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Private Mining Company's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Fun | #1 | 4.571 | 4.571 |
| Overall | #2 | 4.000 | 4.000 |
| User Interface (UI/UX) | #2 | 4.143 | 4.143 |
| Sound/Audio | #5 | 3.714 | 3.714 |
| Visuals(Graphics) | #15 | 3.143 | 3.143 |
Ranked from 7 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
DevLog Link
https://assassinmonkey.itch.io/private-mining-company/devlog/742411/update-3-content
Developer Feedback Questions
I am interested in any kinds of feedback at all!
Do you like the concept? Do you think the difficulty indicators match the actual difficulty? Is there any QOL features you would like to see? Is there something you hate? Something you love?
Please let me know!
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Comments
So I played this on the last jam and you've definitely made some great improvements since then. The tutorial is really slick and I think it does a great job of introducing mechanics and walking you through it. Playing the balancing game of choosing contracts that are rewarding without being too difficult feels solid. I really like the the risk-reward of saving ore versus buying turrets as well. The only small QOL change I would suggest is with the difficulty indicator. It's colors match heavily with the background which makes it more difficult to see/notice at a quick glance. But otherwise I think the game is a ton of fun and you're definitely headed in the right direction with the changes.
this was a lot of fun! one of the most enjoyable defence tower games i've played for sure.
some notes
- the font is a bit hard to head for longer paragraphs. i'd recommend a different tutorial / mission debrief font or a settings option to change it to something simpler.
- i think i accidentally clicked through two tutorial slides at some point? having clear "next" or "okay" buttons would be helpful!
- a pause button/menu would be appreciated.
- balance needs to be adjusted. i was coasting (game felt to easy) from difficulties 1-3. i finished a level 3 difficulty really easy and tired 4, and was absolutely demolished. all my soldiers died, lost all my ore haha.
- i'm a bit confused about how the contract options are chosen? i would sometimes get a lot of repeat maps.
bugs
- sometimes i encountered a bug where my ore count wasn't increasing properly. one round, i upgraded it and it didn't count up again for the rest of the round. the rounds after, it increased a few times and then stopped again.
other suggestions
- it feels like the part that's the road/not the road should be coloured oppositely (with the not road being textured). this is because the textured areas are very busy-looking, so the single colour sections stand out in comparison.
- it would be nice to make enemy and ally hp bars different colours. sometimes there's a lot going on and it's hard to differentiate them.
I like the concept. I don't playing tower defense games that much, but I like the way this game plays. I'm not sure the difficulty system works, I saw like red skull and I thought it was gonna be hard, and it was at first because I didn' know what I was doing and there was a lot of information on screen, but then it becomes very easy, and I just had to use one soldier and a drone to win everything. Tell me if I missed something. I think the game has potential.
Also, did you rate me game after reviewing it? It says my game has 2 ratings, but like 4 people have reviewed it, so I’m confused.
I did give a rating for your game right after I played it, so not sure what the deal is there.
Ok, I guess other people didn't or itch.io is buggy. Thanks for answering.
I played the first two levels, the first one was easy but then the last wave of the second level really destroyed me. I like how you have to manage two resources (money and ore) but I think the difficulty curve can be lowered a little bit. Especially at the beginning when I don't have a lot of resources to use.
Just played the new version, very nice addition to the weapons this drone tool, although it kinda makes less sense to show the circle around its influence since it can travel all around the map.
Also noticed (which might be there before but I did not notice before) a kinda sudden peak in difficulty in between waves, like when huge insects start to come after very normal waves in a 3 level difficulty contract (I had beaten them before so maybe I had not pick this one)
Another thing that got me confused, when you click to move a soldier, my understanding is that they cannot cross the road (maybe because its lava or something they cannot walk over idk) it would be nice to show that they cannot go across the road.
I am following for more updates =)
Thanks for the feedback! I am currently working on an automated system to spawn enemies for the Steam demo, so this should help with the difficulty spikes, and it should feel like there is much more variety. On top of this, I am experimenting with giving the player full control of when mining happens / when enemies spawn.
For the movement, I have gotten many complaints about it and I am planning to rework it entirely at some point. If you have any ideas for what you would like to see when it comes to movement, I would love to hear them!
Wow this is a great improvement over the last version I tested! You solved all the issues I had with the previous version, without sacrificing the basic concept (permadeath, etc.). The different options of retreat, along with the choice to sell ore early or not, creates meaningful decisions. Overall the mecanic feels very balanced now.
The only thing which felt a bit underpowered to me are the mercenaries. It never felt like a good idea to invest into them. Maybe there is a theoretical window where it makes sense to hire mercenaries to complete a mission that otherwhise would fail, but that is very hard to predict. Maybe you could make them cheaper so that there is always the question "How many mercenaries should I hire?". Or they come with increasing prices.
Overall the game is really fun!
I just started it again and found out that you replaced the mercenaries with towers and drones ... not sure if they have the same issues I had with the mercenaries ...
The new turrets and drones were designed specifically to try and fix the issue you mentioned with the mercenaries since I have gotten many similar complaints about it. They now cost ore directly instead of money, and much of the game has been rebalanced to encourage a more active play style and rely less on permanent upgrades.
I played it a bit, seamless gaming experience, it was fun to upgrade units,
Maps with 1-2 difficulty seemed to be pretty easy.
BTW just noticed that the volume on your game in specific might be a bit lower than average, I thought it was on my side and increased the volume ... now just started another game and almost went deaf lmao
Hahahah, I did this on purpose so I did not deafen people (thats a huge pet peeve of mine). Perhaps I overdid it a bit 😅
and dont get me wrong I was really digging the soundscape there for real. I think someone with a weaker speaker or with them in low volume might not even notice there is a soundscape at all, and they definitely should cause its real good
oh this was reeeeal good
I thought I was doing so well, then forgot to cover an area an ended up dead ...
I think the evolution of this is going to depend on clever level layout and having a diverse set of tools and soldiers to feel the depth of the strategy that can be made with this.. but gotta say I genuinely enjoyed my time with this, loved the soundscape and the gun sound effects in particular ... the vibe makes me feel kinda like Carrion, kinda like helldivers ... kinda old school starfox on choosing the planets and missions ... which perhaps is something I never seen a progression like the old starfox games where you go planet by planet ... love it
I see you are already on Steam, just added to my wishlist
Just wanted to let you know that I have published a large overhaul of some of the mechanics. I would love if you could check it out and just let me know if you like it better or not!
Ok we are testing that tomorrow then
Wow great tower defense!
Just wanted to let you know that I have published a large overhaul of some of the mechanics. I would love if you could check it out and just let me know if you like it better or not!
Yes of course, I will do it !