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META - Tactical Battle Arena feedback needed

A topic by embrionik created Feb 23, 2020 Views: 717 Replies: 9
Viewing posts 1 to 5
(6 edits)

Hello everyone!

My name is Petar and  I would like to show you a small concept that I've been working on.

Its a tactical tower defense game, similar to Clash Royale or Minion Masters, but with a twist - you pick your cards/Heroes during the match.

It is also a bit more complex than the titles mentioned above - you get to control and upgrade your Heroes.


Play it in browser:  https://embrionik.itch.io/meta

I am looking for core mechanics feedback, tempo and progression feedback or simply your thoughts on the gameplay.

If you are interested, you can read some more in the Development Log. It includes a concept design document: https://embrionik.itch.io/meta/devlog/126409/meta-prototype-1

Your feedback is MUCH appreciated and can help grow this project into something much more elaborate. Thanks!

(+1)

Well it's fun but kinda hard cause there isn't a lot of explanations.


The units:
It was a bit hard to understand how everything works, but it's normal since it's like a prototype and you don't have time to waste on tutorial :) At first I was just clicking everywhere ^^  I 'm still not sure how mana works.

I like the units but the magician and the archer seem really similar. Plus I'd love to choose wich unit I'm buying. Or have more units waiting behind the gate. I dunno, more freedom certainly about these tiny guys. Maybe more different units ? Like someone building tiny walls or traps, some creative stuff for more choice in the gameplay.

The canon:
No idea how it works, I had to wait to buy all its updrades to see him works. Lazy canon.

The rythm:
Well the start is a bit brutal without explanations, the difficulty could increase with time or maybe with the dstruction of the gates. The game could be a bit faster I think, everything's a bit slow. Or maybe I just needed an option for a faster time.

The interface :
It's clear and simple, I love it ^^ Everything's at the right place. I'm not sure about the shortcuts for the powers since the game seems in an early state. Playing with mouse only was enough for me. About the canon's icon in the middle of the screen, I don't understand its effect, it's messing with the units behaviors for me.
At first I wasn't sure which player I was actually, the interface doesn't show anything about the player's side.

The terrain :
It's again simple and really explicit, I guess a lot of creative and cool backgrounds can be done with this composition ^^

The fun :
It is fun and promising, the gameplay is really easy to understand and I'm sure a ton of cool stuff will be done with it.
I'm not really fan of the lowpoly style, it's my personnal taste and maybe this is just because of the ongoing state.
Oh ... you should write more infos on the project's page !

Thanks for the work on your game, it seems really promising to me !

(1 edit) (+1)

Thank you for taking the time to play the game and writing an extensive feedback - I really appreciate it.

The Units:

  • When you click BUY UNIT button, a screen opens up where you can choose which Unit to buy.
  • You can only buy one Unit of each type, but you can buy them in any order you like.
  • Units can only cast spells/abilities when their mana is completely full.
  • When you upgrade a Unit (buy spell) it also gains more health and attack damage
  • Each subsequent Upgrade costs more and, since a Unit has more health, increases its respawn time.

The Cannon:

  • When fully upgraded (10 x 50 gold), Cannon will automatically shoot at the enemy base
  • Cannon mechanic rewards players who control the center the most

The Rythm:

  • The game is a bit slow in the start, but the dynamics increase when you are controlling more Units
  • The idea was to have a slow ramp up of tempo - gradually demanding more skill and concentration
  • Use [NUMPAD *] or [NUMPAD /] to change game speed.
  • [NUMPAD ,] will reset the speed to normal

The interface:

  • Thank you for the comments =)
  • Icons in the middle of the screen represent enemy units so you can quickly set the target for attack or spell
  • The cannon icon actually represents enemy base so you can force your unit to ignore enemy Units - and go straight for the Base

The fun:

  • This is just a sample of the basic gameplay and I wanted to see how people react to basic mechanics
  • Complete game should have more than 30 Heroes - similar to MOBA
  • Low poly is simply the fastest way to produce content at this stage, its not an intended style (for now)

More info:

Again, thank you for your feedback, I am glad you enjoyed it.

BTW, did you manage to win, and if yes, do you remember how long the match lasted?

(+1)

I won my last game and played 7min, you can find a recorded walkthrough here if you need : https://we.tl/t-6hQF27o5zD

(+1)

Oh, wow, this is amazing, thank you so much for recording it. This stuff is invaluable!

Much appreciated, thanks!

(+1)

The update:
I played the update, the Informations are really helpful, it's a nice reminder before every game ! Same for the enemies icon ^^
I needed 8 minutes this time and I realize that with more playing I started to use the units abilities more often (but it's probably cause I'm not familiar with the moba style). That didn't really change the issue or length of the game but it's more because of the preview state of the game.

Personal note:
I don't know if it's relevant but you may consider crafting a survey (like with google forms) like studios use for playtesting, for your players. Just saying :D *suddenly fly away *

(+1)

Hey, thanks for the re-play!

Yes, creating a survey is a logical step , but I will wait a bit, until the player base increases.

Hopefully, more people will see/play the game and subscribe for updates.

Thanks again for your support, I really appreciate it.

(+1)

Plays great over all some sounds are missing! Maybe also an epic soundtrack!

(+1)

A small tutorial has been added at the start of the game.

It might alleviate some confusion a bit =)

(1 edit)

Hello all!

A new update is here, which you can read about here: https://embrionik.itch.io/meta/devlog/129958/meta-prototype-2

Play it here: https://embrionik.itch.io/meta

In short:

  • 4 new units
  • Different types of abilities
  • Armor and piercing damage
  • Aoe, attacks from behind, critical hits
  • Tweaked gameplay speed and tempo



Head on over to https://embrionik.itch.io/meta and give it a go. (playable in browser).

Hope you all like it!