Reviews for MINDER

[DamonandSky]

Need indicators or a map. I know you can buy a compass in game, but the chances of it showing up are far too low. Have you ever played Doom, Eye of the Beholder, Castle Wolfenstein, Hexen, or even Maze? These games were are nonlinear first-person perspective games. Because of how elaborate these maps were with dozens of corridors, rooms, switches, and keys; the makers of these games implemented maps or compasses that didn't require finding them or buying them.

It was a way to balance between difficulty and ease while still providing for player exploration. These developers understood that with so many places to explore this was a necessity. Now, you could compare any of the Legend of Zelda games to this, but those games were far less complicated to traverse. (Exception the water levels.)

Another issue is the lack of item input. I didn't quite get the use of the crosses and tried using them to block ghosts. It seemed only intelligent that they could be a way to repel or destroy spirits, but then the utter uselessness of this item came into play. It was for tombs. Then going to the shops the items obtainable were far too random. I've never played a game where every item for sale is random.

Now I've read another review where you responded saying that the crosses were intentionally useless... DON'T DO THAT. As a developer, you shouldn't start implementing useless items UNLESS enough completely necessary items. That means grapple hooks, throwing knives, drills, lanterns. The point of a useless item isn't so it is more likely to get it, it is so that out of pure coincidence you obtain the thing and say "Well this is just fantastic, like I wanted this."

So overall I think the game has too many random elements which cheapen the experience. No one wants to play a game where the items are uncertain. And I honestly can't think of anything good because there were no "OMG, I just did that!" moments and no "Ahh sweet!" moments. The game felt far too generic.

So after saying all that I realize you derived inspiration from the game Spelunky. I'd like some feedback on what your development process was like and why you made some of the decisions you did. I don't want to put you on the defensive, but it would be nice if you explain some interesting dev choices or where you got your theme to the NG community.

MNWS responds:

Hm, I never really thought the game needed a map or indicators that badly. I think there's some fun in having to explore the level and not knowing exactly where you're going beforehand, and I've never really felt like it gets to the point where you're just completely lost, the levels aren't that big imo.

About the crosses, I think I've realized by now that having items that are basically useless is a bit of a no-no.
I'll still say that I kinda like these little risks/gambles you're constantly faced with whenever you encounter an item drop, having to decide if you want to spend precious ressources trying to get something that might just be useless. But I am defintely going to add some sort of functionality to the crosses(I guess these little risks/uncertainties are still present even if the crosses are actually useful), the question at this point is what exactly the crosses should do.

Maybe there are too many random elements in the game, I kinda like it that way (that's why they're there) and I don't think I'll change it much. As I wrote in another response somewhere, I might make the random system a bit more friendly though, so that getting 3 hp from a potion drop is more likely than getting 1.

I don't know if I have much to say about the development process, I was sort of going for a theme or 'feel' of confusion/uncertainty/mystery/anxiety and I guess all the random elements are sort of in the game to enhance that atmosphere. But maybe it didn't work, idk.

Well, thanks for the feedback, I hope I answered at least some of your questions :)

[dannycool]

what up with the creepy skullz in the ground?love the game

[LippyTDB]

I have a love/hate relationship with this game. I like it because I like these types of games and I like the "retro" look. I hate it because there are too many flaws. While I like randomness in games, there needs to be some boundaries. Making EVERYTHING random is lazy game design.

Here are some suggestions.

-Don't make the store completely random. Don't give the player a choice between the 2500kr bag which could have 1 useless cross, or a 2000kr bag which could have 8 essential bombs. Sell bombs or crosses and let the player know how many they'll get. Though players will never buy crosses.
-I've collected dozens if not hundreds of crosses while playing the game, yet I only come across a gravestone maybe once every two or three games, and they mostly just drop 1 cross. Maybe increase the gravestone's chance of showing up, or giving the crosses another use.
-Health vials dropped by monsters and bought in the store should heal a fixed amount not 1-3. The player should be rewarded for killing monsters since it is difficult, and bombs are so scarce and important. And 5000kr is too much for chance at 1hp
-I die every time I get to the green levels because I am unable to get back up from the bottom with the amount of EP you start with. This is a major design flaw, especially if you're going to have fall damage. I die from fall damge every time I get to the green levels.
-Not enough bombs leads you to be unable to continue, because you have ten and may need more to dig through to the page. This is a design flaw. The player should at least have a chance to win every playthrough, and not lose because of the random level creation.
-The environment is random even while moving around. I'll be digging for a big gem or ghost face block, get away from the blast, and come back and it has despawned. This is another design flaw.

