To be honest i dont actually think that its that powerful because in the late game between the turrets, dodgechance with luck and laser defense its rare for runners to be hit anyways. And in the early and midgame it would be the good kind of active, entirely optional and would probably only speed up the game by like 5% at most overall, while rewarding players who are there anyways also it feels a bit unintuitive to see a disaster about to happen and not being able nudge it while you can nudge similarly sized ore
Early in the game there are so few rocks and they fall so slowly that it will completely defeat their purpose (and the purpose of all early defense), as the player would be able to click all of them with ease
I have just uploaded a new hotfix that should have hopefully fixed the stuck runners issue for good. For real this time. Surely. What a annoying bug this was that took way too much time.
i think it helped! i've now been playing for about 10 minutes on the latest version with almost everything runner-related maxed out and they still haven't gotten stuck
Can you change it so you can swap positions with phantom buildings I can see some players building in a way that makes it hard to swap the laser position to where everything will shoot through it
Are you on an older patch? Because yesterday's patch fixed an issue where if artifacts were yeeted over the left side of the screen they would vanish without being collected. Which I hope is the issue and not something else
There is one thing I wish there was. An ore counter, or maybe i didn't find it. But knowing how much ore is on the ground would be useful. Maybe in the stats tab?
ore count per min (and on the ground) and ore collected per min not the value of the ore although that is also a good stat but the number of ore collected would be good to know if your runners will eventually catch up if you go afk would be nice
That's weird. Did you perhaps accidentally disable Save On Quit or Autosave in the options? But you do say you saved manually. The game should load automatically and I'm not sure what could've caused your issue hmm
no worries, yeah I had the auto save feature on and the save on exit. All good though. I really enjoy the concept of the game and I actually do enjoy the pace of it. Having a slow start really means you need to prestige at the right moments and not just spam prestige every 5 points sort of thing haha.
I’ll definitely download this when its full version is released on steam. Also it’s great to see a developer so engaged with his community. I’ll keep an eye out on thinks you work on in the future for sure! Ps idle cub bought me here!
something went wrong and the runners got stuck running into the mountain for a while... i took the screenshot after some finally departed but some of them are still stuck. i don't think it could be a coincidence because i have literally 20 runners, kinda unlikely they would all be in that corner
also i feel like it's impossible to upgrade runners enough to make them keep up with the pile right now...
Seems like the latest patch trying to fix this issue didn't quite succeed and might've made it worse in some situations lol. Will fix it today. Thanks for reporting.
And yeah, runners are the biggest bottleneck late game and soon I will be adding another collector unit (and more in the full game, including rituals).
In a completely separate thing, I would suggest an Import/Export Save button so we can move from the browser to the desktop version without losing progress (The deleted post was something I thought was a bug but I just needed to buy 1 (one) more miner
You'd like to disable fire particles and flying stone dust? People have been requesting way to disable all particles, but I have tested it and it barely gives any fps, but it does make the game look weird and lifeless. I guess adding ability to toggle specific particles would be better. But I'll definitely be adding particle culling which reduces amount spawned when there is a lot going on.
- combo damage indicator on the health bar is useless late game because you never stop dealing damage
- you need more ways to collect stuff, right now runners are as important as all damage dealers combined. Maybe cursor upgrades, or a tractor beam/grappling hook building
- collision of already 'collected' items is annoying - if a dwarf reaches all the way to the left and throws items directly into the maw, you need to disable collision or else they will bump into each other and fall back out
- start prestige with tutorial complete and mandatory free buildings placed, it's annoying to repeat
- no indication of when the next building unlocks
- artifacts for things you haven't unlocked are confusing, e.g. star that boosts turrets shouldn't drop before discovering turrets
- if you get free dwarves from a perk, they don't increase the price of housing, if you get free scientists, they increase the cost of hiring future scientists. this FEELS inconsistent, even if you can probably explain it
- some artifacts have downsides, but if they randomly drop there's no way to refuse
- readability issues when multiple windows pop up at once
also, the font on this itch page is REALLY unpleasant to read, the different sizes and bold text that don't align to the same pixel grid look 'wrong'
- Artifacts being lost when yeeted bug was fixed in yesterday's patch. If you're on desktop please update often as I release patches daily. - I will soon be adding a new collector unit, and at least one more is planned after that, plus a few collection rituals. _ I kinda like the funny chaos of dwarfs deposited but yeah I agree, I will soon be adding a Maw upgrade that vacuums in nearby ore. - Prestige does start with tutorial complete, but true I'll make buildings also start placed. - Buildings do actually tell you which buildings they unlock next, but for the upgrades I'll be adding unlock requirements to the buttons. - I considered making artifacts togglable but generally the downsides are small enough that it's just part of the adaption game. _ Yup there is still work to do regarding readability. _ Yeah I also find the font to be kinda shitty based on how much you zoom in. But sadly it's the only pixel font itch.io offers and I simply must use it to fit the aesthetic lol.
Part of the issue with collision is that the Dwarves throw things so high into the air, if other Dwarves are too close behind the full stacks collide when the previous stack is rising/falling. That could be fixed with timing, maybe an isolated throw has barely any height with throw height being progressively higher down the line to avoid colliding with previous stack.
