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TumbleSeed |OT| A Friend in Need is a Seed Indeed

NFreak

Member
What do you set the dead zone too if anything at all. I feel, and I've calibrated the thumbsticks, but I feel the seed always drifts to the left side of the screen, even if pressing both thumbsticks up at the same time, without fail seed starts rolling left.

I've got it set right in the middle. 5 ticks from the bottom or top. I forgot if I set that or if that was the default setting. One thing I've found to move your seed up straight is alternate between going up with each stick. It may take time to get used to but I think it works well.
 

Felensis

Banned
I easily make it to the second zone now, but after that I quickly get destroyed. Usually I manage to get at least four hearts and a bunch of crystals to carry over to the second zone. Farthest I made was half-way through the second zone. Highscore 301 in 9:59:97 with 11 crystals. Man this game so hard, but also so damn addicting <3
 

Mdk7

Member
Got to the third area yesterday (420), but it's so fucking hard for me to pass the second one.
The first one is easy as fuck, the second is terrible, between those jumping bugs that stomp you and the snakes. Seriously, I get there with 4 or even 5 full hearts, and get smashed every single time.
Don't really know how to sort of handle them.

That said, I still love to play this game: between this, Snake Pass and Graceful Explosion Machine (I spent 25hrs on that alone!) I'm having tons of fun with my Switch.
 

taoofjord

Member
Same here. I can reliably get through the first area without too much trouble but the second is typically immediate death. Those
giant worms
are killers. I did just unlock the
teleport to the second area
, so that should help out quite a bit.
 

Wozman23

Member
Got to 500 last night. Also managed to get far enough through the quests to get the
teleport to the desert
. So far, me in the that section is just getting hit by stuff and quickly flying and dying upwards. Seems like it requires a defensive seed to mitigate the onslaught of projectiles, and I've been playing an offensive game. I guess it's time to learn how shield and reflect stuff work.

I'm starting to get a better grip on the projectile seeds, although they are still tough to aim. I had a pretty successful run at killing stuff with the rayflower. It will pretty much kill anything that strays into its path, and it only cost 1 gem, so I may start to try to make use of it.
 

Mdk7

Member
Same here. I can reliably get through the first area without too much trouble but the second is typically immediate death. Those
giant worms
are killers. I did just unlock the
teleport to the second area
, so that should help out quite a bit.

How did you do that?
 

NFreak

Member
I just got up to the final area with 7 hearts and the reflector seed. I thought I had it in the bag but I completely blew it haha. I'm just mad at myself cause I made dumb mistakes. Oh well, at least I upped my high score to 880.
 

Layth

Member
I can get to the second area (semi) consistently as long as I take my sweet time in the first area. How does the bank work? I donated 8 crystals twice cause it said it will give me 1.5 the next time but I just ended up donating another 8 crystals the second time.

I like how this game also has a local leaderboard as well as an online one.
 

aeiowu

Neo Member
I can get to the second area (semi) consistently as long as I take my sweet time in the first area. How does the bank work? I donated 8 crystals twice cause it said it will give me 1.5 the next time but I just ended up donating another 8 crystals the second time.

I like how this game also has a local leaderboard as well as an online one.

The investment to the bank doesn't persist between deaths. Basically the bank is about investing in the future of _that_ run. If you deposit in the first camp and withdraw in the 2nd (after the jungle) you get 12 crystals back. Even more if you wait until the 3rd to withdraw.

panama chief said:
is there an end objective?

Yep! Get to the top of the mountain and find out what's up there.
 

Wozman23

Member
Made it to 624, but I think I've hit a wall.

I'm struggling with the quest I'm on:
Get through the first two areas without using a seed.
I mainly want to progress to
get the third teleporter.
The first area is a breeze, but those worms and spiders in the second area force me to push the pace too much.

I might just go back to playing some normal runs. Last night I was able to get over 50 gems pretty quickly by concentrating on maximizing them.
 
