Mage Gauntlet - (by Rocketcat Games)

[Echoseven]

It does work, i got it the first time i tried it.

Targeted means spells that you target before shooting it lol... For example the fireball..

What spell did you use?


But you target the others as well! Or, well, you aim them.

Thanks!

[littlezoe]

What spell did you use?


But you target the others as well! Or, well, you aim them.

Thanks!

No... There are spells that you target/aim, those are in the same category under the Targeted Spells. There are the others which are the Buffs that stay on you, you don't need to target those, just activate them.

I either used the Frost Shards or Fireball.. not sure..

[gwet17]

The balance update was submitted, correct?

[Echoseven]

No... There are spells that you target/aim, those are in the same category under the Targeted Spells. There are the others which are the Buffs that stay on you, you don't need to target those, just activate them.

I either used the Frost Shards or Fireball.. not sure..

So all offensive spells are targeted? That's... Weird then.

[Nightmare13]

Yeah, we could manage it, but the main downside to that first strategy of adding more stuff to balance it is that it would take a lot of time. Even a seemingly tiny addition takes days to balance and test. Every further addition just takes a little more time. We could add a few high-powered trinkets, but in the end it would probably take a couple of weeks.

Or we could go for solution 2 or 3, while also doing the universal support update and getting a lot of work done on the Endless Drudge Arena update. It's really not a hard decision from where I'm standing.

Ok, I'll concede. I feel like option 1 is best for the game, but given time considerations and for the sake of advancing the spin-off, any of the options are acceptable. :P

However, I would strongly recommend not nerfing the Phoenix Feather, or late master mode 3 stars will become nearly impossible. The most you could probably get away with is having it restore you back to 1.5 hearts (half health). 1 would be too low, but 1.5 means you can't die in 1 hit no matter what, and gives you a chance to heal back up.

[Kepa]

Ok, I'll concede. I feel like option 1 is best for the game, but given time considerations and for the sake of advancing the spin-off, any of the options are acceptable. :P

However, I would strongly recommend not nerfing the Phoenix Feather, or late master mode 3 stars will become nearly impossible. The most you could probably get away with is having it restore you back to 1.5 hearts (half health). 1 would be too low, but 1.5 means you can't die in 1 hit no matter what, and gives you a chance to heal back up.

I'd probably just make it 2 hearts, to be safe. That way it's better than the arcane heart for master mode and 3 starring, but the arcane heart is at least better for story mode (since we're adding that one extra life, making it 4x4 = 16 vs 5+3+3+3 = 14).

The balance update was submitted, correct?

Yep. Waiting for it to be approved.

[gwet17]

Yep. Waiting for it to be approved.

Thanks.

[SirDarkened]

Yep. Waiting for it to be approved.

Will this update nerf the feather, because if so I'm just going to wait until after I've three starred all of master mode to update.

[Kepa]

Will this update nerf the feather, because if so I'm just going to wait until after I've three starred all of master mode to update.

Nope. We probably won't touch it until the universal update, just because updates are taking so long. If we end up touching it at all at that point. I think it would be a good idea to make it free + nerf it slightly + provide something else for people that bought it, but it depends on much of a hassle it will be to change existing IAP, really.

[SirDarkened]

Nope. We probably won't touch it until the universal update, just because updates are taking so long. If we end up touching it at all at that point. I think it would be a good idea to make it free + nerf it slightly + provide something else for people that bought it, but it depends on much of a hassle it will be to change existing IAP, really.

I agree with this. If you nerf it add a Phoenix pet!

[Maxime Briand]

Kepa, couldn't you simply add another in-game trinket that would be similar to the Phoenix Feather? Unlocked near the end of the 2nd map or the beginning of the 3rd map.

For example, a trinket that would resuscitate you with a shield (which would be even more powerful than the feather in a way, with 16 hearts total, 7 if you're going for 3 stars)? That way, the Phoenix feather is still a valid option, and fits with the overal Inferno Set (i.e., its outstanding feature is now the explosion, like the sword), while you offer something equivalent for non-IAP users.

Another option, a new trinket with the same resuscitation effect, but with a smaller bonus like speeding you up when you get back up? In that case you have two valid option, the Arcane Heart (16 hearts total, 4 if you're going for 3 stars) or the new trinket (15 hearts total, 6 if you're going for 3 stars).

By the way, what are the exact effects of the Rabbit and Lich Feet? Would that have an impact on drop rates for hats?

p.s. Keep up the great work! You've got yourself a new fan!

[Kepa]

Another option, a new trinket with the same resuscitation effect, but with a smaller bonus like speeding you up when you get back up? In that case you have two valid option, the Arcane Heart (16 hearts total, 4 if you're going for 3 stars) or the new trinket (15 hearts total, 6 if you're going for 3 stars).

By the way, what are the exact effects of the Rabbit and Lich Feet? Would that have an impact on drop rates for hats?

p.s. Keep up the great work! You've got yourself a new fan!

Funny, we just had a similar idea. Just putting in trinkets that were basically like very slightly weaker phoenix feathers but with different on-get-up effects. That wouldn't be hard to balance at all. We might add something to the Arcane Heart while we're at it. That would be much less of a nightmare than messing with existing IAP.

The Rabbit and Lich feet skew your spell drops to the "more powerful" spells (like Ultralucky and Summon Inferno and Sword Fury and so on), but this is of somewhat crappy value. We'll rethink this aspect of those trinkets.

The Lich Foot also increases your melee and spell criticals by 1.5x while reducing your maximum hearts by one less.

[Nightmare13]

Funny, we just had a similar idea. Just putting in trinkets that were basically like very slightly weaker phoenix feathers but with different on-get-up effects. That wouldn't be hard to balance at all. We might add something to the Arcane Heart while we're at it. That would be much less of a nightmare than messing with existing IAP.

The Rabbit and Lich feet skew your spell drops to the "more powerful" spells (like Ultralucky and Summon Inferno and Sword Fury and so on), but this is of somewhat crappy value. We'll rethink this aspect of those trinkets.

The Lich Foot also increases your melee and spell criticals by 1.5x while reducing your maximum hearts by one less.

Sword Fury shouldn't be a 'more powerful' spell. Tbh I hate pulling a Sword Fury out of an urn. And while we're talking about things that I hate getting, Lucky sucks (Ultralucky is alright), and whatever the ice spell is does absolutely terrible damage. It's just so... bad.

Shadow Bomb, Fireball and Chain Zap all the way.

Adding something nifty to the Arcane Heart (not sure what exactly you're planning) would be good. Picking you back up with a Shield would also be good. Maybe some of the others, as long as they provide some sort of tactical variation and not just a direct reskin of Feather (like replacing the Fireball with an Acid Cloud, or something silly).

[SirDarkened]

I Was thinking about swords since the IAP seems to be the more viable option until master mode.

Why not a sword that does ice instead of fire and one that does poison.
Therefore IAP will be JUST AS GOOD as the other swords and it will simply be tailored to what spell you like.

Fire - massive damage
Ice - freezes not as much damage
Poison - damage over time
Lightning - insta kill 1 enemy has lowest chance of appearing

[Echoseven]

Hey, so I discovered the special secret area in one of the Slime Cave areas (don't wanna spoil which one), but I was wondering if there's an associated achievement to go with it like the previous secret areas? (e.g. Warchief Tent)

[Nightmare13]

Hey, so I discovered the special secret area in one of the Slime Cave areas (don't wanna spoil which one), but I was wondering if there's an associated achievement to go with it like the previous secret areas? (e.g. Warchief Tent)

That particular location achievement is glitched, along with two other, less obvious ones that are suposed to be achievements as well.

[WooHooII]

Funny, we just had a similar idea. Just putting in trinkets that were basically like very slightly weaker phoenix feathers but with different on-get-up effects. That wouldn't be hard to balance at all. We might add something to the Arcane Heart while we're at it. That would be much less of a nightmare than messing with existing IAP.

The Rabbit and Lich feet skew your spell drops to the "more powerful" spells (like Ultralucky and Summon Inferno and Sword Fury and so on), but this is of somewhat crappy value. We'll rethink this aspect of those trinkets.

The Lich Foot also increases your melee and spell criticals by 1.5x while reducing your maximum hearts by one less.
This talk of alternate Phoenix Feathers and Lich Feet gave me an idea, but it may be difficult to program...

Necromantic Tome: Upon death, raises you in a (weakened) acid cloud with your health meter reduced to two hearts. Upon that death, you are raised in another acid cloud with a one-heart maximum. This gives you two on-death spells instead of Phoenix Feather's one, but they're weaker and it's harder to recover if you take too much damage since your life meter is shortened.

[Nightmare13]

This talk of alternate Phoenix Feathers and Lich Feet gave me an idea, but it may be difficult to program...

Necromantic Tome: Upon death, raises you in a (weakened) acid cloud with your health meter reduced to two hearts. Upon that death, you are raised in another acid cloud with a one-heart maximum. This gives you two on-death spells instead of Phoenix Feather's one, but they're weaker and it's harder to recover if you take too much damage since your life meter is shortened.

I like that.

On a side note, I've done Uamuleth over 60 times now without a hat. That's:

100 * (.9 ^ 60) = 0.18% chance. I don't think even my luck is that bad. Maybe there's some really weird glitch somewhere, because I know some people have it. Then again, lots of people had 'Taking the Plunge.' <_<

[Noah]

It would be great if the pets actually did something other than give you base stats. I'm used to pets attacking the enemy for me. Keeping them taunted off me, freezing them with ice, etc. Any chance we can get more useful pets?

[Teh_Ninja]

Kepa this might sound weird, but I'm listening to the TouchArcade podcast and you sound like a badass!


Lol I'm loving this game like crazy.

[Noah]

I agree about that. Leveling up has very little noticeable effects :/

I thought for sure leveling up would give me more hearts (like it does in Zelda), but alas... still as weak as ever, and I don't even know what +10% reduction in ability costs even means! What abilities?

Can I spend XP to increase my run speed or something?

[SirDarkened]

I thought for sure leveling up would give me more hearts (like it does in Zelda), but alas... still as weak as ever, and I don't even know what +10% reduction in ability costs even means! What abilities?

Can I spend XP to increase my run speed or something?

Basically your magic gets more powerful and you can dash 6 times in one full blue charge instead of 3.

I am now on the very last level before the final boss and I have yet more feedback.

The last three levels are incredible. I wish every level was like these. Enough hp and spell urns. Only problem is I got the luck spell 8 times in a row and it was utterly useless... Change spell chances because that's a little rediculous as beating these levels 3 stars has sole reliance on good spells.

Also can you please remove the doors closing behind me. I got two stars on the first pinnacle because the stupid door closed and an enemy was stuck behind it -.-

Only other thing is that the mages in the area before pinnacle are so op. they make me so mad.

[Kepa]

I like that.

On a side note, I've done Uamuleth over 60 times now without a hat. That's:

100 * (.9 ^ 60) = 0.18% chance. I don't think even my luck is that bad. Maybe there's some really weird glitch somewhere, because I know some people have it. Then again, lots of people had 'Taking the Plunge.' <_<

Wow that's really, really bad luck. Did anyone else get this hat? Maybe it's glitched, but I don't see why it would be...

It would be great if the pets actually did something other than give you base stats. I'm used to pets attacking the enemy for me. Keeping them taunted off me, freezing them with ice, etc. Any chance we can get more useful pets?

Pets were planned to attack really early on, but we could never get them right. They were either too strong (you could just run around and have them fight for you) or completely useless. We could give them another shot in a sequel or something, but it's really tricky to get right. Maybe point out a game you think did pets well and I'll take a look at it?

I am now on the very last level before the final boss and I have yet more feedback.

The last three levels are incredible. I wish every level was like these. Enough hp and spell urns. Only problem is I got the luck spell 8 times in a row and it was utterly useless... Change spell chances because that's a little rediculous as beating these levels 3 stars has sole reliance on good spells.

Also can you please remove the doors closing behind me. I got two stars on the first pinnacle because the stupid door closed and an enemy was stuck behind it -.-

Only other thing is that the mages in the area before pinnacle are so op. they make me so mad.

I think you're the only person that's said the last pinnacle level wasn't too long. In fact, the update adds a lot of spell urns to it. Maybe you're just that damn good. I think we'll do the randomized spell system with just one class in the spin-off game, then just sort of abandon it. It's a cool but flawed concept.

I'm really thinking of going back through all the levels and removing the doors that close behind you. Secret hunters hate them, and they occasionally bug out when an enemy gets trapped behind one. It would be time consuming, but I can give all the levels a pass and do little tweaks while I'm at it.

If I do this I hope people that hated the early levels are still reading the thread, because I could use the suggestions as to what to change specifically.

[Ashflow]

Wow that's really, really bad luck. Did anyone else get this hat? Maybe it's glitched, but I don't see why it would be... I've got it, so it's probably just really bad luck. I've beaten the Slime Prince and the Golem King literally 20 times each and nothing (in master mode, of course). You should increase the level cap to 80 and add a Hat Drop stat. :p

I think we'll do the randomized spell system with just one class in the spin-off game, then just sort of abandon it. It's a cool but flawed concept. I think the reason a lot of people complain is because they don't like using the buff spells; most people would rather shoot out a ton of cool-looking magic attacks than glow and have a chance to do more critical hits or have a circle surrounding them that makes enemies slightly slower.

I'm really thinking of going back through all the levels and removing the doors that close behind you. Secret hunters hate them, and they occasionally bug out when an enemy gets trapped behind one. It would be time consuming, but I can give all the levels a pass and do little tweaks while I'm at it.
What was your actual intent on putting these in in the first place? Was it something to do with keeping players from stocking up on unbroken health and spell jars? Just curious. (I don't really mind them, probably because I've only been majorly cheated by them once.)

[Nullroar]

Necromancy pet.

(skeleton rocketcat?) with a small % chance of the enemies you slay to rise and fight for you. Even give it a .01% chance to work on bosses (talk about replay value!).

I'd be all over that.

[Ashflow]

Even give it a .01% chance to work on bosses (talk about replay value!).

Bosses are the end of the level though... when you beat them, there's no one left to fight.


P.S. In regards to my last post: about ten minutes after posting about my troubles with the two bosses, I got both of the hats in a row! Talk about luck. (Just have Blorpx's hat now :))

Edit: Woo! Top Dog!

[sdmiracle]

Bosses are the end of the level though... when you beat them, there's no one left to fight.


P.S. In regards to my last post: about ten minutes after posting about my troubles with the two bosses, I got both of the hats in a row! Talk about luck. (Just have Blorpx's hat now :))

wtf u can get boss's hat by defeating them? by luck?

[Ashflow]

wtf u can get boss's hat by defeating them? by luck?

Yup.

Sidenote about achievement issues:
1) The "Stuck Pig" achievement says to kill the Fel Boar... Should be Boarzin, right?
2) I'm pretty sure the "Quintuple Zap" was called something different when I got it in-game... there's no way for me to check this though, as I've already got it... :/ If someone else wants to check, Boarlands Gold in Master Mode is a good place for it. Equip Whitebeard's Ring and the Charged Rig (&Rocketcat pet, if you have him), run past the first two mid-bosses, kill the mob, get the spell(s) (if you don't get the right one then just restart), lead the two you ran past to the other 3, and get the achievement (maybe you can whack all of them once or twice, just in case). So... yeah. If anyone wants to ease my conscious :p

[iVaro]

I still feel that refilling hearts upon leveling up would still also be a good way to try and balance out the game. Maybe not done in master mode but at least have it in story mode

[Cybertox]

I dont know why but i just lost all my interess in playing this game.

[Nullroar]

Bosses are the end of the level though... when you beat them, there's no one left to fight.

Nah man - he comes with you for the first X seconds of the next chapter.

THINK OF THE POSSIBILITIES.

That or, simply, when you slay something, there is a 1% chance that it resurrects at random one of the enemies you have slain (not enemy TYPES, but enemies - so if you have slain 49 drudges and 1 boss, you have a 1 in 50 chance of getting the boss, rather than 1 in 2).

This would provide a cool double-edged effect: you slay less non-boss things to increase your chance of summoning a boss, but you still need to slay things to summon in the first place :D

Keeps it from becoming abused.

EDIT: I should really stop theorycrafting fantasy items. It's how I got kicked off many design teams. :P

[terelin]

wow.. you mean there are people who actually 3 starred Crypt 3?

Any one have any tips? The little "arenas" especially with the summoners and sword zombies are really crazy.. x.x

[Ziekke]

wow.. you mean there are people who actually 3 starred Crypt 3?

Any one have any tips? The little "arenas" especially with the summoners and sword zombies are really crazy.. x.x

lrn2play... but seriously - practice. I found Crypt to be extremely easy.

Certain zones are really easy, while others are painfully difficult, and I think it really boils down to the types of enemy tactics that the individual player is capable of avoiding easily. This is something Kepa probably can't fix.

On the phoenix feather note - I'd rather not see it nerfed. It seems that there's no benefit to anyone by nerfing the trinket - those who have it will no longer get what they wanted out of it, and those who don't have it won't care for it anymore. I think it would be nice to add in some late-game trinkets which are different, but equally powerful/useful. I know balancing/testing them may take some time.. but if it's similar enough in form and function to the feather then that time is likely minimized. I do like the idea of same function but different death spells.

I would love to see the red ring of death (hah) spell that the casters use in later parts of the game made available to me. I know it functions the same as Earth Spike, but it's a neat effect.

[nyarla]

Just been playing a level of this a day for the last few days.. good fun! I really like the feel of it. Just walking around beating up baddies and barrels and pushing things around feels great. I was always more into the turn based jrpgs but MG is nice. Love the good ol' Rocketcat humour... the story is keeping me pretty interested. Gotta find out what happens.

I do agree with the people wanting stuff to randomly come out of barrels that you smash. Collecting shiny things is something I enjoy in games...even if it's not for anything. Apart from that, love it.

Oh yeah I'd love to see more higgledy piggledy (by which i mean, maps which are less obviously grid-based) foresty/jungly areas in the sequels - that was my favourite thing in Secret of Mana..love the feeling of exploration that gives me. Though maybe there are some later. I'm only up to orc forest 3/boarlands 3.

[Nightmare13]

Re: The Quintuple Zap question... yes, when you earn the achievement, for some reason, it says "Achivement Unlocked: Zap to the Extreme".

Crypt 3 was hard. Though I 3 starred it before I bought the phoenix feather, which I imagine would have made it easier.

