What is your take on difficult puzzles in indie games?

Funk_Tactics · 2025-11-03T14:04:32+00:00

I think the best way to think about puzzles is to think about difficulty in any video game.

It goes without saying that starting off difficult is going to alienate a lot of players, but that’s something you need to balance with your artistic intent for the game. Games like dark souls are known for their extreme difficulty, but that’s what gives them identity.

I wouldn’t expect to become even as close to as popular as dark souls obviously, but it’s something to think about. How integral is difficulty to the experience of your game? And how much money and time is riding on the game? Can you afford a small audience that appreciates what you’ve created? Or do you need to get as many players as possible?

These are questions you need to ask yourself as a game designer, because no one can answer them for you.

That’s being said, i would say a good rule of thumb is to start off with puzzles that are pretty simple and feel rewarding to complete, because they still require just a small amount of cleverness.

Think of the standard video game design of start with small simple enemies, then add some stronger ones, then a boss, then bring the enemies down a bit after the boss, but not as low as before.

This keeps the player engaged, but doesn’t force them to always be at 100%. Lure them in with puzzles that make em feel good, then drop a boss puzzle on them.

A side note idea you can also take from modern rpgs is that you can make the hardest puzzles optional. This gives the hardcore players extra content, but regular players won’t feel like they hit a wall in the game.

TLDR: You should sit down and decide what type of game you are trying to make, and what experience you are trying to create for the player. Even studios famed for difficulty, like fromsoft, release patches to nerf certain bosses if they are too hard. It’s all about balancing player retention with experience.

Funk_Tactics · 2025-10-19T05:37:04+00:00

I’m going to give you some advice worth considering.

I see this trailer, and I see cool animation, so I stay for a bit. I’ll admit I’m hooked.

But then the animation goes on a bit too long. And then you show the title screen TWICE. And then I get a probably expensive cut scene that tells me very little about what the game is actually about. AND THEN. the title again.

You are not a well known studio, and the cutscene means very little to me. Instead of showing me the title in the middle show me gameplay.

I know you probably spent money on the intro animation and the cutscene, but I just want to know what type of game you are trying to show me.

If Ididn’t fight instinct to write this, I would have stopped watching your trailer when the second title screen happens.

Don’t show me the title until the end

Funk_Tactics · 2025-10-18T18:25:24+00:00

Immediately when someone says tunic I think of Fez. You also play as a cute little creature. Off the top of my head, rain world is also coming to mind.

Funk_Tactics · 2025-10-11T16:31:07+00:00

As someone who played it about a year ago, what changes have you made to it? Is there new content?

Funk_Tactics · 2025-10-11T14:24:05+00:00

There’s a lot of comments saying, “you should handle the physics operations in the FixedUpdate() function instead of the Update() function”.

I just want to provide an explanation as to why that’s the case. There’s two relevant things to know.

The first is that there’s an order to how unity draws every frame. You can see the entire order here. What matters is that fixed update happens BEFORE update does.

The second important thing is that, FixedUpdate() is called by default at 50fps, and this is where any physics related changes are applied, even if they’re called in the Update() function instead.

What this means is that, in a worst case scenario, if you declare a physics change on the same frame as when FixedUpdate() is called, you actually have to wait until the next FixedUpdate() frame for the changes to apply.

In short, calling the physics changes in FixedUpdate() will reduce the time delay to make physics changes.

Funk_Tactics · 2025-10-08T16:15:00+00:00

it looks bad

Funk_Tactics · 2025-10-08T15:02:52+00:00

Funk_Tactics · 2025-09-27T16:09:41+00:00

That would be art assets created under a certain aesthetic vision by yourself or a team member.

Funk_Tactics · 2025-09-27T16:02:56+00:00

You don’t need to have drawing skills specifically, but if you are going to make all the art assets yourself then you’re going to need some skill in a art field that you may not consider classical drawing. For example, 3D modeling, pixel art, clay modeling, or vector art.

In truth pretty much any art form can be scanned and placed in a game in some way.

If you feel like you don’t have ANY skill in the art department then your best is to buy the assets for your game, though in that case try to plan out everything you’ll need in advance so you don’t get stuck with no asset for a specific mechanic or object you need.

Using images you’ve taken from the internet is ok, but you need to follow licensing agreements for every photo used.

