Acknowledging benchmarks would polish Lich Defense. I just finished the meadow campaign to find I unceremoniously moved to the ice campaign. However cool the imagery of an undead overlord reigning over an icy wilderness is, the climate change makes little sense. How or why did my character suddenly end up in an artic wonderland?!? It just feels random. This would be a great opportunity for a cool plot twist (maybe even a Frankenstein homage). Also, players might appreciate some small acknowledgement of success in the meadow (let me see the meadow burning with hellacious flames and skeletons while "heroes" flee in terror while a statistic summary pops up). Lich Defense has some pacing problems. Within one campaign the number of waves increases each level, starting a new campaign means waves decrease again at start. This seems glaringly disjointed because it is out of synch with the level I just played from the last campaign (from ~43 waves to ~18)... Why am I suddenly spoonfed mini-levels? I see the enemy units have advanced and now carry shields, I get that; but let them carry sheilds and bombard me with endless waves! I recommend gradually raising the numbers of waves across each level and consistently increasing them after each level (unless there is a special level). Lich customization is a strong aspect of LD but the options feel limited. It wiuld help if more equiptment was added and unlocked over time. For example most spells are about 100 gold and can easily be obtained from the start, I recommend adding more damaging items for later levels. More jelly earning opportunities would be appreciated. I had 1000 jellies at one point (not sure how) but blew them on the crappy teleport enemy skils so I'm unsure how (or if) jelly can be earned. Rewarding jelly after finishing a campaign would be nice. Best suggestion yet, give this man(?) an Xbox!
Game Design Today I will digress and talk about some design issues. I am in the middle of Frozen theme. Other than visually distinct from Meadow theme, I am not noticing any behavioral difference. I also read from iANiMeX's post that Lava theme has earthquakes but that doesn't necessarily affect actual gameplay. This game belongs to set path Tower Defense genre as oppose to open field. It is extremely rigid to the point that even the birds have to fly along the same path. Most other games the flying object can fly over obstacles. I suppose it is not better or worse but just a different design. However having situations to allow the birds to fly across the screen without following the path will mix things up. Maybe a different game mode? One thing I liked PvZ is that there are distinct behavioral differences between a daytime level and a nighttime level. (Sunflowers vs mushrooms). It would be awesome if somehow you can incorporate this aspect into the 3 themes. For example in Frozen world, the fire spell is rendered useless and in Lava world the freeze is ineffective.
Quests 1. It is unclear to me why there are quests. Some games won't unlock the next level without accomplishing all the quests specified. In Lich Defense, you can pass a level without fulfilling any quests. I suppose you can say you got 3 stars for each level but there is already a grading scheme of S,A,B,C grades. 2. Some quests seem arbitrary, e.g., die at a certain wave. 3. No reminder of current quests. It would be nice if the pending quests can pop up when you hit pause. 4. No visual cue as to when a quest is fulfilled. Consider putting the quests in the game center achievement so when a quest is fulfilled, there is a notification over the top of the screen. 5. No statistics during the gameplay. Say a quest states you need to kill 30 enemies by Lich. It would be nice if there is a tally on screen that shows how many you have killed already. 6. Bug. I don't think you should be able to fulfill a quest without a victory. e.g. in level 6 Under Siege in Frozen theme, I can accomplish "Don't destroy more than 9 building(s)" even after I was defeated. 7. Bug. Some quests are not registering. e.g. in level 3 Hold the Fort in Frozen theme, I cannot achieve "Don't summon a tower until clearing the 3 wave" despite having done so multiple times and clearing the stage.