Bugs:
-Destroying a gravestone stops the music.
-Bombs sometimes do not kill the enemies. I've seen them get knocked back by the blast but do not die.
-Somehow I became invincible once. Collecting a health vial while taking damage maybe. I stayed red, and couldn't be hurt anymore. Though, I was stranded because I needed more bombs to continue.

Consider making the background brighter so that the player can see it without turning up their gamma. It gets to the point where you only see black and cannot tell you're moving.
Consider lowering the price of the special items or making them available more often. Perhaps make the store appear more than in levels 2 and 5.

I really hope you can update this game. I want to love it. Actually I really want to be able to finish it. 51 plays, and no wins because it seems to be completely unbeatable.

MNWS responds:

First of all thanks for the thorough review.

About the random nature of drops and shop items, I definitely see your point and I definitely see how it can be annoying to spend time and effort and hp fighting a monster to then only getting a 1 hp drop or how it can be annoying to spend money in the shop not knowing whether you'll get 2 (useless) crosses or 6 bombs. That being said, I kind of like that there's that element of uncertainty and that every time you're considering bombing your way into a closed cavern that contains an item, you're in a way gambling with your ressources, not knowing whether you'll get 2 crosses or 6 bombs(It's actually one of the reasons crosses are in the game...). Maybe it's bad design practice, probably it is, but I like that you have to take these small risks and think about this stuff. But of course I don't want this to be something that discourages the player from playing the game. Maybe a solution would be to make the random drop system more friendly, make it so crosses are rarer or getting 3 hp from a potion is more likely than getting just 1.

About the random level generation leaving the player unable to progress, that's something i really tried to avoid and I don't think I've been in a situation myself where the actual layout of the level made it impossible for me to progress. The green levels I'm always able to complete although I also end up taking a lot of fall damage - a good tip if you can't find a platorm to stand on, is to fly up using half of your EP or so, chuck a bomb into some spikes and let it create a platform for you.
If you can't progress because you used all your bombs I don't think it's necessarily bad level design, maybe you just need to alter you playstyle and use bombs more conservatively.

It seems to annoy a lot of people that the crosses are more or less useless (I tend to use them for marking the places I've been, but they are pretty useless), I think I'll come up with something that they can do, maybe I could make it so they repel monsters?

Well, thanks again for the review and I'll get on fixing the bugs you listed right away :)

[ackm]

It's a really nice game, I loved the retro graphics, the concept and the music. I wish I could explore it further, gather all diary pages and buy at least one of the fancy items on the shop, but I got tired of dying before even reaching level 4, and I credit my repetitive failure and hopelessness on some aspects of the game that make it rather unplayable. Let me list those:
-Sometimes your character will move in a direction in which you have not pushed (not sure if that's actually part of the game).
-When you get stuck on the spikes it takes too long for you to release yourself and you continue to get damage as you're still there.
-Whenever you get hurt you lose 2 hearts, might as well just give us five hearts at the beginning and let hazards take one heart at a time. Or what I'd like better, give us the 10 hearts and take 1 per harm.
-The amount of crosses you find in the game seem not proportional to the amount of tombstones there are, and it could be nice to make finding bombs and health just slightly easier.

I hope you continue to expand and improve on this game as it has great potential. With a few tweaks I'd definitely be more than willing to play again and find out what this is all about.

MNWS responds:

Thanks for the review, I'll definitely take your some of your suggestions into consideration. Also, the reason you have 10 hearts instead of 5 is that fall-damage only takes away 1 heart.

[ThaMetalhead420]

It was a very unique game and something I'd try to play again. Was a bit hard at first, but it takes only a few minutes to get the hang of it.