This game is sorely lacking in quality of life features

[brzoskswinia]

I really enjoy hard games and I thought I'd maybe devote my time to learning this one, but the lack of quality of life features is really hurting my enjoyment. I get that a minimalist UI is the vogue, but some crosshairs would make the shooting so much less annoying. A gem counter would be a benchmark of how well I'm doing that I would personally enjoy a lot.

And I've really got a bone to pick with the lack of any kind of practice mode. I get that scored runs should be done from start to finish, but do I really have to redo the same 60 seconds every time to get to the part I'm actually having trouble with? This is a problem that's only going to get worse as I get better. It's standard for these kinds of difficult games to have checkpoints that can be skipped to for practice purposes and not having that just makes me feel like this game doesn't respect my time. The game even has fixed spawns! It's probably obvious to the game's designers where the difficulty spikes are, so why can't we have checkpoints before these spikes to practice them?

Finally, a minor gripe: is there actually no documentation for this game? I thought maybe with the retro aesthetic I was supposed to look for some pdf in the game files, but no such luck. I mean how hard would it be the jot down some of the basics and put it in the game? This is a really minor annoyance since all the information is a google away, but it feels weird to force the player to do that when the minimalist UI seems to suggest the game wants to be really immersive.

[samplexample]

Youre looking in the wrong place if you want that sort of depth.

[ThePassiveDada]

Here's my approach philosophy: you don't need precise info.
I find a gem counter to be unnecessary because it becomes quickly intuitive to approximately keep track of that in your mind.
I also find the timer unnecessary, because memorizing the spawn pattern is similarly unavoidable.
A crosshair is the only element that almost makes sense. i say "almost" because, again, there is no pixel-perfect precision shooting in this game. Very close quarters and the spread of the daggers is very large, especially later on with hand 3-4.
Regardless, the vast majority of the skill curve of the game is actually scheduling and cutting corners in your game style: in what order should i take out enemies? can i do that in half-a-sec less than last time?
There is in fact an unofficial way to get "practice mode", check out modding in this forum.
If you are still bored in the first part of the game, try gem farming a tiny bit at a time.
I don't know what you mean with "documentation". The basic game mechanics are the same for any other fps: wasd for movement, mouse for aiming and shooting, jumping and bunnyhopping are assumed at the outset for players with any amount of experience in such games. What info would you want it to have that isn't readily clear by simply trying the game once or watching a replay?

[Cunhã0]

Originally posted by the gamer maimer:

Youre looking in the wrong place if you want that sort of depth.

DEFINITELY he's looking in the wrong place for it. DD's have only one goal, that is be a TRUE hard game. All elements presented in this game are enough to give me immersion. Also, any other info you need about how to play, what you can do, the limits of farming, just get some minutes to watch the top 10 players and you can learn a lot. :)

[Zirtonic]

A little research goes a really long way. This website [www.noahstolk.com] has all the damage info/enemy stats you'll ever need, and all I did was type "devil daggers info" into google. It also has links to custom spawnset creators that way if you want to you can make certain things spawn immediately so you can practice them you have that option.

I assume none of the enemy info is given to you because outside of skull 2s (impalers if you prefer that name), spiders, and the leviathan everything in this game does the same thing, which is chase the player until they kill you (or you kill them).

Also a gem counter would break the game at higher level play. Knowing exactly how much homing you have at any given moment would be an insane advantage during the end game loop. Especially this far into the game's life when people who have put hours upon hours into the game haven't ever had that luxury and took the time to develop their game sense.

The website I linked is moving to a new host soon so you may have to use this link [devildaggers.info] instead.

[ererer]

Others here have already replied to most of your points well so I won't bother with it all but I want to adress the crosshair part. I never really understood why so many people want crosshairs in this game. I mean, yeah I understand it's what people are used to but the biggest thing to get used to with shooting in this game is the fact it's all projectile based, obviously not hitscan. In that sense most of the time you aren't needing pixel perfect accuracy as if you were sniping in some other traditional FPS. Then there's the sheer amount of projectiles you're throwing out, which are all affected by random spread, and of course your character (hand, whatever) is pointing pretty accurately towards the centre of the screen. As long as you're shooting in generally the right direction you should be doing fine, which is easy to tell because of course you can see the mass of the daggers in front of you. I never think of shooting in this game like a rapid fire gun, in my head it works like some sort of dynamic 'whip' or something that you swing around to create coverage over enemies, well at least that's how it works in my head when it comes to good ol' skulls.

Sorry, this was a messy rant about something I've wanted to say somewhere.

[brzoskswinia]

When it comes to the crosshair I think it would be very useful for shooting stationary targets. For instance I have trouble hitting spiders and spawners that spawn far away and I can't help but feel that this would be trivial if I knew exactly where I was aiming instead of having to approximate.

