design (even if I assume this is more of a test level) is pretty cool. Simple enough , but still with somewhat challenging platforming and small secrets to collect all bones.
• Like the music, was bobbing my head in rhythm while playing.
• Animation feels great and polished. Maybe the jump is a bit too "squishy"? It surprised me at first, but you get used to it.
• Good doggo.

Some small negatives : 

• I didn't know the control (could have probably checked the game page to be honest) so I discovered the "dash in mid-air" option VERY late. So yeah, know that you can obtain every single bones in your game without that option beside the 2 small bones and 1 big bone which are only accessible by hitting the big red button (maybe my "challenging" platforming wasn't so challenging actually...). So yeah, a control scheme explained somewhere would be nice... I think if it was part of the UI while playing it could be nice.
• Obviously, a sound effect when collecting bones and big bones would also be really nice, but that's a given.
• When I was close to the end of the demo, my fingers hurt a bit from maintaining the Right Trigger on my controller, as well as spamming combinations of A+X to move around, or A+B to jump high (XBOX controller). Not sure how to fix that to be honest... Maybe move the "dash in mid-air" to one of the bumpers and add an option to not have to hold the sprint button?

Anyway, got every bones, nice demo, would play again.

I'll start with the positive.

• Love the soundtrack, very catchy.
• Really like the animations and the black and white artstyle. Feels really unique (even if obviously this style of game make you think of Drakest Dungeon)
• The combat, even if kinda simple for now, works well. Once you understand the different characters, you do make some strategic decisions (like taunting with your armour guy to then apply a defensive buff with the cleric, etc.)

And for some points of improvement

• I really don't mind the static pose for the animations. The camera movements do the heavy lifting to make it look dynamic and it mostly works great, but you still need to have very cool/impactful frames for the different characters and enemies, and some feel a bit dull. The skeleton for examples kinda look like they are weirdly slashing their sword on you with their unbent arms.
• I think knowing the max HP and MP of your characters in the UI could be useful. I wasn't sure if I had to heal the fighter girl on my first combat because I didn't remember how many HP she started with.
• Obviously it's a work in progress, but the game starting with the very unpolished overworld map and weird inventory with the godots icons confused me at first. I struggled a bit to get to the first encounter to then see the main part of the game. Maybe leading with the more polished part (a first combat) and then getting into the less polished stuff (moving around what I assume to be a dungeon) would probably give a better first impression.

Hi,

I played the game a bit (finished the first 4 fights you can teleport to using the stele).

First of all, thanks for the gamepad support, always appreciated (even if it seems to not work perfectly well in the menus especially to remap the controls, but I didn't encounter any issues during gameplay).

I kinda like that there is abilities you can use in combat. When you're first learning the game, they kinda act as a crutch you can rely on to still have fun and manage to do things.
At the end of the day though, the combat system still seems to be centred around parries and counters, which I think is one of the aspect that lacks a bit of polishing.

I think I managed to do some parries and counter attacks? But to be honest, I couldn't tell. I think there isn't enough visual or audio feedback for when you do those... Or at least, they aren't different enough from regular blocks/attacks.

Like, having some kind of freeze frame, or clear visual cue to tell you "right there, you did a cool move" would be nice.

For example, I knew I attacked into an enemy attack correctly not really because of the audio/visual cue, but because of my "stun" meter reseting, which doesn't really feel as nice as a cool "SWOMP" with a freeze frame x).

Like, weird comparison, but this old Naruto fighting game comes to mind. At 15 seconds, the kind of negative circle appearing when two attacks counter each other was the coolest thing when I was a kid.

Not saying that it needs to be that, but that's the kind of impact that I think could add to your game to make it more obvious when you're doing things correctly, and in the end help you learn.

I will not talk about the jiggle physics and the headpats, but live your dream boss 👍.

Hey,

I've played a bit of the campaign mode, and I have to agree with other comments : this feels really hearthstone-like.

• The main mechanics are mostly the same (heros, weapons, hero power, mana system with a +1 each turn, taunt, battlecry, etc.)
• Some cards are carbon copies (3 damage for 2 that freezes, "fireball" 6 damage for 4 mana, a troll looking guy which is a 4/5 for 4 mana, etc.)

