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[JasonPickering]

Hey guys, This is a new game I have been working on. Its a small side project that went together pretty quick. I would say the game is at about 80% right now and I just need a little bit to get that last bit done.

Story
Miss Spell's Magic book has escaped and you must brave the dangers to retrieve it. As you explore you will find lost pages of the books that allow you to cast powerful spells.

So I wanted to create a game that focused on items and using items at specific times. I found that as I went it started to feel a bit more like Zaga-33. One of the things I did want to add was a reason to hold items, so I created something called treasures. these are items that do stuff while in your inventory. for example "Life Leech" which gives you a small chance to gain health when killing an enemy.

Download

[JasonPickering]

So I am still working on this. Its gotten pretty far along. I made a lot of changes and I feel like I am in the home stretch. I still need some feedback though. Trying to get as much as I can.

[BomberTREE]

This is a pretty fun little game!

The art is sweet (that intro)
The spells each have their own strategic uses
The enemies are unique from each other
The controls are super easy
The level generation works well

Something I'd ask for is the ability to turn off the tweening, or at least to speed it up so the movement feels instantaneous. Another thing I found myself wishing for was the ability to wait (not move), but you probably kept that out for designs sake 
I only reached floor 6, but I'd be really happy if the theme changed every 10 levels or something like that

Keep it up Jason!

[JasonPickering]

Yeah. I went with the no wait command, because it felt to easy. Originally there was a wait command spell, but it just did not work. Helpful game type, you can always use spells to skip a turn. I save heals and only take them when I need to skip a turn or not die.

does it feel pretty good though? I probably wont add much more mechanic wise. All polish and stuff from here on out.

[BomberTREE]

Yeah it feels good, if you're aiming for a coffee break game then you've definitely hit your target 
Also nice pro-tip!

[JasonPickering]

Yeah Coffee break was my goal. I am also thinking of maybe expanding it a little bit. The salamanders can be really hard. so maybe after you beat the game the salamanders are added. Just some kind of small unlocks, that dont expand the scope to much.

[BomberTREE]

I definitely wanted spells whenever they were lurking around.
I like the idea of the game expanding the more you play.

Quick question, does the game have an ending?
If not you could totally make it where the unlockable enemies still come out when you reach a certain depth. But when you're more
"experienced" they would could out sooner or possibly from the start.

[th3shark]

Pretty neat, I like how simple and slick everything is.  It's refreshing to not have to open a menu to select spells like in most RPGs.  For a small game it's shaping up solid.

There should be a "skip turn" button though, or a way to attack without moving to let enemies come toward the player.  As it is now it seems impossible for the player to get the first hit if an enemy is the right number of spaces away, which feels unfair.

[Vallar]

Hello,

I have tried your game out and here is my feedback:

1- I really loved the graphics for the game, it looks absolutely cool.

2- I liked the gameplay of the game and how simple it is, easy to pickup, easy to understand.

3- I didn't like that I had to guess how enemies attack, if there is some kind of way to indicate how an enemy would attack, it would be quite cool. The fox killed me twice until I learned it was him and not another mob that does 2 square of damage.

4- It would be nice to know what the items do. I had an amulet in my inventory but didn't know what its effect.

5- Would be nice to have a way to drop the amulet. I had to use spells to keep my inventory empty. I am not sure this is by design or just a bug/not intended feature.

6- The enemies don't seem quite clever at the moment, for example, their motion is related to my motion rather than my position. They don't actively seek me if they are on the same X position. It is when I change my Y position that the enemies start moving towards me. I would say it would be better if the regardless of where I am, the enemies should actively seek me (perhaps not the case for easy mobs but higher level ones would be nice to do that).

7- Would be nice to have a skip turn or perhaps if you press a direction that is impassable it would count as a turn (effectively passing a turn). However, I do understand if by design you didn't implement the option. It makes the game harder and gives little option if the player messed up the movement. But perhaps that is something you want the game to have.

I seriously liked the game and it is fun to play, I think I played 3-4 times with the last time reaching the 7th floor. I loved the turn based aspect and I loved the premise of the game. I wished that the screen is bigger but I believe I know where you are going with this. I think this game has a lot of potential. I am looking forward to see what comes out of it. Good luck!

[JasonPickering]

So going to try and cover everything

Wait Command: It doesn't really fit in with this type of design. The main issue is how the enemies have one Health. so in this example. the player can just use the wait command, the rat will move one and the player can kill it. In most rogue-likes this works okay, because you can miss, enemies can miss, and it takes multiple hits to kill a player.

that said. The player does have an option though. Any time the player casts a spell, they automatically take a turn. One tip I can give is I save my health potions for when I need to both heal and wait a turn. The problem is I need to relay this to the player and I have not figured it out yet.

BomberTREE: if you make it to floor 9 the magic spell book is there for you to grab.

th3shark: Does that still feel unfair with the wait command?

Vallar: is the only confusing enemy the "Salamander". I am thinking of adding a beastiary, and think if I add an animation to the salamander before it fires that will make more sense.

I might try adding a spell list so it explains stuff and I was thinking of adding a pop up when you grab a treasure to tell you what it is.

You should be able to drop any treasure by pressing the number next to it. this will also count as a turn.

I need to rebuild the enemy AI. right not it just checks to see which space is closest by straight line to the player. It doesn't take pathing into account.


And any suggestions? Spell/enemies/UI changes. anything really helps.

[BomberTREE]

Vallar: is the only confusing enemy the "Salamander". I am thinking of adding a beastiary, and think if I add an animation to the salamander before it fires that will make more sense.

