MERLANDESE'S PROFILE

Placebo Love
A lonely office worker is guided by a silent Muse to solve the mystery behind his two Doppelganger Soulmates.

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[C2] Online Testing for Upcoming Steam Game

Hey, folks!

I'm trying to get a version of ECON working on Steam, but for some reason when they test the thing they can't get the online multiplayer to work. So I'm looking for a couple people who have some free time who might be willing to spend ten minutes or more trying it out so I can get more data. It's on Steam already so you'll get a free Steam key.

Also, if you're familiar with Construct 2 and know how to fix the online issue, I'm willing to pay. :)

Here's the Discord server!

Thanks!

Elemental Connection

Yep! I've been trying to work with people to optimize a mobile version. Then we'll release PC multiplayer versions simultaneously. So far so good, but it's still not ready for release. :)

The updated version will hopefully have less lag, if any at all.

What age range are the characters in your games?

If it's a bigger cast, I prefer to write the average age to be 26-32, usually with only one person teenage or less. Smaller cast really depends on the story.

Social Caterpillar

Wow, really? That's... insane! I've installed this game on multiple computers and haven't had this come up yet.

Hm. It looks like Windows 10 has had a problem with removing fonts for a long time. Which is really strange. I'm using Windows 10 and I've deleted and re-installed that exact font five times now.

Did you use the Installer version?

Thanks for the warning! I'll add a note in the game information on Itch, too. :)

Official Release Date!

I can't wait to pulsate some masses!

Commercial Games That "Take A While To Get Good"

I'd argue that Undertale is an okay-ish game until you beat it once. Then it becomes an actual good game when you play it again.

I stopped playing in the lava area on my first run and put it down for a long time until people told me I had to beat it for it to pick up. Not the best strategy, in my opinion, but it became a hit despite that gamble.

Elemental Connection Review

Thanks for the review! And thanks for beating the hardest AI! :D

Glad you liked it! And cool that you picked up on the little strategies that exist. The lack of depth is what helps me get new Real World Players to try it out, but there're definitely some little tricks you can learn along the way to be a much better player.

I never mention this anywhere in the browser version, but there are only 70 unique combinations of tiles. After an 8x8 game you'll have four left that get unused.

This adds another small strategy that is especially useful against human players: If you see a 3-sided or 4-sided space on the board, you can look at all the other existing tiles and sort of Mind Math the likelihood of a piece appearing that will fit. So if three sides of a space are all blue, you know that four possible pieces can fit there (BBBB, BBBR, BBBY, and BBBG). If you see two of them on the board already, and one in your hand, that little extra bit of info can help you measure your risks and rewards.

I'm working on the multiplayer version right now, which has some extra boards and a decent selection of single player puzzle types. When it gets going, I'd love to challenge you to a match. :)

Econ_D03M07Y2018.png

Thanks!

Yeah, I realized upon making the multiplayer that the basic board, which is time-tested to be balanced and fun with multiple Real People, can get stale if you're only fighting the computer. So I've added a couple others and also added a bit of a "challenges" mode where you get to try minor differences in playstyle and shape. :)

Elemental Connection

author=Tw0Face
If I were you, for the sake of completeness, I would as well show the AI's score during the game.


There's a big lesson in game building like this where you can't show both the End of the game and the Full Score at the same time. It's a tricky thing to explain, but the simplest way is this: If you know that the game is beating you by 10 points and you only have five turns left, you might lose all hope and stop trying, or you'll just quit the game. It saps the enjoyment whether you're ahead or losing. It's probably not a big deal with the computer (since they don't care if they lose against you) but this definitely happens in the real-life game, and would certainly happen in online multiplayer.

The early versions had the score shown, and at one point had a tug-of-war style track as well, and all of these fell flat. After researching board games more I realized the either End or Full Score "rule" and changed the Full Score to be hidden info. :)

Elemental Connection

Glad to hear it! :)

There's an online multiplayer coming soon, as well as a few new board shapes, so keep your eyes peeled. :)