Feedback

[FuuDev]

This thread exists for feedback on SwarmsurgE. Feel free to post any feedback on the game you may have. We are focused on balancing, and we will be introducing new weapons, enemies, and maps in the near future.

[Monkeychow01]

Pretty interesting game! Any chance of adding some sort of UI "feedback" to getting hit? I think I see some blood drip off, but with everything going on it's super hard to see if the enemies are in the hitbox. Otherwise, interesting so far!

[Luenix]

Seems like there are currently 3 weapon combinations and that there is no way to unlock to sword item / related character. Could be due the fact I haven't played enough though...

[FuuDev]

Originally posted by Monkeychow01:

Pretty interesting game! Any chance of adding some sort of UI "feedback" to getting hit? I think I see some blood drip off, but with everything going on it's super hard to see if the enemies are in the hitbox. Otherwise, interesting so far!

I'm certainly not against adding some more feedback, I will consider what could be done to improve on this.

Currently there is a blood effect on getting hit, as you mentioned. If you hold the focus mode button(default shift/Left Trigger) there is a visual indicator of your actual hitbox. You move slower while doing this, but you also deal more damage. Powerups can reduce the slowdown.

[FuuDev]

Originally posted by Luenix:

Seems like there are currently 3 weapon combinations and that there is no way to unlock to sword item / related character. Could be due the fact I haven't played enough though...

Unlocking the swordsman, Cyrus, and associated sword weapon, can be done with a bit of exploration in a certain area. This is a hidden achievement, so it is meant to be a little secret, but it's not too hard to find.

[SirBuzzKill]

Some notes:
1. Stop with the slow chest emptying -> just lay everything out at once, this is a run and gun type game, you're not supposed to sit around and get a reward, it's just annoying and against the theme of these games.
2. The movement speed increase is not nearly enough to feel meaningful... somehow needs to be more balanced, right now it's just.... boring.
3. This game seems to largely rip off of Vampire Survivors (there have been many games in this genre now but yours steals far more than most from the original), most of the design choices you made that are different are currently just bad, I'm sorry, but it's true. You don't yet have balance, that feeling that you are ahead of or behind the power curve. Everything in your game just feels blase and meaningless. Nothing new happens, playing 5 seconds is the same as playing an hour.

Right now I would give this a 2 out of 10 for this genre. Needs a lot of work to make it feel original and fun.

[FuuDev]

Originally posted by SirBuzzKill:

Some notes:
1. Stop with the slow chest emptying -> just lay everything out at once, this is a run and gun type game, you're not supposed to sit around and get a reward, it's just annoying and against the theme of these games.
2. The movement speed increase is not nearly enough to feel meaningful... somehow needs to be more balanced, right now it's just.... boring.
3. This game seems to largely rip off of Vampire Survivors (there have been many games in this genre now but yours steals far more than most from the original), most of the design choices you made that are different are currently just bad, I'm sorry, but it's true. You don't yet have balance, that feeling that you are ahead of or behind the power curve. Everything in your game just feels blase and meaningless. Nothing new happens, playing 5 seconds is the same as playing an hour.

Right now I would give this a 2 out of 10 for this genre. Needs a lot of work to make it feel original and fun.

I will try the chests with a shorter delay, and with no delay to see how that feels. If I feel it's more fun, I may go ahead with a change like that.

We have two sources of movement speed increases, one permanent, and one by level up. I assume you mean the level up source in this case, and I believe you're probably right. I've had a similar feeling myself sometimes, although it does add up at max level. I will probably make this more significant, but I will also have to review enemy speed scaling over time as they become faster the longer you survive.

Our goal here is to make a fun game, so I will accept the criticism here. Plans are to add additional content, events, weapons, maps, and many other things while taking into consideration feedback on balance aspects of the game. Hopefully we will have something more fun in the future.

[SirBuzzKill]

Thanks, I am not going to write a review as it's early stages and don't want to damage the game's future and making these is hard work. Best of luck!

[sons name is Yahusha]

Originally posted by SirBuzzKill:

Thanks, I am not going to write a review as it's early stages and don't want to damage the game's future and making these is hard work. Best of luck!

SirBuzzKill more like Mr.SavemyBuzz
I commend you for the brave congrats
making games is hard!

[Ａｒｃｈｅｒ#FixTF2]

Would you consider adding more customization elements to the game? I personally really enjoy when games allow me to craft builds.

I would like to see more features that let me customize characters/builds similarly to Halls of Torment with their equipment system. The gear essentially functions as unlockable perks with effects exclusive to specific gear slots for balance. Something similar could be achieved with a list of perks that can be unlocked and equipped before a run maybe like 2~3 max perk slots?

I think having co-op provides a unique opportunity to have skills that provide support effects similar to what you would see in an action rpg. For example, in the ARPG Last Epoch there is an ability called frost wall that gives temporary hp when players walk through it and hurts and slows enemies that pass through it. Another idea would be a weapon that inflicts a status that makes enemies take more damage like a marking ability. Maybe focusing while near allies could cause certain weapons to enter an overdrive/super state. There's lots of things that could be done to encourage more interactive gameplay between players. Curious to hear the ideas you already have regarding this.

Really enjoying the game so far, can't wait to see the direction the game goes.

[FuuDev]

Originally posted by Ａｒｃｈｅｒ:

Would you consider adding more customization elements to the game? I personally really enjoy when games allow me to craft builds.

