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[Rebusmind]

SwapQuest is a puzzle-rpg that combines the depth of traditional rpg's like Dragon Quest with easy-to-learn puzzle mechanics similar to those classic Pipes games.

In SwapQuest, you play as Prince Wilbert or Princess Wilma to find the holy sword Aventuril in order to defend the kingdom from the Evil Horde that has invaded the land.
You as the player have to guide the royal hero through the maze of roads that lie before him/her. Swap road tiles around to build new paths that lead to treasure chests, fearsome monsters or some of the many items you can find throughout your adventure.
The prince/princess walks automatically, but can be aided by choosing a path at forks or using different abilities.

SwapQuest has been released for iOS, Android in 2015. A Playstation Vita version is currently in development.

Check out the trailer!

Right now there are three guys working on this, André Weiss, a very talented composer (listen to the music in the trailer!), Jussi Simpanen, an absolute genius when it comes to pixel art, and me, the concept/coding guy.

We hope you like the game so far and I will try to keep this devlog up to date throughout the upcoming months. For smaller updates and news, like us on Facebook.


Regards,
Constantin (Rebusmind)

[Rebusmind]

I've been adding the last touches to the second level, the forest.

Now you can find jewels, a bee hive (the bees attack the nearest creature) or cute, little sparrows that fly off screen.
Also there are piles of leaves that you can touch to unveil what's hidden in them (which can be friendly or not).

Next on the list is the third level, the crystal cave, and the boss that appears at the end of the second level. Feedback is very appreciated.

[Rebusmind]

We've been working on the cave like crazy, but finally all the graphics are finished and the level feels really good so far, but see for yourself.

Additionally, here are some enemys from the first three levels. Jussi did an awesome job here! Enjoy! :D

[Rebusmind]

Today I want to show you more about the class system in SwapQuest.

In total there will be 5 classes in SwapQuest: the noble, the rogue, the fighter, and two classes that are still a secret. I'll give you a brief description of the different classes to show their roles in the game and how they influence the way you (can) play the game.

In general, every class has three forms, an initial form that you start the adventure with and two subsequent evolutions.

Let's start with the most basic 'beginner' class.

1. The Noble

Evolution: Noble Prince/Princess King/Queen
The noble class is a very balanced class with no big disadvantages, but also nothing it is exceptionally good at. The prince/princess and king/queen evolutions give the class a slight defense bonus, which makes it very suitable for the first playthrough.
The abilities of the noble class include the Royal Instinct, which marks tough enemies with a red aura, Expel, which stops the Horde for a short amount of time, and Last Wish, which gives you a second chance should you die, but only if you are successful in a minigame.

2. The Rogue

Evolution: Rogue Thief Ninja
The rogue class is leaning more towards speed than power. The rogue tries everything to stay alive by collecting every item on screen and moving as swiftly as possible. He/She is accompanied by his/her faithful dog, Shadow, whose role is to get items that are too far away to collect.
The abilities of the rogue include Jump, which allows you to get to a new position fast, and Lockpick, which lets you open a chest from afar.

3. The Fighter

Evolution: Fighter Knight Paladin
The fighter class is kinda the opposite of the rogue class, with a main emphasis on combat and strength. He/She gets high attack bonuses and also a luck bonus, which increases the probability of evading and critical attacks.
The abilities of the fighter class include Counter Attack, which does just that every time the enemy attack misses, Shout, which deals damage to every enemy and object in a certain area, and Battle Cry, which boosts the attack whenever his/her health is below a certain value.

That's it for today, but before I finish this update, let me also show you a small effect I recently implemented that I really like, as it is reminiscent of old SNES and PSX games like Secret of Mana or Suikoden.

Leave feedback if you like and have a nice weekend!

[The_Observer]

Looks like a cool idea.
What release date are you aiming at? I'd like to try it out.

[Rebusmind]

Thanks!

The release date will be some time around April. There's still a ton of stuff to do concerning menus like the world map and in general a lot of content (levels) has yet to be implemented.

Most likely we will be doing beta tests with Testflight on iOS (and also Android, if enough people are interested) around February next year.
On what kind of mobile device would you play the game?

[The_Observer]

I myself have an Android Nexus 4 phone and a Nexus 7 tablet.
Best you also release on Android too I think. It's harder to test with all the multiple devices, but they have a bigger market-share.
Also more piracy unfortunately...

Good luck with it! The last 10% of developing a game is 90% of all the work.

[Rebusmind]

The game will definitely be released on Android, I'm just not sure if the beta testing will also be multi-platform (of course we will test every platform extensively internally).
So far a release for iOS, Android, Windows Phone 8 and Tizen are planned, although in the latter two cases it is not guaranteed.

Good luck with it! The last 10% of developing a game is 90% of all the work.

Thanks! I've been an indie dev for over a year now (guess that still makes me a newbie :D) and one of the first things I learned was that. Can't prioritize polishing/balancing enough.

