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TIGSource ForumsCommunityDevLogsMonster Commander - Tactical RPG - New Demo 3/23
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Author Topic: Monster Commander - Tactical RPG - New Demo 3/23  (Read 50070 times)
Soulliard
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« on: June 01, 2012, 10:50:42 AM »



Monster Commander will be a tactical RPG with an emphasis on smart decision-making over grinding and luck. Your army will consist of monsters recruited from the ranks of your enemies. Each monster will have very different abilities, and forming the right team will be crucial to achieving victory.

The game is currently a work-in-progress, but a pre-alpha demo is available. The demo includes both single-player and multi-player modes. The most recent demo, released on 3/23/2016, also includes random battles.

The game is entirely controlled by the mouse. The objective is to kill your opponent’s Overseer before they kill yours. Each monster can move and attack each turn. If a monster ends its turn on a Soul Well, you’ll take control of it, which will allow your Overseer to cast spells.

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« Last Edit: March 14, 2017, 09:23:55 PM by Soulliard » Logged

Udderdude
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« Reply #1 on: June 01, 2012, 12:22:29 PM »

Looks promising.  How many monsters are allowed per team, and are you allowed to stack your team with multiple types of the same monster?
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Soulliard
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« Reply #2 on: June 01, 2012, 01:02:28 PM »

Thanks. The number of monsters you can have on your team will increase as you progress further. It will probably end up being around 10, but testing will determine the exact number.

I'm currently planning on limiting teams to one of each monster, to encourage variety within teams.
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Soulliard
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« Reply #3 on: June 03, 2012, 05:46:18 PM »

The basic engine is mostly done now. Players can take turns, move monsters, and have them attack. Areas of effect and temporary conditions are all working.

Now I just need to make it usable.  Smiley

« Last Edit: June 04, 2012, 02:43:37 PM by Soulliard » Logged

Soulliard
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« Reply #4 on: June 04, 2012, 02:43:11 PM »

Working on the UI. I'll keep larger text as an option for those who want it, but the smaller font size opens up a lot of screen space.

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Soulliard
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« Reply #5 on: June 07, 2012, 10:25:14 PM »

I did some more work on the interface, and added a few more monsters. Hotseat multiplayer gameplay is completely functional already, and I've already played a few test games with friends. Next, I'm going to add the animation framework, so the action is a bit easier to follow (the animations themselves will come later).

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« Reply #6 on: June 10, 2012, 08:06:31 AM »

niiiiiiiiiice!

im following this.
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Soulliard
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« Reply #7 on: June 10, 2012, 09:37:04 PM »

I've decided that enough of the game is complete to post a demo here. It only supports hotseat multiplayer right now, but the gameplay is mostly functional. The Overseers are just placeholders, though - the real commanders will be able to draw energy from the battlefield to cast spells. Obviously, it's also still missing some graphics and sound. Smiley

The objective is to destroy the other player's Overseer.
Most everything is controlled by the mouse. You can also use the number keys to select actions, and the arrow keys or spacebar to select monsters.
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Soulliard
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« Reply #8 on: June 17, 2012, 07:16:12 PM »

Multiplayer is working now, but there's no matchmaking yet, so you have to enter an IP address. I've also been adding a few more monsters and some missing gameplay elements (like proper commanders).

I figure this would probably be a good time to start introducing a few of the monsters in the game.



Boltrush
Lightning Spirit

Boltrushes spend their entire existence in the air, often high above the clouds. However, during storms, they appear closer to the ground, in huge numbers. Like most elemental spirits, they enjoy unleashing blasts of uncontrolled energy, but they rarely come close enough to civilization to cause any real damage.

In battle, boltrushes use a wide variety of lightning attacks. Though they lack the raw power of some other monsters, very few monsters resist lightning. This makes them versatile attackers. Lightning attacks heal boltrushes instead of dealing damage, so boltrushes will try to catch themselves in their own area attacks.
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Conker534
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« Reply #9 on: June 17, 2012, 08:03:16 PM »

I really like this game style. Good luck Smiley
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Craig Stern
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« Reply #10 on: June 17, 2012, 08:59:42 PM »

I downloaded the game, ran it, and this is what appeared on my screen:



I'm not sure what the issue is, but I'm preeeeeetty sure it's not supposed to look like that. Also, i couldn't issue orders to any of my monsters. I recommend fixing this, as I'd like to try this game out! Smiley
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Soulliard
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« Reply #11 on: June 17, 2012, 10:20:07 PM »

I downloaded the game, ran it, and this is what appeared on my screen:
It's a problem with certain graphics cards. For now, here is a version of the game that should work for you. This fix causes some small graphical problems, so I'll have a better solution eventually.

To issue monster commands, you need to click on one of your monsters first.

