Hey, I really enjoyed this demo! I think the difficulty is a bit tough, and I do wish we could possibly adjust what spells we have moving into each room.. I get why we don't, but it'd be a cool option. An option to refresh chests so we have different spell options would be great. I keep trying to drag spells to the hotbar even if that's not how it works.
Due to the low health and limited health pick-ups it feels as if you are meant to fail consistently. Much of the attacks are melee focused without a real way to stun/push-back well enough to keep you out of the danger zone. I consistently felt pretty powerless and walking into a room with multiple enemies I think I mentally gave up before even making my first move.
Overall I had a great time with it though, and definitely say keep up the good work. I think the combat system is pretty good once you really get the hang of it.
I'm glad you enjoyed the game despite the hurdles and frustrations. This review highlights the need for proper communication of the game's mechanics. I am very grateful for the feedback!
* Pressing the 'continue' arrow the first time should skip the text typing animation and display all the text if the text is not done typing, pressing it a second time should advance the text box. I skipped all text because I could not wait for it to type out.
* The theming on the slash ability is unclear, there's a lightning animation on the player, but a claw-like slash on the ability bar and neighboring square. Is this a lightning attack or a slash attack.
* The checkpoint after dying to the first enemies makes me open both chests again and merge the ability
* This is personal preference, but I don't like heartbeat noises at low health
* I keep trying to click and drag the abilities to a slot, it'd be coold if that worked
* The text box that describes the abilities is too small, it shouldn't have to be scrolled to read everything in it
* It'd be nice if the combat preview told you how much damage you were going to do in addition to which squares an ability will hit
* Once abilites are on the hotbar, there doesn't seem to be a way to see what they do anymore?
* The abilities don't seem to match up against the enemies very well. Beating enemies without taking damage does not seem possible with most of the abilities, so I guess I'm supposed to take some damage every fight? Don't like that.
* You shouldn't be able to roll 2 or 3 of the same kind of ability in a chest
* Kinda weird that the ranged enemy can shoot one space but just chooses not to unless its back is against a wall, feels like being close to the ranged enemy should be rewarded more.
Overall Suggestions:
* If you want this game to be like Into the Breach or Fights in Tight Spaces where taking damage is generally a mistake, you need to show enemy intentions. Both of those games make moving a finite resource, so you might consider rolling movement into your abilities or only allowing so much movement per turn, that would encourage a game loop where you use all your abilities and then end turn since the player can't do anything at that point, instead of being able to move indefinitely and having to choose to take damage by clicking end turn.
*If instead this game is meant to be more a slugfest where you trade health to kill enemies, the player needs more health and there should be ways to regain health with abilities.
Thank you for playing and for providing your extensive feedback.
There are definitely some quality-of-life improvements that I should work on.
You can observe the effects of your abilities in the action bar by right-clicking on them. The same applies to enemy stats and the abilities they use. I need to find a clearer way to communicate this information.
Regarding gameplay feedback: my goal is to create a tactical experience while still preserving the feel of dungeon crawler combat. Having enemies act according to their initial intention, despite the player being in a different position, would undermine that experience. However, I also don't want a slugfest. The solution involves a low player life pool combined with a wide array of tactical skills that allow you to manipulate the battlefield.
Despite the game's linear nature, each level follows a rogue-lite approach: you retain items collected, and abilities from chests are randomized. It's acceptable to die multiple times while experimenting with different tactics until luck and positional insights converge into tactical brilliance, allowing you to successfully complete the level. I need to find a better way to communicate this aspect through gameplay. Suggestions are welcome!
Did you enjoy the overall game experience? Once again, thank you for playing!
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Hey, I really enjoyed this demo! I think the difficulty is a bit tough, and I do wish we could possibly adjust what spells we have moving into each room.. I get why we don't, but it'd be a cool option.
An option to refresh chests so we have different spell options would be great.
I keep trying to drag spells to the hotbar even if that's not how it works.
Due to the low health and limited health pick-ups it feels as if you are meant to fail consistently. Much of the attacks are melee focused without a real way to stun/push-back well enough to keep you out of the danger zone. I consistently felt pretty powerless and walking into a room with multiple enemies I think I mentally gave up before even making my first move.
Overall I had a great time with it though, and definitely say keep up the good work. I think the combat system is pretty good once you really get the hang of it.
I'm glad you enjoyed the game despite the hurdles and frustrations. This review highlights the need for proper communication of the game's mechanics. I am very grateful for the feedback!
Thank you for uploading your game.
Impressions as I'm playing:
* Pressing the 'continue' arrow the first time should skip the text typing animation and display all the text if the text is not done typing, pressing it a second time should advance the text box. I skipped all text because I could not wait for it to type out.
* The theming on the slash ability is unclear, there's a lightning animation on the player, but a claw-like slash on the ability bar and neighboring square. Is this a lightning attack or a slash attack.
* The checkpoint after dying to the first enemies makes me open both chests again and merge the ability
* This is personal preference, but I don't like heartbeat noises at low health
* I keep trying to click and drag the abilities to a slot, it'd be coold if that worked
* The text box that describes the abilities is too small, it shouldn't have to be scrolled to read everything in it
* It'd be nice if the combat preview told you how much damage you were going to do in addition to which squares an ability will hit
* Once abilites are on the hotbar, there doesn't seem to be a way to see what they do anymore?
* The abilities don't seem to match up against the enemies very well. Beating enemies without taking damage does not seem possible with most of the abilities, so I guess I'm supposed to take some damage every fight? Don't like that.
* You shouldn't be able to roll 2 or 3 of the same kind of ability in a chest
* Kinda weird that the ranged enemy can shoot one space but just chooses not to unless its back is against a wall, feels like being close to the ranged enemy should be rewarded more.
Overall Suggestions:
* If you want this game to be like Into the Breach or Fights in Tight Spaces where taking damage is generally a mistake, you need to show enemy intentions. Both of those games make moving a finite resource, so you might consider rolling movement into your abilities or only allowing so much movement per turn, that would encourage a game loop where you use all your abilities and then end turn since the player can't do anything at that point, instead of being able to move indefinitely and having to choose to take damage by clicking end turn.
*If instead this game is meant to be more a slugfest where you trade health to kill enemies, the player needs more health and there should be ways to regain health with abilities.
Thank you for playing and for providing your extensive feedback.
There are definitely some quality-of-life improvements that I should work on.
You can observe the effects of your abilities in the action bar by right-clicking on them. The same applies to enemy stats and the abilities they use. I need to find a clearer way to communicate this information.
Regarding gameplay feedback: my goal is to create a tactical experience while still preserving the feel of dungeon crawler combat. Having enemies act according to their initial intention, despite the player being in a different position, would undermine that experience. However, I also don't want a slugfest. The solution involves a low player life pool combined with a wide array of tactical skills that allow you to manipulate the battlefield.
Despite the game's linear nature, each level follows a rogue-lite approach: you retain items collected, and abilities from chests are randomized. It's acceptable to die multiple times while experimenting with different tactics until luck and positional insights converge into tactical brilliance, allowing you to successfully complete the level. I need to find a better way to communicate this aspect through gameplay. Suggestions are welcome!
Did you enjoy the overall game experience? Once again, thank you for playing!