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[Valmond]

Bravo!
I'll get back to this game over and over again, really!
I just got one only sole criticism, if I may, and I'm writing it down because I think it might help other people discover Pixel Champions. I might be completely wrong though.

I read this and I think BaconMan has a sort of point,

2. Pacing needs to be stepped up. Like, 2-2.5x the pace it is now. I feel like my characters are crawling everywhere they go.

Initially, a character's walking speed is slow, but it increases each time you gain a level. There are also some items in the game (Ghostly Boots, for example) that can increase your walking speed.

There are not many things to do in the beginning (I went down a hole, made my way through some tunnels before I got up to the island with the shops) and that is all okay.
Except that you move really slow and as there mostly are no one waiting for you, it is a bit boring. Hitting a crate 9 times before it breaks is the same, you know you will win but you 'have to wait', it didn't help I didn't get that you should use the right-click to attack but those boxes should have like 5 HP not 40!
Put in a lot more snakes but with hitpoints so you need to hit them say twice ot three times mostly, tutorial oblige they can't really hurt you. That will make the player (a newbie to your game) understand better the fighting and have more fun in the way through the tuto.

That said, I'm really impressed of the game, the networking works OK as far as what I have seen and that isn't something you stumble onto every day

++ Valmond

[Fleury]

October 14, 2012 - Build 215 Released

• XP is no longer shared 100%; your XP is determined by the amount of damage you do, and the number of people in your party.
• Reduced all players experience XP to balance the changes in experience gain.
• You can no longer do more damage to a monster than it has health remaining.
• Added uppercase and lowercase c-cedilla character (thanks for reporting this missing character)!
• Added 'Standard Aspect' (aspectstd) commandline to game client (to assist with video recording).
• Fixed game client's VIP listing desyncing due to complicated VIP updates.
• Fixed several server crashes due to party system coding.

Also replaced my old video on IndieDB with a new one! 

[Fleury]

October 16, 2012 - A bad day!

Finally received an acceptance offer to publish Pixel Champions on Desura, but (after speaking with @Henl3y (their 'Overlord'), and failing to reach a suitable agreement) decided to decline the offer and remove all traces of my game from IndieDB/ModDB. I no longer want anything to do with these people. 

It goes without saying that you should always read carefully any contractual agreements that you're considering entering. However, I've always found that the most important section (disclaimer: I'm not a lawyer!) is that which deals with termination of an agreement, and what your obligations are post account termination.

[The Rookie]

October 16, 2012 - A bad day!

Finally received an acceptance offer to publish Pixel Champions on Desura, but (after speaking with @Henl3y (their 'Overlord'), and failing to reach a suitable agreement) decided to decline the offer and remove all traces of my game from IndieDB/ModDB. I no longer want anything to do with these people. 

It goes without saying that you should always read carefully any contractual agreements that you're considering entering. However, I've always found that the most important section (disclaimer: I'm not a lawyer!) is that which deals with termination of an agreement, and what your obligations are post account termination.

Wow, sorry to hear that. Could you possibly tell us what exactly happened? I understand if you would rather not.

[Fleury]

October 17, 2012 - Build 215 Hotfix!
Build 215 was not received with favorable reviews (due to removal of shared XP). I've hotfix'd the server to feature a completely new shared XP system.

You need to be within 10 levels (or 20% of level (not xp)) of the player in your party who does the most damage to qualify for shared XP. The bonus is 5% per player who qualifies. If you do not qualify, you'll only receive experience for the damage that you do (and this damage does not benefit others in the party).

The code for this system is really mind-boggling! 

[Fleury]

October 19 - Another Graphics Updates
Adding some new bows and crossbows into the game, fresh off the artist's workspace. 

[kamac]

So, I've registered and played for a while, but here are your game's problems:

A) It's not entertaining. And that doesn't mean it can't be. For me, it looked really crispy, crunchy and sexy that it was so much RuneScape alike  Althrough, you miss quests and overall things that would let the new player to know what to do. Personally, I was just roaming around without a point, slashing mobs.

B) Where are the sounds? Really, adding music and sounds helps ALOT. You should find somebody who can make you some music / make it yourself, but that just has to be there. Same for the sounds.

C) There's nobody online Which doesn't mean there cannot be. You should find few guys (friends? family?) that would keep staying online and eventually answering every new player's questions.

D) There's nothing to do when alone. For now. You need to add some quests with scripted events eventually.


That'd be it. Good luck. 

