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IanSean
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« on: April 18, 2013, 11:09:33 PM »

What is it about ?  Smiley

Cloaks & Spells is a 2D action adventure puzzle platformer set in a mysterious world filled with vile creatures and evil demons. Travel through deadly dungeons and across monster infested jungles while utilizing various melee weapons and powerful spells.

Any novel mechanic ?  Gentleman

As you go along killed enemies drop Mana. This Mana will fill up your "Spell Meter". The more Mana you save the better your spells become. The second spell for example is a shield. If you don't use it you can collect and save Mana up to more offensive oriented spells like a fireball. If you are out of Mana you need to revert back to your melee weapon. This allows for more variation during combat and gives you more choices to handle combat and obstacles.

What games influence your design choices ?  Beer!

A lot, some of the major ones are Blackthorne, Castlevania, Challenge of the Ancient Empires, Zelda, many Amiga Games and various other classics.

Can I play a build and on what platform will you release it ?  Cool

YES YOU CAN!

PC DEMO VERSION v 0.80

Instructions are in an attached txt file.
Please leave a comment if you played the game or e-mail me your thoughts.

The game is being made for the PC.
The final release is planned for Christmas.

Can I give constructive feedback on your visuals and gameplay ?  Evil

Yes please!  Smiley Since I am alone on this project I might not be able to change a lot though.
I need to pick my battles if I want to keep to my schedule. Sound needs a lot of work and various animations/sprites need to be brushed up.

I have an idea for your game, can I PM or e-mail you about it ?  Smiley

Sure! If it fits the theme, gameplay and scope I might be able to put it in!

Thanks for reading! Enjoy some eye candy below!










Website

Dev Blog

Twitter
« Last Edit: November 12, 2013, 03:28:01 AM by IanSean » Logged

surt
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« Reply #1 on: April 19, 2013, 12:12:30 AM »

I quite like the look of the environs. They are simple and rather crude, but charming.
The characters could be likewise if their proportions and poses were tweaked to be more natural.
Looks like an early nineties shareware game, which is a positive as far as I'm concerned.
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« Reply #2 on: April 19, 2013, 01:46:31 AM »

This is cool!
I like. Just need a jumping frame/animation and most of it is already top-noth.
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« Reply #3 on: April 19, 2013, 03:23:03 AM »

Looks like an early nineties shareware game, which is a positive as far as I'm concerned.

Could not agree more.
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« Reply #4 on: April 19, 2013, 06:15:43 AM »

great use of color
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« Reply #5 on: April 19, 2013, 06:24:09 AM »

Great style, glad to see good consistency across the different themes.
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« Reply #6 on: April 19, 2013, 07:09:19 AM »

This looks really good!  In the video you mostly used the shield to guard against projectile attacks.  Was that just for demo purposes, or is it hard / dangerous to try jumping over them (instead of using shield) to save mana?
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IanSean
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« Reply #7 on: April 19, 2013, 07:35:28 PM »

Thank you everyone for the feedback! I grew up with shareware games so that's a big compliment. Crude and charming is what I'm going for  Smiley

This looks really good!  In the video you mostly used the shield to guard against projectile attacks.  Was that just for demo purposes, or is it hard / dangerous to try jumping over them (instead of using shield) to save mana?

In the current version it's possible to jump over fireballs with some practice.  Ninja
I'm going to get back to work now.  Coffee

Playable build is coming soon!

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IanSean
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« Reply #8 on: May 03, 2013, 04:38:35 PM »

Hey guys,
I've been busy polishing up the game and have a first version for you guys to play.  Beer!

PC DEMO VERSION v 0.20 [rar file]:
https://mega.co.nz/#!shFxkITK!E8MhbWYA2Ae31twIB6UAsm0c_Fhs1Yqp_04UCC02zs8

alternate link:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/76188718/Cloaks%20and%20Spells%20DEMO%20v0.20.rar

The control scheme is attached in a txt file or at the end of this post.

A lot of the sound FX are placeholders. Let me know which ones annoy you and which ones I should keep.
Music is coming in the next version.
Any feedback/suggestion/criticism welcome!  Smiley

Thank you for playing!

