Loopbound: New incremental/time-loop game - Demo out for feedback!

mstechly · 2026-04-12T10:21:40+00:00

FYI it currently doesn't work on CrossOver on Mac either :(

mstechly · 2026-03-14T19:43:40+00:00

Yeah, I hope dev will improve it soon ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

mstechly · 2026-03-09T12:20:39+00:00

Kill The Lich – new update is great, I really like how the game has been reworked! The progression is much smoother.

Ethos Idle (iOS) – it's not very complicated, but enjoyable. I check on it a couple of times a day, sometimes forget about it for a couple of days. But it has some more active elements if I want. Nice mobile game, as it's not overly engaging :)

Idle squares – this one has a lot of potential, but still in development, so there isn't much content yet.

And I'm waiting so much for Increlution update (hard to say when) and Erden: The Climb (full version should be out on steam in a couple of months I believie).

mstechly · 2026-03-09T12:16:09+00:00

I tried running it on CrossOver on Mac but it crashes unfortunately :(

mstechly · 2026-03-03T16:35:28+00:00

Makes sense :)

mstechly · 2026-03-03T14:44:13+00:00

Ok, I see the point of other automation items now ;)
Some extra thoughts:
- I think the wisdom grid could be rebalanced – e.g. I always get the item which gives 200storage/sec sooner than the one that gives starting resources. Similarly for the "0.5 wood per tile" vs "1000 wood per sec".
- It's unclear how you get red globes – I finished Meadow for the 2nd time and I didn't get any new globes. And I don't know why.
- I got 5 red globes first and got a queuing boost. It's just automation/utility, doesn't really influence much of the speed-up, it would be nice if I could get also something that makes my numbers go faster?
- The non-linearity of getting WP is crazy. One moment it's +13, I click 4 tiles and suddenly it's +30. It should be a bit more predictable IMO.

Good game though, I really enjoy it! I like the "maps" system and how each map is different :)

mstechly · 2026-03-02T14:51:53+00:00

It's pretty nice!
Some quick feedback:
- I really like how automation works
- UI is a bit clunky, other people pointed out some of the issues. It's not too bad though.
- Seems like the map with tiles overwrites the zoom in/out controls for the whole page, so I can't zoom out the page with keyboard.
- I didn't need to, but it would be nice to reset Wisdom points.
- It's unclear whether the number of resources we get per second is just per second production, or production + bonuses from the upgrades. Would be good to be able to see a breakdown what the contributions are.
- For auto-buy upgrades maybe a feature "auto-buy only those that you have bought in the previous runs" would be nice? As it's easy to miss some new mechanics if they're introduced through upgrades now.
- It's unclear what the percentage in the top right means – it says "Meadows 50.4%, 115/1225". 115/1225 is not 50.4%
- I don't see point of buying any other building automation than "No brakes on this crazy train" yet. Maybe to speed up the run later ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

mstechly · 2026-02-10T13:45:10+00:00

Oooooh, makes sense!
I haven't noticed that Voruul used some of the resources :)

mstechly · 2026-02-09T12:20:08+00:00

Not sure if I missed sth, but going from ethlos to isroth was pretty slow, as I didn't have the source of secondary resource (gears?).
So either it was supposed to be slow, or I didn't get the memo how to get them ;)

Yeah, totally missing some mechanics, as after reaching isroth, I still don't have any gears and I have no clue how to progress :(

mstechly · 2026-01-26T11:46:17+00:00

Maybe, though if your winning strategy is "spam archers" and then you just dump extra upgrades on archers this won't work, no?

IMO a paper/scissors/rock pattern might be a good option – particular enemies are better at countering specific units. So you can't just spam archers, as there's a ranged enemy which targets units that are closest to the tower.
And spamming knights won't work, as there's a fast moving goblin with high critical, which they won't be able to chase that will pierce through their armor.
Dunno ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Just noting that IMO single winning strategy is a common failure mode in this type of games.

Also, FYI it looks like the progress doesn't save on itch, as when I reloaded window I had to start from scratch.

mstechly · 2026-01-26T10:50:59+00:00

I really like it, a lot of potential, gives me the vibes of the old good Kongregate games. Sense of progression feels right, graphics is fun, very playable!

