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TIGSource ForumsCommunityDevLogsPower Heroes (iOS)
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eobet
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« Reply #20 on: May 11, 2012, 11:02:56 AM »

The mock-ups are really nice and charming, but I am very worried that I don't see the word "puzzle" being mentioned even once here.

I hope this won't go the way Hack, Slash, Loot did, in that the mechanics were theoretically very good, but once you began playing, it became a repetetive bore.
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kamac
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« Reply #21 on: May 11, 2012, 12:28:12 PM »

If you eventually want it multi-platform (iOS, Android, Samsung bada, etc.), code once in native C++, take a look at App Game Kit. They've got a discount to 60$ recently. It's easy as hell and has integrated Box2d physics. I have made Spell Breath with it.

Yup. I guess your thread will be popular, because that style is <top> on tigsource. People who make great-art games with nice gameplay usually have up to 4-5 pages  Roll Eyes

@EDIT

Saw you use Cocos2d-x. Good choice and works on android too, so nevermind me  Coffee
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i-kari
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« Reply #22 on: May 13, 2012, 07:59:46 AM »

The mock-ups are really nice and charming, but I am very worried that I don't see the word "puzzle" being mentioned even once here.

I hope this won't go the way Hack, Slash, Loot did, in that the mechanics were theoretically very good, but once you began playing, it became a repetetive bore.

Care to elaborate what made HSL "a repetitive bore" in your opinion? What was it lacking compared to other roguelikes? By puzzle, do you mean that these sort of games should have puzzle elements?
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eobet
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« Reply #23 on: May 15, 2012, 05:18:54 AM »

Well, as has already been mentioned, it looks a lot like Zelda, and Zelda games have puzzles, so it's perhaps reasonable to expect that in some form here as well. (Even moreso since you included "adventure" in your topic name, which also implies if not puzzles, some form of higher thinking.)

You can find my detailed Hack, Slash, Loot feedback in the devlog thread of that game if you want to see, but it all boils down to variation. Hack, Slash, Loot was so stripped down that even the variation was eliminated. I mean a Roguelike without crazy, random stuff happening? Come on! It also had poor balance in that while there were a dozen or so characters with variations in gameplay between them, each level you put a character through was far too large for the very simple common mechanics, so it all became a "grind".

It just hit me that I would have done the exact opposite. Just one character, but a dozen different items which each activated one of the different gameplay variations when you picked it up.

Simple mechanics may sound neat and clean on paper, but if you don't leave room for complexity your game won't last very long. Also, I re-read your first post... "collect 10 power coins"? That would make me put down the game right there.
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i-kari
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« Reply #24 on: May 16, 2012, 01:59:20 AM »

eobet, thanks for the feedback! I agree that simple mechanics in a game should not come at the expense of lacking depth. Many good games have that "easy to play, hard to master" aspect, but stripping down ideas to their bare essentials is not always easy because you tend to lose something on every iteration of the simplification process.

I'm not sure if I made myself clear with that mission/quest system. Basically it's a tree with different paths that open up upon completing quests.
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i-kari
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« Reply #25 on: May 16, 2012, 09:56:39 AM »


I'm experimenting with a winter tileset. The slight bloom effect is baked into the tiles. Here it works pretty nice I think, but I made an assumption that tiles are always surrounded by white ground tiles acting as the source for the bloom. This does not work so well if there are water tiles next to them because water tiles are blue instead of white, making the edges of the tiles with the bloom to "glow".

In other news, I'm working on a text box system for possible dialogues and messages that need to be communicated to the player.
« Last Edit: April 14, 2013, 10:46:43 PM by i-kari » Logged

Quarry
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« Reply #26 on: May 16, 2012, 10:04:52 AM »

You should use a shader of some kind, baking light isn't the best technique
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i-kari
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« Reply #27 on: May 16, 2012, 10:25:39 AM »

You should use a shader of some kind, baking light isn't the best technique

Yeah I figured so, I'm just not familiar with shaders so I worked with what I got.
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brog
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« Reply #28 on: May 16, 2012, 11:13:15 AM »

I'm dubious about the control method.  Visualising left/right when the character's in different positions is actually mildly challenging; not saying this is a bad thing, but it means it becomes part of the challenge of the game rather than just a control scheme.  You'll probably lose some players over it anyway.
Check out my game Zaga-33 (code sent in PM) for a couple of roguelike touch control schemes.  The default scheme is "touch somewhere on the map to move towards there", but a lot of people complained about that (mostly on phone, it works well on a larger screen) so I added "swipe in a direction to move in that direction" as an option which mostly people seem to like better.  My experience is that no matter what control scheme you pick on a touch screen, some players are going to complain about it.

This looks really neat, I really love this kind of tight single-screen room thing at the moment and the pixel-art is spot on.
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Houndninja
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« Reply #29 on: May 16, 2012, 05:33:11 PM »

Awesome that this will be for IOS! how much will it cost do you think, and what platforms will it be available for on IOS (e.g. 3rd gen, 4th gen, iphone, etc.)  Gentleman
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i-kari
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« Reply #30 on: May 17, 2012, 06:13:39 AM »

Visualising left/right when the character's in different positions is actually mildly challenging; not saying this is a bad thing, but it means it becomes part of the challenge of the game rather than just a control scheme.

It's definitely more than just a control scheme, I agree. It makes the game more action oriented.

Check out my game Zaga-33 (code sent in PM) for a couple of roguelike touch control schemes.  The default scheme is "touch somewhere on the map to move towards there", but a lot of people complained about that (mostly on phone, it works well on a larger screen) so I added "swipe in a direction to move in that direction" as an option which mostly people seem to like better.  My experience is that no matter what control scheme you pick on a touch screen, some players are going to complain about it.