It would also help if collection was faster when capacity is barely filled (and by size/weight), or similarly throwing from further away (and adding overshoot as that collects anyway) rather than taking it to the right, inventory combining/swapping etc. EDIT: I do see that gorilla arms sort of do this, but they also sort of make the problem worse (until it happens again further away from the mountain).
I could see not having them bunch up being part of their behavior as well so 4 don’t get knocked out by 1 rock (also collecting from the middle of a pile, not just the edge), using speed boosts (or slow downs) for this and attempting to avoid projectiles. Gem rush seems like it’s wasted when they’re still collecting stuff out of a large pile (late-game carry capacity at least). EDIT: Even if it’s just the short duration, in the late game I do see speed lines on when they’re not moving (in the right corner, I suppose it could increase loading speed but it really doesn’t seem like it).
Also, have prestiged multiple times and that still feels painfully slow. Partially because cost scaling and small upgrades, but base speed likely should be higher (so runner speed upgrade is more impactful).
It might be funny if it happened every once in a while, but once you have enough carry capacity it happens every single time.
More notes:
- some popups don't respect text outline setting (e.g. tooltips for the top bar) - some text has dark on dark outline which defeats the point (e.g. building names in the tooltips) - text outline setting is not saved between sessions - no way to view and compare individual dwarf/building damage values, speed, etc
- Yup I have it on my TODO list to make outline look less terrible and also finish adding it to every txt element. - True, saving will be fixed next patch. - Display for unit stats is also planned.
- if you leave the game idling for a while, popups will stack on top of each other. When I came back, I had the "select artifact" popup layered over top of the "end of demo" popup and neither was readable
Brother Im trying so hard to get some value out of the prestige "Let the mountain swallow your gems". Like I have literally 4 runners and 8 miners + 6 lasers since the prestige started an hour ago and I still didnt see the whole "mountain swallows your gems" part.
This is getting me crazy man.
Like what am I supposed to do to reach the level of gems on the floor that it happens?!
Btw I didnt touch ballistic nor flame guys nor dynamite guys this run because on my first run yesterday till lvl 49 they didnt do anything usefull somehow and the dukes are stated as not finished so I dont rate them.
Which prestige do you mean, the one that gives carry capacity if there is 300+ ores? That is usually happening in later in the game, or when you have too many producers but not enough runners. When the mountain starts reclaiming ores you'll see them getting lifted and sucked into the mountain. If you didn't see it, it probably means you were nicely managing your production with retrieval.
Omg I did a whole playthrough now to lvl 50 with 4 unbuffed runners because I was actually expecting the mountain to at one point swallow all the gems 😂😂😂
Sorry dev I didn't realize that this mechanic is super hard to notice and I legit spammed the whole screen with gems till I realized the mountain sucking is constantly happening in the background of all the gems on the screen.
Haha no worries if mountain eats some gems, in the late game with high production it will be happening constantly. Mountain starts sucking when there are 300+ gems on screen (I might add a counter for that) and you can theoretically upkeep collection with production so no gems go to waste but you really don't have to (there's a strategy to keep the pile growing so you can use that ability plus get gems closer etc).
Amazing game, an evening well spent. Few things to point out - early game is very non-interactive and slow + uknown requirements for unlocking new builds - some bugs with artifacts happen: they sometimes drop, but they get yeeted out of the map/dont register outside of the maw. Happens 4-5 per run. :^( - maybe add a way to move the gold in bulk from the bottom right corner: it can be sniped with wind bomb, but the sheer weight of gold makes it not that efficient. - There is no prestige wall or hp regen to sift weak builds. - The art is amazing and the gnome cursor is the best <3 - the buildings look great, but the gnomes on top looks kinda funny floating in the air - music is good, whole theme is very enjoyable. Very nice game, super excited for full release
- Early game speed will be buffed both directly and through better prestige upgrades. Also you can interact with ore clicking at least. - Unlock requirements are highly requested and will be coming in the future. - Artifacts not being collected when leaving left side of the screen has been fixed in yesterday's patch. If you're playing on desktop make sure to always have the latest version since I release updates daily. -There will be more collector dwarves and a few collection rituals in the future that will help with that. -There used to be a HP regen but I didn't quite like it. I was thinking of having certain mountains and bosses act like a damage check, but is having a wall like that or a prestige wall really necessary or fundamentally fun? -Yeah sometimes dwarf stacking is unfortunately a bit ugly, but I'm not sure how to make it better without some complex dynamic stacking, especially since artillery like ballistas/cannons are so much bigger. -I'm glad you like the art and the music! :)
The flamethrowers arw so weak early game but when you focus them for a little while, especially with the draconic salvo arifact and upgrades, they become crazy strong. Probably my favoirte tower behind balista.
Yeah, flamers scale ridiculously hard. Things will keep getting balanced as more stuff gets added/adjusted, but I am also planning to make most weapons a bit stronger early, so it doesn't feel they're just scratching the mountain if you don't have a lot of upgrades, and to also speed up the early game a bit.
Keeps telling me all artifacts collected. Is there nothing that allows multiple stacking, or when you own one of each gain a super one and reset them or something?
