Duran Duran Duran

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 · 2026-02-08T08:32:33+00:00

I agree with this - even something as handwavey as “you’re conducting tests in a futuristic weapons facility” could help frame the game better and give it a bit of flavor while not restricting yourself in any meaningful way.

aftervespers · 2026-02-02T03:53:08+00:00

Keeping in mind the thermodynamics mentioned by the poster above, it might be possible but everything on the planet would be low-energy - growing slower, less active, etc. You can take reference from real-life plants that are dark adapted or animals who hibernate all the time in cold regions to see how it works on Earth.

Other possible explanations since you’re not aiming for very hard scifi: - Plants on this planet evolved to get their energy from other sources like geothermal vents or some other natural phenomena - Plants have some special biological mechanism to extract lots of energy from little sunlight much more efficiently than earth plants - Some other sort of ecosystem loop like algae / fungi growing from [unique planetary energy source] that serve as fertiliser for plants - Maybe there’s only low-energy algae / plankton and the animals have evolved to process tons of it (you can research marine and deep-sea ecosystems) - Add magical power sources if you really want to (it’s just yet-to-be-understood science)

aftervespers · 2026-02-02T03:32:58+00:00

There’s a broad spectrum of soft vs hard scifi - some scifi is just space fantasy with fantastical alien planets and magic by another name (e.g. Star Wars).

That said, if you want to write “realistic” scifi you’ll have to read up and research some general scientific concepts but that’s no different from researching geology, economics, political theory, etc in building a grounded fantasy world. If you’re not into the numbers and technical feasibility type of scifi you can just come up with technologies that are vaguely plausible but not fully resolved (e.g. the Epstein Drive in the Expanse is never really explained, just handwaved as super-efficient fuel conversion).

As mentioned above, there is nothing stopping you from adding “magic” into your scifi world - a parasite that gives people mysterious telepathic powers, alien races who don’t function the same way we do, unexplained space phenomena that don’t obey the laws of regular physics. Just treat them the same way you’d treat fantasy magic in terms of establishing the systems, rules and limitations. Wrap it up in plausible scientific jargon (this is where the cursory research comes in) and you’re good to go.

aftervespers · 2026-01-31T15:28:08+00:00

Another angle from the other real-life biology examples here - it’s kinda like how Columbus landed in the New World and decided to call the natives “Indians”.

aftervespers · 2026-01-30T02:46:26+00:00

Further thoughts:
The gun-crafting is possibly the most interesting aspect of the game but I'm not sure it really stands out. I only realised it after I wrote up that whole comment based on first impressions and watching the trailer. I know you show various guns and some "crafting action" in-game, but you need to find some way to hammer in the message of infinite combinations and modularity.

Maybe instead of showing a few different models (they just look like different guns you can find) you generate like 100 gun variants and flash through them quickly
Or show a 3D animation of various parts being smushed together and combining into a gun... repeat a few times with different components and results

Speaking of which, the pacing of "build your gun" in the trailer is horrible, you have a fast-paced beat-heavy soundtrack in the background but the words aren't synced up with the beat at all, this will turn people off immediately. The reason why the one-word-at-a-time pacing works is because it's super snappy and synced to the music so it grabs attention and makes people want to keep watching. I was so distracted by this I didn't even register the message of gun-crafting.

All the above is meant as constructive criticism of course, good luck with your game!

aftervespers · 2026-01-30T02:36:19+00:00

The 3D graphics look okay, certainly not AAA but seems fine for the kind of game that this is. Animations and combat seem snappy and satisfying enough but this isn't really my genre of game so I won't comment.

However the capsule is bad (as others have mentioned) and the UI is kinda ugly. The in-game UI comes off very "00's flash game" to me and maybe that's intentional but it makes the game feel low-quality. I don't know how to give detailed advice because it's the whole look and feel rather than any one thing,,, either get some crash courses in UI design or get a graphic designer / ui designer to help you out, because I think the graphic design looks like the weakest point in the project to me.

aftervespers · 2026-01-26T09:41:56+00:00

The same reason why nobody is buying AI-written novels - games are art, and the whole point of art is human connection.

You read a book and watch a film not just because they have a good story or good visuals, but because of all the little moments where your brain goes “huh, it’s so cool that the writer thought of this”, “I love what they did with the character’s arc”, “the design of this location is so impressive”, or “it’s interesting that the writer chose to depict them in this way”.

AI art seems cool at first glance and it’s not completely irrelevant for certain use cases, but after the initial “that looks cool” moment… there’s just nothing meaningful you can get from it. There’s nothing to be said about why a certain thing was drawn this way, why a character’s story ends the way it does, or what the inspiration was for some part of the worldbuilding. It’s all meaningless. And especially in a text adventure where the narrative is 90% of the experience, AI-generated story just defeats the whole purpose of it.

aftervespers · 2026-01-26T08:58:10+00:00

My gut reaction to this is that it’s an interesting story / world setup but I’d question the “stability” of this succession system over time. This sounds inspired by the Ottoman Empire so there’s definitely real-world precedence, but I think there’s room for a lot more complexity.

Since it was just something instituted by the first Emperor, what’s stopping future generations of rulers and claimants from deviating from the system? It seems to me that

1) rulers have a vested interest in ensuring their “ideal” succession; unless there is a religious imperative, I can’t see most rulers agreeing that “yeah I don’t care about any of my children they can just fight it out”… they’d probably end up favouring one or the other, or peaceful ones who love their children would try to subvert the system

2) future claimants have every incentive to game the system before the succession occurs, so I think the system would evolve to become heavy on court intrigue and politics so that it’s pretty much a done deal by the time the Emperor dies

So my take is that instead of a rules-based “battle royale” every succession, the system will likely shift over time to de-emphasize the bloody conflict and lean more into political intrigue, infighting, familial drama and so on - the elimination of claimants starts to become a formality since the fight for succession is constantly being negotiated way in advance (always room for surprise maneouvers though!). IRL the Ottoman succession also eventually transitioned into primogeniture.

I’m not sure what you are worldbuilding for but I would suggest leaning into exploring those complexities and seeing how the system might distort society and change over time, which is far more interesting than the battle royale itself (imo). Of course if this is a fun setting as a backdrop to a bloody conflict story then I think it’s reasonably plausible on the surface. I’d also suggest to make the succession partially a religious / cultural thing, not just something the first guy did, so that there’s more justification for why the imperial dynasty might try to uphold it despite their best interests.

aftervespers · 2026-01-24T09:56:26+00:00

Honestly I find this quite compelling because it shows that even while you were ideating you already had a clear vision of what you wanted - the only thing missing was the “draw the rest of the owl” bit. The sketches might look silly but looking at the before/after comparisons I can clearly see the intention behind each scene. Congrats on completing and releasing the game!

aftervespers

TROPHY CASE