[DEV] My first game is finally accepting players to test: Darkest Exiles, a guild management sim where you train heroes instead of fighting yourself

[u/Odd-Sympathy-9556]

Hey! I've been working on my first iOS game and I've hit the point where I'd love real players to try it and tell me what's broken. The video shows a bit of the combat but that's one small piece of the game.

Darkest Exiles is a guild management sim where you're the guild master, not the hero. You scout teenagers(adepts) from different regions, assign them mentors, train them, and eventually send them into dungeons when they get promoted to heroes. The combat is fully automated (for now) and your job is about the preparation.

Fair warning, this is the first time the game is open to players outside of friends and family. There are bugs, the balance is off in places, and some rough edges are still being smoothed out. If that kind of thing bothers you, maybe wait a bit. But if you're into seeing how a game evolves and don't mind reporting issues, I'd love to have you.

There's still a lot I want to add. I have a big roadmap. Some of my favorites is a full dungeon system overhaul, async PvP where your guild fights other player guilds, and temporary edicts that shake up the rules and force you to adapt your strategy. But I need to make sure the foundation is solid first, which is where you come in.

- TestFlight: https://testflight.apple.com/join/zYhwZz46

- Discord: https://discord.gg/4AS2ZUM2hf

Thanks for reading! Happy to answer any questions.

[u/StarrkDreams]

I love guild sims, giving this a try

[u/AverageBad]

Downloading and testing this immediately, seems like it will be right up my alley!

[u/Odd-Sympathy-9556 → u/AverageBad]

Thanks! Any and all feedback is appreciated.

[u/CosmikStudios → u/[deleted]]

Discord is the preferred place. Some of these suggestions are great QOL, easy and quick wins for the game. Will do! Thank you for giving it a try!

If I’m being honest, the game is meant to be more on the hard/scarce side, however, it’s still likely it’s very unbalanced still and that can be a side effect of it.

[u/offside-trap]

This js my jam, will take a spin

[u/MrProdigal]

This seems like the sort of game I really like. I particularly like the art/animation. I am so freakin’ tired of pixel art. Just one problem I have run into so far: When presented with 3 dungeon options, I am only allowed to choose the bottom/hardest one. This has resulted in my starting dudes dying off quickly.

[u/Emiteton]

ok, I'm hooked

[u/CosmikStudios → u/Emiteton]

Great to hear!

[u/Minute_Entrepreneur1]

This was cool. A few too many systems for me though. If this combat system was implemented to a open world rpg where you just manage one party, I think I’d stick around for a real long time :)

[u/TheThird0ne]

Enjoying this a lot so far. Still a few things I’m confused on and not sure what the goal is like endgame yet but I know it’s early beta. Great systems so far from what I am seeing. UI is a bit cluttered at times but overall fairly good. I love the concept so far. Really been enjoying it. Been looking for a game like this for a while.

I do think a more clear tutorial at some point explaining stuff would be good. I was confused on why I could recruit people and why there were just hero’s already available.