@ Kepa: My brother has all the boss hats, and someone else posted it on here as well. I'm still grinding it, but who the heck knows. You're right though, logically I can't imagine any reason why it would be bugged. Programmatically it's probably the exact same script that handles hat drops for every boss (and possibly every enemy in the game). I'll let you know if I get it, but otherwise assume that I'm still grinding it to no avail. :P

[Ziekke]

Kepa just caught the podcast. Great interview! :)

I'm loving your ire for KRPGs and I'm very excited for what's coming from RCG. RCG is one of the few "instabuy" devs for me.

[FPE]

I am two sections from the end and honestly in the third screen things get too long and boring. Just ack and slash, run and slash. No magic, three/four spells max. Boring enemies.

I miss something, I mean ... It feels like always the same thing. Story gets also a bit thin.

I guess I will not finish it and move on to another game.

[SirDarkened]

I personally love this plot line and cannot wait until the end!

Few more hours in. Make secrets more prominent (easier to find) some are really dumb as there are absolutely no hints as to how to get to it.

I have 134 stars and counting. I'm replaying old levels to gain more exp because I cannot beat the last boss :(. Magic is at 1 and because bossesainly require spells I wind up dying for all my lives before he dies. I maxed the other two skills at 25 each.

Kepa if you can remove the doors or just simply unlock them after all enemies are dead it would be fine.

All robes except IAP robe are currently useless. I don't see the point of spell help if there aren't many spells. Even when you put more this has ultimately become a hack n slash.

The pinnacle levels are my favorite I three starred the first two no problem.
The third one is insane. Not enough health or spells. If anyone has three starred this I give them my personal acknowledgement.

My only other MAJOR gripe is that BOSSES DO NOT GIVE EXP. Why was this made??? How am I supposed to level up if I cannot beat the final boss? I should be able to kill the minions for exp! Otherwise I will never progress to killing him unless I go and rebeat levels simply for exp.

[Kepa]

I think the reason a lot of people complain is because they don't like using the buff spells; most people would rather shoot out a ton of cool-looking magic attacks than glow and have a chance to do more critical hits or have a circle surrounding them that makes enemies slightly slower.

What was your actual intent on putting these in in the first place? Was it something to do with keeping players from stocking up on unbroken health and spell jars? Just curious. (I don't really mind them, probably because I've only been majorly cheated by them once.)

Yeah the buff spells didn't turn out great. To be honest I was afraid that the buffs would turn out too strong, and that fear lead to the resulting buff spells you see in the game right now. Thinking about either making them twice as long, much stronger, or combining different buff spells into superbuffs.

The door closing behind you thing was to mostly to prevent players from getting lost. The map wasn't put in until rather late, for awhile we weren't sure if there was going to be a map at all. With the map in, those doors became unnecessary.

I am two sections from the end and honestly in the third screen things get too long and boring. Just ack and slash, run and slash. No magic, three/four spells max. Boring enemies.

I miss something, I mean ... It feels like always the same thing. Story gets also a bit thin.

I guess I will not finish it and move on to another game.

TOO BORING (writing this down in notepad) FIX?? (underlining this twice)

What would make it less boring to you? Besides shortening the lengths of the third levels, I get that part already. Is there an RPG you find less boring that I can emulate in the future?

[FPE]

I miss variety. Loot. More spells. More items.
Just dashing and slashing got a bit boring honestly. It feels like a rogue game wanting to be a rpg. Plus stats kind of seem pointless. I see no effect.

I meant third screen of stages not all third levels. I feel that before the third page only orc3 is too long.
Also many bosses are way too easy. Just dash, slash and spell against the boss. It always works.

Regarding RPGs ... Chronos Trigger!! Among others :D
By I admit I did not fancy Diablo too much.

[Kepa]

Few more hours in. Make secrets more prominent (easier to find) some are really dumb as there are absolutely no hints as to how to get to it.

Kepa if you can remove the doors or just simply unlock them after all enemies are dead it would be fine.

All robes except IAP robe are currently useless. I don't see the point of spell help if there aren't many spells. Even when you put more this has ultimately become a hack n slash.

The pinnacle levels are my favorite I three starred the first two no problem.
The third one is insane. Not enough health or spells. If anyone has three starred this I give them my personal acknowledgement.

My only other MAJOR gripe is that BOSSES DO NOT GIVE EXP. Why was this made??? How am I supposed to level up if I cannot beat the final boss? I should be able to kill the minions for exp! Otherwise I will never progress to killing him unless I go and rebeat levels simply for exp.

I'm thinking about tweaking the levels and removing all the backwards-blocking doors.

For the last boss try the early blue robe you get + Whitebeard's ring. You'll get frost shards all the time, and they'll spell crit very often with that setup. In the sequel we'll change the systems around so the robes are more useful outside of boss situations.

Update (still waiting on approval) fixes a lot of the most spell-lacking levels, including Pinnacle 3.

We did the no-XP for summoned minions thing so if a summon in a normal level gets stuck in a wall, it wouldn't ruin your 3 star attempt. Didn't really expect the XP farming thing, either.

[Ziekke]

I personally love this plot line and cannot wait until the end!

Few more hours in. Make secrets more prominent (easier to find) some are really dumb as there are absolutely no hints as to how to get to it.


It just takes some creative running around and frequent map checking to catch all the secrets. Just about every one is within "screen" view of the main level, so at least one or two squares will light up white on the minimap.


I have 134 stars and counting.
139 here *crosses arms*

All robes except IAP robe are currently useless. I don't see the point of spell help if there aren't many spells. Even when you put more this has ultimately become a hack n slash.

The robes work quite well for bosses when used in conjunction with the trinkets that increase spell drop chances. Currently I'm using the trinket that increase chance of fireball and shadow bomb, and wearing Pyre Garment (5% crit to all spells, 20% crit bonus to Fireball), and I even have the sprite pet which ads +2% magic crit, and +1 MAGIC (which itself adds more crit, and effect). For extra oomph I'm using inferno blade which takes advantage of most of that stuff too :)

I did notice for one of the pets there's a hidden stat called "STEALTH".. that's interesting. I haven't had a chance to use it yet, though.

My only other MAJOR gripe is that BOSSES DO NOT GIVE EXP. Why was this made??? How am I supposed to level up if I cannot beat the final boss? I should be able to kill the minions for exp! Otherwise I will never progress to killing him unless I go and rebeat levels simply for exp.

Re-beat levels for XP :( Are you missing some 3*s? If so, go collect them. Ultimately though, probably not the best idea to dump all allocation points to VIGOR/LUCK at the end of the day.. you kinda railroaded yourself with that.. especially leaving the last (longest) 25 levels to gaining magic. Keep at it! :)

[Kepa]

I miss variety. Loot. More spells. More items.
Just dashing and slashing got a bit boring honestly. It feels like a rogue game wanting to be a rpg. Plus stats kind of seem pointless. I see no effect.

I meant third screen of stages not all third levels. I feel that before the third page only orc3 is too long.
Also many bosses are way too easy. Just dash, slash and spell against the boss. It always works.

Regarding RPGs ... Chronos Trigger!! Among others :D
By I admit I did not fancy Diablo too much.

Is the only thing that separates a boring game and great game to you a good loot/item system? You did know about the special attack, right? Wrapping my mind around this.

Yeah the levels get too long.

Chrono Trigger was great but I remember that you could kill every boss in the game just by slashing it and using spells.

[Ziekke]

I'm thinking about tweaking the levels and removing all the backwards-blocking doors.

That was one of the annoying things for me on one or two levels. But once I realized you were being sneaky that way, I made sure every time I got to a red door to sweep backwards again to make sure I didn't miss anything. It only really caught me twice or so, forcing me to redo a level. The big one for me was in one of the slime levels with the square room and 4-ish locked doors leading to different areas that opened sequentially. The first one locks up once you go to the adjacent room, and if you didn't clear it you lose your chance FOREVER! :)

Perhaps a trigger once you reach the last part of a level (before you hit the blue arrows) will open all the backwards doors again.

Your backblocking doors prevent backtracking for heart urns too. I've started getting used to dragging extra heart urns I find when I'm at full health, especially past the red doors.. that way I have health close at hand in case i get into a hairy situation. This mainly started due to the backblocking doors, as in the earlier levels I'd just keep in mind where they were and go back if necessary.

[FPE]

Is the only thing that separates a boring game and great game to you a good loot/item system? You did know about the special attack, right? Wrapping my mind around this.

Yeah the levels get too long.

Chrono Trigger was great but I remember that you could kill every boss in the game just by slashing it and using spells.

I dash and then special attack ... So yes I knew.
There are many elements to a great rpg, story, pace, loot, surprise. But MG to my eyes mostly misses some element of surprise and more variety of attacks. Swords with specials, pets that attack, combinations of spells and items. Something that makes MG more like a jrpg instead of a krpg as now.
Right now it feels a lot like a krpg where the grind is to get to the end not to raise stats.

Btw that level with special orcs that could not be destroyed. That is my fav so far. It has variety!! More levels like that would break the monotony

[Kepa]

Perhaps a trigger once you reach the last part of a level (before you hit the blue arrows) will open all the backwards doors again.


I think I could just take most of them out, except maybe the ones in the slime chapter.

I dash and then special attack ... So yes I knew.
There are many elements to a great rpg, story, pace, loot, surprise. But MG to my eyes mostly misses some element of surprise and more variety of attacks. Swords with specials, pets that attack, combinations of spells and items.

Btw that level with special orcs that could not be destroyed. That is my fav so far. It has variety!! More levels like that would break the monotony

Shorter levels, and more fleshing out of the RPG part of the game, then?

What level are you talking about? Sounds like one of the test levels.

[Guise]

Something that makes MG more like a jrpg instead of a krpg as now.
Right now it feels a lot like a krpg where the grind is to get to the end not to raise stats.


Do not make Kepa angry. You wouldn't like him when he's angry.

[FPE]

I think I could just take most of them out, except maybe the ones in the slime chapter.



Shorter levels, and more fleshing out of the RPG part of the game, then?

What level are you talking about? Sounds like one of the test levels.

I do not remember the name, but I was impressed but the fact I had to dash to pass by and then afterwards I needed to avoid them twice or better use them to kills the other monsters. A very clever level design.

[Kepa]

I do not remember the name, but I was impressed but the fact I had to dash to pass by and then afterwards I needed to avoid them twice or better use them to kills the other monsters. A very clever level design.

Oh, the huge gold castle golems.

Ok, I better know what you're looking for now, thanks. Just calling things boring over and over again wasn't useful to me at all. Those messages were actually pretty boring, and for awhile I thought you were boring. Boring.

Now that we have the basics down, we can really work on variety and better RPG systems in future games. I'm not exactly sure what we can do to improve that for this current game, though. I mean, realistically.

[FPE]

Oh, the huge gold castle golems.

Ok, I better know what you're looking for now, thanks. Just calling things boring over and over again wasn't useful to me at all. Those messages were actually pretty boring, and for awhile I thought you were boring. Boring.

Now that we have the basics down, we can really work on variety and better RPG systems in future games. I'm not exactly sure what we can do to improve that for this current game, though. I mean, realistically.

Sorry about my two posts using the word boring ... they felt not so many :o
I think there are few key elements you could consider

- more spells to break the slash action (This is coming and I read it is there in master mode! If true, than I have an incentive to go on !!)
- items with some special attack, like two ones available as IAP.
- levels with variety of gameplay, like the golem (sorry I confused with the orcs)
- loot could be nice, but it might introduce he issue of grinding for loot I hate from KRPG's
- some element of surprise (traps?)
- more evident use for the stats ... or just get rid of them and make this more a rogue-like

I think any of the above is more important that shorter levels.

[Nightmare13]

For the last boss try the early blue robe you get + Whitebeard's ring. You'll get frost shards all the time, and they'll spell crit very often with that setup.

Kepa did you seriously just suggest Frost Shards for the Hurgoth fight? As in, you suggested something other than that Phoenix Feather?

Frost Shards doesn't do crap for damage anyway, PLUS it loves to push enemies out of its cone of effect for even less damage. If for some strange, masochistic reason you didn't want to use the Phoenix Feather (or even the Arcane Heart), the best trinket is probably the Demonic Ring. Fireball and Shadow Bomb are seriously powerful spells.

139 here *crosses arms*

295 here. Haven't bothered to clear the last two missions of the game either, so I'm missing the 3 star in like 5 other levels. Boo.

[Kepa]

- more spells to break the slash action (This is coming and I read it is there in master mode! If true, than I have an incentive to go on !!)
- items with some special attack, like two ones available as IAP.
- levels with variety of gameplay, like the golem (sorry I confused with the orcs)
- loot could be nice, but it might introduce he issue of grinding for loot I hate from KRPG's
- some element of surprise (traps?)
- more evident use for the stats ... or just get rid of them and make this more a rogue-like

I think any of the above is more important that shorter levels.

The first point is related to level length, though. Long levels mean more enemies, which messed up the spells-to-enemies ratio. I'm kind of interested to see if you think Master Mode improves that, personally, if you get to it. Take notes if you want, because detailed criticism is really helpful to me.

There's a free item with a special attack, but it doesn't come until master mode. We should have done more, but we actually have plans to add more special attack items so that's good. I think we could handle loot (or just coin) drops without making it too grindy. Just a little grindy, but I personally don't mind a little bit.

Levels with variety and "surprise" are related, I think. Not sure what to call it the concept, but the levels having different gimmicks besides enemy variety is always a good idea.

It's funny that you keep mentioning rogue-likes because this game was originally designed as an action-roguelike. This might explain the simplicity of the RPG systems, though a better explanation is that we just kind of ran out of time. Will have all the time in the world for the sequel, though. But first we're actually doing a spin-off that is an action-roguelike.

@Nightmare13: Frost Shards actually does a lot of damage if all the shards hit one target. Lightning is handy for the Hurgoth fight, too. It's probably my favorite setup.

[rococoman]

Fixed analog stick? Like Minigore? We have the non-fixed stick option in settings, and a D-pad in there too...



Yes, like Minigore. Exactly like minigore, actually. I'm not crazy about the pro-stick or moving analog sticks. If I want to go left, both of these options involve "push thumb to screen, then slide left," which feels like two distinct movements to me. In a game where I want to move or face a direction very quickly, I would rather just touch the screen where I want, rather than touch-then-slide. I admit that this is pretty nit-picky, but I really like minigore's sticks as opposed to moving sticks. Right now, I use the d-pad which is PRETTY good, but I sometimes go outside of the dpad range. Also, dpad response seems spotty immediately after casting a spell or unpausing.

So, I unlocked master mode - and I love it. I really was not crazy about this game until the end, but I wanted to try master mode. The levels are reasonably lengthed, and the battles are a lot more interesting, if not too difficult yet (just started slime cave). Also, the secrets in Master Mode are AWESOME. THIS is the kind of story and writing I was hoping for, and you guys have delivered. I have gone from passively playing the game to playing it every chance I get to find the next secret.

Thanks, again, for making a gamer's game. With how master mode has turned out, I can't think of too much to change. I thought the story mode was too long - some stronger writing or secrets during story mode would have helped this out. There are a few things I could think of that might be neat - different spell charging methods or a parry move while charging your sword - but the game works really well right now with the mechanics you've given it. In future games, I think the story needs to get interesting a little sooner. Also, more structured areas might help - Whitebeard's tower has walls and carpeting like a tower, but its layout is the same as a slime cave. Adding some significance to different setpieces might go a long way. Also, different fighting styles to go with different weapons could be cool. This could be a way to introduce different mechanics without bogging down the player with ten abilities at once, since you could only access your weapon's abilities.

[FPE]

I'm kind of interested to see if you think Master Mode improves that, personally, if you get to it. Take notes if you want, because detailed criticism is really helpful to me.

I will get there ....

Btw I see that mages attacking with fire balls an fire circles can see me and damage me through a wall ... That feel nt right.

[jjjmedia]

Yes, like Minigore. Exactly like minigore, actually. I'm not crazy about the pro-stick or moving analog sticks. If I want to go left, both of these options involve "push thumb to screen, then slide left," which feels like two distinct movements to me. In a game where I want to move or face a direction very quickly, I would rather just touch the screen where I want, rather than touch-then-slide. I admit that this is pretty nit-picky, but I really like minigore's sticks as opposed to moving sticks. Right now, I use the d-pad which is PRETTY good, but I sometimes go outside of the dpad range. Also, dpad response seems spotty immediately after casting a spell or unpausing.

So, I unlocked master mode - and I love it. I really was not crazy about this game until the end, but I wanted to try master mode. The levels are reasonably lengthed, and the battles are a lot more interesting, if not too difficult yet (just started slime cave). Also, the secrets in Master Mode are AWESOME. THIS is the kind of story and writing I was hoping for, and you guys have delivered. I have gone from passively playing the game to playing it every chance I get to find the next secret.

Thanks, again, for making a gamer's game. With how master mode has turned out, I can't think of too much to change. I thought the story mode was too long - some stronger writing or secrets during story mode would have helped this out. There are a few things I could think of that might be neat - different spell charging methods or a parry move while charging your sword - but the game works really well right now with the mechanics you've given it. In future games, I think the story needs to get interesting a little sooner. Also, more structured areas might help - Whitebeard's tower has walls and carpeting like a tower, but its layout is the same as a slime cave. Adding some significance to different setpieces might go a long way. Also, different fighting styles to go with different weapons could be cool. This could be a way to introduce different mechanics without bogging down the player with ten abilities at once, since you could only access your weapon's abilities.
What makes Master Mode better? Are there different story elements and is the game more fun for some reason?

[rococoman]

What makes Master Mode better? Are there different story elements and is the game more fun for some reason?

Gameplay-wise, it's paced more quickly. More enemies (in interesting configurations), more spells, more health, and shorter levels, distance-wise. You really need to pay attention and fight correctly to get through, but if you die, it's not a big deal since the levels are short. Also, I think that there might be some new enemies in Master mode, or at least more of some rare enemies, like little, exploding red pigs.

I can't speak for the whole story, since I haven't gotten there yet, but I'll just say that it's REALLY worthwhile looking for secrets. Also, you finally start getting some cooler weapons - not necessarily stronger, but cool nonetheless.

[vernalequinox]

Not sure if anyone has asked before. But I am wondering. If you do not spend your skill points that you get upon leveling up, does it add 5% base crit to your character? I am getting that impression because of the +5% base crit text next to my unallocated points. Insights?

