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[Craig Stern]

So, I gave this a really quick play earlier (quick meaning that I went through the tutorial level). I have two pieces of very early feedback for you:

1) I agree with what Derek said about the overall look of the game, in that I found it hard to pick out relevant characters and objects against the background. A cleaner, less busy background would make the game much more readable. (The character sprites don't bother me, though.)

2) The UI needs some work. When my three berzerkers engaged with two enemy berzerkers, during the enemy turn, there were so many status effect notifications flying across the screen that I ended up with absolutely no clue as to who had undergone what status changes. All I knew was that a bunch of stuff had happened.

I also have an inkling that you might need to trim some fat from your system: having both a per-turn use limit and an energy cost for unit actions strikes me as unnecessarily complicated. Personally, I'd pick just one and balance the game based on that: but I haven't played too much of this yet, so I might change my mind about that later.

Anyway, this looks interesting! I'm looking forward to giving it a more thorough play-through later on.

[Udderdude]

Thanks for the feedback.

1. I'll make the background a bit darker.  There is also an option to disable the background completely now.

2. I'll admit knowing exactly what is going on requires a lot of familiarity with the classes and their abilities.  I'll make the AI move a bit slower on Normal so it's easier to keep up with.

3. It is necessary, because being able to dump all of your energy into attacks would just make the game boring.

Glad you liked it.

[Craig Stern]

Couldn't you just make attacks cost more energy, though? A high enough energy cost is a de facto use limit, after all: it's just one that requires the player to keep track of one resource instead of two.

[Udderdude]

It might be an interesting change, but unfortunately this late in the game's development I don't think I'd make a change as big as that.  It would require rebalancing of a lot of abilities, and the entire game's balance would likely be shifted around.

The amount of energy attacks would cost if they had no limit would be prohibitive anyway.  Around 3 energy per attack would be balanced, I think, but that's 6 energy if you want to get 2 attacks off but not any more, which leaves you with next to nothing to use for anything else.

[Udderdude]

The game is very close to completion, only thing left to do is more playtesting and iron out any bugs/balance issues.  I'm waiting to hear back from some testers at the moment.  It's soooooo close, after so many months of work on it, I can hardly believe it ..

I've made some changes to the Destroyer to make them more viable.  Feast now heals all nearby friendly units for 1 when you use it, and Sadism has been completely changed - it now forces an enemy to attack itself, doing it's own attack damage to itself.  Ouch!

[Craig Stern]

All right! I've put some more time into playing Strat Tech, and I have updated thoughts on it. First of all, I've come to quite enjoy the system you're using here. The juggling of numerous buffs and de-buffs has a nice complexity to it; you have to account for a lot of different factors at all times, which I really like. I especially appreciate the Warrior's Fortify ability. In my book, any time you give the player the ability to alter the battlefield, that's a big plus.

I can also see now why you have an independent limit on how many times you can use certain attacks. I still feel that this part of the system could use a bit of paring down: the learning curve is fairly steep, and it takes a while to get a sense of what each of your units can realistically do in a turn. It's not terrible, but it's still an accessibility barrier. Just something to consider for the future.

There is only one area of the game that really bothers me at this point: movement. All units can move seemingly tremendous distances in a turn due to (1) the low energy cost of moving and (2) the high cap on how many times a unit can move per turn. (This, I gather, is why there are doors and switches on each level: if these artificial barriers weren't in place, enemies could close distance with you from all the way across the map in a single turn—maybe two.) Personally, I think this hurts the game. Distance and positioning become dramatically less important when any unit can get anywhere at minimal cost. I know you're really late in development here, but if there were any one change to the gameplay I'd consider making, it's this: let units should move only once or twice a turn; or else, bump up the energy cost for moving to 2 or 3 per move.

On the visual side, I'm glad to see you turned the starry background off by default: this makes it way way easier to see what's going on. I have an additional suggestion for you concerning the GUI. Each unit's life bar and energy bar are currently surrounded by a semi-transparent white border. I assume you chose white to contrast it against the dark background of the battlefield. However, I'd recommend changing the border to an opaque black: the colors inside the bars are fairly bright, and don't contrast well with the white, making the actual information inside the bars hard to read. A high contrast border would improve this situation dramatically. (Have a look at my suggested edit below to see what I'm talking about.)



Anyway, I'm enjoying this; I hope it sells well, and I'm looking forward to seeing what you do in future efforts.