Also can we get a meter telling us how much is uncollected, like the total objects, how many are artifacts/gems etc? Would be good to know.
Another idea: Hot air balloon or zeplin with a magnet underneath that pick up stuff and drops it into maw. Also a bomb upgrade that lets it drop bombs into the ore pile knocking them to the left, maybe chance for bomb to bounce left after explosion, further knocking them towards the maw.
Treasure seeker Dwarf, looks like indiana jones runs to pick up most valuable item, can only carry one thing, focuses artifacts, then mithril.
Also I did level 51 with no prestige, may have got carried away.
Yeah if you have a good build or are lucky it's possible to collect all the 51 artifacts even before you reach endless mode. But for the full release I plan to have many more artifacts, so it won't be as easy to get them all.
As for the meter, if you open your artifact gallery you can see at the top how many you have collected out of the total.
It also seems to be at the top of every related tag, as well as under "Popular", alongside the usual horror games and visual novels, which is just absolutely surreal to me! :D So thank you everyone for your feedback and support!
Really good game. One thing I think to improve on is early game progression. This is because It takes quite a long time to unlock another building(From the start), and once you do you unlock like 4 more at the same time. It also is painfully slow to upgrade sometimes.
Agreed. There is still a lot of polish to be done for the early game and also prestige upgrades to make it faster. I'll also be redesigning building progression since it can be a little overwhelming getting nearly all the buildings so early at the start.
So fun. Looking forward to the full version. One issue, if an artifact gets yeeted off the left side of the screen, you don't actually get it and it just goes away.
Uh... i have had a similar event to my chromebook issue. This time it isn't during the tutorial, but on my third prestige. I'm on mobile this time as well.
Yes there was another game crashing bug introduced with latest hotfix. I rushed to fix it and the patch is now up. Please redownload anyone that has downloaded the game during the last 15 minutes! Hopefully everything works now? Thank you for quick report!
And for the anime noise, SPOILER, whenever a runner gets hit by a rock it selects a random scream sound and there's a very very tiny chance that the burly dwarf screams "itai!" like a little anime girl, as a dumb silly joke lol. In the full game you would've gotten a steam achievement! xD
Love that theres enemies. Please add bosses and things like enemy runners that steal ores and run into holes (like caves). Also Bosses like dragon nest that causes dragon to fly over and burn runners, nests that shoot your projectiles down, nests that have forcefields that recharge over time, spider nests that steal runners and tie them in webs that need destroying (on higher wall levels), plus whatever else you think of. Also I know theres calamities, but seasons with different weather/calamities would be cool, like snow that makes ice patches, wind that blows runners backwards etc. Anyway best Gnorp-like by far, lean into what makes it unique and really go for it. Also don't be afraid to add more prestige mechanics, people are starved for longer types of these games, including new units and skins and biomes/wall types, please please please.
Haha I like the idea of little goblins running out of holes and stealing treasure from the dwarves. Sadly it would have to be only a visual/flavor thing that functions like a temporary mountain's ore reclaiming, which is kinda annoying, since there's no real mechanical way to interact with them.
I actually have a couple bosses planned! I also have few weather calamities in my notes, such as rain storms that cause lightning strikes and make ore wet so runners can carry less. Or fog that lowers accuracy of turrets and harpoons, as well as giving runners +dodge because obviously it's harder for the sentient rocks to aim their falling trajectory lol ;)
What about special dens that have prisoner dwarves? So if you kill them, they join you, could even make them unique skins (like throws hammer instead of axe, or boomerang, instead of a runner it could be a naked gnome, or a packmule, that type of thing. Also could have blueprints that you obtain for unique single things, like special turrets or ways of upgrading a single unit. Love the weather ideas for sure. Could also have things that fly and if shot drop a bag of stuff, like gargoyles, drakes etc. And maybe things that run up and down the walls like in old arcade games where you kill the mothership, could make them a prestige upgrade. Could be cool if special levels are actual bosses, like an eye with a laser that shoots, and a mouth that eats falling gems etc. So like the mountain is an actual being of some sort. Others could include whipping tentacles near the lower part of the wall that knock runners back, and pustules that when popped rain acid down or something sticky that stops runners for X seconds. For weather theres also quick sand/mud that could leave puddles and if a runner touches it they are stuck for some time, but it vanishes quickly if no one touches it.
Sorry me again. Other ideas. Bosses that downgrade 1 random gem to an ore every second. Ones that half income while alive. Increase reload times while alive. So like debuffs while alive making them a threat on top of their actions. Projectiles that make runners walk in the opposite direction for X seconds when hit instead of stunned. An animal that sniffs ores and concerts them to gems or artifacts (very small chance for artifacts) id make it something silly like alligator.
More ideas: An airship building that has cannons like grapeshot, flaming, normal, etc. Maybe could have dwarves that throw hooks at projectiles and reel them in like fishing almost.
Laser could have an upgrade that splits the beam if it hits a falling ore
If something says it's benefits by scientists or whatever, it needs to say exactly how much by and then a total % currently in brackets.
