Some feedback and suggestions

[Deecee]

Hello SGI devs and Phobies players! I have been playing playing this game for almost a week now. There are still phobies I haven’t unlocked or faced and I’m only 9lvl and my rank is Strangers3 so I am probably not aware of some tactics,but I think I have a good grasp of what’s going on. Before listing my problems with the game,I think it’s fair to list my praises first.

• I love the soundtrack. They are fitting to the monster theme and it’s not obnoxious. I hope we can get more tracks later on. Sound effects are also very cute.
• I love the artstyle. Having all kind of weird monsters battle it out in creepy environments is a breath of fresh air. Monster designs are cute and colorful. Animations are also very good. I love watching the little guys move and attack.
• Although the hex based battles are overdone at this point, having a destructible objective, capture points and a finite resources with which you summon monsters to the field adds multiple layers to strategy. I find the combat quite enjoyable,but it is also where the game has some glaring problems.
• I love the idea of async battles,even though some of them takes days to finish. As far as I know,there is no limit to the games you can have at a time. I guess you could put a limit of 20 games,and have the option to increase max limit for money in shop,but you didn’t go that route and I’m thankful for that.

now the problems

• Maps are a bit small. Making bigger maps would slow down the game,but I think having small maps and very tiny space to move causes major problems on it’s own. At times there can be 10 characters in game. Add 2 hearts to that,some hazardous tiles and blocks and suddenly there is nowhere to move. I think small maps hurt the strategy aspect and also limits the ways you can design new stuff.
• Some maps have equal number of capture points, and sometimes this can result in a standoff where neither player makes a move. There have been multiple times in the map with 6 cps and a river of lava going in the middle where we both captured 3 points and stationed our ranged monsters defensively. In those situations,as soon as one player makes a move forward they lose. I think there always has to be and odd number of capture points so that one of the hearts take damage in those situations to prevent standoffs from happening.
• Ranged monsters are too strong. Part of it comes from maps being small so it’s very hard to maneouver around ranged monsters. And with ranged attacks hitting this hard, it’s just so punishing to enter into their range. On top of that,they can hit 2 times, so moving into their face with a strong melee monster usually results in your melee monster’s death. A good amount of ranged monsters also have high amounts of HP and additional abilities like lifesteal or AoE attacks. I think ranged monsters should have an alternative melee attack that is weaker (or strong melee weak ranged for some monsters). And artillery units shouldn’t be able to hit in melee range (except for maybe some artillery monsters that have melee attack as unique bonus but would need to do low ranged damage then). Another idea that comes to mind is having some monsters that are resistant to ranged damage. As far as my experience goes, having 5 ranged monsters on the field is usually the strongest.
• Most monsters don’t have any abilities. I think having new abilities added to the game and old monsters recieving some of them is a good thing. Most monsters have only slight stat difference between them (and monster type),and some monsters use the same ability but one is cheaper etc. Having variety is the best thing you can have in a strategy game.
• As others posted on forums, quests are very badly designed for what they provide. It’s not fun having to last hit a heart with a spesific monster. Even if you can somehow set it up,enemy can just surrender and prevent you from achieving it. Who the hell can cap 13 capture points with Erratic in a single day? Quests need a major redesign on your part.

So far these are my complaints. Congratulations for making this cute little fun game. I hope it finds success and becomes more popular.

[Machine-King]

Well i agree with you on the quests… however when it comes to your complaints on ranged Phobies, the maps, abilities and capture points i have to disagree. Usually you use different strategies according to the map for example Cerberus is much more useful on a small map than the bigger ones which is why i dont see much people using cerberus or any other brute low movement phobies on bigger maps usually the only case i would see them on those maps is on defense when a phobie is exceptionally close to the heart, strategy is also why you might see 10 phobies on 1 map at a time which is usually very unlikely it all depends on the player’s “unpredictable battle style”

On your concern for capture points i do somewhat understand what your saying but again its all about the stragety and types of phobies that are best suited on that map, i cant seem to recall that map you are speaking of but i think what most people would do is force a player to act by baiting them with a phobie, applying pressure or just ending the standoff completly by taking a risk i think the standoffs occur more frequently if both players use similar phobies and strategies, if the problem is just on that specific map it isnt much of a problem just a small annoyance which will go away with time when you get more phobies or adjust your strategy accordingly (which may be difficult if your opponent uses similar phobies).

Ranged phobies are not overpowered at all again it just comes down to stragety, i used to think Gesundheit (germ) was an awful phobie but all it took was using “it” on smaller maps and as defense for phobies close to the heart that i realised there are no bad phobies (except maybe electricat) just bad use of phobies, yes some of them have a higher skill ceiling and understanding to use correctly but that does not mean a phobie is bad or overpowered also im assuming you use ranged phobies of your own yes?

I dont think giving phobies like Razor mouth or Moley Bully abilities is a good idea, firstly they dont have abilities for a reason Razor mouth doesnt have an ability because hes a 1 cost panic point scout and can be used for solid dps if used a certain way. His stats would be nerfed if he had an ability which would most likely cause him not be used, there are only some exceptions to this like Boom or Muffintop, Muffintop and boom cannot attack and have very specific uses as you can see thats why they have abilities because the low base stat total constitutes an ability but again very niche such as SACRIFICIAL HEALING and SACRIFICIAL AOE DAMAGE. Moley Bully is the same case his stats would be lowered and his bypassing movement might even be removed (which removes the entire point of him being a mole) but more importantly his entire role would change depending on the ability and to keep things consistent the ability would have to align with the phobies character which all i can think Moley would have is just straight damage or burrow which again hes a mole why would his “ability” be burrow? Hes better off with bypass and his stats, also to speak to your point with phobies having the same ability it has to fit with their character and it helps with versatility just because Cassowary is 2 keys and Primate #9 is 4 keys doesnt mean one is better or worse some people just like to have that ability cheaper.

Keep in mind im also a new player just giving my 2 cents, if any experienced players know anything wrong with my points please share.

Hope this helps in any way!