I really like this game probably better than the experimental version, actually. I just have some things to suggest: For the frost fire, does it actually only slow down enemies for 1 second? (when it is not upgraded) because even right when you get the upgrade, the enemies are still encased in ice after 1 second, so could you make the ice go away after the certain amount of time?. Also, I have 2 ideas for new upgrades that you could add. 1. An upgrade to get bigger fireballs, so that they can hit more enemies at once, and possibly do more damage. Also: just an idea you could make it like when the fireballs are big enough, they create craters, like a meteor, they does more damage or maybe slows enemies down because they have to walk through it. 2. This upgrade would probably be really good, so I think you could make it one of the purple upgrades that appear on lvl 60. (it only appears on lvl 60). Hypnotism, so enemies can attack each other, and maybe they do like 20% of damage they would do to the wildfire.
Please consider my ideas! Also if you do add them in, can you also add them in this version? I play this one more so I'd prefer that. I know you said this version is like a year and a half old, so...
Hello thanks for playing and for the feedback! If the Ice is still remaining even after the duration it was supposed to last then its most likely a bug which was present in this v1.1. I saw that you said you preferes the version on this site (v1.1) more than the experimental (v1.4), could you elaborate on that thought so I can better understand why you like the earlier version more?
The experimental version is a lot harder, and I actually don't usually complete the whole tree because some of the upgrades I wouldn't use, like the plant one where I flower ponds? I think it is that but I forgot. and if I don't unlock them then I will have a better chance of getting the ones I want, (I like immolate and regeneration the most). Also, this version, it is more fun because I can go to like round 730 :) that was my high score before I had to restart my computer :( Maybe you can add a save option? Like a unique code for each game and you can save that in the menu option or something? Also the beavers in the experimental version make It really hard because they take so much of my max health and I have to defeat almost all of them every round, but like for the squirrels, I can let them leave the screen if my regeneration is upgraded enough, then their acorns won't do much.
Wow, so the developer is inconsiderate with a lack of good judgement and will antagonize you even despite the fact they've been pretty nice, open to feedback/criticism, and is open to general questions. Plus to only be able to get versions through the Discord is a way to get more followers? That's how you build a community, people who greatly enjoy the game will want to keep in touch with it much like myself. You are fine posting the experimental link I would assume but in doing so for the sake of the developer trying to build a community and criticizing them for trying to build a community just makes you look stupid. I mean no disrespect to you, it's brutal honesty.
There's another Roguelite game out there called Dataminer that does a similar thing to this where new versions are released in the devs Discord server, to which after he completes a full update he updates the Itch.io page for the game. This is so they don't release buggy/broken versions out to the public and it's mainly for basic testing.
Another thing, literally your entire criticism section is complaining about how a Roguelite works. Roguelike/Roguelite games are meant to be difficult, and frustrating, complex, etc. They are meant to put you on edge because they are meant to be very challenging games that involve strategy to an extent. If you go in without a plan or any idea what you're doing you won't last long.
And above all else, the developer in this situation is clearly the better person. Yes you did provide a lot of feedback for the game and quite a lot of bias as well. You can't please everyone as no game is perfect. If you're going to criticize a game and give feedback on it you're better off doing it in a well respect manner that's not too lengthy. From what I saw you were pretty into the game and really liked it, but this post attacking the developer? The developer didn't do anything wrong, you've just insulted the developer for practically no reason. Shame on you.
After I obtained 100% accuracy, I increased the bullet speed to x12, but it meant I was missing the targets, oddly by some sort of delay. Why have separate stats for attack speed and bullet speed, especially if increasing one of them negatively affects accuracy? I'm using the HTML5 version. Is that why this game doesn't work properly when I do this? Now I hate bullet speed, not knowing what the point of it is if my attack speed isn't increased and the damage isn't increased. It's like having a faster bullet without any benefits of having a faster bullet. Quite the opposite, actually, since for some reason an increase in bullet speed makes me miss quite a lot despite having 100% accuracy.
Bullet Speed doesn't affect your accuracy and its quite useful for faster enemies. In this version of the game particularly, Bullet Speed is a must for Red Catterpillars. Furthermore, if you have more Bullet Speed you will waste less Fire Balls on targets that are already dead which increases your overall DPS. Moreover, some skills like Orbital Flames do scale with Bullet Speed. I recommend you to join our Discord, there will be a new version releasing between today and tomorrow with tons of new stuff
Well, thank you, but it did seem when I was playing and increased the bullet speed that I was missing A LOT. I think bullet speed was at x12 and it's like the bullets landed a split second after they should have.
By the way, I stayed up until 4 am last night playing this game, I found it so addicting. I had to realize it was stupid to stay up later to get myself to go to bed.
Actually, I'm playing right now, and the problem may not be accuracy so much as projectiles don't land. It's like there are more projectiles coming down than there are ones landing anywhere. It's like half or more of them make no difference and do nothing. Maybe bullet speed doesn't affect accuracy so much as outpace impacts or the rate of impact. Maybe with slower bullet speed, more bullets actually hit targets. And with higher bullet speed, some or most impacts are "skipped". It's a real problem and reduces the effectiveness and enjoyability of the game. I hope this helps, as this game is actually quite addicting. It would be much more addicting if upgrades didn't degrade the effectiveness or performance of the gameplay, though.
I'm sorry but after my recent realization that bullet speed actually decreases the number of impacts per bullet, it sort of ruins the game for me. I was already avoiding the random selections last night to avoid increasing bullet speed, but today using them again in accordance with what you said just made it so much worse again. Imagine upgrading bullet speed and the bullets outpacing impacts. That's what I believe is happening. I'm not going to rate this game. I hope you fix it so that maybe I'll find it again and enjoy it as it was meant to be enjoyed, with the upgrades working properly.
