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[Feedback][Colony Sim][Resource Management][Incremental] 600 hours, 25.000 lines of code

A topic by Oliver Bates created Aug 01, 2023 Views: 558 Replies: 11
Viewing posts 1 to 9
(12 edits)

Exciting news everyone! 

After more than 600 hours of work, I finally have a working prototype for my game and I can't wait to share it with you all! 🎉🎮 

I will be updating weekly, so make sure to follow!


Any constructive feedback (positive or negative) is welcomed. Seriously, nothing is off-limits! I'm on a mission to create a gaming experience that's both laid-back and mildly challenging. No hand holding here, my friend! I want you to put your problem-solving skills to the test and figure things out on your own. 


And if you enjoy the game, let me know! I'd enjoy having a few returning people with each update. I'll make sure it's worth it! :)

Thanks in advance 🦊

https://olivebates.itch.io/foxgame 

(+2)

Some feedback:

  • The thing that made me lose interest in the game was the 'double-up' feature. At first, I thought it was pretty cool, cause it reminded me of that 2048 game. But then it dawned on me, that this game is endless. I will have to be managing these resources till eternity, because I can infinitely double-up something. 
    • The goal of the game is not very clear imo. Is it just to have as many foxes as possible? After getting around 6 foxes, I think that getting 2 more will require just as much effort as it did to get the previous 6. I was stuck at 6 foxes for quite a while. But this could easily be because I didn't move my mouse over some button somewhere that explained how much of what I needed to get to unlock the next thing (it seems like this is most of the gameplay)
  • A lot of the gameplay seems to be clicking on menus. Is there a way for me to control or instruct the foxes, or to smite the enemies that threaten the meat farm, like how I can gather meat by pressing that button? (that button should have just started an auto-gather imo, so that people don't tire their fingers clicking it or use bots to spam mouse-click on it.,,). I think there should be a way to talk to the foxes or interact/manually trigger the dialog with them in some way. I am a sucker for the dialogue. Or just more variety in the gameplay in general, aside from waiting for menus to appear and clicking the right buttons
  • It may be worth having some enemies at the start, and then giving the player time to build up their base. Because I regretted building things all the way to the edge of the board when enemies were introduced, and it was a pain to drag each of my structures to 1 pixel within the boundary so I could place a fence.
    • Could be solved by an infinitely large playfield, or giving the player the ability to expand the playfield by 1-2 squares when the enemies start appearing, or by incentivizing players to build near the center...
  • It seems like there are a lot of menus that I just forget to mouse-over, and they are sitting there waiting to be clicked until a fox tells me to look at the research tab or something. May be worth making the UI highlight new revelations/unlocks as well?
  • There is a bug when dragging - the tooltip will appear while you are dragging and it will cancel out the drag, which is a bit annoying

With a more tangible purpose, and more variety in the gameplay, I might play this game for tens of hours. The music was very nice though

(+1)

Everybody try this game it's awesome!

There's updated a lot of new content, I would love to hear your feedback!

(1 edit)

Revisiting this soon :)

Aaaahh I forgot how gosh darn cute this game is T-T

It was fun revisiting this one! It has been a while since I played the first version so I can't think of any major improvements, but I think the new research was particularly interesting. Idk how much of it is new, but I love the sundial and the defenses against the other animals (they're so annoying lol). I could easily see myself playing this for a while when I'm bored, great job on that.

So this was made with Gamemaker? I also use GM for my stuff, but I don't know how to up the quality to your level (mostly with the sprites). 

Feel free to check out my game, I could use your feedback: https://wasabiiii.itch.io/grass-elemental-demo-demo

 Foxdom's strongest point imo is its endearing aesthetic and charm, sure to draw in anyone with a heart for animals. Keep that and everything else about this charm up!

Thank you so much. I tried out your game, it's really charming as well. I left a comment for you :)

I am unsure of where to take this game next, now. Any ideas?

Being made in gamemaker is one thing, it becomes especially impressive when you realize the whole game is coded in a single object, with over 10k lines of code.

I've been using Gamemaker since Gamemaker 7, about 20 years ago.

If you want any help with your game, hmu.

A SINGLE OBJECT??????? How-

I can't fathom how the whole game would work that way, but you clearly know what you're doing lol. As for the future of Foxdom, I think the base game is pretty much finished. You can probably add things like a story perhaps (hmu if you need story help) , or a system where you can breed and keep foxes yourself. The player can name them, give them belly rubs to increase motivation/productivity, and they can have their own desires and emotions. Each fox can have a (randomized) special trait that can make them better suited for certain tasks, similar to natures in Pokémon. 

For instance, you breed a little fox and name it Cupcake. Cupcake is just a baby so it'll take a few days of belly rubs and attention before she can actually do any work. When Cupcake comes of age, let's say she has a special trait of Beauty, which she got by chance. She won't be as efficient as a brickmaker or a researcher, but she is actually the best at being unemployed. Being a lazy fox is better for her, as she can just stand around and look pretty, severely boosting the amount of foxes that come to your village due to their attraction to Cupcake.

Then you breed a fox and name it Rosco. Oddly enough, baby Rosco doesn't need as many belly rubs and attention as his older sister... he's an independent and strong-willed little guy. This personality is tied to his special trait of Strength, that he has by chance. He won't be as efficient standing around and looking pretty like Cupcake, but he will as a brickmaker or some other physical job. He will also deal a LOT more damage to the invading herbivores, and will be the main one fighting them off.

And so on. There can be special traits of Intelligence, Green Thumb... sky's the limit! Hopefully that isn't too complex to code, but it should be fine with your experience.

And thank you so much for playing Grass Elemental, I'm glad you enjoyed it! Your comment was very nice, but can you clarify what you mean by "wallmart" music? Reading that was so hilarious XD

Yeah, those are great ideas! I don't think I will be working on this game further. As you say, it's pretty much finished how it is, and I'd agree.

Wallmart music as in a discount version of the pokemon theme, since you changed it enough to avoid copyright.

I am looking for someone to make games with, do you know where or how I can find someone here?

You could make a post asking to collab here: https://itch.io/board/10020/help-wanted-or-offered

The karaoke sequence did take very long to make, as well as the entire song itself. And as for the Wallmart music, to be honest I don't know if I feel offended or complimented XD probably complimented lmao. Very happy you enjoy that tune tho :D

Thank you, and yes it's a compliment :)

I posted a message there now, wish me luck!

The game is now playable without downloading it, so you can play it in the browser!