[FPE]

Btw is there an end to cult3??? I am stuck thee for days!

[Joshnsuch]

This game is wonderful. Hah, it kind of bums me out to see all of these levels I forced myself to 3-star on the last map section getting nerfed, but I can understand why you would want the game to be more accessible. I really didn't think the Orc Forest was as bad as some of the other maps near the end of the game. I agree with everyone else about Pinnacle, it was awesome to see all of the enemies working together. Each section forced some sort of new strategy to be implemented to make it through if you wanted to conserve your magic.

I beat the boss of the game.. In maybe four/five tries...? Maybe (no IAP items or anything). I put on the robe that gives the 55% crit bonus to fireball. I would kite the mobs near the boss and use the fireball spell, which would critical and kill all of them.

Gonna trek through master mode now. Isn't the hat drop rate much higher on this mode?

[devensega]

From the above it sounds like I need to get to master mode. Will be a hard slog to get thethe but it sounds worth it.

[SirDarkened]

Kepa I understand why the minions, but why not the bosses themselves?!?!?

[Kepa]

Yes, like Minigore. Exactly like minigore, actually. I'm not crazy about the pro-stick or moving analog sticks. If I want to go left, both of these options involve "push thumb to screen, then slide left," which feels like two distinct movements to me. In a game where I want to move or face a direction very quickly, I would rather just touch the screen where I want, rather than touch-then-slide. I admit that this is pretty nit-picky, but I really like minigore's sticks as opposed to moving sticks. Right now, I use the d-pad which is PRETTY good, but I sometimes go outside of the dpad range. Also, dpad response seems spotty immediately after casting a spell or unpausing.

So, I unlocked master mode - and I love it. I really was not crazy about this game until the end, but I wanted to try master mode. The levels are reasonably lengthed, and the battles are a lot more interesting, if not too difficult yet (just started slime cave). Also, the secrets in Master Mode are AWESOME. THIS is the kind of story and writing I was hoping for, and you guys have delivered. I have gone from passively playing the game to playing it every chance I get to find the next secret.


I don't like the fixed-sticks at all, personally. That's why we didn't do one. Could maybe try to shove it in there?

It sounds like I should have just structured the game more like (early) master mode. Master Mode eventually kind of gets the same problem as story mode, where the levels just get too long. It's funny, Story Mode used to have bigger enemy groups (almost as big as Master Mode) and way more spells, with Master Mode just having the new enemy variants. I changed it to make it easier for new people, but yeah, mistake in hindsight. I should have just shortened the story mode levels instead.

I will get there ....

Btw I see that mages attacking with fire balls an fire circles can see me and damage me through a wall ... That feel nt right.

I don't like how you can see enemies through the walls, either. Also thinking about making it so you can't see rooms through walls, but I don't know.

This game is wonderful. Hah, it kind of bums me out to see all of these levels I forced myself to 3-star on the last map section getting nerfed, but I can understand why you would want the game to be more accessible. I really didn't think the Orc Forest was as bad as some of the other maps near the end of the game. I agree with everyone else about Pinnacle, it was awesome to see all of the enemies working together. Each section forced some sort of new strategy to be implemented to make it through if you wanted to conserve your magic.

Gonna trek through master mode now. Isn't the hat drop rate much higher on this mode?

The nightmare enemies in master mode can drop most of the hats for that chapter, and they have a much higher base chance.

Kepa I understand why the minions, but why not the bosses themselves?!?!?

They should be dropping XP. If they're not, it's a bug.

[rococoman]

I don't like the fixed-sticks at all, personally. That's why we didn't do one. Could maybe try to shove it in there?




So, using a moving stick or the pro-stick, what happens when, in some sequence, you need to move left, then down, then left, then down, and so on? I always end up drifting off the screen, and I get flustered as I do more of a dragging motion to make my character go where I want. With the fixed stick (or fixed pad), once you have a feel for where directions are, you can just press and go.

Do other people like the moving analog stick or pro-stick? I'm really interested in what people think, since in my head, a fixed stick is infinitely preferable. I thought that the first IOS game to really nail gamepad-style controls was Soosiz, and while it might not be fair to compare 2-directional motion to all-directional motion, it cemented my habits of using fixed controls.

As for Mage Gauntlet, while I would totally try a fixed stick, the dpad is fine. Could you adjust it, though, so that the active regions extend a bit further than the graphic? More than once I have drifted to the right a bit too far.

BTW, did you ever try Zelda DS style controls? I can't imagine that they would work well here, but I'm curious about whether or not you made any attempt.

[FPE]

Also, now equipped the magekiller and while walking with the special attack loaded and I meet one of these Mage orcs .... My character often freezes. I find it weird.

[Kepa]

As for Mage Gauntlet, while I would totally try a fixed stick, the dpad is fine. Could you adjust it, though, so that the active regions extend a bit further than the graphic? More than once I have drifted to the right a bit too far.

BTW, did you ever try Zelda DS style controls? I can't imagine that they would work well here, but I'm curious about whether or not you made any attempt.

I usually just adjust in small swipes? Some people initially have problems with the pro-stick, but to me it's the best control method I've encountered so far. We could probably adjust the D-pad a bit to extend the regions more.

We tried Zelda DS style controls and they were terrible. I think it's a combination of the really short nature of the iPhone screen and the lack of a stylus. I think Fara does the Zelda DS style controls, but I didn't manage to pick that up yet.

Also, now equipped the magekiller and while walking with the special attack loaded and I meet one of these Mage orcs .... My character often freezes. I find it weird.

That is weird, will check it out.

[rococoman]

Also, now equipped the magekiller and while walking with the special attack loaded and I meet one of these Mage orcs .... My character often freezes. I find it weird.

On the topic of bugs...

Has moonwalking been mentioned? After hitting something and immediately moving in the other direction, I can very consistently make Lexi moonwalk. This has the effect of keeping the camera leaning towards the direction Lexi is facing. I don't think this needs a fix, since it's hilarious and sometimes even useful.

Also, once, I opened a dropped chest just as someone killed me. The notice for the item popped up, explained the item, and then I was fine. I was able to walk with zero health for a while, but the next hit killed me. This obviously rarely happens, but I thought I'ld mention it.

Man, I do NOT wanna work today...

[Dazarath]

Do other people like the moving analog stick or pro-stick? I'm really interested in what people think, since in my head, a fixed stick is infinitely preferable.

I'm with you on this one. I've never liked the idea of relative touch applied to analog sticks because it adds an extra action to every set of moves. So if I just want to inch the slightest bit to the right, I have to tap to center the stick and then move my thumb to the right, rather than just tap on the right end of a fixed analog stick. (I won't even cover how bad it can be for kiting.) Imagine if you were playing an SNES and you had to tap the center of the d-pad every single time before inputting other movements. I think we'd all find that unnecessarily annoying. Sure, it's not such a big deal if you're willing to leave your thumb touching the screen throughout the entire level, but I often lift my thumb if I don't need to be moving my character at that moment.

Right now, I use the D-pad in MG, but I think the analog stick looks and feels much better. Maybe the D-pad could be replaced with a fixed version of the analog stick?

[rococoman]

I'm with you on this one. I've never liked the idea of relative touch applied to analog sticks because it adds an extra action to every set of moves. So if I just want to inch the slightest bit to the right, I have to tap to center the stick and then move my thumb to the right, rather than just tap on the right end of a fixed analog stick. (I won't even cover how bad it can be for kiting.) Imagine if you were playing an SNES and you had to tap the center of the d-pad every single time before inputting other movements. I think we'd all find that unnecessarily annoying. Sure, it's not such a big deal if you're willing to leave your thumb touching the screen throughout the entire level, but I often lift my thumb if I don't need to be moving my character at that moment.

Right now, I use the D-pad in MG, but I think the analog stick looks and feels much better. Maybe the D-pad could be replaced with a fixed version of the analog stick?

I had to google "kiting," haha. That's my biggest problem too, though. If you've walked left, stopped, and now want to face right, you need to touch-then-slide. I definitely prefer a tap.

Kepa, have you played with the stick options in Age of Zombies? You can use either fixed or floating sticks, but you can also adjust the size of the stick and its position. I don't think you need to go that far, but Halfbrick did the stick even better than minigore there.

[drelbs]

Right now, I use the D-pad in MG, but I think the analog stick looks and feels much better. Maybe the D-pad could be replaced with a fixed version of the analog stick?

Seconded!

[Kepa]

Kepa, have you played with the stick options in Age of Zombies? You can use either fixed or floating sticks, but you can also adjust the size of the stick and its position. I don't think you need to go that far, but Halfbrick did the stick even better than minigore there.

I did really like the stick in Age of Zombies. We may have time to do a control-customizer for the universal update. If not that, I definitely want to do it for the next game. The pro-swipe (TYPO IN-GAME: pro-stick) is by far my favorite control method from every one we've tried and every game I've seen so far, though. So I'll probably keep it as the default. But having more options is nice.

[nfong]

One suggestion: let the red doors reopen after you clear out the monsters. I've missed many "level clears" by taking the right path, and then getting locked in there, even after defeating all the monsters. Would be nice if I was able to backtrack to make sure I didn't miss any secret passages or whatnot.

Btw, what's the best way to beat level 3 in the crypt? Having trouble with this one.

[eretsas]

well, I Think Good made.

[Nightmare13]

One suggestion: let the red doors reopen after you clear out the monsters. I've missed many "level clears" by taking the right path, and then getting locked in there, even after defeating all the monsters. Would be nice if I was able to backtrack to make sure I didn't miss any secret passages or whatnot.

Btw, what's the best way to beat level 3 in the crypt? Having trouble with this one.

In the first series of rooms, it's possible to stand in the doorway without advancing far enough for them to close behind you, and the enemies will start to come to you. Then you can use the narrow doorways as choke points and pick the enemies off in smaller groups.

Be careful, though! Don't kill every single enemy before entering the room. If they're all dead before you enter, the room will seal behind you but the next door won't open up. I informed Kepa of this a while back, I believe it's being fixed in the coming update.

[JackMule]

Maybe why some people are finding bosses/enemies/gameplay boring (along with loot and other things), is the fact that almost all enemies in the game can be beat with brute force and avoiding their attacks. It got interesting in Homunculus because some enemies required you to either wait for them to attack with a spell or you had to use a charge attack. All of the bosses were pretty much always open for damage. There was never a time when they were immune to damage unless you attacked at a certain moment or did a certain thing with the environment around the boss. Although drudgor could only be attacked with magic, some of the others only could to based on their position on the map. Also, a boss fight doesn't need to take place in one room or have one form. The moves of bosses could have been varied too (the white ray of energy was shot out by quite a few bosses), boss could slam fist down and shadows appear on the ground which you obviously move out of the way. Rooks were cool enemies because they couldn't be killed by physical attack (maybe magic too). Undead enemies we're also varied as you had ones who summoned minor units and those who blew up after death. Not to say that the enemies weren't varied (they certainly were in Master Mode), just having tonnes of enemies who only had a mediocre physical attack was really easy and predictable to avoid (green/red/blue slimes, orcs, drudges, zombies, black and white thingy's). However, I enjoyed the game more than any Action RPG in the app store without a doubt.

[JackMule]

Also 306 stars here =P.

[Joshnsuch]

The touch analog stick isn't too bad. I understand why you say it is a little more complex, but I just kinda slide my finger on the screen to initiate the direction I want to go. I don't just hit the center and then slide - I keep it one smooth motion.

Kepa, I really am not very sure how possible this would be seeing as you guys are moving on to the next game, but I thought I would mention it - the fire staff for the IAP and the Crystal Staff are pretty fun to use due to the effects they provide. It would be awesome if somehow you created a unique staff for each spell (only for ones that wouldn't make it over powered. Such as one for the light beam spell. And one other for the freeze shard spell. Obviously weaken them a little, but the effect is just cool while playing. Maybe just an idea for the next game. Just wanted to mention that it is a fun little bonus on the weapons.

With your next game being freemium, if possible to answer (it's cool if you don't know as of now) what the freemium model will be?

[Nightmare13]

Maybe why some people are finding bosses/enemies/gameplay boring (along with loot and other things), is the fact that almost all enemies in the game can be beat with brute force and avoiding their attacks. It got interesting in Homunculus because some enemies required you to either wait for them to attack with a spell or you had to use a charge attack. All of the bosses were pretty much always open for damage. There was never a time when they were immune to damage unless you attacked at a certain moment or did a certain thing with the environment around the boss. Although drudgor could only be attacked with magic, some of the others only could to based on their position on the map. Also, a boss fight doesn't need to take place in one room or have one form. The moves of bosses could have been varied too (the white ray of energy was shot out by quite a few bosses), boss could slam fist down and shadows appear on the ground which you obviously move out of the way. Rooks were cool enemies because they couldn't be killed by physical attack (maybe magic too). Undead enemies we're also varied as you had ones who summoned minor units and those who blew up after death. Not to say that the enemies weren't varied (they certainly were in Master Mode), just having tonnes of enemies who only had a mediocre physical attack was really easy and predictable to avoid (green/red/blue slimes, orcs, drudges, zombies, black and white thingy's). However, I enjoyed the game more than any Action RPG in the app store without a doubt.

I like you because you agree with me. :P

I mentioned feeling that the boss fights seemed very similar and repetitive, for the reasons that you've already cited, and also suggested using periods of invulnerability that vary from boss to boss. I'm glad to see other like-minded people—makes me feel less crazy. :D

[tops2]

While I also use the pro stick, I also have the problem with my thumb eventually sliding all over the screen. Lol.. The pro stick control is very similar to M. Bug Panic's "autocenter" controls.

Personally, I prefer fixed analog stick too..and the one that feels perfect to me is in PewPew. The stick is so accurate to me, so deaths feels like its my fault.

[SirDarkened]

I have killed bosses multiple times for hats and have gotten 0 exp for them... sigh...

[Joshnsuch]

Also, I must add that the notes in the secret sections on Master Mode are brilliant. Not trying to be really negative and I know that this has already been discussed, but these secret areas actually seem worth searching for and make me want to find the other notes.

[SirDarkened]

Also, I must add that the notes in the secret sections on Master Mode are brilliant. Not trying to be really negative and I know that this has already been discussed, but these secret areas actually seem worth searching for and make me want to find the other notes.

Stop making me jealous because I messed up and cannot kill the last boss due to my lack of magic skill. I'm going back and 3 starring everything.

Currently at 143 stars.

[rococoman]

I mentioned feeling that the boss fights seemed very similar and repetitive, for the reasons that you've already cited, and also suggested using periods of invulnerability that vary from boss to boss. I'm glad to see other like-minded people—makes me feel less crazy. :D

I disagree about the invlunerability idea. For most of these bosses, I feel like adding periods of invulnerability would change the strategy from dodge-strike to dodge-dodge-dodge-strike.

For large bosses like the ones in MG, I don't know how much deeper they can get without either involving memorizing attack patterns (which I believe goes against RocketCat's code of sorts), or adding all new fighting mechanics.

For future games (or this, who knows), rival-style bosses would be cool. Having a human-sized boss who can parry your attacks and cast spells might add some depth that you are looking for. Having a mix of some enemy techniques, such as the guys who can dash behind you or deflect your sword attacks, could make for some interesting boss fights.

There are countless examples of these rival-ish boss fights in games, but for some reason I'm kind of fixed on Bomberman 64 right now. In that game, there were bosses who dropped bombs just like you, but also had other abilities. Man, what a game...

[rococoman]

Stop making me jealous because I messed up and cannot kill the last boss due to my lack of magic skill. I'm going back and 3 starring everything.

Currently at 143 stars.

I had 0 magic going into the final boss too. I used the thunder cloak (whichever one gives you the crit bonus), the hungry blade, the extra-heart accessory, and rocketcat. It took me all of my lives, but I did it!

I would use all magic except thunder to kill the little guys, then use thunder or just hack at the boss when I could. By using magic just for the minions, I managed to free up a lot of time to hit the boss. Hungry blade helps to keep you alive a bit longer, as well as whatever accessory you choose to boost life.

[Ashflow]

Any tips for Silver Master Pinnacle? I can't even get through it, let alone attempt to three star it. Maybe I'll just get a bunch of sleep and try again tomorrow... (running on 2 hours of sleep currently in the past 48 hrs :()

Is multiplayer a possibility? Probably not for this game, of course, but in a future game in the series could you look at a co-op arena or something? That would be really epic.

Also, I use pro swipe. It just feels so natural, there's really no thinking required at all.

EDIT: Sorry that all my posts jump from topic to topic and from talking to one person to the next without any transition. Probably going to continue doing it though :p

[Kepa]

I have killed bosses multiple times for hats and have gotten 0 exp for them... sigh...

Oh, weird. Will take a look at that.

Personally, I prefer fixed analog stick too..and the one that feels perfect to me is in PewPew. The stick is so accurate to me, so deaths feels like its my fault.

What the hell is PewPew

Kepa, I really am not very sure how possible this would be seeing as you guys are moving on to the next game, but I thought I would mention it - the fire staff for the IAP and the Crystal Staff are pretty fun to use due to the effects they provide. It would be awesome if somehow you created a unique staff for each spell (only for ones that wouldn't make it over powered. Such as one for the light beam spell. And one other for the freeze shard spell. Obviously weaken them a little, but the effect is just cool while playing. Maybe just an idea for the next game. Just wanted to mention that it is a fun little bonus on the weapons.

With your next game being freemium, if possible to answer (it's cool if you don't know as of now) what the freemium model will be?

We're still adding a content update or two, the next sword that goes in (with Drudge Arena) will be a lightning version of the crystal staff/fire sword. I think the problem with the other swords is that they're way too subtle.

The Freemium model will be kind of like a mix between League of Legends and a "pay if you feel like it" coin shop. IN DETAIL:

1. You'll be able to buy and upgrade weapons and equipment with coins. Sometimes you can find weapons straight from chests, but generally chests drop coins. Coins also drop from monsters and etc, they're everywhere.
2. There's always a FEATURED CLASS you can play for free, like League of Legends. The class will rotate every few days.
3. You can permanently unlock your favorite classes with gems. Gems are very rare, but they drop from chests at a decent enough rate where you can eventually perma-unlock the classes you like the most.
4. Both gems and coins can be used to buy one-game bonuses that disappear whether you win or lose. There's one bonus type that only uses coins and one that only uses gems.
5. You can buy gems as IAP. You can buy coins too, but coins are so easy to get that it's rather pointless to do so.

