I thought it was pretty good; certainly the best game I played within the last two months (and I play almost every game that gets released). Of course it's short, but it would have been boring if it was longer. However, I wish the story wasn't Portal; but I imagine this is connected to the restrictions imposed by the theme.

[Information:]

Information:

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.

My design was influenced by:

-Solaris
-Starflight (and its spiritual sequels)
-Elite
-X-Com
-Spore (There were a few ideas in it that were actually good)
-Freelancer
-R.U.R.
-Might and Magic
-Jagged Alliance

There are some semi-mockup screenshots I have right now:







Right now, the main problem I have is random phrase generation (the horrible writing in last screenshot is the result of my pitiful experiments). It's really hard for me to limit myself to strict, modular sentences; it would be really helpful if someone could point me some sources which could help me with this problem.

I am still trying to develop a consistent graphical style for the game; I know I will be using the present style for the space screens; but it is hard to think of something innovative and easy for the splash screens. The close-up planet shots were used in Mass Effect, so I cannot use them. I think I will be using slightly animated, better looking stills for the planet "interior". I haven't thought much about the battle parts yet; but I fear I may end up using Mastermind (or Total War) style statistical battle system. Still, I've got plenty of time, and I have no intention of being lazy.

I always complete the game, and do all side quests that aren't copy-and-paste (by copy-and-paste quests, I mean WoW, Mass Effect 1, Assassin's Creed). I also do extra stuff if it affects the main story (Mass Effect 2); but that's all. I don't like it if the game wants the player to finish it multiple times to get a different ending (Sanity's Requiem). So, I think this is between "complete the story" and "complete 100%"; but I think all people are like this; it is foolish not to complete the side quests if they are as good as the rest of the game.

@Theo; I liked the color choice, but didn't like the fact that there are too many objects coloured with the same blue. I'm not an art expert, though.

I am working on a space exploration+trade+combat game. Currently it's called Loop Factor. It's hard to find a good science fiction game name.

I think it is a considerable talent to be able to integrate the twist into the gameplay. I liked Braid, and this game because of its success in achieving this integration. I wish it was longer, or had a Edmund-like second part; but as (apparently) this was made to be a short experience, the length is not something one should complain about.

A (mostly decorative) dagger hanging on the wall just above my bed.

Thanks for the comments!

• Allow press and hold for walking, and allow diagonals if you allow numpad navigation.  Both are sorely missed features.

What do you mean? Both are in the game, and I am sure both a working well.

• there's a lack of variety with enemies.  Could be more interesting.
  The boss didn't announce himself very well.  I thought he was just another enemy, since I was completely mowing them down by that point, so it was a bit of a shock to see the window return to the normal size (I had it on 2x zoom because I can't work in squint-o-vision) and read the ending.  Perhaps supersize the boss or have a long corridor leading up to him or something.
  

I've adressed this point earlier; there is no "boss", there is no reason for him to be that powerful. He wouldn't have needed an army were he that powerful. But it's nice to see that people just want to assume there is a boss. There was going to be a boss, actually, but was cut due to the time constraints of the competition.

• The arrow moves SOO slowly...
• What the heck do the classes do?  Some are a bit obscure and there's no descriptions for them.  In fact, it seems the differences are entirely superficial.
• Where do "learnt" things go?  I know you want to hide some information for the sake of exploration, but they get a bit lost and there's little apparent importance for them.

I actually thought it was a good decision to make the arrow move faster. Why do you think a faster arrow would look better? You wouldn't see it then and say "ah, its implemented poorly".

Classes don't do exactly much; they have passive bonuses against some enemies (for example, cultists against dwarves, scribes against golems and so on) but they are minor bonuses. They were originally mostly for cosmetic; I think that is more important than anything.

The "learnt" things don't go anywhere, I thought you wouldn't need to remember the things you have learned in such a short game. Of course, I assume you realize you can't get the same scroll twice.

I think your other complaints are associated with the points I made earlier, so I won't write for each of them. The games, in my opinion, should make you begin as a weakling, and end as a demigod who can still die easily (yes, even when you are too powerful there are ways you can horribly die, even against the "boss").

Uhh.. All I meant was that I was annoyed at the Gamemaker bug and couldn't believe they haven't fixed it.

Heh, think about it, there will always be problems for someone whatever development system I use; I chose to go with Game Maker to reduce the development time. I don't think I even spent 40 hours working on this project, and the game is one of the most complicated games (the way I see it, the most complicated; but I am the developer and shouldn't be trusted in such sayings) in the contest despite the time constraints; and this was possible only because of your awesome sprites. I'm not the kind of person who gets to have hours of free time each day; I've had to spend every spare minute I have to finish the game, to perfect it. Even so, a  light roguelike is not the kind of game people really like; it seems I should have made a platformer to make a game everyone would like. Actually, I was going to make a short shooter-platformer before I realized there wasn't going to be as many roguelikes as there first appeared to be.

Hell, its engine was completely finished, and some of the content was added. I may occasionally finish and release it sometime later. Here are some screens:

By the way, I would still like some feedback; you can report the bugs you find, but please at least give some impressions and suggestions; I won't be able to update the compo build, and there is a huge chance I will remove the current bugs in the next release (if there is ever going to be) anyways.

You've got some good foundations for a huge, detailed game there, but in its current state I am unable to find things to do to keep playing it. It still took me about an hour to get bored enough, though!

