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[RinkuHero]

Here you can also suggest improvements to the game.

This is my running list of what I'd like to improve in future versions of the game:

- revise stage select screen, improve the layout
- multiple save file systems, for when more than one person play it on one computer
- save the difficulty level that you beat a level on, store it and show it on the stage select screen

[bigbossSNK]

                            Here's my take:
           Priority 1                               Priority  2
Improved sprites/ voices           Online high score table
Improved level select screen     Medal system
Multiple accounts system           Level editor
Sound and music controls          Challenge levels
Ending rankings                         Algorithm enhancements

It's pretty much an industry staple, that if you make any improvements to the graphics you should do it early on. That way, early adopters aren't "cheated" out of their money, because after a player invests 10 hours in finishing the game, he isn't going to revisit it on account of a graphical update. People revisit their games when new content is added. Hence, add graphics improvements early on, maintain a steady stream of content.

-The in-game sprites seem outdated in comparison to the new, highly detailed portraits.
-The level select screen needs a graphical redesign, and a clear and concise representation of the level's data. As for the graphical redesign I was thinking since the whole game is about path space, the level select screen can be a path onto itself, with nodes to represent the levels (think of a glorified Super Mario World level selection screen). As the path is revealed partially after each mission, the complete path can be the outline of e.g. the Danmaku point.
-Multiple account systems offer a level of professionalism without requiring any serious programming (so you should be able to get this in without breaking a sweat)
-Sound and music controls are important enough to include on the first patch. People don't like reaching for the volume control
-Ending rankings (time played, number of kills, favorite tower, most efficient tower). This is a very high incentive for the player to keep coming back to the game, with no major programming hurdles

The rest of the noteworthy features I've grouped into the "second" patch. Content additions aren't necessary yet, considering the game already features 100+ levels. You'll also better off ironing out the high score/ ranking system before you create an online high score table. As for the medal system, I have reservations. It sounds like an afterthought to me, but I haven't played FFT from which I gather you take inspiration.
Oh, and I don't think you should change the balance, *again* 

[mrfredman]

I did some beta testing through the various .8 vs. Anyways I saw that the final was out and I had to give it a try. First off I want to offer my compliments. Its awesome as a finished project, none of the gameplay appeal is misisng and its all sleek and sexy now. As I play through the demo a few things are coming to mind, although they might have been added when I wasn't looking and I just don't know how to use them.

+ A way to delete or undo the placement pf towers in the time your building before you've hit start and released the enemies.

+ What happened to the pink lines on the line when placing strategic points? They were super helpful and its tough to place them without it.

Also I was hoping to weasel myself a free copy of the game by adding my ideas Don't beta testers get shwag and stuff?

[RinkuHero]

Yeah, you get a free copy, go to the 'secret playtester's forum' (which can only be seen by the original playtesters), the link to the full game is there.

The way to sell a tower right now is to press S when it's selected; you get your money back when doing so. Eventually I'll create a mouse control for doing so as well.

Because strategist points have infinite range, I'm not sure the lines are that useful: they can fire at anything you can fire at, at any range, so *where* you place them doesn't actually matter (they're the only tower that it doesn't really matter where you place them).

[Mischief Maker]

The enemy sprites definitely should get first priority.  I'm a newcomer to this game and the fact that I was shooting at indistinct pulsing brain blob things was the first thing that registerd as a "negative" with me.

I don't know if this would jibe with your own sense of aesthetics, but I'd suggest ditching the "biological" enemy ships and replace them with recognizable (and mean looking) space ships.  The setting is so surreal that little touch of reality would help ground the game, especially for people who don't bother reading the story.

If you want to stay biological, let me then suggest that you at  least give them a clear directional facing to make it clearer where they are in complicated loop arrangements with overlapping lines.

[RinkuHero]

Thanks for the feedback 

I definately want to keep them at least semi-biological because this game is based on the universe of a novel by a friend of ours and the story is very important us. But good point that the first enemies lack a distinct direction. I'd like to improve the enemy graphics as soon as possible as well, it's just that graphics are the part of the game that takes the longest to improve, but we'll see what we can do.

[Mischief Maker]

Okay, here are some suggestions that would hopefully be faster:

-At the initial setup part, where those little star thingies trace the path from start to finish, make the star thingies accellerate and decelerate like a basic enemy would to help determine optimal turret placement.

-Are the attack ranges for the ortho point and circuit points really 1-dimensional lines?  Or is the attack radius wider than the lines shown?  If the latter, please add a wireframe surrounding their actual range to help decide how obsessive we need to be about pixel-perfect placement.

-In a game whose goal is getting the highest score, calling the turrets "points" is confusing.  Come up with some other name for them like "Avatars" or "Constructs" or "Aspects" or something.

-Do something about background effects obscuring turrets and enemies.  I had the effects set to max when playing the first survival level and the effects piled up so much on my main chokepoint that the whole thing turned into a white blur that I couldn't pick out my turrets or enemies from.  Please make it so the effects don't cover turrets and the enemy's bubbles.

