iPad Dungeon Raid (by Fireflame Games)

I prefer the doubling collection skills over the collect all. If you set it up well youll get more overall with the doublers and it lets you plan out your moves better.

My latest game I had the double shields and enchant. I got so many upgrades... It was awesome and really helped me survive to about turn 700 on harder

Just remember there's a lot of luck involved. For each 20,000+ score you get youll have numerous bad games using the same strategy. You can't help what order the tiles fall in or what upgrades you are offered after all, but that's half the fun!

 

A few observation on various discussions:
I do not believe Runes would take out a special monster. (I tried, and it didn't happen for me) I managed to get about 10 tiles inside my circle, but didn't really do all that much.

If you kill 2 spiky in one turn, you still only take on as much spikes as you dealt out in damage. (Once I decided it was worth the 300 point damage because I had 2 spiky on my screen)

I tried xp potion/dazzle/scavenage/double shield. Figure I'll try for high scores hoping no mage/spiky combo late in the game. I did fairly well (79K) in 912 turns, but what killed me was not mage/spiky, but a screen of monsters and disjointed shields. That make me believe Teleport is unfortunately important for high score runs.

A possibility for teleport: make it a permenent skill (so there are 5 spell slots)
but have it as collectible scrolls. On leveling up, you can "buy" a scroll, and each time you use it, you lose one. Similar in item shop, if a teleport scroll show up, it just add to the stack. (you almost never want to teleport right after a item shop visit anyway)


Question on the bonuses: in terms of skulls killed, if in my path, I kill 3 regular skulls first and then a special, could the special monster get me "bonus" xp and gold?

A few comment of perks and flaws:
Unexpected/Confused - seem to be only a place holder. The flaw only really allow you NOT to have a flaw.

Daring/Cocky - Daring is not useful if only those >10 is bonus. Certainly not worth the penalty you get with Cocky (matching 3 get you nothing). If I have to set up the 10+ chain by chipping away a few 3 tile chains, it's a net negative. Plus Daring is completely useless in late game when we get 100% bonus anyway, and Cocky is still annoying. If everything above 3 is a bonus, then it at least has some early game value.

Gifted/Agile - the mana potion and the arrows are nice touch. I would love to see it to be one every 20 potion drop/sword drop to be a mana potion/arrow, as supposed to a random 5% just to see some regularity. (Personally, I really like the arrows, it's a nice touch)

Frugal - Perhaps a net 10% increase in gold received is better than 10% bonus gold chance.

 

Hey, thanks for this guys, and to preface, I absolutely appreciate your writing all that, and although I'm going to sort of disagree / explain my point of view with my own slab of text I hear what you're saying and hopefully can address your concerns in one way or another.

As I've said before, as with most games, there's such a diverse set of people playing Dungeon Raid that although I try to come close, it's impossible to appeal completely to everyone's idea of the perfect update. Not every update can be for everyone so it might be helpful (for me, working on future updates) to ask yourself - are the issues with the new content making the game objectively worse and should be fixed (i.e. the gameplay was good before but now the classes/perks/Rune skill detract from it)? Or is it more the case that something you were hoping for hasn't been delivered and perhaps could be done in some other (even better) way?

First, to reiterate, the idea of the classes (and achievements) came about from players asking for some sense of progression between games beyond trying to rack up an increasingly higher score. The classes & achievements add a collection metagame which is made meaningful as it opens up a bunch of extra combinations of skills/perks/races, which open up the existing gameplay a little and allow for some fun experimentation if that's what you're after. There was never the intention to add a whole new dimension to the game or to extend replayability as such - a lot of people have been playing this regularly for over 3 months now so replayability was already pretty good and base gameplay comparatively compelling with respect to other games. I'm not looking to force more replays via the unlocks, rather give a little bit more gameplay to the people already replaying.

I'm not trying to invent the next WoW-like timesink or mutate Dungeon Raid into some other game entirely. At its core, DR will always be what it is now and so I can completely understand if some people get burnt out and move on to other games, I play and get tired of games too! Thankfully my livelihood doesn't depend on reselling miniscule chunks of lacklustre content to existing customers so all I can say is I hope you enjoyed Dungeon Raid while it lasted, and we're fortunate that there's a million other awesome games out there for all of us to enjoy (personally I'm replaying through Puzzle Quest 1 right now and it's even more fun than I remembered it being)

Having said all that, I'm definitely keen to continue making Dungeon Raid better for as many people as I can humanly manage, but with limited time and resources it'd be great to narrow down what kind of stuff people want next and how best to provide that. If you're after a new twist on the gameplay or heaps more replayability perhaps just making super-perks isn't the best way to do that - would getting a perk that gives +200% damage instead of +1 really change the game at all or would it just give everyone +50k score and artificially create more replayability by forcing everyone who enjoys scores to play for a new higher score? Would pairing +10dmg with -40health change the game all that significantly? Would making skulls miss 5% of the time make the game fun if it's getting boring now?

