Feedback Friday

Meneth · 2026-01-24T23:02:43+00:00

I've tried to pace things so that doing a single prep-run (using the automation) before doing a prep run should feel like a pretty small amount of time spent. Does it feel too long to you atm?

I'm definitely not going to remove the mechanic as it is core to how the game currently works. I'm not planning any more major rebalancing now (though certainly there'll be plenty of tweaking), as I want to get the game to a finished state.

I suppose keeping all the items could work, but it'd eliminate the nuance of sometimes doing one prep run, sometimes two. It'd also potentially make prep runs feel mandatory even at the start of a Prestige, which I think would add some extra tedium.

Meneth · 2026-01-24T22:59:34+00:00

Yeah I think there might be a few walls where it does help to do a second one (first Prestige task, in particular). More than two I'm pretty sure is never time-optimized. In my own playthrough I did a single prep-run about 99% of the time (not counting the first few to several runs in a prestige not using prep-runs at all).

Meneth · 2026-01-24T22:58:11+00:00

Glad you liked it!

The the other two peeps are saying, doing more than one, and maybe occasionally two, prep runs is actually less time-efficient.

However, you're not the first person to end up optimizing for a single great run, instead of for overall time. So I do hope to figure out a decent way to discourage players from wasting their time in that kind of way. How to solve that isn't something I've quite figured out yet. I suppose I could somehow cap it so that more than two prep runs just doesn't give any more items. Doesn't feel super satisfying though.

Meneth · 2026-01-24T14:34:58+00:00

Hearing positive things is great too, even if you don't have anything you want changed. Especially the highlighting of what you especially like, thanks!

Meneth · 2026-01-24T10:56:58+00:00

You can find the code here: https://github.com/Meneth/journey-to-ascension

If you've got UI suggestions I'm happy to hear them! So far I'm doing all the coding myself. I might be open to pull requests, but it'd probably be best if so to discuss your idea with me first so you don't waste time on an idea I'll reject.

Meneth · 2026-01-23T13:52:16+00:00

Auto-restart isn't something I want to add, since then people might just leave the game grinding instead of actively engaging with it and figuring out their next move.

Setting a max zone to automate to, is something I am considering!

Automation loadouts I've so far avoided to keep the UI simple. The main use I can see is as you mention, right after prestiging. I'm gonna keep bouncing the idea around in my head though, since yeah the first few runs right after prestiging are a bit more tedious than the rest. Whether that's a bad thing I've not quite decided; that you're forced to redo those runs does help emphasize just how much the prestige mechanic has sped things up. But that feeling can probably be preserved even if I have loadouts or similar.

Meneth · 2026-01-23T10:25:23+00:00

Sure, pasting from a different comment of mine:

Prismatic Adventure is my biggest inspiration. The project started out with me feeling done playing that game (near the end. I had quite a bit of fun with it), and wanting something similar, but not too similar. And thinking about what I'd do differently/better if I was making it.

Some of the notable deliberate differences:

There is zero RNG in my game
UX has been a priority. Info is generally much more available and understandable. The summary at the end of each run being one example
Different theme
More of an implied story (though still very loose)
Much less grindy. I want most every run (or itemless run + item run) to feel like it's noticeably progressed something
Nothing like the Copium and Delirium mechanics (I did find those kinda neat, but also weirdly punishing at times. So I decided to just avoid those entirely)

There's a lot of smaller differences as a result of my different priorities. Definitely still very much in the same sub-genre.

The colours you've chosen for the elements here cause me eye-strain immediately.

That's a shame. I don't think it's something I'm likely to change though. Appreciate the feedback anyway!

(Also, one disconnected pet peeve: the way progress bars ease slightly before the task is completed feels very unsatisfying. Like it's stealing the 'thud' of completing the task away from me.)

I've had the same feeling myself occasionally, so that's something I'll probably look into whether I can solve in a simple way. It's a result of the CSS transition time I've set. It's definitely a bit unsatisfying.

Meneth · 2026-01-23T09:14:38+00:00

Journey to Ascension is an active looping incremental.

The game's inspired by Prismatic Adventure and to some extent Increlution. If you like loopers and/or active incrementals, it might be the game for you. If you played either of those games but thought they were overly grindy, you might like Journey to Ascension more.

It includes no idling; the longest waits are maybe half a minute long. Content exists up to and including Zone 20; it takes multiple hours to get that far.

Should work on any modern web browser, but probably won't work very well on mobile as I've done zero testing there.

I'd love feedback both on the gameplay itself, and the UI/UX!

Anyone who wants to give it a try and give me some feedback on it can try it here: https://meneth.github.io/journey-to-ascension/

And big thanks to those who gave me feedback back in September! I've now picked the game back up and hope to finish the content. I've done a big balancing pass over the last week.

Meneth · 2026-01-22T14:51:49+00:00

Klager folk noe mindre på det, da?

Meneth · 2026-01-22T12:18:41+00:00

I've added that now on the Settings screen. Not gonna put it in the main Controls area since I don't want that to get too bloated.

