Puzzle Dungeons (by inpuu Games)

[inpuu]

Individual development game "Puzzle Dungeons" is released!


iTunes Link : http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/puzzle-dungeons/id538914971?mt=8

[Vovin]

Originally Posted by inpuu

Individual development game "Puzzle Dungeons" is released!


iTunes Link : http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/puzzle-dungeons/id538914971?mt=8

This looks exactly like my cup of tea. Think I'm gonna grab a copy.

[bigE1669]

Originally Posted by Vovin

This looks exactly like my cup of tea. Think I'm gonna grab a copy.

This looks interesting. Can you post your thoughts on the game?

[undeadcow]

[timedblades]

Puzzle games are surely on the rise in the app world. There are too many things that have the same concept, but this puts another layer on top of it to remain more competitive. I like it.

[hobbitrjw27]

This is a pretty good one. It is more on the frantic side as you have to not only manage the monsters doing damage to you but also a timer at the bottom left of the screen. If either your health or timer runs out,it's game over. Sometimes you need to keep the number of monsters on the screen at once as low as you can,otherwise they can turn from little nuisances into a bigger problem when they start draining your health.

Would like to see Gold (or some form of currency) and a shop where you can buy better weapons,armor,and other things that can improve your attack,defense,etc. This way you can also find gold in chests that appear,and monsters can drop it too when they are killed.

All in all pretty good and amusing game.

[QuickWit]

Played a little bit and while it's not bad (in fact it's good), there are a few things that I'm not real keen on in this initial version of the game.

The game basically takes the familiar match-3 formula and gives it a bit of RPG fighting. At first I thought I was going to get a "Puzzle Quest" clone, but the game is different. In this game you make your matches to collect swords and mana to get your attacks ready, then you see some bad guys pop up on the screen and you need to kill them before they kill you.

I like the way the enemies are on the board and you have to use your attack to get at them. This is done by touching your attack and then touching where they are on the grid. I played as the Paladin (there is also a Wizard and Alchemist to choose from) and could make either a direct attack at a foe, or attack an entire row (hitting all enemies on that row). This made strategy a bit of the game because I would move monsters into position for the row attack.

You've also got bosses that comes in from time to time and (I'm guessing) they attack harder and have more hit points. I mention "I"m guessing" because of one of the flaws with the game, which I'll get to soon.

In the game you die either by taking too many hits or by running out of time. To help this you can match hearts and clocks to give you more health and time. There's also Experience points you can gain, though I'm not sure what that does other than level you up. Lastly, there are treasure chests that pop up and they can increase your armor, health points, give potions, etc.. Potions can give you more health, time, strength, etc. and come in handy.

So the game really gets frantic and I like that a lot, but here's where I had some problems with this game.

First off, the "help" section doesn't tell you anything about combat. I figured it out through trial and error, but it seems like such a simple thing to add to the help section. I was thinking too much PQ at the beginning and was trying to get more swords, or surround the monster with swords. Foolish now, I know, but when you're focused on the play field it's like you have blinders on. I then tried just touching the icon before realizing that you have to touch it and then the enemy. Makes sense later, but a little less when there is only one enemy.

With the combat... I'd like to know how much damage I'm dealing out. I can see what they have left, but I'm not sure how much I will hurt them with an attack. This is needed when you have a lot of enemies on the field and want to make sure that you're using your attacks smartly. I was just doing random attacks and hoping it was working. But I would notice that sometimes they took off a lot of HPs on an enemy and other times not so much.

Another thing I didn't like was when the game ended. I was expecting to see a score come up. Nope. Just got sent back to the main menu. Did I play well? I don't know? When I started a second game I noticed that my Paladin was at Level 14, so I guess I progress, but it was still a bit of a letdown to end the game and not have anything to really show for it.

Scores and Achievements would go a long way towards helping this game. I can now see that the first level of the game is for characters lvl 1-30 and more lands are opened for lvls 31-60 and 61-90, but I still like knowing what I do in a single game matters.

And with the leveling, what exactly happens to my character? I would assume that I have more HPs and hit harder, but what of it? It just means the the same is going to happen to the monsters so I'm really no different than when I'm a lvl 1 guy fighting a lvl 1 monster. The ratio is still the same.

If there was a store where I could buy items between rounds or learn a new attack (like PQ) that would make this journey a little more interesting. There are times when I'm given an option of using better armor and the like, or discarding and I can't see any reason to get rid of something. I'm assuming that I'm upgrading, but I really don't know.

