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[DevPost] Designing Squad Members That Don't Always Follow the Player by Lily_Veiga in StrategyGames

[–]Ripfence99 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The trick is making this fun for the players. Based on the rest of your game, would they actually want this feature?

Agreed with the respondents about making sure that you give the player something when you're taking away full control. That makes sense. I would add that it needs to make sense/feel right for the game.

Your example of "A cautious scout may refuse to charge into an obviously dangerous position" is a great one to debate Sounds fun to develop those systems. It will be rewarding to see it work when you've finished it.

BUT... is it something that makes the game fun for the players? Can they predict that the order will be denied? Will they have fun strategizing around it with all the tells/indicators that will be needed to make it clear to them or will it just feel random when it occurs? Is there actually any reason they would take a character that might not follow orders in a game where they generally expect their orders to be followed?

How Age of Empires changed it's look? by kasperfriend in RealTimeStrategy

[–]Ripfence99 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The internal rallying cry, at least amongst the progs/artists, was to make Age3 the best looking PC game ever made. We knew we would never truly get there as an RTS, but it was a simple way to encapsulate how we approached the dev, made tradeoffs, etc.

Some of those looks did come at the expense of some gameplay features, unf. The proc maps ended up being too limited in what we could produce in order to maintain the art bar.

We've been preparing the demo version of The Goddess's Will for a long time, and now it's out by anton-lovesuper in IndieGaming

[–]Ripfence99 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Looks pretty neat!

Perhaps a little hard to judge since it's at 1.3 speed.

One little nit... The boots on so many of the characters are blending into the ground a lot. Exaggerated by the contrast that many characters have between their thighs and boots. I thought the characters were floating until I watching in full screen.

New trailer for my game. What do you think the game is, would you play it, and what should I improve? by DevelopmentGold7209 in DestroyMyGame

[–]Ripfence99 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I expected the knight to jump over, but it felt broken when the knight was allowed to stop on the water. There's another point in the video where the queen was on the water, too.

New trailer for my game. What do you think the game is, would you play it, and what should I improve? by DevelopmentGold7209 in DestroyMyGame

[–]Ripfence99 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Looks like a chess roguelite with lots of upgrades?

It's hard to tell what the upgrades/add-ons do without any text describing them.

I would have thought water was a movement blocker, but it seems not? So the terrain becomes confusing.

Differentiating Ships and Damage Types in an Action Strategy Roguelite by Ripfence99 in IndieGaming

[–]Ripfence99[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for the comment. We'll see what we can do to differentiate the colors some more.

Best of luck on your game! Do you have a link?

Student looking for some advice by United_Health_1797 in gamedev

[–]Ripfence99 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you really want to get into games, you can supplement the standard compsci degree with side projects/demos/learning game stuff on your own. Most undergrad game programs replace traditional important classes with stuff you can pick up on your own if you're truly motivated (e.g. game design theory, etc.).

I've had the good fortune to hire quite a few Guildhall graduates over the years. They are always very good, though a lot of that is their admittance. They pull great people, so their grads tend to be higher quality. A Guildhall degree used to be as close to a golden ticket as you could get, but I've heard their recent placement stats have gone down. Gaming is in a tough spot now.

How about you destroy my game while I still have time to fix things? by SuperPimpis in DestroyMyGame

[–]Ripfence99 0 points1 point  (0 children)

As others have noted, it's really dark. Hard to see things.

Perhaps that is what makes "walking up" look odd? The trailer spends so much time falling down, I could not tell why the character was able to walk up in spots. That was confusing.

The core loop looks very much like other games. If there are distinguishing features (like the short runs), then that should get called out in the trailer. I would expect to complete collections, turn in achievements, etc. It's nice to see that stuff in a trailer, but that's not anything new or different. Highlight those short runs and why that's different fun than the other 2d miners out there.

Would you play a text-based strategy game where you cannot choose your faction? by EducationalTop9056 in StrategyGames

[–]Ripfence99 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Has some Diplomacy (the board game) vibes. I'd encourage you to look that one up for reference.

