I always liked this passage from Ulysses (it is potentially a great insult):

If you see kay
Tell him he may
See you in tea
Tell him from me.

[Post Mortem:]

Post Mortem:

Oh, I just realized I had not posted anything after the end of the competition. Other Observations is not dead; I will be updating it pretty soon, almost completely changed save the graphics, which I hope to replace soon. Of course, I was disappointed by the results as I had always considered Other Observations to be the most complete games that entered, although certainly not one of the best.

The game was criticized for the absence of many things that were in it by the players, despite the enormous amount of helper text and repeated notifications. Of course, there was a lack of descriptions regarding class selection screens, but there is a great amount of roguelikes that don't give any details regarding any of the classes (Nethack). It was a design choice apparently wasn't liked much. Would it have been better to have no classes at all? It is impossible to say.

Issues with resolution haunted the game; the problem with blurry scaling of GM made it pretty impossible for me to add more than two different resolutions without doing much iterative work. I was sad when it turned out people actually didn't mind that much (Dungeons of Fayte). I vowed never to make a game with low native resolution ever again. I didn't know many people were unfamiliar with the F4 key making GM games full screen.

People expected the main villain of the game to be a boss, and not the powerful normal enemy he was. Again, it was a poor design decision. It was fixed, with the villain becoming the killing machine people wanted him to be, but alas, the deadline had passed.

The line of sight, people said, was inconsistent. It was not, as I told them a number of times. Basically, there were two combined sight checks:
-The player should be able to sense what is going on in the four tiles around him, since every tile is approximately 1 meters long, and we can sense things 4 meters away from us, even if there is a wall blocking our sight. I did not want to add a "Search" button that people would need to spam.
-The player should be able to see every tile in his line of sight, though not every wall since it would be too dark to discern. The view should provide the necessary limit of sight.
There was nothing wrong about this system. Indeed, the decision might have looked strange; but I fail to see why.

It was a recurring saying in the posts that the game suffered from being 'just one of the roguelikes in the contest'. The problem was that there weren't any real turn-based roguelikes that got completed other than Other Observations, or I just wasn't able to see any. Certainly, there weren't many of them. It is true however that the graphics of oryx were used in a large number of games, so surely there was a aesthetical resemblance that changed the way the players looked at the entries.

The amount of content, I thought, was much more than needed; indeed, it was nearly impossible that one would see all the items and all the enemies. I made sure one wouldn't get bored because of lack of new things to use.

The game was difficult, although certainly much easier than its influences. That might have made it hard for people who are not into roguelikes to enjoy the game, although I'm not sure of that.

An updated version of Other Observations which will be hopefully better than the current version will be released soon, along with the source.

Beginning to work on my 7DRL entry. I've finished the list sorting framework I will use to create the inventory. Pleased with the results, I decided to finish the main menu. I wasn't able to find a good font/position for the title though. The blur doesn't look well with the rest of the screen. I guess I'll figure something out.

There were still plenty of areas where it felt like I was just destroying hoards of enemies repeatedly

I am afraid I can't do much about this to fix it completely. I can, however, reduce the number of enemies in the first half of Rangers' Retreat. Maybe I will do that.

If you're firing your gun when you exit/enter a building, the bullets will appear on the inside/outside

Oh, a minor problem but should be distracting. I will fix this.

I found it slightly annoying that you couldn't backtrack. What that does is takes away from the feeling of being able to freely roam and explore, and means that I cannot be rewarded for remembering where the NPC that sells me a health upgrade for 200 coins is. It would be quite a waste of time for me to backtrack from halfway through the game to the NPC, so I don't see that as a problem.

Yes, it was my original intention to add the ability to backtrack. However, the game would have used too much memory if I had done that, so I wasn't able to add it. Instead, I have changed the prices of health enchantments, increasing the amount you have to pay as you progress, to compensate for the increasing amount of coins you find. Basically, what you see is a consequence of technical problems.

I agree with your points on the story, but you should realize I was trying to differ from the usual storytelling you find in games with text messages to explain the story, striving to reward memory. I think there are lots of clues to reveal the true intentions of the characters.