Day 3 Post#1 Works fine after app restart.... Looks like random lag... ------------------------------------ Some new suggestions: 1) To hide this annoying building menu, you should tap on the same place where you opened it(because tapping on non-buildable square or lich is not perfect method) 2) To hide annoying tower-modify menu you should add Close button or make the same to first suggestion. Also, tower info button should be added, where you can see it's current attack speed and power etc. 3) I think that Help should be more detailed, because, for example, I still don't know what do red transparent wings above the tower mean: ------------------------------------ Now about game problems. When I maxed out the stats and started campaign after, I found out that quest "Finish the game with less than 80% HP" cannot be completed. Because lich was so powerful that even if mob reaches him, HP regenerates back. That's weird, because it's possible that someone would buy a lot of jellies, max out the stats and he/she could not complete this quest. And there's a bug (I'm not sure it is bug, but looks strange) that every time you start Space Renewal mission, you receive a Rocketeer recommendation. The same to Feint Operation and Anti-Air and some others missions. ------------------------------------ P.S. I wish you happy Friday 13th!
Day 3 Post#2 Finally I understood what does those wings mean. It's an Odin Pupil effect. I haven't noticed it before because it's hard to see that effect during shooting animation. So there should be written smth in Help about tower buffs
Day 2 - post 1 Wow, what a crazy day this has been. I am a bit confused with the whole time difference thing, so I'm not really sure exactly when I need to get these in to count for the day, but I guess I'll just have to try my best...hopefully the equivalent of 2 a day will suffice. Anyway, these next two posts are probably going to be a little shorter since I didn't get much time to play today. I have to work 40hr weeks, so it gets pretty busy, especially when having to take care of household stuff as well as work and beta testing. I guess I'll just start with a couple of things that came to mind while playing yesterday and today. I noticed a bug that happened to me probably the first or second time I tried playing. I clicked on the gamecenter icon to try to activate gamecenter, however, nothing happened and then all the buttons became unresponsive. The animation on the main menu continued, but none of the buttons responded. I had to restart the app in order to get them to work again. This is minor, but should probably be checked out. Also, I don't know if this is a bug or not, but there are a couple enemies that I noticed were all covered in armor and walking slowly, and then at one point, each and everyone of them appeared to turn into a different unit altogether, with almost a complete lack of clothing and there speed more than doubled. At this point, almost all of them got through my defenses, which had been holding everything back nicely up until that point. I don't know if this is just a special type of unit, but it seems a bit unbalanced, confusing, and unfair. Plus, how could they possibly get rid of their armor that fast? It doesn't even make sense! Another thing, which isn't actually a bug, but a mis-calculation. The price of the Ultimate Pack in the shop is, well, either wrong, or the percent sale is wrong. 50% of $20.99, is ~$10.49, not $12.99, plus the dollar sign should be on the left side rather than the right. Also, the percent sale on the Tower Pack, the Skill Pack, and the Lich pack should be 20% and ~16% for the Expansion Pack. Also, the prices/sales on the Jelly packs is just off. How can you have a 10% sale on a %2.99 pack when the prices of the packs have to be in dollar increments? Plus, why do you tell the play what the sale price is? That just seems like you're trying to get them to buy the packs now in fear that they will miss out on the sale. These sort of IAPs are already ridiculous, but adding that kind of pressure just doesn't help. Do you really think people are going to pay $50 on a pack of Jelly for a stupid little iOS game when they could use that to buy a console game with way more content? Don't get me wrong, the game is quite good, but seriously, it's for a phone, and that price is for consumables! It's not just you, this kind of behavior is used a lot now-a-days and it just seems greedy and cheap. I thought the whole point in making video games was to make people happy, not steal their money? Well, sorry about the rant, this is just how I feel about it. Well, I think that'll be it for this post, sorry about all the negatives this time...I'll come back in just a little bit and will hopefully have some positive feedback. And again, I'm sorry if this is late for day 2...the timezones are really confusing me. I'll try to do day 3's posts earlier.