After the next 2 minor updates which will focus on fixing all the bugs & interface confusion of 1.3, I'm planning to do a minor content update with a couple of challenging new game modes (aiming for mid-April), so maybe something like that would be a better way of adding a substantial twist on the core mechanics than adding +1 armour each time you level up a class?

In closing, and perhaps a bit tersely (but not unkindly): with each update the goal is to make the game better for many people while not making it worse for everyone else, this is why classes are an entirely optional addition. If you're not happy with the direction the updates are taking, by all means be a squeaky wheel and I will do my best to accommodate you in the future

True, unless you're going for, say, a gold-spec sauren all it does is gives you 1 less upgrade to worry about in early game, but the idea with perks & flaws is to let you fine-tune your class build, so if you are going for a sauren/treasure/double gold/treasure chamber then +10% bonus gold and 100% bonus for 10+ matches makes it that little bit better, even if you are at the mercy of random scrolls for all your other abilities

I think someone replied to this, but yeah, the expected synergy here is with the Masochism skill (and possibly Trap for late game), ditch Dazzle and pop Masochism/Magic Sword/Trap every 5 turns (or 4 with Wish + Cunning trick) and you get a screenful of XP and +1 def each time, which is great if you tend not to focus on defense upgrades. Not sure how viable this is in top-10 leaderboard play but I've heard good results and it leads to a pretty fun/risky game.

I think Last Stand is a perfectly viable alternative to Teleport, at least as far as the tough bosses are concerned - why run away when you can get a full heal instead

Yeah, sorry, the Nemesis & Getting Crowded achievements are currently swapped around, fixed in 1.3.1

Ouch, will fix for 1.3.2

 

Thanks for the info. I guess I misunderstood your intentions for the new content

 

I use the "collect all" strategy, and it's not so much about being able to collect a ton of items every X turns, so much as it is, "Oh crap, I have 15 skulls beating on me, and no good path to kill them. <Repair>, <Treasure>, <Heal> Oh lookit, a board with nothing but swords and skulls. <Massacre>"

Sure, you get a ton of stuff fairly often, but I use it to make sure I don't get stuck on a board with more potions than anything else, and no way to kill things. Plus, when you use each of those, you're collecting all the items WITHOUT increasing your turn count. And since (my understanding is that) bad guys power increase with turns, this can be very important later on in the game.

 

First off, let me say that this is a great game. Very, Very addictive. After having played hundreds of games, and sinking untold hours into Dungeon Raid I am left with some thoughts:

1) In my opionion the single best way to increase the playabilityof the game is to create other viable 'builds'. In the current game the only way to max your score is by using the same four skills: Teleport, Dazzle, Scavenge and Boost Armour. This character build is baically a shield collector and played correctly can grab well over 50,000 armour on the way to a top score of (in theory at least) near 100K. The problem is that there is no other way to play the game to make a real run at the high score.
I would love to see the devolopement of other types of build that could challenge the high scores but achieve it in a markedly different way. Perhaps for example, a build where the character would very, very high damage, but is limited on 'collection bonuses'. This character would be able to last for more turns, but the reduced collectiion would mean that they would need to live considerably longer to reach the same score as the 'shield collector'
Or perhaps a character build that is geared towards the manipulation of the gme board itself. Maybe this build would not have the damge capacity or collection bonuses of the other two but would instead be able to change the board in specific, controlled and usefull ways. Playing this type of character would be very different than playing either the collector or the damager.
I realize that there is some attempt in the game towards this end with skills such as Earthquake and Double Damage. But the reality is that these skills are not effective enough on there own nor do they work well enough with other skills, perks, or racial buffs to create a viable build. I understand difficulty in trying to create and balance out different builds in this game. But the end result, in my opionion, would be a much deeper game.

