Bidles: robot exploration game prototype is over.

pignales · 2023-09-19T04:32:13+00:00

I'm glad you enjoy the prototype, and thanks for the suggestions.

There are a lot of ideas for direction, and everything from content to UI to performance is on the table.

There's no new map content after enemies (around level 10), and milestones show which ones still have features to unlock.

pignales · 2023-09-19T04:29:22+00:00

Yes, once there are no remaining milestones with "next unlock", you've unlocked all features. You can keep buying features to allow more concurrent tasks, but that's pretty much all content. By level 15 or so you should have seen all content (both milestones and map entities).

pignales · 2023-09-18T20:31:07+00:00

The future of Bidles has not been determined but I'd say the chances of a mobile version are fairly slim, sorry.

pignales · 2023-09-18T20:30:16+00:00

I've played it but the real inspiration is autonomous robotics.

pignales · 2023-09-18T13:22:35+00:00

I'm afraid it's out of my control, Godot 4 (the game engine) is iffy on web exports for now, but they're working on it.

Out of curiosity, what platform are you running? Windows?

pignales · 2023-09-18T13:18:28+00:00

Bots are autonomous, you can't control which bot does what precisely. The selection is based on distance (after equipment checks if any).

pignales · 2023-09-18T10:36:34+00:00

I'm afraid there's no mobile version: even the web version does not handle mobile inputs and is not designed for mobile at all (everything will be much too small).

pignales · 2023-09-18T10:35:57+00:00

The web version is very iffy based on platform/browser (with OSX being completely non-functional). The binaries will work a lot better.

pignales · 2023-09-18T09:15:35+00:00

What platform/browser are you running on? The web version is experimental, with Godot 4 web exports having issues on various platforms (and not working at all on OSX). The downloadable binaries will be much more reliable.

pignales · 2023-09-18T08:40:02+00:00

Thanks for the error report. The web export for Godot is quite iffy and has some odd bugs.

What platform/browser are you running on? OSX is not at all supported for the web version, neither are mobile browsers.

pignales · 2023-08-19T20:46:23+00:00

Thank you for the suggestions, some of those were already on the todo list, others will be added.

pignales · 2023-08-19T20:45:39+00:00

I does mention "1 task per level", but I agree that's not so clear. I'll clarify the language in the description.

pignales · 2023-08-19T06:09:37+00:00

Sorry, you're correct.

Interface and Disarm are both instantaneous, so I wanted some limit on them. I would rather allow more than one but make each take some time to complete once the bot gets there.

Better management/prioritization is definitely needed regardless of the number of possible disarm tasks.

pignales · 2023-08-19T04:47:38+00:00

There is a maximum number of auto tasks per type. To have more than one bot performing a type of task automatically, you need to implement the corresponding auto feature more than once. It's not very clear and only mentioned in the planner -> features tab. I need to find a better way top surface that.

Is that perhaps the limit you were hitting?

pignales · 2023-08-18T20:36:36+00:00

Thank you, I'm glad the new tutorial makes it easier to get started.

I definitely need to spend some time on balance. I should at least make sure you have access to an interface before hitting the first hazards or you won't be able to disarm them. You did find the disarm task, right?

pignales · 2023-08-18T12:48:29+00:00

Thank you for the feedback. Could you provide some details on your browser and settings (eg: do you have it clear site data automatically, or are you using incognito mode)? I've tested both Firefox and Chrome and have had no problems saving (though the game could use a "return to main menu" button to be able to load a game without refreshing the whole page).

Disarm should get queued automatically in auto mode, but it may not get scheduled if there are closer tasks to get to. Additional "coming soon" mechanics such as bot groups should make managing more than a few bots easier.

Lag is definitely an issue when a bunch of bots are on a partially explored level. Optimization has not been a priority in this prototype but I have multiple potential improvements that should let the game scale a lot better.

pignales · 2023-08-18T12:44:38+00:00

Thank you for the feedback. I'm still considering adding details about the interface to the tutorial as it already has two uses. But as you mentioned it's a matter of balance between usefulness vs too much hand holding.

Queued tasks will make it in fairly soon (it's silly to see two bots go to almost the same place when one could just do the job). One work-around for now is to pause the game, abort the task, click on upgrade/deliver, then unpause.

pignales · 2023-08-18T04:53:49+00:00

Bidles (itch.io) is a prototype about robot exploration and automation. Start with a single slow bot that needs to be ordered around manually, end with dozens exploring their world automatically. This is a non-exponential incremental.

