Hey,

So I played a few rounds never got through a run though ... 

One small thing first ... you placed the "end button on top of the right screen" ... i would prefer it to be placed directly under the hand of cards so I can reach it a bit more conveniently after playing a hand.

That most of the warrior cards cost HP is very counterintiutive for me, like this every attack feels a little bit like a "self sacrifice".

From my first impression "enemy difficulty" seem to increase from very easy to easy to suddenly large enemy armies with tons of hp and then when you defeat them you jump back to some "easy rats" with maximum 2 HP.

Some card descriptions are a bit mysterious to me  - and it feels quite random if i get enough defense cards or not (maybe i need to make more use of the reroll button). If I have a run where I only get "heavy attack cards" it seems I'm doomed after I run into the first "enemies with lots of HP" ... since for the warrior everything eats up HP. Other Stats apart from HP like Mana feel also a bit strange, because I never had a card which required any of it - maybe they could be introced later to the game and the Warrior class just focuses on the core principle about "keeping the hp" above the threshold. 

Think in general it would be nice to have a display of how much cards will be drawn so that the effect of "exhaustion" is directly visible. For me at the moment it feels like I just play many times all of my drawn cards and barely get punished for it. 

There are some artifacts that seemed to be "relativ OP" like the Poison-Staff which automatically add 4 Poison to every enemy which keeps reducing round by round.. far more effictive then something like the "coffee artifact" which seem to barely have any impact on the game. 

I would alter some of the card descriptions to be plain text instead of formulas... I assume for example the muscle card means: 

- Increase your Strength by your current toughness 

and then with the arrow it is indicated "how much the value will be increased right now"

what bothers me  apart from the description of the card is "you don't have inherent toughness" most of the times this card is offered it seem to be completely useless in my tries so far ... there were not much "toughness" enhancing cards offered 

In summary I can say after some tries there where periods were are felt "a bit hooked" to the game, but also many times i felt like... I've too little impact to improve my gameplay in a "reasonable amount of time". 

Just played another round and could win a round with a "toughness" based build, where the attack suddenly spiraled out of control ... played afterwards a few rounds with the mage maybe I need to get used to it, but to me it feels like if you don't find a card which help you to increase your mana and you must rely on the portals from the starting hand ... you can't win the game, since expensive spells deplete your mana much faster. 

First, thanks for detailed and thoughtful feedback

end button on top of the right screen” … i would prefer it to be placed directly under the hand of card

Do you play on PC or mobile? I do not quite understand which locations you refer to. Do you mean to place ‘end turn’ button between cards and items?

large enemy armies with tons of hp and then when you defeat them you jump back to some “easy rats” with maximum 2 HP.

This is strange. Can you tell a little more specifics? There may be bugs in level progression / balance.

Other Stats apart from HP … introced later to the game and the Warrior class … about “keeping the hp” above the threshold.

That is correct. After reaching stage 12 with warrior, you unlock second hero, focused on MP, and so on.

display of how much cards will be drawn

Good idea, will do in next version

play many times all of my drawn cards and barely get punished for it.

“Fatigue” is meant to make “infinite” builds harder to create. Is starts to take effect only after you play 10 cards per turn, which is very unusual for basic Warrior build. However, after unlocking more cards / items, player gets access to many combos which allow dozens of cards per turn. In fact, this is one of the most common victory conditions on higher difficulties.

There are some artifacts that seemed to be “relativ OP”

Indeed, there are many very powerful items in this game. However, the relative power level is situational and not as obvious as it seems. For example, while “Staff of Venom” is a very good early game item for lower difficulties, it is sometimes not just weak, but even detrimental. Reason: this item prevents stalling (that is, intentionally keeping weak enemy alive to gain time for permanently buffing hero). On the other hand, “Cezve” (item which helps reduce Fatigue) is completely useless for simple builds, but may be literally game-winning when you build for “single-turn burst” and do not find other sources of fatigue reduction.

most of the times this card is offered it seem to be completely useless in my tries so far … there were not much “toughness” enhancing cards offered

This is a general problem in synergy-heavy games (which mine certainly is). There are special mechanics in my game (card stashing and quests) which helps player to increase probability of assembling combo. You may want to read strategy guide on this forum for more hints. That being said, I will try to add more toughness-related quests in next version.

win a round with a “toughness” based build, where the attack suddenly spiraled out of control

Yes, this is how it feels when a combo is successfully assembled, congratulations for the win.

with the mage … you can’t win the game, since expensive spells deplete your mana much faster.

