Well, yes. First a pleasant surprise, unity powered and smooth card swipe animations. Didn't expect that. Ok, you walk around a board with hidden tiles, revealed as you walk close to them (now WHERE did I play something similar like that ?? ) you have monsters, you can opt to attack them, and then it is card combat time. Now, I have very limited playtime as of yet, so I guess this aspect improves: the cards I have access to are all the same in the beginning. So my warrior have fight fight fight cards. I press 'play all' all the time, so the strategy effect is lacking until I get more variations. Sugestion: when I have played my cards, any reason I have to press the hourglass to continue ? I see no reason as of yet why it should not just continue once I cannot play any other cards. Same when monster died. I don't need to press the chest icon to get the rewards, this could be automated. So: number of cards in hand and variaty of cards available _can_ put people off early. I see lots of archivements, and this is a bit funny, as the concept is identical to one I have been planning for a long year myself (and now will be seen as a ripoff idea haha). You have various tasks: kill this or find that, and you get new abilities when you reach those tasks. For me, personaly, the 10 mins or so I have played already is worth the 3$ tag, just to see what devs not having huge resources come up with. If you are one of those who want AAA graphics and 100+ hours gametime and lifetime support for max 1 dollar, this game might not be for you. I'm going to get some of those talents when kids are to bed today, and I'm sure the card-aspect will improve a lot when I have access to a greater variation of them.. Remember to eat the squirrels.. or something ? Looking forward to play it more, but of course, the entire UI setup have much room for improvement, and the graphics is.. well, it is what it is.
Game Impressions This game is really one of a kind. The mix between rogue-like and cards is really well done. One aspect I particularly like is that classes play really differently from one another. The thief is able to spam combo of cards. The mage is able to spam spells. The priest is able to heal and protect himself on top of dealing damage. The warrior is ... well ... able to attack, to attack and to attack The enemies are really different too, and have different abilities you have to deal with (poison, cancel the first card you play, constant damage each turn, ...). The achievements are plenty and provide you with more hp, mana, cards, new classes, ... After each boss battle (1 per level), you access the next level and keep your leveling. Leveling is only lost after death. Yet you keep the bonuses from the achievements you've unlocked. By leveling you increase your hp, mana, gain a new ability to use in combat, gain more actions points (which means you can play more cards at the same time), new cards, ... With 300 differents cards, 13 classes, 18 different bosses and plenty of enemies. There is definitely a lot of replayability in this game. Kudos to the dev for such an innovative and challenging game --- By the way a question to the dev, how many successive levels must I beat to win the game ?
Full Disclosure: I'm a friend of the developer/long time play tester and the voice behind the old let's plays (of warrior and thief). [When I get time, probably around this weekend, I'm going to try to get a new set up with wizard/priest in the release version] I enjoy the game a bunch. I'll just try to point out a couple of game play things. The classes all play really differently. And most of the monsters play really differently too. That being said, most of the strategy isn't in the combat screen -- it's in the dungeon deciding who to fight when, and what to add to your deck. The game can be pretty hard the bosses can be brutal and the upper tier monsters are in fact pretty monstrous. The early achievements mostly go toward improving your base character though, so the game should get slightly easier as you get used to it. Another thing that's really great is that each class (besides playing differently from each other) has multiple archetypes. Wizards focus in on spell classes, which all play differently. Priests can maximize their prayer and piety, or focus on defensive spells and actions. All thieves try to play lots of actions, but some try to maximize action cards played and individual damage sources, while others try to build up lots of actions and unleash a really big blow. Also make sure to use your in-combat abilities (when you get them, of course). It's easy to forget about them, or to try to save them too long, but if you've just held off on using them several battles in a row, you probably aren't using them often enough. You'll probably enjoy this game a lot if you like: * deck-building games * roguelikes with interesting mechanics * a challenge
Actually, how about this, just show the class best score on the class select screen? Like the only time I care what my top score with a Wizard is when I'm considering taking him on a run. So perhaps under the character description and stats of the character select screen is a single additional line, "Top Class Score:"? I do really enjoy the game and find it clever how each run evolves. At the start the game might feel overly simplistic, 2 card hands with only a very small base of cards. Gameplay consists of, "Play all card drawn each round and hope you kill them before they kill you". Later on, however, as you start adding cards to your deck, and even more arty, taking cards out of your deck that you know don't fit your current mechanical theme, the beauty begins to shine through. The choices you make on which cards you add to your deck create a cohesive style of play. What I really love about this game is how it is all about adapting to your situation. You never know what cards will be offered to you, which opponents you'll have to face on the level. I also love how you can't you pull the cheesiest bit in most CCGs, which is simply design a deck specifically to counter each opponent. Your deck must play into your class' skillset and be able to competently handle anything they might throw at you.
Good catch. Fixed in next build. Others: Thanks for the impressions; I'm glad people are enjoying the game. Mike32: There are 3 floors. It started at 7 and slowly worked its way down - that seemed about the length of time that the same deck stayed fun. Lord Gek: I hacked out a high score thing (screenshot attached) and I'll plan to put it in the next build (submit Saturday, most likely) unless something horrible comes up while testing it. The stars are from Floor 1 completion/Win/???. If you have suggestions, let me know!
Bought it! People have given it pretty positive reviews so far. Also, I love seeing a dev this active (first patch Saturday!) Looking forward to trying it out.
