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[JasonPickering]

well looks like I will keep the resolution. I have gotten pretty far in flash punk, I havent coded any of the actual gameplay yet, just the many separate parts that make up the game. so now I just need to start combining it. should go pretty fast. so I wont be posting a gamemaker version to test. hopefully it will be  SWF.

anyways here is what the tutorial screens are. this is actually 4 screens next to each other. and I hope by reading this you understand exactly how to play.

[Doktor_Q]

Looks pretty awesome. I still envy your pixel-art-fu.

[Pineapple]

This looks very promising!

[JasonPickering]

alright so more questions. would everyone rather see it that the world is jsut randomly generated. or would they take advantage of being able to choose the 5 monsters they will battle. If I just go the random route it makes my life a lot easier, and hopefully I can then do more.

I looked in to mochi ads, hoping maybe to generate some revenue as I would like a new laptop for developing on, but currently dont have the budget for one. well it seems that the adds only work with games of a resolution 300x300 or larger and currently mine is 192x192. so that throws that idea out.

also if you enjoy the pixel art this will not be the only game using it. I plan on doing many more games using the same art, but each being very different. I even have an idea for the next one. ill just leave you with the name of "Quest'em up".

[Doktor_Q]

Random world. Surprise us, make it interesting.

[JasonPickering]

alright so I have almost the entire game ported over to flash. so close. I redid the size and changed my resolution. the game use to be 64 x 64 run at 3x not its 80 x 80 run at 4x. this is nice cause it gives me some extra room for some larger monsters. i also changed the HUD to make it much easier to understand


so I am hoping thats much easier to understand. so here are my questions that I am trying to figure out.
1. when you are at the upgrade screen z will purchase and x will be the continue. any ideas for symbols I could use. I was thinking maybe a dollar sign for the purchase but not sure about the no purchase/continue button.
2. does the skull for monster, heart for player bother anyone?
3. does the sword under the monster read that it is the monster attack power? should i find a different symbol?

and heres hoping that i get this done soon. one thing thats been nice is with rebuilding the engine I cut out a lot of the fat and rewrote the story system. each level is now a chapter and takes place in a different location on your journey to the boss.

[Hangedman]

You could make the continue button a right arrow.

And the sword does read for enemy attack, although maybe something like teeth would be more generally suitable for 'monster'.

[Doktor_Q]

Skull for monster is a little weird, though it wouldn't interfere too much.

For cancel, you usually use an 'X' mark.

[JasonPickering]

thanks guys.
Hangedman: i though about doing teeth, but some of the "monsters" you fight are not so much monsters just opponents, some are knights, mages, and dwarves.

Kikura: i was thinking an X but its the X button so you would have a large X and then a smaller x in the corner denoting it as the key input.

[PsySal]

I hadn't seen this until this morning, just wanted to say it looks amazing. I like the larger 80 x 80 at 4x, looks a lot less cramped.

Your monster and character designs are really interesting and pretty, and way you've described the gameplay sounds like it will be really fun.

Looking forward to it!

[baconman]

I would go with a combination of random + choice - like randomly generate 2 "paths" at a time (with sets of monsters/obstacles), and allow a selection between the two. Then merge and resplit them at shops/towns.

[JasonPickering]

right now its more story centered. the levels go:

1. road: monster - 1
2. location one: monster - 1 & 2 (graveyard,woods,cave,castle, etc.)
3. road: monster - 3
4. road: monster - 3
5. location two: monster - 3 & 4(graveyard,woods,cave,castle, etc.)
6. road: monster - 5
7. road: monster - 5
8. boss location

and there is no real map or anything just the story narrating as you go. now that I think about it I could allow the player to choose from 2 different location ones. and then 2 location twos (actually 4, 2 for each first location) and then it always ends in the boss location. this would require me to change the randomization in the beginning and the monster setup for the levels, but as i haven't written any of the randomization code, this could be changed. I kind of like the idea of giving the player some choices on their path. even if its just deciding between the volcano level or the forest level.

