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[kevglass]

I've kicked off a development blog here:

http://blog.legendsofyore.com

Hopefully won't spam the forums so much

Kev

[JasonPickering]

No continue to Spam!

this is pretty fun, and a very lite Roguelike. I am glad you got rid of most of the more tedious stuff like hunger and weight. Its pretty fun, but a couple things

1. So how do you go back to the town, I was stuck because you cant go up levels and can only go down.
2. your path finding might be a little wonky, on one play-through it took me through an unexplored room because it was the shortest distance between two points. maybe you can have it only look at explored tiles when deciding a path to take.

[kevglass]

Thanks for the comments I've added the bugs to the list.

Been having a couple of problems with this in the last few days. First, the amount of feedback is amazing but I'm getting lost trying to track it all. I've worked in big projects for the day job loads of time but the sort of gooey/soft feedback I'm getting on this is really hard to track. I use a tracking system for bugs normally but it didn't seem to capture everything so I went for a more soft tracking system - a big piece of paper with colours and stuff written down:



It seems to be working out ok and get that gorgeous feeling of scribbling stuff out when it's done

Next, I'm having trouble getting some iPhone testers up and running with the beta profile. It's a fiddly process at best, most of them seem to be able to test but the last one or two have had issues. I'm not quite sure what the issue is but to try and remedy this I've submitted the current beta into the iPhone app store on the hope that'll it'll get put up and the people can test without issues.

Finally, while the bug reports have been great from the applet version, most users don't get the Java thing and the exceptions logs that could be useful when trying to fix issues. So, in the latest version the applet and download version will attempt to send me the exceptions if the game crashes. Hopefully this will help me move faster.

As to game development, it's been mostly bug fixes for the last few days that I've been working. I've had limited time due to family stuff but i'm expecting to get back into it tomorrow and start working on the tasks/quests/scripting system! Woo

Thanks to everyone for the feedback so far!

Kev

[kevglass]

Loads more work gone in but nothing to make publish yet. I have just written a blog entry over at http://blog.legendsofyore.com about how the game is currently defined and how I'm looking define quest/npc scripting. It's basically going to end up look like this:

Code:

<script>
    <if attribute=”stat-level” operation=”<” compare=”8″>
        <showDialog protrait=”147″ name=”Guard” text=”You may not pass until level 8 whelp”>
            <option name=”Ok, I’ll be back”/>
        </showDialog>
    </if>
    <if attribute=”stat-level” operation=”>” compare=”7″>
        <showDialog protrait=”147″ name=”Guard” text=”Good luck on your adventurers”>
            <option name=”Thanks!”>
                <moveToMap name=”wild1″ x=”24″ y=”48″/>
            </option>
        </showDialog>
    </if>
</script>

In other news I'm getting some requests to have higher-res graphics. I love the original style, sort of thought its what the game nice. Any opinions?

Kev

[Bremze]

Accidentally found this on the Android market, and I have to say its great!

I've cleared the first dungeon that's in the center of the town with a mage, here's my c&c: I know it's supposed to be super casual, but I'd like to see a bit more difficulty. Most rooms contain only one monster and healing items are plenty. Even the Troll/Ogre dude didn't faze me much, and I spent most of the battle whacking him with my staff. On the subject of whacking, () it would also be nice to have bigger rooms. I feel like monsters spawn adjecent to doors too often and bigger rooms could also accommodate more monsters. Before reading this thread I thought the cemetary was a place where you can see your killed characters, like a highscore map, maybe there should be something to suggest that there is a dungeon there. Or I just might be thick I've also got 7k gold with nothing to spend it on, but I'll chalk it up as WIP  

The touch interface is really solid, good job there, and the mechanics feel solid, although I'd like to see some more depth. A skill/perk/ability system maybe? Anyways I'll be following the development. Good job and good luck  
 
Edit: Keep the original style imo

[kevglass]

Plodding away on building a bigger world and filling it at the moment. Large new sections are done and I'm now working on the quest system in earnest. However, thats taking ages, should I just release what I have often or should I hang back for a big update?

Kev

[kevglass]

Feeling a bit like a walking through toffee at the moment, there seems to be so much to do and little time to do it in. The last release brought forward a few issues:

- Save games seem to be slightly broken for some people, not sure how to resolve this at the moment.
- The game is unbalanced, I need to redo statistics but I want to find a way to automatically validate them.
- The number of items available in the newbie area isn't enough, but the items outside of that are too powerful for newbies.