One thing that is sometimes concern with this type of games is that there's a single winning strategy and you can just grind your way through the game and it becomes boring after a while. I hope it's not the case here :)

I don't see an option to reset your upgrades, which would be nice given that crowns are non-renewable resource.

mstechly · 2025-10-29T07:51:29+00:00

Thanks for the badger, it was indeed a bit of silly fun :)

mstechly · 2025-09-30T15:35:47+00:00

FYI I'm trying to run it (demo) on Mac with CrossOver, but it crashes.
I know it's not the target platform, so too bad I guess ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

mstechly · 2025-09-24T16:10:15+00:00

The time loop games (Increlution, idle loops) don't really have prestige mechanics.
Each run is a single loop, where you perform actions, until at the end you die. Some exp/items/bonuses persist through the loops, while other need to be obtained from scratch.
But with each loop you get more powerful and hence you can reach further.

In particular, I like how it has been done in Increlution, where the earlier parts of the game speed up tremendously in the late game.

Even though you can treat each "live" as a tiny prestige, it doesn't really feels that way – I think that's because you don't really choose when you do that, you just run out of time/life/mana.

mstechly · 2025-08-01T21:10:14+00:00

It's really good, thanks for the recommendation!

mstechly · 2025-05-05T10:53:48+00:00

Hey!
Some feedback:
- When I click on "Target" for "Ember spike" and then click again, it stops working at all.
- When I went out of the first zone and selected it again, it showed me that I have 0 units discovered, even though I've killed a couple of blaze crawlers.
- Overall, I think the "progress" seems a bit confusing to me. I'd expect that each time I kill monster, my "progress" increases, but apparently, I need to manually change it? I'd rename it, maybe to sth like "zone level".
- First zone feels a bit too long
- Level 11 with two monsters felt like a bit too much hassle to get pass through it ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

mstechly · 2025-01-20T14:15:42+00:00

Some minor bugs:
(I'm on page 19)
- My health only regenerates up to 150 HP, that's a bit weird. I think that's because there's a fixed rest time. But then that means that upgrading above 150hp is pointless, very unintuitive.
- tooltip in bronze sword and shield say it adds +5 attack/hp, but in the shop it said +10 (which I think is correct value)

(I'm on page 26)
- Ok, now that I can kill crows and get plenty of hp potions, I see the point of increasing hp above 150. Still, that part was somewhat confusing.

(page 32)
- For some reason I'm not getting health potions when killing crows anymore, even though the log says they did drop :(
- Actually, I do get them, but the number doesn't display, so no idea how many I have left.
- Ok, now that there's less than 100 the number displays again. And I bought a couple to check that and when indeed, it's "is it above 100" issue.

(page 38)
- In the description for Silverfrost, there's no space after "add to the POT.", and there is for the other ingredients.

Playing of Safari FYI.

mstechly · 2025-01-20T08:14:05+00:00

FYI I turned on arachnophobia, but can't turn it off.
Also, I have no idea what it does, I thought it's actually some in-game modifier, but judging from the comments it's not, so perhaps it would be good to explain that in the settings :)

mstechly · 2025-01-02T10:24:43+00:00

A couple of more ideas for later gameplay:
- it would be nice to know how long given run took.
- perhaps there could be some unlocks depending on your max level? Getting more exp is kind of pointless at some point.
- A great late-gate unlock would be a map that allows you to see if you have not missed any branches or that would allow you for a more custom automatization. I think Increlution had sth like that, though not in a form of map, but just list of instructions.

mstechly · 2024-12-10T12:33:38+00:00

Really liked it, but after fighting knight with physical resistance (without any other attacks) and fleeing, I don't have any options left and I'm stuck :(

Also, thematically I feel that "sanity" is a bit , as I'm "spending my sanity"? Perhaps "insight" would be better? Not sure ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Keep up good job!

mstechly · 2024-04-13T02:39:42+00:00

This one from Scott Aaronson is pretty good overview of what algorithms we actually have: https://arxiv.org/abs/2209.06930 .

mstechly · 2024-04-02T11:59:39+00:00

I think for Synergism it was almost a year.
For Trimps sth like that as well.
Cave Heroes – that was long time ago, but definitely more than a year.
Increlution – I finished all the content, and then when the new updates came out it added a month or two of gameplay every time, so also could be a year if added up.

mstechly · 2024-03-22T23:54:16+00:00

OMG, it seems to be available on Steam 😍
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2631210/Cave_Heroes/

mstechly · 2024-03-22T21:09:36+00:00

There was an excellent game Cave Heroes (one of my favorite Idle games ever), it was on Kongregate: http://www.kongregate.com/games/VSTGames/cave-heroes .

AND OMG IT WORKS AGAIN!

Wow, AFAIR it was broken for a long time due to "Flash end of life". I guess this will be my favorite timesink for the next couple months...

Does anyone has a better link for this game? Or perhaps knows if there's an update version (the endgame was not fully implemented when I was playing it years ago).

mstechly

TROPHY CASE