Thanks for replying!

[Link for Cursebound 1.1]

Many thanks for your comments and constructive feedback! They were just what I needed; you see, I am more of a programmer than a designer, so I need ideas to be efficient. I have added everything you have suggested, and fixed the bugs I have found, rewriting most of the text in the game. There is a completely new soundtrack now, and a lot of new features. There are multiple guns (mines, rockets, shotgun), traders, barrels, a new boss, redesigned enemies and a new difficulty curve. The game is almost completely changed. You can enter the city buildings and the temple. Most of the grammar errors should be fixed too; you may PM me to report any other mistakes. However, I still need feedback on the difficulty; it is possible that people will find the game too hard in its current state; especially the endgame.

As the game has changed substantially, would you change your comment so that it looks smaller and less distracting, Eraser? Of course, I think there are still many things you would like to suggest. I hope you will enjoy the new build.

@starsrift: The boss battles aren't that hard; they require you to change the way you are playing the game in some way, which is their purpose. You see, to defeat the boss you are talking about, you shouldn't look at him; instead, look at your character, dodge the bullets easily and use the bullet pattern to approximate the position of the boss. Just spraying bullets should be enough to kill him. You will see that bosses aren't too hard to kill, even if you are not a professional player you should just repeat them for a few times to master their pattern.

Link for Cursebound 1.1

Download Cursebound 1.1

(old answer message, removed)

[Download:]

Hello everyone!
Cursebound was my first design concept for Assemblee Part 2: It never got finished due to my love for roguelikes. Later, I decided to wrap it up and finish it; this is the result. A shooter game with two different endings and dynamic difficulty, filled with allusions.

Download:

Main Mirror- Gamejolt

Alternate Mirror

Controls:

WASD- Move
Mouse- Aim and shoot
M- Mute/Enable sound

Story:

A man finds his son infected by a mysterious plague
upon his return from a war. He must go to an island
to seek an idol with unbelievable powers, currently
thought to be in the possession of manipulative and
monstrous spirits called quarks.


Screenshot:
http://paranoidprotocol.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/scgameplay.png

Hope you will have fun playing it!

I am watching this, because the list of influences is pretty darn good.

I won't disappoint.

So, I've been trying to complete the technical part of the game, adding different effects and small things (shake, explosions, larger ships and effects for them, derelicts, a bumping effect for large background objects, balancing weapons). I still need to complete the inventory, but I think it will be trivial compared to the rest. However, I intend to add all kinds of junk stuff, which I believe makes the game a lot more fun (think of the thousand redundant objects in Oblivion and Ultima 7 and the stuff you can eat/drink/smoke in Bioshock 2); and it will take some time to finalize them, unfortunately.

I am still trying to nail down a graphic style for the game (mostly planet screens); I looked at the paintings of Caspar David Friedrich, Gaspard von Wittel, Bernardo Bellotto, Hubert Robert and William Turner, trying to inspire myself. I won't add new screenshots/concept art since there is already far too many in this page.

Thanks for replying!

The instructions at the bottom of the screen when creating a character was often unnecessary. Ex, entering name "press R to reroll stats"...

I don't see a problem here; you should realize that the text you are talking about stays there during all addition phase so that the player would certainly see it.

Pressing H to show info in a battle didn't hide "Player's turn" text.

Yes! I've had never needed to check the stats screen during battles before, thanks!

It would be very nice if I could hold the arrow keys to move, vs. continuously pressing.

Don't you think it is better this way? You should realize that random encounters are not really roguelike-like, and might be frustrating when combined with continuous presses. Also take the small size of the game world into account.

The numbers after the names of the players meant nothing to me, as you never say what they are. It was after a few battles I realized it was HP.
Your hotkeys often make no sense. "T" to ignore getting an item, "A" to create a character? How about "I" for Ignore, and "C" for Create?

Think "A" for "Add". I agree that my wording could have fit better though. I did not use "I" since it may create some problems with certain keyboards, and is more to the right in a keyboard compared to the rest of the buttons.

