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[porousnapkin]

Download and Trailer

EDIT: I released the 1.0 version with a tutorial and a variety of other things. Feedback is still totally appreciated, and I'm still adding a bunch to the game so if you have any ideas, continue posting them and they may make it into the game.

[RotateMe]

Hmm can't download for some reason ("connection failed" after clicking "Download now!").

One thing I can tell from the screenshots and movies though: stick to one pixel resolution, e.g. the tiles and beings have double or triple sized pixels but the items have normal sized pixels. I'd personally prefer items, fonts and the HUD in general to have a lower resolution, fitting to Onyx's tileset. The health/mana/etc. bars down there look kinda meh too. Other then that, I like how fluent the gameplay is! Thought of any features that make your game unique yet? If not, do so, I developed a roguelike for four years or so without realizing I did nothing that hasn't been done already...

[porousnapkin]

I agree on the pixel resolution. I'm a terrible artist though. I may try my hand at making some of the item art in the future to replace the current stuff. Primarily this problem came from drawing art from two separate artists because I wasn't confident enough in my own art skills to make stuff that looks as good.

Not sure why the download wouldn't be working. I've had a few friends download it successfully, so it may be some sort of weird problem on your end, or location based or something.

[baconman]

Feature ideas:

Variable difficulty/length. The length is easy, just have it based on a different number of floors. As for the difficulty, that could be as simple as editing the item-spawn rate... higher difficulty = less items.

A job/quest kind of system. Find this mystical item, collect a set of that stuff, kill a specific, unique target, rescue or protect another NPC, score xxx or more gold, speedrun that crap - stuff like that. Really basic stuff that can fit well within this kind of framework, kind of like PokeMon Mystery Dungeon. Hardly groundbreaking I know, but you'd be amazed at what adding goals other than "just get to the end" can do; especially if it forces the player to change what they're doing (full exploring vs. quicker completion, for instance).

You might find HexRogue here a little inspiring. Not for it's hexagonal movement per se, but for the varieties of room/floor types it generates; like maze rooms, obstacle rooms, or the long corridors with branchoff rooms. You'll see what I'm talking about when you get there.

OH! Having *some* enemies that actually pick up and use items appropriately would be a nice touch (I don't know why so many RL's don't do that!), or enemies that target (or spawn) items, and then run away from you. Kinda forces the player to evaluate the worth of the items vs. the chase/hunt. (Though for the sake of the chase, non-a-starred/more generalized movement AI would be a must, so there's at least SOME chance of catching them. I can see how that could be a pain, except with maybe a 10% chance that, in a room, they run one angle off from the optimal direction".)


EDIT: Meant to edit my previous message, not quote it. 

[RCIX]

So, here's my feedback. Great game! I did experience a couple of bugs though:
 * When zooming out, sometimes enemy graphics start zooming towards the bottom-right. See this screenshot for an example.
 * Sometimes, the inventory icon gets "confused" and tries to render both graphics at once (wasn't able to get a shot of this)
 * If i press M to zoom out all the way, then go through a down stairway, then i won't be able to see my character when the next map loads.
 * If i keep pressing a key to use a wand after it prompts for target location, it will use more charges but only give me 1 back if i cancel.
 * The dungeon generator once made a room with no connections to any other room, which i used my sole teleport scroll to get into (leaving me trapped). Was this supposed to happen?
 
I haven't played it too much, though i will give feedback on what i did:
 * The switch scroll seems relatively useless to me.
 

As far as what could use improving/a tutorial:
 * What really confused me first is the level-up screen. I knew it was a level up but i didn't see the buttons to press, and the box wouldn't go away, so i ended up closing the game a few times before i realized how to work it.
 * It also wasn't clear at first how the level-up stat boost mechanic worked. A dismissible dialog explaining it would be most appreciated.
 * The little things like auto-pathing and custom zoom levels escaped me for a while. Something to point these out would be nice.
 * The fact that eating food doesn't consume a turn while everything else does seemed a bit odd to me at first.
 * The lack of an ability to drop back to the main menu is bad.

Feature Ideas:
 * Adventurer -- new character class
   * Comes with a whip, 5 strength, 5 intelligence, 50 HP
   * Ability: Training
     * Permanently sacrifice 1 strength to gain X amount of XP
 * Whip -- new weapon
   * Damage: 6 + str (7 + str?)
   * ranged, has a 2 square range
   * Does not use ammo
   * Does not appear in mazes
 * Have enemies randomly carry items like you do
   * they gain the effects of that item and drop it when killed

I'll give more feedback as I come up with it!

About the characters: I know I saw them in another game, so can you point me to where you can get them? in case I want to make a roguelike of my own

[porousnapkin]

... huge amount of awesome feedback ...

