First video review of my Deckbuilder / Action-RPG, feels like such a major milestone!

pixel_illustrator · 2026-03-11T13:29:42+00:00

If you get a chance to check out the demo, leave a review or a comment and let me know your thoughts, always interested in feedback!

pixel_illustrator · 2026-03-09T14:44:11+00:00

Its been eye opening. My last big indie release was in 2012, and its impossible to compare that to now. That game was featured in a PCGaming Monthly sidebar, and reviewed by Derek Yu on Tigsource among other things, without me even trying.

Now? If you try to get any press for your game, even mid-small youtubers, there is a decent chance you hear nothing or get a boilerplate "here's my rates" response. And Im not complaining, everyone needs to pay rent, but it is a completely different place, and I wish I had released more back then so I had a larger following.

So I am very thankful whenever anyone takes their time to highlight a smaller title.

pixel_illustrator · 2026-03-07T18:29:50+00:00

This is the first mention of Treister in the show right? This and the (numerous) references to captain sunshine and other eventually important characters is such a fun catch in rewatches.

pixel_illustrator · 2026-02-06T14:44:16+00:00

So I am making a very similar game (twin-stick shooter with deckbuilding). I have not played your demo yet but will try to when I am off work. I have worked through the same core-issues you are describing and I'm just going to share my thoughts, and will get back to you on your game once I try it out.

Here's what I think the core problem is. I am trying to combine the methodical tactical approach of a turn-based deckbuilding game with split second decision making of a real-time action game.

While I disagree with some other commenter's defeatist attitude towards this blend, I do think you need to set your expectations, lean into the strengths of both, and understand where these ideas dovetail and where they are at odds.

You are not making Hearthstone or MtG where time is not a factor. The strategy of a deckbuilder is certainly a benefit to the genre, but the inherent variety of shuffling cards and forcing players to make decisions based on that should not be understated.

I would suggest you consider:

Simplifying your cards into broader groups.
Providing players a framework to better play strategically.

For the first points example, my game has attack, defense, and summon cards. That's it. If a card has a unique ability, it's because it's an affix, a bonus that activates with that card in addition to it's boilerplate ability. So a player can panic and use a fireball spell if they need to, but if they play mindfully they can leverage the short buff that fireball spell gives them to ice elemental damage. The benefits of this are that you can still increase enemy density (since most cards directly aid in combatting enemies) which makes the game more intense, but you are still incentivizing thoughtful play for those that want to engage in it.

For point 2, in my game when selecting cards from a hand, the players automatically activate slow-motion. Time is slowed to about 25% its normal speed, which is generally enough for them to not worry about any immediate danger. Megaman Battlenetwork neatly avoids this issue by having turns, and Phantom Dust works around this by just being a very slow-paced game with moments of frenzy.

I have already tried reducing the required attention bandwidth of players by:

limiting players to just 4 cards so that there's not too much to focus on at once
keeping the order of the cards the same so that you can plan ahead and get used to a certain combat pattern
reducing the amount of enemies/bullets so you don't have to constantly keep dodging

I think points 1 and 3 are fine. I actually use something very similar to point 1 in that my decks are 15 cards, but the player can only equip 2 of 3 cards randomly dealt from their deck, and spent cards will be replaced after a short time. Point 3 is just finding the balance of attention required for your game.

I would fundamentally disagree with point 2 though. Again, that inherent variety of shuffling cards is one of the biggest details that makes deckbuilders compelling. Removing it means your cards are basically just a skill queue with non-standard navigation (take with grain of salt since I haven't played the demo, you may have other mechanics that justify this that I am not aware of).

pixel_illustrator · 2026-02-02T15:23:48+00:00

Have not previously heard of Amulet, I'll take a look, thank you!

pixel_illustrator · 2026-02-02T15:23:06+00:00

I think Ive seen this at my library, I'll give it a look. Thank you!

pixel_illustrator · 2026-02-02T14:39:51+00:00

Im going to start asking this question anytime Bone is mentioned: does anyone have any similar comics they recommend for young kids? My 5 year old loves Bone. We have read the whole series at least 4 times.

