Hi, today was the first time I released my game to steam greenlight. It’s at a very early development stage.
The reason I did it so early is because I want my potential customers to see how actively this project is being developed.
Please, provide all the feedback you can, it’ll be greatly appreciated!
Project Link:
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=826372315
Youtube:
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/HellSpawnDev
Patreon:
Thanks!
Bump
Updated HUD, character screen and player model!
This looks like it could be amazing once fully developed. BUT I don’t think Steam Greenlight was the best place to put it. It can be hard waiting to put your game out on Steam GL, but you’ll need to develop more. That being said, I won’t just sit here and say “develop more” without my actual critic.
Graphics look bad. Not outright bad because of quality, but bad as in not used correctly. It looks cobbled together from different sources for a dev build. At this stage, I don’t think you meant to release it in this state. Eventually you must pick a style (realistic, cartoon, low-poly) and stick with it. On a positive note, the HUD looks good.
Gameplay looks lacking. Combat with the enemy looks boring and the maps look too large. Consider designing a first level that allows you to easily kill villagers, is small and quick to teach the player, and is satisfying to finish. This may sound weird, but make it satisfying to kill villagers before you add challenge such as villagers that dodge attacks or fight back.
Look at games like Gauntlet where enemies are “easy and enjoyable” to kill but the challenge comes when there are hordes and you don’t pay attention to enemy attacks.
Anyhow, I’ll be watching this thread and would love to help test this when you release early builds.
(Also, don’t bother with Patreon or Kickstarter. People will be highly unlikely to give for something this early in development.)
@PenguinEmporium Thank you very much for the feedback!
I don’t mean it to pass the voting until I make enough progress, I’m totally fine with it sitting there on greenlight. Eventually, after a few updates, people will (probably? hopefully?) change negative votes to positive. So far it’s not doing too badly votes-wise. I don’t want it to get actually released in its current state and get buried under negative reviews. Negative reviews actually mean something, votes don’t.
As for the large maps, that’s how I want it. It’s semi-open world. Your goal on each level is to take down the main fortress. But since the main fortress is protected by strong enemies, it’s near impossible to take it unless you level up your character by wiping out smaller villages. So, the maps are sort of meant to be spacey.
As for the graphics, the style is supposed to be realistic. Realistic blood, gore, environments, characters etc. I’m not putting anything cartoony in the game (I already replaced peasant and guard models, screenshots will be soon, and a new video)
Thanks!
@HellSpawnGames Can’t wait to see!
I’m not necessarily against the open world aspect, but I find the extra open space rather awkward. Probably best to have roads and pathways from the major battle areas/villages so you can create hidden loading zones.
Well I do realize that there IS an inconvenience in traveling around the map, and in a game like this it’s nothing but an inconvenience: you can’t really find anything if you explore, it’s not a classic RPG like Skyrim where you could find new places or stashes.
But nonetheless, I want to stick to that concept (multiple towns on 1 map), maybe I’ll make the maps smaller and distances between towns shorter, or take a different approach in how I design those levels (I was considering floating islands as an option… we’ll see)
I got an idea. Between towns, in the wild areas, are magic creatures that were summoned to protect humans. They can be killed for extra XP. Also, some levels could have small fortresses with magic towers in them. If you destroy such tower, all creatures will vanish (in case if they are strong and actually can slow down your progress on the level)
This could make traveling between towns less pointless.
On the second thought, it’s probably better to go with small levels, since they take less time to build and are easier to optimize. I could make transitions between levels such that there won’t be no need to switch to the world map. So I’m taking this path for now.
[UPDATE] Alpha 0.01.2
Changes:
-First game level re-designed
-New models and animations for ALL game characters
-New blood and gore VFX
-Updated UI, HUD
-Updated Skill Tree
-Updated AI for all NPCs
-Minor audio changes
Looks better and the gameplay looks improved. One thing I noticed was the player snapped to whatever direction was pressed. I don’t know a good way to fix it but I’m sure you can find something.
I think the best and fastest way would be to interpolate rotation instead of just setting it directly to input direction, this really isn’t a big deal. Do you think I need multiple game levels for people to consider buying the game?
