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Feedback for 1.3.2.

A topic by petf created Oct 30, 2021 Views: 171 Replies: 5
Viewing posts 1 to 4
(1 edit)

Hello again, here is some feedback about the current version (played a campaign on very hard):

Nades: The bugs are pretty well fixed. Throwing nades out of / into windows and doors works perfectly. Only when standing next to a building and trying to throw very close to the corner of the building, the nade sometimes bounces off the roof or the corner. But I think it is ok if there remains some risk when handling with nades.
The increased damage inflicted by the nades creates a good balance compared to other weapons now. Anyway, I think at the end of the game there could be even more powerful and longer ranged nades, to create a balance to the more effective weapons that become available at this stage.

AI nades: AI throws far less nades and with less skill than in the previous version. I think you could improve the skill and the number of nades a little bit. I played a whole campaign without getting hit a single time by a nade.

AI tactics: I like the defend building strategy that the AI sometimes chooses. Anyway the tactics sometimes are not really coherent: If an overpowering enemy uses half of its power to forward attack and the other half to camp buildings on the other side of the map, he loses his major advantage. All or most of the enemy forces should stick to a single strategy.

Strategic map: When attacking an overpowering enemy I can place my soldiers next to the retreat zone and wait for the enemy to attack. When I realize the enemy is about to win, I simply retreat, get my soldiers healed in the hospital and then attack again. I think this somehow could be considered a cheat. Suggestion: There should be a penalty when retreating, for example the enemy recovers his former strength.

Bug: When using this strategy and an own soldier dies in battle, his weapons are returned to the inventory, although I left them on the battlefield when retreating.

Strategic map: I think there could be more missions. I can't even get near to the maximum skills available for my soldiers when the game is already won.

Bug: Sometimes the death animations do strange things to the dropped weapons. A gun can keep spinning on the ground or instead of being dropped, it is thrown for a long distance, as happened here (the gun at the top of the image was "dropped" by the enemy at the bottom of the image):


Developer

Hi Petr, 

Nice to hear from you again.

> Nades: The bugs are pretty well fixed. Throwing nades out of / into windows and doors works perfectly. Only when standing next to a building and trying to throw very close to the corner of the building, the nade sometimes bounces off the roof or the corner. But I think it is ok if there remains some risk when handling with nades.

that's good to hear ;)

> The increased damage inflicted by the nades creates a good balance compared to other weapons now. Anyway, I think at the end of the game there could be even more powerful and longer ranged nades, to create a balance to the more effective weapons that become available at this stage.

In a future version, I will add under-barrel grenade launchers, which will have longer range

> AI nades: AI throws far less nades and with less skill than in the previous version. I think you could improve the skill and the number of nades a little bit. I played a whole campaign without getting hit a single time by a nade.

I was worried that AI throwing grenades would make it too hard for players, because they're hard to defend against and cause a lot of damage. In the next version soldiers have a grenade skill attribute, which will allow them to throw grenades further. I will make soldiers throw more grenades in harder levels.

> AI tactics: I like the defend building strategy that the AI sometimes chooses. Anyway the tactics sometimes are not really coherent: If an overpowering enemy uses half of its power to forward attack and the other half to camp buildings on the other side of the map, he loses his major advantage. All or most of the enemy forces should stick to a single strategy.

I thought it would make the game more interesting having different enemy employing different strategies in the same battle. I will consider making them stick to the same strategy.

> Strategic map: When attacking an overpowering enemy I can place my soldiers next to the retreat zone and wait for the enemy to attack. When I realize the enemy is about to win, I simply retreat, get my soldiers healed in the hospital and then attack again. I think this somehow could be considered a cheat. Suggestion: There should be a penalty when retreating, for example the enemy recovers his former strength.

Yes, I could do that.

> Bug: When using this strategy and an own soldier dies in battle, his weapons are returned to the inventory, although I left them on the battlefield when retreating.

I will fix that.

> Strategic map: I think there could be more missions. I can't even get near to the maximum skills available for my soldiers when the game is already won.

I could also just make the soldiers gain skill points faster.

> Bug: Sometimes the death animations do strange things to the dropped weapons. A gun can keep spinning on the ground or instead of being dropped, it is thrown for a long distance, as happened here (the gun at the top of the image was "dropped" by the enemy at the bottom of the image):

I will look into it

Hi Ed, thanks for your reply!

I thought it would make the game more interesting having different enemy employing different strategies in the same battle. I will consider making them stick to the same strategy.
I agree for the easy and normal levels. But on hard and very hard level an enemy who sticks together will make the difference.

Another point: When the enemy opts for retreating and camping, they always do the same: line up at a hiding spot at the edge of the map. This is very predictable. When they are escaping I can chase them without taking cover because (almost) none of them will stop to return fire. Suggestion: When retreating, the enemy could chose different places for camping, for example inside a building. Or they could fake a retreat and and prepare an ambush nearby.

I could also just make the soldiers gain skill points faster.
Your game is great, but it is over too soon :-) I would prefer more missions and new challenges (in future versions, I know the strategy map is not your focus at the moment).
Developer

Hi Petf, 

Let me explain how the AI retreat algorithm works.

Firstly, only soldiers engaged with your soldiers take part. They choose a wall, because that's the easiest structure to defend and the wall must be in opposite direction from your soldiers positions to avoid fire during retreat. The wall could be anywhere, not necessarily at the edge of the scene. During retreat they will take pot shots if you pursue them, but only if they have high chance of scoring a hit. Also, because only part of the militia are retreating, if you start chasing them you can run into other enemy patrols. I think in fact, having different groups of enemy following different strategies make it more unpredictable for the player.

Inside a building is not a good place to defend if there are a lot of soldiers, because they tend to get in each others way.

Hi Ed. Thanks for that explanation. 

The wall could be anywhere, not necessarily at the edge of the scene.
I have seen the enemy retreat to the edge of the map in many cases. So maybe this occurs because the AI thinks that it can find the only usable wall there (in those cases the wall was placed at the edge of the map as a part of one of those fortifications which are usually placed there).

During retreat they will take pot shots if you pursue them, but only if they have high chance of scoring a hit.
That is true, but it doesn't happen frequently and only few soldiers will stop to return fire. Most of them keep sprinting to reach the wall. I think most of them don't try to shoot because my soldiers are quite far away and out of range for light weapons - but they are within range of my sniper weapons.

I think in fact, having different groups of enemy following different strategies make it more unpredictable for the player.
Yes, I think that will make it more entertaining. So one group could prepare a real ambush instead of only returning fire half-heartedly :-) Maybe you also could tweak the AI to not always look for the big wall structures that can be found at the edge of the map in most occasions. Instead it could look for other (smaller) walls etc. which can be found in other parts of the map.

Developer

Instead it could look for other (smaller) walls etc. which can be found in other parts of the map.

The wall has to be big enough to fit all the soldiers that are retreating. Sometimes this wall happens to be at edge of scene, but not always.

I could send some soldiers to occupy a building near the  defense wall. That would make it a bit more difficult.