Im not sure I understand your thing with Bullet Speed since its the first time Im hearing this. You should try the new version that released on Discord today (its completely free) and tell me if that still happens or not
I probably should have mentioned this sooner. I'm using a Chromebook and so I can't download, install, and play the latest version off Discord. I've also found Discord frustrating, at least as far as searching for groups or other content. It's weird that way. I'll try the web/HTML5 version again, though. I don't understand why I'd get this unusual experience, though, unless the browser version isn't as good as the Windows version. You gave a warning at startup and suggest the Windows version, so there's that. On the bright side, I do believe if it were working as expected it would be an extremely addicting game.
The latest version are only on discord, the version you are playing is almost 1 year old. On Discord there are updated versions for Windows, Web and Android, you can just go there and pick them up to see if it is fixed
I'd like to point out that, after going through all possible upgrades (or as close as I got to finding all of them through resetting then exploring each thread with 27000 embers) that regeneration, multicaster (and its connected upgrades), and possibly critical strike are the only ones that seem worth investing in at this point. At least that will give me three good options to choose from at the outset of a new game, and I can choose regeneration to start and the others later. While strategy might be part of any good game, in a tower defense game, it seems just a little out of place to be able to buy so many different upgrades that might interfere with getting useful upgrades, making the game LESS playable and LESS enjoyable.
Not trying to sound mean or ungrateful. I'm still playing because I see a way to do better, get further, and gain the sense of accomplishment playing video games gives me :-)
This game feels stupid. If I focus on targeting, I won't have enough power or speed to hit anything and prevent being destroyed in the meantime. It's a bit stupid because if it takes five or six upgrades to get 100% accuracy, I have little speed or power or anything else. I did choose the multicaster instead of regeneration to start this time but because I was so concerned about survival, I didn't take any upgrades after that. Think about it: If you were a marksman with a bow and arrow or a gun, would accuracy be more important than power and speed? YES. By starting with such terribly accuracy (an unbelievable 0%), you've really crippled the game from the start, giving new and experienced players alike a handicap to work against, and it turns out this handicap at the start keeps them handicapped for the rest of the game, since if they do upgrade accuracy, they're not upgrading anything else that actually kills enemies! And you've made it SO BAD that if a player chooses targeting/accuracy whenever presented with the option, they'll die because they're not shooting enough weak fireballs or the few fireballs they do shoot are too weak!
To make a game challenging, you shouldn't just give players exactly what they want so they don't even have to try. But there is a difference between making a game challenging and taking all the fun out of it by making it an exercise in nonsensical desperation, which YOU set up. I think you may have made this game so "challenging" that you've almost begun to border an antagonistic with a hint of sadism. You do understand that this is a game, right? Did you want this game to be fun and enjoyable? Did you want players to want to play your game? Do you want them to get any positive feedback or sense of accomplishment in playing? Then maybe allow them to progress in the game without repeating the same stupid steps that you made necessary only to find that they weren't balancing out more relevant steps because you'd started them off with 0% accuracy/targeting and dealing with that crap seemed compelling enough not to yet worry about stuff like attack speed and power.
This is even before concerning myself with any of the "extra" upgrades available to my IF I earn enough "embers" to purchase them, their differing levels, and the subsequent upgrades made available. How useful and "fun" is any game where such a large part of the strategy is to cut out 80% of the upgrades and control things so what I'm doing is simplified enough that I might actually be able to focus on KILLING the enemies?
Maybe you haven't focused enough on making the game fun and focused too much on making the game difficult. Personally, I hate modern Mario games for being cartoonish and for making it too easy to play and win. Classic Super Mario gave you a finite number of lives and you had to discover how to get a much larger number. You also had to learn how to take shortcuts if you wanted to win the game quickly, but if you went through all the levels, there were only pauses and timing to worry about, and if you died once, you didn't start over completely because you had more than one life.
If I die in your game, I have to start over, crippled again, and up for the same disappointing, time-consuming, slow action that's like a never-ending preamble to something that never happens. Losing this game should be my fault because I actually made bad choices, not because your choices as the game developer were so restrictive and so counter to the interests of players, that you've actually set up a greater way to make the game more difficult and less fun with UPGRADES that are worth less than the upgrades available by default, crowding out more useful options!
Why don't you figure out what kind of game you WANT this to be? Is this game at least fun for you? If I'm not mistaken, Mario Maker makes creators complete their levels before they're allowed to upload them for others. If playing your game is nearly as unpleasant for you as it is for me, maybe you should consider changing it so that I'm not sent back to grade 1 because the sex ed aspect of Physical Education turned out to be a written exam instead of a hands on one. That's one metaphor for what you've done with your game. You've made me think and try so hard for so little reward that I'm actually a bit angry with you for turning a game I found addicting into one filled with the less pleasurable kind of dick moves.
Really nice so far, beat it on the third attempt. I'm looking forward to the extended versions you teased. Bug I can confirm is that you tend to die if you switch tabs, apparently even if you are on the upgrade selection screen between rounds. On that note, a pause button would be nice.
I get why devs release and foster communities on discord, it's probably much more fun and engaging developing software this way, particularly if you do it for free. But personally I hate joining random discords, decoding the room layout and custom lingo and all this knowing I won't engage long term anyway because it stresses me out to have a gazillion notifications about chats in an ephemeral medium that want's me to constantly engage. My discord is a graveyard and I dread logging in.
Well, sorry for ranting in your general direction, as I said I understand that this is a me problem. But if I may I'd humbly ask to please upload some newer version once you are at a release you are happy with here for those grumpy people like me that are very tired of joining a discord.
The discord versions are experimental, each version tests an additional element (v1.2 Skill Tree, v1.3 30 New Enemies, and v1.4 Playable Characters), so they are not fully playable, thats why Im not uploading it onto itch.io. There will be another version coming to itch in the future but it will only be a demo of the final release to gather wishlists on steam. My advice would be to join the discord and mute general notifications, I only ping the interested players once a new version drops (every ~3 months). And you dont really need to interact as well, some people only go there to grab the free versions and dont even give feedback, others have highly detailed discussions about game design, its up to you
fun game! replayability is ehh, creepy silence (no sfx??), died on round 0 because i didnt know what to do- very fun!! i wish that the ability cards or whatever they're called like adjusted to your weaknesses? if thats not too difficult
Seems like sometimes when you click off the screen you just die for some reason? Like maybe monsters keep walking but you stop shooting? Anyways I guess I should have stopped at 212 anyways.... great game very addicting! And I'm just playing the janky web itch.io version!