[The_Observer]

Don't worry about it. It's a year now that we're working on our first project and we're at the same place in development.
Also a lot different from making a jam game. The polishing doesn't stop. :D

[mrBlack]

I remember seeing this in the Indie Dev Grant submissions.  I didn't know that you had a dev log here on Tigsource. 

Anyways, I always thought the game looked awesome.  A perfect game to place on phones and tablets.

Any plan to release for desktop?  Good luck, either way!

[Rebusmind]

@mrBlack
Yeah, I've been submitting the game to the Indie Dev Grant several times now, but so far we had no luck (although we came close in the strategy bundle). But one day! ...

Also thanks for the kind words! A desktop version would be pretty neat and technically it's also possible, but I have my doubts that the game will work on the PC. It focuses heavily on touch controls. Although you can also mimic them with a mouse, it wouldn't be the same and might feel awkward.
So right now I want to focus the development completely on mobile devices and maybe afterwards I will have another look at a desktop release.

[Rebusmind]

Today I've got two little things for you.

The first is Shadow, the faithful dog of your character, should you choose to play as a rogue. Shadow will look for items you can't reach on the map and bring them to you. These items can be jewels, hearts or even new weapons or armor. You can even upgrade him to make him faster and give him the ability to carry more than one item.

The second thing I want to show you is the mode7 effect the world map will have. For those who don't know Mode7: it was a visual effect on the SNES that allowed to display 2D images with a fake 3D effect. This was often used for world maps in rpgs or in racing games and I loved the effect as a kid. So, naturally, I wanted to have that in my game, too. :D
Of course this is not really Mode7, as it would be really hard to reproduce the exact same effect on another device, but it looks pretty similar.
Please excuse the bad quality, flickering and placeholder graphics, I just wanted to share my excitement with you.

Although development will be a bit slower in the upcoming days thanks to Christmas, I will try to keep working on the world map and another secret feature of the game: The Caravan...

Thanks for reading!

[eobet]

Fun concept! And the graphics are very neat.

The combat has me doubting, though, and that world map seems terribly out of place (especially for a handheld device... I would choose a static hand painted one).

[BinaryMoon]

Really like the look of this - and a clever concept to boot. Am gonna follow it so I can see how it develops

[tanis]

Out of curiosity, what engine are you using?

[Rebusmind]

I'm sorry for the late reply, but I had some days off of the internet.

Fun concept! And the graphics are very neat.

The combat has me doubting, though, and that world map seems terribly out of place (especially for a handheld device... I would choose a static hand painted one).

First of all, thanks!
The combat works semi-automatic and is not as deep as in a standard rpg. The focus of the game lies on the puzzle element and the hard part is to manage to keep the protagonist alive while he wanders through the lands. So while it is not possible to choose exactly what to do in combat, you can manipulate it by using different abilities (depending on the class you play as), for example the fighter class can learn a charge attack that gives you an additional attack before the actual combat starts. As you can upgrade each ability with money, you still have a lot of influence on how battles turn out. Additionally you can also choose to flee from combat.

About the world map: It is still very early in development and should it turn out to be out of place in the end, we can just turn off the effect and still have a world map in the same style as the rest of the game. So we'll see.

Really like the look of this - and a clever concept to boot. Am gonna follow it so I can see how it develops

Thanks a lot and I hope there will be more stuff to share in the near future. The beginning of the year was really slow, but soon I will be back full-time.

Out of curiosity, what engine are you using?

I'm using Game Maker: Studio, which allows me to export the game for many different mobile devices (Android, iOS, WinPhone 8, Tizen), which makes it perfect for mobile 2D games.

[Elder]

Brilliant concept, just looking at the gameplay animated GIFs already make me addicted to the game.

[Rebusmind]

Finally the Christmas vacation is over and I'm back to SwapQuest full time.

There's not much to show, yet, but I've got something to hear for you. Our great composer Andi has redone all the tracks with his new instrument sets and they sound awesome!

Here's one example, the title theme.

only a placeholder to set the mood

You can find other tracks here.


The next thing on my schedule is the level end screen and after that the world map, so stay tuned.

[Zaxuhe]

Damn! I want to download this game now! keep us updated :D

[Rebusmind]

Damn! I want to download this game now! keep us updated :D

Thanks a lot, Zaxuhe! And I will!

I've been working on two things the last few days: The level beginning and end. Whenever you start a level, the game shows you an overlay with up to three side quests (e.g. "Collect X Jewels" or "Beat the Level with Full Health"). At the end of the level you see another overlay showing you some statistics of your playthrough and whether you managed to complete the quests. If you succeed with a quest, you get a nice bonus (jewels, a better weapon or armor).

Here's a first version (again with placeholder graphics, as Jussi is still working on the World Map). If you have suggestions I'd really like to hear them, maybe there are other statistics that would be more interesting or you have a better design in mind. And please excuse the bad quality, but I had to compress it a lot to make it small enough.

I will keep working on the integration of the quests now and hopefully finish it before the Global Game Jam start tomorrow. :D

Cheers!