FireTail

[Tealjackit]

I'm new to the forum but let me tell you it was quite a journey to try to give feedback on Fire Tail. I made accounts with wordpress.org and .com to try to comment on Darren's games of grey blog but it didn't work. Then I wrote a review on the 7DRL page but apparently I need a juror password. So here is my feedback here (phrases copy and pasted from the review page):

I played Fire Tail for about 3 hours now and found it delightfully simple, smooth, and deep. The game looks great, using limited colours so that it is easy to decipher what is going on visually. It is very fun, while difficult. I haven't beaten the titan king yet but I can tell there are a number of skills I want to experiment with. I am able to enjoy the permanent death aspect because of the simplicity of restarting the game and the frequent number of choice points that occur (which skill to pick).

I had given a 3 on everything.

[Darren Grey]

Sorry you had such trouble leaving feedback. The whole review system on the site is for a privately appointed panel (the results of which will be available soon).

Thanks for the positive comments I'm really happy with how it's turned out. If you have suggestions for improvements please let me know!

[jere]

This is just nuts http://i.imgur.com/zl3oC7z.png I did manage to beat the Titan King once, but wasn't able to escape his massive army of titans afterwards.

I got Dazzle at my first chance and it didn't seem to be doing anything. I guess it stuns for F/2 and a 1 turn stun without any pushing means I haven't done anything except let everyone else move? I guess choosing skills wisely is part of the game, but that was an easy trap to walk into. Oh I see I'm an idiot.

[Darren Grey]

Hmm, okay, I guess I should nerf the Titan King a little :-/ That Titan army is terrifying!

[jere]

Hmmm. Maybe someone else can come in and comment about their experience. Honestly I'm somewhat bad at the game and pretty impatient and I wouldn't want you to nerf all the bosses because of me (as I might have contribute to the first boss getting nerfed)! Anyway, my experience with the Titan King is pretty much always like that.

I've beaten him a couple times, but it seems to be a bit lucked based whether or not I can swing around the pack of titans and get him to come to the front a few times.

Really good game btw. It's definitely grown on me.

[Darren Grey]

Thanks!

I'm planning to make a few changes over time, in particular to add more level types (the titans will get a proper fortress) and add a bit more enemy variety early game. If you have any ideas, especially in how to spice up the early game, please let me know.

[jere]

Heh. Weren't you against continued work on 7DRLs at one point, Darren? Not that I care. I think it's produced some really good stuff recently.

I could brainstorm some ideas but can't say if any would materially improve the game. One thing you could tackle is making the levels feel different beyond just the flavor text. I'm not sure what you're thinking with the titan fortress but it makes me think of having different tiles types beyond ice. Perhaps rock, which is indestructible (and constitutes an actual fortress), and "dead forest" which burns and in doing so provides free fire tiles. Different levels could have different amounts of each. Or you could simply make the level shape and/or color different. One other idea: an ability that doesn't hurt monsters but only melts large amounts of ice. Again, just brainstorming here.

Don't be too upset by the "a lot of patience" comment in my review. It says more about me than it does about the game. Plus it looks certain by this point that you'll place in the top 10 (next to me, since we appear to have tied ).

[Darren Grey]

I'm against continuous work in principal In practise I can't help myself! Though I am a bit disappointed that the game didn't end up as complete as I wanted within the 7 days. I blame post-operation lack of energy and my computer blowing up one of the days :-/

I've been thinking of different terrain types, yes, as well as different structures for levels and a few more enemy types. I might also remove the ordered nature of the zones, letting the player choose which order to complete them in. I've no idea how balanced that would be though

For melting ice there is Blaze, which does a rather terrific job when combined with Explode or Breath. I might have toned down its power too much in the last update though.

I take absolutely no offence at the "patience comment - indeed, I am rather proud of it. Damn right my games require patience! This ain't no simplistic shooter. I could do with making the game less grindy though, especially early on.

I'm pretty sure the Titan King is quite beatable at present, mind. Try Bombard 2 and Dazzle level 3.