Suggestions: I think it would be good to include some sort of story in the game. It doesn't have to be anything too deep but just enough to keep players interested. Maybe have a small story scene in between stages. I also think the pause menu and the options menu should be merged together.
At normal playing speed the movement feels unusually slow. I first noticed this on stage 4 of the frozen level. Maybe this is due to having played LD a lot on fast forward or a performance issue. It would be good to have an option to turn off the pause and pop-up display between waves that shows the enemies in next wave. The pop-up is a really a good detail but it can also interrupt the flow of the game so a toggle option to remove it might satisfy any preference. I like how enemies lose armor as their health decreases (maybe a homage to Ghosts 'n Goblins?). It’s good to see a knight’s armor shield crack then armor pop off just before being toasted. The attention to detail in the general enemies is nice. The boss characters should be more diverse. Currently they just seem like larger versions of general enemies. Often they feel redundant because the same “boss” is repeated multiple times. I think I’ve fought the jousting knight boss for the past 4 levels. After obtaining the Charger it changes the tower placement menu by moving into the position previous occupied by the DeathRay and causes some initial confusion. I placed what I though was a DeathRay and at first expected green raybeams only to find the electrical mayhem of the Charger. Same with Lich upgrades, traditionally upgrades are listed in order of ascending price/power but in LD the Lich spell order placement seems random. The “science fiction” of futuristic weapons, like the Charger and DeathRay, clashes with the "magical" theme of lich and primitive knights who possess only primitive swords and shields. If there are to be futuristic weapons it might be good to have a futuristic themed stage (Lich in space versus robot cyborgs). It’s very absurd/unrealistic, almost incoherent, to see an undead villian create a laser that a shirtless brawler just walks through slightly harmed. Although the eclectic assortment of weapons does come across as fun it also contributes to a feeling of randomness with Lich Defense. Adding any justification for scifi content, however wild, would help the presentation. Why am I fighting in the artic? Just because... Why am I an undead overlord? Just because... Why do knights want to hurt the Lich? Just because... Why does the Lich possess a death ray and his opponents only eagles? Just because... it all comes across as very random in a bad way like someone just threw whatever seemed popular into a blender and Lich Defense is what came out. Initially LD crashed on me and it seemed like an unusually long blank screen was one indication of a problem. Now LD is working well but there is still an unusually long lull (about 13 seconds) before the Jelly Oasis logo pops up. It’s a minor detail but can be disorienting enough to taint first impressions. Pros: Creative Weapons, Detailed Enemies, Pop-up Information on Next Wave Cons: Too Much Seems Totally Random, Slow Movement, Tower Menu Design The more I think of Wilflare’s suggestion to create a bestiary the more awesome the recommendation seems. This is one way developers can interject more personality and cohesive plot into the game with minimal work. Enemy and character biographies could tell a story in a way that might not require a lot of animations or interruption to the game’s current flow. It’s not ideal but with a nearly complete product bestiary might be a time saver. +1 The Time Distortion Spell really sucks. However the effect it gives me is to typically just teleport a small area of enemies back a little bit (not restarting to whole wave). Maybe this is due to skill upgrade level (?). Either way, I want my 1,000 jellies back. This is an interesting idea but playing on 4x speed would negate any benefit because fast forwarded the waves move nearly constantly (save for the pause to view enemy information between waves). “Call Next Wave” like this might give an unfair advantage to “normal” speed play.
With the help of Peter from AppsAsia (thank you) I finally got the game installed! Initial impressions: Really like the music when you open the game and the main screen. Really gives a great first impression. I like the different themes and I hope to see more added. Retina graphics look great, always a plus in my book. The addition of quests to a TD game is very awesome, I never would have thought about including something like this and it works really well and keeps me wanting to play. I like the animations overall I am very impressed. The ability to speed up the enemies to 4x is also a welcomed addition to any TD game. I also like that the enemies details are displayed on the screen before they approach which gives you time to make some final adjustments based on their traits.
Suggestion: Having recently player other TD games such as Kingdom Rush etc, I'd really like to see the addition of a button that would call the next wave early.
Ok I'm super far behind with this and I'm sure can't qualify for the GC anymore (which is just fine) but I FINALLY got this loaded on my phone thanks to some extra help with an updated build from AppsAsia. I'm off to play it and hopefully catch up with the rest of you!
I really like the upgrade system. Upgrading towers and abilities really make the replay ability of this game skyrocket let alone the quests for each level. I could see myself playing this for hours and hours. I also like that the creepy guy that your enemies are trying to attack can be upgraded and fight as well, this adds an extra layer of strategy which is good.
No no no, it's the same build but now is able to run on my device. I think my UDID may have been left off or something the first time. Definitely nothing different otherwise.