It'll take place in random levels. We're taking all the feedback of what did and didn't work in Mage Gauntlet and using it to make a random level generator. It'll be a roguelike inspired dungeon crawler, which Mage Gauntlet was originally going to be in the first place.

[Nightmare13]

Oh, weird. Will take a look at that.



What the hell is PewPew



We're still adding a content update or two, the next sword that goes in (with Drudge Arena) will be a lightning version of the crystal staff/fire sword. I think the problem with the other swords is that they're way too subtle.

The Freemium model will be kind of like a mix between League of Legends and a "pay if you feel like it" coin shop. IN DETAIL:

1. You'll be able to buy and upgrade weapons and equipment with coins. Sometimes you can find weapons straight from chests, but generally chests drop coins. Coins also drop from monsters and etc, they're everywhere.
2. There's always a FEATURED CLASS you can play for free, like League of Legends. The class will rotate every few days.
3. You can permanently unlock your favorite classes with gems. Gems are very rare, but they drop from chests at a decent enough rate where you can eventually perma-unlock the classes you like the most.
4. Both gems and coins can be used to buy one-game bonuses that disappear whether you win or lose. There's one bonus type that only uses coins and one that only uses gems.
5. You can buy gems as IAP. You can buy coins too, but coins are so easy to get that it's rather pointless to do so.

It'll take place in random levels. We're taking all the feedback of what did and didn't work in Mage Gauntlet and using it to make a random level generator. It'll be a roguelike inspired dungeon crawler, which Mage Gauntlet was originally going to be in the first place.

That is just... brilliant. Hustle that out, Kepa. :P

Sounds like my game progression is going to be Mage Gauntlet -> Modern Warfare 3 -> New Rocketcat Game.

[Ashflow]

Probably the last suggestion for today (and another thing that would probably be too hard to implement in this game):

Levelling up the weaker pets! Pets could be leveled up after getting a certain amount of stars, up to a point where they can compete with the high end pets. They'd level up somewhat quickly, but they'd only be able to level up a few times (up to where they could compare to a better pet). That way it's not overwhelming trying to level them all up. The pets could have "MAX" by them if they're the strongest they can get.

Just thought it'd be cool to be able to use your favorite pet without its being obsolete gameplay-wise, though it'd almost definitely be something for another game down the road, and not this one.

[JackMule]

Also, I must add that the notes in the secret sections on Master Mode are brilliant. Not trying to be really negative and I know that this has already been discussed, but these secret areas actually seem worth searching for and make me want to find the other notes.

Agreed, seems like more adventerous secrets and interesting.

[Kepa]

Agreed, seems like more adventerous secrets and interesting.

I made the master mode secrets, they're more in line with my original plans for secrets. Not very many of them, but each one with either a story book, a hint connected to another secret, or unique art. I didn't do the story mode secrets and they got out of hand pretty fast.

Pets: Yeah I wonder how we should do pets in the future. They're really hard to do well. A separate system for leveling up pets would be time consuming but pretty funny.

[Joshnsuch]

We're still adding a content update or two, the next sword that goes in (with Drudge Arena) will be a lightning version of the crystal staff/fire sword. I think the problem with the other swords is that they're way too subtle.

The Freemium model will be kind of like a mix between League of Legends and a "pay if you feel like it" coin shop. IN DETAIL:

1. You'll be able to buy and upgrade weapons and equipment with coins. Sometimes you can find weapons straight from chests, but generally chests drop coins. Coins also drop from monsters and etc, they're everywhere.
2. There's always a FEATURED CLASS you can play for free, like League of Legends. The class will rotate every few days.
3. You can permanently unlock your favorite classes with gems. Gems are very rare, but they drop from chests at a decent enough rate where you can eventually perma-unlock the classes you like the most.
4. Both gems and coins can be used to buy one-game bonuses that disappear whether you win or lose. There's one bonus type that only uses coins and one that only uses gems.
5. You can buy gems as IAP. You can buy coins too, but coins are so easy to get that it's rather pointless to do so.

It'll take place in random levels. We're taking all the feedback of what did and didn't work in Mage Gauntlet and using it to make a random level generator. It'll be a roguelike inspired dungeon crawler, which Mage Gauntlet was originally going to be in the first place.

Thanks for the reply. Cool to hear you guys are gonna implement a new sword. I'll be looking forward to it.

For some reason the rogue-like aspect of the game makes me think that it will be Lexi/other characters fighting in the dark realm, but I haven't seen the secret ending after Master Mode yet.

Sounds like I will be buying a few gems. Maybe to unlock a few classes and leave others as something to work towards. I will be looking forward to this release, as well. Haha, I remember in the upcoming thread for this game that you said you weren't doing any press until about two weeks of the game completion since this release got pushed back quite a bit. Or something along the lines of that, so I won't pry for a release date.

Off to translate some Latin, heh.

*Waits for phone to charge*

EDIT: Huzzah, 400th post! Or something like that.

[Ashflow]

I saw you guys talking about the secrets in mm, and I was like "What the heck are they talking about? I haven't found anything yet..."

I COMPLETELY forgot about the notes I found in the Forest. I took a picture of it and I just forgot about it. Really happy I have something else to do before I tackle the last 2 levels and the boss, and from why you guys have said, it'll be awesome. *leaves to play MG*

[Teh_Ninja]

I thought I would mention it - the fire staff for the IAP and the Crystal Staff are pretty fun to use due to the effects they provide.

Wait what?


Are these things that Kepa is adding?

[JackMule]

I made the master mode secrets, they're more in line with my original plans for secrets. Not very many of them, but each one with either a story book, a hint connected to another secret, or unique art. I didn't do the story mode secrets and they got out of hand pretty fast.


I liked most of the Story Mode secrets, especially the ones with books and unique things in there, but I just preferred Master Mode's books telling you to look around this area and finding unique items. It wasn't like I dreaded looking for secrets in Story Mode =P.

[Joshnsuch]

Wait what?


Are these things that Kepa is adding?

Not really spoilers but, I'm gonna throw these in the spoiler quotes anyways because some people may not want it ruined. It concerns swords/staffs. The crystal staff is gained in Master Mode and instead of a critical it casts the earth spire spell and stuns any enemies nearby. The IAP fire sword does something similar, I believe, but I did not buy it. And later Kepa told me on this thread he was adding one that has a lightning effect.

[sdmiracle]

i think we need an item that can see through secret areas.

[coderkid]

I'm having the hardest time beating Crypt 3. Any advice, guys?

[SirDarkened]

I'm done for tonight 146 stars done. Only missing 1 star on 3 levels right before the pinnacle ones.

Then I need to three star pinnacle gold.. That one is actually tough...

5 in Magic and I still struggle to kill the final boss.

[Abyssgh0st]

@Kepa-

I'm all for supporting you guys and your all game, but do you have a final word/opinion on the Phoenix Feather? I find myself really needing it, but if it is going to be nerfed/become free I'd consider holding off.

[SirDarkened]

Tried to beat the boss one last time using the hungry sword strategy and did it on my first try.

Just beat the first few levels of master mode. Same difficulty so far...

[FPE]

@Kepa-

I'm all for supporting you guys and your all game, but do you have a final word/opinion on the Phoenix Feather? I find myself really needing it, but if it is going to be nerfed/become free I'd consider holding off.

:eek:

You are saying I bought it for nothing? Then I better start using it now.

Kepa - you should not change items in IAP, it is not fair towards people who spent money for an item.

[Kepa]

@Kepa-

I'm all for supporting you guys and your all game, but do you have a final word/opinion on the Phoenix Feather? I find myself really needing it, but if it is going to be nerfed/become free I'd consider holding off.

We were thinking about making it free and then nerfing it some, but I doubt we actually can do this just because IAP is so touchy. What we're going to end up doing is just adding an alternate or two to the Phoenix Feather later. Maybe like one that resurrects you with 2 hearts but does a lightning storm hitting 4 nearby enemies, stuff like that.

At the same time difficulty adjustments are coming, though. I don't want anyone to feel like they must have the phoenix feather. Already there's an update (that should be approved any time now) that adds urns to some levels that really need them, while giving an additional life to story mode.

Once that update is out considering more things. I'd really like to do something for the third levels in each chapter, the ones that seem to run far too long. It would be a huge pain to actually shorten those levels, but I'm thinking of just adding tons of spell urns to the last half or last third or so of those levels. So you have to fight through the first part but then it's an explosion fest at the second part...

[BazookaTime]

I appreciate you not changing the Phoenix Feather because it is one of the few times that I found the IAP to be worth it.

[Kepa]

I appreciate you not changing the Phoenix Feather because it is one of the few times that I found the IAP to be worth it.

I regret making an IAP item important. Wasn't intentional, just sort of slipped through. I thought the Arcane Heart was a comparable trinket.

I won't be making any pay-for-health thing like that again (except in the free-to-play spinoff I guess, but that's different because you can just earn every item in the game through playing anyway).

[Ziekke]

I regret making an IAP item important. Wasn't intentional, just sort of slipped through. I thought the Arcane Heart was a comparable trinket.

I won't be making any pay-for-health thing like that again (except in the free-to-play spinoff I guess, but that's different because you can just earn every item in the game through playing anyway).

I think arcane heart is a comparable trinket... i actually started grinding bosses for hats and stopped using the PF, and forgot to put it on when I went back to levels and found that it wasn't so bad.

When playing levels with PF I are at the mercy of the random urn drop, usually netting me lots of useless (to me) spells like shield, lucky, ultralucky, time stop and silence. With a "more likely chance to have fireball and shadow bomb" trinket I was able to deal more damage while avoiding some too.

There's nothing like having 1/2 heart, finding that spell urn and going "just what I needed" and it coming out with a lucky spell. Ironic.

[Ziekke]

One suggestion: let the red doors reopen after you clear out the monsters. I've missed many "level clears" by taking the right path, and then getting locked in there, even after defeating all the monsters. Would be nice if I was able to backtrack to make sure I didn't miss any secret passages or whatnot.

Btw, what's the best way to beat level 3 in the crypt? Having trouble with this one.

Just to clarify - "*Level Cleared*" happens when you kill all monsters, not when you find all secrets.

It's important because some secrets don't contain monsters, and if you find all the monster closets and kill the monsters in the main level area, you will get Level Cleared, but possibly miss a note or two which were in secrets that had no monsters.

I agree though, the doors should open... but Kepa has already said that he will look into eliminating the backwards blocking doors completely anyway.

[coderkid]

I'm having the hardest time beating Crypt 3. Any advice, guys?
Hate to bump but...anyone? I'm getting destroyed here.

[New England Gamer]

Hate to bump but...anyone? I'm getting destroyed here.
Few pages back has a strategy:

http://forums.toucharcade.com/showpost.php?p=1973237&postcount=823

[Joshnsuch]

Hate to bump but...anyone? I'm getting destroyed here.

Don't forget the stunning aspect of your charge attack. With many mobs you can charge through a portion of the enemies and run away going back to where you did the charge attack from. Stall for a second by kiting and then go through the charge attack again. I think that was one of the levels it took me a while to three-star. Once you play the level a few times, you learn where the more difficult mobs are - this is where you need to use your spells to blast through them fairly quickly without a fight.

[rococoman]

We were thinking about making it free and then nerfing it some, but I doubt we actually can do this just because IAP is so touchy. What we're going to end up doing is just adding an alternate or two to the Phoenix Feather later. Maybe like one that resurrects you with 2 hearts but does a lightning storm hitting 4 nearby enemies, stuff like that.



Could you add items of different categories that resurrect you? Earnable in-game, add a resurrecting pet, sword, and cloak. Each could have a different elemental effect, but only 1 could be equipped or function at a time. This way, the player's accessory isn't always a resurrecting item if they want that perk - they can mix it up a bit.

[djbell]

Once that update is out considering more things. I'd really like to do something for the third levels in each chapter, the ones that seem to run far too long. It would be a huge pain to actually shorten those levels, but I'm thinking of just adding tons of spell urns to the last half or last third or so of those levels. So you have to fight through the first part but then it's an explosion fest at the second part...

I'm very glad to hear this! I do not have the video game reflexes of my 20something self, and there are times when I either feel brutalized or just decide to run through the later parts of a level. A final magic party payoff would be a great reward after dealing with a couple of the big/tough/magic dues that come up late in the levels.

[Ashflow]

@Kepa:
What achievements are currently bugged and what ones are being fixed in the update that's currently being approved?

[Noah]

Hi Kepa,

Thanks for responding to my post regarding Pets. One game I play which I think does Pets right is called "Parallel Kingdom" for iOS.

In that game you can have several different types of pets.

- some pets taunt the enemy and absorb damage for you
- some pets cast fear which cause the enemy to run away
- some pets stand at range and shoot arrows at your enemy

In each case there are upsides and downsides.

- if a pet is taunting the enemy, they have decent health, but they still die much quicker than I do, so I have to be quick about killing the mobs before my pet dies
- when a pet fears the enemy, that's awesome because it gives me a second to regenerate some health, but they don't do any damage, so I still have track that feared enemy down and kill them
- the pets that attack at range are the weakest, but they rarely die so that's a bonus for sure

I think you could take these three pet ideas and make them work quite well in Mage Gauntlet.

- the tanking pet has 3 hearts and can cause the enemy to focus their attacks on him
- the fearing pet has 2 hearts and sticks pretty close to you
- the ranged pet has 1 heart and casts beam of light or fireball spells

Make the abilities have an internal cool down of 30 or so seconds and I think you'll be just fine. You could even make different pets cast different spells...

=========================================

Regarding the iAP of the Phoenix Feather. The reason people feel the need to use it over all the other trinkets of course is because you get 3 lives instead of 2 lives, and with the difficulty of some of the later dungeons, you NEED 3 lives to succeed.

Why don't you just add a rare spell which can be found in urns that mimics the effects of Phoenix Feather (as long as you don't have one already equipped) which lasts for the duration of the level (or until you are forced to use it).

That way you don't HAVE to use iAP to get that 3rd "get up", but if you wanna spend 99 cents to have the effect you're more than able to. Does that make sense?

[Nightmare13]

@Kepa:
What achievements are currently bugged and what ones are being fixed in the update that's currently being approved?

3 Secret achievements are bugged and currently unobtainable (Slime Cave, Sealed Tower, and Master Mode secrets). Decadence and Maximum Strength Solvent are also currently bugged and, as far as anyone can tell, unobtainable.

Rain of Steel, Don't Disturb the Dead and Careful Brawler are bugged but still obtainable, however the latter of those three is basically impossible. Just don't try to use Sword Fury for Rain of Steel, it doesn't work that way. :P

Finally: Seeker, Environment Milestone 3 and Combat Milestone 3 are bugged because they require other achievements, which are bugged.

Pretty sure this update fixes all of them, but I'll have Kepa confirm.

[Kepa]

3 Secret achievements are bugged and currently unobtainable (Slime Cave, Sealed Tower, and Master Mode secrets). Decadence and Maximum Strength Solvent are also currently bugged and, as far as anyone can tell, unobtainable.

Rain of Steel, Don't Disturb the Dead and Careful Brawler are bugged but still obtainable, however the latter of those three is basically impossible. Just don't try to use Sword Fury for Rain of Steel, it doesn't work that way. :P

Finally: Seeker, Environment Milestone 3 and Combat Milestone 3 are bugged because they require other achievements, which are bugged.

This seems right. We may have missed a fix in there, but we can fix any remaining ones in another update.

Hi Kepa,

Thanks for responding to my post regarding Pets. One game I play which I think does Pets right is called "Parallel Kingdom" for iOS.

Regarding the iAP of the Phoenix Feather. The reason people feel the need to use it over all the other trinkets of course is because you get 3 lives instead of 2 lives, and with the difficulty of some of the later dungeons, you NEED 3 lives to succeed.

Why don't you just add a rare spell which can be found in urns that mimics the effects of Phoenix Feather (as long as you don't have one already equipped) which lasts for the duration of the level (or until you are forced to use it).

We're adding another life to story mode. Though, the reason the phoenix feather is better is due to 3 starring stuff. A rare spell would help, except it would be pretty strange given the lack of spell descriptions... I think we'll do something like this in other games, but it's probably to late to add to MG.

I'm very glad to hear this! I do not have the video game reflexes of my 20something self, and there are times when I either feel brutalized or just decide to run through the later parts of a level. A final magic party payoff would be a great reward after dealing with a couple of the big/tough/magic dues that come up late in the levels.

I'm pretty sure I'm going to do this. Just make the last third (maybe half?) of the long levels a spell urn fest.

Could you add items of different categories that resurrect you? Earnable in-game, add a resurrecting pet, sword, and cloak. Each could have a different elemental effect, but only 1 could be equipped or function at a time. This way, the player's accessory isn't always a resurrecting item if they want that perk - they can mix it up a bit.

Don't know about that. I know if I added a resurrecting robe or pet, that would be the only pet/robe that people would use, ever. I could put it on a sword, but then I'm limiting what people use in what's probably the most interesting equipment slot. I know in future games I'm going to make consumable items the only source of resurrection, no more putting it on equipment.

Few pages back has a strategy:

http://forums.toucharcade.com/showpost.php?p=1973237&postcount=823

We also added more spell urns to that level in the upcoming update.

I think arcane heart is a comparable trinket... i actually started grinding bosses for hats and stopped using the PF, and forgot to put it on when I went back to levels and found that it wasn't so bad.

When playing levels with PF I are at the mercy of the random urn drop, usually netting me lots of useless (to me) spells like shield, lucky, ultralucky, time stop and silence. With a "more likely chance to have fireball and shadow bomb" trinket I was able to deal more damage while avoiding some too.

There's nothing like having 1/2 heart, finding that spell urn and going "just what I needed" and it coming out with a lucky spell. Ironic.

Haha... should have done an achievement for that. But more likely we should probably remove the lucky spell. Maybe the shield spell, too, which just sort of annoys me now if I get it. We removed haste from the spell urns for a similar reason, we should have gone all the way. I was also dimly considering making players get the luck buff from breaking spell urns when full, instead of a shield buff...

[Nightmare13]

Haha... should have done an achievement for that. But more likely we should probably remove the lucky spell. Maybe the shield spell, too, which just sort of annoys me now if I get it. We removed haste from the spell urns for a similar reason, we should have gone all the way. I was also dimly considering making players get the luck buff from breaking spell urns when full, instead of a shield buff...

Remove Lucky, rename Ultralucky to Lucky, and make it less rare than the current Ultralucky spell (but more than the current Lucky spell).