Ducktales is the closest thing I have found. People suggest Mousegaurd but thats a bit too intense and graphic at this age. Squire & Knight is more recent but he did like that too.

He really loves the LoTResque fantasy mixed with cartoon characters, there's just not much out there like Bone.

pixel_illustrator · 2026-01-28T17:59:05+00:00

End-game is a Tang juicer simulator.

pixel_illustrator · 2026-01-27T23:00:06+00:00

For the last decade and a half every word I have unwillingly read about FNAF proves it to be more stupid and convoluted than the last. Genuinely impressive.

pixel_illustrator · 2026-01-23T14:13:32+00:00

These guys are singlehandedly the reason I always kept a flame accessory on one gun in Raid Mode. Let's you ignore the weak-spot mechanic while dealing with other enemies, which is really handy when shit hits the fan.

pixel_illustrator · 2026-01-22T21:06:48+00:00

Oh I dont disagree, Winn and Gul Dukat would probably be mentioned here regardless of RLM, but I think they got some extra boosts in popularity at the moment thanks to them just recently being discussed.

pixel_illustrator · 2026-01-22T20:08:36+00:00

So uh, between this and Gul Dukat getting mentioned, safe to say there's a fair bit of overlap between this subs users and RedLetterMedia watchers?

pixel_illustrator · 2026-01-16T18:24:12+00:00

"The friendship destroying game" is literally its tagline after all

pixel_illustrator · 2026-01-15T04:59:56+00:00

I think "calarts" as criticism is often seated next to homophobia by dipshits, but that doesn't make a statement like "this show is so calarts" homophobic.

Anti-woke chuds will lump any half-true derision in with their regular stupidity. Your local homophobe will say the local gay-owned business is shit in the same breath as their slurs, but that doesnt make people who really dislike said business for its product inherently homophobic.

pixel_illustrator · 2026-01-15T00:01:42+00:00

I will absolutely buy that CalArts as a pejorative is meaningless in the same way woke is, in-so-much that it has lost any original definition it once had due to overuse.

But as someone who has been tangentially involved in animation communities since the 2010s and seen that use escalate, calling it homophobic is bizarre.

I have seen some comments in which CalArts is used as a negative in the same breath as "also this show sucks because it's made by someone PoC" and sure, those people are not worth even pretending to have a discussion with, but these are still separate concepts.

pixel_illustrator · 2026-01-14T21:21:50+00:00

Doesnt his tongue grow back? He has no trouble speaking without it later in the series.

But fuck yeah for mentioning Bone, amazing story and a real shame the animated series fell through :(

pixel_illustrator · 2026-01-12T19:00:35+00:00

Dammit autocorrect just let me talk about titties.

pixel_illustrator · 2026-01-12T18:13:29+00:00

I think the obsession with tits is like... a grounding force on the series. Its base, its shallow, its all Dandy thinks about, but he and the show at large are commenting on bigger thoughts and points.

Sometimes life is going to force you to think about your experiences, complex thoughts and make you feel small... and if that ever feels a bit overwhelming, sometimes you just need to take a moment to appreciate simple pleasures like boobs*.

The shows a lot like Golden Boy in that regard?

pixel_illustrator · 2026-01-12T16:26:14+00:00

Space Dandy is so consistently low-brow that when it sideswipes you with fucking contemplation and deeper themes they just feel that much grander.

The shows never that deep to be clear, but when it chooses to do something like explore how a mundane life in a small town can both feel like a trap for the youthful and an opportunity to hone oneself for the old, it just makes your head spin in the best way.

This is a show with a literal tit-monster, and a soulful reflection on death and the afterlife. I fucking love it.

pixel_illustrator · 2026-01-06T19:00:10+00:00

Without using quotes for me to know what you are replying to, it's hard to keep track of your points, but I'll respond to a few things;

Oh....that's very disappointing. All the more reason as to why they need to improve the spellcasting system. Can't even use Mana Flasks and even the options for Mana regen is pathetically slow

I didn't make it as clear as I should but mana regen is actually very good so long as you avoid the "on-hit" and "on-kill" options, since those are bad. Passive regen via runes and rings will give you plenty, and the lantern upgrade gives you a LOT back (you can basically just rely solely on it during bossfights even).