CONTROLS

/////KEYBOARD//////

MOVEMENT:    ARROW KEYS
JUMP:      SPACEBAR
ATTACK:      Q (weapon required)
ACTION:      SHIFT
SPECIAL ATTACK:   W (mana required)

INVENTORY/MENU:   ESC
FULLSCREEN:   F or Mouseclick


/////XBOX CONTROLLER/////

MOVEMENT:   D-PAD (ANALOG STICK COMING SOON)
JUMP:      A
ATTACK:      B
ACTION:      X
SPECIAL ATTACK:   Y

INVENTORY/MENU:   START
FULLSCREEN:   BACK

[EDIT] Made Puzzle more accessible in v0.20 and updated download links.
« Last Edit: May 04, 2013, 05:03:37 PM by IanSean » Logged

tequibo
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« Reply #9 on: May 04, 2013, 03:48:57 AM »

I enjoyed it for the most part up to the puzzle with two levers, pressure between them and lots of mirrors. It's a bit too complex, require memorization and quick jumping back and forth, sooo, no.
Liked the atmosphere.
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IanSean
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« Reply #10 on: May 04, 2013, 09:51:09 AM »

I enjoyed it for the most part up to the puzzle with two levers, pressure between them and lots of mirrors. It's a bit too complex, require memorization and quick jumping back and forth, sooo, no.
Liked the atmosphere.

Thank you for your feedback! I made the puzzle more accessible now. If you want you can jump right in at that point and let me know what you think. A lot of other stuff awaits you behind the next door Smiley

Here is the new link that let's you play from that point: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/76188718/Cloaks%20and%20Spells%20DEMO%20v0.20b.rar

I am going to update the other links at a later time.
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tequibo
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« Reply #11 on: May 05, 2013, 04:24:00 AM »

Hey, thanks for making a special version!
I have played it some more, but I think maybe it is too "old scool" for me. But it has some peculiar charm.
I solved this puzzle rather fast this time, but I think it would be better if there eas some indicatio which lever controls which set of mirror, maybe by marking one set of mirrors with wooden thingies.
Anyway, I got to the area after first encounter with flying skulls after a few tries. I think skulls spawn a bit too close to player. But at the end I was just activating them one by one. And then in that new area I got killed ater some time exploring it. And my save was gone. As far as I understand number of saves is limited, which I am not a fan of, and I think you need to collect ankh for every load - ressurection?
I personally don't think it such a great idea. But then again, maybe it is not a game for me:)
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« Reply #12 on: May 05, 2013, 08:49:19 AM »

This game very well, some things like sprite posture could improve, as said above.
The graphics remind me of the time of the spectrum but with a little more power.

On the other hand I get stuck here, you not opened the door, maybe it is a bug.

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IanSean
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« Reply #13 on: May 05, 2013, 01:30:31 PM »

Hey, thanks for making a special version!
I have played it some more, but I think maybe it is too "old scool" for me. But it has some peculiar charm.
I solved this puzzle rather fast this time, but I think it would be better if there eas some indicatio which lever controls which set of mirror, maybe by marking one set of mirrors with wooden thingies.
Anyway, I got to the area after first encounter with flying skulls after a few tries. I think skulls spawn a bit too close to player. But at the end I was just activating them one by one. And then in that new area I got killed ater some time exploring it. And my save was gone. As far as I understand number of saves is limited, which I am not a fan of, and I think you need to collect ankh for every load - ressurection?
I personally don't think it such a great idea. But then again, maybe it is not a game for me:)

Thanks for giving it another go. It's difficult to assess how difficult I should design the puzzles to accommodate all player types. On one hand I want it to be challenging and rewarding upon completion, on the other hand I don't want to frustrate the player too much.
I might restructure the level setup and make it more modular. For example if you get stuck in one place you might be able to go back to a hub and try another area until you feel motivated to return to the place were you were initially having trouble. What do you think about this idea ?
I feel there needs to be some form of punishment for failure in a fair encounter. Have you seen the inventory Menu ? You are able to pick up health potions which you can drink to regain full health. I might have to implement different difficulty settings, one with unlimited lives and one without.
What did you think of the movement feel ? How did you like the sound fx ? Any other comments ? Thanks again for your time and I hope you enjoyed playing as much as I had making it.
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IanSean
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« Reply #14 on: May 05, 2013, 02:00:59 PM »

This game very well, some things like sprite posture could improve, as said above.
The graphics remind me of the time of the spectrum but with a little more power.

