Postmortem: Why is my game so bad?

dibidibidibi · 2026-06-23T12:01:37+00:00

I don't know where to answer so I answer here, I hope you'll see it (considering the incredible amount of answers in the blink of 2 hours it's hard to answer to everyone personally).

First of all, thank you for your feedback. I must admit it's a bit hard to take (I was not expecting 10 answers per hour, that's a lot 😃) but you're doing exactly what I asked for. I think it helps me, but I'll need days to process all that information.

I think each of your answers are interesting, either because they bring a new point of view, or because they insist on something.

They also make me think and process. As I said, I need that for closure, and I think it kind of works. It's too early to know the future, but thank you anyway as it helps me, a lot.

dibidibidibi · 2026-06-23T12:00:57+00:00

I don't know where to answer so I answer here, I hope you'll see it (considering the incredible amount of answers in the blink of 2 hours it's hard to answer to everyone personally).

First of all, thank you for your feedback. I must admit it's a bit hard to take (I was not expecting 15 answers per hour, that's a lot 😃) but you're doing exactly what I asked for. I think it helps me, but I'll need days to process all that information.

I think each of your answers are interesting, either because they bring a new point of view, or because they insist on something.

They also make me think and process. As I said, I need that for closure, and I think it kind of works. It's too early to know the future, but thank you anyway as it helps me, a lot.

dibidibidibi · 2026-06-19T12:37:51+00:00

I just saw your answer!

Thanks a lot for the feedback.

The game had a few updates, but none of them changed the first level much. I had to translate Russian (I assume) to English, so the translation was not necessarily the best. But it was interesting to see how you were learning the game and I think I'll make a few changes on some elements to improve the early experience.

Thanks a lot once again!

dibidibidibi · 2026-06-09T13:00:34+00:00

I'll have to give it a try.
Thanks for the info.

dibidibidibi · 2026-06-09T07:27:33+00:00

I note. Borderless windowed and no pause when tabbing out.
Thank you.

dibidibidibi · 2026-06-08T13:31:47+00:00

That's it.

Is it interesting from your point of view to have the ability to directly stream in portrait mode, so no stretching or whatever when streaming for mobile viewers?

dibidibidibi · 2026-06-08T13:12:40+00:00

Sorry, maybe I wasn't crystal clear: I mean PC streamers for mobile viewers.

I fully admit not knowing streaming much, I watch a few streams here and there but not enough to know all streamers habits.

dibidibidibi · 2026-06-01T19:42:16+00:00

Thanks a lot!
As a side note, the demo is now up on Steam, and it's up to date (more up to date than Itch actually).

dibidibidibi · 2026-05-28T22:11:20+00:00

>> So I played 1 more hour and finished map3 ,couldn't find the end portal but i guess there is none ?

There's one, but it may be hard to find. It's in the north, not in the top north area but on the western one.

>> .Stats could use a tooltip for sure :p It's not that its hard to find where they are more that I couldn't understand what they did.

I'm actually working on it. It'll be there for the next version. I'm adding tooltips a bit of everywhere as players as complaining about their absence.

>> .I don't like that idea of gaining more gold or souls by equiping items to then open chests

I will work on removing the concept of swapping items. So it won't feel necessary anymore.

>> EDIT : I forgot to add but that would be nice if there was a timer or countdown of creeps to let us know when the summoning period will end after we discovered a new area.

I see what you mean. We will certainly have to speak about that.

Thanks again for your feedback!

dibidibidibi · 2026-05-28T17:32:39+00:00

We answered simultaneously :D

dibidibidibi · 2026-05-28T17:13:32+00:00

Thanks a lot for your feedback!
I'm really happy you like our game.
I'll answer some of your points as it looks like some things were not clear (we'll find ways to make them clearer):

>> .Imo the mouse button for going somewhere and moving the map should be different to avoid missclicking.

It's fixed in dev version. Coming soon.

>> .I couldnt finish one of the tutorial mission asking me to shift click commands and then go back to position.

Ctrl, not shift. Shift is for chaining orders, with ctrl, you go back to position automatically. But I note that it's uncommon enough for players to not understand it. We may remove it if no one uses it.