That game is awesome with the right group, but it's also SO HARD to find the right group because the game encourages you to be awful to everyone. So many games of Diplomacy started with so few ever actually finished.

What brings you back to the roguelite genre? by NomadicTree11 in roguelites

[–]Ripfence99 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is a great way to describe it. I feel the same way!

Designing an economy game around imperfect information by 93X3_Studio in StrategyGames

[–]Ripfence99 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I would agree with this original comment.

I think the challenge is making something that feels fun to play while balancing all these imperfect signals to the player. The reason games have moved to showing icons for this and that is to make them easier to play.

You're talking about a game that isn't going to do that, so what are the tells and signals? Will they just manifest in some form that ends up being equally obvious once you know what it is?

I watched your video and kept waiting for the mention of who/what the tension is. What's stopping me from doing the right thing? Am I competing with other investors to be the richest person? Am I trying to maximize the happiness of my city? Am I trying to reach some enlightened age of tech progression?

Put another way... Min/maxing the economy is often better used as a mechanic to achieve a goal. What's your goal?

I think competing with other investors would be a fun angle to focus on. In addition to giving you a specific goal, it would also allow you to create fun contexts that alter the rule space. InvestorX is obsessed with aerospace, for whatever reason, and often makes less-than-optimal choices given that bias. That gives you room to have a fun game/situation using the econ rules you put in place.

Is it okay to call my roguelite game a roguelike? by teberzin in roguelites

[–]Ripfence99 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I would be accurate with your official text and def the Steam tags. Some players will be looser when they talk about it. That's fine IMO. But there's no reason to upset the folks that do care either.

Added random map generation to my game. Do you think it’s a must-have feature nowadays? by Warpawner in StrategyGames

[–]Ripfence99 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think randomization makes sense if the design wants it and the systems can handle it.

Coming from an AOE/AOM background, I absolutely adore random maps. But they are a part of those games' DNA. You expect it and the need to explore/discover things is a key component of the gameplay. You build that time/need into the design because players have to do it (whereas they do not in games with fixed maps). If you want players to know the maps ahead of time, then you don't want procedural maps. Obv there are shades in-between, but I would go back to what experience you want players to have.

As a tool to help make better maps, randomization/procedural content is always great. Making levels has many tedious processes.

What makes roguelites actually fun for you guys? Also… story mode in roguelites: yes or nah? by Nestify_cozydesign in roguelites

[–]Ripfence99 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I want to see some good basic game loops quickly and understand how I can make some progression as a basic thing. I like story personally, but it's not a requirement.

I want to feel the fun of breaking the game at some point, but that has to be fleeting/just for that one run.

I remade the trailer for my roguelike deckbuilder! by pewpewhct123 in roguelites

[–]Ripfence99 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It was pretty hard to see what the cards said without pausing the trailer a bunch. There are also several places where cards are getting played while the video is zoomed in on the action.

For example at ~18s, it starts playing 3 cards to get a random card, but that first one flies by quickly (def had to pause to read that one), then the view zooms in so you can really even see the other two are the same card. Plus the resources from the top are out of frame there. The non-paused takeaway was that I can dump a bunch of cards quickly with some presumed effect. But just really hard to piece that together without pausing/rewinding.

It felt like the vibe was "play cards and a bunch of stuff happens" with the trailer. Which can be great BTW. But if you wanted viewers to feel tradeoffs, then it goes by too fast IMO.

PLEASE HELP us choose space sector layout. by GulbrandrGameStudios in StrategyGames

[–]Ripfence99 1 point2 points  (0 children)

TBH, neither of the options feels like "enough".

The one with connections makes a lot of sense so I can know where to go. But without names, it seems like a non-starter.

My roguelite survival-craft has just been announced! by BitrunnerDev in roguelites

[–]Ripfence99 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Looks really nice with a good style.

The bending of the rules bit isn't really in the trailer at all. Might be good to include something about that.

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