Post by Chaunceey in DangerQuest comments

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First of all, thanks for playing the game and for taking the time to share your feedback!

At the start, you can't use the pouch during a raid. Just collect the loot you find, and if you successfully complete the raid, you can move those items out/into the pouch afterward.

The game is meant to be a hardcore roguelite, so dying is part of the progression loop. Even if you can't beat the boss yet, killing regular enemies still gives you experience, so you're still making progress by leveling up.

There are also a few mechanics that can help, like the dice rolls at the Quartermaster, where you can try your luck to maybe gain some gold and buy better equipment. Once you get a few successful runs and gain some levels, the early raids become much more manageable.

Thanks again for giving the game a chance, and I hope this clears things up a bit. If anything still feels confusing or frustrating, I'd love to hear your thoughts so I can keep improving the experience and add more content or mechanics.

something981109 days ago (1 edit)

Thanks for the follow up.

> The game is meant to be a hardcore roguelite, so dying is part of the progression loop. Even if you can't beat the boss yet, killing regular enemies still gives you experience, so you're still making progress by leveling up.

I see, so the gameplay loop is essentially dying, improving stats and retrying; the items aren't the key to progression early on.

Consider a scenario where the player has little to no money left and no health potions to survive a run (could happen at any point really due to an expensive purchase, not necessarily only during early game).
They're basically soft-locked from progression unless they spend significantly more time leveling up (without reward), than they would need to with potions, up until their stats outweigh the benefits of the potions.

> At the start, you can't use the pouch during a raid. Just collect the loot you find, and if you successfully complete the raid, you can move those items out/into the pouch afterward.

I'm confused; what is the difference between the stash and pouch then?
Both survive death and cannot be accessed during runs.
Does "At the start" imply that as the game progresses, the pouch will become usable mid-raid to preserve some items from a failed run, while the stash (clearly) won't?

Chaunceey108 days ago

The idea was that if you end up in that situation, you'd have to start over with a different strategy. That said, I'm still trying to find the right balance to make it feel more rewarding without making the game too easy. So thank you that you shared your experience.

As for the pouch, it's mainly used to prepare for a raid. Before you leave, you can put consumables like potions or throwable items into it so they're ready to use during the run (You can see them in the combat at the center bottom part). The stash, on the other hand, is your permanent storage - essentially your bank - where you keep equipment, extra potions, and other valuable items for future or more difficult raids.

something981108 days ago

Thanks for the help.
I'll retry with this information in mind.

something981108 days ago (3 edits)

So I played more conservatively in the beginning and was able to pretty much beat what's currently available in the game (all achievements, class equipment set, complete bestiary) , without any deaths.

It's a really great concept you have here and I'd love to replay a refined version with more features and replayability.

A few notes that I think would be an improvement in the future:

Obviously more variation in the item pool, raids and enemies. (I'm sure that's already on your roadmap)
More UI consistency for inventory management:
- The list view in the quartermaster makes it hard to quickly sell a bunch of junk, perhaps a "Sell" context option in the inventory would be more useful.
- It also feels jarring to see a mix of both item images (inventory) and colorful grid tile view (quartermaster, looting etc.).
Progression milestones? Something to look forward to or unique as you hit certain milestones (whether character level, raid level, or whatever else).

Regardless, really nice work; this was fun to play!

Chaunceey105 days ago

Thank you so much for the detailed feedback, and congrats on clearing all the current content without a single death - that's impressive :0 . I really appreciate you taking the time to complete everything the game currently has to offer. Feedback from someone who's experienced all the content is incredibly valuable.

The inventory/quartermaster UX has honestly been one of the trickiest parts of the game. I've reworked it a few times during development already, but I agree it still doesn't feel completely cohesive in places. Your comments definitely reinforce that it's an area worth continuing to improve.

As for progression milestones, that's actually something I'm actively working on. Right now I'm trying to figure out what would be the most interesting and meaningful rewards, rather than adding milestones just for the sake of having them. I want them to feel exciting and worth pursuing.

Thanks again for taking the time to play so extensively and share your thoughts. It really means a lot, and I hope you'll come back and see how the game evolves!

something981105 days ago

> The inventory/quartermaster UX has honestly been one of the trickiest parts of the game. I've reworked it a few times during development already, but I agree it still doesn't feel completely cohesive in places.

I can't speak for everyone, but this was my perspective when dealing with the inventory:

Once I got over the initial difficulty hump and raids were easier to manage, I made it a habit of organizing my inventory a certain way (consumables and throwables on the right-hand side, sellable items on the left hand side)
When switching to the Quartermaster, the organization was lost, as all inventory items and stash items were converted to a list.
Additionally, I couldn't make sense of how the Quartermaster sell list was sorted, as it appeared to change every run when new items were picked up, making it easy to accidentally sell the wrong thing.
(e.g. if i started the run with 3 minor health potions, and a throwable, the list would be sorted as: [throwable, potion1, potion2, potion 3], but at the end of the run, the list would be sorted as: [potion1, throwable, bunch of new items, potion2, potion3]).
Also, the fact that both stash and inventory were merged together into a single list (I understand why you had to do this with several storage mechanics), made me spend more time than I wanted to, sorting through the list and try to figure out what I wanted to sell, without accidentally selling something in stash. (which is why I suggested the context --> sell option)

Just throwing out one QoL suggestion:
Maybe the sell item section at the Quartermaster can have separate tabs for stash/vault/pouch, so players don't have to be more diligent about accidentally selling something from the wrong place.

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