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Turn By Turn Villain's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Art / Graphics | #18 | 4.417 | 4.417 |
| Controls / UI | #21 | 4.083 | 4.083 |
| Overall Fun | #23 | 4.083 | 4.083 |
| Sound/Music | #35 | 3.500 | 3.500 |
Ranked from 12 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
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I played this game on stream: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1832466938?t=00h33m47s
I believe you were on the stream so you've probably heard my feedback on it :)
Overall, the game is lots of fun! I would probably have played more if I wasn't going to try out other games on the stream.
I really love the aesthetics of the characters, especially how the player character has one eye larger than the other when looking south.
It was a bit odd why my minions would be attacking me, so maybe adding something in the beginning about that would help. E.g., my minions obeyed me when I was the big creature, but God S shrunk me into this little thing now, so they don't recognize me any more.
The first strike mechanism was a bit janky. Having to face the monsters makes sense, but I couldn't get it to trigger sometimes even with that knowledge. There were also multiple times where the first strike icon popped up, and I hit my gamepad button, but it didn't trigger. I would hit my button a few more times and then it triggered. There may be something about the timing?
Having the option to kick the sandcastle, or threaten the person fishing, was GREAT! I loved that. Maybe instead of / besides deducting shards of light, there could be a scene where a dark entity of some sort talks to the player, along the lines of "ah.. I see you still have evil in you" and then grants some bonus? There could also be a separate skill tree potentially. Maybe earning shards of darkness that lets you purchase abilities like charming monsters to obey you?
This was really fun, and I look forward to playing the next iteration!
Hey there! Yes I was here during the stream! Thanks again for playing and for the feedback! I've already added tooltips for the Crystal menu and I'm working on improving first strike collisions. Also, the bosses you meet do mention your change of appearance and the fact that their ex-boss turned against them. Low tiers monsters are just too stupid to even notice I guess xD But I can add a message at the beginning to mention it more clearly. Thanks again!
Hi, I just finished your game!
I died in the intro, would recommend.
It is funny, I enjoyed these silly jokes a lot. I like the overall setting and atmosphere in this game too :).
Gameplay loop is simple and quite enjoyable.
In battle, I never used the "defend" option. Combat felt a bit spammy, but I believe that the complexity of it is not the main focus in your game, so I didn't mind at all most of the time.
Level design is nice! I only had a problem with getting to Vampirelle because of completely hidden buttons and I was wandering around the whole map for about half an hour looking for something I missed.
Art design is simple and colorful, perfect for this type of game.
Sound design fits it too.
I experienced two bugs:
- twice after the fight (won) I was able to move around, but there still was a combat going on on the map and there was no battle menu active or anything, only an enemy icon moving in the right upper corner of the screen. Every few seconds my health was decreased from attacks. It lasted until I won another fight, even changing the location and resetting the game didn't help.
- once after loading the save state, music didn't start playing automatically untill I got into a fight
Some smaller issues I had:
1.Combat felt a bit rushy, sometimes it was hard to catch up with what's going on, but I feel like it'd be tiring if it was slower. Probably the main issue in this is that you have to constantly look at all sides of the screen to see what's happening.
2.Completely losing the game after losing all the health - maybe it would be a good idea to bring the player back with, for example, 5 health points and 1/2 of shards after such event, similar to when we lose all TP? We can still load autosave, sure, but I feel like this solution would fit the game anyway.
3. The code shown at the end of the game was already used, but I don't mind - just thought you would like to look into this issue to prevent others from encountering it.
I had a good time playing your game, really good job:)
Hey! Thanks so much for playing and for your feedback! Do you remember after defeating which enemies the bugs occurred? I can’t seem to be able to reproduce it >.<
You never had to defend once, not even during any of the boss fights? Well done, I must really suck at my own game then as I always have to use it xD
I understand about the spammy and rushed nature of the battles, although sometimes you have to use magic too or take advantage of some items. It’s because I wanted to give brawls a chaotic kind of feel, and also to mix action and turn-based.
There are 3 different codes to be claimed, but it’s selected at random and you’d have to fight the angry oyster again. ^^
Thanks again!
Sure, the bug that lasted until the next fight was caused by the skeleton enemy, but it happened with other type too (it just almost instantly fixed itself... or maybe I got to the next fight so quickly that it made me remember it like that). Unfortunately I don't remember the second one.
I was battling a lot (I played for around 2 hours) and it happened only these two times.
