Messages

1

Early Dev / Re: Microgue (Updated 9/7)

« on: October 06, 2013, 02:24:48 PM »

I like a lot of the new changes! I'm not sure that freeze should kill/decrement flames: I kind of liked that there were enemies that weren't affected by freeze. On the other hand, that behavior often meant that you couldn't take advantage of freeze at all (i.e. when a flame was next to a Yeti).

The fire room is definitely cool. Suggestions:
- Have variant layouts, so there isn't just one "fire room" to run across (I've only encountered it once, so I don't know if you've already done that.) Maybe combine with other traps?
- Increase the number of flame-resistant enemies in fire rooms. When I ran into it, it was too easy--the fire trap basically incinerated all the other enemies for me. Maybe when the trap hits a small flame it becomes an infernus?
- For test builds, it might be good to make it possible to encounter special rooms more easily. Maybe a key press?

2

Early Dev / Re: Microgue (Updated 9/7)

« on: September 22, 2013, 03:35:32 PM »

I thought I should expand on the difficulty question, since just posting that log might just introduce detail fatigue. I understand that one of your goals in introducing content gradually is to make the game longer, and that's definitely cool. As it currently stands, though, stages 1-5 or so are pretty easy to breeze through, and real difficulty doesn't go up that much through those stages (it does increase, but slowly). For me, the game is most interesting when I have to think about things constantly--i.e., when it's challenging. So, it might be best if the "flat" period (the period when difficulty increases only slowly) were the stage 5-7/8 difficulty rather than the stage 1-4 difficulty.

I should probably clarify that not everything on the levels where I just breezed through was uninteresting, but many levels were less interesting. My ideal would be that I'm dying quite a few times per stage before I get through it. Not all stages need to have this level of difficulty, of course, since players will obviously improve at different rates.

There is also a big leap in difficulty between floors 1-4 and floors 5-6 in the harder stages (I'm primarily thinking of stage 9 and 10). In my playthroughs, I almost never died on 1-4--except for simple stupid moves--even on these stages. So there might be a lesson to be learned there too. This issue may sort of solve itself once you introduce special rooms.

3

Early Dev / Re: Microgue (Updated 9/7)

« on: September 21, 2013, 03:10:18 AM »

OK, I ran through and recorded all of the enemies that I encountered, as well as how I did. It's below (each death is shown with a phrase wrapped in **). Primary takeaway: the game still feels like it develops too slowly in difficulty; as you can see, it doesn't really start to get hard for me until stage 9 or 10. It might be good to get some novices to keep track of their deaths this way.

A couple of other notes:
- Eyes should maybe be classified as just as powerful as giant eyes (or very close), and should continue to appear alongside giant eyes, not be immediately replaced by them. This is because their lack of movement creates a fixed point that the player has to contend with. He has to approach an eye in a certain way to be able to deal with it.
- When they have a choice of moving left or right of the player, skeletons (and other enemies) tend to move to the left. It would be better if they tended to move right (i.e., between the player and the goal). When they move to the left, they are too easy to outrun.
- Flames really aren't dangerous unless they get to form infernus. Maybe they should get the same difficulty number as rats (assuming they don't already).
- Consider whether yetis should grant freeze power if the player doesn't kill them. I.e., if a yeti dies in a trap, maybe it doesn't freeze anything?
- Slimes are probably overrated in difficulty (not sure what its actual rating is). They become tougher when combined with statues and yetis (other things too, but especially those). Maybe they don't need their own stage? Just add them in as part of stage 8? There is not really much of a difficulty increase at all from level 6 to level 8.

Bug: If the hero is teleported while he is slimed, the graphic of the slime patch remains on the tile he teleported from.

