Feedback for developers

from Demigod Forums

So I bought Demigod yesterday and played probably about 7-8 games.  Out of the 3 games I played online (Pantheon) 2 of them had everyone but me and one other person leave after about 10-15 min.  It was a real dissapointment and something that I had hoped to get away from coming from DotA.

I wanted to gather my thoughts and give some feedback in case the devs are listening:

Liked

  • The graphics (I am playing on 1680x1050 with everything on high, looks great!)
  • The differences in the Demigods seems enough to set them each apart
  • The addition of the concept of flags is a great one that I really think works well
  • Lots of items

Needs improvement

  • UI
    • The UI is confusing at times or doesn't show what I want to see.  A couple of examples:
      • Why do I have to go all the way back to the main menu after every game?
      • Why do I have to hover my mouse over a flag as I'm standing there to see the progress meter?  Just show it to me if I am standing there.
      • When I am shopping if there is a store/citadel behind the shopping menu then my cursor looks like the cursor for clicking on the building, not for clicking an item to purchase (this seems like it is just a bug though).
    • The minimap is kind of useless.  I mean, its nice to see but I cannot click on it or issue commands using it
    • I don't know about other people but I have got A LOT of real estate for my screen so it would be nice to see some additional data
  • Abilities
    • Some abilities say "Instant".  This made me think that the ability was an active ability that when cast has 0 casting time, rather than what they are which is a passive ability
  • Items
    • I have no idea what the coloring behind the items means, they vary from green to blue to red but I have no idea what this means
    • The items are broken down into logic pieces...but I can buy two chest pieces so it seems they have no meaning
  • Camera
    • Everytime I die, my camera resets and I have to change it back to the angle/distance I had it at before.  This is VERY annoying
  • Gameplay/Strategy
    • Lack of variation in the maps, although the paths and colors are different there are no objects added for aesthetics like trees/rocks/anything.  You are always just fighting on some giant slab of concrete
      • With no objects also comes the problem of no way to juke, the only option is to just run in a straight line as fast as you can away from the enemy
    • I cannot see what items the enemy Demigods have, thus I have really no idea if I should engage them or wait for more help
    • On normal speed the Demigods feel like the are moving through quicksand, then on fast they look like they are just being fast forwarded (I prefer fast to normal though).  It seems like they need to have their movement buffed but leave the attack speed alone
  • Demigods
    • Oak
      • I never understood why my minions just stood there (or flew there) without attacking.  I suppose that I should order them but when they are hovering 2 inches away from someone (in the game world, not two inches on my screen ;)) I expect them to want to protect me with a ferocity the world has not seen before

Would like to see

  • Abilities
    • One of the things that made DotA magical was the awesome ultimate abilities.  It would be nice to see each of the Demigods given one of these kinds of abilities in order to spice things up a bit
    • The effects (visually) from items seem pretty poor from what I experienced, it would be nice if they could be prettied up
    • I would like to see the ability tree for each character made available from the menu where you choose your Demigod.  When choosing a new Demigod or possibly playing with one you haven't played in a while it would be nice to learn all of the abilities before you are tossed into a game.
  • Items
    • Some color coding of text on items might help to make them easier to read at a glance.  For example color health modifiers in green and mana modifiers in blue.  I am not sure how well this would work in practice but it might help to make the items stand out
    • It would be nice if when a Demigod is carrying certain types of items that their Demigod looks different.  For example if someone has lifesteal then their hands or wherever they attack from can glow red or have some kind of effect to indicate this enhancement.

I am sure that I have more, but I'll stop there.  I know it sounds like I don't like the game from the massive list but I do!  I have been following this game since its inception and I want to see it made better so that I can have hours and hours of fun playing it.  I hope that some of these things can be changed so that the game is even better (IMHO).

1,718 views 9 replies
Reply #1 from Demigod Forums Top

Thanks for the feedback, Mr11!

I know that the team is furiously working on fixes for the online component, but once that's stable they'll be moving on to gameplay tweaks and additions, and will be weighing all your suggestions when time comes to update :)

Reply #2 from Demigod Forums Top

Thanks!  I honestly do love the game, I am sitting here at work thinking about playing some more :grin: .  Also, I didn't really have a problem finding a game online, it was just keeping the opponents that was the problem :P.

