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[Yngar]

I'm working on this little game called Dungeon Fling.

The game is a roguelike inspired dungeon crawler that makes heavy use of minigolf mechanics as the core gameplay. The player and monsters are represented in the game as discs, and the player takes turns shooting themselves around the level trying to get to the stairs down to the next level. Instead of having a par for each level, the player has a food supply that is reduced every time they take a shot. The levels are filled with monsters, traps, and items that will help or hinder the player.


I would really love some feedback in the game. I am still pretty early in development of the game and I am getting to the point where I need to start making decisions that I have been putting off. The art, as well as most things in the game are pretty rough. Nothing is even close to final.

Newgrounds demo link.

Most things in the game can be clicked on to get some informative text about the thing (UI elements and things in the game).

Any feedback is very much appreciated. I want to know what you think the worst thing about this game is so I can fix it. Thanks in advance!

[UPDATE]
Added tutorial and damage counter text. As well as tweaked a few things. Things in the game should be explained a lot better now.

[UPDATE]
Added (almost) full mouse support. The only thing that can't be controlled by the mouse now is using items and the wizard ability, those still require X to be pressed. WASD can now be used to control the player and the camera. Using mouse controls on the character with WASD controlling the camera feels pretty good.
Also fixed dying in the tutorial and the difficulty getting in the hole issues brought up by starsrift.

[ithamore]

Cool and fun but a little buggy. I'll try to be more constructive with my critique when I'm not on my lunch break.

[Yngar]

Awesome, thanks! I want to hear more about what the bugs are. I feel like I have gotten too close to the project and its hard for me to tell whats wrong with it.

[desdinova]

I literally only had a minute to play so I can only give a few opinions:

First of all I like mini-golf games and I think your idea is great.

I didn't like how the first screen was the character select.  I didn't really know or care about the different classes or skills, but that's mainly because I was expecting mini-golf.  Obviously you told us that it was a rougelike but I think it would have been smoother if you have a "tutorial" level with a basic character and then let the player decide after he understands the mechanics (since they are quite unique mechanics).  Also by tutorial I don't mean pausing gameplay and showing textboxes and that stuff, but just have the controls on screen and one or two really basic enemies, and maybe text that talks the player through the idea first round of movement but nothing intrusive.

As for the bugs:  The first shot I took didn't seem to have a diameter so I couldn't tell which way or how strong I was shooting.

Keep it up I'm looking forward to playing it more.

[Yngar]

Yeah you are absolutely right. I think I just got too used to playing it myself so I didn't feel like I needed to explain much. I will make a tutorial a priority.

[AbovegroundDan]

Played the first 3 levels or so before I died. I really enjoyed it and thought it had a lot of potential. One thing that you may think about doing is providing better feedback when an item is consumed or when you get hit (or attack) an enemy via some sort of + or -  that temporarily floats next to the player token.

Also, I was never sure of what the items were and how they would affect me.

Just nitpicking, really, because I think its a fun game.

[Yngar]

Thanks! I'm realizing I need to put a lot more work into the UI. And please I encourage you to nitpick, I have a lot of nits need pickin'.

[Yngar]

Put in a tutorial, and a lot more explanation. I think the game should be a lot more user-friendly now.

[starsrift]

The tutorial does not advance on mouse-click. Further, the tutorials encouragement to use the mouse confused me for a bit when this is in fact a keyboard game. Either let me do everything with the mouse (click and drag for the power/aim of the player disc would be ideal) or ignore it, please.

The first tutorial level does not let you die even if you drop below 0 health. I finished it with -4, I think. Maybe -2. - something.

I feel like I shouldn't roll directly over the hole (entire match of disc/hole) even if I'm travelling at moderate velocity.

I'd like to be recognized and rewarded for a hole-in-one, even if that would necessitate a change in the design of level 2. It felt really great to get a hole-in-one, on a minigolf game, but then I was just, "Oh, I missed the chance to pick up a bunch of shit. That was dumb."


Very inventive take, I quite like the game.

[Yngar]

Thanks for the feedback! That is all very helpful.

I actually did make it so you can click and drag for the mouse stuff. I haven't uploaded the latest version yet but as of now, the only thing that you need the keyboard at all for is to press X to select items or use the wizard ability. I'm thinking of some ways to make that work.
I also allowed WASD controls so you can control the camera with the keyboard while shooting with the mouse.

I'm definitely with you on the hole in one stuff. I plan on implementing a score screen at the end of each level. You would get a big score for hole in ones, or you could try to get more score from breaking everything, or killing a lot of enemies.

I'm thinking about some design decisions based on what you said about the hole in one. I could definitely design every level to have a possible hole in one, and that does sound good. I could see it potentially blocking out some of my other level design ideas however. For example I had some boss battle levels planned, in which you would have to defeat a boss in order to continue.

Also I'm thinking about rewards for hole in one shots. The reward is inherent in that you have expended the minimal amount of resources getting through the level, but you also sacrifice the items that you could have gotten. Maybe a food boost or something could be rewarded if you get it. A score sheet is an easy way to reward the player for doing stuff like that, but it also feels a bit bland and lazy for a single player game. It seems like for most games that have a score, it is pretty arbitrary unless you get into really high level play.

[starsrift]

Stricter minigolf games don't necessarily include the possibility for a hole-in-one on every hole. Alternatively if you're not feeling like a good design sadist, you can position some sort of extreme skillshot that is only achievable from the start position that functions as a teleporter (in real life minigolf, this is often a hard-to-hit chute).

[Yngar]

Good point. I'm definitely going to implement some kind of teleporters at some point.

[RhysD]

Looks cool Reminds me of the game "Squids" on iOS. Similar RPG flinging type game.