Shield spell annoys me too, but I like getting it from urns when I'm full. It's basically another heart but better, because it stuns enemies.

Does the chance to trigger Fireball / Earthspike from their respective weapons have anything to do with either of your critical chances? Or with Luck, or the Lucky buff, or the Lich's Foot, or anything?

[Ziekke]

Haha... should have done an achievement for that. But more likely we should probably remove the lucky spell. Maybe the shield spell, too, which just sort of annoys me now if I get it. We removed haste from the spell urns for a similar reason, we should have gone all the way. I was also dimly considering making players get the luck buff from breaking spell urns when full, instead of a shield buff...

Personally, shield buff on breaking heart urn at full health is totally appropriate.
On a full spell bar though? That's hard to say. Doesn't happen very often, but when it does... maybe random buff excluding haste/shield? If you take out "lucky" even better.

I like the *concept* of the lucky buff, it's just so unnoticeable that it feels like a wasted urn. I don't get Ultralucky often enough to notice in that one, but I don't feel like the difference is appreciable there either. Perhaps replacing lucky buffs with a buff that gives 100% melee/magic crit for 5 seconds, or something along those lines. I've seen other games use this technique and it's really good, providing it lasts long enough to use a couple times, but not too long that you can kill a boss in one application of it.

I have a question, what are the drop rate %s for trash enemy hats? I notice from the names of them that some enemies appear to drop multiple hats? Are there hats exclusive to MM enemies or can I get all the mob drop hats in SM?

[New England Gamer]

Remove Lucky, rename Ultralucky to Lucky, and make it less rare than the current Ultralucky spell (but more than the current Lucky spell).

Shield spell annoys me too, but I like getting it from urns when I'm full. It's basically another heart but better, because it stuns enemies.

Does the chance to trigger Fireball / Earthspike from their respective weapons have anything to do with either of your critical chances? Or with Luck, or the Lucky buff, or the Lich's Foot, or anything?
I agree with this - I get a Lucky spell and use it almost instantly just to have a spot for another spell if I find one.

I don't mind the shield with full health either because as was mentioned it provides a stun as well - double whammy I guess.

Though sometimes I judge whether I should crack a heart jar and debate whether I should save it and come back for it if needed. But then again I am at a point in the game that still is possible. I am sure that as I progress I will rethink that strategy.

I am in with the orcs at the moment and going carefully to three star everything before I move on - prefer to savor the experience than rush through. This might not have been the best choice though since I have leveled up a lot in the meantime. Therefore, the orcs are not as hard as some others have reported. I guess that is the trade off for good or for bad. On the other hand am getting some cool hats along the way!

[Nightmare13]

Personally, shield buff on breaking heart urn at full health is totally appropriate.
On a full spell bar though? That's hard to say. Doesn't happen very often, but when it does... maybe random buff excluding haste/shield? If you take out "lucky" even better.

I like the *concept* of the lucky buff, it's just so unnoticeable that it feels like a wasted urn. I don't get Ultralucky often enough to notice in that one, but I don't feel like the difference is appreciable there either. Perhaps replacing lucky buffs with a buff that gives 100% melee/magic crit for 5 seconds, or something along those lines. I've seen other games use this technique and it's really good, providing it lasts long enough to use a couple times, but not too long that you can kill a boss in one application of it.

I have a question, what are the drop rate %s for trash enemy hats? I notice from the names of them that some enemies appear to drop multiple hats? Are there hats exclusive to MM enemies or can I get all the mob drop hats in SM?

I think normal enemy drop rate is 1%? Not sure though. Master Mode enemies don't have unique hats, but they can drop other hats from the same level group and have a higher chance to drop them.

[Kepa]

Remove Lucky, rename Ultralucky to Lucky, and make it less rare than the current Ultralucky spell (but more than the current Lucky spell).

Does the chance to trigger Fireball / Earthspike from their respective weapons have anything to do with either of your critical chances? Or with Luck, or the Lucky buff, or the Lich's Foot, or anything?

The chance to trigger is always around 6%. The fireball/spike itself is affected by magic crit and the red robe/brown robe, though.

Personally, shield buff on breaking heart urn at full health is totally appropriate.
On a full spell bar though? That's hard to say. Doesn't happen very often, but when it does... maybe random buff excluding haste/shield? If you take out "lucky" even better.

I have a question, what are the drop rate %s for trash enemy hats? I notice from the names of them that some enemies appear to drop multiple hats? Are there hats exclusive to MM enemies or can I get all the mob drop hats in SM?

The random buff thing was the original design of the game, but it didn't work too well so we removed it. It ultimately just made people avoid smashing urns when full.

The drop rate for trash enemies is 1%. In master mode, the new enemy variants have a much higher drop rate, and drop from a selection of hats that other enemies in the chapter drop. There are no hats exclusive to MM enemies, but it's a way better place to get them if you want all hats.

[Speedrope]

I purchased the game from the app store on sunday and didn't get the early bird items (8 hats and cat) ... As i understood, up til saturday, you get a discount and the items, and up till monday, you just got the items. I know i purchased it on Sunday ... but didn't start playing it til monday. Is that why i didn't get the promotional items?

[Nightmare13]

Question regarding how hat drops are determined. It's obvious that enemies can't drop hats that they've already dropped. So the question is, for enemies that drop multiple hates (like the Master Mode enemies), what algorithm is used for determining drops? I'm assuming that first the RNG determines that the enemy will drop a hat, based on its respective drop percent. After that, however, say it chooses a hat out of the monsters treasure class (or whatever you want to call it, I'm reverting to Diablo II a bit here) that the player already has. Does it then reroll and drop a different hat, or does it just stop the process and not drop anything?

If it doesn't continue, it may be less beneficial to farm nightmare monsters if you're only missing one hat in an area, since they're drop chance will realistically be much lower.

Also, specifically how high is the drop chance for nightmare enemies, if you're willing to divulge? And is that applicable of all enemies that appear solely in Master Mode, or just those with "Nightmare" in the name? (Which is a lot of them).

[Kepa]

I purchased the game from the app store on sunday and didn't get the early bird items (8 hats and cat) ... As i understood, up til saturday, you get a discount and the items, and up till monday, you just got the items. I know i purchased it on Sunday ... but didn't start playing it til monday. Is that why i didn't get the promotional items?

Yeah, that's why. But send me your UDID over email, twitter, or just post it here if you want and I'll add your promotional items.

After that, however, say it chooses a hat out of the monsters treasure class (or whatever you want to call it, I'm reverting to Diablo II a bit here) that the player already has. Does it then reroll and drop a different hat, or does it just stop the process and not drop anything?

If it doesn't continue, it may be less beneficial to farm nightmare monsters if you're only missing one hat in an area, since they're drop chance will realistically be much lower.

Also, specifically how high is the drop chance for nightmare enemies, if you're willing to divulge? And is that applicable of all enemies that appear solely in Master Mode, or just those with "Nightmare" in the name? (Which is a lot of them).

It just removes already drop hats from the list before the roll happens. But yes, the more hats you have from an area, the smaller the drop chance becomes comparatively on the nightmare enemies.

The nightmare enemies have a 3% chance per hat, and usually have 3 or 4 hats assigned to them. So if you have no hats from that area, it's up to 12% chance that you'll get something. The "nightmare enemies" are the ones that are harder, recolored versions of old enemies. Basically the things that are introduced in the second level of every master chapter.

We were going to make a trinket that increased hat drop rates dramatically, but ran out of time. What we should do is assign that to the rabbit's foot trinket...

[Ziekke]

We were going to make a trinket that increased hat drop rates dramatically, but ran out of time. What we should do is assign that to the rabbit's foot trinket...

+1. I love collecting stupid crap in games like this... It increases the replay ability for me 100-fold :) I just don't like grinding for 0.05% drop rates!

[Ashflow]

Any tips for Silver Master Pinnacle? I can't even get through it, let alone attempt to three star it. Maybe I'll just get a bunch of sleep and try again tomorrow... (running on 2 hours of sleep currently in the past 48 hrs :()
Looks like sleep did the trick! After restarting a few times because I kept getting luckys (:p), I three-starred/beat the silver pinnacle on my third attempt. Three-starred/beat the gold on my second attempt... lol

About to attempt the boss, wish me luck! (BUT DO NOT WISH ME LUCKYS!)

EDIT: Beat Hurgoth, watched the awesome extended ending, and went back and three-starred him. Love the game!

[istara]

Hello, I'd just like to share my thoughts on this game as a "non power player" for want of a better description ;)

All in all it's a great game - very slick, original, interesting. And I totally plan to add it to my site when I get round to updating it. However:

1. My first observation is that it's very light on RPG elements. With all that interesting equipment, I'd like to be able to access my wardrobe and try different things out mid-level, but that doesn't seem possible. It's not vital, but it's a bit of a shame given the effort the devs have gone into creating all that cool gear.

2. As a very casual player, I find the game far too hard. I die all the time, even on the first level (garden) and the second one is almost impossible. My suggestion would be to make a "casual" or "easy" level, perhaps either with less/weaker monsters, or unlimited lives. Completing it perhaps wouldn't unlock Master Mode, but players like me would still find it enjoyable and be able to complete the game. I am fairly certain at this point that I will never be able to complete the game, and I simply don't have hours available to practice (unfortunately!) This game requires more player skill than a turn-based RPG, for example, and I just don't have the coordination and fast reflexes required.

3. My other disappointment is the scarcity of magic spells (and this relates to the above - it would be much less difficult if there were a lot more spells available). Casting spells is great fun in this game, so it's frustrating that there seem to be so few spell urns. The first boss fight seemed to have unlimited spells as a new one arrived every time you used one, and this was great (it enabled me to complete it anyway!)

So those are my thoughts, but I'm very glad to see this game appear, since any innovation in the RPG genre is always great.

[Ashflow]

@istara There are going to be a ton more spell urns in the harder levels in the update... but if you died in the gardens, I'm honestly not sure how to help you...


Also, I think "Mage Master" is bugged...

[Nightmare13]

Hello, I'd just like to share my thoughts on this game as a "non power player" for want of a better description ;)

All in all it's a great game - very slick, original, interesting. And I totally plan to add it to my site when I get round to updating it. However:

1. My first observation is that it's very light on RPG elements. With all that interesting equipment, I'd like to be able to access my wardrobe and try different things out mid-level, but that doesn't seem possible. It's not vital, but it's a bit of a shame given the effort the devs have gone into creating all that cool gear.

2. As a very casual player, I find the game far too hard. I die all the time, even on the first level (garden) and the second one is almost impossible. My suggestion would be to make a "casual" or "easy" level, perhaps either with less/weaker monsters, or unlimited lives. Completing it perhaps wouldn't unlock Master Mode, but players like me would still find it enjoyable and be able to complete the game. I am fairly certain at this point that I will never be able to complete the game, and I simply don't have hours available to practice (unfortunately!) This game requires more player skill than a turn-based RPG, for example, and I just don't have the coordination and fast reflexes required.

3. My other disappointment is the scarcity of magic spells (and this relates to the above - it would be much less difficult if there were a lot more spells available). Casting spells is great fun in this game, so it's frustrating that there seem to be so few spell urns. The first boss fight seemed to have unlimited spells as a new one arrived every time you used one, and this was great (it enabled me to complete it anyway!)

So those are my thoughts, but I'm very glad to see this game appear, since any innovation in the RPG genre is always great.

All boss fights give you 4 spells to start, and spawn minions which grant targeted spells when killed (so none of the Shield / Lucky / Time Circle bullcrap!).

A beginner's mode with infinite lives might actually not be a bad idea. It would also allow people to grind for hats without really paying attention to how they're doing. Nothing else would need to be changed except that part.

That being said, the new update is already increasing the number of lives you get in Story Mode by 1, so that should help you out.

I'm on 302 stars—Tower Pinnacle 2 and 3 on both Story and Master mode still need to be cleared without dying, but I've been too lazy to go back and do it. Uamuleth still refuses to drop his hat, in either story OR master mode, after 70+ attempts. Hurgoth also has refused to drop his after ~15 attempts. What the hell, bosses.

[SirDarkened]

I'm sorry folks but Master Mode is SO MUCH easier than normal mode.

I usually beat each level with 1 heart lost overall so I don't use the heart canisters that much. So far I have not gotten less than 3 stars on a level and I finished the entire first section. Master Mode is also so much better as there is actually a good amount of spells!

Anyway I only found 1 secret and am going to wait until the update hits and fixes the achievements. I don't like the door that closed behind me and forced me to replay the level to kill everything though...

Anyway secrets in Master Mode are actually incredible. Nothing like the normal ones. Please continue the next game like Master Mode. It's absolutely perfect (except for those damn red doors).

[Nightmare13]

I'm sorry folks but Master Mode is SO MUCH easier than normal mode.

I usually beat each level with 1 heart lost overall so I don't use the heart canisters that much. So far I have not gotten less than 3 stars on a level and I finished the entire first section. Master Mode is also so much better as there is actually a good amount of spells!

Anyway I only found 1 secret and am going to wait until the update hits and fixes the achievements. I don't like the door that closed behind me and forced me to replay the level to kill everything though...

Anyway secrets in Master Mode are actually incredible. Nothing like the normal ones. Please continue the next game like Master Mode. It's absolutely perfect (except for those damn red doors).

Master mode screen 1 and 2 is a joke because there's so many spells. Master mode screen 3 is much more evil. :)

[Ashflow]

I liked both kind of secrets, and I also thought it was neat how the different kinds of secrets are separated by modes. Maybe in the next game there could still be both kinds, but the "unique art"/story mode secrets would be more obvious (though they honestly weren't that hard for me to find, especially with the map).

One thing I am ticked at though is that I don't have the "Shadow Sleuth" achievement, and it's apparently not bugged... that means I have to go through EVERY level again to find (probably) one note that I missed... and it's in story mode so I can't even really get hats while I'm doing it... *equips chicken*

[istara]

All boss fights give you 4 spells to start, and spawn minions which grant targeted spells when killed (so none of the Shield / Lucky / Time Circle bullcrap!).
I wondered (hoped!) that this might be the case. I've only managed to get to the first boss so far, so I wasn't sure.

A beginner's mode with infinite lives might actually not be a bad idea. It would also allow people to grind for hats without really paying attention to how they're doing. Nothing else would need to be changed except that part.
Yes, that's what I thought. It increases the fun for casual players, without removing the challenge for those using advanced difficulty modes.

@istara There are going to be a ton more spell urns in the harder levels in the update... but if you died in the gardens, I'm honestly not sure how to help you...
I got there in the end, it just took a lot of attempts! I didn't mind that as it was nicely challenging. However, starting the second level has made me realise that it's likely to get far too hard for me to succeed with my current (lack of) skills ;)

[Kepa]

1. My first observation is that it's very light on RPG elements. With all that interesting equipment, I'd like to be able to access my wardrobe and try different things out mid-level, but that doesn't seem possible. It's not vital, but it's a bit of a shame given the effort the devs have gone into creating all that cool gear.

2. As a very casual player, I find the game far too hard. I die all the time, even on the first level (garden) and the second one is almost impossible. My suggestion would be to make a "casual" or "easy" level, perhaps either with less/weaker monsters, or unlimited lives. Completing it perhaps wouldn't unlock Master Mode, but players like me would still find it enjoyable and be able to complete the game. I am fairly certain at this point that I will never be able to complete the game, and I simply don't have hours available to practice (unfortunately!) This game requires more player skill than a turn-based RPG, for example, and I just don't have the coordination and fast reflexes required.

3. My other disappointment is the scarcity of magic spells (and this relates to the above - it would be much less difficult if there were a lot more spells available). Casting spells is great fun in this game, so it's frustrating that there seem to be so few spell urns. The first boss fight seemed to have unlimited spells as a new one arrived every time you used one, and this was great (it enabled me to complete it anyway!)

1. Yeah we'll focus on RPG stuff for sequels and such.

2. We're still tweaking the balance of the game, and the update that should hit soon will increase the lives to 3 extra lives per level in story mode. However, I was really considering just making story mode have infinite lives. I was talked out of it, but I wonder.

EDIT: I'd also like to try making a turn-based RPG at some point. They're just way easier for people to get into, no reflexes required.

3. Yeah, what happened was that the game used to have twice as many spell urns, but it got reduced to what it is now because it felt like there were just too many. However, now they're just too sparse.

I agree that Master Mode feels way better than story mode. It's SUPPOSED to be harder, but really the shorter levels combined with more spells cancel out the bigger enemy groups and harder enemies. It ends up feeling just right. I should have designed the entire game like Master Mode is designed. WOOPS.

I wonder though, how long did it take people to get through master mode?

[Ashflow]

About 4 days (obviously the play time was spread out a lot, because of school and homework and life). That was with me getting 3 stars on everything though, so I don't know what it'd be if you just plowed through everything (though it probably wouldn't add a significant amount of time anyways). I'd guesstimate 2 hours a day for 4 days, so about 8 hours? It's probably less than that, but there you go.

[Bertman]

Love this game! Yeah a few more spell urns wouldnt hurt but I understand thats a hard balancing act to make sure there are not to many. Thanks for making a great game. I never played the hook games but with this you got a new fan.

[SirDarkened]

To beat the ENTIRE story mode it took me about 28 hours. Almost all 3 starred and repeated levels to grind my magic skill to 5.

Master Mode, I'm around 5~6 hours in an only on the 2nd page.

[Nightmare13]

1. Yeah we'll focus on RPG stuff for sequels and such.

2. We're still tweaking the balance of the game, and the update that should hit soon will increase the lives to 3 extra lives per level in story mode. However, I was really considering just making story mode have infinite lives. I was talked out of it, but I wonder.

EDIT: I'd also like to try making a turn-based RPG at some point. They're just way easier for people to get into, no reflexes required.

3. Yeah, what happened was that the game used to have twice as many spell urns, but it got reduced to what it is now because it felt like there were just too many. However, now they're just too sparse.

I agree that Master Mode feels way better than story mode. It's SUPPOSED to be harder, but really the shorter levels combined with more spells cancel out the bigger enemy groups and harder enemies. It ends up feeling just right. I should have designed the entire game like Master Mode is designed. WOOPS.

I wonder though, how long did it take people to get through master mode?

For future games, you should add a value to the save data that tracks total duration spent actually in levels (not in menus, or while paused, etc). I'd love to see those kind of statistics for myself, but I really don't know how long it took.