Hey thank you for playing! If u want, join the discord, the are some experimental versions with a lot more content. Im even gonna deploy v1.3 (which has a lot of new enemies) there in a few weeks. Enjoy!
They are experimental versions, by having a discord community Im able to gather more personal data about what I need. For example, Im going to deploy v1.3 on discord later this week, and it has a big focus on new enemies. If I were to release that on itch.io, people would almost never give me feedback on the new enemies.
I like this! It's cute. I know it's not finished, but at least considering its state right now (A menu that simply says "play" and an incomplex wave survival with 17 enemies), getting your desired build can be difficult. I feel like maybe for each 5th round, a 4th card is offered so that you're more likely to get the option you'd like.
In my case specifically, I am trying very hard to get an orbital build going, but the game doesn't wanna offer it up. That + the fact that bullet speed is worthless to most other builds means I'm under-powered and gambling on my survival until I can get an orbital card or I'm sacrificing cards to empower less important parts of my kit.
The nature of the upgrade system working through random cards tells me chance is part of the experience, but it can be annoying to have your playthrough dictated by the deck. It can be hard to add anything with how ability specific cards can clog up your options (STOP OFFERING ME BLOOD MAGE CARDS, I'M HOLDING UP FINE THANK YOU)
got to like round 250 or something in the experimental version, then the game crashed with this error:
also, for anyone else who might want this: the dev mentioned in a comment further below that pressing K does this, i just tested it out and it works both here and in the experimental version. also to the dev i suggest you mention this in the description.
yeah, that. i was suggesting mentioning it since probably adding that to the description is quicker than adding a button, so people who play in the meantime before 1.3 could make use of it.
good game but i im confused becouse i dont know what im buying ... i cannot find explanation what each ability is doing what is multishot or blueshot and how this is working? how i supose to choose i have explanation after i buy , great.
I’ve discovered a strategy for beating the game. Consider this a spoiler if you prefer to figure it out on your own. Note that this strategy applies to the experimental version, not the current web version.
Focus on Exponential Items: The key lies in the exponential items within the game. By doing so, you can increase your damage and defense at a much faster rate than your opponents can overcome.
Max Out Specific Trees mostly related to speed:
Base Tree: Accuracy and Attack Speed.
Sub Trees: Burst Shot, Multiecaster, and Assassin.
Exponential Items: Concentrate on items like Blue Flame and Critical Strike, they stack upon each other. I like Blue Flame as you can max it to every shot and you get more damage for it then the base damage card.
The Blood Mage: It is an exponential heal based on your damage and even with very little put into it will heal you more than your max health per hit. Combine this with a bit of armor, and the difference becomes laughable. In my example below they do 21 damage per hit and I heal for over 50k per hit far more than I have in total health.
Critical Strike: Critical strike chance is capped at 80%. When executed correctly, 80% of your hits will always result in instant kills.
Gambling: Lastly, I recommend gambling. If you’ve restricted your open trees to exclude useless items, statistically, you’ll receive something that can only benefit you. Keep in mind that Ember Generation is the only dud in the card pool if done correctly.
Suggestions.
Retaining Embers in Endless Mode:
It’s a great idea to allow players to exit endless mode while retaining the embers they’ve earned. This would provide more flexibility and prevent players from feeling stuck or bored once endless mode starts.
Variety in Mobs:
After completing the main game and transitioning to endless mode, maintaining variety in enemy mobs would be nice having the same predictable one is boring.
Exponential Enemy Bonuses:
To maintain challenge as players progress, introducing exponential bonuses for enemies once in endless mode.
Auto Card Selection or Limited Upgrades once in Endless mode:
An auto card select option or a mode where players cannot acquire additional cards after a entering Endless could be interesting.
Hey thank you for playing the game, I'm assuming that if you played the experimental version then you are already on our Discord server.
About your suggestions:
1. To quit a run you can use the "K" key for now and in version 1.3 there will be a proper button.
2. v1.3 will have a lot of new enemies (v1.2 - 8 enemies, v.1.3 - ~40 enemies) to give variety to the game. After round 60, I intend to cycle the enemies again with exponentially increasing stats.
3. Purple turtles were supposed to drop embers as well but I forgot to add that feature.
We have experimental versions on Discord (v1.2.4) and I'm currently working on v1.3 which should come out in a few more weeks. You can keep track of how the game's going in the discord as well, I post regular videos and screenshots of the game's development (except right now because college is a bit tight)
This version is about 4/5 months old, so Im not even sure what upgrades there are on this one. Right now I'm working on reworking the UI so I can include the caps there
Not far, round 15 I think? It was a while ago that I played lol sorry. I missed maybe 2/3 of my shots the whole time I played, and still missed 2/5 even after getting as many accuracy upgrades as I could.
Made it to round 216! Seems 60 is the 'you win' point, though, since after 61 there don't seem to be any new enemies or changes to the wave composition.
Warning, this game is addicting. Well to me at least. I absolutely cannot get enough of this game, it's so fun and literally addicting. Each failure I try new things. It's just, so much frickin' fun!!
Most unique augments are unfortunately too weak. The starting values are all just so low that you'd get more from a random silver upgrade. I'd argue some actually become downgrades as they dillute the pool with bad upgrades that only even draw even on their investment by the time the game is over.
Accuracy has a very extreme curve of usefulness. The initial 30% greatly increase DPS, the last 30% barely do anything.
The legendary accuracy upgrade is gimmicky. The maximum you can get is 45%, and even that is just barely 1.5x a gold upgrade. And even a flat 60% wouldn't be the world due to the diminishing returns on accuracy.
