Version 1.03 (1.01 and 1.02 were intermediate testing revisions) submitted to the store. The major new thing is the high score page - see earlier in the thread. Fixes a couple of small glitches/typos/exploits. Much thanks to LordGek for the idea and for his help in testing this patch. The next project is to work on iPhone usability - if there are specific suggestions beyond Ayjona's very helpful list, please let me know!
Bought! Love the premise, so I can't wait to give it a try. If you want to work on the graphics, though, have you considered one of those free tile sets from nethack mods? It could get an 8 bit kind of look, but perhaps a bit less rough for those who are concerned about them? Just a thought. Cheers!
There's a PC/Mac demo available earlier in the thread. I'm looking into making the full version available, but it isn't at the moment
Thank you so much for this game! I was starting to think that Hearthstone would continue to consume all my spare time with no end in sight, my iPhone was almost a gaming afterthought for the last month, until I saw this curious looking card game. Rouge-like? That's never really been my thing...(except for Hodappy Bird) But inspired by Shandalar?!? Insta-buy! And I've never received so much value for any game purchase since, well, since the Microprose Magic game itself. Btw, I have grown so accustomed to the charming low res card graphics I'd almost detest an upgrade. All around amazing job. I've just finished my 50th run and can't wait to go again.
Bought and downloaded to support the dev and I'm really enjoying the game. Have tried the Priest and Thief so far, but not made it past the first floor boss yet. He hits hard! Oddly enough, I like the graphics....they give it an old school RPG feel.
I don't get the recycle card. What does it actually do? Also, playing as the thief is really hard, I can barely get past stage 2... . And for those who don't really like to read, the bestiary does give you important tips as to how to battle those creeps (the creeps are really annoying).
Loving this game, but I do have a question. When I unlock an achievement that gives you 'access' to a card, does that mean that new card is entered into the general populace of cards you might receive in a later run?
I think the recycle card is for specific decks that draw and play essentially their entire deck on a turn, but then run out of cards to draw because their whole deck is in play. Recycle puts those cards in play back into the library that turn so that you can use your extra card draw to keep going for a really insane turn. This really requires a very specific deck to use though, so most of the time I don't pick it up. In my let's play video that I posted earlier in the thread I get to floor 3 as thief. Yes, exactly. As someone mentioned earlier, once you fight a monster (bosses included), he is added to the bestiary which has useful hints on how to beat him. Also, make sure you use your combat abilities; the bosses are really hard without them!
Ok, having now watched your videos I have to say they are absolutely crucial for noobs like me who don't know what they're doing with card type battles. I can already see how many mistakes I've been making and I'm now confident I can get past floor 1 now. I highly recommend these videos for those like me who are struggling!
Amazing game! It seems pretty deep and I'm digging how active the developer is. I would just like to echo the feelings of other players about the small font. It hurts my eyes on my iphone 5. Any increase in text size would be greatly appreciated. Looking forward to losing hours of time to this game
Close to, but not quite. I suspected laziness, but never assumed it And if there is another reason for the state of the UI, I will take your explanation at face value But yeah, it is very telling that it took me perhaps hundreds of runs to grow so weary of the UI issues that I now shy away from the game. And I'd love to help you test the UI further, for as I hope I have made very clear in my previous post, I believe Dream quest to be a truly unique product, with tremendous potential. In general, magnifying up the UI to make use of almost all screen real estate is probably the best general remedy for most of the current issues. Since there is never any interaction outside of pop-up windows in Dream Quest, and very little information we need to access outside of the current window, don't be afraid to let relevant elements and info occupy almost all the screen. As soon as I'm a part of the testing squad, I can take measurements and forward specifics to you. A few specific topics: Not when I focus with care and precision, but one out of four when I tap casually. However, one of the primary functions of a good UI is to not force me to focus my taps with millimeter intensity, as that kind of muscle control for every small interaction does not for very relaxed gameplay make Hard floor 2, Samurai with Protean, Healing Tiles, first floor boss: I see. Good design decisions all around. Since iPhone 5/5S widescreen is not supported, there is no extra screen space on newer models as compared to the 3GS. But there IS quite a lot of screen real estate to spare in many dialogue boxes/pop-up windows. Perhaps I'd better forward you the specifics after you've added me to Testflight. Which, incidentally, brings me to: can we have widescreen support down the line? Perhaps I just haven't progressed far enough. So far, I've only ever encountered enemies with one piece of equipment (except possibly some sort of warrior with sword and shield). Regardless, with all this screen estate to spare, I'd rather have all equipment cards pop up for review with a single tap, as the screen can easily fit at least four at the same time at the current size. Both (as well as the Forget function at monasteries). The upgrade box literally only occupies less than half of the center of the screen, and could well be doubled in size. Fewer cards in columns would be nice as well, but again, just increase the size of ALL pop-up windows/dialogue boxes, and their related buttons and functions, before any other tweaks. (To reiterate: there is barely any single UI element, from pop-up windwos, buttons and upgrade card selection to close windows X:s and tappable icons, that could not be increased dramatically in size without obscuring anything relevant on the iPhone, for a much more pleasant experience.) All this said, congrats on creating one of the most unique and refreshing roguelikes for the platform, with one of the best progression mechanics ever!
Working on the UI now. It turns out that iPhone5S and iPhone5C are being counted as iPads and not using the iPhone interface. I'm really, really sorry about that - I imagine it's miserable trying to play on them. It slipped through testing since I guess the two iPhone5S testers were just willing to suffer through it and I can't apologize enough. I'm going to try to get a fix out for it to testers in the next day and then to the store this week. If anyone with an iPhone5S/C would like a clean version with this fix, please send me a PM with your e-mail address - I'll add you to TestFlight where I'll post a stable version with this fix momentarily. I know that's not ideal, but it's the best I can come up with. Again, I'm really, really sorry and I'm grateful people are still enjoying it despite that. Have people on devices other than those had serious interface problems? There are some other changes I'd like to make to the UI, but this should be a huge fix. Current change plan (just on iPhone): increase card text size, increase cards/column for upgrade and the like, increase size of prayer/mind sear icons, add current gold amount to the shops that use gold. For both versions: add a confirm when you don't select up to max on multi-upgrade/multi-delete.
I don't know how they're meant to be, but things are also awfully small on an iPhone 4. I guess, anything that has a retina screen?
iPhone4 should be working as intended, though maybe the intent is wrong =) Which things in particular? I'm working on it now, so I'm happy to make changes if there are specific things that would make lives easier
