Exploring improvement options. (Patch 1.2)

[Alaric von Teplitz]

Hello, everyone!

After releasing patch 1.2 and reading your comments, I am looking into ways to improve the game and address some of the criticisms.

Minesweeper

The most common complaint is the RNG. Since the new update adds what effectively is a version of minesweeper to the game, the random placement of mines (dragons) is an essential feature. I don't plan on removing it, however, I do intend to try and make the experience more enjoyable.

One user suggested that adding RNG to the game after people have already paid is unfair. Since Goldmine was released, new features (achievements, mini-game) were added, but nothing at all was removed. Everyone who bought the game before these additions still has every bit of what they paid for. Since the new features are entirely optional, I feel that "unfair" isn't really a great way to describe the situation.

Improvements

Several users suggested improvements. Here are two that I actually explored so far:

• Displaying how many eggs were marked, as well as the total number of dragons.

This is in line with the classical minesweeper implementation. It won't tell you what's in the egg you marked, but will make it easier to complete a map. I expect to release this feature in the next build.

• Increasing the number of eggs to make the odds of a 7 and 8 patterns more likely.

I tried this today. At the moment, the amount of dragons is 20% of the number of eggs, so 32 in total. Unfortunately, raising that amount to 48 (30%) made the game effectively unplayable. Whereas right now the players have to deal with some unpredictable choices, running at 30% makes nearly every choice unpredictable.

Achievements

The 7-gem and the 8-gems are rare, so it will take some time to unlock those two achievements. I myself am yet to earn either of them, although I did see an 8-pattern once. I messed up and failed the level before I could uncover that gem, but the feature I talked about above would help with situations like that. More importantly, judging by the amount of people who have earned them, they are certainly within reach. I feel that having some achievements that are more rare and difficult than others is not necessarily a bad thing. It will take longer to unlock them, but it's often the case that the more dedicated players who spend more time in a given game, are the ones with the most rare achievements.

Your suggestions

I am actively listening to players' suggestions and am most certainly willing to try implementing, or at least discussing and exploring them code-wise. If you have ideas, I want to hear them! While I can't promise you that your idea will make it into the game, we can talk about it and try to come up with constructive improvements.

Thank you for reading this and for playing my game!

I'm looking forward to the conversation in the comments below! =)

[DraX]

are you planing to make some roadmap for a project?

[Alaric von Teplitz]

Originally posted by DraX:

are you planing to make some roadmap for a project?

At the moment I'm looking to gather some player input and select those suggestions that could offer improvements.

[KeijoPertti]

Add a buyable improvement for the minesweeper which shows what type of gems that set has.
If no 7 or 8 > ragequit, start new, repeat as many times as necessary. No need to click through the whole game.

[Crank]

How to get achievements Silent but lively and Perfectly pedantic if I can't play "Minesweeper". Never understood this kind of genre.

I paid for the clicker, now they gave me "minesweeper". I did not expect such updates.

Now I don't know how to get 100% of the game.

[doddie]

I think with the new achievements, to avoid heavily modifying the existing minigame there could just be another way to get them?

Like if at tenth prestige each level in the mines had a chance of randomly producing a gem of that level, so people could also obtain them through an idle method.

That or introduce a second minigame which gives gems and make a more viable way of getting the less obtainable minesweper ones?

[Alaric von Teplitz]

Originally posted by KeijoPertti:

Add a buyable improvement for the minesweeper which shows what type of gems that set has.
If no 7 or 8 > ragequit, start new, repeat as many times as necessary. No need to click through the whole game.

Originally posted by doddie:

I think with the new achievements, to avoid heavily modifying the existing minigame there could just be another way to get them?

Like if at tenth prestige each level in the mines had a chance of randomly producing a gem of that level, so people could also obtain them through an idle method.

That or introduce a second minigame which gives gems and make a more viable way of getting the less obtainable minesweper ones?

You guys might be on to something. What would you say if there was a new mechanic, which would allow to spend large amounts of gold on revealing the gem contents of a level? Here's what I'm thinking so far:

1. Currently gold is kind of useless once you reach the Quadrillion achievement.
2. Being able to read the gem composition of a level would allow you to not waste time on trying to solve a level that doesn't have the gems you are looking for. It would also provide a money sink, which in turn would make earning gold necessary again.

