Kingdom's Deck (free game demo review/feedback)
I played the free demo for Kingdom's Deck and I think its really good. You should check it out.
When I finished, it launched me to a Google Form, and I left the following extended feedback.
I think its a fantastic game. Art is good, troops are capable (though ai maybe could be improved some), card-based kingdom builder is neat. Game feels pretty limited at this stage - like there aren't really any interesting decisions to make. That's probably because it is demo and there isn't a large card-pool available. The difficulty right now is also extremely easy, another thing I'd hope full-game to address.
I have mixed feelings about the ... draw-a-card-as-time-passes feature. The fact that time is passing is neat, and that resources are collected during this time is neat. But part of me wants to be able to just draw the next card immediately if I've played the card before it. Since resources are farmed while time passes, waiting to play any cards until the end of the day would reduce resources gained, so I do think this mechanic is interesting. The way its done also probably helps reduce overwhelm. Adding a feature to ... maybe ... pay gold (or any resource of choice?) to draw a card early could be cool. Maybe I spend some gold to draw more cards earlier so I build the stone-quarry sooner and now I'll have the resources to build both towers this turn ... that kinda thing. I also wonder if having three cards to choose from might be better.
The overall pacing feels a bit slow. I want to build more kingdom sooner. I want more interesting choices to make that let me min/max resources if I want to.
Overall troop management seems really good. Making and using troop groups is easy. Selecting different unit types is easy (though I can never remember which key is which unit type). Being able to fix troops in a specific location is good. Adding a feature to have them patrol a zone (area or line, mb both?) would be awesome.
I'd personally like it to lean harder into roguelike elements. Each day, perhaps I choose a kingdom upgrade. Maybe some of those are permanent (houses get +1 population, mines can be worked by +1 villager). Maybe some are just for the day (stone production increases by 1.5x, resource reward for selling cards increased to 15 from 10). And then also having a nightly battle-upgrade would be cool (troops move faster tonight, or crossbowgals have extra range). Some of these upgrades could be tradeoffs (Swordies do 2x damage, 0.75x health, and 0.5x likely to revive if they die). Or some of the kingdom upgrades could mean more troops that spawn that night.
I also wonder if some features should be card-based or not. Like once I build walls, maybe I want the permanent option to upgrade them for resources? Maybe some cards unlock build options (like walls) rather than being a singular build.
This game reminds me a lot of Thronefall, which I also absolutely love. I kind of doubt I'll end up buying Kindom's Deck. I think its going to be a great game, but I'm not exactly sure it's my style, yaknow? I tend to be more into pure roguelikes and personally don't play many games with the real-time components. Thronefall, for example, LOVED it, played 2 or 3 levels in the demo, and haven't really played it since, even after buying the full version. Glad I gave the dev my money, he deserved it. But that doesn't necessarily mean I'm playing it. Great game, but doesn't have the draw (for me) that some other games do.
All that being said, my feedback may not take the game in the direction y'all intend and may drive it toward a different audience than you're looking for. Good luck with the full release! It is on my wishlist so I'll def keep an eye out & we'll see if i end up getting it. That will depend on the price of course, bc I am quite poor. I'd probably wait for a sale.
P.S. Elon is a fascist and ya'll should move off twitter. Resist!