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[affinity]

Heya! My friend and I just released the beta version of a browser game that we’ve been working on for awhile.  We made this game because we wanted to try to improve on the oh-so-common "log on once a day and do random actions" browser games by putting in some real game mechanics (as opposed to click->quest completed!).  We’re open to any and all suggestions, since the game is still in its relatively early stages and could use lots of feedback!

We're particularly looking to iron any bugs out (since we just launched a big UI change) and make sure all stages of the game are fun to play.  e.g. One of the things that irked some players was that it took too long to reach the first promotion, so we reduced the promotion requirements.  Also, we'd love it if people could think of some innovative strategies and see if some characters need balancing.

What is it?

Almasy Tactics is a new and free browser strategy game with some RPG elements.  Players train and arrange multiple characters into formations and fight others. Characters can be promoted to different classes, potentially giving them the ability to increase the abilities of their neighbors.

Almasy’s battle system is similar to turn-based RPG games like Atlantica Online or some of the Final Fantasy series.  However, battle is fully automated: instead of forcing players to control every single move, characters will automatically attack the enemy they can deal the most damage to (this can customized to the player’s liking, too!).  

The result is that in terms of graphics and animation, it’s not a fully fledged game [plus some of our art is still being drawn], but it makes up for this with other advantages:
•   Nothing to download or install: You can start playing right away + wherever you want.
•   You can be successful no matter how much time you commit: Casual players that simply want to put together a formation equip them with random items, and throw them against another formation can do decently well; more serious players may enjoy the endless possibilities of formation combinations and optimizing equipment.

Classes and Formations

One of the unique features of Almasy is that each character will bestow his allies with buffs depending on how they are placed.  Some examples:


  The Tyrant reduces stats of his nearby allies because he’s selfish. But, he has really good growth so it might be possible to put him on his own off to one side and have a regular army outside his aoe.


There’s also the Swashbuckler, which gives +1 strikes and +4 speed to the people near him for two rounds, so he’s a rush character. You could put some heavy hitters on the front row with him and try ending the game in a few rounds.


And my favorite is the Virtuoso, which has insane stat growth and self buffs but gives himself -70% damage for 10 rounds. But if you can stall for that time using other classes, you can really unleash a ton of damage. If you’ve played Magic, it’s sort of like combo deck.

A picture of the Organize Formation screen, where players select where each character goes.  Character stats are updated as characters are moved around to help players optimize stats.

Since each character levels and promotes individually, we have a large promotion tree to give players plenty of options to choose from.  A full list of the classes in Almasy can be found here: http://almasytactics.com/help/class_list


Which class to choose…
Class Change screen:


Trainee Branch class promotions:


Item System

Since you’ll be managing lots of characters at once, they only have two equipment slots, weapon and armor.  Equipment can be upgraded by either refining the item (classic upgrading which improves the attack or defense of an item) or imbuing (sort of like diablo2 rune words).  Imbuing items is important because it can potentially change the role of characters in your formation.

An example of an imbued item:


Battle System

Like I said before, battle is fully automated.  By default, characters will attack the enemy that they will deal the most raw damage to, but players that want to try specific strategies (such as attacking the opponent with the lowest health) can do so through simple Lua scripts. LUA is relatively easy to understand; those of you that don't want to bother, we have some premade scripts for use.

An example of a battle replay: people can analyze how their characters act in battle and make adjustments to their AI for future battles.  We’re currently in the process of making fancy smancy flash animations to replace this, but this works for now.


Future Steps

Of course, Almasy is still far from finished.  Some features that we hope to implement in the future are:
•   A Friend/Rival system: Lets you know how you match up against someone (more multiplayer interactions
•   Battlegrounds: Although the game is already mostly pvp, we’re planning to implement an even MORE competitive option for players.  Battlegrounds lets players fight each other for bounty (sort of like onepiece… heh).
•   Tactician Traits: This is a big one.  Our old system for Tactician traits was fundamentally flawed, so we’re completely scrapping it for a new one.  The new system allows you to equip your formations with "skills" that affect all your characters, which may change how your formation plays.  Think of it as global buffs for your formation, if you will.
•    Drafting events: We hope to implement some sort of drafting event in the future; sort of like picking players for a pickup basketball game.