Wow, that's all SUPER helpful info. That will all definitely help me get the next version more polished. Thanks!

The art I pulled mostly from the awesome stuff Oryx did for Assemblee pt. 1. Check out this page: http://www.derekyu.com/tigs/assemblee/  and search for Oryx in there.

I also used Ail's pixel art icons a friend of mine directed me to here: http://ails.deviantart.com/art/420-Pixel-Art-Icons-for-RPG-129892453

I have one quick question based on one of your bug reports.
In the floor where you were able to get stuck, were you in a cave or a dungeon (a bunch of rooms connected by passage ways)? I have to separate level generators. The cave one covers the middle floors (6-10) and the dungeon covers the early and late floors (1-5, 10-15). If I knew which one caused the problem I'll have a much easier time finding the bug.

I like your suggested class. The idea of sacrificing a stat for experience is interesting. I'll probably play around with it a bit once I get everything fixed up and see how it works. Thanks!

A job/quest kind of system. ...

I like this idea a lot. Originally, I was thinking I would do something like this inspired by Din's Curse. However, it's not easy to do, especially since I don't have a town. Definitely going on the wish list though, something I might get to in the future.

I will also check out HexRogue when I get some time. I like the idea of trying to add as much variance to the random level generator as possible to keep the replayability high.

[RCIX]

I was trying to change the Wand of Fireballs icon to another one, and Through crashes now whenever i try to start the game as a Wizard (any difficulty). I've saved my alternate image as a 32 bit windows BMP with no row order flipping and an appropriate alpha channel. I could post the image if needed.

Sorry for the late additional feedback! It was in a dungeon, i think in the first levels.

[porousnapkin]

Okay, so here's the thing with my image loader... it's insane and I haven't figured out why yet. What I've found is if I make images that have even number pixel widths and heights, it breaks, but odd numbers USUALLY works. Try and make the width and height end in 7, that almost always works.

That's really something I have to fix. I apologize for that. What's happening is it crashes because it doesn't load the wand art asset until you're playing a wizard in game, and when it tries to load it, it fails and crashes.

If you're still having trouble getting it working, email it to me ([email protected]) and I'll see what's going wrong.

[porousnapkin]

Oh shoot, there's another part to this as well. The way I denote animations is actually in the art file itself. There's a single black pixel in the upper right corner and a single yellow pixel in the lower left corner that denote the beginning and end of frames. Since some items are actually animated (and get multiple frames as a consequence), all items need to be set up with animation frames. Wands just simply have a single frame.

[RCIX]

Thanks for the help, but the BMP is virtually identical to yours (save the actual change to the sprite of course), and Through still won't load it. I'll be emailing you shortly

[baconman]

Well, one thing I'm doing with my title is to randomly choose between a set of objectives on each "challenge" (basically, a runthrough); though being action-oriented, a couple of them may have to be tweaked to fit traditional Roguelike standards, and your level layout.

-Speedrunning (this might work better as "turns" than as "time," for instance)
-Collecting one item that specifically creates a hidden area/passage in the level layout
-Collecting a set of items (7 gems/spellcards/etc.)
-Scoring a lot of cash ("goal" is estimated between 90-95% of all available, if that tells you something!)
-Total Kills
-Target Kills (similar to kills, but two "target sprites" of a particular kind appear per run/floor - it's *just* to go after those)

...and so forth. Therefore, a player would need to adjust their pacing/playstyle accordingly; basically making a more varied gameplay experience. And isn't that ultimately what makes these kind of games stay fresh and fun?

So all it takes is a minor interaction screen before levels 1, 6, and 11; and there you go! Oh yeah: speaking of secret passages... perhaps allow players to walk into/out of secret doorways without revealing them. Therefore, searching for them is directly pushing on the walls (there's other things you can do with that kind of dynamic, too).

[zircon]

I'm on level 6 now as a Thug (Normal difficulty) and having a blast. Major props for making a fun, addictive little game If I had to make any suggestions, it would be to perhaps include more music, as the single dungeon track does get a little old after 10 repeats.

Edit: When I died, I didn't quite understand the point screen, which seemed to imply I had used millions of wands? I got 8 points, I believe, but it wasn't clear how I arrived at that point total.

[porousnapkin]

Thanks for the positive feedback!

The idea of the points system is to give more points based on how many items you have but haven't used. For exmaple you get points for each wand charge on a wand (because you haven't used those charges). I'll try and make that more obvious.

[jotapeh]

OK, I just want to say, I love Cheapshot's boss track. Love it love it love it. So freaking much. 

Unfortunately on a Mac right now and can't test this, but will do later.