[Udderdude]

There is only one area of the game that really bothers me at this point: movement. All units can move seemingly tremendous distances in a turn due to (1) the low energy cost of moving and (2) the high cap on how many times a unit can move per turn. (This, I gather, is why there are doors and switches on each level: if these artificial barriers weren't in place, enemies could close distance with you from all the way across the map in a single turn—maybe two.)

The real reason is because all throughout development, my twin balked at the limited movement range of the units.  He's used to games like Super Robot Wars, where units have gigantic move grids and are basically super-mobile the entire game.  So I kind of tailored it like that.  Personally, I don't think being able to move so much is a big deal, it's not like it'll help you defeat enemies any faster.  And low life units retreat much slower anyway.

Personally, I think this hurts the game. Distance and positioning become dramatically less important when any unit can get anywhere at minimal cost. I know you're really late in development here, but if there were any one change to the gameplay I'd consider making, it's this: let units should move only once or twice a turn; or else, bump up the energy cost for moving to 2 or 3 per move.

I may end up reducing the max moves per turn, but it could lead to some frustrating scenarios.  Maybe reducing it to 5 moves per turn.

Each unit's life bar and energy bar are currently surrounded by a semi-transparent white border. I assume you chose white to contrast it against the dark background of the battlefield. However, I'd recommend changing the border to an opaque black: the colors inside the bars are fairly bright, and don't contrast well with the white, making the actual information inside the bars hard to read. A high contrast border would improve this situation dramatically. (Have a look at my suggested edit below to see what I'm talking about.)

This looks like a good change to make.

Anyway, I'm enjoying this; I hope it sells well, and I'm looking forward to seeing what you do in future efforts.

We'll see about selling well .. tactics games tend to be a very niche market, and I've definitely made a game that only real tactics fans can get behind - there's no fluff like story or leveling/gearing to "watch the numbers go up" that casuals will want to latch on to.

As for making another turn based game, if I do make another one, it's going to be simplified compared to this one.  I have many interests in genres besides turn based tactics that I'd like to make games with, so if it ever does happen, it won't be for awhile.  The Strat engine is definitely flexible enough to make another game using the same engine, though.

[Udderdude]

I did a bit more testing and tweaking of this game yesterday, taking a break from Twin Reaper.  Reduced max unit count in some of the later levels from 14 to 13, and increased enemy unit variety.

Also the usual AI stupidity fixes.  Caught an enemy Spark casting Empower (raised attack damage) on a unit that was Petrified and unable to act .. oops.  I've went back over all abilities and checked the code for any more crap like that happening.  With this many abilities, there's always something ..

Also changed it so cooldowns no longer make a floating text message appear at the end of a turn when they expire.  It was pretty ridiculous when a turn would end and suddenly zillions of floating texts would appear all at once!  Most of those were cooldowns expiring.

[Udderdude]

I've identified some major issues with the game as it is now .. going to have to fix this stuff up before it's released.

1. Once you beat up the primary force, the secondary force is very weak and poses no real threat; you steamroll them and it's very boring to play out.
  A. Reduce primary force and let player decide to trigger secondary forces earlier to make it harder on him/herself
  B. Remove secondary force completely - Map is basically finished once primary force is defeated
  C. Add "Killing blow bonus" - Any time a unit kills another unit, that unit gets a permanent +1 damage increase, allowing you to clean up the mess easier
  D. Make all 'Kill all enemies' goals 'Kill certian number enemies' with slightly less than required enemies killed counted

I'm leaning towards B here, as A is harder to balance, and B would make the maps take less turn count.  C and D might be ok.

2. Turns still taking 4-6 minutes
  A. Reduce unit count to 12-13 max (13-14 max currently)
  B. Make moves cost energy again
  C. Reduce overall unit energy

Leaning towards B here, maybe C.

3. Very defensive strategy required on Hard, since letting more than 1-2 enemy units move freely will likely lead to one of your units dying.
  A. Make Hard balance 30-35% more energy, 0% attack bonus
  B. Remove Hard mode life bonus, making enemies easier to take down

Not sure what to do here, as using the defensive strategy does require more skill but takes longer.  If anything, I would go for B here.

[Udderdude]

Got most of the previous issues ironed out.  Some later levels also need to be shortened.

I thought up two new classes and added them today.

Going to go over the red levels and fix them up similar to what was mentioned in my previous post.