Digger, scoops up a bucket full of gems and drives it back home, then needs refueling. Can be hit by falling stuff which causes it to lose part of the cargo. Upgrade to have turrets on it that shoot at falling stuff.
Breeding program, each house has an X% chance per minute to give a free dwarf. Make it small chance like 0.1% or something.
Driller. A dwarf with a road drill (one that points downwards), causes mini earthquake that shakes ores and gems off the piles (so they roll down)
Treasure floors, just fill the wall with special dens that hive artifacts and big gold.
Regarding the Digger, in the demo if you buy Artillery Hall it unlocks a teaser in the Maw for a collector unit called Bulldozer. That will be coming soon! ;)
You can drop artifacts that reward dwarves from dens, though it would be funny if runners could also explode from the dens and land on the ground and carry on collecting.
I have notes for demons/golbats or goblin flying machines that fly out and drop bombs on runners. Basically flying dens that can't be destroyed by normal attacks, but by turrets (but they must kinda always expire on their own, otherwise if player doesn't build a lot of turrets it could become too much).
I also have ideas for active "golden cookie" elements where eg "loot goblins" or wizards carrying gold bags, or UFOs fly out and if you click them fast enough you destroy them and they drop loot.
But yeah, lots of cool stuff is possible. I have a lot of similar stuff in my notes. Monsters on the wall are basically just moving dens or re-skinned dens that all fundamentally just stun/disrupt runners. So there is a lot of potential for those, though I must be sure they aren't too annoying/unfair for the player, since the current mechanics don't really allow for much counterplay, so most of these just end up being visual juice/flavor, which is still fine of course.
I think doing something annoying on specific levels is ok, like every 10. And a special thing on level 25 etc. Almost like a damage test in a way. Maybe let people go back a level if they want? To grind a bit more or something. But yeah similar ideas which is awesome, it's fun
i thought 5pp and 14pp near prestige tiers meant that each upgrade would cost 5 and 14 pp respectively and was trying to be very conservative about spending prestige points... it'd be nice if that was more clear
Yeah this can happen when a lot of them are piled up. I think it's kinda funny chaotic RNG, but soon I will add a stash upgrade that makes it succc/vacuum deposited ore into its mouth, as well as a prestige upgrade that makes it vacuum all nearby ores, even the ones at its feet.
With the new update I was able to reach this level overnight and almost maxed out every type of unit. Now as you can see, mithril is not an issue anymore but of course, souls are still a bit short for full maxed out units across the board (which is perfectly fine).
Great update! The runners are doing their job now :D
I have an overused inside joke that i like to piss off my friends with and it's a long story but could you add a machine that looks like this to spite them? it would be really funny
Well share the joke and if it's super funny it might convince me to add a melee dwarf that goes up to the mountain and beats the shit out of it. Maybe with a chainsaw.
Be funny if it just chops the air cutting falling rocks in half and getting resources out of it. Like runs back and forth like a chainsaw trap with it held above it's head. But it also gets tired and has to rest, and it's a long rest.
alright so the joke is there's this game called battle cats and this is the machine of a cat called the miter saw cat (who is my favorite thing in the entire game) . all of my friends think it's trash in game so i pulled up one of the hardest levels and used it and it cleared the whole level easily. now i call them out on it to spite them by screaming MITER SAWWWWW and they threaten to kill me every single time and i use it like a rick roll of sorts
I found a bug where after prestiging, the settings that toggle shaders are turned on, even if they were off prior. This can really affect my framerate. Can you fix this?
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a feature to click on falling rocks to bounce or destroy them to save runners would be neat.
This was initially in the game, same with clicking on runners to nudge them forward, but it was too powerful and active for my taste.
To be honest i dont actually think that its that powerful because in the late game between the turrets, dodgechance with luck and laser defense its rare for runners to be hit anyways. And in the early and midgame it would be the good kind of active, entirely optional and would probably only speed up the game by like 5% at most overall, while rewarding players who are there anyways also it feels a bit unintuitive to see a disaster about to happen and not being able nudge it while you can nudge similarly sized ore
Early in the game there are so few rocks and they fall so slowly that it will completely defeat their purpose (and the purpose of all early defense), as the player would be able to click all of them with ease
Also early game the flamers kinda suck and can act as a noob trap even if lategame they are good
I kinda agree and was thinking of making fire bolts deal a bit of damage on impact (instead of just make fire fields), to help with early game impact.
they still get stuck running into the mountain sometimes sorry :(
I have just uploaded a new hotfix that should have hopefully fixed the stuck runners issue for good. For real this time. Surely. What a annoying bug this was that took way too much time.
i think it helped! i've now been playing for about 10 minutes on the latest version with almost everything runner-related maxed out and they still haven't gotten stuck
Can you change it so you can swap positions with phantom buildings I can see some players building in a way that makes it hard to swap the laser position to where everything will shoot through it
Yup it is in my TODO list to make Buildings Swap able to place buildings on empty spaces.
Otherwise game is really, really good, can't wait for full version that would work on osx!
Are you on an older patch? Because yesterday's patch fixed an issue where if artifacts were yeeted over the left side of the screen they would vanish without being collected. Which I hope is the issue and not something else
I've played yesterday and screen that you see is the continuation of that game so I might have had it before the patch still!