[Fleury]

There's usually around 10 players online during the day, and 2-3 players online during the night. Apart from after updates, I can't remember the last time I logged in where I was the only player online. Concerning the (lack of) sound/music, it's mainly because Tibia (a game my game is inspired from) has been enormously successful without sound/music (it's 9:54AM in my timezone, and their website lists 21714 players online).

I do plan on adding quests in the near future, as well as a more helpful tutorial system, but the questing system I have in mind will be for obtaining legendary items rather than alternative ways to gain levels.

Thanks for the feedback 

[Soundhound]

pssst fleu, I'm still up for doing sfx for the game 

[kamac]

it's mainly because Tibia (a game my game is inspired from) has been enormously successful without sound/music (it's 9:54AM in my timezone, and their website lists 21714 players online).

Tibia is crap 
Also, it has uncommon view of the angle and graphics.

You need to differ 

[Fleury]

hahhahahahaha, thanks kamac, that actually lightened up my day 

[Maud'Dib Atreides]

might I ask, how many connections has the dedicated server managed at once?

I'm curious as to the black magic behind this

[Fleury]

might I ask, how many connections has the dedicated server managed at once?

I'm curious as to the black magic behind this

Outside of a test environment? About 30 game connections and maybe 100 web connections.

Because the game isn't very popular yet, the website, login server, and game-server are hosted on the same GoDaddy VPS. The hardware seems to be holding up well enough. Back when I made that Reddit post I had some 1500 unique visitors in just a few hours, and a couple dozen new players. The game-server handled it effortlessly.

Although the code has been tested to handle hundreds of players without issue, I'll likely need to rent out a couple dedicated servers when/if the game gets that popular.

[Fleury]

October 23, 2012 - Build 216 Released 

• Added Crossbow skill, and several new bows and crossbows.
• Black Widows and Warlocks now have 'Light' armor rather than 'None'.
• The sell slot for shopkeepers is now the first item on the shop panel.
• Reworked the spellbook mechanics; all spellbooks now have a fixed efficiency and vary only by damage and area of attack.

[Fleury]

October 28, 2012 - Build 218 Released 

• Fixed the camera stretching being reset when the game is minimized (this may also have fixed the alt-tabbing issue).
• Foods page on website now uses the new food sprites.
• Fixed several typos on the crossbows page (it had been calling bolts 'arrows').
• Rebalanced the bows&crossbows so that they follow specific equations (also lowered cost of magic bolt).
• Shopkeepers will now take your platinum bars as payment rather than just gold, also they'll offer you platinum bars when selling items worth 1k or higher.
• The yellow key is now a 'lockpick' and stacks to 100; lockpicks are single-use items that allow you to pass-through locked doors.
• Red/Green/Blue keys are no longer obtainable.

[Quarry]

Price increase on red/green/blue keys, 1m gp each

[Connor]

dude, this is a great game! wish it was freeware though level wise XD if you still need people for images, i can make some for you?

[Connor]

here, made this sprite for a helm.


this is for you fleury!

load it in seperate tab.

[Fleury]

November 1, 2012 - Build 218 Server Patch 

• Shelved the YouTube/Twitter/SubReddit pilot programs; these sites are not a significant source of referrals to the game at this time.
• Added a non-intrusive name filter to the character creation process; the new filter will make unavailable character names containing certain words rather than letter combinations (for example, the filter will permit the name "Pussycat" but not its two word counterpart).
• The database can now perform automated maintenance on itself during server restarts to make available names for characters that no longer exist (characters that were deleted).
• Characters that have not signed on in over six months are now automatically deleted during maintenance. This is intended to make available character names that had previously been taken. As the depot is not erased, it is recommended to store items in the depot if a long absense from the game is expected.
• The highscores will now only list characters that have signed on within the past 30 days; the highscores is now a 'monthly highscores'. Furthermore, the highscores no longer lists a 'Server' option; future servers will be 'channels' that will allow all existing characters to sign on to them.

[Fleury]

November 4, 2012 - Build 219 Released

• Monsters will now wander around when they cannot find a path to their target.
• The server will automatically mute players (from all chat channels) for 30 seconds if they exceed 20 messages in 20 seconds.
• The demonic crossbow, and all chaos pieces, are now 'ultra-rare' drops from top tier monsters (black widows, sumos, warlocks, and demons).
• Raised the sell values of chaos pieces, golden armor, and the spellbooks.
• Statues now have the same amount of hitpoints as a barrel.
• You can now use the tab key to target the nearest object.
• You can now use the grave accent (`) to pickup a nearby object.
• Fixed the gameclient showing out-of-date locations for monsters and objects; monsters and objects will now appear to accelerate in walking speed when the gameclient detects it is falling behind.