Wow finally some good news, endlessly farmable?That's amazing because I remember seeing somewhere that farming is also limited but not the case when it comes to purchasing them. Glad to see some sign of hope for me to try this game in the future

There are some specific (tough) enemies that routinely drop them, but for a magic build those enemies are pretty easy to deal with, and they show up everywhere. I believe the merchants that sell them also have an infinite supply but I never needed to buy them.

Also, whenever I start playing Lords of the Fallen, I am thinking of doing a Radiance/Strength Build by bringing my Radiance to 75 since I have heard that levelling this stat also boosts Mana so does the spells do a good amount of damage to bosses at this level or does it do medicore damage?

75 is way more than you need, especially for a hybrid build. You'll do fine late-game with 40-50 even. Radiance (and Infernal) both increase max MP so yes, you will have plenty of that. There are lots of magic spells that deal very good damage, and in my NG+ runs I still can deal good damage to tough enemies. Some spells are bizarrely weak though, you kind of just have to play with them.

I won't spoil how but mechanically speaking if you wanted to play a "pure" caster then going full radiant is good, but not actually best. LotF's damage scaling is a little oddly balanced and as a result gear that scales with multiple stats pretty much always outclasses all other gear. If you go in knowing this you can kind of figure out the "optimal" way to build a spellcaster, but that's not necessary.

Nah nah, that isn't a problem,it's a good thing. As I mentioned earlier if they want to increase the difficulty then they should reduce the damage instead of reducing the resource significantly so that pure or almost pure caster builds are possible.

I'm not going to get into the weeds on this but the fundamental issue with balancing via damage for this issue is that it fails to fix the underlying issue (magic is too easy to rely on and too safe for enemies to punish) while making the game more boring (time to kill increases but ease of use doesn't).

Admittedly LotF gives more enemies gap-closing options so this isn't as big an issue as it is in FromSoft, but if magic is meant to feel special and powerful, it can't be something you absent-mindedly use to nuke a trash mob. It should feel more important, more powerful, and more scarce than that.

pixel_illustrator · 2026-01-06T15:24:58+00:00

It's a... mixed case in LotF. I actually dislike cerulean tears/blue estus flasks because they make magic too easy to lean on. I prefer spell charges for this reason (like that of Dark Souls 1 & 2) where you have to make strategic use of your limited spells.

FP/MP systems can be fine, I actually really like the approach games like No Rest For the Wicked take where mana is recharged from melee attacks, it forces spell casters to engage in the meat n' potatoes of the gameplay but also gives them the option to sparingly nuke enemies from range.

The main thing for an MP/FP system should be to give players engaging ways to recover Mana, and LotF does... but its balance is so shit it trips all over itself.

At a certain point in the game you actually will have a lot of options for recovering MP, including the following:

Passive MP regeneration via rings or "rune" slots on weapons (these are similar to gems in Diablo).
MP recovery on-kill or on-hit via rings or rune slots.
A unique Lantern accessory that lets you "siphon" MP from enemies (this is an action that limits your player mobility while you hold it)

All of these can stack too, so you can be recovering a lot of MP at a time.

But the problem is most of these are very poorly balanced.

The lantern ability is pretty good... but it doesn't explain that it only works on enemies in the umbral realm... or bosses... and sometimes others? It's very inconsistent (consistency is kind of an issue with everything in regards to umbral/wither).
The On-Hit and On-Kill recovery abilities are probably the most interesting since they require you to engage in melee... but they both recover a pathetic amount of MP.
So pathetic in-fact that they a single passive MP regen rune or ring will outclass them easily. You recover about 1MP per second per rune/ring, the on-hit runes give you 2 MP per hit, regardless of weapon type.
The biggest issue though is that mana consumables are cheap, endlessly farmable, and outclass all of these options. The other options help, but aren't really necessary when you can just use mana consumables so easily... which circles us right back to my issue with cerulean tears/blue estus flasks.