[porousnapkin]

Totally freaking agree. Such a rad song. I wish I had an appropriately rad boss to back it up. That's another wishlist item, but one that has a pretty high chance of happening because it doesn't seem that terribly difficult to pull off.

[RCIX]

I'm thinking that the Staff should either drop to a flat 7 or 8 damage, or be 2 or 3 + strength (as it's basically a Knife with two less required strength right now). This means players are more forced to learn the mechanics of wands quicker, while still being able to do thug wizards () if they find another weapon in the caverns.

Also thought up new Wand ideas:
 * Wand of Confusion
   * Causes target to disengage from any attacking they may be doing and wander around for 10  turns. Intelligence influences turn quantity. (this is a rare and powerful wand)
 * Wand of Plenty
   * Causes the target to turn into a food item. Chance of success is based on Intelligence. (another semi-rare wand)
 * Wand of Equality
   * Averages the health of the target and the player. Chance of success is based on Intelligence. (semi-rare wand, since its of situational use)

And a mode idea: Desperate (Glutton?)
There is always at least one food in each level, but you get hungry very fast (2x+ the normal rate). Can you find the food in each level before collapsing of hunger?

And a few class ideas:
Ninja
 * 8 strength, 8 intelligence, 60 health
 * Ability: Stealth Run
   * Sacrifice 50 hunger to be invisible to all enemies and twice as fast for 4 turns.
 * Comes with Shurikens (2 + (average of intelligence and strength) damage, 40 ammo start), food, and Knife

Giant
 * 7 strength, 1 intelligence, 90 health
 * Ability: Extreme Strike
   * Sacrifice current weapon to deal quadruple normal damage
 * Comes with Axe, Food

Vampire
 * 6 Strength, 6 intelligence, 50 HP
 * Ability: Bloodsuck
   * Can only target adjacent fleshy creatures (no Skeletons), damages self and target for 10 to replenish food meter
 * Comes with Staff, Wand of Immobilization (4 charges) (no food)

Centaur
 * 4 strength, 4 intelligence, 80 HP
 * Ability: Fly
   * Sacrifice 15 Hunger for instant move to any visible location
 * Comes with Longbow (like bow and arrows but double damage) with 10 ammo, Food, and Stonify potion

[porousnapkin]

I'm thinking that the Staff should either drop to a flat 7 or 8 damage...

Oh, neat idea! I was trying to figure out a way to gameplay differentiate the staff, and that would do the trick. I'll put it in and see how it plays.

Also thought up new Wand ideas:
 * Wand of Confusion
   * Causes target to disengage from any attacking they may be doing and wander around for 10  turns. Intelligence influences turn quantity. (this is a rare and powerful wand)
 * Wand of Plenty
   * Causes the target to turn into a food item. Chance of success is based on Intelligence. (another semi-rare wand)
 * Wand of Equality
   * Averages the health of the target and the player. Chance of success is based on Intelligence. (semi-rare wand, since its of situational use)

I like these a lot. I will implement slightly modified versions of the Wand of Confusion and the Wand of Equality. They will instead be scrolls because they seem like great one off abilities. Also, instead of Scroll of Confusion, it'll be Scroll of Fear that causes opponents to flee like Rogues do when they're low in health. However, the Wand of Plenty is too powerful. It would be the only item in the game that insta-kills. I like the concept, however. I wonder whether a similar wand that turns a chosen item into food would be worthwhile.

And a few class ideas:
Ninja
 * 8 strength, 8 intelligence, 60 health
 * Ability: Stealth Run
   * Sacrifice 50 hunger to be invisible to all enemies and twice as fast for 4 turns.
 * Comes with Shurikens (2 + (average of intelligence and strength) damage, 40 ammo start), food, and Knife

Giant
 * 7 strength, 1 intelligence, 90 health
 * Ability: Extreme Strike
   * Sacrifice current weapon to deal quadruple normal damage
 * Comes with Axe, Food

Vampire
 * 6 Strength, 6 intelligence, 50 HP
 * Ability: Bloodsuck
   * Can only target adjacent fleshy creatures (no Skeletons), damages self and target for 10 to replenish food meter
 * Comes with Staff, Wand of Immobilization (4 charges) (no food)

Centaur
 * 4 strength, 4 intelligence, 80 HP
 * Ability: Fly
   * Sacrifice 15 Hunger for instant move to any visible location
 * Comes with Longbow (like bow and arrows but double damage) with 10 ammo, Food, and Stonify potion

Like these ideas as well, though some will have to thematically change if I decide to ever get the story into the game (all the character classes are supposed to be criminals...). I hope to implement the Vampire and the Giant (probably modified a bit) by version 1.0 as well, those being my favorite of your ideas. Thanks for the ideas! I'll come back here later and look at the other class ideas again when I'm trying to get more content in.