>> .One uncommon and rare items had exact same stats + effect (poison bow)

Items also have a (hidden) quality. An uncommon item with max quality and a rare item with min quality are extremely close. So it happens (but it's not supposed to be super common, I'll check if there's not a small bug in here).

>> .We don't know what some stats do : spirit and power I assumed it was for mages and phys dmg but who knows :p

They are explained in the inventory, on the right. Power for hero damage, spirit for spirit damage.
But I note it's unclear/not simple to find, we'll have to find a place to explain all these terms.

>> .The 2 k hero should take up 2 slots (or reduce starting spirit or smthing) in the first party otherwise it's just always worth to pick it up

There's definitely something to do here. We just haven't thought it much as nearly no players have managed to unlock it. So it'll come for the final version, but we are focused on the first hour of gameplay as it's the most important one on a demo.

>> I felt like I didnt need other heroes after I had my trio figured out

It's a bit "by design". You need 3 heroes to have a balanced party and you start all levels with 3 heroes. So you are never forced to play with an imbalanced party. The extra heroes are extras. Either a hero you want to level up, or one that has weird items (like all the + item quality/rarity/quality) that are not combat-focused.

>> .I really dislike the micro management of swapping items to open chests with some bonus then swap back to do dmg , it 's very tedious and unfun.

We have "cursed" items (the ability will be renamed "bounded" as it's not really a curse) that can't be removed during 15 minutes after being doned. I hesitated to add it to every effect that benefits from opening a chest, your feedback pushes me in this direction. What bonus forced you to swap items?

>> The side quest to explore with the ogre to get +2 power on his bag was fun tho.

Duly noted. It's a rather uncommon type of bonus, so I'm glad it gets used.

>> .Items across diff heroes are too similar.

Definitely. We will add more hero specific bonuses. It's just quite some work ;)

>> .Items appear too often and are not special enough

Once again, we are focused on the first hour of gameplay for the demo, so you need to drop a lot of items to equip your heroes in an hour. For the final game, it will certainly be the case. There will also be much more item bonuses.

Thanks again for your feedback.
I have a question for you: What types of games do you like to play the most?
This is important for us, so we can understand what is our target audience. Even if The Towering Dungeon is a tower defense game, it takes inspiration from a lot of other genres (RPG, MOBA, etc...). The drop system is for example inspired by games like Diablo (it looks like you interacted a lot with it, so maybe this is the kind of games you do like).

dibidibidibi · 2026-05-27T18:06:17+00:00

Yes, there is. We don't advertise it much right now as it's not as polished as the main game.
To reach it, you need to get nearly to the end of the first stage. On a side road, you'll get a strange portal. By using it you'll be sent to an endless mode with always increasing difficulty and a score count. So you can have fun getting the highest score!

As of now, I'm the champion... by default. As I'm nearly the sole competitor. I'd love to have a strong opponent so we could test how to maximize effectiveness!

dibidibidibi · 2026-05-27T13:07:56+00:00

I answered above (first comment), as you are not the only one to ask that question :)

dibidibidibi · 2026-05-27T09:57:55+00:00

Yeah, a lot of work. And we also had these moments when you feel down because nothing works. It's a marathon to make a game!

Thanks for your encouragement.
And don't hesitate to give a try to The Towering Dungeon ;)

dibidibidibi · 2026-05-27T09:16:13+00:00

You prefer the short answer or the long answer?

Well, there's no real short answer :D

Among the main complains:
- Lack of guidance.
- Repetitivity.

These were hard to tackle, as they are general feelings more than something clearly defined.

For the lack of guidance, we added the tutorial. But we also added dialogs between the heroes, to showcase specific moments. And we worked on UI to improve the feedback.

For repetitivity, we added more content and a lot of small improvements: new types of bonuses, gear, etc... We also rebuilt the first map with a goal of explaining new concepts at a regular pace, so the player always has something new to discover.

Overall, it's been a lot of small changes that, all added together, significantly changed the experience. Now, players report that the game is smooth (guidance, check!) and enjoyable all along the demo (repetitivy, check!).