DeskScapes - Bring your desktop background to life.
Reply #3 from Demigod Forums Top

"Why do I have to hover my mouse over a flag as I'm standing there to see the progress meter?  Just show it to me if I am standing there."

 

Doesn't it do this already?  I thought it showed it in the top right corner even if you aren't hovering.  Maybe I'm mistaken.

Reply #4 from Demigod Forums Top

I will have to try it when I get home but from memory it shows it on the right of the screen only when I hover over the flag.  Maybe I missed something!  I think all of the contextual information shows on the right side of the screen.

Reply #5 from Demigod Forums Top

You did a good job listing everything Mr11. I agree on nearly all matters, but the point with the visual effects of the abilities. I quite like the effects a lot, especially in combination with their sounds.

One of the things that made DotA magical was the awesome ultimate abilities. It would be nice to see each of the Demigods given one of these kinds of abilities in order to spice things up a bit
End of quote

Knowing and liking DotA myself, i have to say that the ultimate abilities there are really a important factor. Even though I like the demigods abilities and think that they are allready balancing the demigods out quite well, I have to admit that ultimates like in DotA could become a very interesting thing if worked out well.

Reply #6 from Demigod Forums Top

Thanks for the comments ViViDGear.

With respect to the visual effects I was only referring to the effects from the items.  For example, there is some kind of a rod that gives you a lightning bolt spell.  Whenever I cast the lightning bolt I don't remember it being anything special, there was another item that did area damage around you (I think it is the 8000 item at relic shop, not the mage slayer though) and I don't think I even saw an effect, I guess I will need to go back and revisit that.  I think the rest of the visual effects are great and I agree the sounds are perfect.

For the ultimates the reason that they were so cool was because either a) They had a long cool down and when someone busted one out it was an "OH CRAP RUN" kind of moment (sometimes) or b) it was a very nice passive that helped all of your other abilites.  All I know is that I was always excited to level that bad boy up because it meant I became THAT much more dangerous.

BTW, I just want to say how awesome it is that the first person to reply to my thread was someone from Stardock.  That is really awesome and makes me feel like this community is well managed.  Thanks for your time devs!

Reply #7 from Demigod Forums Top

Quoting BoogieBac, reply 1
Thanks for the feedback, Mr11!

I know that the team is furiously working on fixes for the online component, but once that's stable they'll be moving on to gameplay tweaks and additions, and will be weighing all your suggestions when time comes to update
End of BoogieBac's quote

 

By all means fix the Multyplayer portion connectivity issuess. noone should be denied access to this more than awesome game.

Reply #8 from Demigod Forums Top

With respect to the visual effects I was only referring to the effects from the items.
End of quote

Ah, i got it a bit wrong because it was under the "Abilities" portion of your list.

The Warlord's Punisher's effect isn't that "special" (the lightnight bolt item), true, but I think it is quite adequate for a 300 dmg 1.5 sec. cast item, allready the first level of Torchbearers Fireball deals equal dmg, so it would be a bit "overdressed" to give it a more special effect. The second item your referring to is called The Orb of Veiled Storms, dealing 500 AoE istant dmg it got a adequatly nicer effect, you should see a small shockwave starting in midair, simple but good looking.

BTW, something i forgot before:

Why do I have to hover my mouse over a flag as I'm standing there to see the progress meter? Just show it to me if I am standing there.
End of quote

You really don't have to, the progress meter is shown in the upper right part of the screen. It won't be visible for some seconds if you neutralized a flag, but afterwards and before it is visible.

Reply #9 from Demigod Forums Top

"One of the things that made DotA magical was the awesome ultimate abilities.  It would be nice to see each of the Demigods given one of these kinds of abilities in order to spice things up a bit"
nothnx

"Why do I have to hover my mouse over a flag as I'm standing there to see the progress meter?  Just show it to me if I am standing there."
it's at the upper right of your screen

"The items are broken down into logic pieces...but I can buy two chest pieces so it seems they have no meaning"
not another person wanting to mess this up..

"Some color coding of text on items might help to make them easier to read at a glance.  For example color health modifiers in green and mana modifiers in blue.  I am not sure how well this would work in practice but it might help to make the items stand out"
Suggested that back in beta1 and we dont have it. :[  http://forums.demigodthegame.com/323188

I agree with the camera thing too.