[sere]

Originally posted by brzoskswinia:

When it comes to the crosshair I think it would be very useful for shooting stationary targets. For instance I have trouble hitting spiders and spawners that spawn far away and I can't help but feel that this would be trivial if I knew exactly where I was aiming instead of having to approximate.

Yet this is the challenge to all of us, not just you. Some of us welcome it and even acclimate to overcome it. That's the whole ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ point.
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"Quality of life" I can't believe OP is actually serious. I bet he thinks camping is parking the RV at walmart overnight.

__

[brzoskswinia]

QoL features make the game easier, there's no getting around that. The point is the lost difficulty was based in annoying or unfun interactions. If you think not knowing exactly where you're aiming is a fun mechanic then that's an argument you can make. However I think crosshairs have become standard in FPSes for a very good reason. The consensus is that having to eyeball where your gun is pointing is a nuisance that adds nothing to the experience.

[xyz83]

Boy what a read.

[Dane]

I'm #19 on the leaderboards with 912 seconds. Just throwing that out there so you know where I'm coming from. I know this game very well.

I've done a lot of my own testing with crosshairs (my monitor has a crosshair feature), and they'll actually hinder your play.

Reason #1: Your daggers aren't hitscan. You have to learn to lead your shots without a crosshair telling you where they'll land. If you rely on a crosshair, you're going to miss. Even for spiders far away, they move side to side. You still have to lead the shot based on your own movement and where the spider is moving.

Reason #2: The daggers don't actually fire from the exact center of the screen. Your daggers actually come from the bottom of the screen, in front of your hand. They are actually placed that way in the game world. The end result of this is they are angled upward toward the center of your view, and the center of your spread won't reach the center of the screen excapt at vast distances (around the full length of the arena is when they hit the exact center).

So if you aim at the center of the screen using a crosshair and attempt to shoot something close to you, you'll end up under-shooting it because the center of your spread won't reach what you're shooting at at lower power levels (levels 1-3 are most-affected).

Don't believe me? Pen in a dot in the center of your screen or something, and try to kill a centipede up close. Every time, I would miss the gem closest to its head unless I put the crosshair well above that gem. I ended up under-shooting it and hitting the gem beneath it due to the daggers starting low on the screen rather than starting at the center and moving exactly to where I pointed like most other shooters.

Aiming is a dynamic process in Devil Daggers. You have to aim lower on the screen for up-close things, and a crosshair will not help with this. I hate to say it, but you really just need to practice more. These things you're complaining about aren't a big deal.

Reason #3: Most people don't think about this, but a crosshair will just get in your ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ way. I can't play with my monitor's crosshair turned on; seeing the stuff behind it is far more beneficial to you than the near-zero amount of aiming information it'll provide.

[Matt [Linux]]

I like the fact there ISNT a crosshair. There is something very satifying about the way you can hone you spatial recognition (i dont know what to call it lol).

You get a feeling for where your projectiles are going and it becomes second nature. After a while you can tell within a few frames if you are off or on target.

[sere]

I am not sure OP knows what quality of life features are. For the most part, he just wants the game to demand less of the player.

Crosshair = hindrance/distraction

Gem counter = crutch/distraction

documentation = seems like a fair point

practice mode = protracted facepalm

[Godtactics]

Originally posted by sere:

I am not sure OP knows what quality of life features are. For the most part, he just wants the game to demand less of the player.

Crosshair = hindrance/distraction

Gem counter = crutch/distraction

documentation = seems like a fair point

practice mode = protracted facepalm

Agreed on all points, especially a crosshair being a hindrance/distraction.

[brzoskswinia]

Anyone care to explain what's so silly about wanting a practice mode? I think it's my most serious criticism of the game at this point. I have a decent time now, about 300 seconds, and I have indeed pretty much gotten used to the aiming as a bunch of people said I would. I still don't think the option to have a crosshair would be somehow detrimental, thought. On the other hand I'm paying 5 minutes every playthrough to get to the part I'm having trouble with, which is a steep price to pay and it's only going to keep getting steeper the better I get.

[Cunhã0]

Actually, I don't think that a "practice mode" would be good, since the most part of the fun of this game rest in become better and better until master each wave, and the high difficulty make part of this fun. I mean, a "practice mode" would lower this and, in my point of view, the fun.

But I do miss some other kind of "playmodes" or even challenges for a higher replay value or even to make the online Leaderboard a lot more competitive and interesting to make part of. Like some kind of "time attack" mode where you must survive some course full of obstacles that would raise after each challenge. Maybe new challenges could be highlited in short periods. I also though in new forms and types of arenas with many modificators, like "no jump" or "no powerup", maybe one arena that would mutating along the run like transforming itself in a long hallway or even a giant cross and so on. Even one complete random arena where ANY skull spawner and others could spawn at any moment where the time would define the higher amount of enemies together.

Well.. I don't know if you guys got my point.. hahaha' Just ideas.. ^-^''