1.0   Game Begins
1.1   rat, rat, flame, skeleton
1.2   rat, flame, skeleton, skeleton
1.3   rat, rat, flame, skeleton, eye
1.4   rat, rat, skeleton, skeleton, skeleton, eye (trapped skeleton)

2.0   Spikes
2.1   rat, rat, skeleton, flame
2.2   rat, flame, flame, skeleton (infernus)
2.3   rat, rat, flame, flame, skeleton
**Stupid death!**
2.1   rat, rat, rat, skeleton
2.2   rat, rat, flame, eye
2.3   rat, flame, flame, skeleton, eye
2.4   rat, flame, skeleton, skeleton, skeleton, eye

3.0   Giant Snails
3.1   rat, rat, rat, flame
3.2   rat, skeleton, snail, snail
3.3   rat, rat, rat, flame, snail
3.4   rat, flame, skeleton, snail

4.0   Climb Higher
4.1   rat, flame, eye, snail
**Got trapped, own fault**
4.1   rat, rat, eye, snail
4.2   rat, flame, skeleton, eye
4.3   rat, flame, flame, skeleton, snail
**Got trapped, own fault**
4.1   rat, rat, skeleton, snail
4.2   rat, flame, skeleton, eye
4.3   rat, flame, skeleton, snail
4.4   flame, flame, skeleton, skeleton, skeleton, snail (trapped skeleton)
4.5   rat, skeleton, skeleton, eye, eye, snail (trapped skeleton)

5.0   Giant Eyes
5.1   rat, flame, flame, snail (infernus)
5.2   rat, skeleton, snail, giant eye
5.3   rat, skeleton, skeleton, snail, snail
5.4   rat, skeleton, skeleton, snail, giant eye
5.5   rat, rat, flame, skeleton, skeleton, snail, giant eye

6.0   Moving Walls
6.1   flame, skeleton, snail, giant eye
6.2   rat, flame, snail, snail
6.3   rat, rat, flame, snail, snail
6.4   flame, skeleton, snail, snail, giant eye
6.5   rat, flame, flame, flame, skeleton, skeleton, snail (infernus) (aggression necessary!)

7.0   Yetis
7.1   rat, flame, skeleton, yeti
7.2   rat, flame, giant eye, yeti
7.3   rat, flame, skeleton, snail, snail
7.4   rat, flame, skeleton, skeleton, snail, yeti
**didn't think carefully about how to handle double skeletons**
7.1   rat, skeleton, giant eye, yeti (skeleton = free kill)
7.2   rat, skeleton, snail, yeti
7.3   rat, flame, skeleton, skeleton, giant eye
7.4   rat, flame, flame, skeleton, skeleton, yeti
7.5   rat, flame, flame, flame, skeleton, giant eye, yeti (infernus) (aggression necessary!)

8.0   Climb Higher
8.1   rat, rat, giant eye, snail, yeti
**eye-swapping + yeti late turn-order**
8.1   rat, rat, flame, skeleton, yeti
8.2   rat, flame, flame, skeleton, snail (infernus)
8.3   rat, rat, flame, skeleton, snail, giant eye (exploited eye)
8.4   rat, rat, flame, flame, snail, giant eye, yeti (infernus)
8.5   rat, flame, flame, skeleton, skeleton, skeleton, giant eye, giant eye (exploited eye)
8.6   rat, flame, flame, flame, skeleton, snail, giant eye, giant eye, yeti