Anyone find the sweet spot on Dead zone for the switch? Sometimes I feel like the paddle moves way too fast on boot up, sometimes not fast enough, kind of frustrating, could just be me, but I feel like the dead zone changes/resets to a value.
 
I just don't feel like I have that much fun on this game. For me, it doesn't feel great to play. I get that it's strategic, and thoughtful, but so is Spelunky, but at the same time, Spelunky doesn't feel sluggish or clumsy.

I'm not saying it's a problem with the game, I'm just saying I'm not really convinced that I'm a fan of it.
 

NFreak

Member
Holy shit this felt good.
IOKx9JZ.jpg
 

NFreak

Member
Congrats!

Any advice or common strategies you used.

And to deflate the wind a bit from your sails, on other platforms there's a trophy/achievement for cleansing the mountain in under 15 minutes.

I can't imagine going under 15 minutes haha. Good thing I don't care about achievements/trophies.

As for advice, I'd say the first two areas are all about building up hearts/currency. For this reason I really like the rayflower or something with a very low cost early on so that I can take down enemies without spending too much currency while gaining quite a bit in the process. I also really like big area of effect seeds like the bomb seed for the second area because a lot of the time enemies like the worm and jumping spiders bunch up together so it's a nice quick easy kill for good return on investment. But yeah I think managing your hearts and currency is vital early on and when you get to the third area it's all about defense. This is where I hope to have either a shield or the reflect root but obviously that's not always going to happen but it's the ideal situation.

I usually still don't pick up any of the passive abilities unless I'm desperate and I don't use the spear seed or whatever other than very early on if that so trading in that seed is not a bad idea if you have something else you don't like. And other than just getting a feel for how to control your seed, learning enemy patterns is super important. After learning the jumping spiders always jump a certain distance they were never that much of an issue. And the worms are usually easy kills with the right items.
 

mattiewheels

And then the LORD David Bowie saith to his Son, Jonny Depp: 'Go, and spread my image amongst the cosmos. For every living thing is in anguish and only the LIGHT shall give them reprieve.'
Ha, "I Fucking Did It" is the official win screen? Sounds like they know how fucking hard this game is.
 

dock

Member
When I load this on Switch it seems to hang on the loading screen (?) for a LONG time. Anyone else having this?
 

dock

Member
I just got some errors on the loading screen:
Error 2306-0502 and earlier 2306-0520 'cannot connect to the internet'
 

dock

Member
I'm pretty hopeless at this. I can't even complete the 'kill three enemies' challenge. I might have to shelve this next to Snake Pass in 'Switch games with maddeningly squirrely controls that I can't play and kinda regret buying'.
 

jariw

Member
I'm pretty hopeless at this. I can't even complete the 'kill three enemies' challenge. I might have to shelve this next to Snake Pass in 'Switch games with maddeningly squirrely controls that I can't play and kinda regret buying'.

...and you can't play Blaster Master because of pixel scaling issues? What games CAN you play?
 

dock

Member
...and you can't play Blaster Master because of pixel scaling issues? What games CAN you play?
Very few on Switch, apparently. Blaster Master visual output is defective, that's a different issue. I wish I didn't notice it like you don't.

Tumbleseed and Snake Pass are just difficult and frustrating to control.
 
I'm struggling to enjoy and learn this game. The controls feel laggy (as in input lag). I'm playing on Switch and not sure if using the JoyCon's wirelessly affects this.

Also, there's just little to do besides rolling, which is a mechanic I already don't feel that good about because of how both slow and laggy that mechanic feels.

I'm still trying, though. The person who recommended the game told me it was a rouguelike. I'm starting to believe that simply means it's easy to die, and irrelevant to the rest of the design.
I'd love if Rouge or Dark Souls was on Switch, though, but at least there's a lot of stuff to do in those games even when you're dying a bunch.

Only dodging holes just seems mindnumbingly simple (which isn't the same as easy).

I'm hoping my experience improves.


