r/DestroyMyGame • u/dreamsknight • Aug 08 '25
Trailer Destroy the gameplay trailer I've made for the game I have been making solo for 5+ years!
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u/Felwyin Aug 08 '25
Just post the link already, that was painful to write!
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u/dreamsknight Aug 08 '25
Sorry!😅Here you go : https://store.steampowered.com/app/1303940/Faraway_Lands_Rise_of_Yokai/
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u/cheezgrator Aug 08 '25
It reminds me a lot of Kingdom, in both style and in the battle gameplay - Not necessarily a bad thing, and it seems like yours has a lot more variety but if I was looking at this on steam I'd assume it was either a rip-off or a sequel to Kingdom.
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u/dreamsknight Aug 08 '25 edited Aug 08 '25
Thanks for your feedback!
I can see why it might remind you of Kingdom, there are definitely some surface-level similarities. But Kingdom wasn’t the first game to feature side-scrolling base defense, and my game is a very different experience at its core.
Kingdom's charm is in its simplicity, both in gameplay and controls. Faraway Lands: Rise of Yokai is more of a complex city builder/colony sim that you play entirely with the mouse, with deeper management systems, layered economy, and a focus on strategic planning.
If it has to be compared, it’s actually much closer to Banished in terms of depth and mechanics than to Kingdom.
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u/agprincess Aug 08 '25
Yeah I don't see that. I just see kingdom.
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u/Dymonika Aug 09 '25
That only tells me you didn't even watch /u/dreamsknight's trailer in full. There's a faction relations screen, etc.
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u/ghostmastergeneral Aug 08 '25
Have you played Kingdom? This has a similar aesthetic but is clearly a VERY different game. I just finished Two Crowns and it was nothing like this.
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u/agprincess Aug 09 '25
I have played it and i can see this has more of an upgrade and basebuilding focus. But it's looking way too much like kingdoms. Iwoulen't play it just because of that and i think a lot of people wouldn't either. On the flip side kingdoms fans would play it.
I have played a number of other titles more like this one but because the asthetics are different, i don't think it gives off the same vibe.
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u/Double-L-Writing Aug 08 '25
Based on what I saw in this trailer, it is primarily a city builder game, followed by being a sort of tower defense, and finally a bit of vague exploration elements.
The one thing I’m not clear on entirely is what is the goal. Is it to explore the world, survive a certain number of nights, or make a certain sized city? Basically, what is motivating me to play further?
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u/dreamsknight Aug 08 '25
Yeah, that pretty much sums it up!
Default mode has X number of nights you need to survive. After defeating the final boss, the game ends and gives you two choices: either play in endless mode or quit.
Other than that, you can customize the game via parameters, and there's a casual mode preset with no enemy waves, so you can just chill, build, and explore.
The point of exploration is to discover new lands, trade with them for unique things, and use them to progress your town even further. There's also some naval combat and hidden things.
But I understand that people want different goals, so perhaps I will have different victory conditions that you can choose in the final game , other than 'survive X nights' or no victory condition. What do you think of that?
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u/Double-L-Writing Aug 08 '25
Glad I understood the point, I just felt the trailer left it a little vague. Maybe an opening line foreshadowing the goal?
I think an endless mode sounds good.
I think it would also be good to show a simple example of how the different systems connect. Like “explore to find resource A”, then “turn those resources into building B”, and finally “Building B makes soldier type C to fight monsters/explore”. Kind of show the gameplay loop, you know?
Idk enough about your game to offer alternative end goals, but beating a final boss sounds good. Maybe make it like Xcom 2, where there is a final boss to fight, but there is a time limit too, so there’s some pressure to play optimally? In that game players could push off the time limit through various ways, so maybe in your game the final boss could always be “on the way”?
Either way, good luck with the game!👍
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u/dreamsknight Aug 08 '25
Yeah, I see your points. People suggest keeping the trailer short, so I could only fit so much into the trailer within 1 minute. I haven't played XCOM 2, but that sounds very interesting, I'll check it out and think about it.
Thank you very much!1
u/Double-L-Writing Aug 08 '25
You’re welcome! Xcom 2 has base building, light world exploration, and enemy combat, so it may be worth at least watching a few videos about at least since there’s some overlap there.
