iPad Dungeon Raid (by Fireflame Games)

Cant be on easy level. Use Adventurer to unlock classes, play with the the other class to level them. Other than that, be patient, its random.

 

I've been playing on harder with the barbarian for a few hours and no level, was wonderig if that is normal. I unlocked the priest by playing with the barbarian so doesn't need to be adventurer to unlock other classes

 

Question for myfellow raiders. Is piercing that powerful of an attribute? I cant really seem to determine of its that good pr not. Is it good? And at what point in the game?

 

The consensus seems to be that piercing is of little value. But I'm not sure if we understand the game well enough to be sure.

 

Yeah i sortof got that idea too. But would it be better than say, a 1 point boost in base damage? Seems like latter on in the game piercing might be superior to that

 

I think about half the perks & flaws are early game with the other half being late game and the intention is for them to all offer a very weak bonus/penalty, certainly much weaker than the racial bonuses of which you can only have 1. The early game perks/flaws are meant to help along players who're struggling with that part of the game, so I think changing them all to be % based would only help if you're actually managing to play 1000+ turn games. E.g. +1dmg is fantastic if you can't get past turn 200, much more so than +2% damage would be. Likewise, a flaw like +5% special HP may be dangerous if you're reaching special monsters that have 1000 HP but has no effect if you're only seeing specials with 50HP before you die.

I'd definitely like to see any ideas you've got for perks & flaws for when I add more classes but for the current ones I'd like to keep them split evenly between ones that are helpful/hurtful only in early game vs mid-late game

Nope, mimics only come in the coin, potion and shield variety, sword would definitely be pretty confusing (i.e. am I accidentally matching a mimic with sword tiles or attacking it?)

A trophy randomly either unlocks another class or levels up your current one, so you're on the right track!

 

@fireflame
I see what you did there. But there is one exception to your flaw/perk idea. The first is the unexpected perk. This is completely and totally useless for anyone playing, whether it be their 1st or their 100th. It is impossible for a monster to kill you in the firstthree turns. Hell, most of the time its impossible for a monster to HURT you inthe first three turns. However this perk is not tied in with any class and tgerefore a situation will never come up where you are forced to use it, therefore i will forgive its miserable existance. All other perk/flaw combos balace out pretty well, although id like to boint outthat the '3%' chance of one of my shields being broken seems to happen muchhh more often than my '5%' chance of getting an arrow. Hmhm?

 

Maybe you could include a shapeshifter class for a new class

 

Possible bugs?

Am I missing something for the Daring perk? My understanding of it is that if you trace at least 10 tiles you're certain to get a bonus (1+ whatever it is) for each tile. However, in practice, it seems like I'm only getting a bonus for ~40% of my tiles. I haven't studied this extensively, but I'm certain it's happening like that for gold. I don't suppose there's some kind of interference with the Frugal perk?


Also, about scrolls that you get when buying items: it seems like for some scrolls, after I take them, any new enemies that just appeared get a chance to attack me. This appears to happen specifically for the abilities that clear out some tiles, thus allowing new enemies to appear on the screen. I'm not certain about this, however...

 

You're certain to get the bonus for each tile after the first 10, tiles 4-10 still use whatever your bonus chance is.

Yep, this is fixed in the upcoming update

 

I guess my problem with this is that my back-of-the envelope calculations suggest that this cant be worth much more than 2 upgrades, even in a long game, if that. 10% coin looks even worse. Sounds good in the air, but if you really think about it, its not pretty. By about level 35 or so, I generally have all my percents at 100% . . . not sure of exact turn, but I'm pretty sure its less than turn 400. So one can make some assumptions about how many bonus tiles you are going to get...and its just not much. Lets look at coins. . . 1/4 of collects are coins, so about 100 turns we'll collect coins where the bonus matters (because once you hit 100% on your own, the 10% bonus does nothing afaik). What is the average collect? I'd say 8, but lets go with 10 to be optimistic. So 7 coins will get the 10% bonus (10-3), times 100 collects, or 700 coins will get the 10% bonus. Mathematically, thats 70 bonus coins. Is that even a single upgrade???? I suppose if we get enough +% upgrades to gold collected and it gets multiplied (no idea) we *might* get up to two upgrades in value.

