7DRL 2014 Massive Videos Thread

[Kyzrati]

It's interesting you say that, because while I agree that it's a great game and worth playing, I thought the balance was off and beat it on the first playthrough, feeling pretty much unstoppable the entire way. I also even just picked the passive abilities and never had to use them. The freeze->hit combo is pretty much all you need to win. I'm not boasting here--I actually suck at a majority of roguelikes--but I didn't see much in the way of knowledge to accumulate, or much of a reason to play a second time (although I did just to make sure I didn't miss anything, because it came up on my review list...).

Did you start the game with Freeze++? Cause you're not meant to... When releasing a post-7DRL version I accidentally left in my debug initial character set-up, which means starting with more powerful abilities. In the proper version (now fixed on the download) you start with just Spike and GridPush, and choosing what upgrades to take is a bit more painful. If you look at GameHunter's video you can see the abilities he starts with in comparison (he either had the initial 7DRL version or the very latest version).

Alas for rushed fix releases (can't even remember what I fixed - I think it was mostly adding some extra instruction text)

I'd really like to know what you thought of the final boss, but perhaps in spoiler tags or private discussion

Oh man... so apparently I played the game with a debug setup. No wonder I found it odd that there so were few "real" choices when upgrading. Well, at least I got to see the whole game, but that certainly affected my opinion of it. I did discover that Freeze++ is pretty much the most powerful thing in the game. Playing again would no doubt be more challenging without having it right away.

I'll PM you about the queen.

[Game Hunter]

Goldfish, by ondras

Overall Thoughts:
It plays great, it's simple enough to do without having additional information, and it provides great atmosphere. On the other hand, once you know what to do, it's probably a ten-minute game (at least that's assuming the fisherman are limited). You could possibly have more in it with very few changes, like gaining extra goldfish as part of some kind of automated group, which would also be equippable. It might be going too far but I can see something along those lines playing out without affecting the pace of the game too much. What's there now is fine, I suppose I'm just yearning for more. It's always great to see creative themes in these games, and Goldfish is certainly something you won't sea often!

[Game Hunter]

Sand Dune Monster, by henson

Overall Thoughts:
What else is there to say: the game's not really ready enough to be a roguelike, or much of a game at all. It definitely fits the term of "tech demo". What I mention in the video and its comments says enough. I do hope more work is done on it, however, because the base for graphics and the overall mapping/background is really nice.

[Numeron]

I love it how every video starts with a struggle to pronounce something... cracks me up haha.

[Samildanach]

Goldfish is certainly something you won't sea often!

Groan!

[jere]

What else is there to say: the game's not really ready enough to be a roguelike, or much of a game at all. It definitely fits the term of "tech demo".

That's what you think!  Someone has given it a 3 for roguelike and 3 for innovation.....

[Game Hunter]

Succession, by Adam Perry

Overall Thoughts:
This game has a odd, contemporary charm about it that really grabs me. I don't know how else to describe it, unfortunately! It's just built together lightly but has a much deeper rhythm once you get going, I dunno.

Also, the difficulties here are actually something I think I'd like to see in more roguelikes, or at least along these fundamental lines. It's easy to make difficulties occur as the rebalancing of stats, but this game has very set and very obvious considerations for each difficulty: always starting from scratch, starting from exactly what killed you, starting with a bonus, and accumulating that bonus (from hardest to easiest, respectively). Players choose something and adjusts themselves based on how well they're doing, then can return for a harder challenge later on if they find it easier after learning how to play. Lots of games try to make difficulty level but Succession is one of the few that does it right. (And yes, that means there's no how-to on correctly creating difficulty rungs: it has to be fit to the game.)

[Game Hunter]

What else is there to say: the game's not really ready enough to be a roguelike, or much of a game at all. It definitely fits the term of "tech demo".

That's what you think!  Someone has given it a 3 for roguelike and 3 for innovation.....

I guess it's my opinion, but I couldn't make the game do anything other than that one map, and what's there isn't much of anything with regards to an interesting challenge. If there IS more to the game, I don't mind replaying.

[pat]

I guess it's my opinion, but I couldn't make the game do anything other than that one map, and what's there isn't much of anything with regards to an interesting challenge. If there IS more to the game, I don't mind replaying.

nah, I think you're right. My experience playing it was exactly the same. I actually played it because it got that relatively good review and was left wondering where the game was.

[jere]

Yea I don't think you're wrong there. I was just musing on the bizarre ratings.

[Adam Perry]

Succession, by Adam Perry

Overall Thoughts:
This game has a odd, contemporary charm about it that really grabs me. I don't know how else to describe it, unfortunately! It's just built together lightly but has a much deeper rhythm once you get going, I dunno.

Also, the difficulties here are actually something I think I'd like to see in more roguelikes, or at least along these fundamental lines. It's easy to make difficulties occur as the rebalancing of stats, but this game has very set and very obvious considerations for each difficulty: always starting from scratch, starting from exactly what killed you, starting with a bonus, and accumulating that bonus (from hardest to easiest, respectively). Players choose something and adjusts themselves based on how well they're doing, then can return for a harder challenge later on if they find it easier after learning how to play. Lots of games try to make difficulty level but Succession is one of the few that does it right. (And yes, that means there's no how-to on correctly creating difficulty rungs: it has to be fit to the game.)

Thanks for the review! It's always cool to watch as someone "gets" your game (and frustrating when they don't, which luckily wasn't the case here .