Universal Bardcard (by Kevin Mikles)

Discussion in 'iPhone and iPad Games' started by anthony78, Aug 22, 2022.

  1. RascalMagic

    RascalMagic Member

    Sep 8, 2022
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    @Rocco SE -- We're happy you're enjoying it! Yup, we've received lots of feedback regarding starting from checkpoints and we have a few ideas on how to improve the experience. One idea surfaced today after analyzing gameplay data (I'll put this thought in a spoiler just in case I give too much information away):

    Each "zone" (defined as a group of floors before each checkpoint e.g. floors 1-7) contains tasks that should be completed. Rewards earned from these tasks are taken into account when we balance each zone: The idea is if a player has completed all the tasks in a zone, they should be powerful enough to complete the zone starting from the checkpoint. Otherwise, assuming the player has completed all the tasks in the previous zone, they should be powerful enough to complete the tasks in the current zone (with a little bit of luck -- sometimes those random numbers are not kind ;))

    A problem I'm realizing is that tasks are easily missed -- they're not really "in your face". I've heard some players not even know about the task list (stuffed in the in-game "Journal" tab) until they were most of the way through the game. This is apparent while sifting through the game data. One example: Only 50% of all players who have completed floor 1 (so at least minimally engaged) have ended up completing the first task. I need to get this number higher :D because not having the reward from this task makes starting from checkpoints more difficult.

    To address the hunch I have from the spoiler: I believe I need to do a better job providing more guidance in-game regarding what the player needs to do. One way is to update the "tasks" UI to make them more easily discoverable and informative. This will be in one of the next updates.

    Another approach involves more persistent player progression -- imagine starting from a checkpoint and not being experience level one. We have high-level ideas about this documented, but this is a much larger change. We need to think carefully about the ramifications. In the meantime, experimenting with the UI should (hopefully) yield better results for players.

    Anyways, thank you for the feedback! We are excited to make Bardcard better.

    @AltsKev and @ironsam80 -- One reason we've been slow to roll out worldwide (other than our initial localization assumptions) is that we'd like to improve the game before getting more players. We're receiving pretty consistent feedback on a few aspects that make the game less fun, so we'd like to take a stab at solving them first. It'll (hopefully) be worth the wait :) I'll update this thread when we release further.
     
  2. BlueTrin

    BlueTrin Well-Known Member

    Jun 21, 2012
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    #42 BlueTrin, Sep 18, 2022
    Last edited: Sep 19, 2022
    Maybe you could give a clue about what floor the thing was missed if we missed it X times?

    I can confirm once you get the weapon relic the game is much much easier.

    EDIT: one thing I didn’t notice is that the game gives actually the level at which you’ll get the artifact when you highlight the task.

    EDIT2: the reason the way points don’t work is that you start at level 1. It’s extremely hard to start at floor 15 with a level 1 character.
     
    Leo Roboskosk likes this.
  3. BlueTrin

    BlueTrin Well-Known Member

    Jun 21, 2012
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    Lol I am 7 in the leaderboards now
     
  4. BlueTrin

    BlueTrin Well-Known Member

    Jun 21, 2012
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    I am right behind you mate in the leaderboards :p
     
    Roxton likes this.
  5. andreadeda

    andreadeda Well-Known Member

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    #45 andreadeda, Sep 20, 2022
    Last edited: Sep 21, 2022
    Just wanted to say what a great game it is! So happy you released to the Italian store, I’m climbing the leaderboard…

    I agree with the checkpoint/level discussion. I’m currently starting from the latest checkpoint only if I want to try to complete a single room to obtain the star (and the points) if it’s not too far away.

    despite having all the artifacts, being level 1 with no food makes things very complicated.

    I have read your future plans and see a lot of good ideas. If you wanted to change things without changing the whole experience system you could also just set a minimum level for checkpoint. For example if you start from stage 8 you start as a level 3 and you can allocate the points at the beginning of the run.

    love the idea of an endless mode and more story as well (I didn’t complete the game yet).

    EDIT:just got to the end of chapter one and I can’t wait for chapter 2!
     
  6. vilakshankap

    vilakshankap Member

    Sep 29, 2022
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    Did this get delisted from the App Store? Can't seem to find it on the App Store! 'App Not Available in your region" Pops Up
     
  7. vilakshankap

    vilakshankap Member

    Sep 29, 2022
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  8. Duke12

    Duke12 Well-Known Member

    Oct 25, 2013
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    It was never released everywhere in the first place
     
  9. RascalMagic

    RascalMagic Member

    Sep 8, 2022
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    Heya! Currently, Bardcard is only available in a small subset of countries while we make core gameplay changes that will hopefully improve the game. We received a lot of great feedback since launch regarding player progression, and we want to address this feedback before a worldwide release. I'm hoping to release this core update within the next month, but things usually take longer than anticipated :D We're a small team working on this in our free time.

    Thanks for sticking with us! We really appreciate the interest in Bardcard. I'll update this thread when these core gameplay changes are available and we roll out worldwide.
     
    BlueTrin likes this.
  10. RascalMagic

    RascalMagic Member

    Sep 8, 2022
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    At long last! We've released a version of Bardcard that features core gameplay changes based on the player feedback we've collected since the initial launch. In summary, experience points / levels now persist between runs instead of resetting upon death. Many changes have been made to support this new direction. More details are available here: https://rascalmagic.com/changelog

    Note that we reduced the point value of two late-game Artifacts to better balance player progression (as these point values now affect experience levels). To compensate for this reduction, we added a small bit of content that contains a new Artifact. You can find a clue about this Artifact's location at the Crossroads. (I didn’t make this clue a spoiler as it is included in the release notes :D)

    (Note that leaderboard scores are never reduced, so if you found the two Artifacts we nerfed before updating, your public scores will not be lowered. Also note that a new highest score is now possible although temporary; a new maximum will be available after the next large content update.)

    Finally, we've opened up Bardcard across the globe! It should be available everywhere the App Store is available within the next 24-48 hours.

    Thank you for the support! We've learned a lot from the conversations in these forums and look forward to adding more content and making further improvements. Let us know how these new mechanics feel!
     
    BlueTrin, HeHe Rifles, Roxton and 3 others like this.
  11. HeHe Rifles

    HeHe Rifles New Member

    Dec 3, 2022
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  12. RascalMagic

    RascalMagic Member

    Sep 8, 2022
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    Haha amazing -- looks like that avian's thoughts turned deadly :eek:

    How did you get into this state? My guess is that it is related to starvation but I haven't been able to reproduce. On one hand, I'd love to fix this bug as the UI is not accurate. On the other hand, this is pretty awesome (and somewhat sad -- that NPC is so friendly)
     
  13. HeHe Rifles

    HeHe Rifles New Member

    Dec 3, 2022
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    #53 HeHe Rifles, Dec 5, 2022
    Last edited: Dec 5, 2022
    Yeah, starved to death while talking to him. If he was so thoughtful, he should have given me some food:D

    I had only a few health when matching his cards, finished speaking to him and the starvation penalty deducted as soon as the text disappeared. I saw the points deduct while the Avian was still standing in front of me.

    I found the scenario to be comical. Having a friendly conversation with a dungeon bird when I suddenly grab my stomach and keel over dead.
     
    RascalMagic likes this.

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