Yes, there's one small secret level in the test build.

The goal for the full version is to make the game very clearly tell us that there are secrets, and to even have a few that are easy to gain access to. Then above that tier of easy access secrets, there will be a number of forks and optional areas shrouded in various levels of mystery. Everyone who plays the game will know to be on the lookout.

wutttt unless you mean the piece that has a moon on it instead of a key? i couldnt figure how to activate it.

The moon blocks are sort of a mini-secret- a piece of hidden information at any rate. Incidentally we're not quite sure how they'll work in the final game, we're still playing with them. Also your observation about not knowing that there was a secret area is totally valid. Rest assured that we will dangle lots of carrots in the final game.

A question:
Did anyone find the secret area?

Hey, congratulations on getting this far! I'm downloading immediately.

And thanks for helping test the game Oryx and I are making despite being in what must have been your final crunch .

This is neat. I definitely think you should take it further, it's such a compelling concept. It's also very attractive visually. I like watching the walls grow outward. They make some great shapes.

I'm not sure if it would help if we were forced to look right, because it seems to me that it would then turn into a game about blindly guessing which path to take, and then finding out if it was a dead end or not.

On the other hand, an unrestricted ability to turn is a bit awkward because it's possible to quickly spin in one spot like a lighthouse and be completely safe. I wonder if perhaps a limited turning speed would work...

Thanks for making this, it was great to happen upon it. I look forward to seeing future versions of this or other projects from you.

You've got a good eye for polish, and the effects look pretty good. The visuals seem to be shaping up pretty nicely.

I'd love to see more engaging enemies and environments. I imagine I'm not seeing these things because this is an early release- if your quality standards are any indication then I imagine this will end up feeling pretty rich and varied by the time it's done.

One of the strengths of the genre is that you've got perfect control over enemy timing and the pacing of the backdrop. You can use both of these to do some really fun dramatic things. I'd encourage you to explore this more- to give levels more of a shape, if that makes any sense.

Best wishes, this seems like it's got potential. I'd love to play a build if you ever need testers.

There's no save option yet, but we should add one. Thanks.

gunmaggot-
Oh my, that's amazing.

Okay, the I've sent a link to everyone on the list. Thank you all very much for offering to help! Your feedback is very much appreciated.

I'll elaborate a little on the three classes, because I didn't go into that in the message I sent out earlier. The items found throughout the dungeon are affected by the class we play as- the knight gets more potions, the thief gets more teleports, and the wizard gets extra fireballs. Now this is currently in flux, but in addition to the extra items, there are a few class abilities.

When playing as the thief, we can disarm any trap we have detected (via light) by standing next to it and pressing the space bar.

When playing as the knight, defeating foes charges up a lightning attack.

I played the knight. Not sure that I completely understand how smite is charging.
Most of the time it's charging by killing monsters. But sometimes not...

Thank you for the feedback! Those are some good points about walls. You're totally right, there should be some feedback to make it obvious when you're bumping into a wall, like a sound and some animation. By the way, the knight's lightning attack is currently set to max out after the sixth kill. As soon as you're flashing, you can use the attack (and waiting beyond this point can be good for timing reasons sometimes, but does not make the attack more powerful).

I sent an email to the address you provided.

Thanks Allen, I appreciate you helping out yet again! Rest assured that we will go over your feedback with a fine toothed comb, you've said some very helpful things in the past.

The test build goes out in a few hours. I'm getting stage fright, early builds are never as good as I want them to be . Ah well, it is what it is, and honest feedback at this point will be very helpful in making the final game better!

this game looks like it was built for the iPhone O.O any chance of a port?

I'm not sure! In terms of level of complexity and play length it would be a good fit.

[Thief]

Thanks for the interest, everyone. We're happy to have help testing this early build- we will send you all a link to the test build in the very near future. Anyone who doesn't make it into the first round can help out later. (I would hazard a guess that we'll do at least two rounds of testing before release.)

So while you're waiting, here's an update on our progress. Over the past two days we've been trying out a couple more class abilities.

• Thief-
  As mentioned before, the thief can disarm traps. The thief is skilled at information gathering and has high mobility.
• Knight-
  The knight is less dependent on items and more self-sufficient than other classes. He has a charge up lightning attack which is excellent for taking down large foes, and which also makes him a bit less vulnerable to status effects.
• Wizard-
  We're still designing the wizard. One idea is that he might be powerful offensively, but limited by resources.