Day 2 - post 2 Okay, so it turns out I'm posting again a little sooner than expected. I realized that my last post was just a little too negative to leave at that so I thought I should round it out with some positive feedback. And yet again, sorry for being late with these posts, I'll try to do better tomorrow, and have some more screenshots as well. I'd just like to compile a list of some of the things that stand out to me about this game, and include some suggestions. 1. I really like the art style of this game. It's very polished and very detailed for a TD game. The snow falling in the main menu is a pretty awesome feature. I do think it would be even better though if you made it so that it would change direction if you tilt the device. I also thought the buttons on the main menu looked really need when you press them, very nice effect! 2. I like the colors chosen for the game. They are colorful enough that they get the job done, but they aren't too much either. The menus are all very easy on the eyes, and easy to navigate because of the color choices. 3. Animations in this game are also pretty good. They aren't perfect, but they get the job done and are attractive to look at. The UI is also nice looking and is pretty well done. I do think that it is a little too obstructive when in-game, but it does look nice. 4. I like the fact that the Lich can attack enemies. This is something that is only done in like one other tower defense game, and it really is a nice touch. I also like that the Lich regains HP every wave, another thing that many TD games don't do. 5. I think the tower types are varied enough to keep it interesting, but are also intuitive and easy to get used to and identify. The Lich's skills are also a nice edition as well. 6. I dislike the IAP in the game, but so far I haven't felt as though I needed to buy any, so that is definitely a good thing. 7. And finally, I like the fact that you can upgraded your tower many times and not just 3 or 4 times. Many tower defense game limit the number of upgrades to 3, which makes it feel limited and week. alright, this concludes day 2 for me. These might be a bit late for be counted for day 2, but I'm not really sure as the time difference is disorienting. Like I said earlier, I will try to post earlier in the day if I can so it's less confusing.
Day 3 Post #1 I think hard mode is so hard that you will not be able to finish it without purchasing an iAP. I gave up on the 7th Level. That level is always killing. The later waves are so hard to kill specially those Regen Knights (Carrying a big Golden Shield). My Lich ended up getting killed every time I try that Level 7. It's impossible to finish the game without iAP in Hard mode. Hope you can tone down the enemies's HP in Hard mode or perhaps lower the upgrade cost of the towers and items. I ended up using the save hack trick just to complete the game in hard mode so that I can continue looking for more typos and bugs. Btw, even with FULL UPGRADE on everything else in the game (Towers,Spells,Items), enemies are still damaging my Lich in the later waves of the mid levels for each Theme. Towers cannot handle the mid or later waves on every Level in Hard mode. Glad that the HP of my Lich is now 7,000. But if the HP of my Lich is just 1,000, Lich will probably end up dying even in FULL TOWER UPGRADES (Fully upgraded in the Tower Menu screen and Tower in-game upgrade). -------------------------------------- Time Distortion Spell (Jewel Purchase only) This spell is really not that good compared to the other spells available. When you equip this spell, it will restart the wave where an enemy hit you but damage will still remain from the first contact before restarting. Plus it doesn't do any advantage to you other than restarting the whole last wave where an enemy hit you. I mean I'm almost done with the wave but then was hit with an enemy and was surprised that the wave restarted again but with all enemies from the last wave alive. It doesn't restart the remaining enemies in the last wave that hits you but restarts the whole last wave. Hope it will be fixed where it will only restart the remaining enemies in the wave that hits you. Twist Space Spell (Jewel Purchase only) Whenever I upgrade this spell, the cooltime only drops from the first few upgrades. Later upgrades doesn't give any advantage to the Spell but only gives higher HP penalty on the Lich when used. It doesn't include how many seconds enemy units will run backward. Unbalanced: In Meadow Chapter Level 8 (Normal mode), the first Quest "Don't summon a Tower until clearing the 1 wave" is impossible. You will not be able to complete that quest because the first wave are tougher enemies. The Lich alone cannot defeat the wave. You will also notice that the second wave after that will be a lot easier to kill by the Lich. Hope this will be fixed. Translation Errors: Frost Hard Mode Correct: Summon less than 15 towers Sell more than 5 towers Correct: Clear the stage with more than 8,000 remaining MP Destroy more than 3 buildings Summon more than 15 towers Correct: Clear the stage with more than 9,000 remaining MP Destroy more than 6 buildings Correct: Destroy more than 9 buildings Play the game at twice the speed until the end Correct: Summon more than 15 towers Kill more than 5 units on a Tower's single shot Correct: Summon more than 15 towers Sell more than 5 towers Clear the stage with more than 500 remaining MP Correct: Clear the stage with more than 20,000 remaining MP Upgrade towers more than 30 times before clearing the game
