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[Sanojian]

Still no gameplay other than walking and talking (what else is there?)

I have been experimenting with getting the game to accept more complex tiled map inputs.  So... now there are a couple of zones to explore with prettier graphics.

I also added the first MOB (see if you can find him).

This has all been an experiment to see if I could write an MMO client in Javascript.  The answer so far is yes!

Lets all go to TinyMMO!

[J. R. Hill]

I got through the caves but couldn't exit out of them.

(Not sure if that's where the MOB is or if it was the puppy)

Also it might want to timeout characters sooner, like if there's no input for a minute or two.

[SirNiko]

The slow movement and tiny speech bubbles are hilarious in an odd way.

Hitting backspace to try and edit my speech kicked me back to the login screen, at which point I could not relog because I was already logged in.

Not being able to see what I am typing hurts. I compensate by writing short sentences so I'm less likely to misspell or lose track. Too much text slides out of the bubble. If one player is too far north of you, you have situations where the player to the north can read my text, but I cannot read his (because the bubble is over his head and off the top of the screen).

Needs some content (obviously) but as it stands, it's fun and funny to wander around typing inanity while you cruise slowly past the inn and the mob of dubious ferocity.

Looking good so far! Interested to hear what kind of content you intend to implement.

-SirNiko

[Sanojian]

Looking good so far! Interested to hear what kind of content you intend to implement.

Thanks!  I err..uhh... I have always been better at making game engines than actual games. Here are a few possibilities:


1. Three-way war between fantasy world, cowboy world, and mech world (balance?  patch it in later).  Players have a couple of starter zones to level up and then they reach a war zone with forts they can capture for their side.
2. Standard MMO formula.  Kill dudes to get better stuff so you can go new places to kill those dudes to get better stuff so you can...................
3. Players can design their own dungeons with minions, etc (a la Dungeon Keeper) and other players can raid them.

Considering there are only 3 weeks left (one being x-mas) in the competition I will probably have to go with number 2.
 

[Sanojian]

The holidays are finally over and I have some more time for Assemblee!

Wait, there are only 8 days left!?   

Here is some progress:

• Players are saved and you can access an existing character with a password. Don't forget it because there is no way to reset it!
• New HUD for health, mana, xp and target info
• Evil baddies
• You can attack, be attacked, and die (yay!)
• Added priest who can heal and resurrect
• Wizards can cast fireballs
• You can gain XP and level
• Added new zone (these maps take forever  ) There are no inhabitants tho

You still can't loot.  There are also a couple of bugs (probably more than that).  I also haven't improved the chat interface.  Lots of work still to do and not much time.  Sure is fun though.  Let me just say for the record this contest is brilliant!

[jotapeh]

That lvl 2 skelly is a beast...

[Sanojian]

One of the skeletons managed to kill a couple of players and leveled.  Woops.  He then went on a rampage and killed about 8 players.

I finally had to reset the server to kill the evil bastard.

I think maybe I need to make the beginning zone a little easier.

[dbb]

One of the skeletons managed to kill a couple of players and leveled.  Woops.  He then went on a rampage and killed about 8 players.

Isn't that what they call "emergent gameplay"?

EDIT: It's still hella slow. Also, attacking doesn't seem to work for me. I was a fighter and kept mashing button 1 as per the on-screen instructions, but nothing seemed to happen. And then I got killed by a skeleton.

Couldd you speed the movement up a bit? I believe that SimpleSyrup got the players moving faster by only checking for keyboard input every few frames or something, which sounds like it might work as long as you don't need player movement to be pixel-perfect. I don't know; I don't understand how online stuff works. I do feel that the slowness of movement is the major thing standing between me and a fully immersive online experience at this point.

[Sanojian]

I probably should indicate that attack is a toggle.  On or off.  I need to improve the UI to show that.

I'll experiment with faster walking speed too.

[SirNiko]

There's something here, but you have a long way to go.

I made a priest. His name is SirNiko.

Movement speed is way too slow. That's the first and biggest thing I notice.

I crawled over to the inn, and was pleasantly surprised I could enter. I creeped over to the far right, thinking the treasure chest might contain treasure. Sadly, it did not. I moseyed back out of the inn.

When I got the the east, I saw the skelly and skelitor, and figured I'd try out combat. I couldn't get any of my buttons to work, and as far as I know, I never inflicted any damage or managed to get a healing spell off.

Now I am dead, and unaware of how I respawn, if at all (permanent death could actually be a cool concept, but whatever).

It'd be nice if there was a harmless mob closer to the start point that players could practice fighting without threat of death. Then, once they understand combat, they can move up to deadlier foes.

If auto-attack is a toggle, something needs to indicate what you're doing. The lack of animations for assemblee might be an issue, in which case you might use colored auras or little pop-up text (auto-attack on/off!) to indicate what is happening ala Final Fantasy or something.