I think this is true of ALL of the perks. I still like the assassin and mage perks...but then you think about how often they will activate, and their value in upgrades, and its just very very modest. They do not change the game.

Its seems that some of the racials may be worth quite a bit more than that, and can change the game (havent tested all the good-sounding ones yet), but all of the perks are weak.

 

So I finally started out trying the classes. I've only tried paladin so far but I'm curious what others think of the dragon race. More often that not I end up damaging myself with it because I activate my special abilities when special monsters show up and a skull is put on fire that I need to chain through. Maybe I've just gotten unlucky, but would it be OP if the dragon race also wasn't damaged by flames or even took half damage? I don't see myself using them much as they currently stand.

I don't see a good way to fix that perk unfortunately. Have you considered removing it as a perk and making it an activated ability? It'd make a really interesting one. Call it fog or smokescreen and say skulls can't attack you and you can attack them for 3 turns and give it a 15 turn cool down at level 10. It'd be both useful and a gamble. Sure it buys you three turns but in those turns you are also potentially adding a lot of skulls to the board that you need to kill as soon as fog deactivated or you are in trouble.

I think that is fireflames intent and I like it. It has a lot of flavor and allows good customization without being over powered.

 

I can understand what it is you are trying to do, and for some games, that method would work quite well. However, I think with your game, a slightly different method is needed. You have a very standard basic system of play, that you have tried to vary up with the addition of classes and such. Now, your direction of development is the right one, but I think it hasn't been as effective as it could be. Varying the gameplay to create more replay value is what you want to do, but let's break down the methods of varying you have employed.

1) New spells
2) New monsters
3) Class system with perks/flaws
4) Race abilities and mortal enemies
5) Achievements
6) Leveling up of classes to allow for more edit options

I'll comment on each one separately.

1) Some of the new spells are nice, but most of them aren't very useful in actual gameplay. For example, the mage's Rune spell seems really neat, but you won't find too many situations in gameplay where you really make good use of it. In contrast to that, the Assassin's link ability is amazing since it can allow you the possibility of clearing as much of the board as you might in 2 turns. However, these new abilities do not add any new dimension to the game, and simply add to the existing spell roster.

2) The new monsters are a nice addition and some of them certainly add in new challenges in trying to take them out and such. However, like the new spells, new monsters do not add a new dimension to the game and just add to the existing monster roster. As a result, you have new content that a person can quickly become bored of.

3) The first "new dimension" you've added to the game here is the addition of classes and their perks and flaws. This is a great idea, and I was really excited to try it out. However, while the concept is great, the execution left more to be desired. The new classes were created (I'm assuming) so that the main generic gameplay would become varied and thus your basic gameplay could be played in different ways. It's like how in some games you can play through the game, and then play through the game with a new character that plays in a completely different way. The game is the same, but due to the new controls and mechanics of the new character, the gameplay experience either feels new or at least refreshed.

The problem with your class/perk/flaw system is that the mechanics are not varied enough to really create the feeling of refreshed gameplay. I've played a few different classes, and aside from some initial differences (like for 5 mins), the gameplay more or less becomes the same after.

4) The race and mortal enemies kind of ties into the class system, but since they can eventually be swapped around, I decided to keep it separate. The whole race bonuses and mortal enemies idea is great, and for the most part, it was well done. This is probably the one thing that really keeps the game varied when selecting different classes, but it still isn't really enough. Sure you have a new mortal enemy to look out for when you play different races, and you have a different race bonus....but this method loses its flavor too quickly. However, for the most part, I don't have any complaints about this part since it's fairly well executed.

