The game was... okay. Judging by the comments, not many others shared in my lag. The lag was not from my processor, RAM, nor graphics card. I honestly have no idea how this game was lagging my computer, but I think it might be frame-skipping, not lag. Regardless, beyond lag, my character was jumping through walls and falling through the floor to his death. The hint button, the one time I used it, was not especially helpful -- it sent me on a wild goose chase for an item that was nowhere near where it said it was. (The ship part, which was five screens away from the cave, not in the cave / next to it, as the hint implies.) Beyond glitches, lag, and a few personal gripes, the game pulled off the retro feel and tight controls flawlessly. I completed it despite the lag. A great game. Just buggy. I give it 3/5; a point taken away for the bugs.
So... how do you reach max pop? I've tried capping all the stats before leveling a creature, I've tried completing the game and then recruiting, and I've tried recruiting a bunch of the same thing with the same name. None of these methods work. Is it even possible?
For all you people having problems and dying: About level 9/10 ALL character classes become worthless and start dying. You'll start killing stuff again about level 12. If you ascend during this time, your character will become pretty worthless, no matter what you ascend to. Just push through this strange difficulty leap, and it gets easier.
Also, why is DatenshiSan's comment being uprated still? 5 lines of history have been added as per his comment, yet apparently people want more... if you want more, make your own comment or something. His has been accepted and integrated to the full extent of its wording.
If you're looking for ways to balance turn order, I'd check out the more recent versions of "Risk", and the computer game "Risk II", which has a game mode called "Same-Time Risk". (Newer versions of Risk balance it out with extra reinforcements.) Parker Brothers has been balancing Risk for way longer than you've been balancing this, so they're a good place to get ideas from.
@Break_Silence, Someone hasn't played Risk.
It's very simple: Research only money gains, and buy only basic foot soldiers. Since auto battle doesn't appear to care what types of units you use, the cheapest soldier is just as useful in auto battle as the most expensive. Only buy varied units if you plan on manual battling.
I don't comment often, but I'd like to comment now to say: This game had potential. I liked the evolution system, it wasn't too long or too short, it had replayability going for it, and it was overall a calming game. Personally, however, I found the hitbox to be a bit strange. Was it square? And after having taken both paths, the lower path didn't make as much "sense" as the upper path. It was less defensive-oriented than I expected, and in fact only served to allow enemies to last longer because I did less damage.
This rant got rather long, so to cut it short, I liked the game until I realized that its core simply wasn't as well designed as many of the other Bullet Hells I've played on this site. I like the idea, it was well executed, but the ship is too bulky, and the hitbox is never really explained. (Is it square? Are the bullets' hitboxes square? Is it 3x3 or 1x1?)
TL;DR.
4 stars and favorited. I think the only thing about this game that could have been done better is the difficulty. The only level I found difficult at all was the final level. If you plan on working on this game any more at all I would suggest a harder difficulty mode for after the game is beaten. Overall this game is amazing, just not in the same league as some others. Keep working at it and I think you'll be making commercial-quality games in no time ;)
Well, I have no idea how this happened, but... my water essences have disappeared from my inventory. I have since checked every store and my item storage, they are not there. So first and foremost, I'm assuming this is some kind of bug. Second, without these I cannot proceed through the game, causing... problems. Third, does anyone know where to get water essences from aside from stores and water elementals (If such a foe exists)?
And a suggestion to everyone: Make a backup so you don't end up stuck like I am.
I tested in the level editor, and the yellow floors appear to be broken. (My only guess is they're acting like whites?) Conditionals do not appear to work on them.