Looking forward to not being dead so I can try again.

-SirNiko

[MaloEspada]

It runs so slowly here.. : (

[Sanojian]

Movement speed is way too slow. That's the first and biggest thing I notice.

I'm going to give everyone a speed boost except the mobs next update.  That should make the game faster and a little easier at the same time.  Having variable speeds also opens up the option of speed buffs in the future

thinking the treasure chest might contain treasure. Sadly, it did not

There is no looting at all so far.  I haven't even figured out how I am going to implement it yet.  Time...running...out....   

Now I am dead, and unaware of how I respawn

That is a good idea.  I should let players respawn if there are no healers about.  Not sure why I didn't think of that before.

It'd be nice if there was a harmless mob closer to the start point that players could practice fighting without threat of death

Another good idea.

If auto-attack is a toggle, something needs to indicate what you're doing

Yeah I need some kind of flashing indicator.  Next update...

It runs so slowly here.. : (

Are you using IE?  I just realized I totally bustigated IE in my last update and it runs like molasses there.  Now I gotta figure out what it was.  Argh IE is the devil-spawn!   

[Sanojian]

Made a quick update to stem the tide of newbie-death.

Players are now faster and the attack button will indicate when you are in attack mode.

And, because you asked for it, you can now beat up the doggy and he won't fight back so you can practice.  You sadists.   

[SirNiko]

SirNiko is still dead, and unable to participate. 

-SirNiko

[MaloEspada]

No, Firefox

[Mikademus]

Hello! I am practising angry emoticons, and some others too. Not the panda, though. You're my designated target.

Cool idea doing this directly in a web-page, but this comes with some severe issues. And normal bugs.

1) Backspace == previous page. This is quite annoying when trying to enter text you know...
2) Indication you're entering text? Also, bubbles are too small, I can write essays, but only about ten short words will fit
3) I have the option "search as you start typing" on (FF3). It makes browsing bearable. You can guess that this makes the game unplayable unless I turn it off. 
4) When you enter a new region, the character will keep moving in a seemingly random direction until you press a key
5) When you exit the inn, your sprite disappear before clearing the door, and then you actually have to move a substantial distance out-of-view before the game switches to the main map
6) Does attacking really work? "1" or "2" (attack and kick) doesn't seem to do anything... Or is the warrior perchance a pacifist? 
7) I died the death of being much killed. But I could still write spiteful epics that didn't fit in the captions bubbles 
8 ) Worst: I couldn't spank the dog! 
9) Bonus: Movement is super-slow

Otherwise, way cool, and very promising!   Happy emoticon --->   

[Sanojian]

SirNiko is still dead, and unable to participate.

I added a respawn button when you die.  You will respawn in the starter zone with zero XP.

Does attacking really work? "1" or "2" (attack and kick) doesn't seem to do anything

Maybe I should have specified you need to target a MOB to attack by clicking on them first.

No, Firefox

Hmm, what version?  Is the whole game slow or just your walking speed?

[SirNiko]

I respawned. I killed the dog, and a couple of skellies in the cave, before one killed me without me inflicting so much as a scratch. I hit zero, respawned at level 1 (was at level 2) and decided to log out at the inn and call it a day.

Basic functionality is there. Combat is still incredibly confusing. It's not really clear what is working or not. My healing spell goes off randomly. I get blank frames frequently while walking around. Movement is better, but still really slow. Typing is really unintuitive, since it isn't clear when I'm in "Type" mode and I can't see what I'm typing until I hit enter to send.

I'm not sure what suggestions to make at this point. Combat really needs to be tightened up, or maybe you'd be better off sprucing up the game with other activities than killing stuff?

Later I may try again to get to the end of that cave. I am curious to see how far I can explore. At least that aspect of the game is there. I do love exploring.

-SirNiko

[Sanojian]

Thanks so much for the feedback.  I fixed a bunch of annoying stuff.

• now you can see and correct what you are typing in chat
• less confusing targeting.  You don't have to hit 1-attack anymore
• better diagonal walking when you hit something impassible
• better feedback when casting spells
• MOBs now have to obey impassible terrain rules
• priests heal themselves by default if an enemy is targeted
• fixed problem with being unable to do damage after switching targets
• introduced some new bugs (I will leave these as a surprise for both of us)

Coming soon...

• character items and looting
• lots of maps and new mobs
• evil player team?  (maybe)
• more new bugs

[Mikademus]

Ok, now that I understand that you need to target something with the mouse before I can attack them, I can whip my enemies. This is incredibly counter-intuitive since the rest of the game seems exclusively keyboard-centric. There is a really simple trick I discovered that allows you to beat every skellington in the cave w/o losing almost a single HP (just back off after having attacked). You will still target and attack dead enemies, even after de-selecting them, Movement is still unbearably slow.

Otherwise, it seems to shape up nicely! With some fixes you might have a really nice game happening here!