Do you have to replant weapons every time you use one?
Also, if I lose a life, is it better to just start over? I only managed to finish the first area when I was able to do it with all of my hearts and available planting areas, and using the checkpoints seems like a waste of time.
Speaking of which, I wish I could load my next life faster. After playing Mario Kart a bunch, this game seems to load slowly.
Mario Kart is on nand flash though, and that could easily be why.

Also, is there a good order of seed plants to begin a run with?
 
I think I just ran into a glitch where I can’t escape the ability/seed selection screen. I can scroll but can’t exit it.

:\

I’ve never felt this incompetent at a game before.
 

The Wart

Member
I’m struggling to enjoy and learn this game. The controls feel laggy (as in input lag). I’m playing on Switch and not sure if using the JoyCon’s wirelessly affects this.

Also, there’s just little to do besides rolling, which is a mechanic I already don’t feel that good about because of how both slow and laggy that mechanic feels.

I’m still trying, though. The person who recommended the game told me it was a rouguelike. I’m starting to believe that simply means it’s easy to die, and irrelevant to the rest of the design.
I’d love if Rouge or Dark Souls was on Switch, though, but at least there’s a lot of stuff to do in those games even when you’re dying a bunch.

Only dodging holes just seems mindnumbingly simple (which isn’t the same as easy).

I’m hoping my experience improves.

The movement mechanics are really the core of the game, so if you're not enjoying the simple act of rolling around then you probably just don't like the game. There aren't any twists that will dramatically change the way the game plays the way there are in say, Binding of Isaac.
 
The movement mechanics are really the core of the game, so if you're not enjoying the simple act of rolling around then you probably just don't like the game. There aren't any twists that will dramatically change the way the game plays the way there are in say, Binding of Isaac.

I'm okay with getting used to things. I hated RE4 the first time. Played it recently and loved it.

I'm just noting that I haven't learned much by playing so far. And I keep running into game breaking bugs, but I can ignore those in a game where you'd normally die a bunch anyway..
 

dock

Member
The movement mechanics are really the core of the game, so if you're not enjoying the simple act of rolling around then you probably just don't like the game. There aren't any twists that will dramatically change the way the game plays the way there are in say, Binding of Isaac.

It feels a little bit like Tumbleseed would have benefitted from a 'safe area' to learn the controls for a while. Right away you're bombarded with enemies and it's hard to motivate yourself to want to play more after so many immediate deaths.

It's hard to say when/if I'll pick up Tumbleseed again, because I know I have to reserve a good amount of patience for the inevitable frustration and lack of progress.

I've never felt this incompetent at a game before.
That's the crux of it. It isn't remotely fun to fail at this game.
 

BizzyBum

Member
The first area is a cake walk and then there's a billion things killing me in the second area,the fuck...

Anyone have any pointers?
 

Wozman23

Member
Made it to 800 last night after a string of really great runs. Thought I had it beat until I learned that
there is another section after the snow section. (I blew a ton of gems to flood the snow section and squeezed through it with 1 heart remaining. I thought I had won. Then I pretty quickly died in the following section.

At least reaching the peak is starting to feel attainable. And I managed to finished the quest I was stuck on:
use no seeds through the first two sections.
and I'm seeing the snow section far more often.

The first area is a cake walk and then there's a billion things killing me in the second area,the fuck...

Anyone have any pointers?

My strategy and thoughts:
I try to collect all gems, especially in the first two sections.
I spend the first two sections boosting my gems, then hearts.
Once I have a better offensive seed, I try to kill everything. At the desert section I'll switch to avoiding some enemies depending on my abilities.
I think the floodfruit and either shieldsprout or reflectroot are mandatory from around the desert section on.
I will buy any cheap seeds in the shop just to sacrifice them.
I also will also sacrifice the starter thornvine spear seed.
I opt for seeds that cost few gems over costly ones.
I keep the rayflower and laseroot but prefer the longspore and tallspore since they allow me to move the path of the projectiles, and they can't hurt me. (I've died a lot at the hands of the first two.)
The missleroot is acceptable, but almost all the others either require too much aiming, are too high of a risk of killing me, or are not worth the gems.
I like the minemelon, especially for killing the snakes by letting them get close then backtracking.
For the same reason, the claymore power up is one of a few that I use.
My favorite offensive power up is the bounce friend which can tear through enemies if your are patient and always conscious of his path. It can also be used to help in the target challenge as long as you start it before all of the targets are destroyed.
The gem magnet and one that gives hearts on kills are the only other power ups I use, since the others often kill me more than they help. (I used the Ghost once for like 5 seconds before it hurt me and I haven't touched it since.)

