This thread was going to be a lot longer, but I got distracted by Arcane Odyssey haha. The keynotes however are I’m a game developer, worked back end for Riot Games for 5 years, and am going solo indie. I have been practicing game design for over a decade total. Currently working on a prototype on what is possible a new project I’m really excited about. I have experience with Unity, Unreal Engine, and Godot, no experience with Roblox however, so if I suggest something that isnt exactly possible in the engine, please just ignore it.
1.PROBLEM: Current curve is more like a spike. It goes from pretty easy to insanely hard instantly. Two spikes occur in the game. The first one is with the second boss, and the second one is with the final boss
-SOLUTION 1: Overall, just make the game easier in the later bosses and NPCs to manage the difficulty spike more manageable, and overall making players happier.
-SOLUTION 2: If you want to keep the difficulty of later bosses, and want an overall harder game, I would first buff Iris just a little bit so she is more of a challenge, to manage player expectation (if a player kills Iris, they would most likely think the game difficulty wise is pretty moderate, only to then be blasted by the next 4 bosses, because they are all honesty really hard and involve a ton of skill). Wanting a harder game is perfectly okay, but you should make it known to the player from the start that this is a hard game, so they spend their time and resources preparing for an incredible challenge, instead of just being able to go through to game being able to beat the bosses with relative ease because of their level (the other bosses is the former in that statement, iris is the later, thus player expectation is completely skewed into thinking the game is an easier game, only to find out in the very next area that isnt the case, and come in woefully unprepared and vulnerable). Deepwoken does a good job at making sure the player knows what they are getting into before even starting their journey.
2.PROBLEM: Blocking can feel awkward to people who don’t have the best hand mobility, I personally have carpal tunnel, so reaching over to G isnt always a good option for me.
-SOLUTION: Make controls completely remappable (I know this is harder than it sounds. Which it is for those of you who arent developers, especially if the controls are hard coded), or switch the block key and the “F” attack key. Blocking with F feels a ton more natural, which is why you see most other games use it, as you dont have to make your hand much, if at all, which is crucial in a game that wants fast paced combat such as arcane odyssey
3.PROBLEM: The magical combat is amazing, however when you are fighting with other magic users, it can be hard to see others with so many particles and effects everywhere, especially with somebody with no as good eye sight.
-SOLUTION: Glow up the last enemy you have hit, or apply a marker, this marker/glowing effect is removed when target exits a particular range.
4.PROBLEM: When PvP becomes big, the Sky Islands will be avoided like the plague due to just how easy it is to fall off of them by accident as you dash, and move extremely fast, not even considering knockback. This can be incredibly frustrating if you are in the middle of something.
-SOLUTION: Add a barrier below all sky islands that teleports you to your last grounded position when in combat. This barrier will be disabled when you are out of combat.
5.PROBLEM: Spawning is based on story location, or camp marker
-SOLUTION: Honestly, this is a mechanic I believe just doesn’t need to be over engineered. The simple set spawn point at an island by talking to an NPC, or auto setting your spawn point to the last island you touched is simple, but it works fine. This current system of respawning is not needed, and sometimes simpler is better.
6.PROBLEM: Climbing is extremely buggy when you are trying to exit water
-SOLUTION: Obviously the solution to this is to fix the bug, however that is not always obvious, or possible. A temporary fix is to have sort of a “small power jump” after climbing, and you are not out of stamina when climbing is disabled, giving you a small boost to start climbing again out of the water, or getting over the ledge completely.
7.PROBLEM: Players cant read and don’t know they can change the dash method
-SOLUTION: You’ve can’t beat a players stupidity, so at this point, you may as well just map the dash to its own button, or have it set to shift by default.
8.PROBLEM: The fog at night is too intense
-SOLUTION: I’m aware you want players to be able to navigate the map by memory, and this sure can be accomplished, however, I feel as if this is easier said than done due to how vast the world is. To memorize something, you need core landmarks that are easy to locate even in the distance, so the player can properly gauge where they are relative to their destination. Of course you can gauge this based off of the islands themselves, but this is more confusing to memorize (especially when islands can look same-y in the distance), than having say…a large statue to the south west of Revenna, that has a definable shape, so it can be easily recognized in the distance, so players can gauge where to go based on that.