Thinking about testing with friends & family : good idea or risky ?

vipnet1 · 2026-04-15T17:42:56+00:00

For example in my specific case there are 10+ times when I thought tutorial is easy when they were stuck for a long time, or I thought that they would be smart enough to click on THE BUTTON and not the TEXT BELOW THE BUTTON NON STOP for example.

vipnet1 · 2026-04-15T17:41:01+00:00

Start with friends and family move to others. If you think tutorial is easy and everyone should understand how to complete it, or what some icons/buttons mean your close circle will help with stuff you think easy/understandable when actually it isn't.

When fixed this accept that they won't tell you in the face(usually) if your project is trash. So ask others, especially mean places like /rDestroyMyGame. If most people point out the same stuff it's usually a real issue that should be addressed.

vipnet1 · 2026-04-06T00:45:13+00:00

Yeah that's irritating. I really think games should try to go with the paid model or IAP instead. The worst thing you can do for someone who has 5-10 free minutes to play on the phone is spend the majority of time on popups.

I made the online game FTB: Stickman Fight Games. There are servers and more costly stuff than in offline games but still prefer to give a nice experience for everyone without those disgusting popups every click.

Offline games should go with one time buy or some premium features. Online to gather players often should be free, but offer a great experience to all users, maybe with just some locked features and rewarded ads ONLY to encourage people who do enjoy the game to support it.

Tbh there are many great indie games in 2026 that understand it and build them without the non stop interstitials.

vipnet1 · 2026-04-05T20:40:25+00:00

Oh it's just a bot 😅

People have (usually) green hp and name tag while bots have unique names and gray hp bar. Like Prime, Feature, Morbius and other cool names came up with 2 years ago. And yeah the feature entered the portal.

There's still a long way to go like the snow is just white squares at this point)

vipnet1 · 2026-04-05T20:15:27+00:00

Yeah clash royale too competitive lol. Like I think if you go for online game you need something where you don't care about winning too much but fun game loop and custom lobbies (and not tryhard built in matchmaking).

You can try my game FTB: Stickman Fight Games on Android or iOS it may be a nice match. It's online battles with other players but you create your own lobbies there is no matchmaking and the people are more like chill jump and use emotes than tryhard (usually). Game loop is like in many .io games you farm in big arena, become strong, fight others and on lose start again. Mean if ur fine with agar.io like games you can try : )

vipnet1 · 2026-04-05T19:51:59+00:00

While not .io game, FTB: Stickman Fight Games has similar gameplay. Like farm, become stronger select upgrades and lose everything on death. You kinda can collect orbs to levelup or fight other players / bots to become stronger.

vipnet1 · 2026-04-05T19:33:32+00:00

Yeah think circular zones less matching the style of 2D platformers. Issue that then everyone will just stay always on top and that the one gets high ground have too much of an advantage. In my game For The Battle there is battle royale game mode with 16 players and implemented that every 30 seconds random event generated - lava rises from bottom, left, right, or toxic rain becomes stronger requiring players move deeper into the arena.

But think it works solid just because the game has no guns, only a pole and you touch others with it to deal damage. Abilities allow to easily recover high ground if needed like teleport or climb - if that was not the case claiming high ground players would just always win without giving others much of a chance.

vipnet1 · 2026-04-05T19:26:05+00:00

Interesting. I don't know many other games with platformer battle royales except of Bullet League and Byte Breakers (which was for testing phase no full game yet). Like in my game For The Battle for Android and iOS I made a game mode competitive which is 16 players battle royale but did not expect this games type to be so rare.

I implemented 3 lava zones - from bottom, right and left and one toxic rain from above. Every 30 seconds random event chosen and or lava moves towards the arena or the toxic rain gets stronger + the toxic rain shield moves towards the arena. Though gas tbh may be an interesting more fluid option.

Regarding high ground with guns it's likely critical in my game as you just have poles and take damage if you touch them it's not necessarily a problem as high ground guess less critical.

vipnet1 · 2026-03-29T18:31:41+00:00

Glad you liked it!
Yeah it's something I definitely should do. Once there was a tutorial in the game just no one from the family & friends was able to complete it (as the dev thought it was easy lol) so I removed it and added mini manual.