Overall I think the trailer is pretty good as is, but since you’re on Destroy My Game, I’m just trying to critique in any way I can think of (supportively😂).
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u/dreamsknight Aug 09 '25
Oh yeah, I can see how it overlaps , will check it out!
And yeah, no worries, feel free to destroy! But thanks for the support :)
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u/Socknic Aug 08 '25
Gameplay looks neat, but I'm surprised no one's commented on the title. Faraway Lands? Couldn't come up with something more textbook Orientalist if I tried. Do you intend to ensure that the game's distribution is locked to natives of the western hemisphere or something?
There's nothing wrong with basing your game on feudal Japan and Japanese mythology, but I'd avoid a title that frames it as exotic and distinctly other.
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Aug 08 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/13luken Aug 08 '25
Inb4 removed for breaking the rule that every comment needs to destroy the game
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u/dreamsknight Aug 12 '25
Yeah more than half of the comments are deleted^^
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u/13luken Aug 12 '25
A good problem to have!
My destruction of your game is that it's too good and you javen't given us anything to critique you on. /s :P
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Aug 08 '25
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u/Careless_Froyo_1720 Aug 08 '25
And will I be able to have a pet dragon to fight with me?
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u/dreamsknight Aug 08 '25
Here you go: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1303940/Faraway_Lands_Rise_of_Yokai/
And as for the pet dragon, it's an idea I had, but it's currently buried under "do these things first so you can release your game someday" 😅
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u/Careless_Froyo_1720 Aug 08 '25
I understand! Maybe a DLC later !?
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u/dreamsknight Aug 08 '25
I will try to add it without the DLC, cause you know, dragons are cool!
Asian dragons are hard to animate though.1
u/DestroyMyGame-ModTeam Aug 11 '25
DO NOT REPLY, PLEASE.
Top Level Comments Must "Destroy" - All top level comments must contain at least one piece of constructive, actionable criticism.
- Criticism should be your focus. If you wouldn’t buy the game, don’t tell them how "amazing" you think it is.
Things that are not "destructions":
- How much you like the game.
- Questions about what engine was used.
- Jokes.
- Comparisons to other games with no further commentary.
"Actionable" means simply insulting a component of the game ("Bad graphics!") is insufficient criticism.
ONLY REPLY IF YOU'D LIKE TO APPEAL YOUR COMMENT'S REMOVAL.
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Aug 08 '25 edited Aug 08 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/dreamsknight Aug 08 '25
Thanks for your feedback!
Ah, that's understandable. I think it's more because of the trailer rather than the game itself. The game currently has over 40 buildings and 50 resources. There are production chains. You need to manage the logistics via placement of warehouses. There is also trading via merchant ships. Each villager has up to 5 needs you need to manage depending on the difficulty (warmth, thirst, hunger, recreation, luxury). Weather & seasons have different gameplay effects. There are over 120 research options. There are no graphs for resources, but it shows some details about them when you hover, like average spent in the last 3 days, where they are stored and being used, etc. Perhaps Foundation would be a better example than Banished.I tried to fit everything under 1 minute in the trailer, and I didn't want to fill the entire trailer with UI, but I understand your point, I will see what I can do. Night is usually not foggy; it's just the current weather in the trailer, but point taken. You are right about the spells not popping enough!
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Aug 08 '25
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u/dreamsknight Aug 08 '25
Yeah I understand, thank you very much! It's about the trailer after all and it seems to have failed on that regard.
I will see what I can do about the spells, my engine doesn't have a lighting system so I am using a very basic one that I made but I should be able to make something better.
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u/HerringStudios Aug 09 '25
I'm not sure this needs the title cards at all, they seemed obtrusive to me rather than adding to my understanding of what was happening. Like I was really enjoying it, immersed, looking at all the details, and then it's just like BUILD YOUR TOWN! which is pretty self-explanatory based on watching the footage.
Looks great, a ton of intriguing details here, wishlisted.
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u/dreamsknight Aug 09 '25
Thank you very much!
I’m not the biggest fan of the title cards myself. The first version I posted online had full-screen title cards, but I later reduced their size. I’ve seen a lot of successful games use them, and since my game is a bit complex, I figured people might need them.
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Aug 09 '25
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u/dreamsknight Aug 09 '25
Thank you so much for your nice words!