The price has to be high, though. Much higher than you could otherwise earn from solving a level. Maybe 15 trillion or so.

What are your thoughts on this?

[karinms]

Originally posted by Alaric:

2. Being able to read the gem composition of a level would allow you to not waste time on trying to solve a level that doesn't have the gems you are looking for. It would also provide a money sink, which in turn would make earning gold necessary again.

I like this idea. A high enough price would make it necessary to still play several "lesser" dragonsweeper games before you can afford to buy a gem reveal. Maybe have it only reveal what kind of gems are on the board, but not how many of each?

[Alaric von Teplitz]

https://i.imgur.com/7LHKJLe.png

[karinms]

Originally posted by Alaric:

https://i.imgur.com/7LHKJLe.png

Yes, that looks fine.I also like that we can see how many eggs there are. Just have to play when it's been added and see if it works as well, too.

[Alaric von Teplitz]

https://i.imgur.com/NDf0RK2.png

[karinms]

Originally posted by Alaric:

https://i.imgur.com/NDf0RK2.png

Nice :) I like that one better, actually.

[Alaric von Teplitz]

Originally posted by karinms:

...

Cool, glad you like it. Let me gather some more feedback and hopefully I can deploy a new build sometime next week! =)

[Wraith99]

While i like the idea of the Drow being able to discern the gem contents of a level, it doesn't really address the root of the problem. And the problem is the RARITY of an 8 pattern. Knowing when you're not going to win the lottery doesn't actually help you win the lottery.

I'm more partial to doddie's idea. Disregarding the peon level, it means you'd have to advance all the way down to the elementals in order to get a chance at an Alaricium gem. Making the chance for a gem to pop depedent on the number of miners in that level keeps "Eggsweeper" relevant, because more miners means increased cost, and clicking the gold button only gets you so far. It also makes gold relevant again. Given that we're talking about the idle part of the game, i'd put the chance at about 0.01% per miner per tick

The core of the game is the idle part, and once you get the quadrillion achievement, that part becomes irrelevant. This keeps it relevant, and also gives you more uses for gold, spend it on miners or the Drows gem prediction.

[Alaric von Teplitz]

Originally posted by Wraith99:

While i like the idea of the Drow being able to discern the gem contents of a level, it doesn't really address the root of the problem. And the problem is the RARITY of an 8 pattern. Knowing when you're not going to win the lottery doesn't actually help you win the lottery.

I'm more partial to doddie's idea. Disregarding the peon level, it means you'd have to advance all the way down to the elementals in order to get a chance at an Alaricium gem. Making the chance for a gem to pop depedent on the number of miners in that level keeps "Eggsweeper" relevant, because more miners means increased cost, and clicking the gold button only gets you so far. It also makes gold relevant again. Given that we're talking about the idle part of the game, i'd put the chance at about 0.01% per miner per tick

The core of the game is the idle part, and once you get the quadrillion achievement, that part becomes irrelevant. This keeps it relevant, and also gives you more uses for gold, spend it on miners or the Drows gem prediction.

Once you unlock dragonsweeper, getting the elementals is trivial, so what it really comes down to is their amount. I played for about an hour and got a 100+ elementals, which, if we were to follow your suggestion, would result in 1% chance per second. That would in turn make it very likely to get the gem within about an hour of idling — something that would render dragonsweeper completely meaningless in terms of the amount of effort it takes to get the achievement.

Another concern of mine, is that at this point achievements are the driving force behind the gameplay. I am hoping to be able to find a solution where people would want to play the game for reasons other than completing their 100% achievements. That would entail either something that's fun and infinitely repeatable, or a definitive end.

[doddie]

What if you paid the drow 100 million and he would insert a rare gem somewhere onto the board? Outside of the achievemets this is like paying money to get less money, but what if the two rare gems gave you something different like "1 hour of double idle rates" or "next upgrade half price".

Like Kitt has said, we do enjoy the game which is why we would like the incentive to continue playing to be strong enough :)