next »

[ClaudioA]

I am self taught solo developer and student of energy and environment and have been developing my game for the past year.
I have just launched on gamejolt: http://bit.ly/2bCrSYQ

The unity funnel I created tells me that from 83 players, only 16 reached the 4th level. And the 4th level is where things start to get interesting.
See the funnel here: http://imgur.com/a/7Mo88

I have spoke with some players and some don't understand why they lose others don't understand how to pass the levels.
It is a strategy game and I am afraid to bore the players with the tutorial, so I try to explain only the essentials.

To improve this completion rate what you think is the best: Give a more in depth tutorial or make the levels easier so the player has time to understand the details?

[Koobazaur]

First of all, nice presentation and artwork! did you make these yourself or use someone's work?

Sadly, I couldn't play it since all my browsers (Opera, Edge and Chrome) blocked the Unity player, sorry :/

Also, I understand needing to tutorialize player but if "4th level is where things start to get interesting" that may be part of it. The game should be interesting from the first level on

Let me know if there's a way to play it without installing yet another browser and I'll give it a shot.

[ClaudioA]

Thanks for your response, there is also downloadable builds for PC and MAC in the gamejolt page, did you see them?

About the artwork, I did not designed it but purchased a isometric map builder.

[eerr]

I found it fairly easy. But I'm really good at videogames. I wouldn't expect everyone to figure it out.

The numbers are probably hard to interpret, I mean, I found it slightly annoying to read so if someone is unfamiliar with this type of game, unfamiliar with UI, Can't fathom the association between buttons and numbers (no it is not obvious), or doesn't know how to read the number graphs it might get kinda hard.

I would like to see you measure the power in a big strip of lightbulbs. It would be massively more intuitive than a green bar, and lovely to see in action. A real game-maker!
After all, why tell when you can show?

There is something slightly confusing about the corner arrangement of the UI.

[ClaudioA]

Thanks for your input, this is my first game,I am trying to turn this concept/idea into a fun and rewarding game.

About the light bulb strip bar, I like the idea but I am not sure on how that would look. Since the whole game is about matching those bars (load and production) I need to have a complementary bar for the production, I can try something like a lighting bolt to represent production.

Have any idea on how I can make the association between buttons and numbers easier?

[eerr]

Make the power on buttons bigger. At least then they look really important.

[ClaudioA]

I can try making the buttons bigger.

Anyway I have just launched a new version with a much better tutorial, I think now the game is much easier to understand.

Try it here:
http://gamejolt.com/games/power-the-grid/181325

[quantumpotato]

It wasn't clear to me which direction the energy demand would go.. it dropped on the second level, then started going up, then went way up, I didn't know how to anticipate it

[ClaudioA]

You just need to look into the graph in the bottom left, did you saw it?

It is explained in the tutorial of the first level, maybe it is not clear enough.

[quantumpotato]

You just need to look into the graph in the bottom left, did you saw it?

It is explained in the tutorial of the first level, maybe it is not clear enough.

Yes I did see the graph but it wasn't clear where "now" was on the graph.

[ClaudioA]

Did you tried the new version?

There is black line now to tell you where you are in the graph!

[AntonTesh]

I like the idea and the music is super funky :p It might be cool to map the switches to keys (I know that may be a lot of keys) so you don't have to click on each switch. The one thing I found the most difficult is the instant loss of a heart when need overtakes production. Might make it easier if you play a warning and give the player a second or two to act.

[eerr]

After thinking for some time, You should make a tutorial level with everything drawn more obviously.

maybe one segment devoted to reading graphs.

[DanielMD]

I don't think the game is confusing at all, but it is a little bit too difficult. I've lost about 6-7 times in 10 minutes of playing it.
Also I think I've found a little bug. I was at the level where biomass is introduced, and after I lost the 3nd time and switched the browser's tabs, the replay button wasn't clickable.

[michaelplzno]

The first 2 levels weren't very interesting and it seemed like there was no point to the map section. It was all just look at the graph, press buttons. There should be some kind of reward for using less fuel, like stars or something. The graph should be bigger since its basically the only thing you need to look at. I died on level 2 and didn't really want to restart it, I knew what I did wrong I just didn't feel like there was a payoff to getting it right. Also if you start a power plant too late you lose basically so there isn't much point to the heart system, its very unforgiving which also made me want to try again less.

[ClaudioA]

Already fixed the replay bug and added some animations, hopefully it will be more interesting and players will put more effort into it.

I also made the power buttons bigger and tried to make the connection with the load graph easier.

I am excited about this, it is great to hear all your input, things have been slow but I am back at full steam and plan to have more animations ready by the weekend.

Also it would be great if you could also check my newly launched Patreon campaign, I am trying to expand my one man team to increase the speed of the development.

You will also find a link to play the new build: goo.gl/J2ZmT0

Here is a gif of how it looks: http://gph.is/2hiG4sp

Thanks everyone, is has been a pleasure to hear your input.

[aaaleee]

Pretty good game.
Lost a life immediately after a 1 second blackout that I caused by mistake (my touchpad interpreted a movement as a click), maybe it would be cool to have a couple of seconds to fix your stuff before losing a life.

[The Armorman]

hello, it is i, your loyal friend. there is no such thing as a game that is "too difficult" or too unfriendly

[JaeJaeAgogo]

It was kind of tough, but nothing crazy. It's not really my kind of game, though, so I can't give too many opinions.

Maybe speed up the cooldown time on the thermonuclear plant? I think that's what it was called. Also, I don't think you should lose a heart immediately when your energy is too low.

[TitoOliveira]

First thing that really annoyed me is how i have to skip the tutorial everytime i lose at the level.

Also, at the first tutorial took me a while to understand the relation between the number and the buttons. It didn't take long to understand, but it wasn't immediate. So for a few moments i was there staring at the screen wondering how to turn power back to 30 so the level would start.

Like someone already mentioned, i wasn't playing trying to anticipate what will happen, i was actually reacting to the current temperature level. So after trying level 2 three times i won because at this point i just kinda memorized how the temperature would ramp up.
I dropped the game at level three, didn't even play it. Tomorrow i might try the game again.

But here's the thing, i feel like you're introducing new elements way too fast. I'm a little tired right now, but once i saw the new things in level three i just didn't have the will to keep learning it. Maybe give the player 3 or 4 levels without adding new stuff, THEN introduce the coal energy. It gives us time to get used to controlling the power so we might start to understand the nuances of the game, like how the graph is predicting the future temps.