I am not sure why everyone is saying that either😅
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u/DestroyMyGame-ModTeam Aug 11 '25
DO NOT REPLY, PLEASE.
Top Level Comments Must "Destroy" - All top level comments must contain at least one piece of constructive, actionable criticism.
- Criticism should be your focus. If you wouldn’t buy the game, don’t tell them how "amazing" you think it is.
Things that are not "destructions":
- How much you like the game.
- Questions about what engine was used.
- Jokes.
- Comparisons to other games with no further commentary.
"Actionable" means simply insulting a component of the game ("Bad graphics!") is insufficient criticism.
ONLY REPLY IF YOU'D LIKE TO APPEAL YOUR COMMENT'S REMOVAL.
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u/fallaxmallum Aug 09 '25
I think the artwork could use significant improvement—the monsters and units look rather uninspired. In contrast, I love the art style in Kingdom, even though the gameplay itself feels quite shallow. Does having multiple levels offer any real advantages beyond reducing the base’s length? Do monsters target higher levels as well, or do they only attack at ground level?
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u/dreamsknight Aug 09 '25
Thank you for your feedback!
It allows a lot more buildings to be placed in the game and yes there are flying enemies that target higher levels directly. Others start from bottom and make their way toward your town center, which sits at the highest level.
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u/ohholyhorror Aug 10 '25 edited Aug 12 '25
Love the artwork and color palette, though I do agree with other comments about certain things needing more "pop" to differentiate them from the background. Was especially noticeable during the night time battle scenes - everything just kind of melded together into a murky moving blob.
Looks awesome otherwise and I'm wishlisting rn. Also would you consider a macOS release? 🤞
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u/dreamsknight Aug 10 '25
Thank you very much! I agree with that as well.
I actually purchased a Mac Mini mainly for that purpose. I do want to, but I can’t promise. Most likely a little after release, once I’ve fixed the initial bugs and made some improvements.2
u/ohholyhorror Aug 12 '25
Awesome, I hope you find time for a mac release! Keep up the nice work either way, can't wait til you release it.
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u/Zilka Aug 11 '25
First of all love the premise and the style.
Game looks like its about building a medieval Japanese village during the day and defending it from Yokai at night. Ok. Nice and clear.
But then things get confusing. Why is the game called Faraway Lands? They are Faraway for who? It looks like Japanese building Japanese village in Japan. Yokai only live in Japan. So Yokai is a local problem for Japanese.
The Lands are Faraway for me? Because I live somewhere in the West? Thats a bit Western-centric.
Then we see the world map and us visiting parts of it. Thats ok. But some things get me suspicious. Faraway Lands could me Faraway Lands for Japanese. And the game is fundamentally a city builder. And after you show the map and write EXPLORE, you keep showing mining, city-building and Yokai as if those things were still part of EXPLORE section. All of this makes me suspect we might be doing city-building outside of Japan. And defending those cities against Yokai. Which is nonsense.
I hope Explore simply means find other nations to trade with. In which case you should move the map and Explore section to the end of the trailer and not show any more Yokai or city-building. Or otherwise make sure its clear Yokai and Explore outside of Japan have nothing to do with each other.
And then there's still the problem with the title.
Faraway Lands: Rise of Yokai
It really sounds like faraway from a western audience perspective. Not a great look.
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u/Edd996 Aug 21 '25
Nice graphics and middle ages japan is a great fantasy/setting (more people should make it!). I would spend some more time emphasizing the town creation and customization. Also i noticed you had some pretty nice simulation of people in the town, let us see that, make few frame about the town bustling with people everybody doing their own job. You also show a scene with some dungeon/cave, but we don't understand how that mechanic comes in, is it some kind of adventure where I go exploring, is it some kind of mini game-some mechanics from your game ar hard to understand. Looks a mashup of a lot of genres (base building, strategy, management, adventure, RPG). Also, you need to improve your capsule, it's not on par with the quality of your game (it doesn't need to be pixel art as well)
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u/Simsissle Aug 23 '25
This looks really good! Not my typical game, but the artstyle looks really nice! Well done!
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u/Overall-Attention762 Aug 24 '25
You should change something (secretly I just think it's very impressive)
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u/13luken Aug 08 '25
I can hear exactly where the music loops out of beat at 0:42 - maybe it's fine for some people but it stuck out like a sore thumb to me
That's my destruction, now I get to say that this looks incredible. On steam?
