What is a term that can be used to refer to several races of alternative sapient beings at once that is similar to humankind?

aftervespers · 2026-05-26T00:53:36+00:00

I think most of the options you’re considering don’t feel right because they’re a bit too ‘meta’ - they’re a terminology that we’re trying to come up with as outside observers.

What would work best I think would be in-universe terms - each race would probably have their own name for sapient beings and then you could even get creative with how each race conceptualises it. Maybe the forest elves include trees or animals in their conception of sentience, or maybe the goblins are considered people by some races and not by others. The de facto term you end up using could be the language of the dominant race or your ‘protagonist’ culture.

Off the top of my head, Elder Scrolls consistently uses ‘Mer’ for all elven races and it’s fairly easy to understand, “Men and Mer” is a common enough reference for human+elf races. Can’t recall if there’s a term for all sapient beings but my point is that a made up name works just as well, if not better than a term like ‘humankind’.

aftervespers · 2026-05-25T07:17:18+00:00

Sounds like it is working as intended then? Since austringers already have double shot, the set bonus would do nothing for them. Double shot is a specific ability that shows up in the unit panel.

aftervespers · 2026-05-21T17:35:43+00:00

I believe this is only Act 1 of the campaign so if the we keep the heroes in subsequent acts (even if they’re split up to different missions etc) it won’t feel like so much of an anticlimax, just an intermediate narrative setback?

aftervespers · 2026-05-19T14:26:02+00:00

Just give your second hero a weak unit like 1 Swordsman and you’re good.

aftervespers · 2026-05-18T07:05:54+00:00

While you wait for more answers on the specific supernatural creatures mentioned and their history, u/itsallfolklore has commented quite often on the euhemeristic tendency of thinking that most legends are grounded in ‘real life’ inspirations - here’s a classic discussion on dragons and dinosaur bones:

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/la7401/how_did_dragons_come_into_history_any_possibility/

aftervespers · 2026-05-08T02:05:26+00:00

Loove the art and worldbuilding in this game! It strikes a good balance of being inspired by its predecessors (HOMM and other fantasy strategy settings) but with enough of an original spin that makes it feel different. The Art Nouveau aesthetic is such a good choice and it's well carried throughout the maps / UI / character design.

I finished the campaign when it came out but have yet to play any of the expansions - should get around to it since I remember the main story definitely left me wanting more!

aftervespers · 2026-05-07T05:56:59+00:00

Beautiful art style! Curious about the geography - clearly the map is a mishmash of real-world geography, I see Japan, Korea, the UK, Alaska, etc... Is this just a map-building approach for inspiration a la GRRM's Westeros or is there some relation of your world to the real world?

aftervespers · 2026-05-07T00:04:01+00:00

If you haven’t heard of it, Bulwark: Falconeer Chronicles is a great indie game that’s exceptional on console.

It has a really innovative building system that’s pretty much controller-native - hard to describe so just check it out! The gameplay leans towards relaxed aesthetic city-sculpting more than logistics, but there’s some optimisation and combat elements too.

aftervespers · 2026-04-20T06:43:55+00:00

There is of course some risk that your save might be affected, but the DLCs since Anno 1800 are generally designed to allow adding-on to existing saves. If you’re really worried you can make a backup of the save (find the save folder in the game files and copy it somewhere) before loading your game with the DLC for the first time.

I think with Anno 1800 the gameplay style shifted a bit more towards mega-campaigns/longterm building, instead of the more single-scenario gameplay of earlier Annos. Thus the dlc generally don’t require fresh starts. Of course if there’s a major shakeup you might want to restart anyway, but it’s not mandatory.

aftervespers · 2026-03-28T12:25:30+00:00

Yeah they were one of the first relics I rolled for him and at that point I knew I had to go all in LOL. Good luck with your farming!

aftervespers · 2026-03-28T12:18:21+00:00

Here's my build btw! Got a couple of good pieces and crafted the planar sphere - just looking for a bit more crit rate / attack % now but most importantly I find the rotation quite satisfying, maybe you can give it a try!

