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Improvement Summary
Our biggest new feature is the addition of Achievements. The camera zoom has been changed to show less of the dungeon room. We've made many play balancing changes, as well as several UI changes.
Devlog
https://dragonsisle.itch.io/eldwyns-dungeon-academy/devlog/1712327/090-achievements-unlocked
Requested Feedback/Comments for Reviewers
What do you think of the new camera zoom level? Did you try adjusting it? What is your preferred zoom level?
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Comments
I like the achievement systems, think it adds something to shoot for and a reason to play over/do specific things. Also adds some end game progression and a good way to incentive players to explore. Still like how quick and fluid movement and combat feel. My main critiques are around balancing what is currently there. Enemy movement could be improved. It is easy to sometimes cheese them and just slowly walk towards a group slashing them down one by one. Having a way that a goblin could randomly charge at you or having one run at you could alert others would help a lot. Some enemies later in the combat dungeon also moved way to fast. I walked in their line of sight and got hit almost immediately. Don't know if this was intentional but didn't feel fair to get hit by an enemy running at 4-5 times the normal speed. Finally I ran out of arrows in the combat dungeon, died and then had no way of getting past those big guys in the dungeon. I figured out there are arrows in the other dungeon, as long as there is a way to not get locked out of progressing it is okay but it confused me a bit. Still really like the game and feel like you are making a lot of progress. Great job guys, can't wait to see the final version!
Thanks for playing and the feedback!
We are working on the enemy logic, especially since the zoom change alters how some of them feel. You commented on wanting some enemies to charge, well the ones rushing you later are those charging enemies. If you get in a straight line with them, they charge fast as their primary attack. If you can stay out of that target line, you can come in at angle and get them. We need to look at their range for the current zoom level to make sure you can more easily see them before they charge and maybe make it more clear to the player how they work.
In the latest version there should be a breakable pot just to the right of where you get the bow that drops 5 arrows, which respawn when you die. That should be enough to take out the first big orc who should then drop more for the second one. As long as you don't shoot too fast and waste an arrow on an invulnerability frame, the 5 arrows should be enough to deal with both.
Thanks!
Since I have played this game last time, I don't have any further comment on the level designs. For now, I'll start with commenting on the updates and finish with some thoughts since you mentioned that this will be released commercially in a month. The comments I have for this time will probably sound more negative since I will only be mentioning issues from my part. But to start, you did a very good job on the level design as they have a very nice flow of difficulty and advancement.
Achievement Systems
I find the explicit achievement pop-ups seems to be too excessive, especially at the beginning of the gameplay.
So.. I first went through the trap dungeon. Then there is this enemy that spawn right on top of the switch that causes the trap to shoot arrow and the enemy just got killed right there. I got the achievement of killing the enemy even though I didn't do anything. I can understand if I lure the enemies into the pit and get the achievement. But I think you shouldn't get any achievement for not doing anything.
I don't think this system adds anything good extra to the game, . But it may be because I'm used to playing games where there are no achievements at all; or the achievements are of little quantities and much harder to achieve.
Camera Zoom
For the new camera zoom level, I played with zoomed-in size of around 1.7x and find it OK for the most part. The default settings seem to be OK at least. In fact, there are some levels that makes you more handicapped while playing in zoomed in, such as levels with goblin archers. I got killed once just because the enemies were off-screen and they fired their arrows at me without me knowing they're there. And after that experience, I tend to leave the camera zoom level at default or even smaller (more view of the game level). Personally, I prefer to play with between 1.3x up to 1.5x zoom level.
Performance Issues
This may only be a personal problem, but I want to put this out just for awareness.
The game frame-rate always suffer whenever I died and choose continue. And there's no way to properly play the game with this since the attack animation got cut-off before the slashing frame and there seems to be no hit-box to damage the enemies. The trap dungeon is also unsolvable due to needing precise movement and timing to evade the arrows shooting.
Strangely enough, the frame-rate always return to normal whenever I go to the main-menu and restart the game from the beginning. So maybe there are something leaking while choosing the "continue" option instead of "main menu".
So I tried to replay the game every time I died, I couldn't finish the game in one go. Although, I did get very far with each dungeon, defeating bosses and get the different power-ups. I stopped playing after about 1 hour.
Little comments on the control
It seems that there is a very little acceleration and de-acceleration with the movement. While it is very tiny, it plays fine for the most part. Except for the tiny bit where you need precise control to properly evade the arrows in the Trap Dungeon. I wonder if it would be better if there are no accel/de-accel at all. But the movement control is fine as it is.
Overall
Except for the polish, I think the game is doing fine as a SNES-style Zelda-like game. Since you are aiming for a release in one month time (or less), I would recommend to polish the game extra hard before release. I still find some rough part that feels more like a placeholder instead of production quality. Such as pick-up SFX being the same whether they're food (bread), coins, or arrow. And then there are walls with purple lines that players can't cross but the wind wand can go through. Speaking of the wind effect, the curly sprite is just not polished enough as a production quality. Since it can move blocks, it should have more "power/impact/pressure" feel to it.
There are too many little things that I still find unpolished but I'm sure you are working on it. Everything that is tied directly to player's interaction will need extra priority, while background art can take more of a back-seat.