On the other hand I get stuck here, you not opened the door, maybe it is a bug.

[IMAGE]


Thank you for playing. The solution here is to move the box out of the way, activate the button and jump out of harms way. See attached Picture:



I might have to indicate you can lift boxes in a more clear manner (Hold Shift and move the arrow key up). Did you play with the keyboard or gamepad? I hope you will give it another try. I just looked at your game and love the art, especially the player animation (After seeing your monk I am considering giving my character a belt. This might fix his posture Grin). I'm looking forward to playing your game.

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« Reply #15 on: May 06, 2013, 03:08:50 AM »

Admittedly, I did not realize!, Did not know that was the tile of the flame but if it works as it should.
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tequibo
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« Reply #16 on: May 06, 2013, 03:32:00 AM »

I might restructure the level setup and make it more modular. For example if you get stuck in one place you might be able to go back to a hub and try another area until you feel motivated to return to the place were you were initially having trouble. What do you think about this idea ?
I feel there needs to be some form of punishment for failure in a fair encounter. Have you seen the inventory Menu ? You are able to pick up health potions which you can drink to regain full health. I might have to implement different difficulty settings, one with unlimited lives and one without.
What did you think of the movement feel ? How did you like the sound fx ? Any other comments ? Thanks again for your time and I hope you enjoyed playing as much as I had making it.

I think it seems like a huge leap in design - making linear game into non liniar would require a lot of work.
Oh, yeah, after few tries I acessed inventory, when trying to save the game by hitting esc. Because when I died there was an "save game" option for some reason. And I drunk the potion.
As for punishing player, well it is rather big design qeustion, but I would say that repeating the same section is simply not interesting for me at all, and I would prefer to have more frequent checkpoints, defenately not start from beginning in any case.
Controls can use a bit more tuning. Ability to move while attack animation is playing, and probably speeding said animation up a bit, might be an improvement. But, controls were ok, for the most part.
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« Reply #17 on: May 11, 2013, 12:11:37 AM »

I think it seems like a huge leap in design - making linear game into non liniar would require a lot of work.
Oh, yeah, after few tries I acessed inventory, when trying to save the game by hitting esc. Because when I died there was an "save game" option for some reason. And I drunk the potion.
As for punishing player, well it is rather big design qeustion, but I would say that repeating the same section is simply not interesting for me at all, and I would prefer to have more frequent checkpoints, defenately not start from beginning in any case.
Controls can use a bit more tuning. Ability to move while attack animation is playing, and probably speeding said animation up a bit, might be an improvement. But, controls were ok, for the most part.

Thanks for your insight. I will need some more test subjects before I make drastic changes. I tweaked the jump a bit. It feels much better now (less floaty).

I updated the download links with the newest version if anyone is interested. I also added new camera movement. Not too happy with it yet though and it needs some work.  Hand Any Key
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« Reply #18 on: May 11, 2013, 01:39:34 AM »

Trying to run it under Wine I just get an error message that "Cabinet is not valid", though that may just be a Wine incompatibility.  Sad
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IanSean
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« Reply #19 on: June 13, 2013, 06:50:28 PM »

So I've been getting a lot of good feedback and have been working hard on fixing all the issues with the game.  Smiley

Here is a new HQ trailer:





The Demo is available on Desura and if you want to help finance development you can pre-order via alpha funding.  Wizard

http://www.desura.com/games/cloaks-and-spells

I made gifs of the stuff I've been working on recently:



« Last Edit: July 29, 2013, 08:13:33 PM by IanSean » Logged

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