Comments for Loot Loop Loot

You are completely aligned with my vision :) You pointed out something that others haven't mentioned yet, which is the idea of going down the path that your build is best suited for. That is totally something I built into the game and it's another layer of strategy. It's the idea of knowing the map and knowing where and when to punch through certain areas. And yep, this game is less about grinding and more about learning how to make better decisions faster. Great writeup and it makes me happy you figured all that out!

Thanks for playing :)

Now you're getting it :)

Thanks for the feedback! Hah yea in retrospect I'm starting to see players really master the mechanics and can handle some extreme loot speeds. I really didn't expect this at the time but I underestimated you guys. I'm currently still in a prototyping phase so this one's on hold, but I do like that idea myself. The idea of multiple maps and worlds and some way to have challenges such as the one you mentioned to extend gameplay and give a chance for the pros to strut their stuff :)

Nah you're not missing anything, for these prototypes I'm mostly focusing on gameplay and art. Certainly when a full version rolls around I'll get that in!

Thanks, that means a lot and cheers to you too for sticking through it! There's a lot of new concepts in this game so I didn't know the best way to present the game to players. Because of that the UX might be a bit clunky but I feel like the gameplay underneath that has a lot of potential especially based on the feedback :)

Thanks for the breakdown and this is exactly the kind of stuff I see from players as they discover the strategy. There is not only the concept of switching/transitioning builds as you move forward, but also that different sets have different value depending on how far you are. Early on while you're still pushing, earth and water provide a lot of survivability, but as you get to late game, fire and others start to shine more. And you nailed it, there's tradeoffs and value to even doing the 2-2-2 strat which isn't done often because on paper it's less sexy, but it does well in certain scenarios. You have a great strategic eye :)

Yea you're definitely right about that and I felt bad for the artist cuz only the last set drops in the last area lol. I think there could be some more upgrades in a future version to maybe shift them to the left more to get them earlier, and of course I'd have to rebalance the game to account for that but no worries, I totally agree. But yea I'm glad you picked up on the gameplay and that the game goes into turbomode at the end and tests a gamer skillset that isn't really tested often: rapid loot decision-making ;)

Thanks for playing :) Glad you're enjoying my games and I hope to keep cranking out new game concepts for everyone!

Haha glad you're excited about the game! My current path is to make ~5 prototypes before seeing which one to do a full version of so unfortunately it'll be on the backburner. If this game gets chosen as the winning game I'll certainly be adding new maps and worlds though.

Glad you figured it out! Yea, because the core gameplay is almost 100% on loot selection, I really wanted to focus on that and see where the game could go with it. The result ended up being a rapid decision game where it really cranks up in the end. I'm pretty happy with the results and glad people are enjoying it :)

Thanks for playing!

Thanks a lot and I played Synergism nonstop for weeks!

Thanks for playing :)

Nah I agree especially since the map area is pretty narrow, I find myself having to be quite deft with the map to see certain things. I will definitely revisit that for a full version and possibly have a map that can open up for bigger viewing kinda like WoW. Really appreciate the feedback!

It can be hard to give up stats in favor of sets sometimes but the sets certainly can be used in a lot of areas. Check out some more of the comments section for some build ideas. Thanks for the feedback!

Love the breakdown and that's the vision of what I wanted to do with this game. I really did want to make an RPG where you jumped around, shifting builds and stats to help with whatever your next goal is. I haven't really seen that in RPGs other than farming -> progression, so I'm super glad you figured out that strategy! You basically nailed the entire concept in your paragraph haha.

You're in for a treat then, I have more prototypes coming up :)

We all have our preferences :) Thanks for playing!

Yea that's a good point regarding the map. When auto-advance is turned on it'll keep moving forward and resetting the map so you might want to temporarily disable that if you want to scan the map more. Regarding the 2nd shield ability area, that is indeed a more difficult zone to overcome. The Earth4 set is good for nullifying zone effects, and another option may be just pumping up Int or Wis and ducking in and out of the zone to clear it one at a time. Hope that helps!

Thanks for playing :)

Thanks for playing! Yea this series of games are proof of concept prototypes so they'll be pretty fast and hard-hitting so I can see how the core gameplay fares with players. I have a lot of ideas left in the tank which is why I gotta keep pumping them out :)

Heh yea, this game is a lot like playing right on top of the poe tree or sphere grid and that's a concept I'd like to expand on in a full version, along with more maps like you said. Basically each map could act like its own tree. I would definitely either have to control progression more like your example, or maybe just have it so you don't really carry stats over to other maps other than maybe 1 notable unlock. Great suggestions!

Thanks for the feedback! Yea implementing the sets and advanced skills were very fun to me, I got to play around with design a lot more and open up a lot more strategies to the players. You identified a key motif I wanted to show off in this game. The best way to play is definitely not to have a build in mind and then just building towards that. Like you said, you need to actually have multiple builds and figure out what is the best point to transition those builds. Some sets and stats are just more valuable in the early game vs the late game. Great breakdown :)

Hehe you're one of the few people to point out the luck stat. It can be overlooked because it's not immediately useful like the other stats, but any Diablo player knows the value of Magic Find gear and this is a similar mechanic :)

Thanks a lot! I really wanted to make sure this game didn't come off as an idle game were you bruteforce your way with upgrades. The game is more like a puzzle where you need to think through the options you have available to you, and make sure you're farmed up enough before tackling a hard area. Like you said, you CAN grind but there are better ways. I'm really glad you pointed that out!