9.0   Slimes
9.1   rat, flame, skeleton, snail, slime
9.2   rat, rat, flame, snail, slime
9.3   flame, skeleton, skeleton, snail, snail, slime
9.4   rat, flame, skeleton, skeleton, snail, snail, giant eye
9.5   rat, rat, flame, flame, skeleton, skeleton, giant eye, yeti
**killed by infernus due to its being unaffected by yeti**
9.1   ?, rat, flame, giant eye (didn't record well)
9.2   rat, rat, flame, skeleton, slime
9.3   skeleton, snail, snail, giant eye, slime, slime
**stupidly killed by eye-swap + snail**
9.1   rat, giant eye, snail, slime, slime
**stupidly killed eye-swap + slime**
9.1   rat, rat, snail, giant eye, slime
9.2   flame, flame, skeleton, slime, slime (infernus, skeleton trapped)
9.3   rat, flame, skeleton, skeleton, yeti, slime
9.4   flame, skeleton, skeleton, snail, snail, giant eye, slime
**killed by eye-swap + skeleton**
9.1   rat, rat, snail, giant eye, slime
9.2   rat, rat, giant eye, yeti, slime
9.3   rat, rat, flame, giant eye, yeti, slime
9.4   rat, flame, skeleton, skeleton, snail, yeti, slime
9.5   rat, flame, flame, skeleton, skeleton, giant eye, yeti, slime
9.6   rat, flame, flame, flame, skeleton, snail, giant eye, giant eye, yeti, slime (trapped skeleton)

10.0   Statues
10.1   rat, skeleton, giant eye, slime (statue)
**killed by moving wall (no timer indicator yet)**
10.1   rat, flame, skeleton, slime, slime
10.2   skeleton, skeleton, snail, slime, slime
10.3   (failed to record)
10.4   rat, rat, flame, skeleton, giant eye, slime, slime
10.5   rat, rat, flame, skeleton, skeleton, snail, giant eye, slime (skeleton trapped)
10.6   rat, flame, flame, flame, snail, giant eye, giant eye, yeti, slime (infernus)
**killed by infernus + yeti rundown**
10.1   rat, rat, rat, giant eye, slime
10.2   rat, rat, snail, giant eye, yeti (statue)
10.3   rat, flame, skeleton, snail, giant eye, slime
10.4   rat, flame, skeleton, snail, snail, giant eye (statue x2)
10.5   rat, flame, skeleton, skeleton, skeleton, giant eye, slime, slime
**killed by moving wall (no timer indicator yet)**
10.1   rat, rat, flame, giant eye, slime (statue x2)
**killed by slime + statue**

4

Early Dev / Re: Microgue (Updated 9/7)

« on: September 20, 2013, 01:58:46 PM »

I'm not sure exactly what you came up with for the moving wall, but could you do the warning by showing the floor panel moved up by maybe 1 or 2 pixels, i.e. that the floor has just begun to move? Another idea might be to have a sigil of some sort on the tile that would change color.

I've been playing the new version from the beginning. It does feel like it's more consistent in terms of difficulty, but the early levels still seem pretty easy. I'm going to start over again and keep track of my responses floor-by-floor to see if I can give better feedback.

Regarding testing whether an enemy can move based on its initial placement: I'm not sure how your code is organized, of course, but if each enemy type has a method for testing whether it can move, could you just call that method for each enemy after the initial placement to  see if it needs to be re-placed?
   

5

Early Dev / Re: Microgue (Updated 9/7)

« on: September 18, 2013, 01:43:51 AM »

Weird bug: Went up the stairs, and the level reset, but my hero didn't move back to the left. He stayed where the stairs had been and was immediately killed by a monster (they moved before I did).

EDIT: Also, I've been seeing quite a few skeletons trapped in a corner, i.e. they were initially placed in a corner tile where the only available diagonal move is blocked by a wall. It might be worth testing each monster placement to be sure that 1) the monster has a move, and 2) the player can't kill it immediately on the first move. The second one may not be as important, but it kind of sucks for the level when you can kill a ninja on your first move w/o consequences.

One more thing that may be a bug: When you kill a frozen slime, it doesn't prevent you from moving two squares, but it does show you trapped in slime.

6

Early Dev / Re: Microgue (Updated 9/7)

« on: September 17, 2013, 06:46:43 PM »

I like the new timer indicators (demon's arms, slug's eyes, etc.)--they are subtle, but very helpful. They make it much harder to die in a way that feels unfair. The animation for summoning a skeleton is also really sweet, and the treasure pages add a new, fun dimension to things.