Although it is quite true that you must find some way to replenish mana with mage, it is not as hard as it seems, especially on easy difficulty where you only have to reach stage 12. The most important hint for the beginner Mage is to accumulate “Gather Magic” cards in hand before playing them all in single turn. In general, while basic Warrior builds focus on “rush attack”, basic Mage builds often must defend and delay for a few turns to get optimal value from the battle.

When player unlocks card upgrades, initial mana replenishment becomes much more reliable by just upgrading “Gather Magic” cards.

Do you play on PC or mobile? I do not quite understand which locations you refer to. Do you mean to place ‘end turn’ button between cards and items

I play on pc ... my eyeside is  not the strongest so i prefer a large screen ... on my screen the cards will be placed at the left side, the "end turn button on the far right sight"... so it's just a bit uncomfortable to play the cards on the left side and then reach to right sight (But I prefer full screen).

This is strange. Can you tell a little more specifics? There may be bugs in level progression / balance.

I wish I could, but I don't remember the exact enemy types now... "maybe the rats" were supposed to be difficult cause of poison damage or something.

“Fatigue” is meant to make “infinite” builds harder to create. Is starts to take effect only after you play 10 cards per turn, which is very unusual for basic Warrior build. However, after unlocking more cards / items, player gets access to many combos which allow dozens of cards per turn. In fact, this is one of the most common victory conditions on higher difficulties.

Could you maybe introduce it later than... ? It's just if I play a card game I want every card to have a potential value,  even "if it's not likely to offer value" -> I would on easy mode only keep relevant cards that can offer some value for the player (for example throw out the coffee artifact) ...

This is a general problem in synergy-heavy games (which mine certainly is). There are special mechanics in my game (card stashing and quests) which helps player to increase probability of assembling combo. You may want to read strategy guide on this forum for more hints. That being said, I will try to add more toughness-related quests in next version.

Ok I overlooked the quest mechanic altogether. Would you say toughness is quintessential for "new warriors" in orrder to win (of course something with vampirism might also work... but never got a combo for it)? What I didn't like are hand cards "that offer not the slightest amount of value" at the moment they're presented ... for the artifacts with permanent effects this is ok for me - but hand cards that crowd your deck "with future potential" don't feel great at it all... there like "you can pick me and take a high risk to ruin your potential".. and (yeah i want to pick them for that reason) but the chances of them ruining your run feel to high. 

Although it is quite true that you must find some way to replenish mana with mage, it is not as hard as it seems, especially on easy difficulty where you only have to reach stage 12. The most important hint for the beginner Mage is to accumulate “Gather Magic” cards in hand before playing them all in single turn. In general, while basic Warrior builds focus on “rush attack”, basic Mage builds often must defend and delay for a few turns to get optimal value from the battle.

Yeah the card design makes it very clear that this "keeping cards is the way to go"... I must say i like the mage class more than the "warrior class" it feels much better to loose some mana than the own hp.  Probably you have balanced it this way... me personally i would "not have this with 0 mana you automatically die "I would maybe have some" restore one mana after a battle or battle rounds... so that you can "finish a battle with exactly 0 mana" you still have a little chance to crawl back into the game.

When player unlocks card upgrades, initial mana replenishment becomes much more reliable by just upgrading “Gather Magic” cards.

When player unlocks card upgrades, initial mana replenishment becomes much more reliable by just upgrading “Gather Magic” cards.

