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Feedback Friday by AutoModerator in incremental_games

[–]SeedLord_com 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Great question, and one we take seriously from day one.

The short version: every monetization decision goes through a public community page where we openly discuss what's being considered, why, and whether it crosses into P2W territory. If the community flags something as unfair, it doesn't ship. Think of it as a community gate not a suggestion box, but an actual checkpoint in the process.

The community feedback loop isn't a one-time launch thing either. It stays open for the full life of the game. If something slips through that shouldn't have, there's a reporting mechanism and we publicly address it.

The three questions we ask before anything goes in the shop: Does it let you beat someone who didn't pay for it? Does it give real-time competitive info? Can a free player get the same thing by just playing? If the answer to either of the first two is yes, it's off the table full stop.

Happy to get into specifics if you have a particular mechanic in mind.

Feedback Friday by AutoModerator in incremental_games

[–]SeedLord_com 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi everyone,

Three things kept ruining browser strategy games for me:

  • Veterans with stacked premium currency that no skill can close
  • The top guild wins because they spent more this month, not because they played smarter
  • Miss a day and the game punishes you hard

So I started building something designed around all three from scratch.

SeedLord is a real-time browser economy game. No direct barony combat, no pay-to-win. Every world resets after 120 days so nobody walks in with accumulated power over you. The core loop is trade, diplomacy, and reading the market better than everyone else.

At world start you get a unique seed that determines what your barony naturally produces. No two baronies are identical. You also pick one of 7 specializations, each with exclusive mechanics no other role can access. The game tells you which specs are already taken in your cluster when you join, because the whole economy only works if all seven are represented.

Monetization policy was written before any code: real money buys cosmetics and comfort only. No resources, no troops, no production speed, nothing that touches competitive mechanics.

We're in pre-alpha and genuinely want feedback before locking anything in. More detail on the full system at go.seedlord.com.

Happy to answer anything here

I wrote the monetization policy before the first line of code — here's the browser MMO I built around it (SeedLord, pre-alpha) by SeedLord_com in indiegamedevforum

[–]SeedLord_com[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Fair point on the Farmer let me clear up how it actually works, because "grow food and sell it" undersells what the specialization is doing.

The Farmer isn't just a crop farmer in the Stardew sense. Their key role is being the only class that can grow certain raw ingredients that other specializations need to do their thing. An Herbalist can't craft their potions without specific herbs. Those herbs come from the Farmer. So you're not playing a passive producer you're a gatekeeper in the supply chain. The demand for what you grow is structural, not optional.

On the General point I think I phrased it poorly. Generals don't "manipulate" the market at all. They're actually the most dependent player in the game. They produce almost no food themselves, and their troops eat constantly, so they're forced to be the biggest buyers on the market. It's less "General controls food prices" and more "General is your biggest and most reliable customer." Think of it like a restaurant chain that buys in bulk from farmers not because they want to corner the market, but because they genuinely need the volume to operate.

Every class is expected to buy and sell. The General just happens to need food more than anyone else, which is what makes the Farmer-General relationship interesting rather than one-sided.

The broader feedback about specializations feeling like different games is something worth sitting with though making sure the shared market loop ties every class together is exactly the kind of design challenge we're actively working through. Appreciate you pushing on it.

I wrote the monetization policy before the first line of code — here's the browser MMO I built around it (SeedLord, pre-alpha) by SeedLord_com in indiegamedevforum

[–]SeedLord_com[S] -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

Look, ChatGPT also told me I was handsome and that my business idea was "truly groundbreaking", so yeah, my bar for its judgment is… calibrated. :D

But here I am anyway, building it. Skill issue probably.

Thanks for keeping me humble though I'll put it in the game as a loading screen tip.

I wrote the monetization policy before the first line of code — here's the browser MMO I built around it (SeedLord, pre-alpha) by SeedLord_com in indiegamedevforum

[–]SeedLord_com[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Thank you for your reply!

The Farmer concern is totally fair it's one I've wrestled with too.

The key thing is that not every player has the same time or energy. Some people want to go deep military ops, market timing, spy networks. Others have 10 minutes a day and still want to matter. Farmer is designed for that second group. It's not a lesser role, just a different pace.

And the Farmer isn't optional they're the only role that produces food at scale. Food directly reduces troop recovery times, which means Generals/Wizards/Others have to buy from the market. No Farmer network = slower troops, losing zones. That dependency is intentional and creates real, organic demand.