Day 3 Post #2 Finally completed the game in Hard mode. Enemies are a lot tougher in the Lava Theme and will probably make some players quit. The enemies are too tough even with my fully upgraded (in-game and Tower's menu upgrade) Towers. Everything are maxed out on my towers and enemies are almost ignoring the damages my towers gives. Even the Living Armor Tower is no match from the later waves from this Theme. The only thing that will make you survive in this mode and theme is from the help of your Spells which should be fully upgraded or at lease with a decent level. Your Lich's HP should also be high before doing the Hard mode levels or you might end up losing from those though enemies. So Hard mode will depend on iAP to finish. I also noticed that there was still no "Congratulation" message when I completed or finished the Hard mode on all 3 Themes. I still don't know how to unlock the supposed Infinity Wave mode. I've finished the game in Normal and Hard mode but the Infinity Wave mode is nowhere to be seen. But you can see information or hints about the Infinity Wave mode in the Record which is located in the UPGRADE screen. Maybe I need to finish all the Quest available in the game? (Normal and Hard mode) Only thing I have to do right now is to finish the Quests for every levels and I am losing hope on the Hard Levels quest specially in the Lava Theme. Quest there are almost impossible unless you buy a lots of Jewels to purchase Jewels only items and tower and to trade to Coins to buy upgrades. Translation Errors: Lava Theme Hard Mode (These are the last set of translation errors I've found in the game) Correct: Destroy more than 5 buildings Correct: Clear the stage with more than 7,000 remaining MP Destroy more than 4 buildings Correct: Summon less than 30 towers Sell more than 15 towers Play the game at twice the speed until the end Correct: Don't summon a tower until you've cleared the 3rd wave Correct: Clear the stage with less than 50% HP Kill more than 5 units in a Tower's single shot Correct: Summon more than 20 towers Correct: Play the game at twice the speed until the end Clear the stage with more than 50,000 remaining MP Upgrade towers more than 40 times before clearing the game
Wow...my son misplaced my phone and I just shut off "find my iPhone " yesterday morning so I wasn't able to play and post for a little while...and for me I HAVE to play it to post everytime...I can't just make up stuff and pretend like I did... 1. I'm sure it's been said but this games art is beautiful and so was elf defense BUT instead of pixel art Lich defense took on a nicer detailed and cleaner style instead of blocky...with that said I have spoken to a few major reviewers of some big companies and they all agree that its a plus when a TD like this has a zoom and pan function the ability to see and expierience your artwork and attacks/timing is a blessing when you have the choice to do it up close whenever you want...and panning the map allows us to study it much better. 2. I must say that this is a very cut and dry TD game and I'm saying that as a good thing.. There are some great little features such as the Lich and the ability to equip him, skill upgrades, power ups and a nice cast of enemies which at times can hard and others very easy... 3. I think we may have so balance issues in the area of difficulty.. As I said at times I feel like the later/ last waves are easier than the previous...which is fine if done in a way that sets up the player for something big ... Like a boss or story landmark... But I've noticed it's somewhat random
Day 3 Post 1: Suggestions. 1. I like the idea that you can see when your towers miss or crit on the enemy but as most people are playing in atleast 2x mode you can hardly see whats going on. It would be nice to take note of which enemies are weak to what but I don't think I would be able to do that from just looking. If there was an enemy screen or even when they pop up on screen before the next wave and tell what they are weak to that would be really helpful. 2. I think some of the IAP only spells should be given on a couple maps so players can try them out to see what they are like before buying them. Sometimes the description can make it seem one way when it's really not like that and this way people will see how great they are and want to buy them right away. 3. Add some more equipment options. It would be nice to see more equipment to have some more options to find which kind of playstyle bonuses work for you.