With all the prestige points it should be able to finish it up again. Wish there was more!
There is one thing I wish there was. An ore counter, or maybe i didn't find it. But knowing how much ore is on the ground would be useful. Maybe in the stats tab?
I was just thinking about adding that haha!
ore count per min (and on the ground) and ore collected per min not the value of the ore although that is also a good stat but the number of ore collected would be good to know if your runners will eventually catch up if you go afk would be nice
"Dwarves kill increasingly stronger mountains" has got to be one of my favourite genres in gaming
me like game
hi, I put a few hours into the game now, saved and exited the game now I can’t seem to find any load save option. Anyone have any suggestions? Thanks!
That's weird. Did you perhaps accidentally disable Save On Quit or Autosave in the options? But you do say you saved manually. The game should load automatically and I'm not sure what could've caused your issue hmm
no worries, yeah I had the auto save feature on and the save on exit. All good though. I really enjoy the concept of the game and I actually do enjoy the pace of it. Having a slow start really means you need to prestige at the right moments and not just spam prestige every 5 points sort of thing haha.
I’ll definitely download this when its full version is released on steam.
Also it’s great to see a developer so engaged with his community. I’ll keep an eye out on thinks you work on in the future for sure!
Ps idle cub bought me here!
the dwarves are so cute :3
something went wrong and the runners got stuck running into the mountain for a while... i took the screenshot after some finally departed but some of them are still stuck. i don't think it could be a coincidence because i have literally 20 runners, kinda unlikely they would all be in that corner
also i feel like it's impossible to upgrade runners enough to make them keep up with the pile right now...
they finally got unstuck like 10 minutes after i noticed them!
Seems like the latest patch trying to fix this issue didn't quite succeed and might've made it worse in some situations lol. Will fix it today. Thanks for reporting.
And yeah, runners are the biggest bottleneck late game and soon I will be adding another collector unit (and more in the full game, including rituals).
In a completely separate thing, I would suggest an Import/Export Save button so we can move from the browser to the desktop version without losing progress
(The deleted post was something I thought was a bug but I just needed to buy 1 (one) more miner
Love the style!
coo'
the gold is just in a big pile how do I get rid of it?
Upgrade and buy more runners. Or try an upgraded Wind Bomb perhaps. More collector units/rituals coming soon though!
really good game, came here from idle cub YT channel. start playing and cant stop till full prestige point
the only problem is lacking some option for filtering the particles, mainly the fire effect, and the flying stone
already wishlist it on steam
You'd like to disable fire particles and flying stone dust? People have been requesting way to disable all particles, but I have tested it and it barely gives any fps, but it does make the game look weird and lifeless. I guess adding ability to toggle specific particles would be better. But I'll definitely be adding particle culling which reduces amount spawned when there is a lot going on.
Notes after playing through to the end twice:
- artifacts yeeted off the left are lost forever
- combo damage indicator on the health bar is useless late game because you never stop dealing damage
- you need more ways to collect stuff, right now runners are as important as all damage dealers combined. Maybe cursor upgrades, or a tractor beam/grappling hook building
- collision of already 'collected' items is annoying - if a dwarf reaches all the way to the left and throws items directly into the maw, you need to disable collision or else they will bump into each other and fall back out
- start prestige with tutorial complete and mandatory free buildings placed, it's annoying to repeat
- no indication of when the next building unlocks
- artifacts for things you haven't unlocked are confusing, e.g. star that boosts turrets shouldn't drop before discovering turrets
- if you get free dwarves from a perk, they don't increase the price of housing, if you get free scientists, they increase the cost of hiring future scientists. this FEELS inconsistent, even if you can probably explain it
- some artifacts have downsides, but if they randomly drop there's no way to refuse
- readability issues when multiple windows pop up at oncealso, the font on this itch page is REALLY unpleasant to read, the different sizes and bold text that don't align to the same pixel grid look 'wrong'
- Artifacts being lost when yeeted bug was fixed in yesterday's patch. If you're on desktop please update often as I release patches daily.
- I will soon be adding a new collector unit, and at least one more is planned after that, plus a few collection rituals.
_ I kinda like the funny chaos of dwarfs deposited but yeah I agree, I will soon be adding a Maw upgrade that vacuums in nearby ore.
- Prestige does start with tutorial complete, but true I'll make buildings also start placed.
- Buildings do actually tell you which buildings they unlock next, but for the upgrades I'll be adding unlock requirements to the buttons.
- I considered making artifacts togglable but generally the downsides are small enough that it's just part of the adaption game.
_ Yup there is still work to do regarding readability.
_ Yeah I also find the font to be kinda shitty based on how much you zoom in. But sadly it's the only pixel font itch.io offers and I simply must use it to fit the aesthetic lol.
Thanks for your feedback
Part of the issue with collision is that the Dwarves throw things so high into the air, if other Dwarves are too close behind the full stacks collide when the previous stack is rising/falling. That could be fixed with timing, maybe an isolated throw has barely any height with throw height being progressively higher down the line to avoid colliding with previous stack.