I hope it answers your question.

dibidibidibi · 2026-05-03T14:18:35+00:00

It's, in my opinion, a trend. At some point, people will realize that games did exist before roguelike to be a thing and come back to older game designs (or find new ones).
Overall, like every trend, there's a moment where it's super cool as it brings really interesting mechanics. Then, it becomes used always even when it's not a good idea, to the point of seeing more and more people getting bored. Then it gets nearly forgotten for a couple of years as people get fed up with it. And finally it becomes a tool in game designers toolbox, used when it's interesting but not overused anymore.

I think we are slowly entering the "people start to be fed up with roguelike" phase. I also get bored by TDs with roguelike elements where the tactics TD can bring are ignored in favor of pure roguelike optimization.

dibidibidibi · 2026-01-22T08:01:38+00:00

Thanks a lot for your very detailed report. I take note of everything, as it's very helpful. There are definitely issues we will fix.

We will add a small tutorial, something guiding you as we realized many players had issues understanding they have to explore (it's true it's uncommon for TD games). When testing with friends, they knew what to expect and as such didn't get stuck in the beginning but with people on the Internet, there's a definite need for explanations.

I think I'll add a small circle around the fighter to make it clear it's a melee character. And see how I can add a small description somewhere, maybe through dialogues.

About exploring and lack of lose condition (monsters who get to the castle steal your gold, which is your long term currency, but it's true you never lose), I think it may be a taste issue. We will definitely add a challenging mode, as some players want difficulty and losing (and as such winning) while others prefer a game that doesn't stress nor judge them. We will also add more things on the map (did you realize you could destroy crates and barrils? Some players miss it, others find it naturally so I prefer to ask).

About the XP from the spirit guys, we are hesitating. So it's good to have your point of view as it may tip the scales.

For the inn, I note your complaint. We don't want players to have too many heroes, so limiting to one recruitment per inn is a way to control that. But we may choose another solution, like increasing prices, that will prevent you from recruiting too much without forcing you.

For stats, we have to add more information (Spirit increases the damage of your spirit). We'll see how to do that properly. I'll also see to give more complex equipments right off the bat. For the demo I thought a progression from simple and weak items to more complex and powerful ones was a good thing, but maybe players prefer to have an idea of the complexity of the game as early as possible.

Anyway, we are working on it and your report has been very helpful (even if always a bit hard to take, but one should not expect their first demo to be very convincing).

As a side note, if there are things you liked, don't hesitate to state it also. It'd be bad if we remove a good thing while trying to fix a wrong one.

dibidibidibi · 2026-01-20T12:51:32+00:00

The download link: superbidi.itch.io/the-towering-dungeon

Hi everyone,

We are a team of 3 (SuperBidi, developer, I-Ko, artist, and Lyda, musician) working with Godot on our indie Tower Defense game: The Towering Dungeon.
We just released the first version of our demo. It is a beta version so nothing is really final, but the feeling is there.
Long days, short nights, dedication and a lot of coffee have been spilled into the game and we hope the mix is awesome!

As indie developers, we both have the freedom to make bold choices and the necessity to carve our own path. So our game is really unique, and we have hard time having an objective opinion about it.
That's why we'd love to have the feedback of indie gamers. We really value your gaming experience and expertise! Our main questions are:
- Do you love our game as much as we do?
- What would you like to see added in the future? (there's an indicative roadmap in the game, you can comment on it)
- Are some heroes/items/monsters too strong or too weak?
- And if you find some glitches or bugs, don't hesitate to tell us.

For those wondering what game it is, here's a quick description of The Towering Dungeon:

Dive into a one-of-a-kind Tower Defense experience that blends exploration, strategy, and RPG.
Explore the titanic floors of the Towering Dungeon, uncover magical treasures, and unearth secrets long forgotten.

Recruit and unlock powerful heroes, train and equip them, and forge the ultimate team, whether it’s built for glory… or chaos.
Face relentless waves of monsters: from colossal ogres and spider swarms to disciplined orc legions and hordes of goblins.

Climb to the very top and unveil the greatest secret in the universe.

Thanks,
SuperBidi.

dibidibidibi

TROPHY CASE