My complaints:

*Horrible, horrible font
*Space background doesn't look good
*You don't see what is happening between the turns (I know it is hard to program the turns, but there is a reason people are not making turn-based games without this feature)
*Not enough content.

Also, 36 hours seems a huge sacrifice for making this game, I couldn't have kept spending time on this without getting bored / descending into hopelessness, I salute you 

To me, the overworld level has the same problem; but I didn't see any graphical glitches in the dungeon so far. The game itself looks fun!

and from there on out Ignore simply generates more and more of this message.  This happens regardless of the scaling mode I chose at game start.  I do have an nVidia card, and have been running non-scaled + full screen to avoid the surface transparency issue (though the error occurs whether or not I have it scaled or full screen).

How can Gamemaker even exist when it doesn't work properly on half (or more) of the video cards in existence? Why even go on?

You comment as if the game is still in development; and you talk as if it was not me who ADDED it as an option; as far as I am concerned, the game is easily playable at non scaled at 1366*768 resolution, and others can use F4 to make it full screen, avoiding the problems the scaling may cause (there are also ways to fix this issue for some if not most of the computers, if you are trying to insult GM); as for the save issue, well, you don't inculpate someone you don't know anything about of preaching false facts, do you? Seeing that he has only one post, the logical way to approach would be to encourage him to post by creating a strawman as I am unable to reproduce the problem; sorry if my methodology troubled you.

Found a bug on load of an existing character.  The error displayed in the Error Messages dialog is:

Well, I hate to say this, but, as far as I am concerned, this bug should not appear (unless you used different versions of the game, or added a bloom.txt to the folder in which the game can be found); it is either an internal GM bug or something connected to your machine or there is some detail you did not give. I suspect the first one to be the culprit.

[Version 1.1]

Ah well, names are just names, and I don't really think it is ever good to make allusions in popular culture works since it would just be insulting a respectable medium; so the answer is no for you, Arucard 


BTW, I've uploaded a new version, fixing the small issues/adding notification of additional keys suggested by those who were kind enough to comment.

Version 1.1

Mirror: Download

Also HP is now being reset to the original max, rather than the current.

There is no HP reset; I am just giving the players some health so that using the teleporters would have some more meaning.

Beat it.  I didn't even know I was fighting the final boss (actually, I killed him in one hit, I think)

Why would such a game need a special, difficult final boss? If you were able to reach him, then it should be expected that you are already a lot stronger than him. After all, if he was that strong, why would he need an army? 'Hard end bosses' only apply to myths perpetuated by sinister priests who by doing so tried to control the lower classes (for example, take a look at Ancient Egypt).

Also, if you learn the same skill multiple times on level up, does its benefit stack?  Why is there a +5% damage skill and a +4% damage skill?

If they didn't stack, I wouldn't have let you take them again, would I?

The archer looks really boring and underdeveloped. If it's still in the state it was in the video, I think it would be better to just remove it from the game (especially as you don't have much time left).

Played it, liked it. Solid work. Points to improve:

* I had to get into the game itself to be allowed to select 2xPixles. My lappy runs at 1650x1280. I could hardly read the text before. Allow this option immediately upon starting.
* Even 2x scaling is too small. Instead allow scaling by any integer.
* There is no volume control. All my sound goes to the stereo via a USB device, which however disables the system-wide volume control. As now the game is unbearably loud.
* When my wanderer leveled up in a hunt, I selected the "5% to heal when taking damage", the game crashed to desktop.

Well, you are right, I was assuming the player would have played at least one GM game before and knew the F4 trick.

However, why do you think the game crashed? The game should have showed an error screen when it crashed. I think you actually died there; the leveling up screen must have showed in the background that you had died. But I agree that leveling up is pointless in such a situation.

I think I will add your suggestions before the deadline; but volume control is something I cannot manage; rather, I will add the option to disable it.

[Other Observations]

Other Observations

Code:

<td style="width: 350px; vertical-align: top">
    <strong>Other Observations</strong><br/>
    <em>by PDF</em><br/>
    <a href="http://host-a.net/kaderli/Other%20Observations.zip">Download</a>, <a href="http://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=9626.0">Thread</a>
</td>

[FINISHED!]

FINISHED!



Link to Version 1.0:

Download

I may release the source if enough people request it. For now, I don't think it's necessary.

Note: If you are having black squares (alpha) issues, you can play the unscaled version and press F4 to access the full-screen mode.

[Another Update]

Another Update

Well, I think it's time for a new update:



oryx, you can see I've taken your suggestions into account.

Basically, I've added about 10 different ranged weapons; they do not work like other items, the game automatically chooses the better one and you equip it.

Other than that, as you can see in the screenshot, there are some scrolls now! They either teach you skills like whirlwind or power attack, or add intrinsic abilities like infravision. Now I just need to catch the remaining bugs and eliminate them. I'm hoping to release the game by Wednesday.

(BTW, Arucard, would you want to be a beta tester? I really don't want to release public demos anymore, and you seem to be pretty good at catching bugs.)

[Hats Update:]

Hats Update:





Still no test builds; I don't think there will be any before the final release. You can see that I've taken your suggestions into account to create a final interface scheme. I think it looks quite solid now. I've also finished adding sound effects and music; I'll be using stevobread's midi music, which I find to be quite beautiful.

I may still add an option for a message box, but I'm pretty sure the box will just be redundant now (you can see the damage you and your enemies deal when they hit you, so there is no information loss).

And that's all for this update...