Right now, the card game itself seems to not be doing a lot of original things (mind you, I didn't play that much).

Also, some UI elements feels a bit weird. For example, the hero power of your character requires you to hold the mouse click to then select the target. If you just click it (as I did, expecting a "click to activate --> click to select target"), then it default to hitting yourself. I had similar kind of issues with battlecry cards.

I'll also add a small comment on the art which I assume to be AI generated. I understand that the game is in an early development stage and that you can't necessarily get cool looking cards without a huge time or money investment, but I think it does go with the lack of identity the card game currently has. The different cards lack a coherent theme which kinda makes it a bit hard to get attached to the cards you obtain, or to get inspirations for deck building. Having a clear theme for different kinds of archetypes really helps to make a card game more interesting. Even something as simple as visually looking alike could be enough (like, all the blue-looking cards kinda working together for example). I would even say that having less details can make cards easier to identify. You can look at a game like Quantum protocol to see how a very simple art style when it comes to card design goes a long way to make it distinctive and easy to want to build with.

So yeah, the base is here for a card game, and it seems there is enough content currently in the game to play and have fun, but it lacks distinctiveness making it hard to really want to play more.

Kinda, but kinda not that much x)

The real "time to cheat" hint should be the trainer preventing you to get into the beach.

Huh... I'm not sure how you did that...
If that's with a saving glitch then I guess I can't really do anything about it, but if it was through an other mean it probably deserves some fixing x)

As for the "How to encourage the player to do glitches", my current best idea is to replace the game manual with a forum of some sort. Like, you can find posts about how to perform things, but more importantly, you can ask questions to get specific answers.
Like, the first time you fail to get a chromatic Primavolt you unlock the "what is Primavolt offset in the encounter tool?" question or something.

This way, you could still search normally for answer, but you could also be a bit more proactive in getting them.
Also, it would allow me to handle pacing better and introduce mechanics one after the other, instead of the current "50 pages manual to read".

As for the secrets, I'll keep them mostly for myself but know that I got inspired by games like Blue Prince or Animal Well, so some of them are just not told at all xD.

Though I see you managed to get one of the "secret" stamps, which I would count as "hidden content" (as, it's not explicitly told that you can do that, and it is not strictly necessary to beat the game)

Thanks!

For the Primavolt timing, there is multiple ways to find the correct timing, but the most consistent one is in the "Tips to help with the encounter tool timing" part of the Game Manual.
This tip doesn't require you to know when the battle starts (and when the encounter is decided), but if you want to know it's right when the flashing animation of the battle begins

As for what you can be getting from breaking the game, their is a lot of hidden content currently already implemented. Primavolt is still kind of the early game, just so you finish to understand how to get chromatic creatures. And I definitely plan to add more (for example, with the current game you can use a glitch to get out of the starting house without getting your Tortolodon. For now it does nothing, but I do plan on building upon that idea of roaming around in the game without a valid team, though there definitely are glitches currently in the game that do do something and gives cool rewards)

Finally, for the real life aesthetic, my original goal was to have a hand hovering and touching the different elements where you click, as well as having a kind of "Desk" aesthetic with random furniture you could move around.
Though in the end I didn't go with it yet, as it wasn't the easiest thing to do and didn't add that much to a first demo version. I put priority on the gameplay and game systems.

Thanks for playing!

For now, their isn't really a clear objective. It's more of a melting pot of the different concepts... Filling the stamp card maybe ? There is also a tough trainer at the end of the current game.

I thought about letting the player play the game normally first, but their was two issues... The first was that I think people wouldn't really want to redo the game they just did with glitches (not an easy transition), and the second was that their isn't any reasons to do glitches anyway if you can beat the game without them. I kinda want cheating to be mandatory (that's why there is no level up system, so you can't just farm your way out of your problems).

Though I do agree that it lacks some incentives right now... The main problem people point out is that the game manual is a big read to ask from the player right away.

If I make this into a full game, I'll probably entirely change the game manual for something more incremental.

Edit: Also, I just watched your video. God, I never really fought against Shroomoth with a low stat Tortolodon, this looks painful xD.
I already nerfed it before this release, but I should probably nerf it even more...