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Tiny pixels. Big world. Poor decisions. · By Fortisq

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A topic by ProjectLevel created 6 days ago Views: 87 Replies: 7

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ProjectLevel6 days ago (2 edits)

Love the game so far. I have some feedback (below) of our play session so far. Main thing we're stuck on at the moment is the Wings over the Ruin quest.
we go 3 floors down in the hedge maze dungeon. but can't figure out what to do to clear that quest. done all the others though without issue. any tips for that one?

Suggestions/notes

**GAMEPLAY/UI**

- When using a bandage whilst walking, player stops causing you to have to re-press the movement

keys, would be nice to heal on the run. But I can also see why this is likely intentional.

**HARVESTING**

- Ore sprite doesn't dissapear/change when harvesting? Intentional?

Herbs also don't dissapear or change sprite when harvesting

[a sprite swap like the trees when harvested would be a nice to have]

- Add "E" prompt when near harvestable objects?

Would save a lot of random E hitting while walking.

**VISUAL**

- Sprite flipping - cheap to do, would add a small flair.

- remove walking sound/severly reduce it.

ambient background music/environment noise would be better than footsteps imo

- other players on the server can't see attacks (ranger)

- when dragging a key in the inventory onto a locked box, it would be nice to SEE the key being picked up.

- Ability to either manually sort the inventory or a 1 button "re organise" that auto arranges the

items.

**BUGS**

- Noticed there are doors on the west & north side of Westhold that are impossible to walk through.
- Opening the ability panel by pressing (P) or from the menu. the X in the corner of the window won't close the menu. will only close if you press P again

FortisqDeveloper6 days ago

@ProjectLevel - You're an absolute legend for this write-up! 🧡

First off - huge thanks for taking the time to type all this out. This isn't just "feedback," this is a full-on QA report with love sprinkled on top. You're the real MVP.

Regarding "Wings over the Ruin" - Yeahhhhhh about that... I may have broken the sprite when I replaced it right before launch. 😅 It's fixed now! The quest should work as intended. Sorry for the confusion - classic "launch day dev brain" moment.

Now for your suggestions:

Bandage stopping movement - Yep, totally intentional... but also kinda annoying, right? I get it. Might revisit this one. Consider it "under review" on the whiteboard.
Harvesting sprites not changing - You caught me. I got lazy. Fixing this ASAP. The "E" prompt is also a no-brainer - why didn't I think of that sooner? 🤦‍♂️
Sprite flipping - Cheap and cheerful. Adding this to the next patch just for you.
Footstep sounds - takes headphones off ...wait, there ARE footsteps? I've been listening to them for months and I literally don't hear them anymore. You're right. Turning that way down.
Inventory sorting - Noted. Manual sort vs auto-sort. That's going on the list.
Bugs (Westhold doors, ability panel X button) - Both squashed. Fixed 'em already. You're welcome. 😎

Seriously though, feedback like this is GOLD. It helps me make the game better for everyone. You clearly care about the game and that means the world to me as a solo dev.

Keep the suggestions coming - I'm reading every single one. And if you run into any more weirdness (or broken sprites), hit me up!

Now go enjoy the fixed Wings quest and let me know if the new boss patterns make you rage. 😈

— Fortisq

thejefu4 days ago

I was about to say that large parts of the project feel aesthetically flat/artificially generated, then I read the comment section and the community management is generated too.

FortisqDeveloper4 days ago (1 edit)

Thanks for the great feedback! Just to clarify on a few points: I didn't use AI for the art, and the game is currently flat (2D). I'm leveraging well-established procedural generation tech to build a massive world, which I plan to gradually fill with hand-authored content.

I am leaning heavily on AI for the repetitive, tedious stuff like generating loot tables and boilerplate code but even with that help, you still need to be a decent developer to stitch it all together and make it actually work.

On the technical side: the entire visual library comes from a single 250KB sprite sheet. The full world weighs in at over 2GB, but thanks to streaming, your PC will never hold more than about 20MB of it at any given time. The client itself is tiny all the heavy logic runs in the database, using just 66 tables and 125 reducers. This setup is efficient enough to run on a free-tier VPS with 100+ concurrent clients indefinitely.

My goal from the start was to make an MMO, and I know the ins and outs of what that entails. Since I'm no artist or animator, the 1-bit sprite aesthetic is the perfect creative constraint—it allows me to pack a ridiculous amount of content and design complexity into the game without being gated by my artistic limitations.

ProjectLevel5 days ago

You're welcome. I think if i'm going to play something it's always worth making notes while I play.
Whilst I know a lot of feedback can be down to personal preferences, I think it's better to say it over leaving the developer in the dark. Simple things can be missed sometimes, and If i catch them, i'll try to point it out.

As a dev myself I know the value of good feedback, and being a solo developer can be very difficult and a lonely experience sometimes haha so I try to give it where I can. I think you've got a complex thing going on here and its the type of game that will thrive if it has more people playing it and offering feedback. I hope you continue to grow it and I'll keep hopping in.

ProjectLevel5 days ago

I had an additional thought that I forgot to include in the feedback, and thats about the bosses... or more particularly the boss rooms. As a ranged fighter, it is possible to cheese the boss by standing in the corridor where some of its attacks can't reach or its easy to avoid them.
fix suggestions
- have a passible barrier that the players have to cross into the room in order to damage the boss (perhaps they can't leave until its dead or if they flee then the boss heals over time)

Peazy Game Studio5 days ago(+1)

Had the same experience as a Mage, made all fights a bit too easy.

FortisqDeveloper4 days ago

@ProjectLevel – Thank you so much for this. Seriously.

You nailed exactly why good feedback matters, especially from another dev who knows the solo grind. It can be lonely, and having someone actually take notes and point out blind spots is invaluable. I really appreciate the time you're putting into this.

On the boss room cheese: You're 100% right – and Peazy Game Studio just confirmed the same experience with their mage, so this is clearly a universal pain point. Your suggestion is spot‑on:

A passable barrier at the entrance that you must cross to deal damage.
Once you're in, you can't leave (or if you do, the boss heals over time to punish retreating).

I'll implement something like that in the next patch. I'm committed to growing this with community input, so please keep hopping in and firing off notes – even the "small" stuff matters. Thanks again

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