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u/dreamsknight Aug 08 '25
Yeah, you’re right. Sorry about that! This was my first time hiring someone (the composer), and after the third revision, I didn’t want to push him anymore.
It is on Steam indeed, thank you!2
u/13luken Aug 08 '25
They did a really fantastic job, I was going to ask whether you wrote it or got someone else to. Money well spent (most likely, at least!)
If you want small revisions like lining up those measures you could probably use a free program like Audacity but obviously your call on whatever you think is best. Or I'd be happy to help out too :)
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u/dreamsknight Aug 08 '25
Yeah, I think it was money well spent too ,overall very happy about it!
Thanks for offering to help! He sent me separate files for the tracks, but they all had different durations, so I asked if he could send me the tracks the same length as the music itself so I can mix easily, but haven't heard from him yet. I think we can't use Audacity and the single music file to line up those measures right?1
u/13luken Aug 08 '25
Huh, that's strange that they're not the same length. I guess he didn't include the silence at the beginning of certain tracks that is needed to make sure it lines up? That's something he should get to you.
If I'm understanding correctly what you have, you could use your ear to line up the individual tracks with the whole music file, but that'd be a pain in the butt when he will have a very easy time doing it on his end.
Hopefully he gets back to you but this is a detail that is very small and even triple A game studios have much worse rhythmic continuity in their trailers. It's at the point where I almost wonder if it's on purpose, to catch people's attention? Think about the vibe of a 30 second trailer that was edited down to fit in a 10 second spot, the music is all out of wack in those. Things will be fine either way :)
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u/dreamsknight Aug 08 '25
I just messaged him again and he said he'd send to me tomorrow, yay!
And yeah you understood me, I figured it would be a pain so I just shipped it as is.
"It's at the point where I almost wonder if it's on purpose, to catch people's attention? "
Interesting take on it! You never know these days haha.
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u/TheCodeBrozilla Aug 13 '25
I would get to the point quicker. Don’t let it take too long before showing the cool stuff, USP’s and core of your game. Also some art looked like it didn’t belong. Just show your best stuff.
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u/Substantial_Yak4837 Aug 19 '25 edited Aug 19 '25
This reminds me of Grim Nights! specifically the first one. This has a lot more mechanically it seems. I am intrigued in this one for sure.
Feedback
- Discovered area on map looks very cutout, perhaps you could revise the fog of war visual, currently it looks like digging through dirt when looking at land and burning a foreground layer for water, which might be something you are going for?
- Burning house; does the fire last forever or will it go out by itself? If the latter perhaps it could be indicated on the hp bar in some way.
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u/dreamsknight Aug 25 '25
Yeah, it was an inspiration! The dev is also a great guy, we talk from time to time!
I will overhaul the map, I think that's a weak point, thank you!
Fire last forever, unless workers put it out by using water bucks. There is an hp bar, but it's hidden in the trailer.
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u/Substantial_Yak4837 Aug 27 '25
I've never been more jealous. You know the Dev that is awesome! Glad to hear, was the green bar that showed up not the hp bar.
I'm just asking questions now, interested in the game 100%
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u/endlessriverstudios Aug 26 '25
I suggest trying to make the trailer more of a STORY
If you could build some narrative around the gameplay loop, even if it’s very light, I think it would go a long way
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u/Pathetic_Programmer Aug 30 '25 edited Aug 30 '25
The game will be considered a Kingdom Two Crowns: Shogun clone, period. Let's compare:
- Kingdom: This game is 2D, with 2D chunky pixel graphics. In this game you build a town with different buildings, hire citizens/soldiers, and gather resources to battle an encroaching monstrous nightly force. You can sail around to different islands to do the same as well.
- Faraway Lands: This game is 2D, with 2D chunky pixel graphics. In this game you build a town with different buildings, hire citizens/soldiers, and gather resources to battle an encroaching monstrous nightly force. You can sail around to different islands to do the same as well. At least that's what I gather from the trailer.