5) Achievements....not much to say about this. They add replay value to those who love getting all of them. Enough said.

6) The leveling up of the classes seems to be an artificial way to create replay. The ability to unlock more customization options as you level up the class seems underwhelming. If instead you had something like the class itself becomes more powerful, and its race bonus becomes stronger, etc....well, that would be a different story then.

The reason I illustrate all of this to you is because I really want this game to have a refreshed feeling for each different class you play. Did you notice how one of the main things you highlighted for this update in your preview of the update was the Ranger's arrow ability and how the arrows allow you to skip an item, etc? You may or may not have realized this, but one of the reasons you probably mentioned it is because it adds a fundamentally new refresh to the gameplay. But can you say the same for the other classes? How does 3% of your shields being broken, or 5% of your potions being mana potions really change how you play the game?

You mentioned that you specifically want to keep the perks/flaws weak, but what I am proposing is that you make them STRONG. Make their effects STRONG so that each game you play with them "feels" different. Make each game give you different advantages and severe disadvantages. Allowing you to mix and match perks and flaws would only add to the replayability if these perks and flaws are STRONG.

I think having perks and flaws that you have to keep in mind while you play, and adjust your play strategies to accommodate those perks and flaws should be the priority to make each game feel different.

Well, I think I've rambled on for long enough lol I hope I've illustrated why I think perks and flaws should play a more central and stronger role than they do currently.

DISCLAIMER: The above is all my OPINION. I don't pretend to believe that my opinions are facts. They are simply what I believe from my perspective

 

I think the ranger swords are an ideal perk. They arent useful that often, but when they are, they can change the game a bit. They are definitely not OP, in fact they are objectively a bit middling, but they make things feel fresh. The mage blue potions are similarly cool.

+10% gold only appeals to those who havent thought about it. Its maybe 1 upgrade. Snooze...changes nothing. If it lasted the whole game and you could thereby get your bonus gold chance to 110%, then you would not only be in 3-4 upgrade in value territory, but it would be enough of a factor that you might adjust your picks...i.e. treasure chamber. It still would be far from OP, but it would change the game ... a bit. It would be meaningful.

Its fine to say the perks should be kind of weak and for customization only, but if they dont make a difference, they dont have a point. Its a fine line...I just think we are below the line on a few of these perks, reasonable minds can differ.

 

Another quick comment, I think the Halfling Racial should be tweaked, just a little. 15 skulls is really quite hard to get. Admittedly, you need to be a bit careful because it could be paired with trap. Absent trap though, you arent getting 15 skulls more than once in a blue moon. If a halfling wants to use trap, what is he going to get, max of 15-20+ in defense in a long game? Is that so OP? I would say no, because your using a racial + a skill to get that. Double shield collection + the changeling racial is already probably worth 15-20 upgrades.

In my testing, even going down to 14 skulls would make a real difference. 15 is just very hard.

 

Fireflame,

One small typo that threw me for a while:

The text for Armored says:

"Can only be damaged if you trace a path through this tile to one the three tiles above it."
​

I though that meant you needed to draw from this tile to the tile three rows above it. I think you meant to write:

"Can only be damaged if you trace a path through this tile to one of the three tiles above it."
​

If that is too long to fit, perhaps you could make it:

"Only is damaged if you trace a path through this tile to one of the three tiles above it."
​

This game is saving me a lot of money. I have not purchased a single game since I got this one a week or so ago. I don't think I have ever gone that long playing only one game.

 

Of course, fireflame has said many times that this was his idea all along.

I personally agree that I would prefer perks that affect the game significantly more. Although I am concerned that you end up with "super combos" of perks and then we're back to the base game situation, where to get the highest score/best game people always choose a specific combination or one of a very few combinations. I am not sure what to do about that.

 

How do you use racial bonuses? Are they just automatically on? I don't feel like the changling mage's rune works very often?

Also does life-leech work? I never seem to gain any life from it even when I know I have it and I am killing skulls.