DAY 4 #1 Finally I have unlocked Frozen Map! BUG #1 After unlocking the Frozen Map, going back the Map menu, you can see the Map names are over the box. Compare with the map menu before unlocking the Frozen. #2 Script Errors #1 New Tower instead of Recommend - Powerful dealer for multiple units - Hit all enemies on Death Ray's line #2 Loading screen You can experience lots of playstyles by upgrading your Lich. Suggestion #1 In some stages, you can see enemies attacking from multiple entries. I notice that under such circumstances, there's only one kind of enemy in each entry. My suggestion is that you can blend all enemies in all entries. #2 Add sound effects when a tower is built.
Day #4 Post #1 Bugs (1) Game is muted - Not sure if this is only on the iPad 2. The game becomes muted whenever the iPad goes into standby mode (and then recovers). The game also becomes muted when you press the Homescreen button and then return to the game. In order to "unmute" the game, I had to toggle the physical mute button on my iPad. (2) Game Orientation is Fixed - I tried using the AssistiveTouch to change orientation. However, this does not work. I hope the team can look into fixing auto-orientation so iPad users with SmartCovers can play the game on the stand. Suggestions (1) "What's Next" on the Pause Menu - To help players further strategize, I recommend that the Pause Menu (on top of what I have recommended earlier) to include "What's Next". This will allow players to find out what's the next immediate wave (be it physical, flying, or regen) so they can redo their towers or upgrade specialized towers. (2) Rage Meter for the Lich - I hope the team can consider adding a Rage Meter to the Lich. Basically, the Rage Meter increases every single time the Lich is attacked by the enemy. When the Rage Meter is full, the Lich can unleash a devastating attack that clears all enemies on screen but at a penalty! (The penalty can be a reduction of the players' towers or a temporary disabling of some of the towers). This will add another style of play for the player, at least in terms of the Lich. (3) Show effect of Upgrade - Currently, the player is unable to see how much an upgrade strengthens his towers. I suggest that upon pressing "Upgrade", other than having the "Gold will be consumed. will you continue?" menu pop up, the various Power/Speed/Range bar should show an increase (in a lighter shade of Red/Blue/Purple respectively) to show the effect of the upgrade. This will allow the player to judge if the upgrade is worth it (and helps with the overall polish of the game as well!) (4) Rewards for Destruction of Buildings - Currently, there are no consequences to the destruction of buildings. Once destroyed, the player simply gets more space. I suggest the team adds rewards to the destruction of the buildings. Maybe some coins? To make the game even more challenging, destroying the buildings could also lead to civilians joining the enemy (so you can have one type called the "Militia"). The "Militia" is easy to kill but if the player decides to destroy all the buildings in a single wave, he will be faced with a large horde of "Militia" that may prove to be a problem!
Day 4 Post #1 Suggestions: I think it is better to have an alternate color for the Lich or a different appearance like having an aura or maybe having a different character for the Lich like a devil, etc if you've finished the Normal Mode. This will atleast give us a little reward by finishing the game in Normal mode. This bonus will not give any bonus stats to the Lich but will only give the Lich a different look or appearance. Think of it as an alternate costume unlockable. I also think it would be better if there will be a random chance of dropping a random Scroll when you defeated a Boss or finished a level on Rank S. This will give players a rewarding feeling when they finished a Level in Rank S. Only Rank S had the chance to drop or reward a random scroll.
Day 4 #2 BUG #1 In Map Meadow Stage 8, the compose of the first wave is Physical enemies. But there are 5 sets of them. They are identical. So it should be only one with the amount. #2 Rough edge of range Script Errors #1 Campaign 2 in Frozen Map Title: Journey Begins Quests: - Summon fewer than 10 towers - Sell more than 5 towers #2 Campaign 3/5 in Frozen Map - Don't summon a tower until clearing the 3rd wave or Don't summon a tower until clearing 3 waves Which is your quest? Because they are totally different. - Clear all the waves within 600 seconds - Summon more than 10 towers #3 Campaign 4 in Frozen Map Make the first quest be 2 lines to see the whole sentence clearly. - Clear the stage with more then 300 MP remaining - Don't destroy more than 6 buildings/ Destroy less than 6 buildings #4 Campaign 6 in Frozen Map - Don't destroy more than 6 buildings/ Destroy less than 6 buildings - Game over at the 23rd wave #5 Campaign 7 in Frozen Map Make the third quest be 2 lines to see the whole sentence clearly. - Summon more than 15 towers - Sell more than 5 towers - Clear the stage with more then 500 MP remaining #6 Campaign 9 in Frozen Map Make the 2nd quest be 2 lines to see the whole sentence clearly. - Summon fewer than 5 types of tower - Clear the stage with more then 900 MP remaining - Upgrade towers more than 30(space)times before clearing the game Suggestion: #1 In shop, you can buy items to enhance Lich in Power, HP and MP. However the value standards of these 3 aspects are not the same. Usually the added value in these 3 aspects are 10 times that of the value in shop. Such as the Solar Orb takes effect to add 2 more Power Points, which mean you can add 20 Power strength. But the HP and MP values are not. Endure Hood takes effect to add 200 HP, not 200 HP points. So you should unify the standard. Using Points in shop or using Values in shop. #2 The item/skill's description is for the current status. It's better to see how much better if the item/skill is upgraded. You can show this to players before the confirmation of consumption Gold/Jelly. #3 Give the info of where players can unlock the towers in the upgrade menu. Tap the locked tower, a popup shows this tower is only available after you finish stage X in XXX Map.