It would also help if collection was faster when capacity is barely filled (and by size/weight), or similarly throwing from further away (and adding overshoot as that collects anyway) rather than taking it to the right, inventory combining/swapping etc. EDIT: I do see that gorilla arms sort of do this, but they also sort of make the problem worse (until it happens again further away from the mountain).
I could see not having them bunch up being part of their behavior as well so 4 don’t get knocked out by 1 rock (also collecting from the middle of a pile, not just the edge), using speed boosts (or slow downs) for this and attempting to avoid projectiles. Gem rush seems like it’s wasted when they’re still collecting stuff out of a large pile (late-game carry capacity at least). EDIT: Even if it’s just the short duration, in the late game I do see speed lines on when they’re not moving (in the right corner, I suppose it could increase loading speed but it really doesn’t seem like it).
Also, have prestiged multiple times and that still feels painfully slow. Partially because cost scaling and small upgrades, but base speed likely should be higher (so runner speed upgrade is more impactful).
It might be funny if it happened every once in a while, but once you have enough carry capacity it happens every single time.
More notes:
- some popups don't respect text outline setting (e.g. tooltips for the top bar)
- some text has dark on dark outline which defeats the point (e.g. building names in the tooltips)
- text outline setting is not saved between sessions
- no way to view and compare individual dwarf/building damage values, speed, etc
- Yup I have it on my TODO list to make outline look less terrible and also finish adding it to every txt element.
- True, saving will be fixed next patch.
- Display for unit stats is also planned.
- if you leave the game idling for a while, popups will stack on top of each other. When I came back, I had the "select artifact" popup layered over top of the "end of demo" popup and neither was readable
extremely good, very easy wishlist add. ty
Brother Im trying so hard to get some value out of the prestige "Let the mountain swallow your gems". Like I have literally 4 runners and 8 miners + 6 lasers since the prestige started an hour ago and I still didnt see the whole "mountain swallows your gems" part.
This is getting me crazy man.
Like what am I supposed to do to reach the level of gems on the floor that it happens?!
Btw I didnt touch ballistic nor flame guys nor dynamite guys this run because on my first run yesterday till lvl 49 they didnt do anything usefull somehow and the dukes are stated as not finished so I dont rate them.
Which prestige do you mean, the one that gives carry capacity if there is 300+ ores? That is usually happening in later in the game, or when you have too many producers but not enough runners. When the mountain starts reclaiming ores you'll see them getting lifted and sucked into the mountain. If you didn't see it, it probably means you were nicely managing your production with retrieval.
Omg I did a whole playthrough now to lvl 50 with 4 unbuffed runners because I was actually expecting the mountain to at one point swallow all the gems 😂😂😂
Sorry dev I didn't realize that this mechanic is super hard to notice and I legit spammed the whole screen with gems till I realized the mountain sucking is constantly happening in the background of all the gems on the screen.
Thats my conclusion now haha
Yikes 💀☠️
Haha no worries if mountain eats some gems, in the late game with high production it will be happening constantly. Mountain starts sucking when there are 300+ gems on screen (I might add a counter for that) and you can theoretically upkeep collection with production so no gems go to waste but you really don't have to (there's a strategy to keep the pile growing so you can use that ability plus get gems closer etc).
Yea thats exactly what I did so I was wondering when the succ is starting.
But now I realized its just a bit hard to see but its there!
I was expecting when it triggers that the whole screen gets wiped after some time 😁
Amazing game, an evening well spent. Few things to point out - early game is very non-interactive and slow + uknown requirements for unlocking new builds
- some bugs with artifacts happen: they sometimes drop, but they get yeeted out of the map/dont register outside of the maw. Happens 4-5 per run. :^(
- maybe add a way to move the gold in bulk from the bottom right corner: it can be sniped with wind bomb, but the sheer weight of gold makes it not that efficient.
- There is no prestige wall or hp regen to sift weak builds.
- The art is amazing and the gnome cursor is the best <3
- the buildings look great, but the gnomes on top looks kinda funny floating in the air
- music is good, whole theme is very enjoyable.
Very nice game, super excited for full release
- Early game speed will be buffed both directly and through better prestige upgrades. Also you can interact with ore clicking at least.
- Unlock requirements are highly requested and will be coming in the future.
- Artifacts not being collected when leaving left side of the screen has been fixed in yesterday's patch. If you're playing on desktop make sure to always have the latest version since I release updates daily.
-There will be more collector dwarves and a few collection rituals in the future that will help with that.
-There used to be a HP regen but I didn't quite like it. I was thinking of having certain mountains and bosses act like a damage check, but is having a wall like that or a prestige wall really necessary or fundamentally fun?
-Yeah sometimes dwarf stacking is unfortunately a bit ugly, but I'm not sure how to make it better without some complex dynamic stacking, especially since artillery like ballistas/cannons are so much bigger.
-I'm glad you like the art and the music! :)
Thank you for the feedback!
I have a question about the gem keys. Are they for the end of the game? I can't figure it out.
They have a purpose near the end yeah.
The flamethrowers arw so weak early game but when you focus them for a little while, especially with the draconic salvo arifact and upgrades, they become crazy strong. Probably my favoirte tower behind balista.
