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Is My Tower Defence Game Too Difficult?

A topic by CaptainHerpaDerp created 15 days ago Views: 164 Replies: 5

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Hey everyone,

I’m developing a pixel-art tower defence game, and it is meant to be challenging. However, I need outside eyes to determine whether it’s currently too hard for first-time players.

I’d love feedback on these specific points:

Difficulty curve: Can first-time players beat Level 1 within a few tries, or is it too frustrating?
Clarity: Is it clear how to start playing? (Navigating menus, starting the first level, etc.)
First spell: Do players understand how to unlock and equip their first spell before playing?
Overall UX: Do you ever feel lost or confused about what to do next?

> Play here: https://ruben-smith.itch.io/realms-last-stand

Any impressions whatsoever are invaluable to me; telling me my game sucks is still good to hear. Thank you in advance for helping me polish the early experience!

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AlSoKnown14 days ago

The game IS too hard, but you articulated quite clearly that it was intentional. Maybe adding some text about intentionally high difficulty to the game itself will help a little, since some players may miss the text on game page.

Basic gameplay is obvious, but some more advanced elements elements are not. For example, I did not know you can upgrade towers until I accidentally clicked on one at wave 5. Also, perhaps some way to see statistic of each tower damage / kills would be nice, especially since the game is intended to force hyper-optimal play.

I did beat first level on the very first play, but only with 5 “life” left due to the fact that I did not know that towers can be upgraded.

I did not see any “spells” in game, so I can’t tell anything about them.

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CaptainHerpaDerp14 days ago

Hey, thank you for the feedback. I really appreciate it. What I gather is that some single-view tooltips would go a long way. Spells are purchased on the map menu on the bottom right. I tried adding a bouncing exclamation, but it seems that a tooltip there would also be good. Thank you very much.

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AlSoKnown14 days ago

Spells are purchased on the map menu on the bottom right.

Ah, this button was hidden behind “full screen” icon for me. I suggest to center it, make it WAY larger, perhaps put the word “Shop” or “Spells” on it.

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CaptainHerpaDerp14 days ago

Got it, ill do it now. Thank you for your help :)

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Mads12 days ago

I don't normally play tower defence so only did a quick session, but really enjoyed it!

I failed my first try- I saw a few different waves of enemies and satisfying to see my towers + people do their thing . I didn't try again as unsure whether doing anything different would have had enough effect... was there a way to know a rating/how many more waves are coming etc, so if you fail, you'd know if you were close to success?

didn't feel frustrated at all, so stopping at that point is prob more on me- I know the game is supposed to be hard and I just don't tend to have patience for hard games.

It felt clear what I was suppose to do, overall ux was intuitive. I didn't know about unlocking spells, I noticed there was a menu button at some point but wasn't sure what to do with it, so just played game instead - possibly cos I didn't read any instructions etc...

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