Day 3 Post #2 Like what I said yesterday in my post here, http://forums.toucharcade.com/showpost.php?p=2344943&postcount=180 This is what I want the UPGRADE screen for the Tower and the upgrade in-game for the Tower will look like. In-Game Tower's Upgrade Screen Tower's Upgrade screen in the UPGRADE menu Before pressing upgrade: After pressing upgrade:
Day 3 Post #3 About the Healing Scroll. I though Healing scroll works like a Healing Potion where when you use it, it will recover your lost HP. But in this game, it works to increase your Lich's maximum HP on a Level. I think it should be named different like Max HP Scroll and not Healing Scroll. I also think it would be better if you can add an actual Healing Scroll which actually heals your HP when you press the scroll located at the bottom left of the screen. You can stack up to 2 scrolls per Level. This is a good scroll to add specially in the HARD mode where you mostly die from the tough enemies. There will be multiple class of Healing Scroll. Each class will give more HP recovery. Jewels bough Healing scrolls will recover even higher HP.
Day #4 Post #2 (1) Reworking the Upgrade Screen - Like what iANiMeX has described wonderfully with pictures above (and what I stated in my Day #4 Post #1), the Upgrade Screen should show how much of an increase each upgrade does. However, after looking at iANiMeX's pictures, I do think that having a fluid/liquid upgrade bar isn't very useful. The team can consider segmenting the bar into various smaller parts! Each upgrade will add 1/2 parts to the bar depending on the nature of the tower. e.g. Power [ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ] Speed [ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ] Range [ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ] Whenever the player upgrades, one of the mini-bars will be filled. This will enable the user to see the upgrade much more clearly! (2) Tower Information - I disagree with iANiMeX on putting the upgrade stats of a tower during a level-play itself. It would clutter up the screen and cause unnecessary distraction. If the team decides to go ahead, I suggest only putting the stats of the upgrade -and NOT the current tower-. (This will be something similar to Kingdom Rush. But the team must note that Kingdom Rush has a more enlarged view of the playing area where as Lich Defence is more "zoomed in", thus having "less space") Alternatively, I suggest, once again, adding to the Pause Menu another Tab for "Tower Information". In this tab, players can view the stats of the respective towers from Level 1 to Level 6. (for example) Rapider [ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ] Rocket [ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ] *each [ ] represents a picture of the Tower in its differing levels with the stats below the picture.
I've used Megalitum's tutorial on how to hack the save files which can seen here http://forums.toucharcade.com/showpost.php?p=2343038&postcount=147. True. Lol.
Day 3 - post 1 I have just a few things to say in this post. The next post will have more because I will have screenshots 1. First off, you have a pretty good game here. It's challenging, fun to play, and fairly easy to pick up. The graphics are pretty good, although in my opinion could use more bright colors (I like color), but all in all a pretty good game. 2. There are a couple of things that frustrate me a little. I dislike the fact that when you tap an obstacle then tap another one later, the towers attacking the obstacle across the map stop attacking the obstacle even though they can't attack the other one. You should probably have some logic that says, if new obstacle tapped is outside range, continue attacking this obstacle, otherwise, attack new obstacle. Also, I think if a tower is attacking an obstacle and an enemy comes in range, it should stop attacking the obstacle and start attacking the enemy instead. I was also confused when I saw that the anti-air tower can't attack ground units, but they can attack obstacles, which are obviously on the ground. Not necessarily complaining, just a bit confused. 3. Though I like the game so far, I think there might be just a little too much randomness to it. The towers being allowed to miss units, the iceberg towers sometimes trapping enemies in ice but not all the time, etc. I think in order for a tower defense game to be good, you have to be able to count on certain things and expect that your towers will act the same all the time. Throwing in these elements make the game a bit unpredictable, which some might argue makes it more challenging or more interesting, but I think it's more frustrating. It takes away from the strategy and adds to the chaos. This might just be personal preference, but it might be mutual. Well, that's it for this post. I think my pictures finally finished uploading, so I'll post again with screenshots. Sorry this took so long, slow internet means screens upload really slow.