The legendary attack speed upgrade is gimmicky in the other way. You deal x1.5 damage. Initially the upgrade is worth less than a gold upgrade, but with enough attack speed it's the single best upgrade by far.
Armor shred - outclassed by Assassin in 3 separate ways: doesn't increase damage for the 1st hit, requires more upgrades, and has no secondary benefit.
Blue Fire - The scaling is way off. The first few upgrades do barely anything. Going from every other to every flame doubles its damage. Before that upgrade it's literally worse than just picking damage upgrades. Should max out at every 4th or 5th flame but the damage scaling should easily be 10x.
Multicast - bad feedback, are the flames glitched into each other?
Magma puddles - initially weak, but cubic scaling. Ignores armor. Scales with size, duration, and damage.
Freeze - too low chance to be good initially but quickly becomes a monster. The slow becomes 99% with just 8 gold upgrades that also give HP. Absolutely turns you immortal in the lategame. I recommend the slow affect speed as speed / (1 + slow) and the initial chance go up a little bit. Also glitched, as some enemies in the lategame randomly do not seem to get slowed.
Vampire - Healing for free is already really good. The initial value is actually good, just simply because there is no other healing. Scales absolutely bonkers to turn you immortal. I'd absolutely tune down the scaling, and also offer more alternative healing, e.g. a slow regeneration.
Lightning, Barrage, Assasin, and Orbits look pretty good, although all of them need to have their base damage improved.
I know doing the numbers balance can be a chore so I hope this helps.
Thanks for the feedback this is actually really useful. I will try to address every point you made:
Some initial unlockable augments are indeed very weak, this is to create a sort of duality between picking that or improving the ones you already possess. This same duality also applies to the pool, since once you max out certain skills, the respective cards leave the pool.
Yes I agree that accuracy sort of becomes useless after 50%, furthermore, the enemies get bigger, rendering upgrading accuracy even more useless
I actually never thought about it that way, my objective was to make something similar to the attack speed multiplier but never sat down and made the math. I'm gonna adjust some values for sure.
I also like the atk speed prismatic as it is a way more situational card compared to the just flat out +60 atk speed.
That's true, and I've already had some discussions about this in the discord. What I'm gonna do is either cap armor pen at 50% or make it so skills like statik or orbital stop proccing assassins
I've only made blue flame max out at 0 interval because I wanted the player to be able to go all blue (its a cool effect). This build is hard to play with if you pick it as a first skill just like burst shot, but picking it at 2nd or 3rd can give you a major advantage. Regardless, in the new version of the game this was tweaked a bit and Blue Flame can be really powerful.
When multicaster is activated, a second flame will be released together with the first one, there might be a probability of those flames being spawned in the exact same place. In previous versions there was a delay of 0.4s but some browser user complained about how that bugged the whole thing.
Yes lava pools scale really well, most runs with 1000+ rounds were made with lava pool builds
In this version there is a bug on slow effects where some Slimes/Snails suddenly get a lot of speed and start sliding across the screen. This was fixed already in the most updated version. Also, the Ice effect was a tweaked a bit since I added a similar slow effect (Snow Pools)
IMO Vampire is by far the best augment in the game precisely for the reason that its the only passive way of healing. However, there already are other augments such as the Regeneration that you mentioned in the updated version
I've mentioned this "updated" version a lot throughout this comment. The reason this page doesn't have the most recent release is because it's actually just an experimental release. If you want to check it out it's for free in the discord. There are a lot of new skills and systems and you can keep a close eye on development.
Well, the game is not being developed for the web, so I'm not properly worried about fixing that specific bug. If you download the windows version that bug wont probably happen
Found a new bug where I am attacking with 100% accuracy and 155 attack speed and the hits are not registering. Dev pls fix it just ruined my perfect run
I've mentioned this before. The misses occur only on the mobs that spawn anywhere around the bottom half of the map. Enemies that spawn on the top half, hits always land. Once they go below the flame, the initial hits just don't land.
Its why I made a kinda band-aid suggestion of putting the flame in the bottom center of the screen and to not allow mobs to spawn anywhere except from the top half of the screen to avoid this bug. There is just some issue with the way the enemies spawn and path from the bottom that makes it so they avoid all attacks at a certain point. Usually most noticeable with the red worms from 40-60 but can happen at any time.
Edit: Just saying its not a build thing. Its just a pathing/speed issue with mobs when they spawn from the bottom half of the map.
I was hopeful for an update by now, but I guess not.
Biggest issue atm is still that the enemies that come from the the bottom half evade 99% of all attacks. If the bonfire was centered in the bottom it would likely fix the issue.
Even if you reach wave 100+ you can still have issues with turtles just walking at you and you being unable to hit them for 30+ seconds until they just tick you down.
For a new game its much more important to focus on bug fixes as opposed to new systems. You can patch in bug fixes and focus on new systems once its more playable.
Thanks for playing! In this version the most reported bugs are the Slow/Ice and the Fireballs not registering. Im pretty sure I’ve figured the Slow one out, and regarding your bug I’ve never had reports of that happening on turtles. Normally it was just on the red catterpillars. Im assuming that the bug is due to having to process the collisions rly quickly at a high bullet speed. The way Im working this out is by optimising the game in other areas so more processing power can be atributed to collision detection. The thing is that I was never able to replicate this bug so its a bit tricky to solve it since I cant just test it
Edit: If you are interested in the state of the development I often share updates on the discord server
I've played this quite a lot as its a really solid and enjoyable game. But there are times when I'm way past the wave 60 mark (like wave 120 and beyond) and I'll still die because I can't hit the turtles.
I'd say 75% of the time if you pass wave 60, you can go endless. But for some reason there have been times where my fireballs just spam over and over and *MAYBE* 1-10 of my hits land on them. Its only when its a few left and chain lightning doesn't bounce, and if lava pools don't last long enough for them to stand in it from other turtle deaths.
