I think the big suggestion I have for this, beyond the fact it desperately needs better optimization; something you are already aware of, is that it is REALLY difficult to tell who is an enemy and who isin't. currently, it seems to all just be their health bar color which I don't quite think is enough. Which then gets into the fact that, for a game like this, the player I think should be starting with less minions on like every level, the player needs to be forced into using their minions more, and the enemies should scale far more in the threat they pose to you and your minions, and less in numbers, (Thought the fact they scale in number as they do is good and fun!) Plus, I feel like the level count in this game, purely within the bounds of the content already included, could be doubled without too much difficulty! Big thing I want to see overall is larger levels that are more sparsely packed that give the player a reason to actually explore it. then, for a second-to-last level, what you could do is have it be a very large map that is not very populated at all, start the player with no minions, and ask the player to convert a couple initial enemies and help them beat the main block of enemies without much direct involvement by means of clever level geometry. (like, either through overtly segmenting off a portion of the map or by having a door that only enemies and minions can use. Then the player is only allowed to take potshots at the main brawl while their minions do most of the work.)
As for where to go with game balance, yikes, the game is WAY too weighted in favor of the player, you really have to go out of your way to loose, as the majority of weapons are just so ridiculously OP in power. They pretty much all one-shot or two-shot very quickly, and the ones that do have limited use and/or long cooldowns are able to clean an entire room in a single attack, no minions required, which completely invalidates the fact they are supposed to be handicapped! So, in keeping with the suggestion of making the minions more important, my suggestion is to remove the ammo for the knife and wand completely, and make them able to outright one shot most enemies, that aren't mini-boss flavor enemies. Then, give the player a third default option, also ammoless, that has like 20 range and an 120* firing arc that heals and temporarily buffs minions, but only does minimal attack damage. Then with the rest of the weapons, I believe they should be all toned way down, and they have a general theme of being very strong but slow, or huge range and victim-cap but low damage. Basically, the player's arsenals renders them far more of a support-summoner role, as opposed to a one-man-army. And, hear me out, I think the way to tie all these changes together and make the game properly challenging on top of being fun is to slap a time limit on to every mission!
Plus, weapon idea that I don't think you had currently, (being that I hardly needed to pick up any new weapons after the ones you start with and the ones that spawn near the player's spawn), a long range armillary/mortar/grenade weapon. Its a weapon that behaves similar to the hammers in their current incarnation, but, their range is way higher, the radius of their attack is much more narrow, and the damage they deal is very high. Basically, their role is for making precise, long range attacks against a small group of targets, or to cuase chaos right in the thick of the enemy death stack.
That all being said, I like the art, I do think the game is fun, and I can see that you did put quite a bit of effort into it! And hey, in spite of my feedback, sometimes a mindless power fantasy is all we need for a good time. You did good, keep it up!
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I think the big suggestion I have for this, beyond the fact it desperately needs better optimization; something you are already aware of, is that it is REALLY difficult to tell who is an enemy and who isin't. currently, it seems to all just be their health bar color which I don't quite think is enough. Which then gets into the fact that, for a game like this, the player I think should be starting with less minions on like every level, the player needs to be forced into using their minions more, and the enemies should scale far more in the threat they pose to you and your minions, and less in numbers, (Thought the fact they scale in number as they do is good and fun!) Plus, I feel like the level count in this game, purely within the bounds of the content already included, could be doubled without too much difficulty! Big thing I want to see overall is larger levels that are more sparsely packed that give the player a reason to actually explore it. then, for a second-to-last level, what you could do is have it be a very large map that is not very populated at all, start the player with no minions, and ask the player to convert a couple initial enemies and help them beat the main block of enemies without much direct involvement by means of clever level geometry. (like, either through overtly segmenting off a portion of the map or by having a door that only enemies and minions can use. Then the player is only allowed to take potshots at the main brawl while their minions do most of the work.)
As for where to go with game balance, yikes, the game is WAY too weighted in favor of the player, you really have to go out of your way to loose, as the majority of weapons are just so ridiculously OP in power. They pretty much all one-shot or two-shot very quickly, and the ones that do have limited use and/or long cooldowns are able to clean an entire room in a single attack, no minions required, which completely invalidates the fact they are supposed to be handicapped! So, in keeping with the suggestion of making the minions more important, my suggestion is to remove the ammo for the knife and wand completely, and make them able to outright one shot most enemies, that aren't mini-boss flavor enemies. Then, give the player a third default option, also ammoless, that has like 20 range and an 120* firing arc that heals and temporarily buffs minions, but only does minimal attack damage. Then with the rest of the weapons, I believe they should be all toned way down, and they have a general theme of being very strong but slow, or huge range and victim-cap but low damage. Basically, the player's arsenals renders them far more of a support-summoner role, as opposed to a one-man-army. And, hear me out, I think the way to tie all these changes together and make the game properly challenging on top of being fun is to slap a time limit on to every mission!
Plus, weapon idea that I don't think you had currently, (being that I hardly needed to pick up any new weapons after the ones you start with and the ones that spawn near the player's spawn), a long range armillary/mortar/grenade weapon. Its a weapon that behaves similar to the hammers in their current incarnation, but, their range is way higher, the radius of their attack is much more narrow, and the damage they deal is very high. Basically, their role is for making precise, long range attacks against a small group of targets, or to cuase chaos right in the thick of the enemy death stack.
That all being said, I like the art, I do think the game is fun, and I can see that you did put quite a bit of effort into it! And hey, in spite of my feedback, sometimes a mindless power fantasy is all we need for a good time. You did good, keep it up!
Oooooh lots of quality feedback here, thank you! This sort of insight is so valuable. I will be reading through 150 times and taking notes.
Big agree on most everything you said here — game is messy rn but there’s room for refinement, much to consider.