Motivation really sagging right now,

Kev

[kevglass]

Had lots of feedback thats really got me motivated again. Spent the last two sessions fixing up the iPhone client which has now found it's way on to iTunes (woop!). Have a nice long list of bugs and additions to make before moving on with the next set of features.

All systems go!

Kev

[kevglass]

Development still ticks on. I've spent alot of time trying to resolve bugs on the various platforms and re-balance the game so it feels like a challenge but doesn't kill the casual nature. I'm also working on a set of new features:

Scripting is now extended and is used a few places in the game. The XML scripting language is working out pretty well and the command set is growing as I design bits of the games. It feels like a bit of an organic method of development but so far so good. Along with scripting I've added the ability to have certain dungeon level maps prebuilt in a plain text format:

Code:

1 Skeleton Archer;
2 Skeleton;
end;
#########;
#       #;
#     #######;
#     #     #;
#  S  D   21#;
#######     #;
#     #######;

This has actually been useful to resolve some path-finding and line of sight bugs but eventually will be used to insert pre-scripting sections of story and quest into the game while still leaving the majority as procedurally generated.

Along with that I've spent today supporting bigger resolutions. When you play on a phone or in a small applet the super-pixels look great, but when the game is scaled up onto an android tablet, ipad or larger game window it doesn't look so good. In these cases the game now reacts by spreading the GUI out and showing more of the dungeon - it's a different feeling game but far nicer on the bigger screen.

Next on the list is NPCs and quests. Still thoroughly enjoying myself

Finally, I'm still wondering about monetizing but I'm starting to settle on the idea that you have to pay (say $1.99) to progress past level 15. This means the player can still play the game with new characters and has a lot of play time for free. It's the most fair and acceptable idea I've heard so far at least.

Any thoughts or suggestions appreciated,

Kev

[Albert]

$1.99 is too low for this gem. May you can raise a bit, to $4.99?

I'm playing this game with my level 8 warrior. There are some confusing items. For example I collected all the froze spells and wait to reach the required level to use it. Now I'm on level 8 and I still can't use it. Also I have furs, stings and a statue. I should sell them?

[kevglass]

Really no idea if/how I'm going to sell it still. I'm thinking a buy access to the premium content model, but still not sure. Still too much to implement yet

In the latest update (not on iOS yet, but as soon as apple approve) there's an info page for the item. It'd tell you that freeze spells can't be used by anyone but the wizard.

Furs and stings are for a quest and soon for crafting.

The statue is just an item thats worth selling.

Thanks for getting in touch and letting me know how you're finding it

Kev

[kevglass]

Next version is up at http://www.legendsofyore.com and Android (iTunes to follow as always). The update includes a lot of new areas, monsters and items. In addition there's a lot of new features:

- Paid pre-activated version on Android
- 3 new dungeons
- Few new areas
- 50+ new items
- 30+ new monsters
- More bug fixes
- Add Head shot for Archer
- Add Bezerk for Warrior
- Add Arror Hail for Archer
- Add Skull Crack for Warrior
- Fix snake rotation issues
- Explosion Spell
- Telekenisis/Move Spell
- Cracked walls
- Can now wear cloak and armor
- Archers have a chance of disarming traps
- Trapped containers
- Add static map support for the overland
- Don't lose quest items with no room in inventory
- Passive monsters
- Panned view can now stay in place
- Cursors work with move lock on
- Bear traps for archers
- Fix remote upgrade
- S'thel dungeon fix for iPhone
- Add cursor switching for gba players
- Add IAP for iOS
- Add IAP for android
- Add meditation for wizards
- Make charge potions stronger
- Fix Aria dungeon gimped containers
- Fix 0 HP bug
- Fix Dondheim starting location
- More chance of monsters spawning in mid-room
- Fix slot message location
- Message for kill monsters
- Overland maps via XML
- Shop configuration via XML
- Fix golem and snake path finding issues
- Remember whether we were going up or down stairs in save
- Respawn on failed dungeon entry prevented
- Quick slots now auto-refill
- Snail speed fixed
- Add support for chances on predefined items
- Split image sheets
- Elders now indicate when the next quest is
- Level statistics made more interesting for higher levels
- Message for no connection to saves
- Add item info for shop
- Include class details on info screen
- Full inventory now visible
- Make S'thel dungeon harder
- Reduce sell value for items
- No more double rewards for quests

I've also been asked to produce a paid for version for android and iPhone that doesn't rely on in-application purchase - interesting I think that theres a large contingent of people who just hate IAP of any sort. I'm working on these of course.

Any feedback, thoughts, questions or bugs reports appreciated.

Kev