So even wave 100+ if you don't have existing lava and can't chain lightning to them, turtles can easily reach you and just tick you down. Its the same hit issue that others have mentioned regarding the red worms. Just saying it can and does happen with turtles past 60 as well.
Ah! I can tell you why that's happening, the fireballs are simply going to fast to collide with the entity (or at least that's my running theory) it fixes if you go to normal speed though, so there's that.
some other people have reported this glitch as well, but on when a big green slime got frozen and died at the same time, and then a statik hit the smaller slime, it sent the slime careening toward my fire.
i know because i saw the ice appear for a second and then i saw the lightning just pop in as a dot before it slid across the screen.
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I really like this game probably better than the experimental version, actually. I just have some things to suggest: For the frost fire, does it actually only slow down enemies for 1 second? (when it is not upgraded) because even right when you get the upgrade, the enemies are still encased in ice after 1 second, so could you make the ice go away after the certain amount of time?. Also, I have 2 ideas for new upgrades that you could add. 1. An upgrade to get bigger fireballs, so that they can hit more enemies at once, and possibly do more damage. Also: just an idea you could make it like when the fireballs are big enough, they create craters, like a meteor, they does more damage or maybe slows enemies down because they have to walk through it. 2. This upgrade would probably be really good, so I think you could make it one of the purple upgrades that appear on lvl 60. (it only appears on lvl 60). Hypnotism, so enemies can attack each other, and maybe they do like 20% of damage they would do to the wildfire.
Please consider my ideas! Also if you do add them in, can you also add them in this version? I play this one more so I'd prefer that. I know you said this version is like a year and a half old, so...
anyways, bye!
Hello thanks for playing and for the feedback! If the Ice is still remaining even after the duration it was supposed to last then its most likely a bug which was present in this v1.1. I saw that you said you preferes the version on this site (v1.1) more than the experimental (v1.4), could you elaborate on that thought so I can better understand why you like the earlier version more?
The experimental version is a lot harder, and I actually don't usually complete the whole tree because some of the upgrades I wouldn't use, like the plant one where I flower ponds? I think it is that but I forgot. and if I don't unlock them then I will have a better chance of getting the ones I want, (I like immolate and regeneration the most). Also, this version, it is more fun because I can go to like round 730 :) that was my high score before I had to restart my computer :( Maybe you can add a save option? Like a unique code for each game and you can save that in the menu option or something? Also the beavers in the experimental version make It really hard because they take so much of my max health and I have to defeat almost all of them every round, but like for the squirrels, I can let them leave the screen if my regeneration is upgraded enough, then their acorns won't do much.
Wow, so the developer is inconsiderate with a lack of good judgement and will antagonize you even despite the fact they've been pretty nice, open to feedback/criticism, and is open to general questions. Plus to only be able to get versions through the Discord is a way to get more followers? That's how you build a community, people who greatly enjoy the game will want to keep in touch with it much like myself. You are fine posting the experimental link I would assume but in doing so for the sake of the developer trying to build a community and criticizing them for trying to build a community just makes you look stupid. I mean no disrespect to you, it's brutal honesty.
There's another Roguelite game out there called Dataminer that does a similar thing to this where new versions are released in the devs Discord server, to which after he completes a full update he updates the Itch.io page for the game. This is so they don't release buggy/broken versions out to the public and it's mainly for basic testing.
Another thing, literally your entire criticism section is complaining about how a Roguelite works. Roguelike/Roguelite games are meant to be difficult, and frustrating, complex, etc. They are meant to put you on edge because they are meant to be very challenging games that involve strategy to an extent. If you go in without a plan or any idea what you're doing you won't last long.
And above all else, the developer in this situation is clearly the better person. Yes you did provide a lot of feedback for the game and quite a lot of bias as well. You can't please everyone as no game is perfect. If you're going to criticize a game and give feedback on it you're better off doing it in a well respect manner that's not too lengthy. From what I saw you were pretty into the game and really liked it, but this post attacking the developer? The developer didn't do anything wrong, you've just insulted the developer for practically no reason. Shame on you.
Okay. I'm ready to rate this game.
After I obtained 100% accuracy, I increased the bullet speed to x12, but it meant I was missing the targets, oddly by some sort of delay. Why have separate stats for attack speed and bullet speed, especially if increasing one of them negatively affects accuracy? I'm using the HTML5 version. Is that why this game doesn't work properly when I do this? Now I hate bullet speed, not knowing what the point of it is if my attack speed isn't increased and the damage isn't increased. It's like having a faster bullet without any benefits of having a faster bullet. Quite the opposite, actually, since for some reason an increase in bullet speed makes me miss quite a lot despite having 100% accuracy.
Bullet Speed doesn't affect your accuracy and its quite useful for faster enemies. In this version of the game particularly, Bullet Speed is a must for Red Catterpillars. Furthermore, if you have more Bullet Speed you will waste less Fire Balls on targets that are already dead which increases your overall DPS. Moreover, some skills like Orbital Flames do scale with Bullet Speed. I recommend you to join our Discord, there will be a new version releasing between today and tomorrow with tons of new stuff
Well, thank you, but it did seem when I was playing and increased the bullet speed that I was missing A LOT. I think bullet speed was at x12 and it's like the bullets landed a split second after they should have.
By the way, I stayed up until 4 am last night playing this game, I found it so addicting. I had to realize it was stupid to stay up later to get myself to go to bed.
Actually, I'm playing right now, and the problem may not be accuracy so much as projectiles don't land. It's like there are more projectiles coming down than there are ones landing anywhere. It's like half or more of them make no difference and do nothing. Maybe bullet speed doesn't affect accuracy so much as outpace impacts or the rate of impact. Maybe with slower bullet speed, more bullets actually hit targets. And with higher bullet speed, some or most impacts are "skipped". It's a real problem and reduces the effectiveness and enjoyability of the game. I hope this helps, as this game is actually quite addicting. It would be much more addicting if upgrades didn't degrade the effectiveness or performance of the gameplay, though.