I managed to walk on magma when there was a potential battle there

Yes, but this is intentional. I thought that it is possible the adventurers wait near the magma to pull out a creature; wouldn't you agree? Also, it lets you break the game in a funny and fitting way.

In dungeons, after battles I'm warped outside..?

That is... puzzling. My coding does not permit such a bug to appear. Indeed, I've tested it and wasn't able to find a bug.

I don't even know what to do, other than go through random dungeons in castles, as I can't go anywhere by land, and I can't find either ship.

I'm afraid it is impossible for me to do anything about this problem. The game was made to encourage exploration, and indeed it should be find the docks by yourself, and later, the mountain towers. You can even create a pirate which will grant you access to ships immediately, and will allow you to leave the starting area via the river. The game really shouldn't make you feel lost.

Thanks for your response!

[Download Sunwake 0.5]

Apparently, in my little world, 3 days equals half a year.

But no, I've not forgotten Sunwake; not totally, at least. I've uploaded a new version!

Download Sunwake 0.5

It is possible that some people with nVidia cards will have display problems. For me to fix the issue, I need people with this problem send some screenshots from different screens.

I intend to upload another version in a week, which will unlock some of the new content which I wasn't able to complete.

My first game was a short puzzle game about a knight trying to escape from a castle which was under the control of a evil vizier who had zombified all other knights. By the end of the game, you had become a hero in the eyes of the still-human townsfolk, who you commanded to storm the castle, single-handedly defeating the vizier using the long-dead king's blade. I never publicly released it (due to its stupidity), and as such it was lost among the sands of time. The game itself took about 15 minutes to finish.

Improvements:
-make gameplay simpler and more accessible

Wouldn't making the gameplay "simpler and more accessible" (which, nowadays, equals consolization and dumbing down) cause most of the players to get frustrated or leave, assuming that the player base likes the game because of its "hardcore" elements? I think it is only the extent of freedom EVE gives to players that makes the game fun, much like UO, which I always regarded as the best MMOG.

Yes! I was able to add the beginning ship models, though the presentation is less than desirable.



I was also able to begin to change the placeholder ship models, though they currently don't look too good because of the problems I've been having with my current graphics filters.



I was also able to complete the task of adding 8 complete sectors into the game; 5 of these belong to Third Moon, while the other 3 are in the control of Allied States. There are automatically created trade lines between the planets, and pirates hide in the darkness of space to ambush the ships. Some screenshots (the blue dots show where the stars are):


Finding a battle


The orange pirate ship approaches its prey

Would anyone else be interested in joining a smaller-scale, though not private, more focusedly games-making-focused forum?

Most certainly, I would.

All the influences you are talking about are making me really excited. Everything about this just screams awesome. Really can't wait to play this

Well, this is exactly what I'm thinking while I am working on the game   However, it is always a challenge to create exactly what you want to. For example, I am still not sure how I'm going to implement a fun mining part. Right now, I'm thinking of huge driller ships, which act like "tanks" in space and mine on surface.

It's been a relatively quiet week for the game; I've been playing Heavy Rain and Venetica, so I didn't really have much time to work on the game. I began to iterate on my ideas about the plot, trying to minimize the amount of work I'll require while maximizing the amount of choices and proper consequences. I was able to finish implementing a fairly good support module for playing the .dlg files though. I also began to add small packets of content; the "galaxy map" is almost complete now, with three of the systems controlled by Third Moon up and running. However, I am going to need to add some other factions, and change the positions of the existing sectors to create an organic universe with endless conquests and battles throughout the map. I plan to add several ship models for the player to buy tomorrow, so expect an update.

And, as always, a screenshot showing the current state of the game:

The combat looks amazingly like something I'm working on  

Wow, our gameplay mechanics are strikingly similar; however, while you only allow firing in the direction the ship is facing, I allow ships to fire wherever they want to. Also, Loop Factor plays about three times faster than your prototype right now, which, as far as I can see, renders the games sufficiently different.