Oh man, that little guy confused me at first.
A cute little inflated sprite of him sucking in air wouldn't hurt!

And any suggestions? Spell/enemies/UI changes. anything really helps.

I have a question, how big do you want this to be? I imagine you prefer having a familiar chess-like gameplay so you wouldn't want to generate spells and creatures

Also I think the text on the right side of the screen can be a little large compared to everything. Shortening names could help? Like instead of Frostbolt, it could just be frost.

[Vallar]

So going to try and cover everything

Wait Command: It doesn't really fit in with this type of design. The main issue is how the enemies have one Health. so in this example. the player can just use the wait command, the rat will move one and the player can kill it. In most rogue-likes this works okay, because you can miss, enemies can miss, and it takes multiple hits to kill a player.

Vallar: is the only confusing enemy the "Salamander". I am thinking of adding a beastiary, and think if I add an animation to the salamander before it fires that will make more sense.

I might try adding a spell list so it explains stuff and I was thinking of adding a pop up when you grab a treasure to tell you what it is.

You should be able to drop any treasure by pressing the number next to it. this will also count as a turn.

I need to rebuild the enemy AI. right not it just checks to see which space is closest by straight line to the player. It doesn't take pathing into account.


And any suggestions? Spell/enemies/UI changes. anything really helps.

I understand with the "Wait" time and like I said, if it is a design thing, I can understand where it comes from. But like you mentioned you might want to relay that to the player. For me, I used the Swap to wait (since in most cases, it worked like a charm).
But it is an interesting mechanic.

Till level 7, it was the salamander, an animation could work. Another suggestion I would say is instead of a bestiary what you can do is any of the below suggestions:

1- Create a tutorial level where you introduce to the player two types of enemies (including the salamander) and tell them that different enemies attack differently. But of course don't reveal all enemies.

2- Another thing, allow the player to have the ability to highlight the attack range of the enemies. Not an item they pickup but like a permanent button you press whenever, you get a small square/cursor and when you hover over the enemy it highlights the attacking squares around it.

3- Same as number 2 but when you hover over an enemy a small tool tip comes up with 2 pieces of information. The first an icon fire with an arrow pointing forward (direction of the salamander's mouth) and the number 2. That means he attacks in 2 squares. The second is his move set (if movement changes from enemy to enemy).

Another thing I would suggest adding in a cancel spell button. What if the player pressed the wrong button? What if the player used a spell he didn't know it will attack in that way (like fireball is a 4 directional spell for 1 square while Frostlance is either left or right for a few squares ahead). Which brings the next point:

Frostlance sends a frost bolt down the left or right direction a few squares, but when you press the number only one square is highlighted, would be better to highlight the correct amount of squares.

For 7 floors I encountered 4 types of enemies so that is a good ratio and I didn't feel bored (I loved the thief idea by the way). I would suggest trying to keep that ratio when increasing the number of levels. If that is a lot of work, look into introducing new simple mechanics to the game to keep it fresh. Some rogue-likes do the mistake of switching enemies too late that the player sometimes feel quite bored fighting the same enemies using the same strategies in different layouts. So far that doesn't feel the same here.

Good luck! It is a pretty cool game ^_^

[Jason S. Longia]

I made it to Lv 4. I loved the idea of no wait, it really helps decide the difference of versing a strong enemy and waiting with that spell vs a weak one. I also liked that you didnt know what spell you were going to get. So here I am waiting for a heal and I pick up a spell HOPING for it to be a heal but nope fireblast lol. I died trying to fireblast. (Going out in a blaze of glory amirite?) 

Graphics are pretty sweet. Enemies are nice. Controls are tight.
Nice work Jason!

Hmm, I never thought of asking for something. Maybe versing Giant bosses in your game. (They might already be in there, I haven't made it that far) That'd be sweet.

[JasonPickering]

I will look into those suggestions. I think the hover over option works best. Also the cancel spell should be easy enough to add. It might slow the game down for some people but I think it's a worthwhile option.

[JasonPickering]

added animations to the salamander. That should be much more obvious now. I didn't realize that there was no real motion for the salamander. That makes it much more readable.

[Vallar]

Looks much, much more better. But I think it could be far better if the salamander faces the player when attacking. But that might be far more work.

[JasonPickering]

I will have him flip left or right. but I cant do the full 4 directions.

[KaiTheSpy]

I checked out your game. I really like the graphical style and the game does a good job of letting the player figure out how to play on their own. I can't wait to see where this goes

[JasonPickering]

added some new stuff. the change list is as follows

Redid the Monster Selection Algorithm
Changed some spell names
Highlighted treasure with a special color
Removed Rock landscape item
Selection are now arrows.
Frost destroys a tree
Fixed frostbolt facing

same download as always.

[sungk]

Found a bug. When the salamander does the finishing blow, the death screen doesn't appear so you can't restart the game.

I really like the game so far. It's strategic and forces the player to make decisions involving trade-offs. Do I run for the spell and take the hit or do I run for the exit?. Do I use shock and hope it hits the enemy I want and not a rat? Do I use swap and hope I won't be near a salamander? I think the game can really shine by making the player make more tough choices. The absence of a wait command makes for a much more interesting game by forcing the player to use an item if they don't want to move. I thought that was brilliant game design.

Maybe put some spells in the game that actively harms you but can save your life in extreme cases. Maybe like a super strong spell but it attracts all enemies on the map. Just throwing ideas out there really. Anyway, this game has a lot of potential and I hope for the best for you and your game.