Yeah, flamers scale ridiculously hard. Things will keep getting balanced as more stuff gets added/adjusted, but I am also planning to make most weapons a bit stronger early, so it doesn't feel they're just scratching the mountain if you don't have a lot of upgrades, and to also speed up the early game a bit.
Keeps telling me all artifacts collected. Is there nothing that allows multiple stacking, or when you own one of each gain a super one and reset them or something?
Also can we get a meter telling us how much is uncollected, like the total objects, how many are artifacts/gems etc? Would be good to know.
Another idea: Hot air balloon or zeplin with a magnet underneath that pick up stuff and drops it into maw. Also a bomb upgrade that lets it drop bombs into the ore pile knocking them to the left, maybe chance for bomb to bounce left after explosion, further knocking them towards the maw.
Treasure seeker Dwarf, looks like indiana jones runs to pick up most valuable item, can only carry one thing, focuses artifacts, then mithril.
Also I did level 51 with no prestige, may have got carried away.
Yeah if you have a good build or are lucky it's possible to collect all the 51 artifacts even before you reach endless mode. But for the full release I plan to have many more artifacts, so it won't be as easy to get them all.
As for the meter, if you open your artifact gallery you can see at the top how many you have collected out of the total.
hey greenwizard, your game is at the very top of the top sellers page
for free in browser
It also seems to be at the top of every related tag, as well as under "Popular", alongside the usual horror games and visual novels, which is just absolutely surreal to me! :D So thank you everyone for your feedback and support!
its fun :)
This is amazing so far
Really good game. One thing I think to improve on is early game progression. This is because It takes quite a long time to unlock another building(From the start), and once you do you unlock like 4 more at the same time. It also is painfully slow to upgrade sometimes.
Agreed. There is still a lot of polish to be done for the early game and also prestige upgrades to make it faster. I'll also be redesigning building progression since it can be a little overwhelming getting nearly all the buildings so early at the start.
So fun. Looking forward to the full version. One issue, if an artifact gets yeeted off the left side of the screen, you don't actually get it and it just goes away.
This bug was fixed in yesterday's patch so if you're still on the older desktop version please update (the saves automatically carry over).
Uh... i have had a similar event to my chromebook issue. This time it isn't during the tutorial, but on my third prestige. I'm on mobile this time as well.
Yes there was another game crashing bug introduced with latest hotfix. I rushed to fix it and the patch is now up. Please redownload anyone that has downloaded the game during the last 15 minutes! Hopefully everything works now? Thank you for quick report!
Its fixed! Thank you! Also this game is top tier for me. I love watching the runners get ping ponged. Its hilarious.
Also why do I get anime noises sometimes...
Haha I'm glad you enjoy it.
And for the anime noise, SPOILER, whenever a runner gets hit by a rock it selects a random scream sound and there's a very very tiny chance that the burly dwarf screams "itai!" like a little anime girl, as a dumb silly joke lol. In the full game you would've gotten a steam achievement! xD
I am addicted to it
Love that theres enemies. Please add bosses and things like enemy runners that steal ores and run into holes (like caves). Also Bosses like dragon nest that causes dragon to fly over and burn runners, nests that shoot your projectiles down, nests that have forcefields that recharge over time, spider nests that steal runners and tie them in webs that need destroying (on higher wall levels), plus whatever else you think of. Also I know theres calamities, but seasons with different weather/calamities would be cool, like snow that makes ice patches, wind that blows runners backwards etc. Anyway best Gnorp-like by far, lean into what makes it unique and really go for it. Also don't be afraid to add more prestige mechanics, people are starved for longer types of these games, including new units and skins and biomes/wall types, please please please.
Haha I like the idea of little goblins running out of holes and stealing treasure from the dwarves. Sadly it would have to be only a visual/flavor thing that functions like a temporary mountain's ore reclaiming, which is kinda annoying, since there's no real mechanical way to interact with them.
I actually have a couple bosses planned! I also have few weather calamities in my notes, such as rain storms that cause lightning strikes and make ore wet so runners can carry less. Or fog that lowers accuracy of turrets and harpoons, as well as giving runners +dodge because obviously it's harder for the sentient rocks to aim their falling trajectory lol ;)
Thank you for the feedback!
What about special dens that have prisoner dwarves? So if you kill them, they join you, could even make them unique skins (like throws hammer instead of axe, or boomerang, instead of a runner it could be a naked gnome, or a packmule, that type of thing. Also could have blueprints that you obtain for unique single things, like special turrets or ways of upgrading a single unit. Love the weather ideas for sure. Could also have things that fly and if shot drop a bag of stuff, like gargoyles, drakes etc. And maybe things that run up and down the walls like in old arcade games where you kill the mothership, could make them a prestige upgrade. Could be cool if special levels are actual bosses, like an eye with a laser that shoots, and a mouth that eats falling gems etc. So like the mountain is an actual being of some sort. Others could include whipping tentacles near the lower part of the wall that knock runners back, and pustules that when popped rain acid down or something sticky that stops runners for X seconds. For weather theres also quick sand/mud that could leave puddles and if a runner touches it they are stuck for some time, but it vanishes quickly if no one touches it.