Thanks for the feedback! Yea some zones can be tricky especially the one you mentioned. I wanted to give players several options for tackling zones, so the Earth4 set is good for nullifying zone effects, and another option may be just pumping up Int or Wis and ducking in and out of the zone to clear it one at a time. Regardless you're right, that zone is one of the hardest and may just be one to tackle later than others :)

Thanks for playing! I'm glad the players are getting excited too :)

Haha thanks a lot :) Yea there's a couple paths to go for a full version. 1 is to have multiple maps/worlds to explore and the other is a prestige system. It may be possible to combine them though where those permanent upgrades only affect that 1 map you're working on. I definitely like the idea and it'll be fun to implement when the time comes.

Heh, there was some consideration on what the lore would be. Basically you're a knight cursed by a wizard so that you can only venture outside of the castle for a few minutes at a time, hence the lock tattoo. Of course we didn't get to implement the lore but that was the backstory. That's also why he has bags under his eyes, he has to deal with all this time looping while he's just trying to get all his gear back :)

I believe that was really close to my time as well, something around 180 sec. I take the top path and rely on the warp zone to get me enough gear and potions to max Int to cast spells nonstop. There was a run where I got 3 Int pots early on which would've set a record but I mistimed it and blew it too early!

Yup you most like were using Judgment. If you use Judgment on the fight prior to the boss you'll skip the boss altogether. I intentionally kept that in to give players a variety of strategies and builds to tackle the boss. Thanks for playing!

There's no pause feature planned but there is a slow mode in the game. If you check that off you'll have twice the amount of time to make a loot decision so that should help.

I won't be adding music/sounds into my prototypes as I'm focused on just seeing if the gameplay and art is working with players. In the future I would certainly like to add these things to a full version.

Haha thank you, I like my naming scheme too :)

Thanks for the feedback! Yea this game starts off easy so people can get their feet wet, but mid game I ramp up the game so that you need more strategy to progress rather than just brute force grinding. Different skills will help punch through different areas, and one often-missed tidbit is that you can always hang out in easier levels to grind and build up some gear before charging forward. Good luck!

Thanks for playing and I hope to tackle more content one day after the prototypes are done!

Thanks for the feedback! The skeletons are definitely challenging and the bottom route is tuned to be harder than other routes as well. You're on the right track with your skill selection. If you have them unlocked, adv. Judgment can hurt them as well as Reflect. Ultimately, the best strat to punching through them is to farm elsewhere for a while. Once you have a good set of stats it'll make it much easier to roll through the area. If you want to be time efficient, you can start up Berserk, and only tackle the skeletons in the later portion of the skill's activation, that way Agi is higher. Hope that helps!

Hah yep! Max Int is probably the main meta for end game speed runs. Only question is which route and which skills to use. Now that advanced skills are out I'm not positive what's the best but Judgment certainly was important before.

You probably ran into the Judgment trick. You can use Judgment on the stage before the boss to skip the fight altogether.

Interesting feature, if it's more for record-tracking I did like how Rogue Legacy handled it, where you could scan all your pasts runs to see what their general stats were. I never used it myself but I could see why that's interesting.

3 mins is a very fast run! And yea, having different classes and characters would be pretty cool, makes it even more roguelite if you put that in. I agree that the speed can get quite fast, especially in the end game. I did put a slow mode into the game for people to build up their decision making speed. Over time you should get faster at recognizing the things you want based on where you're going. Thanks for playing!

Thanks for the feedback! Yup you're correct, the main reason was to give the player a chance to regroup and understand they just died. So yea, in retrospect, docking 25 and giving a 5 sec respawn would be neater and would still fit the "dying makes you lose 30 sec" warning I have in there. Good point and I'll probably make that chance when I get back around to this game :)

Thanks for the feedback and nah I haven't updated in a while, so I think the game just connects differently with different folks. Yea I agree the map can be a bit tricky, especially if you're scanning the map and you have auto-advance on, the map will snap you to the new location. Also, the small viewport where you can see the map doesn't make it good for longterm planning/viewing. So yea, either a zoom out or a way to temporarily expand the map might fix that issue so thanks for pointing it out :)

Appreciate you asking, I can give it a shot. Loot drops automatically after every encounter and you have to choose 1 piece. At the end of every run your equipment goes away, but your upgrades stay. Upgrades are gained by clearing nodes on the map. You do start from the beginning but you're getting stronger every time, which is a staple mechanic of roguelites. In terms of what has value, that depends on where you're going on the map. Some fights need high strength, some need high endurance, some Set item effects are good for others, etc. The idea is that the map is a puzzle, and you can either figure out the best way to beat a zone, or just brute force clear it through upgrades. Hope that helps!

Thanks a lot, you guys are putting in time into your feedback so it makes sense for me to do the same :)

Yea it'll be frustrating if you don't understand the gameplay. Basically you'll do combat automatically and monsters will drop loot as a result. All you have to do is click a loot card to choose it. Keep progressing to the right and you'll win eventually :)