App Description: "Ultra Blade is a roguelike hack n' slash RPG where players wield weapons so large, they can only move by swinging them! Chop your way through endless hordes of constantly mutating enemies. Unlock 1000s of hero and blade combinations, each with their own unique looks and abilities. Swipe to slash, tap to stomp. The controls are simple, but the real complexity is in how you build your blade: Infuse burning lasers into your slashes, generate earthquakes with your stomps, the possibilities are almost limitless." TestFlight Link: https://testflight.apple.com/join/1SC673vF Website: https://www.kyle-barrett.com/ultra-blade Preview Video Looking for feedback on bugs, controls, game feel, etc. Adjusting for difficulty as well, so please do let me know how far you all get. Thanks for testing!
Finding world 2 impossible right now. Haven’t made it past wave 6. I try to play it slow from a distance but as soon as i’m in range, 6 spears attack at exactly the same time and instagib me. Like am i stupid for dying here? i’ve tried playing really fast, really slow, just literally get multismacked by spears that don’t seem in range every time before I my character starts his moving animation
Theyre tuned to be just slow enough that you can kill them if you don't hesitate. Thanks for the note, this is is a good data point- there's a lot of room to reduce there range + attack speed at lower difficulty levels.
No matter how fast I release games, new iPhone screen resolutions come out faster. Thx ill have this adjusted in the next build.
What are the currencies for? I keep collecting things when I play, but I don’t see them displayed anywhere. Do I lose them when I die? I mean The blue gems and th green shields.
Tried the updated build. The UI works fine on iPhone 13. Below is the feedback from playing a few runs. 1. Difficulty As mentioned by JCho133, the jump of the difficulty, or the change of the pacing of combat between stage1 and 2 is too drastic. It maybe by design, but the steep learning curve will throw off many players. 2. Animations I think they are fine, except the dinosaur looking enemy on stage 2. The enemy seems to attack instantly when getting in its range, which is probably the reason making stage 2 very hard. I don’t know if it’s intentional or just not in the game yet, but it would be nice to have a charging animations for the enemy like other enemies do. 3. Character control I think the character moving in the direction after a slash should be removed. It doesn’t add anything to the game, if anything, annoyance. 4. Gameplay + Character model I don’t understand why you decided to use heavily armored character models with a gigantic sword to a game where you die in three hits. I didn’t expect a game that needs cautious movement and attack timing when I saw screenshots of the game. If anything, I expected a totally opposite game where I can cleave through enemies non-stop. If you want to keep character models as they are right now, you should rebalance the game that fits their visual. 5. Misc(Pickups) I don’t recall the game providing information about what pickup items do. The only item that is self explanatory is the heart. As I was browsing through unlockable characters, I noticed terminologies such as core and keystones. You really should provide a list that shows which item is what, and its use. Also, it would be great if hearts cannot be picked up when the health is full.
Thanks these are great notes! I'll be making some adjustments this weekend. I'm also working on a rotating hints/tutorial system for every time a user selects the endless crusade option. Hopefully this will help with understanding the pickups and a few other obscure elements people have mentioned.
I spent some time with the game for this version, unlocked up to BreachSuka. I really like the balance change you made. The game is far more tolerating for mistakes, while rewarding careful play. The current balance feels quite appropriate for the visual of heroes. I also find unlocked character’s skill becoming available during a run motivates me to keep unlocking characters. Skills are mostly interesting as well. Now to some complaints … 1. Hidden upgrade shrine(?) So, upgrade shrines are hidden behind random objects. I didn’t find this feature interesting. It’s not fun running around the map destroying objects after all enemies are dead, just to see if there is a hidden upgrade shrine. The feeling is even worse when there wasn’t. I know there is a skill that reveals hidden objects, but then with limited upgrades available, the skill is just a waste. 2. Upgrade frequency I find combining multiple skills from unlocked heroes very interesting, but upgrade availability is too far in between. Upgrading requiring keystones is another feature I felt just frustrating. I hope upgrades come much frequent without requiring keystones, like every 2 waves. Why not let players go bombastic? The more upgrades means the more skill combination variations = more fun. 3. Stomp and it’s visualization Stomp is an important skill, but it’s not clear at the beginning because the game doesn’t tell much about how strong domino knockback is. I think enemies colliding with other enemies or objects being very damaging should be covered in a tutorial message. Another request with Stomp is to make its effect more visible. The current effect is hard to tell its area. Maybe change the effect to more bright color? 4. Possible bug I think turrets created by Shocktrooper are not inflicting any damage.
Been playing the newest version for a while, game is certainly fun, has the “one more try” vibe, another gem indeed！ I agree with what Jstorm said about the upgrade frequency, we would love to try more skill combination variations, the more the merrier. And I think it would be nice to have a save system like Immortal Rogue, the lacking of it makes The End of the Universe kind hard for me to play continually. For Ultra Blade, the 3 stages are fine without it, since the waves are not that many, but the endless mode definitely needs one.
So I just got into the beta. And this is coming from someone who, admittedly, hasn’t played any of your previous games. So here’s my initial feedback:- 1. Initially, I’m not quite clear on how the game modes work. Firstly, I just had the endless mode option and now I have another one. But I’m not quite clear on how I’m progressing in the game. 2. Character Progression - I understood that there are other characters to unlock by collecting the gold bar (sort of?) currency, but I’m not sure on how to upgrade my current character and their gear. (If gear is even possible to upgrade) I did level up once but not sure how it improved my character. 3. Being a roguelike, I do understand there are certain boost/upgrades that only last for the run, but it would be better if it was clear to me which are the temporary upgrades and which are permanent upgrades. (If there are any) As of now, the core gameplay loop is quite addictive. It’s easy to get into and I can see it getting challenging with newer and tougher enemies. But I feel quite a few things are not quite clear to me, which leaves me a bit on the confused side. That’s all for now. Thank you.
Thanks for all the feedback! These are great notes for helping me nail the balance and tutorialization. Will get another update out soon!
Few more feedback so I don’t forget later:- 1. Some enemies (especially range) can at times shoot while being outside the screen scope. So it’s difficult to find and kill them before they hit you. Might be better if they spawn a little more in the screen scope. 2. When there are only a few enemies left in the level. It can be hard to find them, and might confuse players into thinking that why isn’t the portal appearing. It would be good to have a pointer(s) towards the remaining enemies when there’s only a few of them left.
Yes, I tried at the beginning of the stage, the end of it after I clear all the monsters, and in the middle of it, every time I close the app, the progress is gone and I'm back to the blade selection interface. Oh and I find two different blades with the same weapon icon named Serpent Edge.
I normally wouldn't pivot on a project this far along, but I think this latest build has a pretty fun shift in direction + level structure that is aligned with a lot of the feedback from previous builds. Let me know what you think! Build notes: PLEASE DELETE OLD SAVES (Hopefully the last time for this beta) New primary control scheme: Drag to move and auto attack, tap to heavy attack 4 new weapon types added: Bow, Shield, Staff, Gun New unlock-able characters with unique weapon types All enemies re-tuned for slower combat that escalates over time New "power level" that grants abilities during a run and can be increased by collecting green gem In addition to bugs, please provide qualitative feedback on difficulty and how this new build and control scheme feels.
This game evolved quite significantly from what it initially was. With the latest version, I don’t have much to complain content and balance wise. If anything, it would be great for ranged to have a control method that can fire projectiles while stationary, but I guess it’s one of the limitations of one finger control.
