Thanks for the detailed response! Seems I missed quite a lot of stuff across docs and settings.
Also don't get me wrong, I was definitely confused, but it somehow did get easier after playing for several hours multiple days straight lol. It does feel like you've made the core mechanics simple the grasp, and the whole complexity lies in figuring out what all the cubes do and how they interact, so I think that helped a lot.
I just checked the interactive tutorial and it looks o/x part was covered, I just missed it! I guess there's just a lot of info to look at so it didn't register at all. Looking now the v/b/n changing should had also been obvious, but it didn't register at all.
I think the up/down attacking confused me, cause while it is written, it doesn't become relevant until later, so it just passes through when you have so much other stuff to learn.
Think I also just figured out my Left Ctrl vs Left Shift confusion with attacks! I assumed attacking was Left Ctrl + movement, but that just applies for horizontal attacks? As vertical attacks seem to be keybound to < and > which on US layout is Left Shift + move up / down. I did find the phylactery before dying though by accident and realized what a neat loop you had set up there!
Think I found the last event key as well, "y", which yea pretty much does exactly what I was looking for. Given there's so much action going on at all times a log would probably be unusable like you said. I thought it might be nice also for for player-built buildings (like when something is breaking your roof) and the defense core, since those don't seem to have immediate feedback from what I can tell? Although it's possible I just can't read the soundscape that well yet.
Regarding the endless flying upwards, I did move horizontally, and that didn't change anything, could still keep flying up but couldn't go down. Once I realized it doesn't feel intended, I was between it being some sorta interaction I couldn't figure out, or that the "weight" trait only applies in certain conditions not every tick, and I somehow broke out of it, not sure.
Regarding the freeze, I'm honestly not sure, I think I was mostly just moving around, and using Look mode and Search mode to figure out what I'm supposed to search for and where I'm supposed to go, as I still hadn't figured out by that point there's a layer of balloons above me and I can attack above. Probably not helpful but here's the screenshot I made after I realized the game had frozen
Another idea I got regarding UI, maybe it would be feasible to visualize certain UI elements after the element is introduced in the tutorial the first time? And/or flashing the background of the character(s) for a few sec? Probably more work than any of the alternatives though.
Regarding screenshots, I don't really have good ideas, I did have a hard time understanding what I was looking at before playing it, whether I was looking at some UI or ingame movement, might come more naturally to people who play more games with this artstyle but I felt like an sheltered amish man looking at a smartphone. Maybe some sorta overlay captions on pics would be worth considering? Not sure if that would help though.
Yea I think I do get your perspective regarding stuff like achievements/meta-progression, I hadn't considered that since for me that sense of progression in the rigid mechanics set by the game is the really satisfying part of most games, numbers going up, clearing goals, unlocking new things and whatnot. Some sorta story mode or curated scenarios would be really cool to see in the future though!
I think DF handles isometric "3D" by mods/hacks, basically rendering visuals on top of the game from reading the runtime game tiles. I don't know anything about Java much less your codebase though, so it was mostly just me thinking loudly how cool it would be to have all the cubes falling visualized in first person or even isometrically.
Yea the tag stuff is fair, I didn't even know the ASCII part lol, and I do get now after playing it that it's not really a roguelike, but if that's the connection most people make it might help get it in front of the people who'd wanna play it, even if it's not factual, so just wanted to bring that up
And I do get the struggle, as an autist with ADHD it's a constant battle between wanting to stick to something comfortable and starting something new lol, I think i have like 17-19 projects (apart from Wender) I've put anywhere from 2 weeks to 6 months into. I was actually planning to look into making an traditional roguelike-kinda-playing roguelite with procgen cause I realized it might be easier to work on systems and rely on procgen for content to keep my brain interested.
I think for a game like Deep Debris, the chaos is a big part of the fun though. Actually, have you considered something like a Rimworld-esque storyteller type AI that would work to ensure a balanced stream of chaos based on how well the player is doing or something? I always thought that was a really cool concept (also personifying the game's difficulties but that's beside the point).