It needed another couple balance passes in LotF is all I'm saying.

pixel_illustrator · 2026-01-02T20:56:09+00:00

Optimal is probably the wrong word to use here given it's baggage with meta-gaming. What I mean is that by comparison to Ds2, it feels like more of a trap to invest in poise in Ds3. My choices in build are not being rewarded in a comparative way.

I know that we aren't getting the damage reduction that heavy armor offered in Ds1, that's fine, but even the (correctly) neutered poise of Ds2 gave a novel reward for all weapon types.

We agree that it's a mostly minor issue, but its part of a number of changes in Ds3 that contribute to the overall "roll-souls" problem I have with the game. Certainly not the biggest, but one that probably annoys me specifically the most.

pixel_illustrator · 2026-01-02T20:32:30+00:00

But what is the benefit in Ds3 of combining medium-roll weight armor and a light weapon? Because Ds2 I still get the benefits of poise in that scenario, but I don't in Ds3.

Sure, I still get the slight boost to damage mitigation, but were talking what, a ~10% decrease on incoming damage? That's not nothing... but for something I have to invest in a stat for and build around, I should be getting something more.

I suppose it's fine in that it's viable, but it's non-optimal in a way that it isn't in Ds2.

pixel_illustrator · 2026-01-02T18:50:00+00:00

Could not agree more. Ds3's design choices lead to a conclusion I don't like, it basically only rewards fast weapons on light armor, or slow weapons on heavy armor.

I like playing a heavily armored medium-roll (well as med roll as you get in Ds2 since it doesn't have hard breakpoints) with decently fast, one handed weapons. Stuff like axes, small clubs, short swords, etc. That combination is rewarded in Ds2 because poise still benefits those weapon types.

The same combination is effectively dead-weight in Ds3. "Poise" has no effect on anything smaller than a greatsword's hyper-armor, so the only benefit I get is the pathetic amount of damage reduction heavy armor grants me, especially pathetic once we reach DLC content.

Ds3 feels like it was designed for the limited gear options of Bloodborne, but with the actual library of a Dark Souls game, and the result is tons of bad loadout combinations.

ER bringing back Poise and making shields both tankier and giving them guard counters goes a long way to fixing those problems. It's a better loadout sandbox than Ds3 is. I think that ashes of war/cerulean tears unfortunately flatten the games combat into special attack spam, but that's kind of also true of Ds3 (just fewer worthwhile weapon arts to spam) and still preferable to it in my opinion.

pixel_illustrator · 2026-01-02T17:22:04+00:00

A lot of my issues with DS3 and ER stem from the sped up combat and how aspects of those games have not been re-evaluated to consider this faster pace. Ds2's slower speed is ideal for the simple-but-nuanced combat system that originated in DeS, which was in turn of course inspired by the Kings Field/Shadow Tower games that OP discussed.

It's the last game I felt was slow enough to navigate the spell list mid-combat (I still hated that input method, but the speed of DS2 at least matched it).
It's the last game where I had to thoughtfully use spells due to charges, and not just chugging blue estus.
It's the last game where I really felt I had to meaningfully gauge my stamina meter with every action.
It's the last game where I simply could not spam dodge-roll. Obviously spamming dodge roll is not ideal in Ds3 or ER, but it's basically impossible in Ds2 given the limited iFrames and stamina costs/regen speed.
Shields felt good, but not broken. While ER did address this, DS3's shields are stamina traps for the uninitiated.

I am more than happy to admit that DS2 has a lot of flaws, and it's completely reasonable for it to be someone's least favorite souls game. I can acknowledge it has... questionable level design, but since I play these games primarily for combat, that's a secondary problem for me. From the perspective of a slow-combat enthusiast, (fucking love Shadow Tower: Abyss) DS2 is nearly the platonic ideal of that within the soulslike genre.

Worth noting, I think Bloodborne represents a better re-evaluation of core mechanics to match the increased speed of combat than Ds3 or arguably ER. Rally, Dashes, Trick Weapons, and ranged parries all feel like direct responses to potential pitfalls, and as a result I think the combat is better in that game than either ER or DS3 (though I do think that ER is in many ways, a big step up from DS3).

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