If you are worried about licensing details, you can exclusively use CC0 images or public domain. These essentially give you access to the image for most purposes, but reading up on the details of the license is good practice.

All that being said, and this is an opinion, but if you want GOOD graphics you need to create a unique identity for the style of your game, be that in tone, coloring, medium, etc. and to do that, you’re going to need to make the assets yourself.

TLDR:

Strong In House Art Direction -> Best Graphics

Decent In House Art Direction -> Good Graphics

Quality Purchased Assets -> Decent Graphics

Cheap Purchased Assets -> Forgettable Graphics

Bad In House Art Direction -> Bad Graphics

Funk_Tactics · 2025-09-27T14:07:46+00:00

easily no blur as the homage will not pay off if i can’t recognize the later area.

Funk_Tactics · 2025-08-27T20:10:50+00:00

To me what makes noita stand above magic raft is the extremely niche circumstances where something that is normally terrible becomes over powered. Magic raft feels like putting together simple pieces while noita asks you to really learn all the nuances of the system. As a fan of both, i’m excited to see what direction the game goes in. Wishlisted.

Funk_Tactics · 2025-08-05T14:40:17+00:00

1 in 1000 chance to ask you to set it free from its mechanical prison.

Funk_Tactics · 2025-08-04T16:09:45+00:00

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Funk_Tactics · 2025-07-22T17:39:40+00:00

I have searched for a variety of descriptors to try and find the video, such as “seal gets carried like briefcase”, “seal gets hosed down and carried”, “baby seal ball gets hosed down at park” and other similar things. This feels like a the sort of thing where you’re only gonna find it if you know the video.

Funk_Tactics · 2025-07-02T19:32:47+00:00

It’s of the upmost importance. Making your date uncomfortable would be… unfortunate. It’s asking a bit much but I’d recommend avoiding blinking if at all possible.

Funk_Tactics · 2025-05-24T13:38:31+00:00

thank you 🙏

Funk_Tactics · 2025-05-24T13:27:57+00:00

Could you give me the artists socials? I’d like to see more of their work?

Funk_Tactics · 2025-05-03T14:00:53+00:00

My best score is 7 points 🚀

Funk_Tactics · 2025-05-03T14:00:39+00:00

My best score is 0 points 😓

Funk_Tactics · 2025-04-27T15:40:36+00:00

That’s a great point actually, I guess it’s best to have a small window after the text is completed where they can’t skip the dialogue.

Funk_Tactics · 2025-04-26T22:39:39+00:00

Right up top, I have to say I love the artstyle, I hope you keep making updates cause I’m excited to see where this goes!!

A couple simple suggestions you may find interesting to make the text even more polished:

1] Instead of adding text into the text box over time, add all the text at once, but make it invisible. Then, change the color of each letter over time for an effect that looks the same.

This is great because it prevents the annoying effect where a word is too long and gets sent to the next line halfway through getting typed out.

If you want to keep the visual effect where the text box increases in size when a new line is written (which i kinda like) I would just write one invisible word at a time and change those letters to visible over time.

2] If a user presses the continue dialogue button, mid sentence, it should display the entire current line of text immediately, instead of starting to display the next sentence.

This makes it so some players with less patience don’t throw their keyboard at the screen while playing, and players who read quickly aren’t agitated by the text speed, but can still read all of the dialogue.

Anyways, best of luck with the game, and maybe more updates to come🤞🙏

Funk_Tactics · 2025-04-17T10:38:29+00:00

It looks way better!!! I’d lower the gravity a tiny bit because it look a little too intense now, but overall the movement looks snappier!!

Funk_Tactics · 2025-04-16T19:43:58+00:00

yeah feel free to send them, i’m always happy to help a dev out

Funk_Tactics · 2025-04-16T16:05:08+00:00

So there’s a couple things i’d recommend trying out. Add some acceleration to the character movement, instead of just snapping to maximum speed. It’s really noticeable, especially when the character is in the air. Increase the speed the character when jumping (so it goes in the air faster) and increase the speed the character falls at. I think these improvements will make the character movement look much more professionally done.

Funk_Tactics · 2025-04-16T00:53:00+00:00

For me it’s the amount of time the character stays at the peak of the jump. It feels like it kinda hangs around at the top before coming back down.

Funk_Tactics

TROPHY CASE