general feedback thread

A VN/CCG hybrid game with all romance combos https://www.winterwolves.com/pscd.htm
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PaperDragon
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Re: general feedback thread

Post by PaperDragon »

DarkWolf wrote:
jack1974 wrote:Well that won't happen as you know, but yes the next time I try a card game I'll use a fantasy setting :)
Just the idea, but why don't you make plot for your next card game about card battles like Yu-Gi-Oh style. And you don't nececerely have to give up fantasy setting, you could go something along the lines "in ancient times monsters lived in this world but fearing their powers human mages trapped them in cards, for long times it was peaceful but then mages who now call themself summoners find a way to use power hidden in cards and wars started again with summoners at front lines" it would probably be first battle card game story in fantasy setting if you did that.
Love this idea! I love the whole idea of summoning creatures to fight for/alongside you and I definitely think that if you make the card game mechanics more a part of the story, it would be better received. Though I already thought the card game was really fun, it did seem a little strange. Also, maybe take a look at Magic: The Gathering card game because I really like the way it works, too.
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jack1974
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Re: general feedback thread

Post by jack1974 »

Well in practice in Undead Lily you summon creatures to fight alongside you, just not in the card format but more a RPG (each creature should have skills, etc). Anyway I'll make some design/tests this Summer about that game :)
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Fiogan
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Re: general feedback thread

Post by Fiogan »

I love this game. I'm not quite done yet, although I've been playing for hours - which is amazing; it's a huge game. So I'll post again with a review when I've finished properly.

I am really sorry to hear it hasn't done as well as the other WW games. I love it because of its differences, although apparently they've negatively impacted its success. That's a shame...I appreciate the more realistic style art, the card game aspect, the sci-fi genre. Besides, it's a very lengthy and complex VN in its own.

The art style reminds me a little bit of MoaCube's "Solstice", so maybe somewhere out there, a market exists for varying art styles. I hope so.

I do see that my opinion is not the common one, but this may well be my favourite game from WW so far and I've played nearly all of them. So I just wanted to share my love for the game. I'm partway through playing with one of the siblings - then I plan to go right through with the other. Vive la Stronghold. (:
Last edited by Fiogan on Sun Jun 12, 2016 10:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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jack1974
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Re: general feedback thread

Post by jack1974 »

Thanks :)
I have to say that while it didn't do as well as other games, I was perhaps too quickly to judge the results. Lots of things changed since I released my last game (SOTW) back in 2014. There's a flood of games and even talking with other top-indies, they ALL had much lower results than in the past. So, I'm more disappointed because I thought this game was really good, than it did do badly. It did OK, but I had much higher expectations, so that's why in the early days I seemed disappointed. Now thinking about it, I'm moderately happy about the results (I still wouldn't reuse the same art though, since that one was too much criticized).
The good news is that the same writer is working on Love Bites and if all goes well, she'll also help me write PS2 which seems is a game that many people are eagerly awaiting :)
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Fiogan
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Re: general feedback thread

Post by Fiogan »

jack1974 wrote: The good news is that the same writer is working on Love Bites and if all goes well, she'll also help me write PS2
That's fantastic. I love the complexity and personality of the writing - both because of the plot plus all the subplots, and because of the distinctive characters. I'm looking forward to Love Bites and PS2 also.

I wonder if part of PS:CD's slowness catching on might have been the way it was advertised, as well? "Card Game (with huge VN)" instead of "Huge VN (with strategic card games!)". There are a few VN's out there which have card games, or similar mechanics, that seem to be doing all right and they're not the massively complex 200,000-word marvel that is PS:CD.

Anyway, I will go back to happily playing now. Thanks for another marvellous title. (:
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jack1974
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Re: general feedback thread

Post by jack1974 »

Just quoting an user who made a comment in my blog since probably few people read it:
Second, from what i read in the forums & even in your previous news posts, i seem to get the impression you are putting way too much weight on the art being the main reason the game did not sell. I would like to say that while i own almost all Winter Wolves games/VNs on Steam, what made me not buy Colonial Defense was the fact it was advertised as a Card game.

I remember the first time i took a look at its store page, my initial reaction was “Oh, so this is like a “Planet Stronghold Tactics” but with a card game…”

Also At the time of its release, that was also the general consensus that i got from both VN Steam groups & fuwanovel forums, everyone told me that the game was too focused on being a card game.

While now i know thats not true, that was the reason that made me & 2 other friends i know of to not buy the game. While people saying the art was weird did exist in all of those groups/forums, the predominant argument for shying people away from the game was the card game focus (or at least it seemed so).
So that was interesting to me. I really think that if I make future card games, I'll keep the VN part to a minimum. It really seems that RPG gameplay works better when combined with VN :)
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Franka
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Re: general feedback thread

Post by Franka »

I suppose it's easy to confuse people when you mix different gameplay genres. However, it's also one of the few ways to possibly hit an untapped niche. Too bad that's not what happened.

I'd be fine with a different art style. I'd also be fine with less VN, just a token story and more card play.

Still the best game you ever made! (Subjectively speaking, obviously.)
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jack1974
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Re: general feedback thread

Post by jack1974 »

Yes was worth a try. After all even Loren was an experiment, mixing VN with RPG. So sometimes experimenting works :)
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pahldus
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Re: general feedback thread

Post by pahldus »

And while I am partial to the Loren VN/RPG style, I do appreciate that you are willing to take some risks. It is all too common these days for people to just put out more of the same crap and thus innovation has really stagnated of late in the video game industry.
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jack1974
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Re: general feedback thread

Post by jack1974 »

Well in indie games there have been a lot of interesting innovations in recent years. In AAA... yes not much :)
I'll try again to mix but next time for sure I'll do something smaller, because is better when you do something new!
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