Your original pitch also made me really skeptical you'd be able to accomplish it all, but your gameplay shots are making me excited about seeing the end product. I think the design of your planet screens is clever and vaguely noir-ish, they use black as positive space while the colored parts give merely suggestions to what the black figures might be, letting the mind fill in the blanks.

That was my intention, and continues to be so. I am currently trying to add better dialogue support to the game for various other needs. I will then proceed spending time on ground battles.

Finally, I have a new screenshot (ignore the placeholder WoW icon):

[Dialogue, space battles, ground battles, mining, exploration, trading, loot, stats, leveling]

Disastrous! I forgot to update the devlog!

Loop Factor is (or rather, will be) a science fiction game with good graphics, semi-procedural generation and a (hopefully) good, non-derivative noir themed story. As for gameplay mechanics, there will be a bit of everything: Dialogue, space battles, ground battles, mining, exploration, trading, loot, stats, leveling. Yes, I am ambitious; but I think a certain level of ambition is always required to make a space game. My estimated development time is 16 weeks, starting from today.

You are REALLY ambitious. But, who knows, you may even get it done!

Thanks for encouragement! I am actually pretty confident that I will get it done. However, there is a chance that I won't be able to polish the game as much as I want (6 weeks of these 16 will be for polishing). The Polish I am talking about consists of:

-Graphical Effects
-Additional Dialogue
-Better Art
-Voice Acting (if possible)
-Better, more intuitive GUI
-Music

which I've found out from my experiences takes up most of the time one spends on a project since for most of those things you normally need a specialist, while you are often unable to find any.

Character Creation, Stats, Leveling Part I:

The character creation in Loop Factor is similar to most Golden Age RPG's. There are five main stats:

-Strength: Combination of Endurance and regular Strength stats. Strength is used to determine the will to live, allowing the player's character to save himself from grim situations and make repairs he would otherwise be unable to do. It does not actively participate to gameplay, and is mainly used in conservations and when trying to repair the ship during battle.
-Dexterity: Increases accuracy and the speed the character would be able to reach without using "implants".
-Intelligence: Your regular Intelligence stat.
-Wisdom: Knowledge of cultures and human behaviour. Increases the potency of technology-based abilities and aforementioned implants.
-Charisma: Regular Charisma stat one uses in bartering and convincing.

There are also several human subraces and different backgrounds for your character. I am not sure if I will be able to exceed the number of different and witty backgrounds of Arcanum, but I intend to try.

I've also added basic leveling, but there are no perks right now. I intend to include a large amount of perks and achievements (which will basically be perks you gain for doing something of value).




I've been looking for a suitable message/dialogue engine for the game to begin coding the main story, and I was able to find this in Yoyogames forums which I believe will be of immense help.

Finally, a screenshot from the current build:

i think lale savaşçıları (tulip warriors - an old amiga rpg) was better.

I concur.

The only problem with that game was that it was too 'Turkish'. Also, it is distressing how much of the jokes regarding religious fanaticism in the game actually came true.


Whatever, Mount&Blade is a great game; the only thing one may miss in the game is a proper campaign, which the expansion (I believe) will include. That said, it is possible that one may find mods with proper campaigns since according to what I've heard the game has an active modding community.

[History Part II:]

Well, development has been going on nicely. I've finished designing the main quest, making it as nonlinear and Fallout-like as possible. I am now trying to make a game resembling those from the golden era of RPG's.

History Part II:

Corporations became new governments of the colonies, and shaped planets more beautiful and strong than Earth in short amounts of time. Terraforming became a major problem, taking more than a thousand years to master. In time, battles, and the rebel states, shaped the main factions of the galaxy; these are:

Allied States - Formed after The Third War following the end of The Reich, Allied States is a monarchy (despite the name). They have the largest fleet of all five factions.

They are conservatists and warmongers.

The Technocracy - Composed of virtually all scientists, engineers and workers who don't want to join the corporations of Third Moon, The Technocracy works to promote and improve science and technology. As it is not really a faction, it does not participate in the power struggle; it exists to protect the free individual mind against Third Moon, and chooses to fight only with them.

They are individualists and they despise Ayn Randian ideals.