I'm sorry but after my recent realization that bullet speed actually decreases the number of impacts per bullet, it sort of ruins the game for me. I was already avoiding the random selections last night to avoid increasing bullet speed, but today using them again in accordance with what you said just made it so much worse again. Imagine upgrading bullet speed and the bullets outpacing impacts. That's what I believe is happening. I'm not going to rate this game. I hope you fix it so that maybe I'll find it again and enjoy it as it was meant to be enjoyed, with the upgrades working properly.
Im not sure I understand your thing with Bullet Speed since its the first time Im hearing this. You should try the new version that released on Discord today (its completely free) and tell me if that still happens or not
I probably should have mentioned this sooner. I'm using a Chromebook and so I can't download, install, and play the latest version off Discord. I've also found Discord frustrating, at least as far as searching for groups or other content. It's weird that way. I'll try the web/HTML5 version again, though. I don't understand why I'd get this unusual experience, though, unless the browser version isn't as good as the Windows version. You gave a warning at startup and suggest the Windows version, so there's that. On the bright side, I do believe if it were working as expected it would be an extremely addicting game.
The latest version are only on discord, the version you are playing is almost 1 year old. On Discord there are updated versions for Windows, Web and Android, you can just go there and pick them up to see if it is fixed
I'd like to point out that, after going through all possible upgrades (or as close as I got to finding all of them through resetting then exploring each thread with 27000 embers) that regeneration, multicaster (and its connected upgrades), and possibly critical strike are the only ones that seem worth investing in at this point. At least that will give me three good options to choose from at the outset of a new game, and I can choose regeneration to start and the others later. While strategy might be part of any good game, in a tower defense game, it seems just a little out of place to be able to buy so many different upgrades that might interfere with getting useful upgrades, making the game LESS playable and LESS enjoyable.
Not trying to sound mean or ungrateful. I'm still playing because I see a way to do better, get further, and gain the sense of accomplishment playing video games gives me :-)
This game feels stupid. If I focus on targeting, I won't have enough power or speed to hit anything and prevent being destroyed in the meantime. It's a bit stupid because if it takes five or six upgrades to get 100% accuracy, I have little speed or power or anything else. I did choose the multicaster instead of regeneration to start this time but because I was so concerned about survival, I didn't take any upgrades after that. Think about it: If you were a marksman with a bow and arrow or a gun, would accuracy be more important than power and speed? YES. By starting with such terribly accuracy (an unbelievable 0%), you've really crippled the game from the start, giving new and experienced players alike a handicap to work against, and it turns out this handicap at the start keeps them handicapped for the rest of the game, since if they do upgrade accuracy, they're not upgrading anything else that actually kills enemies! And you've made it SO BAD that if a player chooses targeting/accuracy whenever presented with the option, they'll die because they're not shooting enough weak fireballs or the few fireballs they do shoot are too weak!
To make a game challenging, you shouldn't just give players exactly what they want so they don't even have to try. But there is a difference between making a game challenging and taking all the fun out of it by making it an exercise in nonsensical desperation, which YOU set up. I think you may have made this game so "challenging" that you've almost begun to border an antagonistic with a hint of sadism. You do understand that this is a game, right? Did you want this game to be fun and enjoyable? Did you want players to want to play your game? Do you want them to get any positive feedback or sense of accomplishment in playing? Then maybe allow them to progress in the game without repeating the same stupid steps that you made necessary only to find that they weren't balancing out more relevant steps because you'd started them off with 0% accuracy/targeting and dealing with that crap seemed compelling enough not to yet worry about stuff like attack speed and power.
This is even before concerning myself with any of the "extra" upgrades available to my IF I earn enough "embers" to purchase them, their differing levels, and the subsequent upgrades made available. How useful and "fun" is any game where such a large part of the strategy is to cut out 80% of the upgrades and control things so what I'm doing is simplified enough that I might actually be able to focus on KILLING the enemies?
Maybe you haven't focused enough on making the game fun and focused too much on making the game difficult. Personally, I hate modern Mario games for being cartoonish and for making it too easy to play and win. Classic Super Mario gave you a finite number of lives and you had to discover how to get a much larger number. You also had to learn how to take shortcuts if you wanted to win the game quickly, but if you went through all the levels, there were only pauses and timing to worry about, and if you died once, you didn't start over completely because you had more than one life.
If I die in your game, I have to start over, crippled again, and up for the same disappointing, time-consuming, slow action that's like a never-ending preamble to something that never happens. Losing this game should be my fault because I actually made bad choices, not because your choices as the game developer were so restrictive and so counter to the interests of players, that you've actually set up a greater way to make the game more difficult and less fun with UPGRADES that are worth less than the upgrades available by default, crowding out more useful options!
Why don't you figure out what kind of game you WANT this to be? Is this game at least fun for you? If I'm not mistaken, Mario Maker makes creators complete their levels before they're allowed to upload them for others. If playing your game is nearly as unpleasant for you as it is for me, maybe you should consider changing it so that I'm not sent back to grade 1 because the sex ed aspect of Physical Education turned out to be a written exam instead of a hands on one. That's one metaphor for what you've done with your game. You've made me think and try so hard for so little reward that I'm actually a bit angry with you for turning a game I found addicting into one filled with the less pleasurable kind of dick moves.
there should be an upgrade that make the fire have a :3 face and does nothing else
oh you mean like one of the upcoming characters in v1.4 (releasing an experimental version on discord in about two weeks)
Really nice so far, beat it on the third attempt. I'm looking forward to the extended versions you teased. Bug I can confirm is that you tend to die if you switch tabs, apparently even if you are on the upgrade selection screen between rounds. On that note, a pause button would be nice.
hey, you can check the discord for the latest versions. This is v1.1, on the discord there are releases up to v1.3, and in a few weeks 1.4
I get why devs release and foster communities on discord, it's probably much more fun and engaging developing software this way, particularly if you do it for free. But personally I hate joining random discords, decoding the room layout and custom lingo and all this knowing I won't engage long term anyway because it stresses me out to have a gazillion notifications about chats in an ephemeral medium that want's me to constantly engage. My discord is a graveyard and I dread logging in.