Hey I read about your game on Touch Arcade! How did you get them to review your game? And thanks for the code. I'll try it out.

Awesome that this will be for IOS! how much will it cost do you think, and what platforms will it be available for on IOS (e.g. 3rd gen, 4th gen, iphone, etc.)  Gentleman

I hope to support as many generations as I can. I own a 3GS myself and have a 4 in the house but don't yet have the game running on an actual device.

About your question about price, I have not decided on a pricing model yet because development is at such an early stage.
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brog
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« Reply #31 on: May 18, 2012, 01:06:36 AM »

Quote
Hey I read about your game on Touch Arcade! How did you get them to review your game?
I don't know eh - I didn't even send them a code or anything (and another time when I sent them a code for a different game they didn't write about it).  Some people were discussing it on their forums first though, I think they pay attention to those.
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i-kari
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« Reply #32 on: May 25, 2012, 04:26:02 PM »

Progress report:

- Revised level start/end procedures. I figured that players should be given a brief look at the level before all the action starts. So now our hero walks in from the left and stops, while enemies are spawned to the level. Then... GO! When level is completed a 'level complete!' screen is displayed before next level starts. This summary screen between levels is mostly a placeholder for now, but it could show level stats like killed enemies, collected coins & loot, etc.

- Thought about what direction I want to take this game. Implemented scoring and gold coins. Killing enemies & collecting loot increases score. Gold coins are the game's currency that can be used to buy things in towns. I have this idea of an endless runner / rpg hybrid (an 'endless quest'?) and I think I like it.

- Number of gfx updates. All key objects (coins, level keys, life hearts) are animated to emphasize their importance to the core gameplay.

- Some under the hood work with the code. I have to tidy it up.

Updated HUD:

« Last Edit: April 14, 2013, 10:46:56 PM by i-kari » Logged

i-kari
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« Reply #33 on: May 29, 2012, 07:45:19 AM »

Progress on the dialog box stalled a bit so I worked on other things. Enemies now have a movement type and speed. Human-like creatures happily walk forward while slimes, for example, slowly jump along. This added a new aspect to the gameplay as the previous version had all enemies moving identically.
« Last Edit: May 29, 2012, 10:03:23 PM by i-kari » Logged

i-kari
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« Reply #34 on: July 02, 2012, 08:23:42 AM »

Update time. Due to other things in life I have been forced to work on my game mainly on weekends only, but here's progress since last update (about a month):

1. Towns. As I wrote in the original post, there was an idea to have friendly towns after every X levels, where you could buy items etc. and just chill out. You can now enter buildings and walking onto a shopkeeper opens the shop's inventory.


Shop's interior could look something like this.

2. Shop GUI. Struggling with this one. I've flipped the elements around and tried different layouts but I have to keep experimenting till I'm happy with it.


Text is just a placeholder.

3. Tweaked some graphics.

4. Improved code.

5. Bumped the progress indicator from 20% to 40%!

Next up:
- Finalize shop GUI
- Add items
- Enable item use
- Enable purchases in shops
« Last Edit: April 14, 2013, 10:47:08 PM by i-kari » Logged

Quarry
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« Reply #35 on: July 02, 2012, 08:45:36 AM »

Do like
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Houndninja
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« Reply #36 on: July 15, 2012, 12:54:23 AM »

Do want.
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JackMenhorn
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« Reply #37 on: July 15, 2012, 05:33:49 AM »

Do like and want.
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i-kari
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« Reply #38 on: July 15, 2012, 08:45:22 AM »

I've started a document to keep track of all the game's features. This helps me visualizing how different features work or don't work together, and what features can be added without sacrificing simplicity.

One feature that could add variety to the game is an idea that was presented to me via private messages here on TIGSource: different characters with each having a unique skill. Example: knight is effective against enemies other than ghosts, while mage can kill ghosts but not others. Thief will give 2x loot score etc. The original idea was to have a party of 1-3 characters walking around in a conga line with a switchable lead, and the active lead's skill would then be used, but I'm afraid switching the character during hectic gameplay would be too confusing. Therefore I rethought the idea and came up with this: you will play as a single character but additional characters could be unlocked and added to the selection. When entering a town inn, you could then pick one of these available characters for the next set of levels. Each character has its own special skill which can be used when the power meter is full. There would be a button for the skill on the HUD, which brings us to the next topic...

ITEMS. The three item slots currently on the HUD. For the same reason as switching the party lead on levels back and forth, I think the items should go. Think about this: In the heat of the game, what if you wanted to use a heal potion but accidentally tapped on the wrong button and casted a fireball? Or vice versa. Frustrating. Instead, I could make consumable items to spawn on levels or to be found in treasure chests and they would get used immediately when collected.

Opinions?
« Last Edit: July 15, 2012, 02:50:27 PM by i-kari » Logged

i-kari
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« Reply #39 on: July 17, 2012, 08:37:31 AM »

Yesterday I worked on the enemy spawn routines. Previously enemies spawned on the map at random locations. Although I kept this as an option, now most enemies spawn in waves that enter the area from outside the screen. An exclamation mark flashes for a brief moment at the entry location to warn the player of an incoming wave.

The picture below is from the map editor and shows possible wave spawn points (red circles) and building entrances (cyan X). These are saved to the map file and are dynamically initialized upon level load.


When a wave is spawning, the game randomly selects one of the spawn points as the entry point for the wave.

As for the building entrances, each entrance tile found during level load triggers a sub level load method. This method preloads a randomly selected indoor level into an array and saves its entry coordinates. When the player enters a building, the correct level file is chosen from the array. Finally the entry coordinates are used to return to the main level.
« Last Edit: April 14, 2013, 10:47:18 PM by i-kari » Logged

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