I am the developer of upcoming roguelike card game called Dreamshard. Dreamshard is a rogue-like deck-building game where slay the spire meets hearthstone. If you like that kind of games you can wishlist prologue version which will be free. Then you may buy full version if you like.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1350050/Dreamshard_Prologue/

Game is not available yet but you can wishlist it to get notified and also before that there will be closed beta on discord:

https://discord.com/invite/BRYC2G8

I am a solo developer and would be very happy to hear your criticism and opinions about the game. Feel free to write about it.

3 years ago

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Looks promising, especially as a solo endeavour, nice work. The deck-building rogue genre is becoming a very competitive one... liking the genre quite a lot, I wish you and Dreamshard success!

So far I only have a few notes on the graphical side. Personally, I'd go as much as possible for a distinctive look, something the most successful competition has been doing well. So, a few things:

  • The dungeon view looks a bit bland and not very "dungeon-looking", with the bright grey tiles. Give the wall tiles more character: earth wall if underground, decorations if castle indoor, or since you're already using procedurally-generated level design, randomize the tiles as well for additional variety. Personally, I'd also blacken all tiles after the first layer and beyond visibility (like a fog of war), to give more of the claustrophobic / exploration sense you'd expect from a dungeon. That and random item / event distribution will add a lot to the dungeon view. If you implement this, be sure to update the video preview, to reflect the new look.

  • The combat animations, when the creatures clash, could use a few particle effects (blood droplets, metal clashing, etc.), to give a sense of action and impact. Assigning different effects to different creatures also helps add variety, distinguishing humans from creatures from other types. Animations add a LOT of visual interest.

  • Finally, the store image looks a bit generic, with the font occupying most of the space that you could use for another item. I'd make it a bit smaller, and use the extra space on the left for a distinctive creature or character art.

Note these are only personal opinions... additional people may provide further insight. From experience, I'd just say that if it fits into your budget, it often pays off to invest in additional professional art and fleshing out these seemingly small details in user experience. In a market such as Steam, the first impression is often the only one you'll get from a good portion of potential customers. Winning that first battle gives you extra room for growth and additional game mechanics.

3 years ago
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Thanks so much for your detailed opinions. This is just pre-alpha version and I wanted to open steam page as soon as possible for more visibility.

Right now dungeon consists of only cubes but there will be different kind of tiles and it will be much more polished. i am also thinking about adding fog of war but I am not sure about it at this point.
There wont be much animations but particle effects like blood, poison, fire will be added later but It takes time and i don't know if i can add before steam release.
Lastly i made font big on purpose because it also shows in the search results and images are smaller there. Althought i may add more istinctive creature or character art before release.

3 years ago
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