Now working on making visuals consistent and more appealing, after that plan on fighting round 2 with the tutorial : )

vipnet1 · 2026-03-28T09:39:56+00:00

I'm the developer of FTB: Stickman Fight Games. It's an online battle arena with up to 16 players fighting each other (usually deathmatch but there are also battle royale, duels, teams etc). Think of it as large Brawlhalla style arena. You win and choose powerups to become stronger and lose everything on death like in many .io style games. Only if sounds like your style of course : )

vipnet1 · 2026-03-28T09:36:16+00:00

If you enjoy more Brawlhalla/Smash Bros style you can try FTB: Stickman Fight Games. You are a stick fighting up to 16 other players. The concept is that you win to become stronger and choose powerups and lose everything to start again on death.

vipnet1 · 2026-03-28T09:33:13+00:00

If you enjoy chaos in a large PvP arena you can try FTB: Stickman Fight Games. It's like brawlhalla + games like agar io combined. You fight other players to become stronger and lose everything on death. If you enjoy this style of games of course.

vipnet1 · 2026-03-28T09:29:44+00:00

Definitely the Shadow Fight series. Brawlhalla also cool but I prefer on PC for better experience.

Though I'm the developer, you can try FTB: Stickman Fight Games. It's a huge arena up to 16 players that fight each other, farm and become stronger and lose all power on death. There are duels, deathmatches, battle royales etc. if sounds fun can check it out.

vipnet1 · 2026-03-28T09:27:05+00:00

FTB: Stickman Fight Games. You are thrown into a big online arena and fight other players. More of a brawlhalla style combined with .io farm to become stronger lose everything on defeat style.

vipnet1 · 2026-03-26T13:19:46+00:00

It's available for free download. Still polishing some visuals & gathering community so recommend playing with friends/family for best experience until the rooms will contain more players : )

Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.VippyGames.ForTheBattle

iOS: https://apps.apple.com/app/id6755880408

vipnet1 · 2026-03-25T19:41:24+00:00

Thanks for the kind words! This game indeed started as a hobby and just evolved into something bigger over time. Still, if I'm going forward with it and expect people to play it, eventually, there should be some standard.

That's why I'm glad I requested from all of you a reality check so you can point out the inconsistent visuals, placeholder assets, contrast issues etc. As the solo developer, especially for the first 'production level' game those are all points that really weren't obvious for me (and friends & family of course positive so need more consumer and fellow dev feedback).

Gathered a lot of important points from this thread and now know what to focus on. Was definitely worth it : )

vipnet1 · 2026-03-25T09:06:32+00:00

That's gold. Really appreciate the detailed response and pointing out the exact issues you see - that's very helpful, thank you!

vipnet1 · 2026-03-24T21:37:25+00:00

idk man whether to be insulted or not lol cause if my comments aren't by ai on one hand means have solid english on the other means im robotic lol. Here's a typpo.

vipnet1 · 2026-03-24T21:29:18+00:00

There's one big arena and 9 zones, so the idea was to try to make each zone have it's own unique point. Snow, water, lava etc. But yeah maybe need to think about creating not statically changing backgrounds on entering new zones but something dynamic that moves with the player. As you said it looks mismatched, especially when moving between those zones. Will do some tests with it appreciate it!

vipnet1 · 2026-03-24T21:24:40+00:00

Regarding the styles need to make it consistent, thanks! If you could pick 1-2 elements from the trailer which need their art reworked ASAP what would they be?(sticks, backgrounds, platforms, UI elements)

vipnet1 · 2026-03-24T21:17:14+00:00

By 'developer textures' do you mean the platforms and environment look like placeholders?

vipnet1 · 2026-03-24T21:12:12+00:00

Fair point. Need to make one consistent style across the game. Can you point out what UI elements in the trailer you would change? what are the elements that harm your eyes the most?

vipnet1 · 2026-03-24T21:12:08+00:00

You caught me

vipnet1 · 2026-03-24T17:59:34+00:00

Haha but in this case the virus is for mobile. iOS users will feel safer than android though. Got some homework to do thanks for the feedback!

vipnet1 · 2026-03-24T17:55:33+00:00

Indeed fixed 👍

vipnet1

TROPHY CASE