Well... My brain didn't even registered how the defend option works, so... :'). I used it once out of curiosity, nothing more. Probably my character was so powerful that I didn't need it (I invested points in everything except the defence).
Battles have their charm, no doubt about it. They definitely feel chaotic, but most of the time they are understandable.
I am going through all submissions to make all developers aware of an important Google form I've made.
I'm joining the IQ folks to help organize smaller events in between the main FQ event in order to help prevent us from getting too many games in main events. Right now, I have a planned structure for these events but I would like to hear from everyone who was in this event in order to tune things better. The survey is a bit long, but it covers as much as I could think of. If you can take the time to do the survey by June 1st, I would immensely appreciate it!
You can find the form here: https://forms.gle/P9LPYwERhJtpZzteA
Done! ^^
I really enjoyed my time with this game, I almost finished it (let's say I only need to get rid of a Clam) and it has been a nice experience. Love the silly tone of the game and the dialogue. The mayor was really fun!
Art Direction: the art style didn't convince me at the beginning but then it grew on me. It's fun, it's coherent and a lot of love has been put into it. I have two suggestions:
1) change the main menu artwork, it does not represent the game.
2) add an idle animation for the main char, it's a simple addition that can give a lot of life to the game.
Audio: music is fun and perfectly matches the art direction. Sound design is a bit lacking, mainly UI feedback, buttons, and so on.
Game Loop: I like the idea behind it, and it works. Kill enemies, get shards, unlock stuff/power up, and help people. It's simple, it's fun. Also, I liked the Sokoban-inspired puzzles. My only gripe is with the combat system, but I will address it in the next point.
Combat: this is a hit and a miss at the same time. I like the speed of it, it's fast and the animations are fun, but I think that at the moment it's lacking in depth: I found myself mostly spamming space to pummel or use the magic attack, occasionally fleeing but nothing more. I think that the speed needs to be tuned down a little bit to help the player make their decision in a more thoughtful manner, also understanding the enemy's behavior without getting punished for it.
Controls/UI: controls are solid, other than the spammy combat, and the UI is ok. I don't really like the dialogue boxing changing size, I find it a bit distracting. Also, I'd rather have the option to make some of the information visible while exploring (TP and Shard mainly) than constantly opening the menu to check them.
Overall a really nice game with lots of potential, 4 out of 5 for me.
Thanks a lot for trying it and for the detailed feedback!
Glad you liked the “silliness” of the game, definitely what I’m aiming for, not taking the game too seriously.
By changing the menu artwork you mean the title screen? Dang I was proud of it for making it myself, it’s the game’s logo and promotional material too, oops ^^;
Also, since you almost finished the demo, did you really manage to defeat all enemies, in particular bosses, by just spamming attack? Even though the first enemies are easy to defeat that way which is to be expected, I tried to progressively introduce new strategies, where you have to defend more and need to make good use of some items too, but maybe something is wrong in my approach.
Oh btw you can see your TP, HP and Shards by pressing start on the controller or T on the keyboard while exploring.
Thanks again, much appreciated!
Hello again!
So, I've reclaimed the 15-digit code and yeah, you can basically brute-force each encounter by having enough endurance and attack. I did it with all the enemies, and the bosses (Vampirelle, Goonther, and the secret one). Also, I think I've encountered a bug with the secret boss: after a couple of hits it slowed me and then never did damage to me again, so I was able to breeze through it.
I'm aware of the T key for showing some info, but I'm talking more about a toggle on / toggle off kind of thing, rather than the 3-4 seconds then disappearing that you have in now. It's a minor thing, just a QoL thing for some players (but it's okay either way!).
Oh well done for claiming it! I’ll look into the bug you reported. Thanks!
Btw, thanks to your feedback, I’ve been thinking of a way to introduce a new status effect in the first boss fight: Goonther will inflict “Break” to prevent you from using Attack during a few turns. Nasty >:)
It's really unique and fun. The designs are all comical which really compliment the light tone of the game.
My only issue is that the combat is very easy and theres not that much depth to it, apart from enemies endurance and special effects (like snails slowness)
I would say the combat is the part needing most work and a lot of rebalancing, because everything else is perfectly fine as it is.
Good work
Thanks a lot for trying it and for your feedback!
May I ask how far did you go? The early battles are indeed easy at the beginning in the plains since it’s the starting area, but get gradually more difficult later on in different areas, as monsters get stronger and have different weaknesses. There are also various strategies to take into account, using items and defending for example, especially during boss battles.
