It's just...not very exciting to go back to playing with only 2-3 glyphs again. I wish there could have been a fast-track to get to the later stuff for those of us who've done this before. And to be told to go replay those first four levels before attempting the 5th level? It'd take forever to get to the point where it feels like the game I'm used to. Ramping up the difficulty could be interesting. But making chains of 1-2-1-2 were where this game was enjoyable for me. Choosing between 2 glyphs that chain and 3 glyphs that don't is just not holding my attention.
That's fair. You shouldn't have had to replay the initial levels though - somehow you fell off the curve and I'm not quite sure how. There's plenty of bonus XP to be had early on - discovering new spells and new monsters is the main way of levelling up, so unless you've only been using a couple of spells, something's gone a bit wrong there. If possible, stick with it until you've done the first boss - then the Combos open up and, as you know, the whole things changes. Also the Daily Dungeon appears - double Gold - and the Workshop unlocks. After that, it's the Menagerie, which allows you to bring in a Familiar.
As I read your post, I sat the wondering "is any of that actually explained in the app?" So I went back and looked. You can find out what a loyalty card is by clicking the card. Is "patron mode" the same thing as having infinite mana? Not at all clear. Nor is it apparent that any combination of spending that amount unlocks that feature.
I tried to explain to them during the beta that people like to know what they are paying for. I felt ignored so stopped working for them for free (which is what beta testing amounts to in my opinion). That being said I enjoy their games very much, purchased the first 2 as soon as they came out and kept them on my devices. $20 is too much. Full stop. It's a psychological barrier. Comparing movie tickets to iOS games is silly and a false equivalency. I can name 4 $5 games that will last longer then most movies and provide enjoyment. I hate to sound so negative, but I honestly think this "patron" tier will end up hurting the developers more then help them. How many people won't even look at this game because they see a $20 full unlock? I hope I'm wrong and wish them success; but in the meantime I'll wait until the IAP goes on sale.
i also told them during softlaunch: for 10 people expect implosion, steamworld, and other great indies. For more than that, they buy final fantasy and other heavy hitters. They explained that premium didnt work for them and they are counting on the whales. So those of us that are sad for the 20 full unlock, its because we compare it to SGQ. But. This is your F2P match 3, with lives, timers, and grinding. Like Candy Crush etc. Imagine if Candy crush had a full unlock it would be 99$. So instead of candy crush you can choose to play this with all the f2p shenanigans, or pay to get that out of the way instead of 99, 20$. With this thinking i can understand them, wish them good luck but personally i will be sticking with SGQ that i loved 2 years ago.
It all depends how much time we get. Obviously our focus is on this new version (and all of the associated fire fighting). Updating the previous ones is an amount of work for precious little return. But we definitely appreciate the love for them and it's certainly something we're considering.
It wouldn't be a Glyph Quest game if we didn't have to come to the forums to explain how stuff works because we did a terrible job of explaining it in the app itself now would it?
Sorry you felt ignored during the beta - everyone's input was very much appreciated. Patron tier is almost certainly going to end up hurting us simply because it negates whales. The point of trying to exploit whales is that you don't cap their spending and you put plenty of things in the way to encourage them to spend more and more money. You do stuff like track whether or not they've actually spent anything and create even more friction if they have (increased difficulty, longer times, etc.). Initially we had Patron mode as purely the incremental thing - it would accrue as you bought the other items. Then people asked for a one-off payment, so the Patron pack was born. The numbers we arrived at were completely arbitrary (but based on the "double it" advice from earlier). There were many discussions with our publisher over both this and things like ad frequency. If you think it's too much, that's fine - you don't have to pay it (but you will have to put up with adverts and energy models - but that's what you get for playing for free, remember?). It's not even as black and white as that - there are plenty of options for mitigating adverts or the energy model. The Loyalty Card, for example (something else that regular F2P games don't do). Upgrading that reduces the energy model requirements significantly. The Starter Pack represents excellent value for money. Either way, if you'd like for us to continue making games (or, indeed, supporting the old ones), we've got to get paid somehow and we're trying to make it as fair as possible. Try the thing out for free. If you like it, support us. If not, no biggie - it's obviously not for everyone and that's fine too.
Loved the first two and would like to see them updated for future versions of iOS, if possible. Haven't bought this yet, I'm about to download it, but before I make a purchase, will that remove ads? I can deal with energy systems and stuff, they can be pretty annoying, but I'll occasionally come back when the meters refill. But those full screen ads that pop up and play videos, they take me out of the game and lose interest. They are games that I find myself playing for a little while and then opening less and less, no matter how much I enjoyed it. There's one that shows up in AppUnwrapper's video right around the 4th area.
