This was really fun! A nice refreshing twist on the line clearing block stacker. Some general comments:
- It would be good to introduce the controls to the player during the tutorial. I was able to guess the correct controls coming in using prior experience, but any game could be someone's first game.
- it's not immediately clear how repeating blocks will behave (ie. more than one operator or number in a row)
- It's not tutorialized that equations resolve left to right for attacks and also top to bottom for defense
- It would have been nice to know that creating a negative value hurts the player instead
- The defense line muting out any tall stacks is a little confusing. It initially seems pretty punishing, especially since it's an unknown mechanic. It might be enough to know about it in the tutorial.
- It's not too clear when a block falls to the bottom or if it just drops one line after a clear. (seems verticals drop all the way down? and horixontals only drop one line?)
- the randomness of the next block feels like it takes a little of the player's agency. The complexity of anticipating the next block (or possible blocks) is like trying to play two simultaneous games of blackjack. Rather than trying to orchestrate combos I felt like I was simply reacting to the next block without planning anything. There is a good cognitive harmony with the combat for it, but the player will be missing out on dopamine hits from high skill line resolutions.
The VOD of the review is linked below, and will be available for 60 days from the day of broadcast:
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2870092300?t=0h54m40s