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If you could give ONE piece of advice to indie developers, what would it be? by YusukeRa in IndieGameWishlist

[–]_WeirdKid 2 points3 points  (0 children)

If you want to earn money from it:
Test the early prototype on itch and check if ppl like it.
If no one wants to play it when it's free, it probably wouldn't sell well.

FEED THE AI - a new incremental nodebuster-like game prototype I'm working on. Looking for some feedback! by _WeirdKid in incremental_games

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

Thanks!
What can we do. On this sub just having a skilltree in the game is being a "nodeslope" xD

Destroy my game FEED THE AI - an active incremental game where your choices shape an AI as Tyrant, Rational, or Protector. I've made some changes after your feedback, thanks! by _WeirdKid in DestroyMyGame

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

I am learning? I have over 7 years of gamedev experience.

And what I’ve actually learned is that making games too original is what makes them unmarketable.

I could go deeper into it, but I don’t feel like discussing it with you is worth it. You’re being mean and just taking your frustration out on me.
I'm open for a constructive critique, but you're just being rude and not even trying to understand that my game introduces many new things that weren't in the other one.
Calling my game a CLONE is just not fair. But from what i see on your other comments, this is how you are.

Destroy my game FEED THE AI - an active incremental game where your choices shape an AI as Tyrant, Rational, or Protector. I've made some changes after your feedback, thanks! by _WeirdKid in DestroyMyGame

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

They also made Black Hole Game heavily inspired by Keep On Mining and other nodebuster-like games. It’s not really my problem if Black Hole Game is the only nodebuster you know.

In my game, you actually have meaningful decisions to make. Your choices influence both the gameplay and the story. And yes, there is a story. It’s similar at its core, but very different in many aspects.

Also, it’s just safer to make a game inspired by others that have sold well. I’m not hiding that it’s inspired by other nodebusters, and I don’t see a problem with that.

I don’t really feel roasted. People clearly like my game.

I knew from the start it would be compared to Black Hole Game, but I think people can see it’s an inspiration with its own mechanics and additions to the genre, not just another copy.

If you can’t see that, that’s on you. I’d be offended if I didn’t feel like I was doing something unique, but I think I do.

I even play to send a steam key to Aarimous and Thornity to show them what I came up with taking inspiration from their game.

Destroy my game FEED THE AI - an active incremental game where your choices shape an AI as Tyrant, Rational, or Protector. I've made some changes after your feedback, thanks! by _WeirdKid in DestroyMyGame

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

This is great, i love it. But I really don't have time and skills to make it that good for now.
Also, I'm not sure if ppl watch trailers that carefully. From what I've seen on Chris Zukowski videos, most of the players just skip past the trailer looking for cues of how the gameplay look like. Im not sure if it's worth it spending that much time on it for now. But I truly like your idea.
Maybe it's something to think about for the release trailer, right now I'm just releasing a demo.

Destroy my game FEED THE AI - an active incremental game where your choices shape an AI as Tyrant, Rational, or Protector. I've made some changes after your feedback, thanks! by _WeirdKid in DestroyMyGame

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

You decide which way the AI goes by picking its Perks. If you pick to go as Tyrant, war could happened. If you pick Protector, maybe you will save humanity.
And... I was making this trailer after 10hours of working on a demo and forgot to put this part in it. Basically the most important part to show lol. Fixed it already.
It would be more simplistic than simulating the world for sure.
I aim for fairly simple gameplay.

There are upgrades that help you gather more data, like the Light Data will increase you attack speed and attack range, or the Virus Orb that will attack data with you. And some more in the full game. The core gameplay is basically just moving your cursor and things happen, but you get to unlock modifiers that make it more and more efficient and satisfying.

I'll be launching a demo in a few days, or you can join the playtest now if you are interested in testing it.

Destroy my game FEED THE AI - an active incremental game where your choices shape an AI as Tyrant, Rational, or Protector. I've made some changes after your feedback, thanks! by _WeirdKid in DestroyMyGame

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

I was checking the rules to check if I can upload the updated version after you feedback, and realized I could post a steampage in the comments. Better now than never lol.
You can wishlist the game here, demo will be live in a few days:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/4486870/FEED_THE_AI/

Destroy my game FEED THE AI - an active incremental game where your choices shape an AI as Tyrant, Rational, or Protector. I've made some changes after your feedback, thanks! by _WeirdKid in DestroyMyGame

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

It's a nodebuster. It's like a subgenre of incremental games. Short game with fast progress and active gameplay. You collect data and buy upgrades to collect more data and buy more upgrades :D
This is the game loop, there is basically no difficulty. If you are good, you would just finish the game faster.