Well, sorry for ranting in your general direction, as I said I understand that this is a me problem. But if I may I'd humbly ask to please upload some newer version once you are at a release you are happy with here for those grumpy people like me that are very tired of joining a discord.
The discord versions are experimental, each version tests an additional element (v1.2 Skill Tree, v1.3 30 New Enemies, and v1.4 Playable Characters), so they are not fully playable, thats why Im not uploading it onto itch.io. There will be another version coming to itch in the future but it will only be a demo of the final release to gather wishlists on steam. My advice would be to join the discord and mute general notifications, I only ping the interested players once a new version drops (every ~3 months). And you dont really need to interact as well, some people only go there to grab the free versions and dont even give feedback, others have highly detailed discussions about game design, its up to you
will this update soon
Check the discord for the experimental versions. This is version 1.1, on discord there's already v1.3 and soon soon 1.4
will it be posted here thoe as i like to play idle games via a browser
there are browser versions on discord as well, but I must advise you that the final game wont be available for the web
oh why not?
the final release will be about 5€ and there arent any gaming platforms that I know of that sell for web
died on rnd 1
fun game! replayability is ehh, creepy silence (no sfx??), died on round 0 because i didnt know what to do- very fun!! i wish that the ability cards or whatever they're called like adjusted to your weaknesses? if thats not too difficult
Seems like sometimes when you click off the screen you just die for some reason? Like maybe monsters keep walking but you stop shooting? Anyways I guess I should have stopped at 212 anyways.... great game very addicting! And I'm just playing the janky web itch.io version!
Hey thank you for playing! If u want, join the discord, the are some experimental versions with a lot more content. Im even gonna deploy v1.3 (which has a lot of new enemies) there in a few weeks. Enjoy!
why do you release updates on Discord?
They are experimental versions, by having a discord community Im able to gather more personal data about what I need. For example, Im going to deploy v1.3 on discord later this week, and it has a big focus on new enemies. If I were to release that on itch.io, people would almost never give me feedback on the new enemies.
I like this! It's cute. I know it's not finished, but at least considering its state right now (A menu that simply says "play" and an incomplex wave survival with 17 enemies), getting your desired build can be difficult. I feel like maybe for each 5th round, a 4th card is offered so that you're more likely to get the option you'd like.
In my case specifically, I am trying very hard to get an orbital build going, but the game doesn't wanna offer it up. That + the fact that bullet speed is worthless to most other builds means I'm under-powered and gambling on my survival until I can get an orbital card or I'm sacrificing cards to empower less important parts of my kit.
The nature of the upgrade system working through random cards tells me chance is part of the experience, but it can be annoying to have your playthrough dictated by the deck. It can be hard to add anything with how ability specific cards can clog up your options (STOP OFFERING ME BLOOD MAGE CARDS, I'M HOLDING UP FINE THANK YOU)
It's an interesting game. I believe that some music would add to the experience, and the starting inaccuracy is a bit harsh.
bro i died on round 0
Loved this game keep up the good work brother
got to like round 250 or something in the experimental version, then the game crashed with this error:
also, for anyone else who might want this: the dev mentioned in a comment further below that pressing K does this, i just tested it out and it works both here and in the experimental version. also to the dev i suggest you mention this in the description.
You mean pressing "K" to end the run? It is just a temporary solution, in v1.3 there will be a proper button to go back to the campsite
yeah, that. i was suggesting mentioning it since probably adding that to the description is quicker than adding a button, so people who play in the meantime before 1.3 could make use of it.
Most people that play the experimental version will probably know that by reading the discord. But I added your suggestion regardless :D
cool, thanks!
good game but i im confused becouse i dont know what im buying ... i cannot find explanation what each ability is doing what is multishot or blueshot and how this is working? how i supose to choose i have explanation after i buy , great.
im poppin off
Tips for Beating the Game
I’ve discovered a strategy for beating the game. Consider this a spoiler if you prefer to figure it out on your own. Note that this strategy applies to the experimental version, not the current web version.
Suggestions.
Thanks for making a fun game.
Hey thank you for playing the game, I'm assuming that if you played the experimental version then you are already on our Discord server.
About your suggestions:
1. To quit a run you can use the "K" key for now and in version 1.3 there will be a proper button.
2. v1.3 will have a lot of new enemies (v1.2 - 8 enemies, v.1.3 - ~40 enemies) to give variety to the game. After round 60, I intend to cycle the enemies again with exponentially increasing stats.
3. Purple turtles were supposed to drop embers as well but I forgot to add that feature.
good job buddy
Dangit... just died on 234... then I see this.
can you update this one plz plz plz plz
Hey, have you tried the experimental versions on discord? There's a big update there with tons of new abilities
I don't have a discord account because my parents don't allow me to have one and I can't download because I'm in a Mac book
don't worry I have a solution for u
https://salvadorpalma.itch.io/wildfire-experimental-version
The password is "wildfire"
this is a web experimental version, the problem is that the memory relies on the browser cache, so if it ever gets cleared your progress will as well
That's actually really wholesome
will this update soon
We have experimental versions on Discord (v1.2.4) and I'm currently working on v1.3 which should come out in a few more weeks. You can keep track of how the game's going in the discord as well, I post regular videos and screenshots of the game's development (except right now because college is a bit tight)
hey, i think i got all cappable upgrades capped. could you make me a list of which upgrades are not cappable?
This version is about 4/5 months old, so Im not even sure what upgrades there are on this one. Right now I'm working on reworking the UI so I can include the caps there
I just came back to check on any updates I missed. Excited to hear you're still working on this.
