Concluding the First Playtest

Thank you to everyone who joined us for our first public playtest of Attack of the Astrals! It’s been deactivated on Steam so we can respond to feedback, fix bugs, and get the game ready for the next one.

71 of you won or lost nearly 200 runs and sent us tons of bugs and feedback over the last week, and almost half of players spent 60+ minutes with the game. We’re thrilled that the game attracted a small, dedicated group of playtesters.

Here are some of our takeaways from the playtest:

We need tutorials!

Our number one priority for the next playtest is explaining key mechanics in-game and adding contextual tutorials.

Some mechanics are a surprise, but are generally understood over time:

• Enemies attack before Champions at the start of each battle.

• Champions can move through all other units on the map.

• Champions revive and fully heal at the end of every battle.

• Your turn automatically ends after all Champions act.

And some mechanics are not explained at all and can be difficult to figure out:

• Champions have defined roles (e.g., Bastion and Tyrant are both Knights) that determine their targeting range. We didn’t have Champion roles shown in the UI!

• Your team has one of each role. You can never have Gladiator and Executioner on the same team, because they’re both the same role.

• Astrals have infinite range, and single-target Astrals attack the closest Champion. While there are targeting hints on the map, they are not clear enough.

We hope the next playtest will more effectively teach players how to play the game.

Minion interactions need highlighting

One of the most important elements of the combat system is the choice between reducing Minion numbers and focusing on the Astrals. The ultimate goal is to kill the Astrals and advance to the next fight, but Minions can quickly overwhelm you if ignored. More Minions spawn every turn, after all!

This forced choice, and the threat the Minions pose, is not clear to new players, even after playing several runs. We’re enhancing all Minion visuals and interactions:

• Minions will appear with more flair, with unique visuals and sounds for each Minion type.

• Minions that buff Astrals will slow down, play new special effects, and make their map-wide impact more clear when they spawn or die.

• Multiple UI elements will display the number and type of minions that spawn each turn.

Difficulty is too high, but feels fair

Over the 200 runs finished during the playtest, there were only 6 wins. We think the learning curve is a big contributor to the difficulty curve, but the game is too hard for what is meant to be a demo. We’ll be investigating ways to smooth out some of the most brutal fights in the third region each run.

We’ve received positive feedback from players about the fairness of the difficulty, so we don't want to overcorrect. Our focus will be on adjusting some maps to eliminate dead turns and make it easier to move around on turn 1, as well as removing or reworking some Spells and Summons that are difficult to use effectively without lots of experience playing the game.

The next playtest

We don’t have a firm date for the launch of the second playtest, but we hope to get it live within the next month. Make sure to wishlist on Steam and join our Discord community for news of our next launch!

Thanks again to everyone who played!

Rob and Hari