Potential!

[Fei]

This kind of game interest me, the fact that you admit and use AI to fill up dialogue and some content is also good.

However why you use the Bodytype 1 & 2 instead of Male/Female?
You are an indie, you have no "obligation" to cater to some moral that defy basic biology.

Then the game camera during combat is way too top down, on the map it's not an issue, but during combat it doesn't look good.
It make everything blend in the terrain.

You need to have some music during encounter to break the monotony.

You need to adjust you fadeout loading screens so the game don't load without low texture in plain sight.

You may want to use AI even more to add some voice, Eleven lab is incredible, you can just use it free for sample and dub couple of lines during or after combat to give character some life.

You need to increase animation speed to make combat feel faster, you cn use some slight screen shake effect, camera movement etc

You need a better trailer for the game, it's low FPS and messy.

[Fenyx]

Wow, thank you for the comprehensive feedback. I'll try to address all the points you've raised.

Body Types: Yes, you are right—I'm an indie developer, and this comes with its own set of challenges and benefits. The use of body types instead of traditional gender labels has become a de facto standard in the industry. Unfortunately, I should avoid corner cases. I didn’t add options like "they" pronouns, surgery scars, etc., and I admit I'm even too lazy to add beards for women. I don't focus on this kind of stuff and don't aim to start a revolution. I don't want to impose my opinions on others; that's what studios like Bioware are for.

Camera Angles: You can adjust the camera to any angle you prefer. I’m a bit confused by your feedback, but I definitely need to restrict the perpendicular top view, as it’s bad for effects like fire (which are in the plans).

Music: It’s hard to argue against adding music. However, as I’m working on this alone (my wife helps as much as she can, but it’s not enough), I have to prioritize. In my opinion, game mechanics, weapons, and skills are my first priority.

Loading Screens: Loading screens are the bane of developers everywhere. I’ve read many stories about them. As a player, I hate loading screens and strive to make them as fast as possible in my game. However, I’m considering adding a "Press any key to continue" screen to help players read tips during loading. We’ll see how it goes.

Eleven Labs: Interesting suggestion; I'll need to check it out. Currently, I only use Udio.

Animations: Are there any specific animations you don’t like, or do you find all of them slow? The camera is also an issue. Having a dedicated person to play with the Unreal Engine camera and scenes would be amazing, but since I handle everything myself, I have to set priorities.

Current Workload: I constantly switch contexts to keep the game moving forward. Over the last two weeks, I’ve been programming new perks and modes, and fixing bugs (programmer's work). This week, I’m working on creating a new tier of weapons and creating and painting models for them, which may be added by the end of the week. So right now, I’m a 3D artist. I also need to design, paint, and animate new creatures (3D artist), prepare sounds for them (sound director), integrate them into the game (content manager), imagine and design interesting skills (game designer), and implement perks (programmer). It’s challenging to find time for everything, but I'm trying ))

Trailer: Totally agree, the trailer needs work. The issue is the same—I started learning video editing software just before the early release, so about a month ago.

Thank you again for your feedback. It really helps me make the game better. There are a lot of things I could miss otherwise.

P.S.: I've chosen a very specific and not particularly popular genre currently—a mix of XCOM, M&B, and D&D—which sometimes makes balancing difficult. I don't like pixel art games, as I played enough 8-bit games in my youth. That’s why I decided to learn 3D; I simply wouldn’t feel comfortable developing another pixel game. Surprisingly, no one complains about pixel graphics, but for a 3D game, expectations are high, as if it should be at least AA quality. Nonetheless, I will try to improve the models as best as I can, even though drawing is not my strong suit!

[Fei]

What you try to do isn't easy, it's a "niche" genre but if it's unique and a added value it will sell.
Because the "niche" that is looking for this kind of game always support creators, and this niche isn't that small in the end.
Look a game like Wartales sold a lot, same for Kenshi now.

You just have to not "speard" yourself too much, but focus on a feature to make it decent before moving to something else.
Your game has potential, you are a sole dev, but you have talent.
I think for now you really should polish what make a game appealing, combat and atmophere.

