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[NMcCoy]

I got a little ambitious this week, resulting in me making my upload deadline by a matter of seconds (and not giving the game a proper writeup until now). Dragondot is my take on the action-rpg/action-adventure genre, inspired by the likes of Zelda and Crystalis. (And by not being able to justify shelling out fifteen bucks for Pokemon Rumble, but I digress.) I've learned a lot from the making of this game (such as "don't try writing an action RPG in a week", and how to make circles adorable), but I think I'm going to aim for something a bit simpler next week. Preferably not involving circles, as I'm quite sick of them after yesterday's panicked 7-hour coding spree.

Anyway. Go play Dragondot!

Comments and feedback would be much appreciated. 

[ortoslon]

playthrough

[Matt Thorson]

Hey this was really fun! I love how the game had and used z-depth quite well, and it was great fun tricking enemies into attacking eachother

[NMcCoy]

playthrough

Awesome awesome. In my test playthroughs, I usually went after the worg boss first, so I didn't realize it was possible to just tank him at level 10. For each boss, I made sure that there is a strategy that lets you avoid taking any damage. Pity about that one kobold, too - you were so close to a full-survival run.

Hey this was really fun! I love how the game had and used z-depth quite well, and it was great fun tricking enemies into attacking eachother

Yeah - ever since I discovered it in Wind Waker I've been a big fan of enemies that are able to hurt each other, in games where it's relevant. This is, in fact, the sole reason there are two goblins in the giant's room.

...Come to think of it, it would've been a rather dastardly trick to put a kobold in that room. 

[Eraser]

Wow this game was great. I ended up killing the kobolds on purpose though, in hopes of health

[mark]

I was listening to music when I started this, now I have no ear drums, and it didn't have a mute button

I really like it, looks great and plays well.

edit: NMcCoy, I love your avatar.

[NMcCoy]

Apologies for a lack of mute this time, but I was ridiculously crunched for time at the end (through no one's fault but my own) and it was literally a decision between the features of "possible to mute game" and "possible to beat game".

[TheDustin]

This is pretty neat, I'd love to see you expand on this idea. If you ever decide to make a Zelda-like you'll already have solid battle mechanics going.

[Skofo]

Oh, wow; this is awesome. I started on

once, but the player movement in that doesn't feel nearly as smooth as in your game. After studying your game, I discovered that it's in big part because of that tiny wavy motion the characters in your game have! That's genius! The fact that everything else in the game is bouncy or wavy really helped in making the whole game feel smooth overall. Great attention to detail! I am super impressed.

EDIT: And the audio is adorable! What'd you make it with?

EDIT: Gah most of your games are awesome! You have a new fanboy.

[nihilocrat]

Wow, that looks like a surprisingly fun beat-em-up. I'd like to see how it is with two players (local for simplicity's sake). Another good example of using bits of animation and polish here and there to make a bunch of circles look impressive.

[Valter]

This is a totally solid way to spend thirty minutes. Props! 

[Skofo]

Hah, I just discovered that you can hurt the weaker monsters by falling on them hard enough!

Awesome attention to detail.

[Curseman]

Hey, this is fun!

Simple, but fun.

[lem]

I like the game. I just don't think I'm going to finish it; I'm simply not good enough, and the health economy you've got in here is really tight. Since learning the behavior of the enemies is kind of draining, it's hard to keep up above a perpetual 1 hp once you've already killed all the kobolds and are up against tougher enemies you haven't dealt with yet, like the ghosts. I keep dying at like level 6, and it's too much to work all the way back up there again. I guess I just suck at it a LOT. Either that, or you need a way to get more health.

[Curseman]

You get full healing when you level up, and 90% of the enemies' patterns involve making a beeline for your character and attacking directly in close range.

[Melly]

It's an amusing diversion, but I've never really liked action games in which it's impossible not to take hits. I guess being a dragon doesn't lend itself to chickenshit out of enemies' attacks, but that's just more my style.

Still, it's pretty awesome. A bunch of circles, whodathunk it.

[Kadoba]

If you time your attacks and flight right you can get through most of the enemies without getting hit. The exception probably being the wizard.

[Valter]

Wizard's fully dodgable too. Put him off until you have flight. Then fly before the fireball goes off to avoid it and run in or a swipe. Back out, start flying again, lather rinse repeat.

The warg is probably hardest to do no-damage, considering that it's so heavy, and attacks quickly.

[lem]

You get full healing when you level up, and 90% of the enemies' patterns involve making a beeline for your character and attacking directly in close range.

My problem is dealing with the other 10% when you have only one health point and have killed everything else you can hope to take on without room for error. If you can't level up without dying, you can't heal.

Maybe savepoints?

[Skofo]

Here's my general strat for those who have trouble:

Against...

• Most enemies: circle 'round them to gather them all in one clump, face them, and spam the attack key.
• Ghosts: Play baseball. Don't move around; let them move towards you one at a time, and strike when the time is right.
• Wizard: Fly in a random area away from him until he stops in place, which is your cue to sneak in a few hits while he's busy casting a futile fireball. Rinse, repeat as needed.
• Giant: Fly low over him, then if he stops, hit him from the back a few times and run like hell. Repeat.
• Dire Worg: At a high level and with a hefty health supply, just spam him with attacks.
  

If all else fails, = levels you up, backspace kills all the enemies in the current cell.