-If sprites take forever, would it be possible to render the enemies as geometric shapes with this game engine?  Take a look at the Mutant Storm demo ( http://www.pompomgames.com/mutantstorm.htm ) for an example of nice biological-looking enemies rendered with simple textures and low-poly models.

I look forward to the next patch!

[RinkuHero]

Thanks for the suggestions,

The star slowing is a good suggestion, as is the Ortho Point placement idea; both should be easy to add.

Points is always capitalized, but I agree that it's a bit confusing. I don't like any of the renames you named though, and there are also a lot of puns and subtle second-meanings involved in calling them Points -- for instance, the Turning Point. I wouldn't say the goal of the game is getting the highest score either (see the interviews for more on what we think the point of the game is). I don't think it can be changed without losing a lot of the undertones of using the word Point, a lot of the game text relies on that particular word (for instance "I am not a Point, I am Point itself!" and so on). I think it's only confusing at first, after you get used to the word it's not that confusing.

If the effects obscure the Points and such, turn it down -- it's not meant to be played on the highest level, really, that's mainly for those who like the beauty of the effects over the strategy of the gameplay. If you're more interested in the game's goals than in the visuals, keeping the effects around 30-50 is the best idea; 100 effects, just like 100 difficulty, is for those who really want to go to the extreme. In other words, you're not asking me to implement anything new, the option for 100 effects is there for people who don't mind the effects getting in the way.

I'll look into Mutant Storm, but that game uses a 3d engine, whereas my game is 2d, and I can't just render a 3d object without changing the entire engine of the game (and starting from scratch).

[bigbossSNK]

Here's some notions:
- Localization: So long as you find some competent translators, you can translate the text to other European languages : German, French, Spanish, Scandinavian.
- Selling: Most people don't know you can sell towers. Add a short text to the Fear point introduction about that. Holding the right mouse button for selling would also work nice.
- Maybe you can add a description to the effects scroll bar (simple and clean, pretty, obscure), so people can choose by description, rather by trial and error.

Have you also considered fileplanet for promoting your game? Proffessor fizzwizle is currently the #1 downloaded demo there.

[RinkuHero]

A couple of publishers have approached me about localization, but there's a good deal of text to translate (all the in-game messages, around 50 pages of story, etc.) so we'll see. I could do my own localizations as well, but I don't think it's yet popular enough to warrant that (when it gets 1000+ sales, then it'd probably be time for it).

Good point about selling towers, I'll try the right mouse button selling soon.

Interesting idea for the scroll bar, I'll see if I can do that when I change the looks of the stage select screen.

Okay, I uploaded it to FilePlanet, let's see how that goes.

Thanks-thanks!

[Mischief Maker]

Perhaps difficult but shouldn't be impossible suggestion:

Random path generator!  Enter random numbers into some calculation to produce twisty curvy lines. 

*SPOILER* Have it unlockable after finishing the final campaign (with or without 100%) and it would even fit in with the story *END SPOILER*

The player adjusts buttons to choose whether to add colored paths or perma-hates, or other obstacles from the campaign proper, whether Aa is present to compete, What campaign's worth of enemies attack, and whether it has a time limit or is a survival game.

[RinkuHero]

That seems to overlap the planned level modding idea -- though I could have an option within that for a random level so that when someone is creating a new level they have something to start with.

[Melly-Me]

Some few ideas I have and aspects of the game that turned me off.

1- Make all Points introduce themselves to you instead of being given by someone else (Cut, Danmaku) or just 'showing up' from one path to the other (Strategist). The personalities of each point are a big thing of what makes the game unique. When those points didn't tell me anything about themselves (ESPECIALLY the Danmaku. Honestly, that was a real bummer) it made me feel distanced from them, when the other Points were like characters that you could get to know more of.

2- I'm not fully certain about this, but the Level 6 Danmaku doesn't always work. It's meant to fire at the direction of your cursor, but sometimes I've seen it firing at a random direction and never changing it no matter where my cursor was, which would pretty much ruin my big-ass investiment.

3- As other reviews and people have stated, one of the good aspects of the game is its great story. However, the story also happens to overlap the gameplay at later levels. I found myself playing through all of the later levels at the easiest difficulty just to see what the story would be like later on, instead of trying to have fun at killing enemies. Perhaps making the gameplay itself somehow reflect the events in the storyline would keep it interesting.

I should have more thoughts soon.

[Mischief Maker]

1- Make all Points introduce themselves to you instead of being given by someone else (Cut, Danmaku) or just 'showing up' from one path to the other (Strategist). The personalities of each point are a big thing of what makes the game unique. When those points didn't tell me anything about themselves (ESPECIALLY the Danmaku. Honestly, that was a real bummer) it made me feel distanced from them, when the other Points were like characters that you could get to know more of.

Seconded!

[RinkuHero]

I don't want to remove episodes of the story to do that, but what I plan to do is give make custom/challenge levels where the Points introduce themselves to you as optional levels. Perhaps even a mini-campaign for each of the Points where that point would be a primary focus and no other points would be used.