Hello Automoneers,
Solid 6 days since the game released and boy, did I learn how much work I have to do. I appreciate everyone who played it and left a review - even the negative ones are useful as a signal of what needs changing.
Starting today, I plan on doing these updates weekly, to just push out minor changes, talk about what feedback I got, what I'll do about it, which Automon is objectively the most attractive, etc.
First, today's update:
Added a way to queue for PvP matches during bot matches, to help with low player counts leading to everyone just playing bots and missing each other. There's a new tutorial segment added to point out where to find this
Event types and the presence of NPCs is now revealed from adjacent areas
Map size increased
Map shrinking starts later now, and less areas disappear per turn
PvP battles now reward 50% more EXP
Surrendering a PvP battle if the other player didn't will now level up the enemy Automons by 1 each (this is to prevent an enemy surrendering to you from being a complete waste of a turn with no reward, other than them losing 1 life)
Custom games panel is now always expanded in the main menu, some people didn't know it's even an option
Character limit in the lobby chat was increased significantly
But why though
The feedback I received was mostly pointing to the BR structure of the game, with the game ending too soon, PvP being just a rewardless massacre, not having enough ways to get stronger, and getting ambushed by NPCs or bad events leaving a bad taste in the eyeballs.
These changes aim to address the feedback, with the games being longer now, PvP being a serious EXP boost, and perhaps most importantly, being able to see events before you enter them means that you don't have to go to the ones that aren't useful to you at the time, and seeing NPCs means they're now something you go to willingly.
While the upcoming item system will also help with the issue of not having enough variety in strength progression, that'll take time to do so this is the old bandage solution for now.
Other feedback
One thing people also mentioned is the lack of meta progression and while I do intend to implement some soon, I would like to hear everyone's thoughts on what's expected from this. I was thinking this would be something like profile levels to unlock more skin options, but I also thought it could be interesting to have each skin/character have a tiny perk to them. I don't want to throw off the balance by making possibly better characters locked behind a grind, but maybe this is a smaller deal than I think
Another BIG thing mentioned is async multiplayer and to be honest, async multiplayer and the current structure of the game don't really mesh together. They tried their best, went to a couple counsellor even, but they can't make it work, they're just too different.
BUT HOWEVER, there's nothing stopping me from adding a more linear single-player mode, kind of like the first Automon, except with gyms just being accessible on the path, and the mandatory "every 5 areas" fight being a ghost of another player. I could also have a concept of a "Player champion" that's an optional boss after the regular final boss, and if you beat it, you become the new final boss for all other players globally. You could say that He (the kid) Is Coming to become the Champion. Totally original concept, I swear.
Now, this all will take time so I would really, really appreciate any and all comments about what you would be excited to see, and what do you feel is missing from the game.
And as for which Automon is most attractive? Well, obviously it's Stranglie