And hey, thanks for including the classroom intro with Eldwyn the dragon sprite as oppose to the placeholder Pegasus sprite. At least the narrative is more coherent now compared to last time.
Good luck on the final sprint before release, Godspeed!
Thanks for playing and the feedback!
I'll have a more to say later, but I'm actually working on getting another release finished up right now. I'm not sure it will be done by close of submissions, but within the next day. I'll reread this later after the release.
We will see about adding an option to hide the achievement popups for those who don't like them. There are a lot of people who crave achievements and will try to get them all. We are also releasing on Steam where most games have achievements, so it feels like our game would look lesser for lacking them. I will agree that the "Firsts" tier of achievements can end up with getting a lot very quickly, and we are going to review them. Many are intended for you to get in the tutorial. Maybe we will change some of them to be tutorial only, instead of tutorial or main game. The Trap Dungeon's first enemy was meant to teach the player with "Show, don't tell" about how those arrow traps worked. The achievement for first kill was added later and we always had it by the time we got to that point so never considered getting it from that encounter. We will need to think on it. Making the Firsts be tutorial only would fix this.
Thanks for the camera zoom feedback. We will look at adjusting the range of ranged enemies to better fit the camera zoom level.
I have not encountered your performance issues, so it is good to know about them. I am planning to start work on the save system in the near future, and with that I will be completely redoing the continue system. It was added quickly early on and is very much not optimized. I'm not surprised it has a bit of a performance cost, though did not expect it to make the game unplayable. Things will probably be a bit better with the latest version, as the demo no longer includes the full game's content. Previously we had some unlocks so testers/streams could play everything from the demo, but that also meant that when you continued it processed all of the rooms. Now there are fewer rooms to deal with.
The player has an Acceleration of 800, with double that for Deceleration. Max Speed is 150. We are continuing to tweak the feel of the player's movement, and will keep your feedback in mind. With the new zoom it does affect how the movement feels.
Graphical art is currently a big focus for our work. The latest release has removed most of one asset pack, and we are working on the other. The purple magical barriers have been updated to look a bit better, and are better aligned with the walls. SFX are on the list to improve, but will be after the graphical work, as we can make our own graphics, but have to hunt through many examples for sounds that work.
Thanks again for playing and the feedback.
I played this game both before and after the update. My progress reset on the new update (My fault, not yours). I like the new camera zoom level. However, the game's continue button won't show up, forcing me to reset when I tried to see the achievements. There should be some in game notification on when you earn an achievement.
I do like the other new play balancing changes. The dash traps are significantly improved, I used to just go around them before. The arrows are much better. However, the goblin dungeon can still be soft-locked with when you have no arrows, due to the goblin. It is in the room that your cover image is made off of.
I would like checkpoints in the dungeon. I would die to the mini boss, and then have to go back to the main hub.
I really liked the well made camara transitions, and the enemy fighting. I liked to outsmart some enemies, by making them fall into pits, and arrows.
Nice game overall.
I also see that you use a lot of devlogs. Do they work for you? I tried them, but they seem to be worthless until 500 followers.
Thanks for playing and the feedback.
We do not currently have saving setup in the game, only continuing when you die. Once you return to the menu you need to start over. Saving is on the list to be added in the near future.
When you earn an achievement you should be getting a notification at the top center. This is the old zoom, but here is an example.
Glad to hear you like the changes. The old dash traps were never feeling quite right, so we've been working to improve or replace them. The new design came due to the zoom.
Yes, you can end up unable to proceed in a dungeon if you run out of a consumable that you need for it. You lose score for dying, but it does respawn pickups, so that is sometimes the only option. Of course, if you have not completed the other dungeon, you can go hunting there for more supply. We will add a pot with arrows in the area where you get the bow so it is easier to get more in the room after you die. If you are really good, you can take them out with the sword or dash past them. You'll likely take damage, but it can be done.
Our game was inspired by (S)NES games like Zelda, where you start back at the entrance to the dungeon, and not at full health. Checkpoints really don't fit the style of game. You are meant to go through the level and potentially be low on health or supplies when yo encounter the bosses. The level is part of the challenge.
Thanks. We've tried to make the enemies not just walk right into the pits, though it can be satisfying to get them to do so. Using the traps against them is also fun.
I know you generally play on mobile. Did you use the in-game on-screen controls? If so, how were they? We have not gotten around to refining them yet, which is why we have not listed the game as mobile friendly or publicly released the Android build yet. Thanks.
I write the devlogs for those who are interested in them, primarily for jam players to know what is new. I always read any devlogs when doing jams, or just playing new releases of games I follow. Some other devs I chat with also regularly write and read devlogs, and I suppose it is just habit for me now. It gives an idea of what to look for and what the dev may be most interested in getting feedback on. I don't expect to gain any follows from them, at least not just from posting on Itch. I share links to them on our social media accounts to keep the game out there and maybe get new interest that way. I don't like to just spam random social media posts, but prefer to have something to say, and the devlogs are something worth talking about for me. It can also show people who find the game that you are actively working on the project and let them look back at how it has changed, if they wish to read. For some people just seeing that you are regularly making updates can be reassuring that it is not a dead project.
I played your game on Windows 11.
I understand.