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 :)

[DGTX]

Wow. Been playing for a while, hoping that the fixes and tweaks you kept putting in would make things easier, but it's actually more brutal and more difficult now. It seems like the player character falls twice as fast now, and I don't remember the ghosts dealing 2 HP worth of damage before. Also, finding out that the red crosses don't do anything special after saving up 12,000 credits for them felt like you were punishing players for asking you to make an easier game.
However, the concept is stellar, as are the design and the music. This could be something great, perhaps as a sequel or something else. Concrete suggestions:
1. There needs to be a way to kill the ghosts besides wasting bombs on them. It would be fine if they actually stuck around to get hit by the bombs, or if they even approached them, but they turn tail and run as soon as a bomb is placed near them. My suggestion is to add a projectile weapon, from the start, not as something you have to buy late in the game.
2. Randomized level generation is insane the way it's handled here. There are sometimes unavoidable obstacles or situations where you have to use all of the bombs you have. The one that took the cake for me was having to put down seven bombs to get to a journal page that was in a room full of spikes and ghosts. It was absolutely impossible to have survived that.
3. More predictability is needed in the store and with rewards. I can understand maybe keeping it random with rewards for killing ghosts or using tombstones, especially if ghosts became easier to kill, but dropping 5,000 credits or more on a health potion to only find that it gives you 1 HP back when the last one could have given 5 HP or more is painful and cruel. I consistently felt like you were toying with me with things like that.
4. Checkpoints or saves need to happen. I can never get past the second green level. If you're going to insist on making things random, and thus impossible to memorize or learn from, then you need t be more forgiving in these regards. I'd love to see a show of hands for how many people have actually beaten the game; I'll bet it pales in comparison to the number of players. It's made even worse by never knowing how close I am to beating the game, or if it even has an end; it could be like an old arcade game that just gets harder and harder until you die, for all I know.

I can do without a map or a compass; I think the exploration here is key, but if you're going to stress exploration, it needs to not be so insanely hazardous. Again, the ideas are brilliant, but the presentation and execution are just way too painful. I want to like this, really I do; I've been playing it a few times each day since it came out, but it just feels impossible, and nobody likes an impossible game.

MNWS responds:

Hi, the character really shouldn't be falling faster, he doesn't on my end so I don't know about that and ghosts have always dealt 2 hp of damage. Planting a red cross makes the monsters go for the cross instead of the player.
And thanks for the suggestions, I'll have the final version (1.0) out sometime in the coming days with a friendlier random system in regards to item/hp drops and crosses that'll be more useful than they are currently. Also I guess I'll make some alterations to the level generation.
Thanks for playing.