TIGSource Forums

Hi
I want to introduce a new game under development:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfwS3PQcV0M

The game is written in Java, we use JME3 game engine.
So far we have:
- level editor (for internal use only)
- sound effects & music
- working lights & shadows
- basic interaction with environment

At the moment the game does not have any official title, the working title is just 'dungeons'.

Webpage & fanpage: coming soon!

Sorry to say this, but Legend of Grimrock already exists.

Say it to any fps developer, that Doom already exists ;)

You like Legend? Did you know that it's modeled on Dungeon Master, Eye of the Beholder and other 'legendary' games? LoG some of it's riddles have almost identical to those of DM, but of course you did not know about that ;)

It looks good. You only have to focus in what makes your game different and special. Some artworks and explaining your ideas will help you. I think many projects in an early development stage look clonal, but I'm sure this will have soon it's own spice :)

Well, I liked Legend of Grimrock even though I didn't finish it, so I hope I can follow this. I also hope there will be a good combat system, as I feel that is the main place you can "beat" LoG. Good luck and hope it pans out well!

Actually, fps's were called doom clones for a few years after doom. I would say you are aiming at a pretty niche audience but I wouldn't say your making a copy.

Any reason why you chose java? I'm not saying it's a bad choice, just curious.

At my work I'm using C++/C# and I'm just tired of it. Writing a game in Java is an opportunity to master another language and to do something different ;)

I really like it.  The lighting and the shadows through the grates are awesome.

Also the ability to sidestep is cool - though half the tension in these kind of games is worrying about what you'll face when you turn corners!

Is light management with torches etc going to be a big part of the game?  Have to be careful of those grues, after all. :blink:

I wouldn't worry about any superficial similarity to other games.  Loads of people remember Dungeon Master.   Go look at Wikipedia and you see similarly styled games even in the 70s before home computers even.  I remember playing a bunch of different ones growing up - some of my favourites were Yendorian Tales and Mordor.  If every game had to invent its game mechanics from scratch we'd have far fewer games to enjoy.

I know Dungeon Master very well, played it first time on my brother's Amiga 500. Yendorian Tales sounds familiar.
For me it is not bad to take and use everything that was enjoyable in such games, and in the same time giving it some fresh breath with graphics and ideas.

We have a good shader, not the standard one from the engine, and for sure we will use this advantage. Placing torches, magical lights etc in proper places can only increase the whole atmosphere.

Actually I did know that. I even have a big cardboard box that has "Dungeon Master II" written on it. I did not play Dungeon Master one that much, but I saw videos, and hell yes it is extremly similar.

What I meant in my original post was the description was like it was just like Legend of Grimrock (or Dungeon Master) without actually quoting it as a reference. If this game would be described as a Legend of Grimrock demake I would be perfectly happy.

So back to the game. I would like to have a comparison to what you are actually building on. And what you are planning to improve on. Or if it is just for you to master your programming skills without actually improving on anything gameplay wise, it is totally fine.

I was sure that the topic 'Dungeon crawler game' describes everything...

For now we are trying to at least reach the quality of both LoG and DM. We have few ideas, but it is too early to describe them. Anyway, if those ideas fails we would have just next 'standard' crawler game with nice graphics and over a dozen fine levels of dungeons to explore.
And I know that sometimes great ideas appear out of nowhere, or someone on some forum tells something which will be the 'key' to some brilliant and unique feature.