Dungeon Raid - Match 3 Puzzle RPG (v1.1) +lite Out Now

[DaviddesJ]

Originally Posted by eflin

"I don't think I'll be adding a turn counter in the standard mode because that seems like too much of a gateway into metagaming. As you know, the difficulty curve's controlled by the turn counter and right now you still have to rely on some gut feel for how tough the monsters are getting rather than having a number in the corner more or less spell it out. I think hiding the turn counter preserves some sense of uncertainty in the late game and I've convinced myself that that's probably a good thing."

I actually really agree with that and think it's a smart design move.

I think it doesn't really make much sense, because the strength of the skulls themselves vary within a pretty narrow range based on the turn number, and so just by seeing how strong the skulls are getting, you can measure the difficulty directly; you don't need the turn number for that.

[eflin]

Originally Posted by DaviddesJ

I think it doesn't really make much sense, because the strength of the skulls themselves vary within a pretty narrow range based on the turn number, and so just by seeing how strong the skulls are getting, you can measure the difficulty directly; you don't need the turn number for that.

While that is true... I still think the lack of the turn count makes it harder for people to determine where they are. Putting the turn count in there will make it much easier to break down the game and reduce any current feeling of randomness the game has which Fireflame wants to keep in there. He wants each trip to feel different. Right now all you have is a rough idea which I feel is what Fireflames intent is and I get why he wants it that way now. He wants the end of the game to be more of a question mark and not a known formula so as to build the intensity of games and that feeling of "how much longer can I survive?". I think that's a good tactic from a design standpoint.

[DaviddesJ]

Originally Posted by eflin

I think that's a good tactic from a design standpoint.

Well, the problem is that it depends on the player. I am more analytical, it's obvious to me right away that the games are all nearly the same, and I can give you a very good estimate of where I am in the difficulty curve just by looking at the skulls. To someone else it might not be so obvious. If you really want the games to not feel the same, you can hide some partial information, which works with some players but not others, or you can actually make the games different.

[Psac42]

I understand Fireflame's reasoning. I would still like to have it from a personal standpoint to see where I am compared to past games from an achievement standpoint("Only 10 more turns to my best!!"), but I get where he's coming from.

Glad to hear he's working on it again.

[andsoitgoes]

I'm slightly befuddled here. I've been playing a current game for what seems like EONS. I'm Level 225 and have a score of about 65k, I think this is one of my highest scores so far, but my problem is this...

Throughout all this playing, however, I have not leveled up once. And I'm at a level now where there's NOTHING I can do to kill myself. I think I've gotten stuck like this before where I've been unable to level up, but somehow I've died - but crap I've got 192 armor, 1770 health and I'm INVINCIBLE... it seems..

I'd hate to kill myself now just to put an end to it, but I can't just keep going if I'm never going to level up.

Has anyone ever been in this position?

[DaviddesJ]

I'm not sure what you mean by not leveling up. If you're level 225, then you must have leveled up, lots of times (224, exactly).

If you're feeling invincible, maybe you're on Easy difficulty.

[andsoitgoes]

Yep. I'm an idiot, I was on easy. I'll go hang my head in shame now.

[DaviddesJ]

I think it's not just you, there is some way of accidentally changing difficulty to Easy. The number of people who've reported it is too large for everyone to explicitly choose it by accident. It would be nice if the current difficulty level were visibly displayed in the game somewhere.

[spudd]

The reason I find myself paying Easy, is because I've just introduced the game to someone else, and they will choose Easy to learn the game. Then I forget to change it back before I start a new game for myself.

[eflin]

So the gold build is definitely the way to go. I just had my best run yet and cracked the top 20 on gamecenter. I've only done like 6 high score runs with the gold build too. Not too shabby!