It works. My God, it WORKS.

I just played a game of Turbo Quest with a nodefile saved from the editor. Granted, I had to modify the campaign file entry myself, but it works...

Also, because of the amount of data that the editor cannot change atm, it will not be released yet.

DONE THIS REVISION:
Saving and overwriting of nodefile
Changing enemy/boss particles

YET TO COME:
Outputting a formatted campaign file entry for the level on save
Changing campaign type
Changing H/X/G rates
Changing connections
Differentiating between two-way and one-way connection discovery
Changing clear/boss length
Toggling Town/Boss/Normal nodetype
Displaying all of a node's info onscreen somewhere

Well, now the editor actually does most of the stuff mentioned previously, so I guess that's something to be proud of. As of now you can see general node information, move independent of the paths, and change node colors and numbers. Using 4 different keys, of course. I expect to use most keys for different properties, but all of the commands should make sense. (R is for Red. G is for Green. N is for Number.)

It looks like this:


Which is to say that it looks almost exactly like the actual game. Because it was, until I tore off the RPG part and doctored some code here and there.

Of course, none of the changes made in the editor are permanent since it can't save a file yet.

Checklist time!

DONE ALREADY:
Ghost nodes where there aren't any
Changing node colors
Changing node numbers
Unlocked movement

NOT DONE YET:
Saving and overwriting of nodefile
Outputting a formatted campaign file entry for the level on save
Changing campaign type
Changing enemy/boss particles
Changing H/X/G rates
Changing connections
Differentiating between two-way and one-way connection discovery
Changing clear/boss length
Toggling Town/Boss/Normal nodetype
Displaying all of a node's info onscreen somewhere

Okay, it turns out I am a huge liar, because right after putting the editor under "Things that may never happen", I decided to make it my next goal. 

So far I have a copy of Turbo Quest with no RPG stuff and free movement. Next I will need to convert the HUD into something useful editor-wise, and add key commands to change node properties. After that I will need to have the editor generate ghost nodes to fill the gaps in case a new node is needed. Finally, I will need to have the editor overwrite the saved nodefile on command.

And if at the end of this I am still motivated, I will make it easier to comprehend everything.

Also I will try to write here more often and keep the first post updated.

[here]

Well, I finally made enough progres to warrant an update, so Turbo Quest will now be relayed through its devlog thread here.

New, improved, and somewhat experimental version atm, with zero added content but lots of nice tweaks. Thank you all for your past, present, and hopefully future feedback and support.

[here]

Current Working Build of Turbo Quest can be found here.

Version 1.1 [3/5/10]

Things that are added/better in this version:
You can now select a class before the game starts.
There are no weird drawing overlaps with node lines.
Node completion bars are smaller and take up the node's status line.
You can see your hp/xp/gp gains/losses through particles above the current node.
There is a transparent log at the bottom left that keeps track of nodes cleared, levels gained, and time passed.
The word "alpha" no longer appears on the title screen.

Things that are removed/that suck in this version:
The classes have identical magic, so wizards are near-useless.
The hp/xp/gp messages don't show up during boss fights.
You can't turn off the hp/xp/gp particles/log.
Only 8 of 16 classes have been included.
There is no music (although, load/save times are near instant again).
The stat display option has been disabled but will soon be unnecessary anyway.

I consider this project finished for now. It's a good proof of concept, but I think it lacks something that can't be fixed in an update.

I'm in.

I made my first about 4 years ago in GM7 with only the default graphic set. It was called Diamond Collect. You were a ghost and you Collected Diamonds to get to the next level. And shot things with what I think are stars. And I used only the drag and drop functions. And I can't think of a time where I've stopped playing it mid-game.

Then after 2 years and 5 false starts I made Vader Rave. It was an avoidance game where you play (raving) Darth Vader and dodge lasers and UPS trucks on a randomly generated dance floor. Then you flew through the air and fought the head of Richard Simmons, which shot missiles at you. I had plans for difficulty levels (Optimus Prime, Darth Vader, God, Chuck Norris), but that was foregone in favor of just being extremely hard. I still haven't beat it.

2 years later I entered Assemblee.

Holy {static} 18 people voted for this game. Wow. That's, uh, actually quite a few. Gratitude. It is yours.

I fixed the game-breaking bugs (and one that wasn't but deprived the player of money) and replaced the file on the link a couple days back but forgot to write about it for some reason.

I am beginning work on a class select-y type thing this weekend, as well as a much less linear campaign file. And maybe (quite improbably) an editor so it doesn't take an entire month just to finalize everything. When one or more of these things happens, there will be a thread in the devlogs forum to announce it in.

[oh hey I can put this in my signature. I feel like such a badass now.]

I would just like to thank everyone who responded in this thread for their feedback and opinions, they really helped make the game better/keep the project going.