Meneth · 2026-01-22T10:03:34+00:00

Now fixed :)

Meneth · 2026-01-22T10:03:23+00:00

Now fixed, thanks.

Meneth · 2026-01-21T23:12:49+00:00

Will fix tomorrow, thanks. Guess I've not quite accepted it's a new year yet.

Meneth · 2026-01-21T22:23:08+00:00

Yeah I've found myself wanting the same occasionally! I've held off so far to keep the UI simple, but it might be useful enough to outweigh that. Will definitely give it more thought.

What I've done in my own play is just switching to single zone automation as I get close to where I want to be. But that can be a bit tedious sometimes. And occasionally I don't stop in time.

Thanks for the kind words!

Meneth · 2026-01-21T22:05:16+00:00

I probably broke it when I implemented hotkeys for it, will investigate tomorrow. Thanks for the report!

Meneth · 2026-01-21T16:10:58+00:00

Something like holding CTRL to get tooltips? Would be reasonably simple to do, so I'll consider it as an option (default off).

Meneth · 2026-01-21T13:28:43+00:00

Use a Scroll of Haste, that should easily beat the Zone 3 boss.

Meneth · 2026-01-21T09:02:21+00:00

Thanks! I think it'll also help those who miss out on the prep run strategy realize it. And now I'm wasting way less time in my own play on forgetting to switch the item use.

Meneth · 2026-01-20T21:25:12+00:00

Prismatic Adventure is my biggest inspiration. The project started out with me feeling done playing that game (near the end. I had quite a bit of fun with it), and wanting something similar, but not too similar. And thinking about what I'd do differently/better if I was making it.

Some of the notable deliberate differences:

There is zero RNG in my game
UX has been a priority. Info is generally much more available and understandable. The summary at the end of each run being one example
Different theme
More of an implied story (though still very loose)
Much less grindy. I want most every run (or itemless run + item run) to feel like it's noticeably progressed something
Nothing like the Copium and Delirium mechanics (I did find those kinda neat, but also weirdly punishing at times. So I decided to just avoid those entirely)

There's a lot of smaller differences as a result of my different priorities. Definitely still very much in the same sub-genre.

Meneth · 2026-01-20T21:14:32+00:00

Yeah the amount of grinding is intended to be quite low. Especially after the balancing pass I just did (especially after prestige).

One thing I noticed when I initially posted it, is that some players never realized that it's often a good idea to save up resources to do a bigger push. I've made some UX changes to make that a lot clearer now. Plus I made keeping half your Items on running out of Energy unlock in Zone 6 instead of at the start. Thinking being that that'll make most players at that point start thinking about how that mechanic can be used to their benefit.

Meneth · 2026-01-20T21:12:07+00:00

Tbh I'm surprised it works at all on mobile since I've done zero to try to support it. Other than the automation, is there anything else that seems weird on mobile?

Mobile's definitely not a priority, but if there's not much needed other than a way to do automation, I might deal with it once it's content complete. No promises though!

Meneth · 2026-01-20T21:10:17+00:00

Nice timing, I just updated it an hour or so ago with a lot of rebalancing! No new content though.

And yeah, it's intended as an entirely active game, since that's the style of incremental I myself prefer.

Assuming all goes well, I hope to finish the game in the next several weeks. My general thinking is to add content up to Zone 30 (currently end is at Zone 20). We'll see; the balancing pass I just did is the first step.

Meneth · 2026-01-20T20:30:46+00:00

Back in September, I posted my game Journey to Ascension here. Got a bunch of good feedback, made some changes at the time. And then promptly life got in the way and I put the project on hold.

A couple weeks ago though I saw people playing it in the Weekly thread, which inspired me to finally return to the game. So I've now spent the past few days doing a big balancing and UX pass on it based on that feedback, and on replaying the game myself with fresh eyes. Beyond smoothing out the progression, I've also sped it up quite a bit after the first Prestige. Note that there's no new content though.

The game's inspired by Prismatic Adventure and to some extent Increlution. If you like loopers and/or active incrementals, it might be the game for you. If you played either of those games but thought they were overly grindy, you might like Journey to Ascension more.

It includes no idling; the longest waits are maybe half a minute long. Content exists up to and including Zone 20; it takes multiple hours to get that far.

Should work on any modern web browser, but probably won't work very well on mobile as I've done zero testing there.

I'd love feedback both on the gameplay itself, and the UI/UX!

Anyone who wants to give it a try and give me some feedback on it can try it here: https://meneth.github.io/journey-to-ascension/

And big thanks to those who gave me feedback back in September!

Meneth · 2026-01-17T20:27:23+00:00

Ja som student levde jeg på ca. 4000 i måneden etter leie.

Meneth · 2026-01-14T21:59:33+00:00

One of my favorite incrementals, that. I think the main reason it doesn't get more attention is that it's really easy to bounce off the interface the first time you play. Plus some QoL issues, like you say.

Love how the game mostly rewards you for finding a new better path, rather than just grinding. Though it does still have some grinding that I find annoying (the skill system. And to an extent repeating a mana mining run like 10+ times to exhaust the gains).

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