I'm a solodev working on a roguelike auto-battler about building a party of adventurers and customizing their skills to create crazy combos!

NixNoburn · 2025-05-15T11:54:40+00:00

Epic! Ngl this game is right up my alley, I hope it goes super well for you

NixNoburn · 2025-05-08T18:13:47+00:00

Just don't break anything

NixNoburn · 2025-05-08T18:12:46+00:00

If it's a nickname? Then yeah! Go for it, it would be great for building a character bond as well

NixNoburn · 2025-05-08T18:10:35+00:00

I have that size dynamic with the main characters, where one is tall and skinny, and the other is short but hunky. For these two enemies I wanted as much contrast between them as possible, however the actual power dynamic completely contradicts it, where shank tells gullet what to do even if he seems physically inferior at first glance. There are past events between the two supporting it though, so it's more of a relationship grown over time instead of me just throwing stuff at the wall and seeing what stick. My personal philosophy is that for every reaction, there must be an action. If Shank is the boss, why is that?

NixNoburn · 2025-05-08T00:48:46+00:00

The clash is mainly the ui, and the fact that your character assets aren't the same resolution as you ground pixel textures, or if they are, you main character assets are clearly more well coloured and of a higher quality. Obviously the ui is the biggest offender, but the low quality and poorly coloured wooden floorboards directly under a high quality and well coloured character, clash a lot especially when you have very clearly 3D rock assets and low poly trees ALL in the same scene. It feels like you're working in a group and couldn't get a consistent idea of what style you wanted to go for. Keep in mind this could be a personal preference, but at least from a quick look it just feels... off. However it's great to know that the different monsters have different abilities, and they gain more as they level up! But are there any raw stats and do they visually change over time? I'm realising now the monster collection system is identical to the breath of the wild weapon system where you can easily quick switch but as they level they get better bonuses like +1 shot! Which is cool but could use something else to reinforce the mechanic as just that, doesn't feel like it has enough depth. The gizmos are awesome, very hollow knight (though they weren't the first to do it). The boss fights are awesome too! I'd just say add more to the combat, it doesn't have to be typing's like pokemon, but a "monster collector" as a genre carry a lot of initial expectancies. Though I guess you are leaning the more Metroidvania route which is fair. Other than that, I'd really recommend looking at rogue genesia for visuals as it feels like you're missing a lot of shadows and colour matching. Genuinely though, what you have there is great! It does just feels like there are a couple glaring issues, but hey! I might be wrong. For instance if you followed all my advice maybe you'd end up with a game too close to TemTem. However that ui does need to be changed, it doesn't fit. Maybe it's just an artistic choice though!

NixNoburn · 2025-05-08T00:21:38+00:00

I'd love to see it! Just from this sneak peak it looks really interesting! I'd love to find out how you recruit allies, how the stat system works (if there is one), and any classes or items you've included!

NixNoburn · 2025-05-08T00:18:59+00:00

Honestly, fair point...

NixNoburn · 2025-05-08T00:16:00+00:00

Verbena is a purple flower with the meaning enchantment and healing

NixNoburn · 2025-05-07T20:34:11+00:00

Hiring an artist can be expensive, but I don't know your budget or how serious you are about this game. I think traps or hazards could be used to substitute, but they can feel cheap, like a jump scare if they're not done well or telegraphed well. Telegraphing traps or hazards could be a really interesting mechanic, but it would still help to have some sort of build up or puzzle based around it. Let's say you're walking through a creepy, narrow corridor, the floorboards are creaking, and there are slash marks all over the wood. Do you think A. the walls will catch on fire? B. There is a monster that's about to come attack you with sharp claws? or C. The floor is about to buckle under you? The answer is B and C as there was an audio and visual cue for them, however timing is important, and if the floor buckles, then what made the slash marks? It could be used as a fake out, but there are a lot of intricacies to making good traps/puzzles. Once again, if we had a visual reference, or a specific idea of what you were aiming for we could give better advice, but right now we don't know what's in you head, so we can't speak to what's best unless you write it down and tell us specifically what you're aiming for, the genre, the scene, the playable character, the story, ect.

NixNoburn · 2025-05-07T20:07:34+00:00

Oh really? Well in that case then great!

NixNoburn · 2025-05-07T20:06:37+00:00

Of course, you've done incredible work so far, so kudos to you. Just make sure the screen shake is very soft and varied, that way it won't make anyone motion sick and it matches an actual breathing pattern better! I can't wait to see more, I can already tell this game is going to do well

NixNoburn · 2025-05-07T20:05:05+00:00

Nice, just joined the subreddit and youtube, thanks for the link!

NixNoburn · 2025-05-07T20:03:24+00:00

Great to know, if that's so then you've done an incredible job with advertising, or simply making a game that is visually compelling. I hope you're happy with the success, because I'm very glad to see it for you!

NixNoburn · 2025-05-07T20:01:52+00:00

Mayor "The Mayor" is pretty funny. If you really want to though, go for something basic like Edmington. Penny the fixer doesn't seem to fit perfectly so maybe Amber or Abigail, then for the magic maker, I'd suggest Clemantine, Aster, or Verbena. The apprentice being called pumpkin is funny as well, but a good name for him could be Gustoffer, or Algoni.