I should be getting Game Maker reinstalled any day now, so I'll probably open up a thread in the Devlog forum when that happens. First thing I'll fix that n/0 bug and upload the fixed version to the dropbox server, then the adding of features and expansion of options shall occur.

[020]

Yeah, I think I know exactly what caused that bug now (One simple misnumber).
Since I don't currently have access to my dropbox, just change the entry for node 57 in the turboquest.txt file as follows:

&0057,101,11/05,0056/0057/0059/0057
@26/26/26,106/107/108/109,00,020,000
#Cliff^s/Shadow;0

This should fix the 1/0 problem.
However, there is a mapping error I found while fixing this. Please also change the entry for node 90 as follows:

&0090,101,04/12,0127/0090/0091/0090
@40/39/39,064/065/146/170,00,020,000
#Poisoned/Fields;0

Sorry about that. I probably should have checked better and turned it in late.

BUT I FIXED IT NOW SO IT'S COOL RIGHT GUYS?  /exaggeratedguilt

Got my computer up and running, but it'll be a couple days before I can get GM onto it.

Not sure if I should start a devlog thread for this or something now that Assemblee's over with.

Minor sadface as I got a division by zero error which killed the game for me.
Message was in a draw_sprite call or something similar on a division with "clear_count", I think.

Other than that, I lurve this game. :3


Linus

I can't seem to reproduce that bug, but I'll put in a guard against it (I think it has to do with my leaving most of the town data as 0s, too. Bad idea.).

A game where you play a living meteor and crash into planets for no reason. (art game?)

Turbo Quest

Code:

<td style="width: 350px; vertical-align: top">
    <strong>Turbo Quest</strong><br/>
    <em>by Vulf</em><br/>
    <a href="http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3942730/TurboQuest_CompetitionBuild.zip">Download</a>, <a href="http://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=9776.0">Thread</a>
</td>

Well, I'm as done as I can be tonight. Just need to get the screenshot cropped and I'll have a spot in the Finished Entries thread.

Made a ton of improvements (some brought to my attention through feedback) over the entire game.
Looks a lot better, warnings at 1/2 and 1/4 HP, magic that makes you faster by a lot.
I noticed the gold rate was actually slower than I meant, maybe that'll help a bit now that it's back to normal.

I'm going to take a break from this project for anywhere from a week to a month in order to get situated in school, make the move to a new computer, collect ideas, etc., but this game is far from over.

Well, then make the "story" random, or just generic, so f.i.

* when you've cleared the Tower of Ascension the message "You rescued the princess!" flashes and a princess jumps out in the same way as defeated monsters (and perhaps gives you a cash bonus or something),
* sometimes when entering a region (always when entering a new town?) you're given the message "you've been given the side quest to clear out the [random region]"
* Sometimes encouraging messages like "You're now closer to achieving your goal!" and "You've progressed the story!" flashes etc.

Actually when I said that, I meant in a sort of "passage" or "pathways" sense, where the design of the campaign itself suggests a story. Since the text for nodes can be anything, there is a lot of potential without actually modifying the engine much. I think the engine as is is pretty great already. I don't think dialog or specialized animations should be added.

Ah, I think I see what you guys mean now, not a definite narrative so much as the appearance or suggestion of one to keep the player motivated. That does make a lot more sense. I can see a story told through the node titles as well, although you'd have to keep your words below 9 letters each or be forced to hyphenate.

Once upon
a time

there was
a knight

who had
chosen

to seek
the Demon

Yeah, I guess tone doesn't transfer well through text. I really don't like the way it reads, in retrospect.

As for the comments on choices or things to do, I agree. I had fun, but I didn't feel like I was making any actual relevant choices, or didn't understand them - so I just randomly went from one square to another - Perhaps if the ratings of the areas were more exaggerated and those resources could be used somehow, like this area has more gold, which, when I reach the town is converted to something? Not sure exactly.

Well, at the moment, there really aren't any relevant choices to make. That's kind of the failing of this short development time, that I spend all the time on mechanics and engine and none on feel. Maybe in a few weeks I'll have a more interesting setup with some different paths to it, make it so every SINGLE node isn't one away from the direct route, and they aren't so even with each other.

Ask and ye shall receive, eh?

I would give ya feedback but I run OS X, and it would appear your .zip is intended for Windows 

I realize now that I made absolutely no indication of this anywhere ever. Oops.

Your resolution / scaling seems not to be a strict multiple of the sprite's size.  This makes stuff look a little wonky -- some pixels are bigger than others.

It's true, there is no set pixel "width" in the game (although all of them are square), mostly because matching the text pixels to the window and gauge pixels would mean I couldn't fit as much in. It does look a little bit weird, but I think it's probably fine as is.

Perhaps mark which nodes contain bosses, e.g. with a red border? Or maybe not -- perhaps make it optional so some bosses can be marked and some a surprise.

That's on my to-do list, I was thinking maybe marking the boss-inhabited nodes with a little skull after the name or something. Surprise bosses would always be possible, though.

