Fine-Tuning the Tower: Crafting and Tutorial Tweaks
Author: Jason@RodentGames,
published 1 year ago,
Quick Tutorial
This is round ~thirty on refactoring the tutorial again. I'm hoping this time I've nailed it! The big pain point from the tutorial was even a little joke in Marvin's text that the tower felt more like an office building. The live update has changed this by giving all new games a few Dimensional Door Frames to start you off, and Marvin teaches how to use them right away. That and a few other minor tweaks have sped up the tutorial again to get people working towards the first boss!
[img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//44225778/3952a0d73c4a48d7f42e39bd8d701aaa7db45283.png[/img]
Crafting + Selling
A point of friction and confusion with a few players and Youtubers was that the crafting and selling had to wait till the end of the task to give the goods. I've reworked the crafting and selling systems to hand out goodies every ~5 in-game time minutes. This helps the Portal Room feel faster and more exciting if you're low on gold to pay wages!
[img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//44225778/1e99181e2d2a1bf9aeb4ea727d0a84cb09b5ed74.png[/img]
Enemy Selection
Finding out what the enemies are affected by or what loot they've stolen has been on my list for at least a year, and finally, I got it in! The text about the enemy will give clues as to how dangerous the version of the enemy is; I might add more details like armor/damage in the future. For example, the effects can help show how long spike traps last to guide trap placement strategy.
[img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//44225778/033cf1492e7f5ff68f57303f38f0568aa47e8638.png[/img]
Happiness
The happiness system is not impactful in the game's demo version, but in the full-release version, it needed more teeth. This latest patch has significantly increased difficulty, making the threat of quitting mages greater. The balancing act for players will be promoting fast enough to keep the mage happy but upgrading and giving them new rooms; go too fast, and you won't meet their needs; go too slow, and they'll want to leave for underappreciation.
[img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//44225778/c67bb56ecaac936755c0c003556d3a5ee825f7b4.png[/img]
Thanks for following along,
Jason
[img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//44225778/275f272a46ed5cbbe67e9ee0c5924b8b045ae0cb.png[/img]