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[JasonPickering]

Well did some additions to the combat formula. hope to update the feedback thread this weekend. One of the main things I was trying to do was getting skills and monster deaths to work well together. most of the skills were similar to monster deaths anyways. so thats when it struck me. in the new combat prototype monsters now drop one time use spells. Also a monster always drop the same one time use spell. so a Yeti will always drop a freeze spell you can use whenever you want. currently the last monster killed drops a spell. meaning a. the player can sometimes choose who to kill last and 2. the player needs to clear an island to get something. It puts the player in a position that they could just run out of the island, but they wouldn't get any skill. this could work to their advantage if they already have enough skills or just dont want what these monsters might have. Current skills in the game now are

- Potion (use when ever to heal)
- Heart  (Auto use heals and adds +1 to max health
- Sword  (Auto use adds +1 to Skill Level)
- Skip Turn (Allows you to skip your turn for positioning)
- Freeze     ( Freezes all enemies on screen for 3 turns )

[JasonPickering]

trying some different stuff. put it inside a dungeon and made the ties smaller to give a bigger area.



looks kind of cool, but needs a lot of extra work, like adding bricks and stuff. i was playing this game by Skipmore and realized that was basically the RPG game I set out to make. so I might be deconstructing that game over the next few days. I like the dungeon idea cause I think it makes more sense then islands actually. so this has put me on the fence a bit. I am still thinking about it though so we will see. some of the things I like about it are its

1. simple combat (No miss percentages)
2. Easy AI. monsters do not chase you, but because of the one space wide hallways they get in your way.
3. switch then stairs. it doubles the traversal of each floor. also the reason for the light.
4. tiny levels.

what do you think?

[CEDE]

[rek]

I like the dungeon idea cause I think it makes more sense then islands actually. so this has put me on the fence a bit.

Why not both? Your original idea, IIRC, was to have the player clear an island and then take out a boss monster based in a cave – return to that: The player crosses islands to arrive at the boss' castle, and descends into dungeon-based levels and takes on the dragon at the end of it.

[JasonPickering]

Alright. I have been away for quite some time, but have done a lot on this.



I wont talk much about the UI, because its all very focused towards the new combat style. Which I want to work out the bugs before I say to much. Needless to say I have been doing a lot of paper prototyping and I finally feel like I have the combat going where I want it. I will post more on that later when I have a full build for everyone.

As for the new art I switched to an interior and also changed the level size. One of my original ideas was to give the player a choice of how many floors to play (5, 10, 15). This never really made sense with the islands system but works well with this as you are entering towers with floors. the one thing I like the most is that the player will spawn where the up stairs were on the next floor instead of some. What I like about this is the player switches direction each floor. Where as with the island the player always moved left to right now they alternate each floor.

I will talk about one thing though and thats Enemy spawning. so each floor has a value and the value goes up as you go higher. so some values are like this
mouse  = 1
slime  = 2
goblin = 3

now lets say a floors value is 5. so the level could have
1. a goblin and a slime
2. a goblin and 2 mice
3. 2 slimes and a mouse
4. 5 mice

it works really well with keeping the difficulty curve in check and gives some crazy combinations. Also keep in mind that floor 5 right now has a value of 7. so you could be swarmed by mice.

Rek: I thought about combining them, but I think that ends up making the game to long. I will actually reuse all that island art for the Dungeon Selection though.

CEDE That's pretty awesome. I feel I should add the sandwich in as a powerup now.

Edit: I totally forgot to post this. The main reason I haven't posted much on here was because I was working to get this running on an iOS device. I am happy to report that it runs awesome on my Iphone and the controls work pretty great. I no longer require a specific tile touch to move or attack. its all just directional now. using both thumbs to play is super fast. I actually think a Time Attack mode would be great.

[CEDE]

CEDE That's pretty awesome. I feel I should add the sandwich in as a powerup now.

Edit: I totally forgot to post this. The main reason I haven't posted much on here was because I was working to get this running on an iOS device. I am happy to report that it runs awesome on my Iphone and the controls work pretty great. I no longer require a specific tile touch to move or attack. its all just directional now. using both thumbs to play is super fast. I actually think a Time Attack mode would be great.

glad you like it!

If you need an iOS tester let me know 

[happymonster]

Looks great! Looking forward to hearing more about the combat / movement. 

[BlueSweatshirt]

I'll second that the game is looking great now!

[laxwolf]

Looks great. Seems really clean with some fresh ideas.

[Byrono]

Love the art. But are you gonna make this for android.

[st33d]

If you need an iOS tester let me know 

Ooh Ooh! I can test for iPad! 

[Franklin's Ghost]

Nice to hear you got it working on the iphone and really interested to see where this new direction goes.
Are you going to have a limit on how many monsters you can have on a floor. If the floor has a value of 10 then will the possibility exist that you will end up with 10 mice? which will result in not much choice with moving space. Or will it limit the number of mice at 6 and use the other 4 points for other monsters?

[JasonPickering]

I will eventually have to figure something out, but at the moment the problem hasn't arisen yet. the next plan is to do a few Enemies, but each enemy will require different code in certain spots. so here are a bunch of sprites.



So the current Goal is Mouse, Goblin , and Mimic (Purple blob).

Mouse: 1 Health does 1 Damage
Goblin: 2 Health does 1 Damage
Mimic: 2 Health and does 0 damage

Mimic will be the first special enemy. On spawn it chooses another enemy (Mouse and Goblin) and gets their sprite. on strike POOF it turns to the purple blob. my main goal is for this, is to cause the player to think differently. My second special enemy will be a fire imp(the small fire above) hitting him with fire does not kill him but turns him into the big fire guy. So if the Mimic looks like a small fire Sprite. you wouldn't want to use a Fireball on it, because you would be afraid it would become the big one. what if it looks like a tough goblin so you try and stay away from it only to find out its a mimic and posed no real threat.

[happymonster]

Gorgeous Jason!!! 

[laxwolf]

I love the sprite work! 

[JasonPickering]

thanks guys. Which Mouse works better? I think the one next to the Wolf is too cartoony.

[happymonster]

Actually I prefer that one because you can see more detail on the face.

[Franklin's Ghost]

Think the one next to the wolf also. Just easier to tell what it is on first glance.

[JasonPickering]

My main concern was the size.



R.O.U.S!! INCONCEIVABLE!!


Edit: On a Side note. Any good ideas on how I could show Statuses. Originally I was going to use speech bubbles above their heads, but it will completely block any monster above them. I can post examples if needed.

[Franklin's Ghost]

What about slightly transparent speech bubbles so you'll see the glimpses of covered players? Examples of what you're thinking will definitely help visualise it.

Did see the concern with the size of the character and mouse but think in a game like this it can be forgiven a lot more then not really having a clear idea on what you're attacking. Clarity over sensibility I guess  but the small one does work if you do decide to go with it.