[ casual roguelike ] Dungelot [androids]

hey, I'm all for casual roguelikes which tends to be more than I can say for other casual type things.

So I'm super bored tonight since I'm at my parents and I ended up writing more feedback then I intended. I'm assuming you're looking for critical feedback so my feedback is critical. If you don't want critical feedback, then don't read my post! I have played many many roguelikes now and I've made a number of games as well (none, I hasted to add, anywhere as complicated as a roguelike)

I think you have a makings for something that could be really fun and possibly interesting (which means fun for a longer period of time I guess). Right now, the content is interesting and the rewards/unlockables are delightful but there just isn't any gameplay to drive things. My most major complaint here is the lack of strategy which is only expounded at the moment due to the lack of difficulty as well.

Generally speaking

-game is much too easy. I got to floor 42 on my first try with an unupgraded hero.
-first fourty floors are much too easy, next 2 were much too hard.
-kind of fun at first exploring content and then it got really boring specifically because I felt my decisions were more or less meaningless.
-I get that this is a 'lite' version of Desktop Dungeons which is great, because DD is DENSE and you really got to crunch numbers in your head and that's really not for everyone including myself (I'm torn because I really do want to play that game but the amount of THINKING energy it takes to be able to beat a level is more than I want to expend). But I stress again, the lack of strategy makes my decisions feel meaningless.

some specifics.

-a lot of the spells are almost useless (even early on). I sell them immediately. Double Damage/First strike spells are a little nicer, but the fact you only get them infrequently and the number of enemies there are makes them not particularly interesting (and their benefits are roughly similar to their sell price)
-greedy sword doors??? No thanks. Especially later on they cost so much attack there's no reason to get them.
-the ranged enemies are actually nice because they involve *some* strategy (meaning go straight for them, which I guess isn't much) but they're basically unfair in a way that can't be avoided. Good roguelikes are always unfair but always in a way that you can control. Likewise, the traps/rogues are sort of unfair too, although perhaps in a way that you can say "well, there's a chance exploring this new square might hurt me" but really you don't have any choice but to explore new squares and if it really came down to the wire and you are so low on hp that it's a risk to explore a new square, you're just going to face the same problem at the next stage.
-game gets totally unfair after level 40?? I lost like 200 hp in one stage after balling my way down. Sure I wasn't being smart with saving item etc but I don't think there was much I could have done differently.
-terrain navigation could be made more limiting. I can explore a lot before I'm forced to fight enemies.
-the poison blocks add an interesting element of strategy to the game but basically only when you get the trap compass thing. Now you can decide to go through traps or not. I rarely need to make this decision though because the terrain navigation is so forgiving.

My suggestions??
-ramp up the difficulty A LOT. I can't say this is strictly good game design, but if you make buying upgrades sort-of a required element to proceeding further into the game, that would greatly boost its replayability which is zero right now because there is no strategy. You can make a great game that involves a lot of mindless clicking (which frankly, is what your game is right now) as long as you're clicking to earn something. In this case upgrades. Hero Generations is a lot like this and I think it's quite successful.
-put 1000 hours into balancing and you'll already have a good game
-think of some way to incorporate more of the strategy elements from Desktop Dungeons. I think your game has all the elements needed for deeper strategy, they just need to be repositioned.