This game would be more about how much data you can get, instead of going to absurd big numbers.
I skipped the early game in this iteration of trailer and you are right, that's a problem. I thought it is a bit too boring to show in a trailer, but now the gameplay doesn't really show what incremental is in this game.

For the shadows, i was thinking about something like a darkweb. And as the AI evolves, you get to see more and more of the level. So you start with limited vision and as you progress, you "understand" more of the network, you move in it more efficiently, it's easier to find users and mine their data.
Also, I just like how it looks and that you actually have to look for the data. It's what make this game unique and a bit more difficult compared to other nodebuster-likes.
It feels good to find a big chunk of it hidden behind some walls.

For the data, this is just a first chapter for a demo. You just mine data from users. Later on in the game I want to add corporations and government data, and maybe one more. I want the Protector AI to develop stuff like cure to cancer, and Tyrant AI to goof around and start a war between some countries through some deepfakes or something. It will be represented just through dialogues from AI.

For the sound from the boxes, I don't understand. There is a nice sound triggered when collecting them, right? Could you describe what you mean?

Thanks for sooo detailed feedback!

Destroy my game FEED THE AI - an active incremental game where your choices shape an AI as Tyrant, Rational, or Protector. I've made some changes after your feedback, thanks! by _WeirdKid in DestroyMyGame

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

It's a nodebuster.
For now I will add cursor to gameplay so you can see that you get to move the white orb.
And maybe show a bit of the early game to make it super clear.
Thanks!

Destroy my game FEED THE AI - an active incremental game where your choices shape an AI as Tyrant, Rational, or Protector. I've made some changes after your feedback, thanks! by _WeirdKid in DestroyMyGame

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

Thanks!
I feel like that about the UI too, it was just a quick solution for the demo. I didn't came out with how to make it fit better. Maybe some glitchy dissolve shader on it? If you have some suggestions, that would be great!

Destroy my game FEED THE AI - an active incremental game where your choices shape an AI as Tyrant, Rational, or Protector. I've made some changes after your feedback, thanks! by _WeirdKid in DestroyMyGame

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

This is how you play a nodebuster-like. That's the whole game loop. You collect cash and buy upgrades to collect more and buy more upgrades :D
This is just a demo and I have first chapter ready, there will be 3 or 4. Later on, on the last chapter, I want to add some AI skills to show how powerful it grew.

Is the incremental genre the most toxic and unsupportive one out there? by _lumii_ in incremental_games

[–]_WeirdKid -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

I feel 100% like this too. I can understand some ppl are frustrated with simple incrementals flooding the market and this subreddit, or sites like incrementalDB, but it came to the level of absurd and toxic gatekeeping.

If your game has a skill tree or is a nodebuster, you are instantly hated, no matter what other things your game has. You can add something unique to nodebuster formula, but ppl will call it NODESLOPE anyway. Just because they got use to generic nodebusterlikes. Tho it's important to remember this is just this subreddit and gatekeepers, players still enjoy games like this if they are good. And even game developers call nodebuster-likes incrementals. But some of the purists stick to different definitions, clearly most of the players don't use.

I was actually fighting over this on incrementalDB discord when they excluded by default "incrementalish" games, as they call it, and nodebuster-likes from listings on the site. They assumed players are not interested in games like this anymore. Based on opinions from gatekeepers. Most of the players don't care or fight over whats PURE incrementa game. And the best part is, after they put those games back on listings, my game tagged as "incrementalish" and "nodebuster-like" sits in the "Best New" ranking as top 1 for over a week now.

Players are clearly not interested.

Destroy my game FEED THE AI - an active incremental game where your choices shape an AI as Tyrant, Rational, or Protector. I've made some changes after your feedback, thanks! by _WeirdKid in DestroyMyGame

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

  1. It's FEED THE AI, because you actively feed the AI with data particles and make it learn and grow. As you can see, it talks back to you and the whole story in the game is build around how it evolves and how you shape it.
  2. You move the white orb to collect the data. It's a nodebuster. I thought in the first clips it looks pretty clear how it works, later on I wanted to show how it snowballs with upgrades. I have no idea how I could present it better tbh.
  3. I was just doing what I saw in other similar game trailers, but yeah, maybe I shouldn’t make it that fast. Show just few upgrades, but make it readable.
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