I would like to see more features that let me customize characters/builds similarly to Halls of Torment with their equipment system. The gear essentially functions as unlockable perks with effects exclusive to specific gear slots for balance. Something similar could be achieved with a list of perks that can be unlocked and equipped before a run maybe like 2~3 max perk slots?

I think having co-op provides a unique opportunity to have skills that provide support effects similar to what you would see in an action rpg. For example, in the ARPG Last Epoch there is an ability called frost wall that gives temporary hp when players walk through it and hurts and slows enemies that pass through it. Another idea would be a weapon that inflicts a status that makes enemies take more damage like a marking ability. Maybe focusing while near allies could cause certain weapons to enter an overdrive/super state. There's lots of things that could be done to encourage more interactive gameplay between players. Curious to hear the ideas you already have regarding this.

Really enjoying the game so far, can't wait to see the direction the game goes.

Really depends on how much time I have going forward. There are a lot of things I would like to add, and I wouldn't be against some sort of perk system, but it's hard to say when I would be able to implement something that large.

Currently we do have support effects, each character has an AoE buff unique to them. Your concept is much more expansive of course, since it seems like it would be customizable. I've always wanted to add more reasons for players to play together, and stick together while doing it, so these are some good ideas.

As always though, I'm just one person doing this, so I can't promise a lot of speed. I do think there is a good chance new weapons will have some sort of support effect when introduced. Possibly even old weapons being modified to include them.

[Ａｒｃｈｅｒ#FixTF2]

Hello again,
I have unlocked all the achievements and played a lot more. Just for context I have been playing solo and with friends(3 players) at max level difficulty for the past 6 hours of gameplay, I wanted to provide more feedback.

Gameplay change suggestions/feedback:
Make pickup range count for money also not just EXP..
Add some sort of enemy spawn protection for players. When playing 1 screen to half a screen away from friends in co-op we experienced bosses & waves spawning ontop of us.
Please just rework flail, it doesn't feel safe or good to use and overall not worth it. Maybe if you could swing flail around based on your characters movement that could be very cool but likely challenging to implement.

Balance change suggestions/feedback:
The weapons with less range such as Flail, Sword, Lightning blade, and Book need improvements such as damage, hitbox increases or faster attack rates. It's very easy to get overwhelmed especially at max difficulty when lacking range and not having enough damage to kill the tankier enemies in close range.
Melty and Bow seem to have the highest DPS across most of my runs, Melty also provides insane crowd control with freeze. Melty I would probably rank as the most powerful weapon hands down. It makes killing the reaper easy and it's part of the two main characters kits.
I'd personally like to see Oct-Gun buffed with an additional effect, feels kinda lack luster since it only does damage and doesn't target enemies or apply any other effects.

Misc/Bugs reports?
I can't unlock/find the 3rd and 7th pet. Not sure if unlucky or bug. Neither can any of my friends.
Also I have not been able to find the item that is listed between treasure and gift in the unlock guide.

Curious to hear your thoughts,
CC

[FuuDev]

Pickup range does apply to money, however the base range(30) is much lower than the base range(100) for experience. Will consider increasing base range.
I have a spawn window invulnerability implemented for multiplayer enemies which should be around 2 seconds, I will have to evaluate that this is actually working since you're not the only person who reported this problem.
Internally, the flail has been updated to swing around and then be thrown in the walking direction. The damage has also been increased, and the cooldown has been decreased. This should be in the next patch.

I have also gotten other feedback on the Lightning Blade, and while I don't know what I will change yet, I plan to do something. In general, book might be slightly lacking, but the combo weapon form Grimoire, from book+spiral I find to be an extremely effective defensive weapon. I'll evaluate book, and sword further.
Bow has internally seen a slight damage nerf, and the Reaper's ability to break free of freeze status has been set to increase after each death until it only lasts 0.1 seconds. Similarly should be in the next patch.
Oct/Plus/X guns were one of my primary considerations for additional effects mentioned in previous response. Not sure where I'll go with this yet though.

The remaining two pets are reserved for a future map.
The missing item, bomb, is pretty rare. A screen clearing item, it could potentially stand to appear more often.

[Nosteru]

Hello,

The gameplay seems fun, however I see that in videos when levelup the game not pause.
Is there an option for solo gaming to actualy pause on every levelup?
This is a totaly dealbreaker for me if game cant pause on levelup.

Thanks

[FuuDev]

Originally posted by Nosteru:

Hello,

The gameplay seems fun, however I see that in videos when levelup the game not pause.
Is there an option for solo gaming to actualy pause on every levelup?
This is a totaly dealbreaker for me if game cant pause on levelup.

Thanks

I've been considering doing this for single player mode, so I'll probably do it for the next patch. For the time being, it is possible to manually pause in single player mode when a level up is available.

[Nosteru]

Originally posted by FuuDev:

Originally posted by Nosteru:

Hello,

The gameplay seems fun, however I see that in videos when levelup the game not pause.
Is there an option for solo gaming to actualy pause on every levelup?
This is a totaly dealbreaker for me if game cant pause on levelup.

Thanks

I've been considering doing this for single player mode, so I'll probably do it for the next patch. For the time being, it is possible to manually pause in single player mode when a level up is available.

Thanks
I put your game to my whislist then. :)