2) 100% bonus on 10+ tiles is absolutely ESSENTIAL to maxing outyour score. I have read some comments in earlier posts suggesting otherwise and I just wanted to clear that up.

3) Again, Great Game. Thanks.


Daniel

 

Fireflame, making skulls miss 5% of the time sounds like a great addition, I am in favour.

 

A couple of questions about this picture:

1. Could someone please tell me what the chain does in the bottom of this image?
2. What does the Arrow spell do?
3. What does the spell that looks like a sword do?
4. Are arrows tied to a particular class, or are the connected to a spell?
5. Did anyone else notice that the coin in row 2 column 5 is a mimic?

 

1. It allows you to take out two different chains in one turn by using the link to chain them together.
2. Turns all swords into arrows.
3. Creates the link in question 1.
4. At first they are tied to the ranger class through it's perk (5% of swords are arrows), and the skill in question 2, but as you level the ranger and other classes, anyone can use that perk and/or skill.
5. Yes, the coins and potions I usually catch.

 

Thanks.

I cannot get enough of this game.

 

AWESOME update, some confusing bits.

Thank you!
You have taken one of my fav games & made it better. That's impressive! HOORAH! 3 cheers for FireFlame! And please keep the 5 star games coming!

Hmmmm... While I sorta like this idea too, I agree wholeheartedly w/Fireflame that this should be an 'alternate game mode' (if he wants to spend the time to make it). Although, I'm not sure I see what this would add to this game.

Maybe rather than a 'you win!' item, there's just an end, a finish line at level 100 -- "Well, you're worn out and you retire" or something. Other games have something like that, and it works ok. However, my idea (below) about non-skull baddies is also another idea -- namely that ALL players will HAVE TO DIE!!!!

The classes/perks stuff makes it better!!! It's great! I've only got a few classes so far, and I have no idea how to get the Perks to work yet.
ANY HINTS? I'm going to read more in here for info.
BTW, your DR webpage offers *zero* hints/help on the game except a few static screens w/no explanations, and a link to iTunes. Not even a mention of a 5-star review? C'mon!!!! Lets push up those sales numbers!!!

Slight note: I find the new 'start game' UI has become confusing, and even though I've played it a bit now, I feel like I'm missing something, but not sure what. I haven't seen how the PERKS come into play, is that it?

• Which brings me to my big suggestion for the new class/perk add-on (which is awesome) --> I'D REALLY LIKE TO SEE AN UPDATED HELP FILE, or something explaining the new class/race/perks specific UI. What the heck am I looking at?!?!?

I love getting on a thread at the right time! Yahoo!!!

I gave you a suggestion (perhaps among others) about showing the shields, gold, and healing coming from items in a chain (like the sword chains would show damage & X the skulls) -- and you implemented it!!! It was really great to see that feedback implemented, and that mod does make some strategic decisions easier to make. (I still sometimes am not sure if I can take one more skull-swarm bashing or not, and then the red screen tells me "nope". HA) THANKS for that!

Here's what I'd like to offer:

• The trophy for new classes is treasure, so it *must* be connected to coin treasures to get picked up. Makes sense, no? Just clicking it feels like a cheat.
• Other non-coin treasures would be quite nice. Maybe there's a bag/chest & you match it up with coins to get what's inside? & what might be inside? As a die-hard gamer, I have to offer the standard stuff (gems, jewelery, rings, diadems (& other funny-named items), mysterious paper-weights, trinkets, books, etc) BUT I think they could have *WEIGHT* (or inventory slots?) and/or players could only carry so much. As they continue, players might choose to upgrade the loot they carry, just like normal upgrades except these goodies things might not have any in-game effects beyond great adjectives. Gamers like things that are humorous, cool, and unusual, right. So rather than having all the abilities be so serious, you could have a vibrating gem, a glowing necklace, a clear stone with swirling images, a nice smelling powder, etc etc. And now the hard part -- do you upgrade your nice smelling powder or do you upgrade your weapon? Maybe upgrading the powder does something??? Or not. Can you 'use it once' and get a bonus? Hmmmm? AHA!
• A character sheet. I have been wanting this since you started the game. It's completely missing in DR, but it seems like it'd be awesome to have. I wind up 'taking screen captures' of my character as I go b/c death is always so imminent -- but you can't capture all the items in 1 pic! Also, when you die, there are no bragging rights, no graves to visit (rogue-like reference), etc. What would it look like? Dunno. How would it work? Dunno. You're the genius! I'm sure you'll figure something awesome.
• Non-skull bosses would be awesome. At level 10, there's a zombie, at level 20, you face a Troll, at 30, a Wizard, at 40 a Vampire, at 50 a Liche, and at some really high level, a Dragon. These super-bosses are worse than regular bosses -- much, much worse!! You're most likely going to die. But you might not, and here's why: every blow you deliver gives you experience on uber-bosses (even if they don't die) and you're likely to level up a few times during the battle -- which might save you, or not. Once you've faced an super-boss successfully, you only get 1/2 that exp -- when they reappear again at the next multiple (ie a zombie every 10lvls, a Troll at 30, 60, 90, etc) of their 'appearance' level!! And 1/2 exp on the next re-appearance. And this all adds up so that no-one can live forever. And guess what? This info will make a really nice 'battle summary' on the character sheet, ie (defeated a bazillion skulls, 30 skull bosses, 10 zombies, a Troll, etc etc). And, yes, rather than yo having to create all these monsters, why not open it up to players? Make a form where they can send you an icon/image and a name, or stats, or whatever...? User-created content is so cool and people will want to see their monsters!
• Locations & turns (ie directional, left/right/up/down) where you're moving thru a location, and at a certain point you have to choose "do I go left, or right"? The locations have a different look (ie backdrop color?) & an in-game effect, like you can only chain 5 swords here, monsters are stronger/weaker, shields are doubled/halved, etc, certain types of objects are more or less common, etc. example: Swamps, move is slowed (max items chained = 6), potions have double effect, survive 20 turns to escape the swamps. etc.
• Mysterious goodies, like unknown potions, scrolls, wands, and staves, are completely missing from DR, but predominent in many rogue-likes. How do we know those are healing potions? B/c we drink the red potions right away and they heal us, so we know what they do. But what does that yellow potion do? The foamy green potion? The red potion with the yellow X? -- Oh, we used the explode potion ability so we know that's a bomb. What's the blue one? etc etc. Not sure how this could work, but maybe we figure out ways to knock things off the screen if they're really bad? Make the bad potion 'move' under the skull that's sliding down b/c of the boss monster? Or players somehow use an ability to make the bad potion move to the left until it's off-screen? IDEAS...

100% agreement on that. I think these previous ideas could add something, maybe...?

Last comment -- I don't much like the 'online leaderboards' much b/c they just remind me that I'm not very good (even though I did finally have a 20k+ game, but I got bored at lvl 117 and suicided -- I like the struggle!!!).
I do quite like my own leaderboards showing my dead dudes, and how well I did compared to my other dead dudes! This is great!!! (Also loved it in Rogue -- but they put a headstone at our grave.)

With achievements, they keep popping up on top, but I don't know what they signify nor can I click on them for more info, etc. So I'm 5% horder and 7% brutal (or something like that), but I'd like to tap on the achievements to know what the significance is...?

YES! I'm intrigued and excited to know what that might be?

As a gamer who's played DR a fair amount, I understand how you see this as optional. But the menu page for the new classes is a tad confusing. I think if the classes were *truly* optional, there'd be an obvious way to toggle them off.
B/c even if you play with adventurer, won't those 'class-unlocking' trophies pop up?

 

Just jumping in here and scrolled through a few pages not seeing anything,
I'm still a "weak" player, with 5800 being my highest score so far...

I'm not seeing the arrows or chain icons, anything new like that yet.
Is that for a certain class only, like the mana potions to mage?
(Mage is all I seem to get, level 3 right now)

Thanks!

 

So frustrating!
I love the game, its great but since the update I feel like I'm missing out! I don't get how to activate perks, change classes or do anything other than play the game as I used to...

 

I've unlocked all the classes, though I haven't experimented much with them. My question: If I play a game with the standard Adventurer class now, will killing special monsters randomly level up one of the other classes (since there are no more to unlock)?

Thanks in advance for any info.

 

Anecdotal, not related to the adventurer specifically, but I was having a particularly good run on a Ranger last night, scored 4 trophies, and seemed to be getting none more after that. When I started up a new game with a mage after dying (was one of the things I unlocked on the previous play), the first special I killed dropped a trophy, so I don't think the counter resets. Well either that or I got very lucky

 

Yeah fireflame mentioned a limit a while ago but he never said what it was. apparently it is four. Good find! I've only ever gotten 2 in one game.