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[outlandishPIXEL]

UPDATE: GAME COMPLETE

Download here!

Project: Dungeon Burglars by www.outlandishpixel.com

Hey everyone,

Firstly let me say how awesome it is to see all these indie projects come to life on this forum. I'm excited about many of the games I'm seeing on here right now.

As I have made some progress I thought I would post the first devlog of my mobile project: Dungeon Burglars.

This game involves defending your dungeon and treasure against would-be burglars of varying types. It has a simplistic pixel art style and is designed to be a 'quick to play - easy to lose' game involving frustrating, yet enjoyable gameplay. Burglars will attack in progressively faster and more numerous waves with occasional random bonus rounds. Burglars will vary in type and some will be resistant or immune to certain traps. Traps will be bought and placed by the player to defend your dungeon. Once all your treasure has been taken you lose the game. This means your 'health' is also your in game currency, so an element of strategy is needed.

This video shows a demonstration of the 7 traps used to stop burglars from stealing your treasure. The numbers at the top of the screen show the total treasure, and the highest total treasure (score). These burglars add 10 treasure to your total when killed, but when they get to the right hand side they return to the entrance with 100 pieces of your treasure. Burglars that are killed before they escape will drop the treasure stolen and it will return to your total. The numbers you can see upon clicking the trap to activate it is the cool-down before you can use it again.


Watch the video!



This video primarily shows the activation of traps. All art is subject to change, and assets and numerical feedback is temporary so I can see that it's working. Multiple animated burglars (which you can see in the last still image I posted) and trap animation to be added.

So here is basically what's been done so far in the last week:

• Pixel art for the burglar and trap on/off assets, as well as the background
• Walking and death animation for one burglar type
• Burglar collisions and duration damage/effects with all 7 current traps

Decisions that I need to make now are:

• Length of waves (the game is supposed to be fairly fast and quick to play)
• Treasure 'return' system. Does treasure return to your total upon death of a burglar, or at the end of the wave? (the latter would make it more challenging which is what I think I'd prefer)

My next devlog won't be this lengthy! Any feedback is welcome! This devlog is from my website www.outlandishpixel.com.

-oP

[outlandishPIXEL]

Project: Dungeon Burglars by www.outlandishpixel.com

For this update I decided that I needed to have the basis of my trap placement system done. There is currently 9 'slots' for traps to be positioned in. My reasoning behind this is that because it's pixel art, when I come to re-design it for older iOS screens I want to simply crop the existing view, move the doors inwards and have the same amount of space for traps. Therefore 9 slots is the optimum. I will admit that this process is trial and error and I haven't ever produced an iOS game so there are bound to be more snags along the way, especially as I am using pixel art. I may need to rethink the size of buttons and traps as whilst watching this video on my phone, it seemed that perhaps the buttons were too small for an average finger! However, I am just happy that I got something working!

Watch the video!


 

This video shows purchasing traps and placing them. Free 'slots' will be highlighted in green when a trap has been selected. Used slots are simple not highlighted. If there is insufficient funds then the free slots will flash red before cancelling the purchase.

So here is basically what's been done so far in the last week:

• Purchase buttons for each trap
• 'Slot's made to place traps

Next on the agenda:

• Make a button to remove a trap and recover half of the cost
• Polish up cool-down, treasure total and create a 'health bar' for the burglar wave

This devlog is from my website www.outlandishpixel.com. Any feedback is welcome! Thanks for reading! -oP

[outlandishPIXEL]

Project: Dungeon Burglars by www.outlandishpixel.com

Time for the next update, and I've made some big progress (well in my eyes at least) with the GUI and some minor polish.

So the first big change is the x2 zoom. I felt that the original view was too small with too much black, wasted space. This means that in order to view the entire dungeon you must now scroll left and right. I'm hoping that this will add an additional level of frustration and panic as you wildly fling back and forth to catch the burglars. There is also 11 slots for traps to be placed in (as opposed to the original 9) and traps can now be sold to free up a slot.

The GUI is now restricted to the bottom of the screen, with the exception of the purchase menu which pops down and automatically closes when a trap is selected. After the required amount of burglars have been killed the level 'Complete' screen will pop up indicating the amount of kills, recovered treasure (from dead burglars who managed to reach the treasure), the final total and the current best score.

The temporary numerical cool-down indicator has been replaced with a more appropriate clock-style timer, which despite being a minor change, has made a difference to the overall polish. The majority of the menu and buttons now have a red colour scheme to set them apart from the greys of the background. With regards to the overall aesthetic, I will most likely decide to revisit the dungeon background and add decals and other elements to make it look more interesting.