All in all, it's a good game with a nice play mechanic, but it's just missing the elements of play that really matter. If you're doing an RPG game, let the person actually "role play". Give them the options and let them know the consequences. Give us an idea of how much power there have. I would notice at times that I had "MAX" power, but would only make a dent in an enemy.

I'll stop the rambling now. It's worth the buck for a look and some very frantic moments. But it's worth a whole lot more if we get a little deeper into the game. I look forward to seeing the later part happen.

[ducksFANjason]

Originally Posted by QuickWit

Played a little bit and while it's not bad (in fact it's good), there are a few things that I'm not real keen on in this initial version of the game.

The game basically takes the familiar match-3 formula and gives it a bit of RPG fighting. At first I thought I was going to get a "Puzzle Quest" clone, but the game is different. In this game you make your matches to collect swords and mana to get your attacks ready, then you see some bad guys pop up on the screen and you need to kill them before they kill you.

I like the way the enemies are on the board and you have to use your attack to get at them. This is done by touching your attack and then touching where they are on the grid. I played as the Paladin (there is also a Wizard and Alchemist to choose from) and could make either a direct attack at a foe, or attack an entire row (hitting all enemies on that row). This made strategy a bit of the game because I would move monsters into position for the row attack.

You've also got bosses that comes in from time to time and (I'm guessing) they attack harder and have more hit points. I mention "I"m guessing" because of one of the flaws with the game, which I'll get to soon.

In the game you die either by taking too many hits or by running out of time. To help this you can match hearts and clocks to give you more health and time. There's also Experience points you can gain, though I'm not sure what that does other than level you up. Lastly, there are treasure chests that pop up and they can increase your armor, health points, give potions, etc.. Potions can give you more health, time, strength, etc. and come in handy.

So the game really gets frantic and I like that a lot, but here's where I had some problems with this game.

First off, the "help" section doesn't tell you anything about combat. I figured it out through trial and error, but it seems like such a simple thing to add to the help section. I was thinking too much PQ at the beginning and was trying to get more swords, or surround the monster with swords. Foolish now, I know, but when you're focused on the play field it's like you have blinders on. I then tried just touching the icon before realizing that you have to touch it and then the enemy. Makes sense later, but a little less when there is only one enemy.

With the combat... I'd like to know how much damage I'm dealing out. I can see what they have left, but I'm not sure how much I will hurt them with an attack. This is needed when you have a lot of enemies on the field and want to make sure that you're using your attacks smartly. I was just doing random attacks and hoping it was working. But I would notice that sometimes they took off a lot of HPs on an enemy and other times not so much.

Another thing I didn't like was when the game ended. I was expecting to see a score come up. Nope. Just got sent back to the main menu. Did I play well? I don't know? When I started a second game I noticed that my Paladin was at Level 14, so I guess I progress, but it was still a bit of a letdown to end the game and not have anything to really show for it.

Scores and Achievements would go a long way towards helping this game. I can now see that the first level of the game is for characters lvl 1-30 and more lands are opened for lvls 31-60 and 61-90, but I still like knowing what I do in a single game matters.

And with the leveling, what exactly happens to my character? I would assume that I have more HPs and hit harder, but what of it? It just means the the same is going to happen to the monsters so I'm really no different than when I'm a lvl 1 guy fighting a lvl 1 monster. The ratio is still the same.

If there was a store where I could buy items between rounds or learn a new attack (like PQ) that would make this journey a little more interesting. There are times when I'm given an option of using better armor and the like, or discarding and I can't see any reason to get rid of something. I'm assuming that I'm upgrading, but I really don't know.

All in all, it's a good game with a nice play mechanic, but it's just missing the elements of play that really matter. If you're doing an RPG game, let the person actually "role play". Give them the options and let them know the consequences. Give us an idea of how much power there have. I would notice at times that I had "MAX" power, but would only make a dent in an enemy.

I'll stop the rambling now. It's worth the buck for a look and some very frantic moments. But it's worth a whole lot more if we get a little deeper into the game. I look forward to seeing the later part happen.

Wow great review!! Really detailed and helpful! Guess I'll just keep my eye on this to see if they update to address some of these concerns as most would surely put me off as well...

[alyfantis]

Yeah, thanks for the detailed criticism! I love stuff like this but I've got enough games to play as it is right now so I think I'm going to hold off and see if the developer makes any improvements.

[QuickWit]

I really hope I wasn't too hard in the critique part. I want to point out that the play mechanic of this is really good and there is a very solid game ready to go here. And if you like Match-3 games and want a little more frenetic pace to them, you'll like what you get for the buck.

I just really would like to see more with the game.