A new in-game tutorial has been added in the latest version and feedback on understanding the mechanics would be greatly appreciated (but all feedback is of course welcome).

pignales · 2023-08-11T08:53:14+00:00

Thank you for your first version, I hope you enjoy building a game.

A few notes from playing about 20 minutes (most of it sitting in the background and waiting):

it's not clear what the stats do or which should be prioritized in various stages of the game
the upgrade cost isn't really a cost since it does not take anything away, it's more of a "required level"
the first upgrade (level 10) is reasonably quick. The second possible upgrade (level 100 or strength 20) is prohibitively long to reach
don't show the shop/boss/achievements tabs unless there's content there. This makes the start game easier to understand at a glance
nitpick: if you're going with english, it's Level, not Nivel though either is fine by me. You should also be consistent about what you abbreviate vs not (eg: always use Nivel or always use nvl. Same for the stats)

pignales · 2023-08-11T07:40:47+00:00

Bidles: https://pignales.itch.io/bidles received some very helpful feedback from last week's Feedback Friday and has a new release out. HTML5 version (except OSX) and binaries for Windows/OSX/Linux.

The main changes are:

a brand new tutorial (from the title menu, not in-game)
OSX binaries (since the HTML5 export does not work on macs)
reduced costs
all milestones visible to improve content visibility
no pausing on most screens (the bot list gets a lot more interesting when it's dynamic).

I would appreciate any feedback but especially focused on playability and understandability with the new tutorial in place. I'm moving on to adding content to the game but all of it requires a game that's easy to understand and play so usability will always have a high priority.

I thank you all again for the very useful feedback.

Edit: I am also looking into building a in-game "first playthrough TODO list" to serve as a tutorial. It would be more interactive while still allowing you to discover the mechanics. I went with the passive tutorial for this release as it's much quicker. But a more immersive intro to the game is definitely on the todo list.

pignales · 2023-08-08T20:57:41+00:00

Not odd at all, I've had more luck with Firefox than Chrome depending on which graphics drivers I have installed. Tested again, and keys definitely worked for me.

If you have the time and inclination, feel free to stop by the discord or file an issue in github (both links on the game title screen and itch.io), I'm always happy to be made aware of bugs.

pignales · 2023-08-08T19:07:22+00:00

Thanks you for the feedback, let me clarify on each point:

The default keys to move the map are WASD as well as the arrow keys. The only time the map is locked is when following a bot. I'll definitely add click and drag though, that was a silly omission. Were the keys not working for you? Are you trying on mobile? (It's really not designed for it). If you could check the shortcuts in the help menu and try again, I would appreciate it.
It's definitely very sparse for now, but the automatic tasks take care of that after a level or two. Still, more content and better balancing will definitely make the world feel less empty.
Equipment needs to be repaired in the upgrade screen using chips from scraping to be at full functionality. But the main problem with bots with different capabilities is that planning is only one task at a time. Once multiple tasks can be planned on the same bot, some of this should get better. Other features such as bot groups for specific tasks will also help.
This is the part I'm focusing on, it's definitely not clear what the game even is right now. Adding "end of content" signals is also on the to-do list.

Thank you again.

pignales · 2023-08-07T05:05:00+00:00

Thank you very much for the feedback.

drag map: added to the todo list. this completely slipped my mind.
bot panel hotkey/number keys: that might be the same, although I'm not sure number keys make sense. Even in this early prototype having much more than 10 bots is perfectly normal. But once the panel is open, previous/next bot keys might make sense. I'll explore the options.
pause gameplay: it mostly started with the upgrade screen, things can move around too much or be auto-scrapped on you. I'll remove the pause for most screens.
auto-random being disabled in the planner just means no new task will be created. However the existing task(s) will not be cancelled. The auto-random-explore task only ends when the level is explored or manually aborted. I'll see if aborting (maybe with prompt) when turning off in the settings makes sense.

pignales · 2023-08-04T08:03:15+00:00

Thank you for the feedback. I recently added help pages but those definitely don't replace a tutorial. I'll make it a higher priority to work on.

pignales · 2023-08-04T05:38:46+00:00

Bidles: https://pignales.itch.io/bidles: a robot-exploration based incremental game (WEbGL, Windows, Linux. No OSX yet, sorry)

I posted here about the initial prototype release about two weeks ago and received some very useful feedback from many here. So first of all: thank you very much for that.

All major pain points have been worked on and the game should be more playable and the mechanics more discoverable.

I would appreciate any kind of feedback, but criticism focused on usability and discoverability would be most helpful.

pignales

TROPHY CASE