Ooh, real-time 3d assets that look like clay. That's wonderful. I've been wanting to see a game that does that well for a long time .

Best wishes with the project!

Oryx totally improved the band-aid sprite since I posted .

Today we implemented the first of the class specific abilities. Thieves now have a unique ability to disarm traps. Traps in this game are integrated into light system. They are initially hidden. Light causes the traps to be revealed, but they are still armed in this state. Once a trap has been revealed, however, the thief can use his ability to render them harmless (hence the band-aid in screen shot 2 above). This is a fairly safe operation, though there is a small failure rate.

One other thing worth noting is that disarming a trap will yield useful resources. Teleport traps, for instance, yield a portable teleport item.

I am also pleased to say that we're ready to begin the first round of testing. We currently have a 6 level build ready, with three partially implemented player classes and a decent number of items and enemies. We'd very much appreciate any feedback you folks can offer us at this early stage. Post here if you're interested in helping out. Cheers!

Ooh, I really like the atmosphere. I look forward to playing a build when I've got a chance.

We've got quite quite a few different mazes in the game, each with its own unique appearance and focus. Some of these are more puzzle-like than others. For instance we have one maze which has an abundance of thieves in it, and the challenge is to find a key and make it back to the exit without it being stolen along the way.

Today, what I'm doing is giving some thought to how to link all these levels together. We've begun experimenting with a forking level structure, which will allow us to pick which levels we play on our path through the game. We're also thinking about small tangential secret areas (shortcuts or warp zones come to mind as well). The goal is to make the game a bit mysterious, and create a fair amount of interesting optional content to explore.

I'm all for using game creation tools. They occupy a really great niche. I see some really talented people turn out some really great things using these tools, and I'm all for their continued existence.

I'm very interested in the continued development of this kind of tool- specifically I feel like there's an unfilled niche for low learning curve creation tools. I feel like there should be more intuitive, visually oriented tools out there, because some people just aren't comfortable with computers, or are daunted by learning to use Game Maker or Construct. I feel like there are still people out there who are waiting for the right tools to come along.

Personally I lean toward AS3 / Java / C ++, but I think it's more personal preference than a functionally driven decision. One thing I enjoy about it is saying, "this pixel should be right there" and then having the pixel go exactly where I told it to go. One thing I hate about it is that (especially within AS3) I'm often frustrated by the way the system is engineered and its lack of flexibility or reliability. For instance, Flash's laggy sound bothers me to no end... sometimes I'd rather have more low level control.

ChevyRay- Ooh, looks like fun. Color me intrigued.

nihilocrat- Awesome! I'm fascinated by things like that.



Today saw improvements to some of the UI for the project Oryx and I are doing together. The first of these images is the title screen (with live maze generation in the background). The second shot is the map screen, which we have in working order as of today (it still needs some kind of transition effect).

Today I'm starting to implement character classes, and getting some of the UI for the game working. The game is very light on statistics, so we're considering clean, simple ways to give each class a unique personality.

We also did a fireball effect for one of the items. This item is a single use projectile attack, which snakes down corridors, exploring them and revealing traps.

I should probably take this opportunity to explain the light system in the game. Light is one of the core mechanics. Every tile starts in the darkness. Scattered around the map, however, are items which magically illuminate tiles. Monsters are not very happy when this happens! In fact, magic light turns monsters into harmless (and healthy) rutabagas. Light also reveals traps.

Hello folks, I thought I'd say a little bit about the game.

First off, all the awesome graphics are Oryx's. He's been putting a lot of effort into getting all the designs and UI to feel harmonious, and it's been a pleasure to see him in action.

Despite my usual leanings toward the visual side of things, I'm doing the programming this time around. And I'm trying not to backseat drive in the art department. I shall allow Oryx to be the judge of whether or not I am succeeding .

Our roles overlap a lot in other areas. Design is very much a 50 / 50 split, and we're both noodling around with sound and overall visual esthetics. Progress has been steady. We began making this 12 days ago, and are currently approaching our first decently playable build. We shall post more soon!

If you're going for all out action instead of a tense suspenseful game, then I'm for goofy midi pseudorock all the way

Best wishes, this is looking pretty polished.