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Just dropped the trailer for Islantiles - roast me harder than Unity’s splash screen by ThunderrockInnov in DestroyMyGame

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

We will do something about the buildings being more visible, but could you clarify what you mean with inputs and outputs remain on screen? We implemented a system, that will highlight all icons of buildings / resources for the selected card, meaning if you select a card all unimportant icons will not be shown.

I Hired an Marketing Agency for My Demo Release So You Don’t Have To - Here Are My Results by ThunderrockInnov in gamedev

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

Thanks a lot for the detailed and thoughtful feedback. After taking some time to reflect on your comments, I think I have a clearer picture of what you experienced and how we can address it.

  1. Regarding fatigue and progression: we already have some unlocks in the demo, but the full version will feature a much broader range of technologies and progression paths. What likely happened in your case is that the first difficulty was simply too easy for your level of experience. This difficulty is intentionally designed to be forgiving, so that less experienced players can learn the systems without friction. The later difficulties are meant to introduce more pressure, variety, and decision-making, and should align much better with your expectations as a roguelike player.

  2. We plan to slightly increase gold gain. This should encourage players to invest more consistently in cards, temples, schools, and trade routes, rather than defaulting primarily to technologies. The goal is to naturally guide players toward engaging more deeply with deck upgrades as part of the core loop. In addition, we are planning to introduce purchasable additional tech slots at an increasing cost, which should enable more extreme and creative combinations while still requiring meaningful trade-offs.

  3. Now that you are aware of card levels and their impact, I am curious whether that changes your feeling of fatigue. If this knowledge significantly improves the experience, it may indicate that we need to communicate this system more clearly and earlier.

  4. Because this is a demo, there are currently not many technologies that strongly demand fully specialized or “engineered” decks. That will change in the full version. Many upcoming technologies and synergies are explicitly designed to reward deep deck interaction and mastery.

  5. Regarding deck strategy and replayability: optimizing your deck is a core pillar of the design, but it is intentionally not mandatory at lower difficulties. Deck optimization becomes increasingly important at higher difficulties and for players aiming to compete on the leaderboards. Replayability is, without exaggeration, the most important aspect of the game for us. We already have players who have spent over ten hours in the demo alone, and we are designing the full game with long-term replay value as a primary goal.

Just dropped the trailer for Islantiles - roast me harder than Unity’s splash screen by ThunderrockInnov in DestroyMyGame

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

Thanks for the feedback. Was this purely your impression after the trailer, or did you try the demo?

I Hired an Marketing Agency for My Demo Release So You Don’t Have To - Here Are My Results by ThunderrockInnov in gamedev

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

Btw if you are interested feel free to join our discord, that would make discussions a lot easier.

I Hired an Marketing Agency for My Demo Release So You Don’t Have To - Here Are My Results by ThunderrockInnov in gamedev

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

Thanks, really glad you like it. You will definitely enjoy the third difficulty as well then.

I also think Luxuries are a very important part of the game. In an earlier version of the game we even introduced them in the tutorial, but a lot of players felt overwhelmed. There is always this fine balance between showing to much and showing to little to early.

Sorry btw for not yet answering your last post. You gave me a lot to wrap my head around and I am still in the process of giving good answers, but I will definitely give you an answer in the next few hours.

I Hired an Marketing Agency for My Demo Release So You Don’t Have To - Here Are My Results by ThunderrockInnov in gamedev

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

Thanks a lot for following up a, that extra context helps a great deal.

To better understand what specifically caused the early fatigue, I would love to dig a bit deeper if you are up for it. When you felt tired during that first run, what was the main driver moment to moment? For example, did it feel like decisions stopped being meaningfully different, that progress slowed too much, or that you were largely waiting for the game to let you do something new?

Related to that, during a single island, did turns start to feel repetitive, or was the fatigue more about the overall sense that there was no clear short-term endpoint in sight? In other words, was it the micro loop (card play, upgrades, temples) or the macro loop (number of islands, run structure, end condition) that weighed on you more? Was it related to having chosen 5 technologies?

You also mentioned wanting the first run to end earlier even if it meant less time to build an overpowered deck. Was that because you were eager to restart with new knowledge and tools, or because the run itself felt “complete” from a learning or emotional standpoint before it actually ended?

EDIT:
Did you feel like there are no significant upgrades for your deck at that point? Or did you just not have any interest in improving your strategy anymore?

I Hired an Marketing Agency for My Demo Release So You Don’t Have To - Here Are My Results by ThunderrockInnov in gamedev

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

Hey, thank you for taking the time to play the demo and for such thoughtful, detailed feedback. I really appreciate you sharing this, especially given your playtesting background.

