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[Quicksand-S]

Interface colors look good. It looks "cleaner" now, somehow.

I can't seem to open chests. Did you change them?

Why can I walk across some water and not other water? Same with mountains.

As for the portraits, I think 3 and 4 are decent. I like the style of #4, with slightly lighter outlines/shadows.

[Chris Koźmik]

Update
- can train and level up (in the city on the right)
- can heal and rise dead fallen comrades (in the city)
- rebalanced hp/mp gain and experience formula
- spells selection and casting (most of them do not work yet) [looking for feedback on the aestetics of the spellbook page]


Chests - in the previous version I have forgotten to add a chest event in some dungeons, should work now. If still a problem, please say so.

Impassable water - is it clear why now?

"Place trees off-center in their grid squares." - But that would make these trees even bigger... These already block most of the view.

[Quicksand-S]

Ok. Chests work. I like that enemies sometimes retreat when I attack them.

Impassible water is clear now, yes.

Placing trees off-center is meant to let you see beside them a little bit (ie. they take up half of the screen's width instead of 3/4). I'm not sure how that makes them bigger. It would make a forest seem dense while making a single tree easier to see past. You can make trees disappear if they're on the side opposite from the direction you're facing because you are centered in the square and the tree is behind you.

[Chris Koźmik]

Update:
- spells works, need feedback (especially aestetic, since functionality is rather straightforward)
- in the city/village in the forest on the left you find 2 new monsters (skeleton and zombie). I could use a feedback on their graphics.

Question:
I wonder about dazmage dealt by the player. Should there be some "hit marker" with exact damage done, similar to the one party members get? If yes where? On the main view on the monster gfx or on the top right monster list?

I like that enemies sometimes retreat when I attack them.

Well, technically they do not retreat, I just made them stupid/flawed AI so these move randomly sometimes... A kind of side effect Not sure if I should change it or keep it.

Impassible water is clear now, yes.

Just increase the darkness of the tile by yet another 20% and the problem solves itself I love the simple solutions the best

[Quicksand-S]

Error? If all your party members are slaughtered by a large group of zombies that come out of nowhere and absolutely destroy you because they have far too much health, the game doesn't end. It still tries to give my dead characters their turns, which naturally doesn't work.

I find that ground-based traps don't work so well with this style of game. If you're a block away, they look like they're in the distance. You step forward and suddenly you're standing on the trap (even though it still kinda looks like it's in front of you).

I think main-view damage numbers could be good.

I didn't try magic. I wanted to, but it said I had to be level 20. Also, "Turn Undead" sounds like your character can temporarily become a zombie, which I'm guessing isn't the case.

[Chris Koźmik]

Error? If all your party members are slaughtered by a large group of zombies that come out of nowhere and absolutely destroy you because they have far too much health, the game doesn't end. It still tries to give my dead characters their turns, which naturally doesn't work.

Game Over is not implemented yet

I find that ground-based traps don't work so well with this style of game. If you're a block away, they look like they're in the distance. You step forward and suddenly you're standing on the trap (even though it still kinda looks like it's in front of you).

It's a matter of adjusting player's position on the tile. Right now it's on the center of it, I could move it forward a bit and it would look better.
BUT, here we come again to the topic of trees, chests and other objects that occupy the middle of a tile and player can enter it If I move the player forward the object would be behind player's back, thus not visible...

I didn't try magic. I wanted to, but it said I had to be level 20. Also, "Turn Undead" sounds like your character can temporarily become a zombie, which I'm guessing isn't the case.

You are not a die hard fan of RPGs, correct? TurnUndead was quite popular (it's maybe even D&D) in the old times, so I assumed "everyone will know it" Hmmm... I'm not sure if I should adjust it to more casual players or keep it more hardcore...

How clear the "spellbook" page is? Was it clear to you that clicking on the portrait you change whose spellbook you access and that it's not shared among party members? Should I put some hint about it somewhere?

I guess I might have made too many assumptions regarding player's starting knowledge, not every player is an RPG freak like me

[Quicksand-S]

You are basically correct. I've never really played old-school Western RPGs much, and haven't tried table-top ones at all. I'm pretty sure I've seen it somewhere, but I still think it's a misleading name.

I found the spellbook setup pretty intuitive. Once I noticed that different spells were available at different times, it was easy to guess that I could select characters to use their individual spells.

Have you considered making the camera higher? That could make things on the ground look closer (because you'd see less of the ground) without causing any of the problems that come from changing positions on the grid. I'm not suggesting that you make the player a giant. Just a small change might make a huge difference without looking weird (like being much taller than other humanoids).

[Chris Koźmik]

Update:
- game over works
- overall, basic stuff (title screen, menu, etc)

Have you considered making the camera higher? That could make things on the ground look closer (because you'd see less of the ground) without causing any of the problems that come from changing positions on the grid. I'm not suggesting that you make the player a giant. Just a small change might make a huge difference without looking weird (like being much taller than other humanoids).

But the ceiling is "boring", there never is anything interesting there (no traps, pitfals, chests). Actually, in older games of this genre it was the opposite, the more part of the floor was visible than the ceiling. Another thing, the monsters are already smaller than the walls (16 pixels while monsters are around 12 pixels), already some of the humanoids look dwarvish. Moving the camera even higher would make them appear even smaller...


What you think about light? I changed it a bit in the last version (floor is lighted more, while ceiling is darker). I'm using standard OpenGL light feature (it's too minor thing for this kind of game, it's not about the light here being realistic so I don't want to waste too much time on it). If you are into OpenGL and have an idea how to improved it, please post. The current lighting code is below.