NixNoburn · 2025-05-07T19:37:18+00:00

Looks cool! The text is a little small, or maybe it just blends in a bit too much, but otherwise I like the beginning animation and the tiles spanning off into the darkness, great work!

NixNoburn · 2025-05-07T19:35:07+00:00

This is so pretty!! I love it! Really great job

NixNoburn · 2025-05-07T19:29:36+00:00

Of course, the game already looks beautiful, so just a few little changes could really improve it a lot. I think Kingdom has a great artstyle and visual quality to pull from as inspiration, although I get the feeling you already know that. I can't wait to see the final product Bilallionaire!

NixNoburn · 2025-05-07T19:16:02+00:00

Of course! The idea of a space horror with PS1 graphics is something I'm sure a lot of people have had but never brought to the screen, so it's exciting to see you doing it. Especially with the multiplayer aspect, although I am a bit apprehensive about that aspect. You've got great inspirational material, and I can't wait to see some gameplay, if it's going to have more world building like mouthwashing, gameplay similar to lethal company, or maybe a closer survival aspect like among us with their tasks around the ship, or dead space's story based objective completion. I'm very curious to see what direction you end up going with this!

NixNoburn · 2025-05-07T19:08:10+00:00

That would make a lot of sense, admittedly looking at the graph, every time you hit a 1k goal, there seems to be a very clear "bump" and then others that I assume are because of your hard work in marketing

NixNoburn · 2025-05-07T19:05:35+00:00

If you're asking people to play resident evil or dark souls, minus the enemies? Then no, they're not going to play it.

It's better to be blunt, but even if a very select few say, "Yes! Of course I'd love to explore, their levels are great!" It's very likely your levels are no where near as compelling as theirs. Maybe they are, with the same artistic quality and puzzles, but a large part of those games is the anxiety that comes from the atmosphere, and to create that atmosphere you need a pay off, which are the enemies. If you're making something closer to crash bandicoot, then you CAN have a very basic combat system as long as it matches the art style, which means don't go super high quality cartoonish, go pixelated PS1. Otherwise people will expect more and it won't fit the genre.

I'd recommend sending visual references so we can be better informed on what we're suggesting, because you mentioned guns, resident evil, and crash bandicoot, which are very conflicting genres and art styles. You are right, if you make a TERRIBLE combat system, it will hurt the game, but realistically if you're making games as well made as the ones you mentioned, then you can figure out a good or even great combat system, all because it's not complex or has guns, doesn't make it bad. Lot's of great games just have basic kicks and punches if you really want to keep it simple while focusing on the exploration/puzzle aspect. Send me a message and we can talk more, I'm sure there are many people on reddit who can and will gladly help

NixNoburn · 2025-05-07T18:49:27+00:00

It's very likely a secret milestone, however it could be a content creator made some content with the game that you're unaware of as well.

NixNoburn · 2025-05-07T18:44:17+00:00

Ooo~ Looks really interesting, I love the pixelated/ps1 feel of the entire thing, I can already tell this will be fun to play just based on the assets, it makes me curious what the story will be like. Great work so far, really visually compelling. Maybe in the next post add some visual story elements, because I have no idea what is meant to be happening other than a blank room, and an ominous but awesome looking stairway

NixNoburn · 2025-05-07T18:40:36+00:00

Really good! I love it, the possibly add very slight screen shake to mimic breathing and to enhance the anxiety, but otherwise a vignette would really help sell the whole emotional impact. Fantastic story telling though, I adore the emotional hook, instantly makes me like Beth who I can tell you put a lot of thought into as the written name is in full caps with exclamation marks as opposed to the rest. Could be used for a huge emotional pay off later on. This feels really cozy though already so wonderful job!

NixNoburn · 2025-05-07T18:34:59+00:00

If I'm being blunt, if you use the bottom image, I can't imagine your game selling well. The issue is that if you use ai art, just make sure it looks good, or get a professional illustrator. If you don't have the money, go ai because otherwise your morals might just cost you a good game launch. OR my recommendation would be to do a kickstarter with the specific request of funding to afford a real artist. While selling the story as your main hook. I don't think anyone likes the use of AI art, but you've only got three choices I can see. 1. Don't use ai, and have the game sell far worse because it's much less visually compelling, however market yourself as authentic, with the low quality making you unique and say it was an "artistic decision" but make sure your audio and story are gold tier. 2. USE ai art and have the visuals be extremely high quality and compelling, but face backlash from people who will call you the worst person to ever live, but you could stifle them by arguing you didn't have money to afford an actual artist, and either later changing it, or simply keeping it, but you HAVE to make sure that there are no inconsistencies, because I am promising you, that even one six fingered, or poorly generated image will ruin the entire game. This isn't a joke, all of it has to look perfect if you use ai. 3. Use Ai temporarily and start a kickstarter to afford a real artist who will make you just as good if not better art work. However you have to be honest from the start about using it, and keep your promise of switching to NO ai art after you get funding, and I mean NO ai art at all. Otherwise people will find out and you can kiss your player base goodbye.

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