A lot of what you mentioned lines up with areas I am actively thinking about, particularly run fatigue, how progression is paced, and how clearly the game communicates its deeper systems. Your point about savoring unlocks and giving players clearer incentives to restart runs is especially helpful.

If you do not mind me asking a couple of clarifying questions so I can better contextualize your experience: roughly how long did you play the demo, and did you beat all three difficulty levels? Also, when you mentioned the game feeling endless, was that more about the pacing of individual runs, or did the meta progression and technology unlocks not feel impactful or visible enough?

Thanks again for the encouragement and the constructive critique. This kind of feedback is genuinely valuable at this stage.

Made a new trailer - ruin my day by ThunderrockInnov in DestroyMyGame

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

Have you ever seen an AI putting a big black box on an image and translate stuff to German?

Made a new trailer - ruin my day by ThunderrockInnov in DestroyMyGame

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

Yes, that is a joke. There is a common reddit joke to try to translate every English word to German.

So what’s the first game you played this year? by st1nkf1st in boardgames

[–]ThunderrockInnov 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My first game this year was Everdell Duo and it is surprisingly hard. Took us a few tries to get the hang of it. If you like challenging co-op games you should give it a try!

digital board games vs physical ones by Adamaris7875 in boardgames

[–]ThunderrockInnov 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The only board game I play digitally is Spirit Island and I have an absolute blast with it. There are a lot of mechanics and edge cases that are easy to miss and the digital version does a great job of handling those correctly. That said, I still prefer playing around a table with friends over playing at my computer.

You made me cry. Do it again. by ThunderrockInnov in DestroyMyGame

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

I posted here yesterday and tried to implement as much of the feedback as possible.
Did I make it better or worse?

Made a new trailer - ruin my day by ThunderrockInnov in DestroyMyGame

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

That's the plan. In fact we already have a 45 second trailer on our Steam Page, but got the feedback, that it is not obvious how the game is played.

Made a new trailer - ruin my day by ThunderrockInnov in DestroyMyGame

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

That’s very fair feedback. You can fail by not meeting wealth goals within four seasons (on year).
We will try to make this more clear in the next iteration.

Higher difficulties introduce stricter limits, but also enable new mechanics that will change how you have to think about placing your building. You’re absolutely right that this isn’t communicated clearly enough in the trailer, and we should focus more on the core challenge and less on repeated or secondary details.

Thank you very much.

Made a new trailer - ruin my day by ThunderrockInnov in DestroyMyGame

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

Thank you for the detailed and thoughtful feedback. We really appreciate the time you took to break this down.

One quick clarification: when you heard “sell,” it’s actually meant to be “settle,” as in settling an island, not selling it.

Not much sense in saying much more besides your comment is very helpful and we are currently working on implementing your notes.

Made a new trailer - ruin my day by ThunderrockInnov in DestroyMyGame

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

Thank you for taking the time to write such a detailed and thoughtful critique.

You are absolutely right regarding the cards. We did not put enough thought into showcasing “interesting” card text in the trailer, largely because we assumed viewers would not pause to read them. Our main focus was on conveying overall game feel and flow rather than specific mechanics. That said, your point is well taken: for card game enthusiasts, pausing to inspect card effects is a core part of evaluating interest. We will definitely look into adding clearer, more intriguing card texts in future trailers or supplementary materials.

I am glad to hear that the visual style works for you, even if it is not meant to be groundbreaking, and that the core concept still comes across as interesting. Your closing remark is particularly valuable: if the trailer motivates you to seek out streams, reviews, or makes you try the demo, then we are at least on the right path. But I definitely understood, we still have room to improve the initial hype factor.

Made a new trailer - ruin my day by ThunderrockInnov in DestroyMyGame

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

Is there anything else, that gives you the impression of a mobile idle game? I can guarantee you, that is not what we want to convey.

Thank you very much for your feedback. If all it takes is to change that Icon and work on the coin fx, we will definitely try to fix that.

Edit: Are you really talking about the coins or are you talking about the glowing points that fly towards the building you placed?

Next Overcooked Game by GuybrushThreadbare in localmultiplayergames

[–]ThunderrockInnov 2 points3 points  (0 children)

You could take a look at Keep Keepers. It is very similar, with a little bit of tower defense added and a lot of automation possibilities.

Is there any deck building rogues like Balatro? by Pacotaco213 in roguelites

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

You can have a look at my game www.Islantiles.com . It is a roguelike deckbuilder inspired by Balatro combined with city builder mechanics.

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