Towns don't need the three bars; they could have a "town" graphic instead, or just nothing.

This is true, and only takes one 'if' statement. Noted.

It'd be nice if there were graphical cues when certain important things are happening:
- When I'm heavily damaged, my character could blink red.
- When I'm dead and waiting to revive, the screen could go greyscale and show a message.  In particular, it should emphasize that it's not a game over, you're merely delayed.

More feedback to the player is always a good thing. Death will later be optionally fatal, so I haven't put in stuff related to that yet.

- When in a boss fight, the other nodes could turn red to indicate I'm locked in.

Probably should have warned people about that. Surprise.

Might it be possible to allow us to use outside graphics sheets?

Maybe. No promises though. If this happens, expect another couple lines in the campaign file or another file altogether.

I died a few times on the first boss which made me scared of areas where I thought there might be bosses. But then it turns out the first boss is the only boss I was making money hand over fist in the first half of the game, for the second half I spent more money than I could make.

Yeah, I haven't quite smoothed out the scaling curves yet. Also, the volcano area has a decreased gold payout and an increased damage rate, so that might be a contributing factor. Bosses are pretty lucrative, so more of them might actually shift the balance as well.

Overall, it captures the addictive essence of rpgs very well, I would like to see a bit more choices while playing. Other than the "should I fight the boss now, or level up some more" choice at the beginning of the game, there where precious few times I felt like a choice I made was important. With the time limit it might help with that too.

The default game is very linear mostly because it was planned as the "introductory" stage, being the first. It also seems like it's going to be the only stage in the final competition version, so maybe more branches would have been a better thing, seeing as how that's kind of how it was planned.

Some possible ideas for adding gameplay:

* more choices of where to farm - most of the branch off points were between places with roughly equivalent leveling capabilities. It would be better if I constantly had to make a decision between potentially dangerous but lucrative, and more safe but slower
* letting you farm in places you have already cleared (maybe not every zone)
* equipment (this is an important aspect that's missing) - could be a simple "buy sword of zanzonia?" when entering a town that has it.
* potion management
* more bosses.
* Maybe random encounters when you walk around so you can never feel too safe! (could be a "boss" that randomly pops up in certain areas, but called "ambush" instead of boss).

1. Covered just above
2. Possibly, maybe only in designated areas at a half rate. I kind of like being able to control how much power is available to the player at a given time.
3. Intentionally left out for gameplay simplicity.
4. Intentionally left out as well, although the money vs. time problem would be interesting.
5. Yes.
6. The potential for cruelty with this is intriguing. "It's not rape, it's a boss fight you didn't know you wanted!"

All of that is probably a bit much for competition deadline, but some of it would be great, especially if you continue post deadline. I could see this going far, it's a much better meta-rpg than any others I've seen. I could even see actual stories working well in this format.

I cannot imagine why you would go to the trouble of adding story to a game with no environment, NPCs, or discernable geography. But noted all the same.

I wish I could offer you suggestions for improvement, but everything added would just detract from the intentional ultra-minimalism of the game! Well, sound effects and mood music depending on areas perhaps?

Music is prepared but not added because it would take 5 times longer to load the game on every. single. test run. Which I do as frequently as 2.5/min sometimes. Sound effects would be great, though. I'll probably spend an hour or two digging through the Pt.1 threads later looking for some.

In all, a very well done entry! Three mutant thumbs up!

I am honored that you would irradiate yourself for the sake of giving me a higher recommendation. Also, pics or it didn't happen.

Look at that, Alpha delayed on time.

Get it here.

Please please please provide feedback on this. I've asked in 5 places now so you should have seen it at least once.

That thing about the debug commands being taken out is sort of a lie, though.

I ended up with a surprise shift at work this afternoon, so the alpha won't be ready until tomorrow morning around 10:30-ish PST.

I did manage to get some neat pre-game graphical stuff and the alternate stat display in, though, amidst frenzied bug-hunting. The alternate stats are all values used directly by the game labeled with three-letter acronyms, but I'm not telling what they mean. Mysteries and discovery are fun!

Still no sound in the alpha, I'm afraid. It looks and plays a lot nicer, though, and it almost feels like an actual game now with the pause menu and stuff working. I really wish I could record a video of it, but my computer's a bit too old for that. ( again)

If I could make one small request of whoever is reading this thread to actually try the alpha tomorrow and give feedback, or just ruthlessly try to glitch through something, that would be very, VERY appreciated. I really don't have a very good idea of what other people think about this game, so it's a bit hard to tell what needs work the worst. Please?

...

How about one random (I WILL roll dice) person who gives feedback gets to name a town, okay? Do it for that, if nothing else.

Also I guess the formats for campaigns will be stable from the alpha until a bit after Assemblee, so that's a green light on anyone who wanted to make a custom game. In the further future, however, there may be some small additions as new features get added.