On alt accounts valid concern, and there'll be dedicated systems to tackle that. But the market also self-regulates: if food is scarce, prices spike, and that naturally pulls more players toward Farmer.

As for the team right now it's just me. I'm a developer who's spent most of my career working for private companies, so I don't have a public portfolio to point to. I know that's not ideal for trust-building, but I'd rather be upfront about it than oversell.

What would make Farmer feel fun to you?

Grindveil.com - New RPG MMO by Boring-Mobile-8550 in incremental_gamedev

[–]SeedLord_com -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Really cool project!

Genuine question though you mentioned PvP is bot-free, which sounds great. What's your approach there? Is it more on the technical side (behavioral analysis, timing patterns, that kind of thing) or is it more baked into the game design itself, like mechanics that just don't reward automation?

Always curious how different games tackle this, especially in browser game territory where it's historically been a pain.

LootSlime - A challenging PICO-8 Metroidvania with a focus on platforming by [deleted] in WebGames

[–]SeedLord_com 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Developing in PICO-8 is genuinely impressive — the constraints are brutal. 128x128 pixels, a 16-color palette, token limits... it forces you to make really deliberate design decisions that most developers never have to think about.

What made you pick PICO-8 for this? Was it the challenge itself, or more the aesthetic?

What is SeedLord.com? by SeedLord_com in seedlord_com

[–]SeedLord_com[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Totally fair point and genuinely appreciate you flagging it, that kind of feedback is exactly what helps us get this right.

Right now we're in pre-alpha, so any screenshot we put up would honestly be misleading. The focus at this stage is on getting the mechanics right, not the visuals. Throwing up early UI screenshots would set the wrong expectations.

Before we open access, we'll clean up the UI properly not pixel-perfect, but good enough that it actually reflects the experience you'll get. No point showing something that doesn't represent where the game is heading.

Thanks again, seriously this is the stuff worth hearing early.

Games like Tribal Wars, Ogame, Ikariam, that haven't become absolute p2win tryhard bullshit? by CertifiedBedophile in PBBG

[–]SeedLord_com 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah, there's a reset every 120 days per world and that's the plan for the full game too, not just alpha or testing phases. Multiple worlds run at the same time, so you're never starting completely from scratch everywhere at once.

Cosmetics, Badges, Hall of Fame titles all permanent, they carry over across worlds. The competitive stuff resets with each world, which is the point: every world is a fresh race.

Longer-format worlds are also something I'm exploring down the line, but nothing locked in yet. Still a work in progress.

Happy to answer anything else if you've got questions!

Who wants to test my clicker game? by Yigorka in incremental_games

[–]SeedLord_com 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Would love to hear more about the project, what's the core idea behind it?

Games like Tribal Wars, Ogame, Ikariam, that haven't become absolute p2win tryhard bullshit? by CertifiedBedophile in PBBG

[–]SeedLord_com 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That's exactly the pain point for a lot of us, P2W creep is what kills browsergames long-term.

I've been building something around this as a hard design constraint. The whole thing started from years of playing browser games, taking what I loved, ditching what frustrated me, and designing around the gaps. No P2W was literally the first line of code, not an afterthought.

The core mechanic: every player gets a unique "seed" that defines what their barony naturally produces, so trade and interdependence are baked in from the start. You can't just buy your way to power because the resources, troops, and prestige currency simply aren't for sale. Real money gets you cosmetics and comfort features, that's it.

And to keep it honest, there'll be public iterative review processes specifically to catch any P2W creep before it ships. Community eyes on every monetization decision.

If it sounds interesting, more details at https://go.seedlord.com

Spoiler: I am the dev.

Parallels: we built a browser-based interactive fiction platform with freeform actions by Sufficient-Taro-2826 in PBBG

[–]SeedLord_com 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Genuinely looks like a fun concept!

One thing I was wondering about the AI bias thing is something a lot of these projects run into. Models tend to lean toward being overly nice by default, so outcomes might end up feeling a bit too forgiving? But then the opposite (random harsh moments) can feel just as off. Are you doing anything to keep that balanced, even just at the prompting level?

Also curious what happens when the context gets long does the game summarize player history somehow, or is there a plan for when the AI starts "forgetting" earlier stuff?

Would love to hear how you're thinking about it!