[RCIX]

However, the Wand of Plenty is too powerful. It would be the only item in the game that insta-kills.

Just level a Wizard to about 15 intelligence, and tell me he doesn't one-shot things with his Fireball wands though if enemies keep getting stronger, then yeah that might not work. Perhaps merely lightly damages an enemy and makes a food item appear under him?

[RCIX]

I came up with another metric ton of ideas: most are the sort that come after release. There are a few, hoever, that would help round out the systems in place for 1.0.

The Axe -- IIRC, it's like 1 more damage than the sword, but but cannot attack on diagonals. I think that it would be better if you got like 1 or 2 more damage for sacrificing diagonal attack.

I also think that some items should be able to mess with the crit and miss rate of weapons. You'll see my ideas incorporate this.

 * Magic Resistant Creatures: Something that resisted magic would be really good for gameplay, as afaik teching a wizard in intelligence is the best way to win right now.
 * More Defense -- there's a whole 1 shield and 3 sets of armor right now. Ooh.

 * Specific more armor types
   * Chain mail armor. Provides 2 armor to melee attacks, no armor to ranged (like arrows or magic).
   * Coat of Mirrors. Provides 2 or 3 armor against magic, and 1 against all else.
   * Bulky Armor. Provides 3 or 4 armor, but causes you to lose a turn now and then.
 * Specific more shield types
   * Mirror Shield. Provides 2 armor versus magic, 1 versus all others.
   * Wooden Shield. Provides 3 armor versus arrows, 1 versus melee, wears out after blocking 20 damage. Immediately wears out versus magic.
   * Wall Shield. Provides 5 armor versus all attacks, but the player cannot move while equipped (can still use melee weapons if enemies are adjacent, ranged weapons, and items, etc.)
 
That's all that really need to be added, but i came up with more anyway
 
I also feel that while your stat system is mostly complete, it needs one more mechanic: Medals. These provide an effect as long as it's worn, sort of like armor but can do other things. I was inspired by the "badge" system in Paper Mario (see http://www.mariowiki.com/Badges).

 Each character has a certain number of "Medal slots" (the base value is specific to the character), that can be leveled like others (but does not naturally gain levels). There's a maximum of 4 or 5 medal slots. Each medal consumes one slot. They are rare collectible items, some perhaps are dropped by certain enemies. As far as specific badge ideas, here are a bunch to get you started:

 * Medal Of Honor
   * Reduces strength by 2, and heals a small amount of health with each attack
 * Medal of Rage
   * Increases strength by 2, and causes a small amount of damage to be taken with each attack
 * Hero's Medal
   * Increases strength and intelligence by 2, but disallows use of ranged weapons
 * Ancient Medal
   * Has a chance to nullify negative effects of any ability used
 * Mana Medal
   * 20% chance of food dropping from any killed creature
 * Gold Medal
   * Increases speed by 1
 * Glass Medal
   * Removes 15 max health to increase strength and intelligence by 1
 * Charged Medal
   * Increases the crit rate of all weapons used by the player by 50%
 * Elusive Medal
   * Increases miss rate of any weapon used against the player by 50%
 * Strong Medal
   * Increases strength by 1. (somewhat common for a medal)
 * Smart Medal
   * Increases intelligence by 1. (somewhat common for a medal)
 * Endurance Medal
   * Reduces intelligence and strength by 1 to increase health by 15


A scroll idea:
 * Scroll of Luck
   * When used on a weapon, it increases the weapon's crit rate by 25%. When used on a wand, it adds a single charge. When used on a potion, increases the effect duration.

Potion Idea:
 * Elusive Potion
   * Doubles the miss rate of weapons used against the player for 5 turns.

Character Ideas:
 * Prophet
   * 5 strength, 8 intelligence, 40 health
   * Ability
     * Act of God: Strikes down any single enemy, but only has a 50% chance of working. Consumes 1 random item from the player's inventory.
   * Comes with 2 food, staff, Wand of Fireballs, Mana Medal
 * Academic:
   * 2 strength, 10 intelligence, 40 health
   * Ability
     * Study: Consumes one scroll to permanently increase intelligence by 1.
   * Comes with: Knife, 1 food, 1 random scroll
 * Athlete (brute?):
   * 10 strength, 2 intelligence, 40 health
   * Ability:
     * Exercise: Consumes 1 potion to permanently increase strength by 1
   * Comes with: Endurance Medal, Glass Medal, 1 food
   
A new item class: Jewels
 * Jewels are like whetstones for wands: they boost it's power. Makes more sense to me than sharpening a wand

[eddietree]

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