I played for around an hour, explored plains, beaches, a cave, and a sort of mountainish area and an area next to a river.
I gave this a second try (after your update) and loved the new additions:
1. Tutorial at the start is nice!
2. Was the item screen always called "Swag?" I like swag better haha
3. Not sure if this is new, but I don't remember enemies dropping chests before. I got one this time. I like this addition (or new discovery if it was already there lol)
SUGGESTION:
So, there's still an issue with strength and farming shards to level up. At the start of the game, managing TP was a bit rough, but once I started to get the "Surprise" down on enemies... it got easy to farm those slimes. I went around, surprise attacked all the slimes, got 10 shards, and then got my strength up. Once you gain 1 STR, surprise attacking slimes is fast, easy, and takes no TP. Once I got 2 STR... I was taking out slimes and snails with pretty much 1 hit & 0 TP loss. Plus... STR kept costing me 10 shards per level. Wasn't sure if that's intentional since you said STR should cost more per level.
Not only can you farm shards and gain STR pretty quickly... you can exploit running out of TP. Each time you do... you respawn at the crystal, and they give you 5 TP with no penalty. I got to the point I'd just kill a couple of slimes, respawn, get 5 TP... repeat. Eventually, I had enough to purchase my 1st STR, and that's when I was taking out slimes with minimal effort.
Perhaps not managing your TP and respawning at the crystal awards you 5 TP but also costs you a % of your shards (as punishment).
I also feel the TP die item should be either 1d6 roll + 5 (or maybe another #). Using this item and only getting 1 or 2 TP is a bit frustrating, and if you have the TP die reward a bit more turns PLUS the crystal takes half your shards if you have to respawn... I think that would make managing your TP better, and then players would avoid doing the abovementioned tactic.
ALSO-I think you changed it so that snails only give 1 shard (instead of 2). However, their HP stayed at 5. If slimes and snails give the same reward, but slimes take less turns to kill... why would I ever fight a snail? Not saying have snails give 2 shards... but maybe they have less HP (since they reap the same reward)... or they give you an item, etc.
OVERALL:
I really enjoy your game. Love the artwork, the story is cute, and the combat is fun. I think there just needs to be a bit more opening game tweaking to get it just right.
Thanks so much for trying the game again and sharing your thoughts!
"Items" were called "Loot" previously, but it seems some players thought you could loot smth from the enemies during battles (like a "steal" kind of action), so I changed it. And "Swag" is indeed funnier ^^
Enemies did drop chests in the previous version, maybe you've just been unlucky not to get one as the drop rate is not very high.
So yeah, stats now cost more for every 10 points tiers, i.e. Once you reach 10 for a stat, the next upgarde will cost you 20 Shards. Once you reach 20, it'll cost you 30, etc. So you can definitely farm slimes from early on for STR or any other stat, but at some point you'll have to make a choice about progressing in the game (use Shards to dispel the darkness and explore further) or just keep farming endlessly (as in pretty much any JRPG I guess, you could reach higher levels by just farming weak monsters forever). So that way it is still rewarding for the player to grind, but it won't be a viable option on the long term with just Blue slimes. Also, you used this "exploit" because you knew about it from the previous version, but now that enemies aren't respawning that often, I'm hoping it's less blatant and more of a "bonus" for players who do think about doing it? Let me know!
I did reduce the amount of Shards from slugs precisely because of that, but yeah, I understand it may not be fair if they drop the same amount as slimes. I'll probably get back to have them dropping 2 Shards: The result will be more or less as what I said above anyways: either farm forever or start exploring the game more. It'll all depend on the player.
Losing a part of your Shards when you run out of TP is actually a very good idea so as not to exploit it! Thanks!
About the TP die... Yeah, I get your point that it can be frustrating, but it is a die after all, so chance is definitely involved. Will try to think of things though!
Will keep tweaking stuff to try and find the perfect balance from the start. Thanks again for your great feedback! :)
Got the chance to stream this one tonight! I think that this has already been suggested by a few other streamers, but the biggest issue I had was the starting area--It was difficult to decide between different types of upgrades/progressing the story when the fights are so punishing early on. I think even just starting with more TP (maybe 20?) could help you farm up enough to get upgrades and make it worth it/easier to progress initially.
Also, the enemies re-spawning every time you switch screens is a little overwhelming-and I did find a bug in which I was stuck in a battle even after I had died, to the point where I had to exit the game. Maybe make it so if you leave a major area they respawn? Or have a particular amount of time before they respawn in case you're low on health and need to return?