[PixyJunket]

When is the update supposed to be up? It seems like it's been a while since it was submitted.

[SirDarkened]

When is the update supposed to be up? It seems like it's been a while since it was submitted.

I've been checking every hour.
Should be out tomorrow unless it's not approved.
If not tomorrow I GUARANTEE MONDAY. Been like a week since submission. Obviously Kepa is having bad luck. Game took so long to be released. Apple probably played it so much...

[Since87]

the crypt is the best.

still not up to master mode yet.
shame that you're shaving some of the harder levels, its a niche title.
dont make it half way niche, if it was supposed to be difficult, let it be.

[Joshnsuch]

For some reason when I was fighting the first slime boss on master mode, I completed tried assaulted him and beat his ass do hard I turned invisible. I used the ultralucky spell and fireball.. Shadow bomb.. And I think lightning. All of those within about two seconds firing off on the screen at the same time. Then I was invisible for the rest of ultraluckys duration. Odd.

[iVaro]

For some reason when I was fighting the first slime boss on master mode, I completed tried assaulted him and beat his ass do hard I turned invisible. I used the ultralucky spell and fireball.. Shadow bomb.. And I think lightning. All of those within about two seconds firing off on the screen at the same time. Then I was invisible for the rest of ultraluckys duration. Odd.

sounds like you were just ultra lucky :p

[SirDarkened]

For some reason when I was fighting the first slime boss on master mode, I completed tried assaulted him and beat his ass do hard I turned invisible. I used the ultralucky spell and fireball.. Shadow bomb.. And I think lightning. All of those within about two seconds firing off on the screen at the same time. Then I was invisible for the rest of ultraluckys duration. Odd.

This is an "I'm so pro I broke the game" moment.

[Since87]

as far as the wall hugging issue with the secrets and all..

there are those of us who just try to survive the map before coming for all the secrets and i didnt know there were level maps until shortly after i read it here.


why cant we say.. KEEP the explored part of our level maps? that way it might be hinted as to where you'd have to face hug the wall.. is that possible?

[Joshnsuch]

This is an "I'm so pro I broke the game" moment.

This gave me multiple lulz. Real world lulz, hah. Thank you- I do what I can.

[Abyssgh0st]

I got two chests simultaneously earlier while killing two of the same monsters, and received the same hat twice. Thinking this is probably a bug.

[Teh_Ninja]

Stuck at Crypt 3, the level is impossible!

[Shebby289]

as far as the wall hugging issue with the secrets and all..

there are those of us who just try to survive the map before coming for all the secrets and i didnt know there were level maps until shortly after i read it here.


why cant we say.. KEEP the explored part of our level maps? that way it might be hinted as to where you'd have to face hug the wall.. is that possible?
Forgot to mention this in my last post and I agree. Is it possible to keep the map for areas we have explored? It would make it easier to 3 star the level if we came back to replay it.

[istara]

Thanks so much for your reply Kepa!

I absolutely cannot wait to see a turn-based RPG from you, given how great Mage Gauntlet is (even if I'm struggling to beat it personally).

I'd also be happy to buy an IAP item that gave infinite lives, something like that. Or some armour. Is there anything with armour later on? I feel so weak - the enemies just get near me and the hearts vanish.

A magic madness mode with millions of urns would also be great ;)

[Ziekke]

I got two chests simultaneously earlier while killing two of the same monsters, and received the same hat twice. Thinking this is probably a bug.

Probably. You realize you just rolled the 1% twice at the same time and won right? Go play the lotto or something :)

[Ashflow]

I got two chests simultaneously earlier while killing two of the same monsters, and received the same hat twice. Thinking this is probably a bug.

I got two chests at the same time too, once, but I died right before I could open one of them because I got hit by a lucky shot (there were no enemies left...). And yes they were from the same enemy type, so that probably would have happened to me, too, I guess.

[Nightmare13]

Thanks so much for your reply Kepa!

I absolutely cannot wait to see a turn-based RPG from you, given how great Mage Gauntlet is (even if I'm struggling to beat it personally).

I'd also be happy to buy an IAP item that gave infinite lives, something like that. Or some armour. Is there anything with armour later on? I feel so weak - the enemies just get near me and the hearts vanish.

A magic madness mode with millions of urns would also be great ;)

Nothing later on that reduces the damage you take, if that's what you're asking. There is gear the reduces the number of hearts you have, though! Lol.

Two best armors are Archmage Mantle (+10% spell damage and spell criticals) and Battlemage Armor (+5% melee crit rate and +10% energy regeneration). You don't get either of them until you clear some of the page 3 master mode bosses.

I really feel like the armor could have been fleshed out just a touch more, rather than a bunch of clones that just affect different spells. The main problem with that approach is that, well... we don't get to choose what spells we get, so most of the time the bonus is useless. Unless we use a Trinket that affects spell drops, but then we lose the Phoenix Feather and we're just weaker than before.

I got two chests at the same time too, once, but I died right before I could open one of them because I got hit by a lucky shot (there were no enemies left...). And yes they were from the same enemy type, so that probably would have happened to me, too, I guess.

Some enemies drop multiple hats. The cultists I believe drop 3, for example, and most of the golems drop 2-3. So there's a good chance it would have been different.

[Joshnsuch]

I have had two enemies drop the same hat before after wrecking a mob. So it can happen.

[SirDarkened]

This gave me multiple lulz. Real world lulz, hah. Thank you- I do what I can.

I try :)

Good work on the game though. I'm making my way through master mode. A level at a time.

[Ben909]

Not sure if this has been mentioned before, but it would be nice to see saved games being stored on Gamecenter so we can continue our game on another device, particularly when the universal update is out.

[rococoman]

Hey Kepa,

I'm working through master pinnacle now - it's brutal. It's been bringing up a point, though, that might be a bit 'meta' to discuss for this game, or it might just be silly, I don't know.

The more difficult sections of MG really seem to emphasize not making mistakes. Boss battles aside, the best strategy is usually taking it slow and, above all else, getting hit as infrequently as possible. This, to me, means that the 'meta-game' of Mage Gauntlet really boils down to "make as few mistakes as possible."

I would contrast this against something like Super Quickhook, where the meta-game becomes "play as best as you can." Even in the endless mode (at least avalanche), more adventurous playing is rewarded with more coins.

Some 'don't make mistakes' games to me are Forever Drive, Street Fighter IV, JetPack Joyride, Canabalt, Final Fantasy (and any JRPG), the original Super Mario Bros., and MiniGore. I enjoy these games, but I don't like how they essentially boil down to trying to avoid mistakes (I would put Hook Worlds here as well). Some 'play hard' games might be Super QuickHook, Mario Galaxy, Angry Birds, GTA III and IV, WoW, and Sonic 4, where the emphasis isn't so much on not losing, but on winning as big as possible.

I enjoy games from both of these categories, but I find that the 'win-big' games stick with me more than the 'don't lose' games. I really enjoy MG, but it feels to me that it has more not-losing in it than winning. Have you thought about this at all, and how it could be addressed in an Action-RPG?

[Teh_Ninja]

Kepa you said the update that is being approved right now includes another heart, does this mean that with the Arcane Heart and Phoenix Feather that you can have 5 hearts?

[Ashflow]

Kepa you said the update that is being approved right now includes another heart, does this mean that with the Arcane Heart and Phoenix Feather that you can have 5 hearts?

It includes another life, not another heart ;)

[Teh_Ninja]

It includes another life, not another heart ;)

Ahh I see, ok thanks.

[Brrobotix]

[QUOTE=I really feel like the armor could have been fleshed out just a touch more, rather than a bunch of clones that just affect different spells. The main problem with that approach is that, well... we don't get to choose what spells we get, so most of the time the bonus is useless. Unless we use a Trinket that affects spell drops, but then we lose the Phoenix Feather and we're just weaker than before.
[/QUOTE]

What if we could equip two trinkets, one that influences the spells you find, one that has other effects (ex. arcane heart/phoenix feather)

[Kepa]

Thanks so much for your reply Kepa!

I absolutely cannot wait to see a turn-based RPG from you, given how great Mage Gauntlet is (even if I'm struggling to beat it personally).

I'd also be happy to buy an IAP item that gave infinite lives, something like that. Or some armour. Is there anything with armour later on? I feel so weak - the enemies just get near me and the hearts vanish.

A magic madness mode with millions of urns would also be great ;)

I don't think I can do infinite lives, really. But I would like to keep tweaking the difficulty and levels in story mode. I don't want story mode to be hard at all, really, but I don't want it to appear trivial, either.

I really feel like the armor could have been fleshed out just a touch more, rather than a bunch of clones that just affect different spells.

We were really limited in what we could make armor do, from a combination of the spell system and heart system. We're moving to a health bar instead, in the spin-off, so we can actually make armor that reduces incoming damage.

Not sure if this has been mentioned before, but it would be nice to see saved games being stored on Gamecenter so we can continue our game on another device, particularly when the universal update is out.

I didn't know we could do that, thought we had to use iCloud instead. Will check it out.

I enjoy games from both of these categories, but I find that the 'win-big' games stick with me more than the 'don't lose' games. I really enjoy MG, but it feels to me that it has more not-losing in it than winning. Have you thought about this at all, and how it could be addressed in an Action-RPG?

I dunno. Maybe really frequent checkpoints (really short levels) would be a good first step in that? Maybe a speed bonus?

What if we could equip two trinkets, one that influences the spells you find, one that has other effects (ex. arcane heart/phoenix feather)

I am definitely, definitely getting rid of the phoenix feather in future games. At least in a permanent-trinket form. It could go into some sort of auto-use consumable slot or something. Though I really never use the phoenix feather anyway, I prefer the robe+spell trinket combos for the most part.

[Ziekke]

I didn't know we could do that, thought we had to use iCloud instead. Will check it out.

I think I half assumed that the two functions were the same. Gamecenter "save game storage" is through iCloud.

Besides... what's the problem with using iCloud? I'd like to see that be used too so that when I get the universal update on my iPad I can play on both devices.

It's something that Battleheart desperately needs, but does not yet have.

[Joshnsuch]

Bweh. Sucks having the stars for the achievements and not getting them on GC. Well. I'm sure it'll be fixed soon.

Off to ecology.

[Ben909]

I think I half assumed that the two functions were the same. Gamecenter "save game storage" is through iCloud.

Besides... what's the problem with using iCloud? I'd like to see that be used too so that when I get the universal update on my iPad I can play on both devices.

It's something that Battleheart desperately needs, but does not yet have.

I probably meant iCloud. I don't care whether it's saved in Gamecenter or iCloud... as long as we can continue on two devices :) Really enjoying the game so far btw. I've only played for about 30 mins so far, but first impressions are really good!

[Ashflow]

Looks like Mage Master isn't bugged. The game just didn't want to give it to me yesterday.

[Nightmare13]

Looks like Mage Master isn't bugged. The game just didn't want to give it to me yesterday.

Sometimes Game Center has trouble updating. If you actually quit Mage Gauntlet (double tap home to open the task bar and remove it), as supposed to just leaving it running in multitask mode, then when you reopen in GC should update all of your achievements.

[Teh_Ninja]

WOAH this fell to the second page....can't let that happen.

When was the update submitted Kepa?

[Ashflow]

The update's out!!!

[nfong]

The update's out!!!

aw yeah :cool:

[Nightmare13]

Disappointed that I didn't get Slime Laboratory right away upon loading the game, but I guess it may have been programmatically inevitable. Had to actually go back to the secret location to get the achievement, but no big deal.

Like the achievement viewer. I'm in class, so I haven't really tried out anything else yet. Maybe Uamuleth will drop his hat now!

[gwet17]

The update's out!!!

I'll take a break from Zombieville 2 to update if I'm able to pry myself away from co-op. :p

[nfong]

Really love the new achievement viewer, and I just beat story mode! On to master mode! :cool:

[Teh_Ninja]

Was finally able to beat Crypt 3 because of the extra life, thanks Kepa.

In the update info it stated that the next update would contain fixes then a content update, is the "Arena Mode" in said content update? Also what else would come with that, I heard talk about more swords or something?

[Nightmare13]

Has anyone gotten the 12th secret achievement (the one that's supposed to be in Sealed Tower?). It still won't unlock for me.

[WooHooII]

Has anyone gotten the 12th secret achievement (the one that's supposed to be in Sealed Tower?). It still won't unlock for me.It won't unlock for me either. Neither will the Master
Mode secret achievement. Other than that, I was able to unlock everything else except Seeker (which requires those two) and Shadow Sleuth. Is an "all secrets found" notice coming in the next update, or is that later?

[Nightmare13]

rocketcatgames Rocketcat Games
@MrNoName655 We added in some super tiny chance of breaking destructible objects summoning a magical gnome.

@MrNoName655 I can tell you but it's a pretty soulless grind if you actually try to get him. If you get him 5 times he becomes a pet.

Must.grind.now.

I found 2 already. 3 to go. >:O

[Werebite870]

Just saw the gnome too, i gotta admit it though the color changing is a nice touch

[Ziekke]

5 times it's a pet? Oh god...

Kepa what have you done...

[gwet17]

5 times it's a pet? Oh god...

Kepa what have you done...

Lulz. :p

[Kepa]

You guys are going to really hate/love the pet once you realize he does nothing/does everything you've ever dreamed.

NEXT UPDATE: Universal stuff, improving level pacing in story mode (probably adding way more spell urns to each long third level), looking into iCloud, some other stuff I'm probably forgetting.

I think I know what's wrong with the missing achievements. There's still two secret achievements that are impossible to get, right? Can finally fix those next update.

[nfong]

what the new pet does:

@MrNoName655 Nothing of value. He follows you around and says catch-phrases, not even a stat bonus.

:cool:

[WooHooII]

No stat bonus? But friendship is the best stat of all! Plus, he offers such marvelous insights as "I'm Gnomey!" What more could you ask for?

[Ziekke]

Countdown to first screenshot of Lexi in gnome hat + gnome pet.

[coderkid]

Tower #3 is a killer, why must you be so long!

EDIT:
Oops, forgot about the update. Maybe it'll be my savior! :D

[Ashflow]

Countdown to first screenshot of Lexi in gnome hat + gnome pet.

I've got one, but I can't put it on here right now... maybe tomorrow if somehow no one beats me :p

Also, the achievement browser is slick. An icon on the levels to know if you've 100%-ed it (found any and all secrets) would be nice. Does anyone actually have Super Sleuth? I envy you who do.

[jar0d]

I've got one, but I can't put it on here right now... maybe tomorrow if somehow no one beats me :p

Also, the achievement browser is slick. An icon on the levels to know if you've 100%-ed it (found any and all secrets) would be nice. Does anyone actually have Super Sleuth? I envy you who do.

Yeah absolutly. I really love the new browser and I can't wait to see the screenshot. I'm still on the first page but try to get three stars everywhere frist ;)

[eflin]

Sorry if this was answered earlier but is there any reason why I don't have access to the fanpack if I bought the game last Friday? I've been playing on the subway mostly where I don't have internet so I figured that was why but I logged in at home last night and still didn't get anything (although it was amusing seeing tons of achievements get awarded so kudos to the dev for letting the program track that offline!).

It's not a huge deal to me but just wondering if I missed something or screwed something up.

[SirDarkened]

Does anyone actually have Super Sleuth? I envy you who do.

I had it on OF. Did NOT transfer over. Whatever... going to get it after I finish master mode.

Kepa, the third pinnacle tower is still really hard to 3 star. I keep getting the bad spells out of the jars and its quite obnoxious because I am now constantly restarting until I don't get either LUCK or SHIELD.

Even getting SILENCE or CIRCLE OF TIME is quite disheartening. In your next game I would avoid keeping those in the game. Yes, they are useful but at the same time you can use a FIREBALL spell and kill the enemy so much faster/more efficiently.

Master Mode is still easy (who said the third page was hard?) Only level I have found challenging so far on the third page is Ashen Cult Gold. (Not enough health potions, too many teleporting spell casters = epic pwnage on me)

[Kepa]

Sorry if this was answered earlier but is there any reason why I don't have access to the fanpack if I bought the game last Friday? I've been playing on the subway mostly where I don't have internet so I figured that was why but I logged in at home last night and still didn't get anything (although it was amusing seeing tons of achievements get awarded so kudos to the dev for letting the program track that offline!).

You needed to play once when online to get the fan pack. If you didn't get it, just send me an email or message with your UDID and I can just add you.

[coderkid]

Whoop! Just beat story mode. Ending. Is. Awesomeness.

-- Spoilaz! --
I'm totally psyched to find out why the seal mended itself, the Whitebeard conspiracy, etc. I actually did a mini-nerd fist pump at the ending (when Lexi breaks out) :P

Going back now to 3 star the story mode levels before heading on to Master Mode, BTW what's the benefit of this? And what are the differences in Master Mode? Also I'd love to hear the ideas in the cogs for Mage Gauntlet 2 :P

[bonchon]

I apologize if this question has been answered elsewhere—I tried searching the forum, but couldn't find anything.

Objects like hearts and magic spells are sometimes on "islands" that can't be reached through normal means, lava/water/whatever in the way.

Are they just there to tempt and frustrate, or is there a way to get to them?

I've made it through Boarlands, Orc Forest, Slime Caves so far, but haven't found any way to accomplish this. Kepa, am I banging my head against a wall?

[masvil]

Objects like hearts and magic spells are sometimes on "islands" that can't be reached through normal means, lava/water/whatever in the way.

Are they just there to tempt and frustrate, or is there a way to get to them?
You could use a spell you already have to get them.

I find a minor bug as I "crashed" a "piece of water" in The Gardens #1 (see red cross):

http://img17.imageshack.us/img17/8595/fotora.png (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/17/fotora.png/)

[FPE]

Crypt 3 is still empty of magic ...

[Kepa]

Going back now to 3 star the story mode levels before heading on to Master Mode, BTW what's the benefit of this? And what are the differences in Master Mode? Also I'd love to hear the ideas in the cogs for Mage Gauntlet 2 :P

Master mode has bigger groups, remixed (and generally shorter) levels, some new enemy variants, and a 1 extra life limit. MG2 ideas are kind of spread around this thread. Stars unlock pets and such as you get them.

I find a minor bug as I "crashed" a "piece of water" in The Gardens #1 (see red cross):

http://img17.imageshack.us/img17/8595/fotora.png (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/17/fotora.png/)
I don't understand what the bug is.