Code:

GLfloat LightAmbient[]= { 0.9f, 0.9f, 0.9f, 1.0f };         // Ambient Light Values
GLfloat LightDiffuse[]= { 1.0f, 1.0f, 1.0f, 1.0f };         // Diffuse Light Values
GLfloat LightPosition[]= { 0.0f, 2.0f+TEST_A, 0.0f, 1.0f }; // Light Position
glLightfv(GL_LIGHT1, GL_AMBIENT, LightAmbient);             // Setup The Ambient Light
glLightfv(GL_LIGHT1, GL_DIFFUSE, LightDiffuse);             // Setup The Diffuse Light
glLightfv(GL_LIGHT1, GL_POSITION,LightPosition);            // Position The Light
glEnable(GL_LIGHT1);

(TEST_A is 0 by default, you can change it via the "T" right menu option)

[Quicksand-S]

I guess I just have to get used to how big the grid cells are, and that would probably come with time.

I found the lighting really strange in this new one. Lit walls get darker as I approach, and shadowed walls get lighter when I go near them. Is that some sort of eye-adjustment setup or just weirdness?

I went into a building and there was no ceiling. A second building did have one, and I liked your lighting position in that case. I found that I preferred an FOV around 45, though, because it made it easier to tell if spikes were in the next grid cell or the one beyond it.

I noticed a lot of pop-in in the distance, mainly with trees. Any chance of fog or some sort of fade-in?

The only really big issue I have with this game right now is the fact that I can't do anything for a second after opening a chest. That just drives me crazy. Other than that, I really like it so far.

[Ryland]

Love it so far.

[Chris Koźmik]

I went into a building and there was no ceiling. A second building did have one, and I liked your lighting position in that case. I found that I preferred an FOV around 45, though, because it made it easier to tell if spikes were in the next grid cell or the one beyond it.

You mean it looks good if there is ceiling and looks bad on the world map and locations without ceiling (these are cities, so you are walking on the streets)?

I noticed a lot of pop-in in the distance, mainly with trees. Any chance of fog or some sort of fade-in?

Dunno. The old games have these things popping up, so I wonder if I should not keep it for nostalgia reasons...

The only really big issue I have with this game right now is the fact that I can't do anything for a second after opening a chest. That just drives me crazy. Other than that, I really like it so far.

Yeah, it annoys me too. I don't know how to solve it. It needs to display what you got (actually the delay should be even longer than now, it's easy now with just gold but when there will be items in chests...) I can't make it non blocking because it occupy the minimap so it needs to expire before moving.
Maybe make "Press SPACE to continue/skip" at the bottom of the loot display?

Love it so far.

Finally! I was getting impression the space folded and there was only me and Quicksand-S in this universe

[Ryland]

Love it so far.

Finally! I was getting impression the space folded and there was only me and Quicksand-S in this universe

Well, if that was the case, now it's you, Quicksand-S, and me. I'll be watching this thread closely for updates. Also, do you plan on releasing a linux version? I'm running it with wine right now. Again, great work!

[Quicksand-S]

You mean it looks good if there is ceiling and looks bad on the world map and locations without ceiling (these are cities, so you are walking on the streets)?

Ah, I see the problem. Nothing about the location felt like a city (same wall arrangement as the interior of a building), so I thought the lack of a ceiling was just a bug. Anyway, the ceiling lighting looks fine but cities may need to be structured differently. Maybe a city should be a fairly open area with buildings scattered throughout?

Yeah, it annoys me too. I don't know how to solve it. It needs to display what you got (actually the delay should be even longer than now, it's easy now with just gold but when there will be items in chests...) I can't make it non blocking because it occupy the minimap so it needs to expire before moving.
Maybe make "Press SPACE to continue/skip" at the bottom of the loot display?

Does it have to occupy that area? Pressing Space would work, I guess, but it's not ideal because then it's a choice between seeing what you picked up and moving right away. It's nice to be able to do both. Another option, which is also not ideal, would be to have the movement keys perform that continue/skip function so that I can move as soon as I want to and the text will disappear when I do.

[Chris Koźmik]

Also, do you plan on releasing a linux version? I'm running it with wine right now.

I really can't say right now... There is a chance for this but I don't like promising someting I might be unable to deliver.


People, tell me honestly, should I get some artist to make graphics? I don't mean changing the style (size of pixels) also some things drawn by me are pretty cool (beholder for example) and should stay, but...

[Quicksand-S]

People, tell me honestly, should I get some artist to make graphics? I don't mean changing the style (size of pixels) also some things drawn by me are pretty cool (beholder for example) and should stay, but...

That probably depends on what you hope to do with this. If you want to sell it, then yes, I'd think an artist would be a good idea. If you're just making it for yourself and for anyone who likes this sort of game to enjoy for free, then it really depends on how polished you want it to look and whether or not you can find an artist you really click with.

The overall look of the game right now is fine, in my opinion, but an artist can bring a lot to the table. Maybe they'll make things more clear for the player, or have good ideas about how to set up the interface. Who knows?

As for keeping some of your art, I don't know about that. If you get an artist, you want things to look consistent, right? Your Beholder is cool, though, so maybe get the artist to do their own version of your Beholder, rather than starting from scratch.

[Erobotan]

Here is my suggestion too make the graphic looks better :D

Give them eyes, simple eyes will be enough. Just put: 2 paralel vertical lines on the face. Nose is not required, mouth is optional, but eyes are a must I think :D!

[Quicksand-S]

I don't really think the human entities need eyes, and adding them would require a resolution change that you may or may not want.

One thing that I do think needs to change, though, is the sprite for cities. To me, it looks like a strange factory with smokestacks spewing pink smoke. Only today did I finally realize those pink things were probably meant to be flags.