I think that you said that the issue with the current trap door is that it should work on the flying eye as well, and therefore a floor that slams up to the ceiling would make more sense. But this is very difficult to draw in a way that reads well, especially at this resolution. So here's an alternative idea: What about a trap door that opens onto a swirling vortex beneath that could suck down even a flying creature? The flag that the trap is about to spring could be the door opening a crack to reveal a tiny bit of the vortex beneath (it could have a bright color, like green or purple, so it's obvious even with a small crack that there is something nasty below).

I agree that score makes more sense with an endless mode. Most simply, the score could just be the number of floors you complete before dying. An interesting thing that I'm noticing about difficulty in Microgue is that, as things get harder, you have to become more aggressive to survive--going after enemies rather than avoiding them becomes the only way to complete a floor. Not that you have to kill all of them, but it often makes sense to take out maybe 80-90%.

I've reached something like my (current) ideal stage of difficulty now, I think, and the game is quite fun. I'd better reset the game, though, to see how the new point-check system is working...

7

Early Dev / Re: Microgue (Updated 9/7)

« on: September 13, 2013, 04:19:33 PM »

Yeah, I was trying to think of how to do something exactly what you were trying to do--purchasing monsters based on a fund of difficulty points--but this other method seems like a nice simplification of that.

Quick question: Over and over again, I see the Summoners do this awesome move where they slide into a position where they are protected by one or more of their skeleton creations. They do this so regularly that I assume they must be programmed to do that whenever the opportunity is available. Is that correct, or is it just repeated serendipity? I really like it from a gameplay perspective.

A couple of thoughts on other issues that you raised early in the thread. I'm not sure if you've moved beyond these or not, but just in case:

Hero abilities
Personally, I don't think the game needs these. The minimalism of it being purely about positioning and dealing with enemy movement is pretty appealing to me. But if you do want to do them, I would suggest that they be hail-marys, meaning that the power is only available maybe once per stage (I'm using "stage" to mean a full sequence of floors). This would make the decision to use the skill an agonizing and difficult one (Is this really the best place I can use this? Should I wait?!). It could have a salutary function in that it would enable a player to escape from the rare impossible situation that might crop up, where the random set up of the floor gives the player no possibility to win. I still feel that impossible situations are pretty rare (I've encountered only one clearly impossible situation after many, many games).

Scoring
I like the win percentage as a way of tracking overall skill (due to the randomness, it seems like averaging skill over many games is probably the best approach). However, I wonder if a skill rating based on the win percentage might make sense? For example, a rating that was calculated by multiplying the win percentage by the highest stage number completed (again, I'm using "stage" to mean a full sequence of floors), would also encapsulate how well I've done. If I have a win percentage of 15% and I've only completed the second stage, my rating would be 30. But if I've completed the seventh stage with a win rate of 15%, my rating would be 105.  There may be better ways to do this than simple multiplication, which does create much wider ranges at higher levels (the range of possible ratings  at stage 7 would be 7 to 700), but I just wanted to get the thought out there.

The old scoring systems that were based on gameplay elegance (i.e. better scores for getting through a floor with fewer moves) could also still be made to work, I think. The main thing is that they should somehow be spread out over multiple games and also take into account the overall difficulty. (Once there are fewer wide swings in difficulty per stage-floor, scoring swings will be less important anyway.) A sparkline might be a nice way to visualize the score over many games, though I'm not sure whether the resolution of the game would allow for a sparkline (which needs to be high-res) to be displayed alongside the low-res graphics.