Sorry me again. Other ideas. Bosses that downgrade 1 random gem to an ore every second. Ones that half income while alive. Increase reload times while alive. So like debuffs while alive making them a threat on top of their actions. Projectiles that make runners walk in the opposite direction for X seconds when hit instead of stunned. An animal that sniffs ores and concerts them to gems or artifacts (very small chance for artifacts) id make it something silly like alligator.
More ideas: An airship building that has cannons like grapeshot, flaming, normal, etc. Maybe could have dwarves that throw hooks at projectiles and reel them in like fishing almost.
Laser could have an upgrade that splits the beam if it hits a falling ore
If something says it's benefits by scientists or whatever, it needs to say exactly how much by and then a total % currently in brackets.
Digger, scoops up a bucket full of gems and drives it back home, then needs refueling. Can be hit by falling stuff which causes it to lose part of the cargo. Upgrade to have turrets on it that shoot at falling stuff.
Breeding program, each house has an X% chance per minute to give a free dwarf. Make it small chance like 0.1% or something.
Driller. A dwarf with a road drill (one that points downwards), causes mini earthquake that shakes ores and gems off the piles (so they roll down)
Treasure floors, just fill the wall with special dens that hive artifacts and big gold.
Regarding the Digger, in the demo if you buy Artillery Hall it unlocks a teaser in the Maw for a collector unit called Bulldozer. That will be coming soon! ;)
Haha, killdozer vibes. Nice
You can drop artifacts that reward dwarves from dens, though it would be funny if runners could also explode from the dens and land on the ground and carry on collecting.
I have notes for demons/golbats or goblin flying machines that fly out and drop bombs on runners. Basically flying dens that can't be destroyed by normal attacks, but by turrets (but they must kinda always expire on their own, otherwise if player doesn't build a lot of turrets it could become too much).
I also have ideas for active "golden cookie" elements where eg "loot goblins" or wizards carrying gold bags, or UFOs fly out and if you click them fast enough you destroy them and they drop loot.
But yeah, lots of cool stuff is possible. I have a lot of similar stuff in my notes. Monsters on the wall are basically just moving dens or re-skinned dens that all fundamentally just stun/disrupt runners. So there is a lot of potential for those, though I must be sure they aren't too annoying/unfair for the player, since the current mechanics don't really allow for much counterplay, so most of these just end up being visual juice/flavor, which is still fine of course.
I think doing something annoying on specific levels is ok, like every 10. And a special thing on level 25 etc. Almost like a damage test in a way. Maybe let people go back a level if they want? To grind a bit more or something. But yeah similar ideas which is awesome, it's fun
I am LOVING this game!! please keep working on it I'm so excited to play every update
Thank you and everyone for your feedback and encouraging words!
This game is a blast.
i thought 5pp and 14pp near prestige tiers meant that each upgrade would cost 5 and 14 pp respectively and was trying to be very conservative about spending prestige points... it'd be nice if that was more clear
the game is very fun but very frustrating :]
just accidentally made the infobox that explains prestige requirements appear but i can't even figure out how to reproduce it
ah, it's hovering over the prestige button
i've played idle games before, i thought i wouldn't need to hover over the prestige button...
Hja, I shall make it so that hovering over any top part of the panel shows the infobox.
the runners keep being very bad at throwing and just cycling the same half a pile of stuff :(
Yeah this can happen when a lot of them are piled up. I think it's kinda funny chaotic RNG, but soon I will add a stash upgrade that makes it succc/vacuum deposited ore into its mouth, as well as a prestige upgrade that makes it vacuum all nearby ores, even the ones at its feet.
that sounds awesome, thanks!
With the new update I was able to reach this level overnight and almost maxed out every type of unit. Now as you can see, mithril is not an issue anymore but of course, souls are still a bit short for full maxed out units across the board (which is perfectly fine).
Great update! The runners are doing their job now :D
I beat the game without prestiging. Still no idea what the whole "maw" thing was about.
THE GREAT MAW DEMANDS SUSTENANCE!
GOLD FOR THE GOLD GOD!
GEMS FOR THE GEM THRONE!
I have an overused inside joke that i like to piss off my friends with and it's a long story but could you add a machine that looks like this to spite them? it would be really funny
tell us
Well share the joke and if it's super funny it might convince me to add a melee dwarf that goes up to the mountain and beats the shit out of it. Maybe with a chainsaw.
Be funny if it just chops the air cutting falling rocks in half and getting resources out of it. Like runs back and forth like a chainsaw trap with it held above it's head. But it also gets tired and has to rest, and it's a long rest.
alright so the joke is there's this game called battle cats and this is the machine of a cat called the miter saw cat (who is my favorite thing in the entire game) . all of my friends think it's trash in game so i pulled up one of the hardest levels and used it and it cleared the whole level easily. now i call them out on it to spite them by screaming MITER SAWWWWW and they threaten to kill me every single time and i use it like a rick roll of sorts
I found a bug where after prestiging, the settings that toggle shaders are turned on, even if they were off prior. This can really affect my framerate. Can you fix this?
You're right. It shall be fixed in the next patch!
This made me happier than the birth of my firstborn