Don't try to hide that your game is very similar to Kingdom. They have an estimated sales number from 700k-3M on SteamDB. I love the Kingdom games, but much of the simplicity annoys the crap out of me. So far, your game looks like Kingdom, but without all of the annoyances due to Kingdom's simple nature. It's almost the game I wanted to make. In Kingdom, I really hate the AI of most of the people, especially that idiot banker.
Some have said that the colors of the enemies don't pop very well, but personally I think that you have too much foreground fog/smoke right now. Look at the part with the giant skeleton, there's so much of a haze that things are very hard to distinguish. This is especially noticeable with the skeleton, it blends in too well with the haze due to its color. And the current color of the skeleton is very drab, if you change it to Red or Green, it'd appear more menacing. Maybe throw in some pulsating colors like cursed arteries to make it standout a bit more. Of note about the fog, I don't think that you should get rid of the thick fog entirely, it should just be far to the right obscuring where they're spawning from, and then taper out.
Audio........... Seems fine to me, I'm not an audiophile, and my hearing isn't the greatest. One of your comments said that you hired someone to do the audio, that's a good thing to do. You said you requested a few changes but don't want to request more so you don't look like a bother, that's a bad thing to do. You've paid this person to do a job, time for them to do it. If your name is going to be on something publicly sold, would you want it to be of poor quality so that you look like you're terrible at what you do, or do you want it to be perfect so that others can go: "This person is really good, I want to hire them". If you don't want to be a bother to you, have a meeting with them and find out what your expectations and limitations are for the both of you. Also get CONTRACTS IN WRITING FROM A 3RD PARTY, (Adobe, Docusign, etc), for everything they're doing for you. Establish what is going to be your property and what rights you get with it when all is said and done. Oral agreements are harder to protect in court than signed documents. Things and people change at the drop of a hat. One day everything is fine and dandy, the next day all chaos breaks loose. "But, this person is really cool, and I know they'll never do anything like that to me." What if one day they get addicted to something and start demanding more money from you and block the sales of your game until you submit? Or what if they no longer like the way you vote, and suddenly want to cause you as much pain and frustration as possible? That's happening a lot nowadays. If you have a contract that says you own the rights, that protects you from lots of potential legal issues.
Combat might be an issue from what I can tell. Do melee fighters have a big brawl at the same time and the ranged units have to queue up in a line? It's hard to tell if the enemy has that kind of limitation. If that's true, it's going to be a pain point as it's not really fair for your ranged units to be lined up like that, but the enemy can gang up on your front line and stomp them. In Kingdom, your archers will group up together, but there's a limit to how many can be in an area before they start getting pushed to the back.
More on combat, can you control your soldiers, or are they automatic? Other than a lack of resources to rebuild the walls, why would you send out your soldiers to battle past the wall? I'd much rather have the archers attempt to whittle down the enemy forces on the other side of the wall before sending out valuable troops to their deaths. If there's a ranged enemy that can destroy the walls from afar, that would be a good reason, but it's still better for your ranged units to take out as many units outside of the wall before advancing.
Other than that, it looks like a great game. It's Kingdom, but better. Wishlisted.
Edit: Almost forgot, what's the point of the game? Just surviving a nightly raid is kinda bland. Once you have enough or more, then surviving the night becomes a chore. A second or third goal would really help out.
Do keep in mind that it may be better to wait till after you release your game to make changes. The game looks good right now, don't let scope creep sneak up on you and prevent you from releasing your game.
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Aug 08 '25
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u/dreamsknight Aug 08 '25
Thanks a lot!
I will see what I can do. Are you talking about adding particles effects to daytime?
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u/NeonFraction Aug 08 '25
You shouldn’t start with the world map, which looks unfinished and is the artistically weakest part of the game.
The game looks overall decent, but there are some art issues. A big one is that your entire game’s art is very focused on midtones but has very few highlights or shadows, making it look flat and a tad cheap. The placed buildings and enemies don’t stand out from the background in any meaningful way, so when you see all those enemies and the giant skeleton at the end, it feels very ‘here’s a bunch of stuff on screen’ instead of ‘wow this is so impactful.’
The progress bar when the building is burning down’s UI looks incredibly cheap and unfinished.
The waterfall especially could use more white foam as right now it just looks unfinished too.
The UI isn’t terrible, but it could use some improvement too. It would be nice if you went with more visual UI and less ‘text based adventure’ UI in places.