Ideally I like the following setup: flagseed, crystal seed, heartseed, rayflower, tallspore, minemelon, floodfruit, reflectroot and the bounce friend (or gem magnet once I switch to the floodfruit and evading tactics.)

I could probably sacrifice the flagseed as I almost never use it, but its a good safety net as it can easily save you a few hearts if you fall.

If some of the seeds didn't have friendly fire, my strategy would probably change drastically, but I've died far too many times trying to get away from bombs and snowballs.
 

The Wart

Member
I think I'm finally able to get through the 2nd area without the stars aligning perfectly. At least, the 2nd area now feels manageable, whereas before it was just complete flailing mayhem.

The more I play the more I appreciate just how great the fundamental mechanics are. The thing that really sets this game apart is that it really forces you to grapple with interesting, strategic decisions at almost every moment of the game. It's built into the movement -- simply moving side-to-side necessarily affects your momentum, which in turn will constrain the choices available to you just a moment in the future. Say you've got a snake bearing down on you from above; you can gain a lot of distance on the snake by rolling fast to the side, but if you roll just a bit too far you'll plummet into a hole. Do you plan a careful maneuver to roll quickly and then check your momentum? Aim your roll just right to avoid the hole? Or take it slow and stay near the snake? Add to that the variety of offensive and defensive seeds you can have, resource management, etc, you have a remarkably deep system. You always have to think a couple steps ahead.

This contrasts with the other rogue-like I've been playing, Binding of Isaac. While I really enjoy BoI, much of the core gameplay loop is fairly "rote" in that there's a pretty obvious optimal(ish) strategy for any given enemy type and item set, and most meaningful variation comes from twitch-skill rather than strategic choice. Whereas in Tumbleseed, twitch-skill and strategic choice are very tightly bundled together.

I really hope this game is doing well. The steamspy numbers are... not good, but it's just so original and clever. And I'm not generally a roguelike guy!

It feels a little bit like Tumbleseed would have benefitted from a 'safe area' to learn the controls for a while. Right away you're bombarded with enemies and it's hard to motivate yourself to want to play more after so many immediate deaths.

What about the tutorial section? You can access it again from the main menu. I believe that is randomized as well to some extent, so it won't just be rote repetition. Or are you finding that too difficult?

It's hard to say when/if I'll pick up Tumbleseed again, because I know I have to reserve a good amount of patience for the inevitable frustration and lack of progress.

This isn't really a "project" game where you sit down and devote X amount of time to it, beat it, and then move on to the next game. I think it's a better idea to just play a few minutes at a time and quit when you get frustrated. This is what makes it such a perfect fit for the Switch. I'd probably never touch it on PC.
 

Wozman23

Member

I'd been struggling to get to the desert, but something just clicked the last couple nights.

My near 65 minutes was mainly due to using bounce friend and just staying somewhat still while he did a lot of the killing, especially in the later parts. Having my ideal arsenal allowed me to stay offensive the whole time, which let me stay safe and build up an insane amount of gems. I didn't even realize I ended up with so many until I saw this screen.

I basically flooded the whole final area, and any sketchy parts in the second to last area. If someone can beat it without floodfruit, they're superhuman.

That's one of the most satisfying victories in a while!
 

Mr. F

Banned
Well, gave it a fair shake over the past few weeks but as much as I wanted to like it I don't think this one's for me. I've enjoyed other similar games but the difficulty curve for me is steep enough that it kind of kills any momentum to push forward.