Also some of the white text was hard to read, though it was much better in the shadowed boxes-Would be great to have that for all dialogue!
**SPOILERS**
Loved that you could just get a "game over" right off the bat though! That caught me off guard lol
Best of luck with continued development! This is a good foundation for sure ^^
Thanks for taking the time to stream it and for your feedback!
You mentioned that it wasn't controller compatible but I'm not sure why, because it should be. Controls for both keyboard and gamepad are shown in the Options/Controls menu. It does work with an Xbox one at least, maybe you have a different one? Untortunately I don't have another at hand to try. But it does make it easier to hit enemies for the first strike with a gamepad!
Also, you do start with 30 TP actually, but I'm implementing feedback and adding a proper tutorial to explain how everything works better, as you're not the first one to be struggling at the beginning.
You came across such a weird bug though! Never saw it while playstesting, that enemy definitely shouldn't spawn on the edge. Looking into ways to prevent it!
And yeah, I'll also try having the enemies respawn only when you leave a major area, not just screen to screen. I did think about it but though maybe it wouldn't be very practical for people who like grinding? But then again if they all respawn at once maybe it won't be such a big issue. Will try things!
Thanks again for your feedback!
Hello from tonight's stream!
This game's concept fascinated me, and I wanted to see where it was going. So far I like, but I can for sure see points where improvements can be made.
In the beginning, getting started can be very challenging due to restrictive TP. It mostly felt like I was only replenishing my TP from the fights, at least until I got a +1 strength in finally. At that point, it almost too quickly became a steamroll to the point where I worried what I was doing could be game breaking (farming the level 1 enemies to get 1-2 shards of light without using any TP). I tried to not really do this a lot, but it still proved to be so powerful. Simply put, being able to get strength quickly results in getting strength more quickly. Instead of all strength gains costing 10 shards, it should slowly rise up in price.
I'd also like to recommend that when starting combat, there's a moment between when you press the button to try and first strike and when you can hit a menu option in the fight. The reason why is because it can be all too easy to be hitting the attack button over and over and then immediately hitting pummel when the fight starts. I'd also like to suggest that there is an option for the player to let the cursor remember what they last chose so they can easily spam it over and over. That way, if I'm using magic I don't have to spend time setting up to use magic.
I was confused by the second yellow switch in the bottom level of the Western Forest Shrine. It's trapped around blue blocks when you get down there, then when you free it you can go hit it. However, doing this actually wastes your time because the yellow switch didn't need to be hit for you to get an upcoming chest. Hitting it makes it so you can't get it. Perhaps you could make a fourth switch color?
Finally... oh goddd...... that music.... please... i beg of you...
Hey there, thanks a lot for playing my game on stream and for your feedback! Oh and congrats on claiming that Steam key too ;) There are three different in total so let's see if others get them.
Regarding the balacing issues: I did realize while playtesting that going for the "Strength" route from start does make things easier early on. It's kind of a way to get a head start, but not many people realize it immediately, so well done! I was precisely waiting for feedback on some of the issues you mentioned and I already have a few tweaks in mind (like reduce the Shards of Light obtained from slugs for example) so it's not THAT easy from the beginning, and especially on the long term. Just as in any other RPG though, grinding needs to be rewarding in some way for the player, it wouldn't be fair otherwise. So you could be farming for EXP by defeating blue slimes forever to grind and reach high levels from the start, but the downside is you might get bored quickly and want to move on and explore further. Some players have this kind of patience, others don't, I guess. Also, as you've seen, the enemies' defense also increases, some are resistant or immune to physical attacks, obviously their strength also increases, others use magic, etc. so it'll be important eventually not to dismiss the other stats. (By the way, you can get info about the monsters' stats from the "Minions" menu). That being said, I had already thought of the Shard cost increasing by tier for the stats and I'll definitely implement it based on your feedback, on top of the other tweaks I mentioned.
You also said that at first it felt like it was hard to get Shards of Light and they're only used for TP recovering at the beginning. It's true, but it's because I like not giving players too much guidance to encourage exploring right from the start: You can get quite a few "free" Shards as well as TP Dice from hidden chests early on by doing so.
About the fact that you can press the "Pummel" button immediately after getting a first strike, it is kind of nomal... I guess? The first strike hits the foe without using any TP, and then the battle starts normally and you get to select the action. It also allows battles to go quickly. But I may have missed what you meant.