[mokesmoe]

Since it's "continue" you could use a right arrow.

[baconman]

right now its more story centered. the levels go:

1. road: monster - 1
2. location one: monster - 1 & 2 (graveyard,woods,cave,castle, etc.)
3. road: monster - 3
4. road: monster - 3
5. location two: monster - 3 & 4(graveyard,woods,cave,castle, etc.)
6. road: monster - 5
7. road: monster - 5
8. boss location

and there is no real map or anything just the story narrating as you go. now that I think about it I could allow the player to choose from 2 different location ones. and then 2 location twos (actually 4, 2 for each first location) and then it always ends in the boss location. this would require me to change the randomization in the beginning and the monster setup for the levels, but as i haven't written any of the randomization code, this could be changed. I kind of like the idea of giving the player some choices on their path. even if its just deciding between the volcano level or the forest level.

You could just allow the selection sequences on the bolded pathways, and associate more powerups with tougher monsters, so there's a bit of a risk/reward tactic about it... if your life's up, you can safely risk the tougher of the two (generally offering more gold and attack power); but if you're more wounded, you can still make progress (and recover more life than you lose) with the easier one. But an appropriate level of power-hoarding can make the difference between you getting past a boss character or not (IE: if you ALWAYS take the easy road, it's pretty unlikely you'll be suited to take on the bosses; but always taking the harder road might overwhelm you, too).

I can understand the key locations being essential for plotline purposes, so maybe just offer a preview of what you'll be up against, so you know how prepared to get yourself. Tactical differences in bosses could be a determining factor as well (higher off vs. higher def/life). This could make players reevaluate their tactics when it comes to pathfinding. (Or more appropriately, make one particular combination of paths' results considerably harder for boss-slaying than any other combo.)

Gives the game a little tactical edge, while still keeping the simple premise that works in it's favor.

[JasonPickering]

hey guys. been a while. went home for a small vacation and back to working on this. coming back with fresh eyes is definetly nice. so here is an older version made in gamemaker. I have pretty much this right now in flash just not with some of the bells and whistles here, the hud and resolution have also changed. the game definetly seems super easy now though, so not to sure on where to go from here. my main goal is for it to be a balancing act. can you beat the next guy? do you have enough potions for the boss?

so give it a try let me know what you think. Z and X are the controls. and here are the rules again.


http://www.mediafire.com/?wnnmjzjth0d

P.S. do you think the story should read in 1st person or 3rd? i am torn.

[idoru]

the game definetly seems super easy now though, so not to sure on where to go from here. my main goal is for it to be a balancing act. can you beat the next guy? do you have enough potions for the boss?

I beat the boss on my seventh or eighth play. However, for about the first five plays I didn't realize I could buy upgrades or advance levels after each battle and so I died pretty quickly. At first, I thought the upgrade menu was showing enemy stats or something because it was on that side of the screen. I think it would be helpful to add a screen to the instructions explaining things; something along the lines of: "After each battle, use the up and down arrow keys to select an upgrade or choose to advance to the next level. Press Z to confirm the selection or press X to proceed without making a selection." Anyway, once I understood that, the gameplay became more obvious.

General thoughts:

The art style is great and the HUD and font are consistent with it. I also like the palette. Even so, I think there could be some improvements. For example with the smaller enemies, the sky is a pretty large blank; some subtle scrolling clouds or mist might help. Also, things are pretty static unless you're pressing buttons to move along the action. Even basic two-frame "idle" animations of the enemies would go a long way toward making everything feel more alive.

I realize this is explained in the instructions, but the shield as an HP icon threw me. I initially thought it indicated defense or armor. Maybe using a heart for both current and max HP would work since they're in different locations?

I assume the scroll/parchment between levels is blank because it's a placeholder in this version? A map here would be a nice way to convey a sense of progress.