---

Elite Lavender Piece - Name "Mesmer"

Yield - Targeted ally is less likely to be attacked (AI will never use this)
Haste - Targeted ally can attack one extra time this turn, only useable once per turn
Confuse - Targeted enemy forgets how to use 2 abilities, and reduces enemy movement range by 1, only useable once per turn
Crystal - Targeted enemy turns to crystal and takes no magical damage, only useable once per turn
Deceive - Tricks an enemy into giving the Mesmer a positive status.  Enemy also loses 2 energy by doing so.  Positive status given depends on class.

---

Elite Magenta Piece - Name "Tech"

Turret - Creates a turret that lasts 4 turns, only useable once per turn
Optimal - Targeted friendly unit is healed for 1 life every time it moves
Repair - Repairs friendly units for 2 life, or friendly non-units for 4 life
Sabotage - Targeted enemy's attacks also damage the enemy for 1 damage
Disable - Temporarily disables an enemy Turret or Zapper

[Udderdude]

Still working on stuff.  Got the new classes in there.  The Red levels keep needing more work for various reasons .. going to diversify the primary objectives in them.  Right now there's too many Destroy all enemies/Destroy Power Core objectives.

I feel like I'm still revising the damn Red levels over and over, they just keep needing work.  At least the new classes feel fun and interesting to play with.

Today's AI stupidity: Mage casting Freeze, which reduces a unit's move range, on a Spectre, who can teleport everywhere with impunity anyway.  Oops.

Also, a long-standing Priest AI issue .. the Priest was wasting energy on Infuse while nearby units were badly wounded.  Now, if there are wounded units nearby, AI Priests won't use Infuse until the unit is healed.

[Udderdude]

Testing level 29. 

[Udderdude]

Still balancing Red levels.  It's very tightly tuned - one mistake and you'll lose a unit during your turn.  I've added a bonus - completing a level without losing any units now gives you a higher score at the end of the level.  Doing so in the Red levels on Hard is quite difficult and requires near perfect play.

I'm considering adding a simple versus mode in the game.  It wouldn't be netplay or anything, just all on the same computer.  Maybe it would work on a laptop, where one player takes a turn, and then turn the laptop around so the other player can take a turn.  It would have to be limited to 15 units max, otherwise it'd just get out of hand.

Edit: It was almost criminally easy to add a simple versus mode.  Don't know how complex I want to make it.

Biggest issue currently is that player 1 always goes first and thus will always have an advantage.  Maybe during Player 1's first turn, he can only move half his units?  Or maybe give Player 2's units a bonus?  Could also place the units far apart and have bonus items to grab in the middle, similar to what Telepath Tactics is doing ..

Edit 2: I went for reducing all unit energy by 50%, and adding some super powerful fields in the middle of the map.  This has the effect of making turns shorter, making it so you have to really manage your energy well, and making it so you really want those fields in the middle!

[Udderdude]

Had to make a hard decision with the enemy AI.  They were attacking the ghosts and spirits that archers and knights could summon, however it ended up being too great of a damage migitation strategy .. put out ghosts/spirits and let the AI attack them, and they'd waste their attacks.  Ignoring them, though, causes the AI to take more damage in the next turn from the ghosts/spirits.  I felt I had to change it so they'll ignore them.  They will still attack clones, however.

Just got some feedback from testers to work on.  After I go over it, and test the bosses a bit more, it may be time to finally release this thing.

Looking back, the game was in really bad shape when I started working on it again a month and a week ago.  The unit animations weren't added, the 21-30 levels were just rough map outlines that didn't have any units or scripting (and were way too large), the hardest skill was extremely difficult while the other skills were too easy in comparison, the elite classes weren't balanced well at all, art/visibility issues, and there were a lot of bugs and AI issues in general.  On top of that I kind of sucked at the game after not playing it for so long .. lol.  It's a miracle I was even able to get it to this point.

On top of that, I've added two new elite classes and a Versus Mode.  The new classes are pretty fun and interesting to use.  Hopefully, after all this work, I've managed to make something turn based tactics fans can enjoy.

[Udderdude]

Twin gave me a suggestion to add .. a secondary objective to stop enemies attempting to retreat.  So I added it, and it's pretty cool.

More testing, level 28 this time.  Enemy has been locked down pretty hard :p You can see the Escape Pod in the upper right corner, which some enemies will attempt to move to and escape.