Objects like hearts and magic spells are sometimes on "islands" that can't be reached through normal means, lava/water/whatever in the way.

Generally they're just there to use a spell on to get. The intent is that you use a single spell to hit two urns, getting two spells. There's even achievements for this.

Crypt 3 is still empty of magic ...

Can anyone else confirm this? Because I added a bunch more spells to that level. You should even get a spell right when you enter Crypt 3...

[coderkid]

I don't understand what the bug is.

I think he's saying that piece of ground with the "X" is registering (to the game) as part of the water, meaning he can't walk into it like with normal ground.

[Kepa]

I think he's saying that piece of ground with the "X" is registering (to the game) as part of the water, meaning he can't walk into it like with normal ground.

Weird, when I tested it just now I could walk on it fine.

[coderkid]

Weird, when I tested it just now I could walk on it fine.
...In which case I have no idea what he's talking about. Perhaps a very poorly described bug, or a subjective one...let me test it.

[FPE]

I see so far four spells and three health points.

Update maybe five and four. But the level is still overcrowded.

[sanitymops]

Can anyone else confirm this? Because I added a bunch more spells to that level. You should even get a spell right when you enter Crypt 3...

I just fired up Crypt 3 and got a spell right after the first room of baddies... so it is working fine for me :D

[Kepa]

I just fired up Crypt 3 and got a spell right after the first room of baddies... so it is working fine for me :D

I mean you should get a spell before the first enemy room, now. If you don't, that's an error. And there should be about 11 spell urns in that level...

[FPE]

I mean you should get a spell before the first enemy room, now. If you don't, that's an error. And there should be about 11 spell urns in that level...

I get the first but most urns give health. I checked again and I find only four spells (but I also found only secret rooms with just books).

[masvil]

...In which case I have no idea what he's talking about. Perhaps a very poorly described bug, or a subjective one...let me test it.
Bug doesn't exist, I had an oversight.

Weird, when I tested it just now I could walk on it fine.
Excuse me, it was a slip of mine. I thought I had broken the water instead of flowers :(

[Ashflow]

In story mode's crypt gold, I counted 10 spell urns and 12 heart urns (and 3 haste urns). More than enough to get you through.

Edit: Working on the picture, can't seem to sync it to the computer...

[Nightmare13]

Kepa:

Was out of town for a day so got a lot of time to play... finished up the last 3 levels I had been too lazy to do for the Archmage achievement, got Gnomey, and *drumroll* got hats from both Uamuleth and Hurgoth. Only took me about another 15 or so runs on each.

That being said, in the last ~3 hours of game time, trying different enemies, different areas, etc, I haven't found a single hat. And there's quite a few that I'm still missing. I really want to 100% the achievements, but the way things are going I just don't have the time to grind it.

I'd really appreciate a new item or an edited existing item that severely boosts hat drop rates. It can even remove criticals or a point of health, I don't care. Then it would be solely for post-game grinding and not for story/master mode play-throughs. But seriously, please.

Everything else is just amazing. <3 /nohomo

[brerlappin]

Sometimes when trying to find secret doors, *crit* is displayed...just curious why since you're not fighting anyone. Thanks!

[Kepa]

I'd really appreciate a new item or an edited existing item that severely boosts hat drop rates. It can even remove criticals or a point of health, I don't care. Then it would be solely for post-game grinding and not for story/master mode play-throughs. But seriously, please.

Next update I'll add that functionality to the luck charm trinket. What it does now is pretty lame and meager. Can just make it boost hat drop rates by 5x or something.

Also thinking about removing or merging certain spells. The problem is like people pointed out, you can use something like time circle to kill a group or you can instantly nuke a group with a fireball. It's not a hard choice. When we do buffs again in another game, we'll make them stronger and last longer. Their current lame state is because I thought buffs might have ended up too strong, and that clearly isn't the case.

Sometimes when trying to find secret doors, *crit* is displayed...just curious why since you're not fighting anyone. Thanks!

The crit still happens whether you hit anything or not. The "swing" crits, not the hit.

[FPE]

In story mode's crypt gold, I counted 10 spell urns and 12 heart urns (and 3 haste urns). More than enough to get you through.

Edit: Working on the picture, can't seem to sync it to the computer...

10 spells? Are they in secret rooms?i can only fins four spells, one haste and many heart urns.

Edit: does not matter, I have given up.

[Nightmare13]

Next update I'll add that functionality to the luck charm trinket. What it does now is pretty lame and meager. Can just make it boost hat drop rates by 5x or something.

Thanks.

Also thinking about removing or merging certain spells. The problem is like people pointed out, you can use something like time circle to kill a group or you can instantly nuke a group with a fireball. It's not a hard choice. When we do buffs again in another game, we'll make them stronger and last longer. Their current lame state is because I thought buffs might have ended up too strong, and that clearly isn't the case.

Remove Lucky, keep Ultralucky (potentially just rename it to "Lucky").

Merging Time Circle with Silence and extending the duration a little bit would be a really good buff.

Remove shields from spell urns, so you can only get them by hitting an urn with full health/magic. The actual shield spells are lame.

[Kepa]

10 spells? Are they in secret rooms?i can only fins four spells, one haste and many heart urns.

Edit: does not matter, I have given up.

I have no idea, they're mostly out in the open. There's maybe two that are hidden? What part of the level are you getting stuck in? I'll probably remove the closing-behind-you doors when I do the big level tweaking pass, for starters.

What should I call the Time Circle + Silence buff? I was thinking about doing that, anyway. And yeah, will probably just remove the shield spell from urns.

[nobius]

Crypt 3 is still really freaking hard, even with the Phoenix feather and the added spells. I wish enemies killed randomly gave you a jar and that leveling up restored your hearts to full.

[Kepa]

Crypt 3 is still really freaking hard, even with the Phoenix feather and the added spells. I wish enemies killed randomly gave you a jar and that leveling up restored your hearts to full.

If people are specific enough, I can tweak levels. I'm planning to anyway, but knowing exactly what to change would be helpful. I don't want anyone to get stuck in Story Mode.

[FPE]

If people are specific enough, I can tweak levels. I'm planning to anyway, but knowing exactly what to change would be helpful. I don't want anyone to get stuck in Story Mode.

Crypt3. I still find only half of the spells and most of the time I get useless shield or lucky spells that doe not help. My issue is that the levels are so crowded with enemies and dead raisers that I loose half of my health as soon as I enter a room.

[Kepa]

Crypt3. I still find only half of the spells and most of the time I get useless shield or lucky spells that doe not help. My issue is that the levels are so crowded with enemies and dead raisers that I loose half of my health as soon as I enter a room.

Yeah I think I'll:
Maybe merge Time Circle and Silence
Definitely get rid of Lucky
Definitely get rid of Shield (except for the shield buffs you get for getting urns when at full health/mana)
Change that Shield/Sword Fury/Silence trinket to something else... maybe one that makes Sword Fury really common just for the hell of it? Accepting suggestions.
Also accepting suggestions for Old Pendant's effect being changed to something else. If we merge time circle and silence, there's basically almost no buff spells left.

And in Crypt 3 I'll remove those doors that trap you in tiny rooms. Mostly because I'm going back and removing all the backtracking-blocking doors I can. That alone should make that level easier.

Generally increasing the spell urns by 40% or so in this upcoming update. FUNNY STORY... in beta there used to be three times as many spell urns. That was way too much. So it got reduced to the current number of 30% or so. So I'll bump it back up some and see how that goes.

As a final thing, we might give the player an attack spell every time they get back up.

[FPE]

I think that if you let us get m lighting or fire balls, crypt3 is more doable by everybody. To be honest I only find those two spells when I fight bosses

[Nightmare13]

I think that if you let us get m lighting or fire balls, crypt3 is more doable by everybody. To be honest I only find those two spells when I fight bosses

If we had more Fireballs or Chain Zaps, everything would be more doable by everybody. It's like an OP magic fest.

@Kepa: While, yes, it's probably good design to make story mode doable by everyone, at the same time I don't think you want to tweak its difficulty down so much that the jump to master mode is an "omg" moment.

I forgot about Sword Fury. I hate that spell, too. Could also use a buff. Maybe decrease the time between swings by about 1/3, so you swing 50% faster?

@FPE: Lucky spells are useless, I agree. Shield spells are not, even though I do hate getting them. But at least they help stun the pack when you get hit.

For starters, you should never lose half your health when you enter a room. There's a pretty generous period of invulnerability after you get hit which gives you time to either get away or hack the monsters around you to death.

The crypt is one of my favorite areas because of the strong dichotomy between huge hordes of shambling zombies and limited numbers of more dangerous enemies. General strategies that I use:

1) Always kill the Reapers first. They summon fast, and especially when there's two or more you can't let them keep doing their own thing. Dash past or charge through the initial mob, usually by hugging a wall, and take out the reapers. They generally take 3 hits each. I hope you've been pumping Vigor, because you're going to want to dash a lot. I pumped literally all of my points into it for the first 20 levels.

2) Ignore the Rotting Warriors and kill the horde. Once you don't have to worry about any more of them being summoned, you can clear out the annoying, mindless zombies. Either lure them around in circles to cluster them together, or backtrack to a doorway/hallway where they won't be able to surround you. Then just stand and swing swing swing.

3) Try to keep track of the number of times you hit those exploding zombies. They usually go down after 2-3 swings, so when you think you've downed one or two of them, back up slightly to avoid being hit. Then continue step 2.

4) If a Rotting Warrior charges up to rush at you, either back up or run around the mob to the other side, getting him off your case for a little bit. Once the rest of the zombies are dead (or far enough away that you don't have to worry about them for the moment), you can kill the big guys. Don't be afraid of their sword swing—your sword is faster and will interrupt their attack. Only when they charge up should you retreat and dash out of the way. Then continue the beatdown.

Multiple Rotting Warriors aren't any different, they just require more patience. Try to lure them together, like the zombies, so that you can face them and swing your sword without getting attacked from behind. The only difference here is that you need to run whenever any of them charges up, which may be quite frequently if you run into 3, 4, or 5 of them at once. But with enough patience you shouldn't really take damage. There's a mob of 5 of them somewhere in Tower Pinnacle (may be Master Mode, I don't remember), and usually I just Fireball/Shadow Bomb/Chain Zap them because I'm lazy, but if I need to I can clear it without too much effort.

Hope that will help.

EDIT: Kepa! I had a brilliant idea!

Firing Ray of Light through Gnomey causes him to act like a prism, giving it a cone instead of linear area of effect and causing a brilliant rainbow of death. I hate Ray of Light anyway, since it's too hard to hit multiple baddies with it in most of the later levels. :D

[FPE]

btw I have passed crypt as is ... but only when I found one fire ball and one thunder (first time ever!) and I decided to escape the last fight where the doors are open.

Actually, Kepa, you might just want to keep the doors open (I mean the back door) because I also used a trick to keep them open and that made a huge different.

[Zaraf]

I liked that idea you had before about making enemies randomly be glowing so that they provide a spell. You could also make it something like that the more spells you are holding, the less likely it is for a monster to appear that is glowing. Adding more spell urns may not have the desired effect of just allowing for more spells. Adding more spells but keeping a bit of randomness in it may keep some of the difficulty that you originally intended.

[Kalidor]

Alright. I signed up just to say what I feel about the game, Kepa.
When I started the game, I loved the controls instantly. The pro swipe is an amazing feature, bravo for it. I know you've been told numerous times your game runs so smoothly, but it had me enchanted. You've done great things optimizing the engine, with all those bouncy bits of broken bones, leaves, pots, etc. Blahnlahblah you made an amazing game. Ha, anyway. When I first started reading the notes in story mode, the diversified language brought me back to the years of Chrono Cross, where every population had it's own dialect, a different way of speaking and writing that was apparent in the dialogue and signs. It's a very immersive feature that is often looked over by many popular titles. Zenonia, for example, I've tried over and over to get into, but every time someone says something out of character like "OMG" or "LOL," sometimes even "WTF," who does that? It drives me crazy. Even with Inotia, with many diverse races, they somehow all knew the same language and spoke proper English. With your game Kepa it gives me a sense that everything was thought out, and it's funny reading what the orcs have to say, drudgor being a buffoon always make me giggle. I'm in tetramonts estate in master mode now, loving every minute of it. I honestly could not finish the pinnacle before the update.
However.. I beg you to leave the old pendant alone. When I equipped it with the glowing sword, one of the higher level robes, and 10 20 20 stats I was nearly INVINCIBLE. I could make one haste pot last five minutes or so. For the porcine god I had silence + time circle and I didn't lose a single heart. I let the spells stack up for shields and just defeated the boars forthe extended duration. :D
Before the update, when I realized pots weren't going to appear often I leveled up my vigor and luck as fast as I could, since I knew crits and dashing would be my strongest abilities. I still couldn't defeat the pinnacle though :( but you're doing a great job keeping connected with the community, and updating the game accordingly. The appearance rate of gnomey is fine. I've found him four times, twice in one level. However, is he invincible or something? At first I thought he was going to give me something but he pointed in a random direction. So since then at every chance I try to beat the living sh** out of him every time. Using a sword doesn't seem to work well, spells do a lot of damage faster, yet he just doesn't do anything but change color then poof! Is this the intended action? Also.. I've scoured the pinnacle, the tower bunker, everywhere but I can't find that last exploration achievement in story mode.

[Nightmare13]

Alright. I signed up just to say what I feel about the game, Kepa.
When I started the game, I loved the controls instantly. The pro swipe is an amazing feature, bravo for it. I know you've been told numerous times your game runs so smoothly, but it had me enchanted. You've done great things optimizing the engine, with all those bouncy bits of broken bones, leaves, pots, etc. Blahnlahblah you made an amazing game. Ha, anyway. When I first started reading the notes in story mode, the diversified language brought me back to the years of Chrono Cross, where every population had it's own dialect, a different way of speaking and writing that was apparent in the dialogue and signs. It's a very immersive feature that is often looked over by many popular titles. Zenonia, for example, I've tried over and over to get into, but every time someone says something out of character like "OMG" or "LOL," sometimes even "WTF," who does that? It drives me crazy. Even with Inotia, with many diverse races, they somehow all knew the same language and spoke proper English. With your game Kepa it gives me a sense that everything was thought out, and it's funny reading what the orcs have to say, drudgor being a buffoon always make me giggle. I'm in tetramonts estate in master mode now, loving every minute of it. I honestly could not finish the pinnacle before the update.
However.. I beg you to leave the old pendant alone. When I equipped it with the glowing sword, one of the higher level robes, and 10 20 20 stats I was nearly INVINCIBLE. I could make one haste pot last five minutes or so. For the porcine god I had silence + time circle and I didn't lose a single heart. I let the spells stack up for shields and just defeated the boars forthe extended duration. :D
Before the update, when I realized pots weren't going to appear often I leveled up my vigor and luck as fast as I could, since I knew crits and dashing would be my strongest abilities. I still couldn't defeat the pinnacle though :( but you're doing a great job keeping connected with the community, and updating the game accordingly. The appearance rate of gnomey is fine. I've found him four times, twice in one level. However, is he invincible or something? At first I thought he was going to give me something but he pointed in a random direction. So since then at every chance I try to beat the living sh** out of him every time. Using a sword doesn't seem to work well, spells do a lot of damage faster, yet he just doesn't do anything but change color then poof! Is this the intended action? Also.. I've scoured the pinnacle, the tower bunker, everywhere but I can't find that last exploration achievement in story mode.

Gnomey doesn't do anything, so don't try to kill him. All he does is give you a pet if you find him 5 times.

The last exploration achievement is in Sealed Tower (it's a book, so it's not immediately distinguishable as a hidden location), but it's still bugged, so you can't get it yet.

I forgot about the Glowing Sword. How much does that extend your duration per kill, Kepa?

[SirDarkened]

What should I call the Time Circle + Silence buff? I was thinking about doing that, anyway. And yeah, will probably just remove the shield spell from urns.

Circle of Silenced Time
Silenced Circle of Time
Quiet Circle of EPICNESS

Why don't you COMBINE LUCKY + TIME CIRCLE + SILENCE and KEEP ULTRALUCKY?

Lucky Circle of Silenced Time
Lucky Circle of Muted Monsters?
Lucky Circle of Silence?

I was also going to comment on the other stuff.

Change that trinket to 5x hat drop rate at no other losses to decrease "grind time". If your only going for hats no one cares about anything else for that time.

Remove shield from spell urns but keep the bonus from getting another health urn with 3 hearts. Keep it so that every time you get another one the duration goes up 2x. So I have 3 hearts, find a shield, then find another shield the duration is 2x longer than if I had 1 shield.

Make the trinket do 2x damage with sword fury +50% chance of finding it? Test that out, maybe make it 33% seeing how little urns there was/are in certain levels.

Old Pendant should now boost defense. Giving 1/2 hit moves do 1/2 still but 1 hit moves only do 1/2. Is that possible?

Player gets attack spell when getting up is fine as long as that WILL NOT WORK with the Phoenix Feather. Otherwise 3 stars will be even EASIER!

You should keep the doors that trap you in ALL PINNACLE LEVELS (PLEASE I BEG YOU DON'T REMOVE THEM). Make it so that once all the enemies are killed the doors reopen. That's all. REMOVE all other doors from all other levels but PLEASE KEEP THEM IN PINNACLE TOWER!!!

You could also make glowing enemies located in secret rooms. They also won't count towards 3 starring the level. That way they are by themselves out of the way and its different then just running around getting spell urns. You can do this in most of the secret achievement areas.

That's my feedback for now. I haven't been at it for a bit, took a break. Will unlock Gnomey soon though, haven't found him once though.

[Nightmare13]

Old Pendant should now boost defense. Giving 1/2 hit moves do 1/2 still but 1 hit moves only do 1/2. Is that possible?

Lol that would be so good. Way better than Phoenix feather. That can't happen. Every enemy that's any threat at all does a full point of damage. You're basically saying "equipping this gives me 6 hearts and every health urn I find heals me double."

I agree, the doors in Pinnacle are good because that area is supposed to be like a series of individual fights with a different mish mosh of enemies.

Best place to find Gnomey is Gardens-1 on story mode. There's ~170 patches of grass right at the beginning of the level.

Also, the combined buff should be called Negative Zone in tribute to Luigi's absolutely absurd final smash in SSBB. Except without spell descriptions people might not understand. :P

[crex]

Sealed Tower 2 needs WAY more health and spell urns.