The element of risk-taking could be pushed more if enemy damage were variable. As it is, it's fairly easy to plan for the next enemy, decide when to advance a level to heal, etc. If, for example, a centaur could deal between three and six damage instead of always dealing five damage, the player might be more tempted to "press their luck" and go on to the next enemy with the hope that it won't deal maximum damage. With fixed damage, and the knowledge of which enemies are on a certain level, there is really no choice other than advancing to the next level if you're below a certain amount of HP because to do otherwise would be a game over. Variable damage would allow the player to choose either cautious or bold tactics and would make gameplay more dynamic and ultimately more interesting.

Perhaps this is intentional, but it seems that once you've gotten a couple attack upgrades, and continue to upgrade it regularly, every non-boss enemy in the game takes only one hit to defeat. Throwing in some high HP, low attack power enemies might shake things up a bit.

And one last minor observation: I kept wanting to press the right arrow key instead of X to skip the upgrade selection. I got used to X after a bit, but I think pressing right feels more natural for some reason.

Hopefully this all comes across as constructive critique; I'm not trying to pick apart your game, just hoping to help make it better. I've been lurking here for a few months, saw this dev thread a few weeks ago and really liked your concept (in fact your graveyard scene inspired me to make a cheesy chiptune), and figured I had to de-lurk and give some feedback on the demo.

P.S. do you think the story should read in 1st person or 3rd? i am torn.

Personally, given the concept, I think the character should be referred to as "the hero" rather than "you". For example on the instruction screen, it would read "Take the hero into the dungeon", "The hero is healed in the process", etc.

[J. R. Hill]

Seems like my success is based solely on how many potions I run across at the very beginning of the game.

[JasonPickering]

wow guys thanks. I agree that I need to add a little more strategy.

jrhill: i agree with the potion thing, i played the other day and won with 20 extra potions.

idoru: I agree the characters are very static. th backgrounds are probably going to stay static, but each level will have a completely different backdrop, from fields, graveyards, to giant castles.

i am trying to figure out a way to make the game more strategy based. i think the idea of variable enemy damage might help. i might also change the potions from randomly being 1 3 or 5 to just 1 and 3. i recently played a game this game (http://www.indiegames.com/blog/2010/06/freeware_game_pick_hero_defeat.html) and that really had the strategy idea i liked of making your way towards the boss monster. but right now the game is really focused on luck. you might get nothing but potions or no potions at all.

also idoru can you post that chiptune.

[idoru]

i might also change the potions from randomly being 1 3 or 5 to just 1 and 3.

That makes sense, though it's really cool when you come across a heap of five (and it seems pretty rare).

also idoru can you post that chiptune.

I'm not really happy with the way it turned out, but I was trying to stick with NES restrictions (one triangle, two pulses, and a noise channel) which sort of limited what I could do. The cheesy "solo" near the end doesn't really fit, but I left it in anyway. You'll need something that can play .it files.

http://www.mediafire.com/?z2m4gzgojeu

[JasonPickering]

so im still thinking about the game and the adding of strategy. i have been looking at battle in lots of different pen and paper RPGs. a lot use dice, but I have noticed that some use the idea of rock paper scissors. this got me thinking. so I am going to try building a quick engine where battle is done by a game of rock paper scissors. all upgrades will still be in but the rock paper scissors will add strategy. so you can add more attack and stuff, but if you cant hit the bad guy it wont do much. also in a tie both will take damage. my current fear is how exciting is rock paper scissors really. i hope that wrapping it in a RPG will be exciting enough. so we will see.

edit: so i also have another idea. each monster and you have a "dice" number. so if you hit attack and have 3 dice, 3 dice will randomly be rolled. and if the other monster has 2 dice, 2 are rolled. basically they will be a one in six chance of a sword comming up. so if you roll and get 3 swords, and the enemy gets 2 swords, the monster gets 1 damage. but if you roll 1 sword and they roll 2 you get 1 damage. this however does take the strategy out of your hands. you are just pressing buttons and hoping for the best. but its no different then the dice roll you would usually see. also health and attack powers will be lower to speed up gameplay.

Idoru: i need to find something that can play that.