Hi Folks,
Steam Next Fest is finally over, and with that, along with some celebrations, it's time for a little sum up.
Thank you everybody!
We'd like to personally thank everybody who took some time to try out the demo. We've been flooded by feedback both here and on our social media pages, and we are grateful for all the attention. <3
Key takeaways
Among the heartwarming feedback you guys have shared, we have pinpointed some common elements we'd like to address.
The graphics
Many players raised concerns over how the graphics were rendered, either being too dark or too old-school. Keep in mind: Barrage comes from a pretty dark setting, where the Great War still looms over the population and the world is desperate for resources. The board game itself follows this art direction, with dim images and gloomy buildings that recall a quasi-dystopian past.
While this is no excuse to make UI and/or interactive elements too shady, we'd like for this theme to emerge as much as possible (which is not easy in a story-less game lol).
However, we'll still try to improve on the general aesthetic by making UI elements look less like they came out of a bad simulation game.
Needless to say, the final version will be more polished and will feature more hovers and informative popups, to make the game clearer and more understandable.
The AI
Some questions were raised about the AI strategy and general ability to play.
The AI was tailored to the needs of the small tutorial, which means:
- it was not supposed to hinder the player's strategy
- it was designed to access to a small set of actions
- it was generally easy and had no particular strategy hardcoded.
The final version of the game will feature a more competitive AI, hopefully with two difficulty levels. If you are a PRO of the board game, feel free to share your strategy!
The Tutorial
Some players found the tutorial to drop too much information at once without leaving the time to "swallow". Unfortunately, trying to condense both how the game works and how the interface works in a single game session is no easy task.
What works best in these cases is to provide smaller tutorial sessions focused on a specific topic, just as we did in our Lorenzo il Magnifico.
The final release of the game will feature a similar approach to the tutorial, with 5-6 topics to cover all the knowledge about the game.
And as previously mentioned, we will enhance the hover system to include more information to help new players settle in.
What now?
We will eventually bring down the demo while we keep on working on Barrage. As there's still a llot more to do, we feel like the demo would remain in a state which is not representative of the final gameplay. Worry not, though - it's still possible to get in touch and tell us what you think, while we'll do our best to keep you guys posted about new updates and changes.
The bestest best
How did the demo go? How many Victory points were you able to score?
My personal record was 55, but word on the street is somebody was able to reach 70...
Thank you again for playing and for interacting in the community!
Cheers,
Amintiri