About the bodytype, i think you take the issue the other way around, when you write male or female you don't impose your opinion. You follow what sciense proven over century of human existance.
However when you write bodytype instead, you clearly bend to some new western religion, that is only based over fearmonger and social media threat etc.
You are not born from a Bodytype 2 person, you are born from your mother, a female. respect this.

It's not that I don't like animation, i think they are ok, but they are too slow.
In animation specialy in 2D there is a gimmick that make you skip some frame of the movement to make the move feel faster, here in 3D you cant really do this.
So you have to find a way to mimic acceleration, make it faster and add a very subtle screen shake upon impact.

Thanks for your answer, and I wish the best for your game.

[Fenyx]

I've seen similar mentions about animation speed, but it might be related to a bug at launch when spiders moved too slowly. Regarding your feedback, which specific animations do you feel are slow? Casting, hitting, running? Is it related to NPC speed or character speed? I've compared it with Firaxis' XCOM and couldn't say there is a big difference. The easiest solution might be to add a slider to speed up everything in tactical battles (like I did for the tactical map).

[Fei]

I can't really tell, I didn't played the game, I watched the very few gameplay preview on YT.
Some could be outdated tho.

Last thing I think you MUST do, is make your game two first hours a FREE demo to have proper feedback.
To pay for an EA is too much, specialy 15$... I understand you need money for living and your work deserve to be paid, but it will comes later. Right now you have no reviews or feedback.
A demo will be 100% win, you will have more visibility while getting more feedback.
Trust players of that niche genre, look a Swordhaven, it works very very well for them.

[Fenyx]

A demo definitely makes sense. Unfortunately, there is no easy way to restrict the game currently while keeping saves compatible after purchasing. I have recently introduced a new mode which can be exposed as a demo relatively easily, but whether it will be enough is an open question. This mode contains only battles and lacks many XCOM-like elements. I'm considering its implementation and will definitely create a demo later, but my main priority for now is new content and bugfixes.

My latest gameplay video, for example, was created a few days ago. It shows the current stage of battles (I realized it was not added to Steam yet, but I have uploaded it—strange...).

https://www.reddit.com/r/TurnBasedTactical/comments/1gi17jf/gameplay_video_of_new_roguelike_mode_in_shards_of/

Though it doesn't contain some improvements I've made thanks to your feedback (which could be done relatively easily). When I feel that the main game contains enough content for the first 10 hours, I'll check what can be done for a demo.

[redwitch]

just a question: Have you considered adding a pre-battle set-up phase to position your units? I haven't played much yet, but in the very first battle it was a bit cumbersome that I had to move both ranged units out of the way for my fighter to be able to move downstairs.

[Fenyx]

Originally posted by redwitch:

just a question: Have you considered adding a pre-battle set-up phase to position your units? I haven't played much yet, but in the very first battle it was a bit cumbersome that I had to move both ranged units out of the way for my fighter to be able to move downstairs.

The starting position is random, but it's around a specific area. Recently, I've changed it a bit, but it remains mostly random. Player characters are spawned close to each other, so considering the size of the map relative to the characters, I suppose it's not a big deal if ranged characters end up in the front line because there essentially is no defined front line. Enemies can be anywhere (except on the tutorial map, where they are have static positions).

Unlike the old XCOM games where you had to exit the ship first and the order of characters mattered, later games have skipped this feature as it was considered redundant.

What you described is related only to the tutorial map, where all positions are static, and the aim was to show that there is verticality in the game. Maybe it requires another remake.

I suppose you could try the new recently added mode, which is focused only on battles and character builds, while the main game is still in progress.

[Stubbieoz]

Thank you for male\female

..... now off to try the demo.

[moreta]

yay, we have self-declared anti-progress talker here. Hi. Live when people make being ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ their first point

[Fei]

Originally posted by moreta:

yay, we have self-declared anti-progress talker here. Hi. Live when people make being ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ their first point

I didn't understood your statement, does it help the game developper?