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Some suggestions & fixes

A topic by KeronCyst created Jun 14, 2021 Views: 311 Replies: 8
Viewing posts 1 to 4
(+1)

This is a very interesting CCG. I'm shocked that I had never heard of this game before so I'm glad you added it to the Palestine bundle which was the only way I found it.

I liked it overall and think that it even has commercial value, but I feel like there should be more complexity (like being able to fit all/some cards with a second layer of defense, so you can still only use them once before discarding, but they can take a second hit, or something like that) to really persist for more marathon playing. Being able to upgrade cards and adding relics with constant status effects could put this on a commercial level akin to Slay the Spire.

  1. The most important thing to do is to briefly explain the mechanics of the game to first-time players. The best games do not depend on a website description outside of the game itself to understand how to play it. There was nothing explicitly in the game that said that your cards are your health (even if it's quickly apparent).
    1. And when I first fought, I didn't understand what was happening because the enemy spider continued to fight even though its hand and AP were both at 0. Normally in games, health at 0/7 = already dead, so it took me doing an entire second run to understand that you have to send their hand to the equivalent of -1 to actually win. Could this be explained in-game somehow? I feel like the last heart should beat desperately, visually and with a heartbeat sound, to indicate that they're still alive and one final hit is needed to send them to their grave.
    2. It was never made clear in-game that if you are able to survive while all of your cards are in the graveyard, they return to your deck (and same for the enemy). This would be extremely helpful to show as some tooltip on the first time, when you have all of your cards in the graveyard and have no idea of what to do.
  2. Various typos in the story snippets:
    1. "Everything grows more quiet… " ► "quieter"
    2. "… throws the remains to the ground and approach you… " ► "approaches"
    3. "A pulsing pain starts to throbs…" ► "throb"
    4. "… as she draws her bowstring taught…" ► "taut"
    5. "It snarls fire and snap its jaw" ► "snaps"
  3. Keyboard controls for mouse-less playing would be awesome. I would love to be able to just use Left/Right to select cards, Down to use them, and Up to end my turn, or something like that.
  4. The cards could be color-themed or artfully styled so that we can more quickly identify what they do (attack versus defense, support, etc.). The tiny little notch at the bottom-middle of uncommon cards isn't obvious enough. Coloring the entire card a gentle light-purple,-amber, etc. would be a nice quick fix.
  5. There doesn't appear to be a way to check what statuses are currently in effect (such as lichen curse, etc.); you just have to keep reviewing the history, or just memorize it.
  6. There is no clear definition of what "Burning" means. I had played Iris and the Giant prior and thought that it correspondingly meant, "Do not play this card or you'll get hurt," but instead it meant the opposite. It would be very helpful if the card had a description of this status effect typed onto it instead of just the word alone, even if it may seem obvious (or else graphically light the card on fire, I guess).
  7. It would be great if the music changed to a victory tone after you defeat the final boss, instead of continuing with the same grim music.

Despite these qualms, great game and execution, especially for a solo dev!! 👏

Developer (1 edit) (+1)

Thanks a lot for all your feedback! I’m glad you like it.

I’ll fix the typos. Quality of life improvements like the active statuses or keyword explanations are very high on my list. And you’re right, the onboarding could be much clearer. I’ll look into that.

As for more complexity, the card set is mostly final, although I will probably replace Blood Rites because it’s bugged and not that interesting as a card. I like the idea of upping the hit rate of cards, so perhaps that’s a good fit for a new card (or more). It’ll synergize nicely with shields, traps and spiked shields.

(+1)

This game is ridiculously fun.  I think there's a lot of potential here.  I echo pretty much everything that was said here especially point 5 and the other post about multiples of the same card effects not stacking.  Also one of the cards didn't seem to work like I expected, "something happens when the opponent gains AP".  I thought the effect would trigger at the start of my opponent's turn and any other time he gained AP but it didn't seem to work.

I think the randomness needs to be blunted a little.  Losing to the first opponent of a run due to a series of unlucky draws is a little annoying.  Likewise starting over after getting to the final boss because a freak lightning bolt destroyed four cards doesn't feel good.  Perhaps some kind of check point that you respawn at if you reach a certain point.

I also think the matches are typically over too quickly or maybe they're just really swingy.  It's like there's no volleying just a series of aces and it starts to feel like multiplayer solitaire (well single player multiplayer solitaire).  I think that's partially due to randomness and partially due to the low health totals.  There's no feeling of whittling down a tough opponent when a lot of single cards could win you the game on any given turn.  There's no feeling of building a cool card engine because the match is over long before that.

Lastly, I agree that there needs to be a mechanic to cull cards from your deck between matches.  Maybe the option to cull a card in lieu of gaining one or something similar.

Developer

Thanks a lot for your feedback!