Still glad to have supported it, but a bit bummed out.
 

sheaaaa

Member
I'm enjoying the extra layer of strategy on what otherwise looks like a straightforward rolling game - what to use each plot for, which powers to get, etc.

There are just 3 things that, for me, push the game a bit past the line of "brutally hard but fair", in the sense that I don't find these things fair at all:

1) Take a hit and I lose all of the ThornVine thorns that I've accumulated.
2) Friendly fire on so many things really fucking me over. I get the claymores hurting me, even if I don't agree, but stuff that are ostensibly friendly like lasers I've planted, or the "friend" that randomly cruises across the screen - I don't think those should hurt me.
3) Floor randomly turning into holes when I'm on top of them. I am probably missing an obvious tell, I will admit.
 

The Wart

Member
Quasi-necro bump because this game deserves more love! This might end up being one of my favorites of the year. And I still haven't reached the top!

Whats the general consensus on TumbleSeed, worth it despite its difficulty or unfair?

It's definitely not unfair, but it's also not as welcoming as it could be. For example, many abilities and powerups are double-edged swords that can bite you in the ass (weird mixed metaphor...) if you don't know what you're doing. This can be frustrating at first because the difficulty never relents, you never get a "lucky run" with items or the level layout.

However, the core gameplay is remarkably deep and satisfying. If you enjoy technical action games and/or learning new and unique mechanics, I think this game is worth a shot.
 

Tunesmith

formerly "chigiri"
Picked this up yesterday on a whim (Switch) after finding out the game has a daily challenge mode.

Goddamn this is good.
 

djtiesto

is beloved, despite what anyone might say
Reminds me of Ice Cold Beer with a Loco Roco aesthetic. Pretty cool. Though indies need to knock it off with everything being a roguelike :p
 
Nice to hear the devs are still working on the game, though I do hope it's possible to play the game as it was originally balanced still, maybe as a "Classic" mode, which has its own leaderboards. I'm still playing it every now and then on my Switch, it'd be a shame to not play that version as it was when the update gets pushed.

I was saddened to read that they've only shifted around 2500 copies on Steam too. There are 10,000 or so leaderboard entries on Switch so I expected PC to have sold a lot more than 2,500.
 

Chauzu

Member
Dev post mortem about the game, kind of sad to read, but Devs know what went wrong with the game:

http://aeiowu.com/writing/tumbleseed/

Devs have already added and changed stuff on steam and it'll be added to consoles soon too

http://steamcommunity.com/games/457890/announcements/detail/1330100338748113105

This makes me heartbroken to read. If the devs read this, I just want you to know this is the first rogue anything game I have ever enjoyed, and I still play it regularly. To me it's the good kind of difficult, in that when you get better, the difficulty decreases. Hope things turn around somewhat!
 

jonno394

Member
Nice to hear the devs are still working on the game, though I do hope it's possible to play the game as it was originally balanced still, maybe as a "Classic" mode, which has its own leaderboards. I'm still playing it every now and then on my Switch, it'd be a shame to not play that version as it was when the update gets pushed.

I was saddened to read that they've only shifted around 2500 copies on Steam too. There are 10,000 or so leaderboard entries on Switch so I expected PC to have sold a lot more than 2,500.

Damn, missed the steamspy comment, i'd wager the Switch is indeed the best selling version of Tumbleseed atm, but would be interested to see the numbers on the PS4/Xbox One leaderboards.
 

Glix

Member
Dev post mortem about the game, kind of sad to read, but Devs know what went wrong with the game:

http://aeiowu.com/writing/tumbleseed/

Devs have already added and changed stuff on steam and it'll be added to consoles soon too

http://steamcommunity.com/games/457890/announcements/detail/1330100338748113105

What a bummer. Guy has a great head on his shoulders tho.

If you look back in this thread, on day one, I said "this game is HARD, but it is the good and fair kind of hard that I love"

I wish more people loved it and I wish these devs were better rewarded for creating it.
 
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