Day 3 Post 2: Suggestions: 1. Holiday themed maps. During the holidays or different seasons it would be neat to see maps that are only available during that time. They could be geared to be more fun maps then challenging ones. Like during winter time you could have a ice map and be attacked by elves, reindeer, and santa as the boss. Or for a summer one be attacked by tourists with their big cameras and beach towels. 2. A weekly updated map that gives Jelly points as a reward. Having different maps every week that you would need to either purchase tickets through IAP or earn a couple by completing the game. With these the Amount of Jelly points should be random so that way people wouldn't use it to get way more jelly points then they are spending on the tickets.
DAY 1 post #1 Hi, I have problems to install my file before. After three days contacting with your team and dev, I got new files and successfully installed file now. I asked members from your team that I am still allowed to post comments here and enter this test. So, here we go for 1st day comments. I think a simple intro and explanation is needed for the game. I just entered the game without any intro. It also caught me and I thought it's weird there's only lighting without any towers in tower defense game for first couples of seconds. A simple intro or tutorial is absolutely needed especially if the game is introduced to new tower defense gamer. A small problem with English writing. For Campaign 1 deadrising, Q3 should be summon less than 7 towers not tower. or even better with, fewer than 7 towers.
Day 3 #1 BUG #1 The background of HELP in main menu and in pause menu are different. The background of HELP in pause menu is black. Left: pause menu; Right: main menu #2 There's no Recovery bar in the left Physical enemy, but you can see the bar in the right other enemies including other Physical enemies. Each enemy should have a HP and MP value. Suggestion In the Bug #2 above, I cannot tell names of these enemies. It's really necessary to have a database about these enemies. Their names, their basic infomation and better with illustrators.
Day 3 #2 Suggestion Use the Dollar icon of purchasing Jelly in the Shop to replace that in all packs. Script Better: Jelly will be spent if you buy this item. Are you sure?
DAY 1 post #2 played two compaigns, it seems the difference within every three levels of towers is not much. I cannot tell much difference when I upgrade rapider,driller etc from Lv.1 to Lv.3. I can see big difference not only on power of fire but also looking of tower itself from Lv.3 to Lv.4. Is it only an critical upgrade for every three levels? It makes player lack of intention to upgrade tower at early stage.
Day 3 Post #3 Suggestions: Hope there will be a Call Next Wave button feature added to this game. Pressing this Button will call the next wave immediately even if you are not done with your current wave. The advantage of this feature is that the MP reward will be doubled for each enemy you kill but of course will be hard since you will be dealing with your current wave and the next wave all at the same time. The double MP reward bonus will only be available on the wave you've called. I also think it would be better if there will be an information or an icon where it shows what will be added to the Tower when you upgrade it in-game (Not from the Tower's Upgrade menu). This icon or information screen can be seen just besides the Upgrade button (Red Arrow button). It shows how many ATK, ATK SPEED or Range will be added to the next Upgrade. I also think this should be added in the Tower's Upgrade Screen which is in the UPGRADE menu. When you press Upgrade on a tower, it will show you what will be upgraded or what will be the income by adding a green bar on the stats (Atk, Atk Speed, Range) before pressing the accept button to buy it. The green bar only shows the amount it will add to the tower after upgrading it. I also don't get what was being upgraded on the Obelisk when I've upgraded it. I only noticed a very slight bonus on the Range which doesn't affect the range of the tower in the game. Range still can only boost towers next to it. I've fully upgraded the Obelisk tower to Level 20 and doesn't see any noticable boost with it. I think this is where the information on what will be upgraded next notification will be helpful.