Watch the video!


 
Next on the agenda:

• Polish trap animations
• Animate status-effects on current burglar (replace existing particle effect)
• Begin to animate the other 4 burglars

This devlog is from my website www.outlandishpixel.com. Any feedback is welcome! Thanks for reading! -oP

[outlandishPIXEL]

Project: Dungeon Burglars by www.outlandishpixel.com

Hey so this update is a small but significant one in terms of early 'polishing'. I have made animations for the 7 traps and status effects, all of which are simple and pixelly just as nature intended. I am happy with the way it looks at the minute but I need to make progress on the animation of the other burglars and working on the level design (that term may not seem appropriate for this game but I consider the 'design' of each level to be all about balancing and stats). Once I have finished the other enemies I can begin to iron out any balancing kinks and see how the game will actually play - and then I can consider any drastic changes. Fingers crossed it'll turn out the way I hope! See the video for the animations.

Watch the video!


 
Next on the agenda:

• The other burglars!

This devlog is from my website www.outlandishpixel.com. Any feedback is welcome! Thanks for reading! -oP

[outlandishPIXEL]

Project: Dungeon Burglars by www.outlandishpixel.com

So here's a bigger update to my free mobile game in development! If you are new to this then please check out the previous devlogs if you're interested. In short this game is a free quick-to-play mobile game for when you're bored on a commute. You must protect your dungeon and treasure from pesky burglars using traps which you must buy and place. Treasure is therefore your currency and also your 'health'. When you run out of treasure, you lose. This game is all about being frustrated and beating that high score. There will be a set number of levels, so it's possible to win but the high score is the important factor!

So what have I accomplished? Well I have also completed all movement, status effect and death ('fainting') animations and have done some initial balancing; I am quite happy with what I have so far. Thats the short of it, but the video really shows my progress. This time I have made a video with commentary showing off all the burglars and how each trap affects them. Please have a look!

Watch the video!


 
Next on the agenda:

• Audio!
• Build the first few levels
• Make extra death animations based on what trap dealt the killing blow

This devlog is from my website www.outlandishpixel.com. Any feedback is welcome! Thanks for reading! -oP

[outlandishPIXEL]

Project: Dungeon Burglars by www.outlandishpixel.com

It's been a busy month for me but I did find some time to update the game. The additions are minor but they help to bring the whole project together slightly. I haven't been able to tick off everything from the agenda, but they will be accomplished next time! Here's a short video showing the game in it's current state.

Watch the video!



Next on the agenda:

• More audio/change audio
• Build the first few levels
• Make extra death animations based on what trap dealt the killing blow

Any feedback is welcome! Thanks for reading! -oP

[outlandishPIXEL]

Project: Dungeon Burglars by www.outlandishpixel.com


It's been another busy month of work for me, but I have found time to do a lot of work on the game. I have completed the 12 main levels and after some testing decided that it was a bit too easy (although I knew what was coming). I had a thought this weekend and quickly added 2 new 'support' burglars: The Cleric and the Sapper. Despite all the work I've done, this video is a short one showing off these new additions. Check it out!

Watch the video!



Next on the agenda:

• Music
• Last SFX changes
• Add boss 'The Bankrupt King'
• Create endurance mode (99999 enemies)
• Final graphics polish

Any feedback is welcome! What do you think of the new support classes? Thanks for reading! -oP

[DarthBenedict]

It might be worth coming up with a single palette for both the levels and the characters, that should make everything fit better aesthetically.

[outlandishPIXEL]

Thanks for the input

I quite like the vibrant contrast between characters and background but I might experiment with that

[outlandishPIXEL]

Download here!

Dungeon Burglars is my first complete game for iOS and it's FREE to download. An update is already in review and I will continue to update it if any bugs raise their ugly heads. As I said this is my first game and I don't deem it perfect in any way! However I am proud of my achievement, as I have been trying to finish projects since I was a kid and have struggled to maintain focus. I have already made lots of progress into my second project which is another simple concept, but there is a lot less work 'under the hood' than there is in Dungeon Burglars. So this game will be in development for a considerably shorter period. I have learnt a fair amount from a design perspective, and about what game mechanics work and what don't.

Any feedback is welcome and I will take it all on board. I won't be altering the build in response to suggestions as I want to move on and upwards, but if you discover any bugs then let me know and I will do my best to fix them. Again this game is FREE so please give it a go! Also thanks goes to my brother for his bit of testing. -oP