8

Early Dev / Re: Microgue (Updated 9/7)

« on: September 13, 2013, 01:26:03 AM »

What if you took your current monster bag system and added another dimension? If you gave each monster type a numerical difficulty rating, and each floor a minimum difficulty target, you could then test to be sure that the combination of monsters is hard enough by adding up all of the numbers in the monster bag. If they aren't hard enough, you dump the bag and try again. For example, given the following ratings (pulled out of the air, obviously):

Rat	1
Snail	2
Slime	3
Eye	4
Giant Eye	5

A monster bag of {Rat, Rat, Rat, Snail} would have a difficulty of 1 + 1 + 1 + 2 = 5. If the minimum difficulty for the floor were 8, you'd throw the bag away and try again until you got a total of 8 or greater. Alternatively, you could pick a new monster and replace the easiest enemy in bag with it until you're above 8, or any number of other schemes for adding/swapping enemies. This system could also employ a difficulty ceiling if needed to ensure that a floor isn't too hard.

For special rooms and alternative play modes, you might want to consider just having multiple tables that could be looked at depending on the game mode and/or room type.

9

Early Dev / Re: Microgue (Updated 9/7)

« on: September 11, 2013, 03:22:39 AM »

All sounds good, like the sound of the infernus!

Having played quite a bit more, I think that the levels 1-3 actually do sometimes produce interesting play, and other times no. The main issue seems to be the monster makeup of the floor. Even at the 7-level stage, it's sometimes possible to have those levels be mostly populated by rats and snails. In that case, it's not very exciting. (Though, with the traps, those might make good levels for lower difficulty stages.) Floor 1 of the 8-level stage can be pretty tough!

10

Early Dev / Re: Microgue (Updated 9/7)

« on: September 08, 2013, 08:42:29 PM »

A couple more notes about gameplay:

The ninja is the closest thing I've seen yet to a magic bullet for the gameplay. Interest and challenge go up quite a bit on most floors where there is a ninja.

Two liches is also a fun, challenging combination. With two liches on screen, I'm not sure whether they should move around more or not. I also don't understand the rules they follow when summoning at all.

The first 3 floors or so are still less interesting than 4-7. That may say something about the formulae for determining difficulty. That is, maybe easier floors may have fewer but individually harder enemies (so they're not just freebies), while later floors have more enemies, with an increasingly difficult composition as you go along...?

I feel like there is one main gameplay problem that probably won't be solved with relatively simple balancing-out (It's possible that you won't even see this as a problem.) It doesn't affect every floor in my playthroughs, but it does affect most: the rightmost third of the level is usually not nearly as interesting as the lefthand third to half. This is because most of the enemies follow you toward the left, and all the maneuvering you do early on allow you to make a break for it later, leaving behind the enemies that started on the right. The idea about patrollers in the previous post was intended to help with that. Another idea (something of a band-aid) would be that some monsters on a floor might be tasked with defending the exit, and refuse to stray more 2 or 3 tiles from it.

11

Early Dev / Re: Microgue (Updated 9/7)

« on: September 08, 2013, 04:50:33 PM »

I like the idea of special rooms, especially if they are primarily used as treasure chambers (i.e., the final room where the artifact is located).

I've now played to the stage that introduces liches and ninjas, the progression is definitely better than in that earlier build I was playing. Still could use some tweaks though! Some more thoughts on enemies and difficulties:

- Witches bring more interest than they do difficulty, since the randomness of their ability can as help you as often as it hurts. I'm not sure that they deserve their own stage, because the difficulty level kind of stays static or even backs off a little. I think you could stick witches in earlier, in low numbers, w/o making them the primary "star" of their stage.
- Slimes don't necessarily bring much difficulty either at present. Maybe it would be best to introduce them in a stage where there's also an enemy that moves quickly, so that the player's mobility is more at risk? Or else introduce them in the stage immediately previous to such an enemy, so that the player has a chance to see what they do before things get rough? (They needn't be the "star" of a stage either. (Ninjas seem more deserving of that--they currently are not the star of their stage.)
- Liches don't summon skeletons often enough, I don't think (needs a graphic cue the turn before summoning). They should also move around a bit more, maybe? Also, they could look a bit more horrifying. Maybe if the face was lost in blackness?
- I agree that a two-step monster might be better for something less rare than the yeti. A couple of ideas for the yeti: Maybe it can move in all 8 directions. Or leave a trail of ice behind it (max of 2 or 3 tiles before melting). Anyone stepping on one of these tiles slides to the end of the ice, a la Relic Rush. (Or that ice thing could be a trap, too.)
- I think an invulnerable snail could be good, probably with minor tweaks to initial appearance and rarity.
- How about a patroller style enemy that always goes back and forth along the same file? If need be, these could be set up like traps (or just be traps). You could have two variants: one that goes step by step, the other that moves the full distance back and forth every turn, killing the player if he steps in the way at the wrong time.
- How about an enemy that can't be killed by jumping on it but *can* be knocked backward one space (the player doesn't move when knocking)? The trick would be to knock it into a trap or moving wall to kill it; otherwise it would be invulnerable. Maybe that's too different from everything else?
- Giant toads (or however you want to reskin) might be fun. The toad would hop two tiles where possible, and the player would need to try to be sure that he would be on the tile hopped over. In other words, the toad would always kill from two tiles away unless the player is directly against a wall. If the toad is directly next to the player, he will just hop to the other side of the player if not killed immediately.
- A super-evil enemy might be one that moves all other enemies one step toward the player. (Dungeonmaster or something).

Not all of those ideas for new enemies are necessarily going to be useful, and of course I still haven't seen all of the content in the current version of Microgue. But I thought it'd be better to get them out there than forget about them...

And a couple of notes for the monster info that you get on touch and hold:

- The wrong portraits are often displayed.
- Notes (or a graphic) about how the enemy moves would be great, because the first time you encounter them you have no idea what's safe. For example, the ninja should communicate that he moves in a knight's move.
- Witches don't have info at all, they display as yeti or ninja.

12

Early Dev / Re: Microgue (Updated 9/7)

« on: September 07, 2013, 10:44:39 PM »

Thanks for cluing me in to the update. I see you have a note asking about whether there is a way to use Tumblr to host .swf files. Is there somewhere else that the latest version is always posted?

I've now reset the difficulty and played to the point where there are six levels in the dungeon. I still think it's too easy up to this point, but a game that started with the sort of difficulty that you see in the last three or so rooms of the six-floor dungeon might be about right. What about having a tutorial dungeon of 5 floors that's about the same difficulty as your current first stage dungeon? After beating that, new players should be ready for something a bit tougher. Players who are used to roguelikes & tactical movement games could pretty easily skip the tutorial and get right in w/something more challenging. (All this assumes you're looking for the widest player base possible.) And another mode that's unlocked by getting to the end of the staged dungeons sounds like a good idea.

I think the warning for the spike traps works really well. Especially for a mobile game--which you often have to put aside for 30 seconds to do something else--memorization seems like a cheap way to increase difficulty, and certainly Microgue can be difficult enough without it. Hope you roll out such subtle cues for all delayed timers, from moving walls to giant slugs.

As far as treating difficulty as the product of combinations of enemies (and possibly rooms), the best way to do that is probably by running simulations and capturing statistics on the win-loss ratio for different combinations. The only real reason to do that in a hobbyist project, though, is if it's something that you enjoy doing (never done that sort of thing myself)!

Some thoughts on enemies:
- One on one, giant slugs currently are like easier rats (or they will be if you give some kind of subtle visual cue the turn before they move). But that isn't bad, because as part of a mix of other enemies, slugs change the rhythm and give the player new patterns to deal with--whether to work around or exploit. One way to make slugs more difficult might be to have them leave behind slime that slows the player down (maybe up to 2 tiles of slime could be onscreen at a time per slug)--wait, I guess you're already planning that with the spider!
- I haven't encountered the arctic wolf yet, but it sounds like his moving twice for each move of the player means that he can actually follow you around a corner in a single turn (e.g., move west and then south in a single turn). For the sake of the sort of rhythmic patterns I mentioned for the giant slug, it might also be good to have something like the old orc/goblin which could move up to two tiles in a single direction.

