Succession (7DRL 2014 - Complete)

[slothwerks]

Really enjoying this so far!  Definitely one of the most polished and playable that I've tried.  The core 'succession mechanic' is well done and unique.  I need to play it more to explore some of the bigger, more powerful monsters.  It reminds me of the mutation mechanic in DCSS, but more fun, because mutations in this game seem to be positive (whereas mutations in DCSS can be quite dangerous)

I'll just list out some random thoughts I had after playing for 15 minutes:

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If you continue to work on it, one thing you might want to try is to really make use of the monster power stuff, and give them more 'interesting' powers.  Early on, with the basic enemies, I didn't really feel like I played differently with each character, nor did I feel any of the monsters I played with were necessarily 'better' than any other.  When I transformed into the imp, I still died easily to zombies, which died easily to bats, etc...  I didn't really feel like I was making progress (once I learned to be smarter about waiting, as is typical for most roguelikes, I did get a lot further)

I wasn't totally clear on what Rage did, or if I wanted it, but I assumed it increases damage?

I don't recall what resolution I'm running on (1920x??) but hovering over the potions with the mouse in Chrome/Windows  puts the tool tips off the screen

Love that you included different difficulties.  I feel this is especially important in competitions like this, where many of the games are too obtuse for the 10-15 minutes people have to evaluate it.  I love that I was able to more fully explore your game by choosing a different difficulty.  Presumably, once I understand all the mechanics a bit better, the higher difficulties will make more sense

Presentation overall is very clean/clear.  The game feels very intuitive; definitely easy to pick up for anyone that has tried a roguelike

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Gonna have to give this one some more time, because I'm particularly interested to see some of the abilities of the higher level monsters.  I finally got to level 4? 5? when liches start appearing.  I was so excited to see the eyeball monster that I didn't realize I was getting killed by one of the shades... doh.  Definitely in my Top 3 so far! 

[Hi]

Using the arrow keys moves the page.
Apparently it's pretty easily fixable if you're using javascript:
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/8916620/disable-arrow-key-scrolling-in-users-browser

Thanks, I've made that fix now to my game too.

[Adam Perry]

I wasn't totally clear on what Rage did, or if I wanted it, but I assumed it increases damage?

Thanks for your comments! Yes, rage gives +2 damage until no enemies are visible. If you drink it while no enemies are onscreen (as is likely if you're IDing), then it immediately wears off.

You may or may not have noticed that difficulty only influences the succession mechanics. If you have a limited amount of time to spend with the game (as is likely if you're judging or reviewing), I strongly recommend Easy or Easiest.

[Adam Perry]

I've pushed out a small update today with two changes:

- Dungeon levels 1-5 are now a bit smaller, and item generation has been reduced slightly to match.
- Bats have a new ability, making them a more attractive meal early on as well as slightly less vanilla.