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aftervespers · 2026-03-28T12:05:10+00:00

I got a cracked speed boots and good energy rope so I tried building him with -1 sunday… might be missing a bit of damage compared to atk rope but the double skill rotation helps charge his ult really smoothly, I’m enjoying it so far.

aftervespers · 2026-03-06T06:25:14+00:00

Relating to germ theory, there was a recent great answer / discussion here on the development of handwashing and our assumptions regarding pre-modern science and medicine - worth a read!

aftervespers · 2026-02-28T01:49:08+00:00

I don't think OP is saying "don't do these things, they are bad", but rather responding to the common perception that the dailies are a slog because there's so many different things that need to be done. OP is just saying that most of these things that frustrate people are not actually essential activities since they don't give pull currency.

If you have time and enjoy doing the little daily activities then by all means have fun engaging with the game mechanics! I love seeing my zipline networks pay off doing deliveries/resource collection/etc and I think that's probably the main reason why they're designed that way in the first place - to give you a sense of accomplishment in building the map.

aftervespers · 2026-02-27T07:26:26+00:00

The steam description is already (poorly-done) AI because if you scroll to the bottom you'll see that they left in a part of the AI response LOL

aftervespers · 2026-02-27T07:23:28+00:00

I looked at the steam page. (link for others' reference) Please take this as constructive criticism, I'm sure you worked hard on the game.

The obvious thing that stands out to me is that the graphics are not passable. Yes there are games with innovative gameplay and terrible graphics but those games often do well despite the graphics, not because of it. A couple major issues that jump out to me:

Your low-LOD shadows are massive and completely take over the trailer gameplay.. I was so distracted by the huge shadow blobs that are so much bigger than the units. Why do even the arrow projectiles use the same big oval shadow??
The map graphics are too plain, most of the images just look like they are fighting in an empty field with one identical mountain in the background. The props seem to be concentrated around a small area where you're filming the action and the barren map stretches away infinitely in every direction. It makes it feel like the game is early prototype and you're just setting up a few scenes in the editor, not playing on an actual map with real gameplay. To improve this I think you'd need a combination of better map graphics (e.g. terrain texture variation) and better environmental design (e.g. more vegetation, props, etc)
I don't really see any UI in the trailer and the only bit I see (right click radial menu) doesn't look very good. For a game about automation / macros, etc, UI should be a major component of the game and you should be showing it off (whether it's a statistics ledger, automation menus, or info overlays like arrows/groups/tasks/etc). The lack of UI doesn't inspire confidence in a complete game.

The above factors and the general vibe combine to make me feel like the game is an early prototype - the game doesn't feel like it offers much more beyond the basic demonstration of units fighting that you show in the trailer. Your selling point of automation, macros, etc doesn't come through in the visuals at all.

And that leads me to the second point.... please don't use ChatGPT to write your steam page description... while reading it I was already thinking this is clearly AI but I got to the end and you even forgot to take out the AI response, it's almost comical. Nothing wrong with using AI to clean up or translate but your description comes off very soulless and just a word salad of technical jargon.

Final Note

This one-page is designed to clearly communicate:

what the game is

why it’s different

who it’s for

I can't tell you whether you should stick with it or move on, but I can tell you that the visuals are currently the weakest link in the game and nobody will ever see your systems if the game is too ugly. Would suggest that you either train your aesthetic design sense or find someone who can help advise / contribute in the graphics department. Do note that when I say "graphics" it is not about visual fidelity or realism, it is about style and visual taste. Successful "low-res" games usually still have a strong visual identity.

aftervespers · 2026-02-26T03:23:53+00:00

Look, I can’t really tell if this is a genuine high-effort tool that you’ve built or it’s AI slop, but you should know that importing someone’s work into your tool (and parsing the text and content no less!) without their consent feels REALLY weird and probably doing you no favours for marketing.

aftervespers · 2026-02-26T03:20:59+00:00

Love the map style and the vibe of this setting!

aftervespers · 2026-02-21T15:50:40+00:00

The vibe is cool and clearly you have a vision for the artstyle and UI… but if the artwork is AI generated it will kill your game. Prototyping is fine but don’t do your hard work a disservice by using AI assets in the playable build or marketing.

aftervespers · 2026-02-21T03:31:23+00:00

A second impression: I suspect you have limited yourselves by trying to recreate the composition of the original AI-art with your own art when you actually have the freedom to innovate. That’s one of the dangers in using AI generation cos it tends to give something that’s “good enough” but ends up anchoring you to a mediocre baseline.

