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[AD1337]

Play here!

Eastward Quest is an action RPG where you always move east. Only victory can stop you - or death.

-- Newest Screenshot: --



-- Original post: --

Development began last week. I had the idea last Sunday at the end of Ludum Dare 26. The theme was minimalism and this would be a minimalist RPG. As I had already finished my LD game, I had no time to finish this one, but I will now.

Below is a recap of my progress so far.

This was the first mockup:



A 3x3 tiles map, some stats, items, enemies. The idea was that the player could only move up or down, so in that image he could either fight the goblin or enter the castle. Then I started coding (in Flash) the basics: tile generation and movement:



I added a character which could be moved up and down:



Needing more space for the UI, I played around and decided it was best to make it horizontal, and replaced the placeholder graphics in the prototype with my mockup graphics:



After that, a bunch of stuff was added. UI changes, enemies, animations, screen shake, HP loss and regen, speeding up and slowing down, and a landscape view that shows where you are in relation to your goal:



Such is the current state of the game. I made the logo today to put it in the beginning of this thread.

There's still much left to do, let me know if you have any suggestions or comments ( ).

Thanks!

[Udderdude]

Are there going to be ranged attacks?

[DustyDrake]

Based on how that screenshake works, you may want to consider unloading the tiles a little later.
I can see the gray of the canvas when you get hit in the gif

[AD1337]

Are there going to be ranged attacks?

I plan to add them, both by enemies and by the player. But only in later levels.

Based on how that screenshake works, you may want to consider unloading the tiles a little later.
I can see the gray of the canvas when you get hit in the gif

You're right. I tried fixing that quickly, but it will take changing a bit how I do tile generation, so I'll leave it for later.

I added some tile props: flowers, signs, bushes. The first level will be "cheerful grassland" like this, but later levels will have different tilesets (dungeon, snow, lava).

[Konidias]

So when do you run into the guy who only goes West?



But as for actual feedback...

I think it would be a lot more fun if the character was running full sprint at all times. This would create a sense of action and urgency. Right now the guy is just strolling forward and bumping into stuff.

I think if you expanded the field of view horizontally by perhaps double the length... and then doubled his speed, it would make for a more interesting game. He would just be running and slashing through baddies without slowing down and that would be much cooler than the casual walk.

Also throwing in a combo system would be nice too.

[AD1337]

The game will get faster on harder levels. You will also be able to buy "Quick Boots" to increase walk speed or buy "Stone Boots" to make yourself slower (could be useful in a level that goes too fast).

I feel it's important to let the player control the speed a little bit. I would be extremely annoyed if the character didn't go faster when I pressed right, and slower when I pressed left. That's why I added those.

I have added food to the game. It heals you. Apple for 5, bread for 10. The heart now increases max HP.

[AD1337]

Picking up potions:

[AD1337]

New character, animated! 



Only walk animation, need to do an attack one.

[Udderdude]

Wouldn't it be better if you had to press a button to attack instead of just running into enemies?

[AD1337]

Wouldn't it be better if you had to press a button to attack instead of just running into enemies?

Maybe? I like it the way it is now, makes it more unique and fits in with the simplicity. I like that you can play with just one hand on the keyboard. Next up is "wouldn't it be better if the player could move westwards too?" and that is just heresy.

[AD1337]

I need some opinions on this. About the landscape view, do you mind if the pixel resolution of the background is different from the character's in this manner?



Reminding you that this is just a view that lets you know how close to the end of the level you are.

Thanks.

[Konidias]

You could honestly just have a double tap forward be a dash attack and that's how he attacks... then you'd still only need one hand.

It just feels like there's not a whole lot to do right now. If you can't actually time attacks or do combos or do anything else... it's just literally moving up and down to the right spots. I can't see that being entertaining for very long.

[AD1337]

You could honestly just have a double tap forward be a dash attack and that's how he attacks... then you'd still only need one hand.

It just feels like there's not a whole lot to do right now. If you can't actually time attacks or do combos or do anything else... it's just literally moving up and down to the right spots. I can't see that being entertaining for very long.

Thanks for the feedback!

[moi]

I need some opinions on this. About the landscape view, do you mind if the pixel resolution of the background is different from the character's in this manner?

No but there is no a lot of work to do to smooth out the slopes with pixels, I think it would look better.

[Xion]

I disagree with those saying attacking should be manual. I like the idea of it much more as a resource management and reflexive decision-making game (split-second "Can I take on this enemy or do I switch lanes?" "Do I take the health potion or the strength powerup?") more than anything, and adding manual attacks seems like it might detract from that simplicity.

also I kind of liked the old mockup character's design more. This dude feels super generic now. Which might be the point but still.

[AD1337]

No but there is no a lot of work to do to smooth out the slopes with pixels, I think it would look better.

Yeah, you're right. I resized that art and didn't treat it more carefully, when I work on the level backgrounds I'll improve it.

I disagree with those saying attacking should be manual. I like the idea of it much more as a resource management and reflexive decision-making game (split-second "Can I take on this enemy or do I switch lanes?" "Do I take the health potion or the strength powerup?") more than anything, and adding manual attacks seems like it might detract from that simplicity.

also I kind of liked the old mockup character's design more. This dude feels super generic now. Which might be the point but still.

Thanks. I hear what you're saying about the character. I wanted to make a standard character that you start with and have unlockable classes, like Mage which would be the old character. So the starter would be more generic and the unlockables more unique.

Here's a pretty pic for the new page:



I have also been thinking of an original company logo for when the game is distributed worldwide. Considering something new, unlike anything before:

[Windybeard]

this looks preety cool, so simple but sometimes thats what gets you hooked, plus the graphics a nice.

As for the AE logo, thats treading on thin ice if you ask me, especially with a company like that, horrible bast**ds.

[Udderdude]

Needs more MS Paint.

[AD1337]

this looks preety cool, so simple but sometimes thats what gets you hooked, plus the graphics a nice.

As for the AE logo, thats treading on thin ice if you ask me, especially with a company like that, horrible bast**ds.

Yeah, it's just a joke. I laughed a bit so I figured someone else might too. I like the naem "AE Gaems" though.

[Kit]

Yeah, it's just a joke. I laughed a bit so I figured someone else might too. I like the naem "AE Gaems" though.

You guys could branch out and sell dairy products too... Oh, wait...

XD

As to the game, this would make an excellent mobile or html5 mobile style game. Keep that in mind. Really digging the sprite work, and I don't think the resolution difference on the map is visually distracting enough to say "No way". Rather, I think it looks alright.