If anything seems unclear or downright confusing, just ask away! Any questions/criticisms/comments/flames are appreciated~

http://almasytactics.com/
(Firefox/Chrome recommended)

[deathtotheweird]

Please introduce yourself in this thread before asking for some feedback. It's always appreciated to have people presenting themselves before asking for some help.

[affinity]

Oops, sorry allen. I'll do that right now

[Inane]

I'm not a big fan of browser-based games, but your game is a lot better than most .
Created account yesterday. Getting repeatedly smashed at the beginning was pretty discouraging, but now I'm able to kill most fuckers within 100 power above me.

You should point out the screens for formation organizing and how to imbue weapons outside of the getting started guide, since they're important enough that people shouldn't be able to miss them.
The missing portraits really make me sad I think I'd prefer unique mspaint doodles to the same picture for every class without a professionally done one.

[affinity]

Thanks for the kind words :D

I'll get right to work on those suggestions ^^; as for the sketches, both our sketcher and colorist are on a hiatus... I'll be searching for one asap! 

[Inane]

Also, I feel that when all the characters get the same amount of experience you get no real dynamic in the team. Maybe the exp calculation should be on how much the character actually does in battle?

Noo! You'd cripple support classes.

I've been using "attack weakest" for most of the game, but I've set this up for my physical attackers:

Code:

if target.hp <= me.estimatedDamageToTarget then
    priority = 10000000

elseif target.class == "Cardinal" then priority = 99990
elseif target.class == "Empath" then priority = 99900
elseif target.attackType == "Magical" then priority = 90000 - physicalDefense

else
    priority = me.estimatedDamageToTarget / target.hp
end

My magic fuckers have a similar script, but prioritize 'magicalDefense - physicalDefense' if none of their target classes can be found.

[affinity]

Yea, the reputation/matchmaking system REALLY needs work.  We're currently in the process of making a new one (one that also makes picking your opponents a little more involved) because of the many people saying that it needs work..

Also, Inane, nice script~ Here's the one that I use for my Deadeye:

Code:

classes = {} 
classes["Deadeye"] = 10
classes["Cardinal"] = 9 
classes["Minstrel"] = 9
classes["Adjudicator"] = 9
classes["Mastersmith"] = 9
classes["Blade Dancer"] = 9
classes["Warlock"] = 8
classes["Conjurer"] = 8
classes["Champion"] = 6
 
for className, classPriority in pairs(classes) do 
    if (className == target.class) then 
         priority = classPriority 
         break 
    end 
end 
 
if target.attacksAll == 1 then 
    priority = priority + 10000 
end 

if me.estimatedDamageToTarget >= target.hp then
    priority = priority + 9999 + target.estimatedDamage
end

priority = priority + (me.estimatedDamageToTarget / target.hp)*100

[muku]

Code:

classes = {} 
for className, classPriority in pairs(classes) do 
    if (className == target.class) then 
         priority = classPriority 
         break 
    end 
end

I'm wondering, couldn't that whole bit just be

Code:

priority = classes[target.class]

?

[Inane]

Also, wouldn't the "priority = priority + (me.estimatedDamageToTarget / target.hp)*100" at the end kind of negate the whole class prioritization?

I created a new squad, mostly to get rid of all the default name guys (Matthew attacks Matthew! is kind of confusing, ya know). I've already run in to an issue in that all but one of my folks are going to be 1 range units their whole life, and my build unfortunately relies on getting rid of critical-attack and magic based units as early as possible (since my front-line units will have over 100% physical reduction, if I don't change the plan by level 52).

I think a round-by-roun option for viewing battles would be good. It's hard seeing the bigger picture when your options are single turn or skipping to the end of the battle.

[affinity]

Hey guys, sorry for the bump , but we've just made a huge update to Almasy, fixing some of our biggest problems (tedious refining system, too much money, and matchmaking). If you guys could check it out and give us some feedback, I'd really appreciate it!