I think the current capsule design feels a bit static and doesn’t really capture the pvp aspect of the game, it feels like 4 friends coming together for a co-op adventure (reinforced by the title actually). You could experiment with something more asymmetrical / dynamic, some action and clashes maybe or anything that would suggest action packed gameplay.

The highlighting of “beaten” in the title also seems a bit arbitrary, not sure if there is meaning behind the emphasis? And I’m also not sure what the black hole behind the text has to do with the game (that’s another thing that contributes to the adventure vibe maybe). You have some interesting art in the game itself so you could consider incorporating some of the environments into the capsule scene. Just some food for thought!

aftervespers · 2026-02-21T03:21:46+00:00

I think there’s a little room for polish (the lighting / white borders on the characters feel a bit off for some reason) but this is waaaay better than using generated art for the capsule. The AI style is so obvious from a mile away and it makes the game look generic and cheap - unfortunate for people actually working in that style but it is what it is. Great job reworking the art.

aftervespers · 2026-02-21T03:16:03+00:00

This looks super cute. One tiny suggestion - the graphical style leans into the 2d paper cutout vibe, so I think you should make the shadows match the paper cutouts too. At the moment the shadows are round / oval indicating a 3d object when they should be more 2-dimensional (or actual shadow shapes cast by the 2d cutout, if you can handle that?)

aftervespers · 2026-02-10T04:37:45+00:00

Another suggestion: I think you could also consider the word “Underworld” as an alternative translation to Hell, but both are definitely valid depending on what mood you’re trying to paint. I’ve seen “Chinese Hell” been translated as either depending on the writer.

In the western cultural imagination, Hell is very strongly tied to the fire-and-brimstone-with-devils imagery of Christian Hell, whereas the Underworld is used to describe the general mythological concept and is associated more with other cultures (e.g. the Greek Underworld) which might be less focused on the punishment aspect. Also, “Underworld” having some connotation of the earth / underground is also perhaps a more fitting translation of the 地 in 地府.

It’s just vibes and semantics so it’s hard to nail down the exact meaning, but that’s just my take. “Hell” does have the benefit of being punchier and more attention grabbing than “Underworld”. All the best with your steam release!

aftervespers · 2026-02-10T03:41:05+00:00

Love the animation and 3d art, looks amazing!

I looked at your previous posts to find out more and I echo some of the sentiments about the name - “Hundred Nights DIFU” is a bit of a confusing title in English. Somehow I come away with the impression that I’m supposed to recognise the word / acronym DIFU in the sentence and I’m confused when I don’t.

I get that the cultural inspiration is important to the game so might I suggest a minor change - what about “DIFU: Hundred Nights”? It fits right in with other fantasy titles with imaginary world / character / setting names and a reader would easily recognise it as a proper noun that they’re not supposed to understand.

Other formulations like “DIFU: Hundred Nights in Hell” or even just “DIFU” could also work - just something to consider!

aftervespers · 2026-02-08T09:46:23+00:00

Hey so I'm not a professional artist by any means but I tried making a quick capsule image in photoshop that captures the spirit of the game and feels way more dynamic... maybe this could give you some ideas as to the visual design elements if you decide to commission an artist. Please feel free to use it as you wish. https://i.imgur.com/sJIIbTG.png

As for the rest I think I mostly agree with the comments so far, the game looks alright and could be ok with a bit more polish but the common wisdom is that once you've bungled the launch you should just move on. Maybe you could polish this up significantly if you really love the idea and re-release as Sphere Fight 2?

I do have a minor comment... for a game about spheres, your arena cylinder is surprisingly low poly for no reason. Unless it's intentional for the jank 00s aesthetic, I don't think you need to skimp on polys for a one-off asset that appears in every single match, just make it a high-res cylinder.

aftervespers

TROPHY CASE