I really like this game style. Good luck Smiley
Thanks!
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Franklin's Ghost
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« Reply #12 on: June 18, 2012, 05:10:34 AM »

Liking the monster post. Interesting to hear about the monsters and looking forward to reading more background.
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Moczan
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« Reply #13 on: June 18, 2012, 07:08:13 AM »

I've tried the demo, even the 'compatibility' version, but I can't move mouse to the right portion of the screen (where 2 buttons are, the grid one and end turn) thus I can't play further than 1 turn of mine.

What do you use to make it? I think making it in  for example Flash would be much better choice, no need to worry about certain graphics card doing weird stuff and just focusing on gameplay
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Soulliard
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« Reply #14 on: June 18, 2012, 07:58:47 AM »

What's your computer's resolution? I think that might be the problem.
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Moczan
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« Reply #15 on: June 18, 2012, 08:05:23 AM »

What's your computer's resolution? I think that might be the problem.

I've tried it on 1366 x 768 notebook
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Tumetsu
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« Reply #16 on: June 18, 2012, 08:26:45 AM »

This looks interesting. I didn't play it much since it didn't had AI, but here is my thoughts so far:

UI
It works but isn't really nice to use. I didn't like how I had to choose my character by clicking and then move mouse all the way up. If the possible actions are going to stay low like they are now, perhaps you could introduce pop-up or button wheel around the selected character? It would be more intuitive and faster and easier to use IMO. Another similar thing was how end turn button was placed to far right top of the screen which makes it to be far from most of the UI actions, while it is used pretty often.

Another thing which I'd like is to grid attack and move range. I noticed there were grid option for entire field but not for movement & attack range specifically. Gridding these helps the user to see more clearly the area of movement, at least IMO. Also, grid should be other color than the ground. Traditional blue might pop out better.

This may be just my opinion, but I'd prefer HUD to be on bottom of the screen rather than top. I tend to focus my gaze more easily to bottom edge of the screen on PC. I'm not sure if there was usability research for this. I'll try to dig some info on that.

Graphics
I don't know how final these are supposed to be. I liked them though I didn't like the overseer being just a monolith. Also, I didn't see much consistency with designs. There were pokemon-esque monkey and human with sword. Of course thigs might be explained with setting and story.

Mechanics
Pretty standard, good in what it does. I don't really have much to say about that at the moment.

So that was it. In short I think it looks and sounds interesting but at least with my brief testing the UI got a bit on my nerves.
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Soulliard
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« Reply #17 on: June 18, 2012, 08:39:10 AM »

I've tried it on 1366 x 768 notebook
I updated the compatibility version to work with smaller resolutions. Once I add the ability to select a resolution, this will no longer be an issue.
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brettchalupa
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« Reply #18 on: June 18, 2012, 08:45:48 AM »

What are you building this in? Pretty sure I read through most of the posts and didn't see. Tongue
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Soulliard
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« Reply #19 on: June 18, 2012, 09:19:51 AM »

Game Maker. I'm really familiar with it, and I don't foresee it causing any problems for this project (those already mentioned have solutions which I just haven't implemented yet).

This looks interesting. I didn't play it much since it didn't had AI, but here is my thoughts so far:
Thanks a lot for the write-up. I'm mostly interested in UI advice right now, so this is really helpful.

Quote
UI
It works but isn't really nice to use. I didn't like how I had to choose my character by clicking and then move mouse all the way up. If the possible actions are going to stay low like they are now, perhaps you could introduce pop-up or button wheel around the selected character? It would be more intuitive and faster and easier to use IMO.
Actions are going to be capped at 8, so this is certainly doable. I'll try this out, since selecting actions is one of the most problematic parts of the UI right now. I've mostly been using the number keys to select actions, but that requires some familiarity with the system...

Quote
Another similar thing was how end turn button was placed to far right top of the screen which makes it to be far from most of the UI actions, while it is used pretty often.
Well, I don't want it to be pressed accidentally. I'll need to think about this.

Quote
Another thing which I'd like is to grid attack and move range.
Easy change, no reason not to do it.

Quote
Also, grid should be other color than the ground. Traditional blue might pop out better.
Blue ground may end up being just as common as green ground, but it's an easy change to make, so I'll try it out.

Quote
This may be just my opinion, but I'd prefer HUD to be on bottom of the screen rather than top.
That's more standard, anyways, so I'll do it.

Quote
Graphics
I don't know how final these are supposed to be. I liked them though I didn't like the overseer being just a monolith. Also, I didn't see much consistency with designs. There were pokemon-esque monkey and human with sword. Of course thigs might be explained with setting and story.
The overseer is a placeholder until I add actual commanders. I'm working on finding a more consistent style, but there are several categories of monsters which are each going to be somewhat distinct from each other. The only two monsters which are from the same category right now are the Boltrush and the Skillery, which are both elemental.
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