I did also think about remembering the cursor position, but it is actually a lot more work than it seems at first glance, and not everyone might like that. I could add it as an option as you suggest, if more players want it. What I'll definitely do though is swap "Defend" and "Spell", it's much more logical to have both attack options on top of the list, while defending is not used that much during normal battles.
The infamous yellow switch: Yes, it is useless and only there to make players waste a bit of time and TP if they decide to go and press it. I admit it. It's just like that sand castle, you did have the urge to step on it. You see a switch, you have the urge to press it, even though it may not be useful or necessary. The God S is a bit of a bitch towards the demon, after all. ^^;
Two things I also wanted to point out: It seems you noticed quite late that you can get a quick view of your HP and Shards in your possession by pressing Start on the controller without having to open the main menu. Also, you walked everywhere, but you can actually run by pressing X while you move around. It's all explained on the Options/Controls menu, but I will probably add a message at the start to mention these.
Finally the music: Yeah, it's very much WIP and I'm trying to improve, you're not the first one to complain about it . As a matter of fact, I uploaded a revised build with a toned down version of the music, it's not as high pitched and generally I think it all blends togehter better to make it less grating. Let's see. Unfortunately I have no budget to hire a composer atm. Sorry you had to suffer so much from it :/
Thanks again for the detailed, and very useful feedback!
Yea, there were some things I forgot. I blame being high. XD
To speak on what I meant regarding attacking immediately, allow me to explain. So when you're trying to get a First Strike, you're likely spamming the attack button to get it to work. No big deal. When you get into the fight, you're likely to choose Pummel right away. This isn't a big deal either... so long as the enemy actually takes damage from Pummel. However, there were some enemies that, even with a lot of strength, I couldn't touch and had to use Magic. However, this ends up being a turn wasted if the player isn't fast enough to stop themselves (especially since you won't always get the first strike). Thus, I was suggesting a delay before you can make your first selection so that you have time to stop spamming and get into fight mode.
Also, if that oyster boss doesn't make an appearance in the full game, I will be sad. D:
The graphics were really cute. Your game is quite stylish. I didn't really gel with the controls at first but once I got the handle of things it was a nice experience.
The music was good at first but there was a flute or something high pitched that really messed with my ears. Had to turn the volume down for that.
Overall a great game though.
Thanks a lot for the feedback! And yes, the music is very much WIP, you're not the first one to mention it. The pitch has already been toned down for a future update ^^;
Thanks again!
I love the cute graphics and the combat was unique and interesting. I really like the battle animation where you and the enemy fight dust cloud. I was a bit confused what "Spell" did, though. A place where you list our spells and what they do would be nice (unless I missed that).
Overall, I absolutely loved the roguelike feel, and the fact you don't hold our hand. There aren't enough challenging games out there. Just throw me into the world and force me to figure it out as I go. I liked that!
My only feedback:
That's it. I think you have a great game here and looking forward to playing more!!
Thanks a lot for playing and for the feedback!
Yeah it's an early build so a lot of things are WIP, including music. There are different tunes in each area though.
The "Spell" is just another type of attack, it's not supposed to have you select any actual spell from a different menu. I did think about it but it would probably be deterrent and detrimental for the player and break the "action" part of battles to select a spell from a new menu every time. While "Pummel" is a physical attack based on your Strength stat, "Spell" is a magical attack based on your Magic power stat. Some monsters are resistant, or even immune, to physical attacks, like the Crabs on the beach or the Rocks in the cave. That's where Spell comes in handy! There are also attack items that can be found and used with various effects, like 10 HP of damage guaranteed regardless of the enemies strength and weakess (so it'd be more like different spells I guess). Based on more player feedback I may add an extra tutorial when entering the first battle to explain all this.
As for the Roguelike aspect, yeah, I like not holding the player's hand so they start exploring and figuring things out by themselves! My only concern is that you're talking about starting a new game several times, as in different "runs" each time? Is that what you were referring to? If so I should probably explain things better, then: It's more of an RPG, so a longer adventure that doesn't require new runs each time. But you do need to manage your Turn Points throughout. The game does autosave after the introduction and every time you enter a new map (not the screen-based transition though, an actual new area). You can also save manually any time from the main menu. So you wouldn't have had to repeat the intro ^^; My bad for not explaining that well, I guess I should add an icon or message when the game is auto-saving so players are aware they don't have to start from scratch.
Thanks again!
PixelSlop