Sounds good :)

How did you balance the game? Did it grew it larger and larger over time and you added more combos to make it better and better? And if so did you replay "the simpler difficulties" to see how there are affected?

my eyeside is not the strongest so i prefer a large screen

Note that since this is a web game, you can zoom it like a normal web page.

uncomfortable to play the cards on the left side and then reach to right sight

Ok, I will add an option for left-sided ‘end turn’ button in next version

I would on easy mode only keep relevant cards that can offer some value for the player

The game already does that. When you start the game, you get access to only about 50 out of 350 cards and 70 out of 200 items. That being said, unlocks are very fast compared to some other games. For example, Mage unlock another ~70 cards and ~30 items, etc.

Would you say toughness is quintessential for “new warriors” in orrder to win (of course something with vampirism might also work… but never got a combo for it)?

Not at all. In fact, toughness is probably “weakest” way to win as Warrior. In my experience, easiest Warrior builds are

• Vampirism + HP growth, e.g. Feast on Flesh or Pipette
• Revenge + some method of keeping HP low but still surviving, like Half Full Glass
• Multi-strike with strength gain, using cards like Combo and Burning Rage

hand cards that crowd your deck “with future potential” don’t feel great at it all…

I suggest you to unlock “stash” mechanics which is specifically designed to alleviate that

(You can look and “Achievements” windows for a list of unlock conditions)

finish a battle with exactly 0 mana” you still have a little chance to crawl back into the game.

There is an item which does that (Pauper’s Bowl). When you unlock quests, it is relatively easy to find.

How did you balance the game?

That is an excellent question :)

Since the number of players is very low, I mainly balance based on my own playtesting and useful feedback like yours. You can look at more examples of game balance discussions on this forum or on our Discord.

For example, based on our current discussion, I will move Cezve (Coffee item) to be unlocked a bit later, and will introduce a quest to get toughness.

And if so did you replay “the simpler difficulties” to see how there are affected?

I mainly test “normal difficulty” which is when everything is unlocked but with no ascensions yet (game has additional difficulty modifiers called ascensions).

Sorry if my answer is too long, I just enjoy discussing my game :)

I had a vampire cape and thought it would give me at least some “vamprism”

You mean “Hunger pang” card? It should indeed work as you said. However, there are lots of interactions in the game, and as as you have already noted some of them are non-obvious. For example, could it happen that you were in a battle against spiders and become ensnared?

card which lets you push an opponent to the second position … where something was written in () which I was not so sure, what to make out of it

This card forces the front (leftmost) enemy to attack the second enemy, dealing damage equal to (first enemy hp divided by 10). After that, front enemy in moved backwards. Flavor-wise it is supposed to represent enemies trampling each other. Gameplay-wise, there is some difference between player hitting an enemy and the enemy hitting another one. For example, player’s strength does not change the damage of this card.

If you post savefile or a screenshot, I may be able to identify specific issue.

should i add “vampirsim” or is it too much “if i have toughness already” … this are all questions that pop into my head

This is an excellent question, precisely the kind I would like players to consider. Of course, there is no “correct” answer, every run of the game is slightly different.

Without knowing specifics of your build, I would say that vampirism is much more powerful, especially after you unlock all game stages. It has game-breaking payoffs with cards like “Feast on Flesh”. However, before the right combination is assembled, cards like “Hanger pang” are just a weaker version of healing.

On the other hand, toughness is immediately useful and has some easy early-game payoffs like “Muscle”. However, it (currently?) lacks late-game potential, so overall purely toughness-based builds are weak in full game. Maybe I should add some high-payoff toughness card…

limit “the beginner decks” … people want to be “hooked” by the first minute they play your game

Although it may not seem like it, but I agree with this point and have already severely limited early-game choices. In fact, the full game is much more complicated compared to the part you have seen so far. Obviously it is still not enough, so perhaps I should make unlocking progress even slower… I will think about it

it might work “if you have your logs” in place

You can already post your save games or screenshots either here or on discord. I do not like more intrusive data collection, so the game does not send any analytics by itself. (Unfortunately, copying savegames to clipboard currently works in Firefox only due to itch.io limitation)

How many people have played your game so far?

I only use built-in itch.io analytics, so I do not have this data. My estimate is about a hundred or two. The number of “serious” players is maybe about 20.

Overall, the detailed feedback from players is my primary source of balancing and clarification. You can look at examples of such feedback on this forum and on discord.