I've been a big fan of the prior games, and was tremendously looking forward to the launch. I downloaded once I saw the release here on TA, and picked up the starter pack immediately as a way of funding the game and a talented development studio. After my first few hours I have been very pleased with the game. The polish of the game has come a long was and I think the UI and overall presentation is fantastic. I went through the full first quest location, and while I did replay prior levels once or twice to level up, I don't know if it was necessary and I was able to ale down the first boss using a few potions. What I don't understand right now is the energy system. I see that it exists, and I see if I complete a certain number of quests it refills partially, but I cannot tell how long it takes to refill? I don't see any type of timer, but that could very well be user error on my part. I had also made a very poor assumption that I'll share just in case it resonates. When purchasing the starter pack I understood it would not come with unlimited mana/energy, but I had also thought there was a way to watch ads to receive additional energy instead of paying for gems. That was true the first time I ran out of energy, but was not an option the second time. My suggestion for consideration: if an individual purchases up to a certain threshold (such as the starter pack level), allow them to watch a larger set of ads per day to restore energy. If someone gets to the Patron level, I would assume they then have unlimited energy and should no longer see ads at all. I'm all for paying into a game (and don't mind watching adds for additional incremental den revenue) and will likely hit Patron level eventually, but it is hard to know up front if I'll play all the way through to make a Patron level purchase warranted. I appreciate any guidance on how to tell the energy timing better and apologies in advance if I've missed something obvious. Looking forward to playing further and bringing additional feedback as I go. Congrats on the release!!
Making purchases will postpone ads rather than remove them completely. The higher the price of the thing you buy, the longer the ads go away for. They'll come back later unless you've purchased enough to enter Patron Mode.
Thanks very much. I can give you some figures if you like - it's clear that our in-game communication leaves a lot to be desired. Mana restores at the rate of 1 point every 15 minutes. You can elect to watch an ad for a point of mana once every 30 minutes. I do like your idea of reducing this value if you've bought one of the packs though... You're right about Patron Mode - no ads, no energy, no worries. Filling up a Loyalty Card is a free quest (or 4 gems if you're a Patron).
Thanks, I appreciate the information and positive engagement! A few relatively minor additional comments: - there was some sort of treasure dungeon that opened up around level 5 I think. When I clicked on it to enter the game crashed, and when I relaunched it was already counting down the 24 hours until the next access point. I wonder if there is a way to not start the calculation until it is complete in case of crashing? I'm not actually sure what it would have been given it crashed and I'm now locked, but would help avoid situations like this. - it is possible to add access to the enemy bestiary upon tapping on them in combat? For mobile games where people jump in and out all the time, remembering weaknesses and affinities of enemies isn't easy (plus I have a terrible memory to begin with). I imagine this would be Emory the first time you fight them, and then in future battles you could see the full entry when clicking on them. - is it possible to see the list of spells you have identified and their glyphs and effects while in combat? Similar to the point above, this would remove the need to memorize or force people to use an external wiki or comparable while in combat. I view the latter two points above as usability improvements, but I'm sure some would call them dumbing down the game (to each their own ). I think the pacing of introducing new shops and gameplay elements has been pretty good so far at level 8, and the game continues to be very enjoyable quest after quest.
Good point. I could try moving the reset until the quest is completed one way or another. It opens it up to gaming the system a bit - quitting out when it looks like you're going to lose - but I don't think that's going to be as big a problem in reality as it is in my head... Wait! I think all I'm going to do is reset the timer when you successfully complete the quest. Makes a lot more sense - the quest still costs mana so there's no point in having an extra punishment (can't retry the quest) if you fail. That's going to have to go in to the next update... Keeping it to just what the creature is strong or weak against should be easy enough. We don't particularly want a ton of pop-ups though. It will remind you if you hit it with the wrong element (Poor attack) or a correct one (Critical hit) but these are both after the fact. On a more basic level, the tapping-on-a-creature interface leaves a lot to be desired anyway - especially when facing multiple enemies. Unlike the monster weaknesses, I don't see how we could do this without enabling the entire spell book interface in combat. That's something we don't particularly want to do. There was talk at some point in development about having a companion app for Apple Watch that would be the Bestiary and Spellbook... Great feedback though. Glad you're enjoying the game - don't forget to tell your friends
Hi! I've been enjoying this game for a few hours but seem to have encountered a big problem. I bought the Patron Pack and made it pretty far in the game (character level 20+ with lots of upgraded gear, unlocked all spells). I took a break to do other things, but when I opened the game again it started back at the introduction and character selection! Please tell me I haven't lost all progress
WTH? That's not good. What platform are you playing on? Also, did you use the Facebook Login button? (That will automatically enable Cloud Saving)
I'm playing on an iPad Air 2, iOS 10.1.1. I haven't touched the Facebook button as I don't use Facebook.
Messaged you - check your inbox. Also, how do you arrange to meet acquaintances that you barely tolerate or see unwanted pictures of your friends' kids?