I also think the matches are typically over too quickly or maybe they’re just really swingy.

The lack of swing in this game has always been a design problem, and I think it has a lot to do with the core design factors:

  • Hand as health
  • Small integers for everything

Because I’m not changing those, the only way I can really impact this is adding new cards, changing existing ones, and perhaps (finally) dealing with effect stacking, which would allow you to build an engine in a more significant way. I’ve got some ideas. If you have any ideas for card mechanics that could help, feel free to let me know.

Though I’m currently not actively working on this game at the moment, there will be a bug fixing and quality of life patch sooner than later, so perhaps I can find some time to deal with effect stacking in that one.

Also one of the cards didn’t seem to work like I expected, “something happens when the opponent gains AP”. I thought the effect would trigger at the start of my opponent’s turn and any other time he gained AP but it didn’t seem to work.

Interesting, that might be a bug. Do you remember which card? And could it be that the opponent’s AP was full so they weren’t actually gaining AP?

Perhaps some kind of check point that you respawn at if you reach a certain point.

Good one. It’s probably doable to add a non-permadeath mode that respawns you at the start of the floor. I think that’d be a nice improvement.

(+1)

Yep I understand that the game will play a certain way with hand as health and that creates the tension in the game.

Some random thoughts I had about additional content:

Junk cards you can add to your opponents deck or they can add to yours.

I like the themes of the different opponents.  I think with the exception of shields there's not a lot of cards that get better if you have more of them (I'm thinking of Shield Bash and the spike shield card).  Perhaps these two things can be combined in some way.  For example if you drafted several rogue themed cards they got stronger.  Or just other cards that get better if you have more of them in your deck.

Leveling up cards was mentioned which I think is a good idea to explore.  I also like the idea of leveling up your hero with some passive abilities as you advance.  Similarly you could create a few different heroes that start with an ability of some kind that players could try to build a deck around.

After playing for a few hours it seemed like there were a handful of cards with interesting effects but due to the nature of the game (hand as health and small integers) the game was over too quickly for them to have a big impact.  It felt like advancing in the game was reduced to playing cards with immediate effects on the board and so those more interesting cards were almost locked away because you died the turn after you played them.

(+1)

Found another: "We'll have to do something about that, don't we?" ► "won't"

All right, I figured out what the game's biggest weakness is: it's that non-shield cards are attacked randomly instead of from left-to-right, right-to-left, or any other predictable order. This makes it comparatively impossible to plan out multiple turns, versus the turn-stacking that you can plan in Slay the Spire and Monster Train, which is what made them so popular. It would be a major game changer if attacks could be made predictable.

There are also no events that allow you to remove cards from your deck, which can be critical to helping make a worse hand better if you miss out on good synergistic cards.

Developer(+1)

Thanks again!

Taking damage in some order is really interesting. Some randomness already comes from drawing order, and it’s probably a lot of fun to be able to plan against attacks once things are in your hand. And then “Third eye opens” (which shows you the opponent’s hand) gets even more interesting because it will actually show you what you’ll be removing from the opponent’s hand. I’m gonna try this out, thanks for the suggestion.

Removal is something I’ve always had on my mind, but I have so far avoided it since the game is, in the end, so short.

(+1)

Played this a lot while I didn't have internet ^-^  won 3 games in a row once! I think it's a great game, and I wanted to talk about it with you a bit so,,  I guess here are some thoughts ^-^

I didn't read anything about the game before running it, so the coolest moment game 1 was the "aha, very cool" moment early on that my cards were my health. 

Transmute + Dark Pact is the best card combo I've found O_O with a sealed deck, this plus Catalyst and some 0 cost cards wins every match turn 1

One time I played Shadow Twin and then Transmute and I only got 1 card back. I didn't know why at first, but I drew Call Of The Void both times I tried it and thought it was a hidden feature, which was exciting.

A very cool idea I had for a custom run would be that your deck composition goes on to the next game, so stealing cards or having cards stolen would be a more long term mechanic.

I've found that a thief deck has imo the strongest win chance, ruining the opponent's strategy (although if you steal just their weak cards, it can be devastating)

Anyways,,, thank you for the fun game! :D

> One time I played Shadow Twin and then Transmute and I only got 1 card back. 

Same here ! Well maybe not exactly ; my whole combo was Shadow twin/Dark Pact/Transmute, and i got only 1 card back, too, and 1 damage, i think, though i would have thought that i'd make 2 damage per card drawn.

> wins every match turn 1

Yeah i'm playing with sealed deck right now, it's very fun but quite easy to win though :) get some wellspring/dark pact/lichen curse/catalyst and of course as many transmute as possible, you'll win every game on turn 1. Nice addition to this is lunar surge with shadow twin or raise the dead, and bing, radiant burst :)

Geez, so simple and so fun.