Third Moon - The united power of all corporations who rule more than half of all human colonies. It was named after the second artificial moon constructed by the mankind (and funded by the corporations which constitute Third Moon), which is the oldest artificial moon remaining. The corporations fight with each other, but unite against the threats from other powers.

They are liberals and capitalists.

Enigma - Founded by the old Earth governments in the beginning of space colonization, Enigma is the oldest and smallest of the factions. They are, as the name implies, mysterious and don't actively participate in battles. They do not connect to the Cloud, isolating themselves. The result of this is that they have no access to advanced technology, but they are more than capable of developing their own technology, which easily rivals the technology of the other factions. They are not interested in colonizing planets, instead focusing on mining and exploring; they are infamous for selling their knowledge and exotic technology in black markets, which is known to dramatically increase the crime level in other factions. They have no known power, but years turned their ancient exploits into myths told to children, and all humanity fears them. Even Third Moon, not knowing the full extent their capabilities, chooses to ignore Enigma.

They are utilitarians and populists.

High Legion - Often considered to be the "barbarians" and "orks" of space, High Legion is a mercenary army which, when given enough resources, attacks and ravages the targets presented by the buyers. They fight for fun. They are known to invade their targets and seize them, which makes High Legion a very unpredictable and dangerous ally. They make excellent pirates and are good at creating useful diversions.


I think I'll be talking about character generation and GUI in the next post.

[History Part I]

History Part I

Decisions:

The society depicted in Loop Factor will not be technologically super-advanced, and I will try to be as vague as I can in imaginary technologies as to promote real science; I hate space opera technology blurbs. There will be a soft science fiction aspect to the story, however. I don't plan to do Bioware style childish pseudophilosophy; it will be more similar to Pathologic and Immortal Defense (I think the writing styles are similar if we ignore the translation problems in Pathologic (which I think I will be emulating because I love random generation); would you agree?).


Setting Sketch:

Applications of quantum gravity have allowed faster interstellar travel, marking the beginning of space colonization era. A more specialized version of the Internet, called the Cloud, allowed fast and detailed communications between the colonies, effectively forming a control mechanism. However, in time, the slow nature of physical travel weakened the links between the colonies and Earth, and, as the number of colonies increased, some prospering and some facing extinction, first interplanetary battles began. The strong conquered the weak, while sometimes the weak raided the strong to live. The Cloud became a safe network for Corporations, Colonies and Federations which used it as a means of control over their agents in the far galaxies. Ergo, in time, the Cloud lost its purpose to unite mankind as it was easy for the information to be stolen if it was not guarded by a strong power, which would use it for its own benefits. Insecurity and individuality resulted in the formation of professional "information retrieval" groups who used spaceships or barren planets as bases, actively opposing the similarly structured secret groups of the large factions.

Gameplay Part 1:



I was worried so much about the battle parts that I ended up designing and coding it first. I am using Easyname's spaceship sprites for substitutes, by the way.



Right now, the way battles work is similar to Mount and Blade as large warships are not coded yet. You assault an enemy "encampment", and you and your allies appear at the left half the battle screen, while enemies appear at the right. You then begin to shoot each other. I've also added the ability to enter planets and recruit ships. There are six ship types; Searcher, Fighter, Destroyer, Deathbringer, Slayer, Commander. They will each have a different ability which makes them unique, but I've not implemented all of them yet.



Controls are easy; left mouse button makes you accelerate, right mouse button makes you shoot; trails the ships leave as they move make it easier for the eye to recognize and respond.

Art and Graphics Part I:

GM 8 makes it much easier to add transparent sprites, which I find really helpful as it was really boring to add alpha masks etc. for transparency in old GM versions. This is partially why I am making this game, by the way.



I've added small glows which show the resilience of the ship, and blending according to enemy faction (which are to be revealed in the next update). The trails are stationary objects that are created in every frame which quickly lose their opacity and y scale and get destroyed.



Explosions are basic particle systems that get destroyed in about a second, which are unrealistic but helpful since they give a sense of damaging and pleasure the eye.



This is my first art design for industrial planets; it is incomplete but I think it would just work well in its current form.