Am just trying Turnament for the first time...

EDIT: I wanted to say that the change to allowing enemies to attack you on the exit stairs seems like a good one. It makes the last 1/3 of many floors matter more than it did. (Yeti still makes it easier to end the level, but it's definitely improved with a freeze of 2 turns. Maybe the Yeti should be a little more difficult over all?)

13

Early Dev / Re: Microgue (Updated 8/26)

« on: September 07, 2013, 04:43:54 PM »

By the way, I'm very happy to see that you're picking up Microgue again. To reply to some of the other concerns you've raised in this thread (I have been playing the build(s) posted at https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/21825227/Prototypes/Microgue_Newest.swf for the last few days):

Difficulty
Obviously, perceived difficulty varies for different people. My perception is that the game is too easy for too long at the beginning. To get to a point where the game is interesting, I have to play at a pretty low level for a long while. Even up to the dragon stage, where I am now (haven't reset my data for new builds, since it isn't obvious when a new build appears), things don't really get interesting until about level 4 (of 7). It would be nice to have a different way of handling difficulty so that players who are doing well don't have to play so many rounds that don't challenge them.

Gauging difficulty
It seems as though the main heuristic you are using for difficulty is the single enemy taken in isolation, with perhaps the number of enemies being a secondary factor. You might consider whether combinations of enemies might be a more useful heuristic; i.e., are some combinations of enemies more difficult than others? There is also an issue regarding rooms: some enemies are much less capable in a room where there are passages of only 1 tile in width. I'm thinking especially of skeletons and demons, which can't even do their diagonal move in such a situation.

Unfair difficulty
I have played many, many games over the last few days, and only encountered one situation where the room setup was such that I could not have survived. So I think this is not something I would worry too much about, at least up to the level of difficulty that I have reached.

However, I do think that there is a problem with unfairness that comes in with all of the timed effects--the demon moving differently every other turn, the Yeti power, the two types of floor traps. These require memorization, which isn't a skill that I'm particularly interested in exercising when I play a game, and currently a heft percentage of my deaths are coming from not having memorized the state of one of the timed things. Please consider having some kind of indication on each of these timed effects that the trap will trip, the freeze will run out, or the direction the demon will go after the player's next move: maybe the demon's eyes flash red before he goes diagonally, the tips of the spikes show in the spike traps, the color palette for frozen enemies shifts to a lighter blue, etc.

Should the game have an ending?
My first impulse is to answer that it should not. There is only one factor that makes me say otherwise, and that is the fact that the upper difficulty level would be defined by simply unfair setups. That is, if monster numbers and difficulty are increased algorithmically, you will eventually reach a point where most or even all setups are impossible to win. That's a recipe for frustration, and a clear endpoint that comes just before impossibility sets in probably makes sense. The problem is that, if I win and then play again, I really don't want to start at the boring lowest difficulty.

Specific enemies
- I miss enemies that move two tiles. Are they coming back?
- What about slimes? Miss them too! If these two types of enemies don't appear until later (beyond the dragon), I think they should probably appear earlier.
- I haven't faced the dragon many times, but he seems pretty wimpy. Why does he mostly run away from me?
- The Yeti freeze lasts too long. Maybe decrease the duration by 1 turn? Currently, the level size is such that, by the time you have killed a Yeti, you have basically beat the room because you can just waltz right out while everybody is frozen.
- Maybe some enemies should be immune to the Yeti freeze? The dragon immediately comes to mind, since he is--I think--invulnerable?
- Floating eyes logically shouldn't be killed by the opening pit traps.

14

Early Dev / Re: Microgue (Updated 8/26)

« on: September 07, 2013, 03:17:59 AM »

I think it would be nice if the turn order were fixed, with each monster type moving in a set order (for example, if the eyes always swapped first or last). But I don't think that the order needs to be explicit or documented--let it be a bit of knowledge that experienced players can exploit.