Don't mind spending the money but I need to see a ios gameplay video.might get it eventually but video will certainly hurry me up if it's my kind of game
Wow! That is excellent! If you could get that in I'd be stoked although maybe it would still be nice to see each class' score and star rating on their respective select screen. So, for example, when flipping through characters I could see if I already cleared the game as the Wizard.
So far I'm really having fun with the game. I've tried warrior and priest, and I can see how different each class will play based on the cards. I'm not one to love card type games but I really dig the mix of roguelike and card-style combat. It's very different. I also have absolutely no problems with the visuals. I find them quite charming. Enough of this, back to playing the game!
I'm liking this game. I think I may have found a bug with the Burn card when used by an enemy. It seems after the enemy plays the card that anytime you attack him you take one damage.
Thanks for the report. I'm having a tough time reproducing it though (well, I just put Burn in a guy's deck and it didn't happen which isn't terribly sophisticated), so could you provide any more context? Also, was it the Magmadon? The Magmadon (boss) has a passive ability that whenever you play a card you take one damage (more at higher levels), but that's independent of the burn card. There's another monster with Burn who has a similar passive ability, but it deals two damage and only happens on Attack (red) cards. I'm a little on the fence about this. I have two issues. First, I'm having a tough time fitting it and having it look good - there's a handful of options - under the name, upper-left corner, or at the bottom, but I haven't ben happy yet. The second is that it has implication that your goal is to beat the game as each of the classes and then be done with it. That's not a bad thing and I can understand that viewpoint, but I don't want to push it that hard - I have a friend who almost literally just plays warrior. She's played about 200 games with 15 as other classes to pick up the achievements that help her warrior runs, but otherwise they're all warrior. She's won lots of times, but when she just wants to kill some time, that's her go-to. I like that style of play too and I feel that having the stars on the character select says "ok, you've beaten this class, now move on". I don't mind the high score page, since I think she'd be happy with the fact that warrior is on top and everything else is whatever and it really helps support the playstyle that you enjoy - pushing towards completion. I feel like putting it on the character select page is one step too far though. The first issue is definitely resolvable, I'd just have to mess with it some more and tweak some of the other placements. The second I might come around on, but I'm going to hold off doing it for the moment and then reevaluate once people have a chance to play with the high score page.
Tester's perspective I was one of the testers of the game and I wanted to provide my thoughts (note that I do not know the developer personally and am in no way affiliated with him): When I first saw the graphics I was a little nervous that the lack of visual polish was representative of the entire game. But, the idea of a rogue-like deck building game was too much to pass up, so I dove in. Thank goodness I did. The execution of the mechanics is done incredibly well and creates a highly addictive experience. Between the heroes, the skills, the improvements you receive between runs, the decks that you build, and the randomness of the game, there are so many reason to keep coming back at it. I can't tell you how many nights I stayed up way too late playing. It's unique, it's hard (in a good way), it's engaging, it's satisfying, and it's rewarding. If you are the type of person that just can't get over the graphics, then you probably shouldn't play it. But if you can overlook the graphics for a high quality gaming experience, I highly recommend you give this a try. Overall: I loved it.
I hear you. I'm primarily a score guy, stars are cute but mean little to me. I like a score as it is my subtle indication of how far I've made it with each class BUT, no, if a good roguelike, beating the game as any given class is a neat little feather in your cap but NOT a reason to stop playing as one's favorite class if there is still room to get even a BETTER score with it. I say beating the game with all classes and unlocking every achievement is just something fun for completionists. While I'm enjoying your game so far a great deal, I'm sure there will be a few classes I just won't be able to bridge the gap with. Your initial scoreboard idea is fine as long as it includes all of the class' top scores and NOT just the generic top 20 scores as I'm SURE some classes would dominate the scoreboard never allowing some of the trickier classes to show their stuff.
Suggestion for improvements Here is my suggestion for improvements: > There is a "view achievements" and a "view bestiary". What about a "view cards" which allows you to see all the cards and which one you have unlocked ? (or just the cards you have unlocked ?) > How about making the length of the run configurable: 3, 5, 7 or 10 ? Length option: very short (1 floor), short (3), medium (5), long (7) and very long (10). That could be unlockable (by class). Say you reach the 3rd floor on short (3) length, this unlocks medium length. > Display maximum mana when in combat in addition to actual mana. Just my 2 cents
I would have been much more tolerant of the art if the dev had implemented vector art instead of something that looks like it was done in Paint. Those stick figure cards are jarring. I'm going to keep my eye on this for updates but in its current state I'll be giving it a pass.
It's one thing to pass on a game if its not your cup of tea. Everyone has that right. However, why go onto the game's thread and publicly announce you are not buying because of the art? The developer had pretty much said the art was based on overhead. If he had unlimited funds, like the big boys, he would have certainly invested in better graphics. Not sure what the point was of that 'I'm not buying' announcement. Kinda feels like beating a dead horse. The dev also mentioned potential improvements to the graphics if this game gets legs, which I hope it does. Not to improve graphics, but because devs, and games like this (that showcase design originality) should be given a chance.
This type of game is very much my cup of tea, and I'm still interested in it, which is why I saw nothing wrong with adding my comment to the thread and discussion that the prototype quality of art is holding me back from trying it. You might not like it, but not every single post on a game's thread is required to be positive.