I’m currently deciding between adding more levels and adding more characters. My ideas for characters are: giant worm (destroying buildings), flying monster.
I’d say start small. Take what you have and polish it and let people test it. If they like it, consider adding more to it. If not, simply finish the game up with a menu and stuff and release it as a free game on itch.io or something. Having a small complete game under your belt is more important than selling a game.
Edit: If you choose to add more, add levels first and design around the player’s abilities. Don’t let a player’s abilities go to waste.
Penguin has given some great advice.
I’d only add - consider filling in the areas (regardless of size of map) with interesting stuff. Animated stuff, fx, events and actions, things the players see as cool/interesting as they traverse the map. Of course if the map is larger - more interesting stuff will be needed to fill in the dead spaces.
I understand your logic for greenlighting quickly - though I think it’s unwise (steam is fickle and doesn’t change there minds easily).
Try real hard not to come across as desperately seeking money. This is probably not your intention (or maybe it is) if it isn’t - the presentation of quick to greenlight and patreon, and sign up date appears from the outside to be that you are looking for a quick turn around and quick pay out. Not to say you will develop something and get the cash and roll onto something else. Just seems a little rushed from an outside perspective. If not known already - usually game development isn’t something that can be rushed successfully - without making consolations to certain aspects of the game and neglecting areas that can be overlooked for speed purposes like game jams and 1 game a week type cycles.
What happens when you hit a development area that requires you to slow down and focus on a solution or several solutions until you find the right one, or when setting up lighting for the world requires constant iteration for weeks until it look great? Are you going to put in the needed iterations and time requirement - or will you overlook aspects of the game to - get it out the door to earn money as fast as you can? Don’t forget about testing and bugs that will need time commitment before releasing.
Just wanted to give an outside perspective on how it looks -
Or maybe you just want to develop a game as fast as you can with feedback from a “fickle” community. 
I’m fine with it taking time to develop, I just need to get it to early access. I’m limited on budget so I either have to rely on money from people who buy it in EA or patreon. That’s why I’m rushing with the first stage, the game needs to quickly become worth it for people to buy and/or follow on steam.
So, as for graphics/UI, I think it looks good enough for now? I guess it’s time to focus on gameplay mechanics.
Also, as for rushed/not rushed, why go slow? Regardless to whether I need money or not, what’s wrong with development going fast and productive? I understand how it looks from outside, but only if you ignore the possibility that it’s not just for a cash grab. Once again, I am doing this for money, but I’m not going to abandon the project half way through. I actually want to make a good game people will like.
I wasn’t suggesting to slow down development for the sake of appearing less money focused. I was suggesting to reflect on this desire to rush for the sake of getting money, and what will happen when the development itself requires you to slow down.
Rushing through development as fast as one can for an external reason (money) tends to result in a bug riddled mess, or the developer loosing motivation and focus, deciding to drop the project and work on something else. And this cycle tends to repeat itself, over and over.
What would a person be more willing to purchase, something that was rushed and early to market, or something that was created with controlled time investment (not rushed) and released later?
The first commodity will be less polished, maybe even buggy, but available sooner. The second commodity will be a better product but available later.
Soon to market is only worth someones money if it is unique and there aren’t any other superior products in the store. Anyway -
I wish you luck with your game.
Well, I’m only rushing to enter the stage where it’ll be playable and worth some money. Then after that point, the development will go on, all while being funded by people purchasing it in early access and donating on patreon.
Thanks for the feedback.
Right now I’m adding the second level to the game, and a way to travel back and forth between levels.
I also added minimap, local world map, and a world map (it’s an empty image for now, but I’ll fix it soon. World map displays game levels as markers).
I also got some background story and plot ideas, but I don’t really know how to put those into the game in any form other than text. No resources for comics/trailers yet.
Updated HUD!
The hint thingy shows what key to press to do certain actions (like, when you can interact with something etc)
The town info (population and number of buildings) is only shown when you’re within a settlement.
(the first screenshot was not taken from playmode, just to show all HUD elements at once)
Feedback please!