[SirDarkened]

Best place to find Gnomey is Gardens-1 on story mode. There's ~170 patches of grass right at the beginning of the level.

Thanks found him 3 times since your post!

Crypt 3 on Master Mode... seriously Kepa... everything was nice and easy and then GJDSFJDLFSJDFLDSFLNM 40 minute map...

[WCFields]

Anytips on the best way to kill the larger ink blobs things?

[SirDarkened]

Anytips on the best way to kill the larger ink blobs things?

I'm going to assume you mean the biggest ones, not the middle sized ones.

You attack twice then run away as they charge at you.
Attack twice, run.
Attack twice, run.
Eventually he will die. ;)

[Nightmare13]

Anytips on the best way to kill the larger ink blobs things?

The giant ink wraiths...? Is that what we're asking?

Every melee enemy (as distinguished from leaping or caster enemies) has the exact same strategy, to be honest. Rotting Warriors, Wraiths, Bull Slimes, those big burly drudge things that like to punch you, and I'm sure more that I'm forgetting.

You just run up to it and slash the crap out of it. Their quick melee attacks will get interrupted 95% of the time and they won't be able to hit you. When they flash because they're going to charge, just dash away, then run back to them when they stop moving and do it again.

I didn't realize this was really a 'strategy', though.

I love Crypt-3 on Master. Love the gigantic, Moria-esque pillared rooms with swarms of enemies. Lots of enemies, but also lots of room to maneuver. So good.

[WCFields]

I'm going to assume you mean the biggest ones, not the middle sized ones.

You attack twice then run away as they charge at you.
Attack twice, run.
Attack twice, run.
Eventually he will die. ;)

[QUOTE=Nightmare13;1979863]The giant ink wraiths...? Is that what we're asking?

Every melee enemy (as distinguished from leaping or caster enemies) has the exact same strategy, to be honest. Rotting Warriors, Wraiths, Bull Slimes, those big burly drudge things that like to punch you, and I'm sure more that I'm forgetting.

You just run up to it and slash the crap out of it. Their quick melee attacks will get interrupted 95% of the time and they won't be able to hit you. When they flash because they're going to charge, just dash away, then run back to them when they stop moving and do it again.

I didn't realize this was really a 'strategy', though.

I love Crypt-3 on Master. Love the gigantic, Moria-esque pillared rooms with swarms of enemies. Lots of enemies, but also lots of room to maneuver. So good.[/QUOTE. Thank you to you both

[Since87]

Change that Shield/Sword Fury/Silence trinket to something else... maybe one

im in the middle of master mode and i've only seen sword fury 3 times. through story mode. wtf kepa.

[Kepa]

Actually, Kepa, you might just want to keep the doors open (I mean the back door) because I also used a trick to keep them open and that made a huge different.

Yeah, that's planned. Most people just lure the enemies out anyway to avoid fighting in the tiny rooms. And that's dangerous because it can break the map. So yeah I'll just take them out.

im in the middle of master mode and i've only seen sword fury 3 times. through story mode. wtf kepa.

It's a pretty rare spell. It used to be stronger but was overnerfed. I might make it do 50% more damage or something.

I love Crypt-3 on Master. Love the gigantic, Moria-esque pillared rooms with swarms of enemies. Lots of enemies, but also lots of room to maneuver. So good.

Those big rooms are really hard to do on the tiny iphone screen. Another thing is that we had to make sure all the enemies were slow moving melee enemies. Chargers or casters in that room would have just attacked you outside of your vision.

Crypt 3 on Master Mode... seriously Kepa... everything was nice and easy and then GJDSFJDLFSJDFLDSFLNM 40 minute map...

Yeah in hindsight I shouldn't have made the third level in each chapter way longer than the previous ones. Probably not longer at all, but definitely not 100% longer. I should have thought of them not as levels, but as checkpoints. If there's suddenly a checkpoint that is twice the distance to go as other checkpoints, then it will really throw people off.

Sealed Tower 2 needs WAY more health and spell urns.

Ok, I haven't added urns to that one yet. I already decided to do that big urn-adding pass. Pretty much all levels will get around 40-60% more urns in story mode. I don't think I'll be touching Master Mode, where placement seems about right.

Remove shield from spell urns but keep the bonus from getting another health urn with 3 hearts. Keep it so that every time you get another one the duration goes up 2x. So I have 3 hearts, find a shield, then find another shield the duration is 2x longer than if I had 1 shield.

Make the trinket do 2x damage with sword fury +50% chance of finding it? Test that out, maybe make it 33% seeing how little urns there was/are in certain levels.

You should keep the doors that trap you in ALL PINNACLE LEVELS (PLEASE I BEG YOU DON'T REMOVE THEM). Make it so that once all the enemies are killed the doors reopen. That's all. REMOVE all other doors from all other levels but PLEASE KEEP THEM IN PINNACLE TOWER!!!

We do the shield thing already. Each shield you pick up adds to duration.

I think I'll just buff sword fury damage separately so it's not a buff people dread getting. The trinket would probably just increase its appearance a ton. I might just leave old pendant as-is, or just increase its power to double instead of 50% more.

Pinnacle levels don't even have secrets, so I could even just leave the back-blocking doors in. Making them open back up after a fight is a little harder. Will see how drained I am of energy by that point.

The last exploration achievement is in Sealed Tower (it's a book, so it's not immediately distinguishable as a hidden location), but it's still bugged, so you can't get it yet.

I forgot about the Glowing Sword. How much does that extend your duration per kill, Kepa?

2 seconds. Maybe 3 seconds if combined with the old pendant, I forget.

However.. I beg you to leave the old pendant alone. When I equipped it with the glowing sword, one of the higher level robes, and 10 20 20 stats I was nearly INVINCIBLE. I could make one haste pot last five minutes or so. For the porcine god I had silence + time circle and I didn't lose a single heart. I let the spells stack up for shields and just defeated the boars forthe extended duration. :D

I might just buff old-pendant, since the buffs are getting merged some (silence + time circle in one spell is likely, QUIET CIRCLE sounded like a good name). Right now the pendant does 50% to buff durations, might just make it double buff duration. Will have to test this. Also I liked your gnomey story.

@Kepa: While, yes, it's probably good design to make story mode doable by everyone, at the same time I don't think you want to tweak its difficulty down so much that the jump to master mode is an "omg" moment.

Firing Ray of Light through Gnomey causes him to act like a prism, giving it a cone instead of linear area of effect and causing a brilliant rainbow of death. I hate Ray of Light anyway, since it's too hard to hit multiple baddies with it in most of the later levels. :D

Most people tell me that Master Mode feels easier than Story Mode right now.

I don't think that's how gnomes work at all. I like ray of light for the Hurgoth fight, and generally I just dash backwards before using it so enemies clump more.

[FPE]

Sealed Tower 2 needs WAY more health and spell urns.

Tough one. For me the main issue is that once again, as I said before, this is (like crypt3) the usual slash, rush, rush, slash .... Since everybody says master mode is great ..l kepa, just let us unlock it earlier because I want to play master mode!

[SirDarkened]

Tough one. For me the main issue is that once again, as I said before, this is (like crypt3) the usual slash, rush, rush, slash .... Since everybody says master mode is great ..l kepa, just let us unlock it earlier because I want to play master mode!

The first two pages of Master Mode are how Story Mode should have been, except a little longer with the additional secret "wall" areas. (With the incredible Master Mode secrets ONLY in master mode). Only difference is the enemy types and the actual amount of enemies.

The Master Mode we have now should have an extra potion on crypt three... but don't do this until after this whole spell merge update happens. I feel like I only obtained 2 stars due to getting lucky all the time.

[Kepa]

The first two pages of Master Mode are how Story Mode should have been, except a little longer with the additional secret "wall" areas. (With the incredible Master Mode secrets ONLY in master mode). Only difference is the enemy types and the actual amount of enemies.

The Master Mode we have now should have an extra potion on crypt three... but don't do this until after this whole spell merge update happens. I feel like I only obtained 2 stars due to getting lucky all the time.

In the next game I'm thinking of just basing the main game more on the pacing of Master Mode. Maybe even with the big enemy groups. Big enemy groups aren't a big deal at all if you have the spells to fight them and the levels (and therefore checkpoints) aren't super long.

Also the sequel won't have a separate Master Mode. The plan is to have "main story" dungeons and "optional" dungeons, instead. That way I can just make the optional dungeons as brutally difficult as I want, and the main story dungeons pretty easy with frequent checkpoints.

Yeah and the secrets will definitely be more like Master Mode. The story mode secrets weren't designed that way by me, someone else handled those. By the time I saw what was done a lot of them had already been made, so I was all "let's try it out anyway and see if it works".

[Psac42]

Definitely loving the game, but it is hard! Even Orc Forest 3 game me a hard time, I can't imagine the future levels people are having problems with. Hordes of enemies are really tough when they take more than one (or four) hits to kill. Thanks for the hard work!

[Ashflow]

Change that Shield/Sword Fury/Silence trinket to something else... maybe one that makes Sword Fury really common just for the hell of it? Accepting suggestions.
Also accepting suggestions for Old Pendant's effect being changed to something else. If we merge time circle and silence, there's basically almost no buff spells left.
As a final thing, we might give the player an attack spell every time they get back up.

I think I'll just buff sword fury damage separately so it's not a buff people dread getting. The trinket would probably just increase its appearance a ton. I might just leave old pendant as-is, or just increase its power to double instead of 50% more.

Most people tell me that Master Mode feels easier than Story Mode right now.

1. YES! I never get to use sword fury. Combined with the crystal staff/inferno blade it's awesome.
2. The double-duration you mentioned sounds good.
3. I don't think this is really necessary considering how many urns you're adding. I guess we'll see.
4. Sounds good (see 1).
5. Strangely, Master Mode does (usually) seem easier than story mode... There are a few levels though that are harder than story mode, like pretty much all of the final pages gold levels, which is how I think they should be. It is Master Mode, after all. An example of a ridiculously easy level is the gold bunker. Seriously, what's up with that? I can just run up to the wailers and beat them up, and finish with two lives, without even using the spell you get. I mean, the bunkers in story mode weren't that hard either, for the most part, but the master mode gold is just sad...

P.S. Sorry for messing with your quotes so much. I didn't want to take up half a page with just one post :p
P.P.S. The things you mentioned in your latest post (optional dungeons, etc.) sound great.
P.P.P.S. I think a trinket that gives you like a 5% chance of getting a haste urn when you defeat an enemy would be neat.
P.P.P.P.S. (Last one, I promise! Are this many P's even allowed?) The rabbit's foot is definitely getting changed to hat drop increase, right? Can't wait for that to happen, it'll definitely become my most-used trinket.

[Nightmare13]

1. YES! I never get to use sword fury. Combined with the crystal staff/inferno blade it's awesome.
2. The double-duration you mentioned sounds good.
3. I don't think this is really necessary considering how many urns you're adding. I guess we'll see.
4. Sounds good (see 1).
5. Strangely, Master Mode does (usually) seem easier than story mode... There are a few levels though that are harder than story mode, like pretty much all of the final pages gold levels, which is how I think they should be. It is Master Mode, after all. An example of a ridiculously easy level is the gold bunker. Seriously, what's up with that? I can just run up to the wailers and beat them up, and finish with two lives, without even using the spell you get. I mean, the bunkers in story mode weren't that hard either, for the most part, but the master mode gold is just sad...

P.S. Sorry for messing with your quotes so much. I didn't want to take up half a page with just one post :p
P.P.S. The things you mentioned in your latest post (optional dungeons, etc.) sound great.
P.P.P.S. I think a trinket that gives you like a 5% chance of getting a haste urn when you defeat an enemy would be neat.

Bunker 3 is funny. There's like what, 4 enemies?

Bunker 2 on Master, however, is just brutal.

Personally I think the hardest areas in the game are the very last 3 levels on Master (Pinnacle 2, Pinnacle 3, and Hurgoth), which is how it should be. Bunker 2 follows closely behind, however.

[nfong]

Where do you find the Crystal Staff? Checked on the wiki page, but all it says is the alternate ending in Ruins Crossing in masters mode.
Can't seem to find it...

[Ashflow]

Where do you find the Crystal Staff? Checked on the wiki page, but all it says is the alternate ending in Ruins Crossing in masters mode.
Can't seem to find it...

Have you found any Master Mode secrets yet?
If yes, follow their instructions until you see one that mentions the staff.
If no, Forest Silver has one of the easiest MM secrets to find. Even though I put a spoiler tag on, I don't want to give away too much. It's always more rewarding to find things out for yourself :)

[nfong]

Have you found any Master Mode secrets yet?
If yes, follow their instructions until you see one that mentions the staff.
If no, Forest Silver has one of the easiest MM secrets to find. Even though I put a spoiler tag on, I don't want to give away too much. It's always more rewarding to find things out for yourself :)

So is the sword in Ruins crossing though? xD
And do I need to find the secrets in order to find the items?

[Ashflow]

So is the sword in Ruins crossing though? xD
And do I need to find the secrets in order to find the items?

The "sword" (you mean staff, right?) is not in Ruin Crossing.

The MM secrets can lead you to two different items, one of which is very, very close to being impossible to find by accident. The other one is somewhat hard to find by accident as well, so yes, you need to find the secrets to find the items.

[nfong]

The "sword" (you mean staff, right?) is not in Ruin Crossing.

The MM secrets can lead you to two different items, one of which is very, very close to being impossible to find by accident. The other one is somewhat hard to find by accident as well, so yes, you need to find the secrets to find the items.

Thanks for the help!
On a non-masters related note, do you know where the Magekiller is found? It's the only sword I'm missing in story mode.

[WooHooII]

Thanks for the help!
On a non-masters related note, do you know where the Magekiller is found? It's the only sword I'm missing in story mode.I'm pretty sure it's in the Undergarden, but I don't know which level.

Sequel idea (probably impossible; I have no idea how iOS handles save data): import your hats from the first game to build the most massive collection the world has ever seen.

[Teh_Ninja]

Regarding the *secret weapon*


I cleared "Ruin Crossing - 3" on MM, but the door is still locked?

[Ashflow]

Just had a funny idea about the "haste urn trinket" I suggested:

It'd be earned when the player earns the "Environment Milestone 3" Achievement, and the description would read: "Make up for lost time smashing absolutely everything for absolutely no reason! Gives a slight chance for enemies to drop a Haste Urn upon death." (or something like that that fits the description bar)

[Ashflow]

The "sword" (you mean staff, right?) is not in Ruin Crossing.
****

Sorry, I lied about the Ruin Crossing thing, and the staff... For some reason I was thinking it was in the Crypt. Really, really sorry about that. Should have checked before I gave an answer.

[Quazonk]

I hate to sound like a n00b here, but could someone tell me what the terms "nerfing" and "buffing" mean? And what is the purpose of the gnomeys? Do they serve a purpose or are they just there as a Rocketcat easter egg kind of thing? Thx :)

[Sanderino]

On what skills do you spend your skill points mostly?

To Kepa: Is it a good idea to put in the next update something that you can re-assign your skill points whenever you want?

[Teh_Ninja]

"nerfing"
Nerfing means to take something that is overpowered and make it balanced.

"buffing"
Buffing or "Buff" is normally something that will increase you're stats or add a little bit of (whatever) to make you're character better for a certain time period.

And what is the purpose of the gnomeys? Do they serve a purpose or are they just there as a Rocketcat easter egg kind of thing? Thx :)


Gnomey was an easter egg in Super QuickHook (Which if you don't have it you should go buy it now! Here's a link (http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/super-quickhook/id375941471?mt=8)) He would appear in secret areas of the maps, and when you found him in every map he became a playable character. And he has been in their games since.

[Nightmare13]

Buffing or "Buff" is normally something that will increase you're stats or add a little bit of (whatever) to make you're character better for a certain time period.

Just for clarification, a "buff" is a spell that increases your stats or somehow improves character performance for a given duration. "Buffing," however, is the complement of nerfing, and involves improving the effectiveness of a pre-existing item or spell that was previously too weak to be particularly useful.

@Sanderino: I put 20 points in Vigor before I touched anything else. The ability to dash and charge more often is way too useful. Then I pumped magic. I had Magic and Vigor both maxed out (25 each) before I put even a single point in Luck. However, this was justified because I was using the Inferno Blade. Since the Inferno Blade can't score melee criticals, that half of the luck bonus was wasted, and magic increases magic criticals at a much faster rate than luck does, as well as increasing damage.

[Zathrus]

Thanks found him 3 times since your post!

Crypt 3 on Master Mode... seriously Kepa... everything was nice and easy and then GJDSFJDLFSJDFLDSFLNM 40 minute map...

Oh good, I'm not the only one. I'm stuck there. Literally stuck. I've done all the other levels I can reach, but I simply cannot get past this. It's too long, has far too little health and spells.

I've been working on it for 3 days now.

[SirDarkened]

Oh good, I'm not the only one. I'm stuck there. Literally stuck. I've done all the other levels I can reach, but I simply cannot get past this. It's too long, has far too little health and spells.

I've been working on it for 3 days now.

Unfortunately I was hit with a bad snowstorm and I have no power to charge my phone. So everything has been on "pause".

I'm stuck on Ashen Cult 3 simply because I continue to only get luck spells. It's quite frusterating. I'm starting to just restart when I get one.

Crypt 3 isn't too bad to beat. Just really hard to three star.
Once this removal of lucky happen I should be able to easily three star all maps. I seem to get "lucky" for half of the urns in any given level :(.

[rococoman]

Oh good, I'm not the only one. I'm stuck there. Literally stuck. I've done all the other levels I can reach, but I simply cannot get past this. It's too long, has far too little health and spells.

I've been working on it for 3 days now.

This is a monster, and I, by a stroke of incredible luck, 3 starred it. I found a big key here was using the IAP cloak, which gives you a bigger dashing attack.

The priority in this level is killing those jerks who spawn zombies out of the ground. Do whatever it takes to take them out first, using your dash to plow through a zombie group and stun a lot of them. Also, since many of those spawners tend to start in a vertical line, try to run north or south of them and hit them all at once with a sword charge. For taking out the mobs, keep your distance and charge at them with the sword attack when you can to stun some of them. Keep close track of how many hits the fat guys take, and be ready to dash through the blue explosions.

Chicken pet is good for faster recharges. I 3-starred this with half a heart left after using the phoenix feather, and the last enemy was a spawner who had a 6-zombie radius lump of enemies surrounding him. I cannot believe i nabbed him (with the sword!) without losing my last hit.