If you haven't already, you should check out the discord. You'd be surprised by how much the game changed
Just my luck, I lost on round one.
But then you tried again right? Right? (insert Anakin meme here) What's your best so far?
Not far, round 15 I think? It was a while ago that I played lol sorry. I missed maybe 2/3 of my shots the whole time I played, and still missed 2/5 even after getting as many accuracy upgrades as I could.
Um, I don't think there's any way to leave the game without doing alt-f4, which I don't like to do since sometimes it messes with stuff.
Yes don't worry I will fix this issue in future versions
Made it to round 216! Seems 60 is the 'you win' point, though, since after 61 there don't seem to be any new enemies or changes to the wave composition.
Yes, for now the game ends at round 60 since this was a college assignment and the deadline didnt allow for me to make more enemies
Wow, for a college assignment this is quite good!
Warning, this game is addicting. Well to me at least. I absolutely cannot get enough of this game, it's so fun and literally addicting. Each failure I try new things. It's just, so much frickin' fun!!
thank you that feels great to hear! If you wanna try the experimental versions they are available on the discord :D
I'll definitely consider joining the Discord, I am absolutely in love with this game. :)
Sweet little game.
I like this, enough to give it a numbers crunch:
I know doing the numbers balance can be a chore so I hope this helps.
Thanks for the feedback this is actually really useful. I will try to address every point you made:
I've mentioned this "updated" version a lot throughout this comment. The reason this page doesn't have the most recent release is because it's actually just an experimental release. If you want to check it out it's for free in the discord. There are a lot of new skills and systems and you can keep a close eye on development.
When I tab out I die, even when I am having no trouble beating the waves and have life-steal, its very annoying when will a pause button be added?
Are you playing in the web version?
Yes, should I download it?
Well, the game is not being developed for the web, so I'm not properly worried about fixing that specific bug. If you download the windows version that bug wont probably happen
Alright, thanks.
awesome game
Things i noticed while playing the android version:
1) no settings
2) no pause/save/continue run menu
3) no sounds (music/effects/etc)
What the game needs is a cheat menu
Those features havent been implemented in any version yet but thanks for playing the game!
i am so mad, i didnt mean to but i pressed space, only reason i died
the space key isn't mapped to anything. Maybe you pressed K which kills you instantly. This is just temporary
Must have hit that then, but yeah sad days.
Woah!! :O
Found a new bug where I am attacking with 100% accuracy and 155 attack speed and the hits are not registering. Dev pls fix it just ruined my perfect run
Ye I know I'm still not sure what causes this. What did you build? Knowing that might help me understand the bug a bit better.
Either way in a couple of days I will deploy an experimental version on the discord with the new stuff, hopefully that's fixed there
I had max attack speed max accuracy and a crap ton of damage with the rotating orbs
I've mentioned this before. The misses occur only on the mobs that spawn anywhere around the bottom half of the map. Enemies that spawn on the top half, hits always land. Once they go below the flame, the initial hits just don't land.
Its why I made a kinda band-aid suggestion of putting the flame in the bottom center of the screen and to not allow mobs to spawn anywhere except from the top half of the screen to avoid this bug. There is just some issue with the way the enemies spawn and path from the bottom that makes it so they avoid all attacks at a certain point. Usually most noticeable with the red worms from 40-60 but can happen at any time.
Edit: Just saying its not a build thing. Its just a pathing/speed issue with mobs when they spawn from the bottom half of the map.
It misses all the time with more projectile speed while sped up
Hey I have good news for you, this problem has already been solved and there's a version on the discord right now without it.
I was hopeful for an update by now, but I guess not.
Biggest issue atm is still that the enemies that come from the the bottom half evade 99% of all attacks. If the bonfire was centered in the bottom it would likely fix the issue.
Even if you reach wave 100+ you can still have issues with turtles just walking at you and you being unable to hit them for 30+ seconds until they just tick you down.
For a new game its much more important to focus on bug fixes as opposed to new systems. You can patch in bug fixes and focus on new systems once its more playable.
Thanks for playing! In this version the most reported bugs are the Slow/Ice and the Fireballs not registering. Im pretty sure I’ve figured the Slow one out, and regarding your bug I’ve never had reports of that happening on turtles. Normally it was just on the red catterpillars. Im assuming that the bug is due to having to process the collisions rly quickly at a high bullet speed. The way Im working this out is by optimising the game in other areas so more processing power can be atributed to collision detection. The thing is that I was never able to replicate this bug so its a bit tricky to solve it since I cant just test it
Edit: If you are interested in the state of the development I often share updates on the discord server
I've played this quite a lot as its a really solid and enjoyable game. But there are times when I'm way past the wave 60 mark (like wave 120 and beyond) and I'll still die because I can't hit the turtles.
I'd say 75% of the time if you pass wave 60, you can go endless. But for some reason there have been times where my fireballs just spam over and over and *MAYBE* 1-10 of my hits land on them. Its only when its a few left and chain lightning doesn't bounce, and if lava pools don't last long enough for them to stand in it from other turtle deaths.
So even wave 100+ if you don't have existing lava and can't chain lightning to them, turtles can easily reach you and just tick you down. Its the same hit issue that others have mentioned regarding the red worms. Just saying it can and does happen with turtles past 60 as well.
Ah! I can tell you why that's happening, the fireballs are simply going to fast to collide with the entity (or at least that's my running theory) it fixes if you go to normal speed though, so there's that.
some other people have reported this glitch as well, but on when a big green slime got frozen and died at the same time, and then a statik hit the smaller slime, it sent the slime careening toward my fire.
i know because i saw the ice appear for a second and then i saw the lightning just pop in as a dot before it slid across the screen.
Yes this is a bug in this version. Im pretty certain that I figured it out and it should be ok once I update the game
i rolled 3 random gold and got 3 silver
Got to wave like 180, could've go forever
oof wave 81
you should make it to where the rarity of cards so they can be mixed so that when you reroll you have a chance for a higher tier card
wave 41