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TIGSource ForumsCommunityDevLogs[KICKSTARTING] Heart Forth, Alicia (platform-RPG adventure)
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Author Topic: [KICKSTARTING] Heart Forth, Alicia (platform-RPG adventure)  (Read 18186 times)
AlonsoMartin
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« on: November 22, 2013, 03:22:31 PM »


KICKSTARTER
http://kck.st/1iXsO2A

GAME TRAILER




Heart Forth, Alicia is a platform RPG that follows the adventure of a young wizard named Alicia as she tries to find a way back to her home.

The Story
Alicia and Höstra are the only two children that haven't died at birth in decades. Along with the last bloodline of wizards, they live happily on an island in the sky named Auster. This floating island is the last piece of land that survived the catastrophe that destroyed the Old World.

One day Elthëlian, the Spirit of the Day, attacks their village and kills one of the wizards. Alicia and Höstra flee to a neighboring village in search for help. But Höstra becomes influenced by the Spirit and attacks Alicia, throwing her off the edge of the Island.

Down below, Alicia discovers that the Old World still remains, concealed beneath the clouds. Alicia fears for the safety of her people, and she sets off to find a way back home.




Features
  • A deep and involving story taking place in a world full of rich history
  • Over 20 special abilities, skills, and upgrades
  • 5 different fairy companions, each with their own powers and abilities
  • 7 magical offensve powers, each one with hidden ways to solve puzzles and aid you on your journey
  • An accessory system to modify the 40+ game mechanics
  • A detailed map engine
  • A robust inventory system
  • A day/night cycle
  • NPCs with 24-hour routines
  • In-engine cutscenes



Info:

Heart Forth, Alicia's been in development on and off for 7 years, but we’re almost at the finish. In a relative sense. Figured it was as good a time as any to start cluing in other developers as to our progress and grab some feedback, so I'm gonna try and keep this updated as regularly as possible. Hope everyone enjoys seeing more from the game!
« Last Edit: April 17, 2014, 03:51:41 PM by AlonsoMartin » Logged

happymonster
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« Reply #1 on: November 22, 2013, 03:35:51 PM »

Wow, the art is superb!
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AlonsoMartin
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« Reply #2 on: November 22, 2013, 03:43:51 PM »

Thanks, it's always nice to hear that some of that hard work paid off. Should only get better. Just got the lighting system redone last week and we're pretty happy with the results.
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Ben_Hurr
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« Reply #3 on: November 22, 2013, 03:59:58 PM »

I'VE BEEN AWAITING THIS DAY FOR YEARS




YEEEEEEARS.  Wizard
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OniWorld
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« Reply #4 on: November 22, 2013, 05:41:34 PM »

I haven't been following this for years, but it looks awesome. Followed you on Twitter!
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moi
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« Reply #5 on: November 22, 2013, 08:56:48 PM »

I think I 've played a demo ages ago, not sure maybe it was nother game
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AlonsoMartin
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« Reply #6 on: November 23, 2013, 05:36:05 PM »

Thanks for the kind welcome! Glad to know you've followed the game all these years; will be showing more cool stuff in the future.

Moi: I haven't released a demo yet. I wonder what game it could've been!
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« Reply #7 on: November 23, 2013, 05:46:11 PM »

yayyyyyyy!
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Raku
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« Reply #8 on: November 23, 2013, 05:53:33 PM »

I just saw this in the screenshot thread and had to track it down. This looks/sounds amazing! I can't wait to see more
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« Reply #9 on: November 23, 2013, 07:54:55 PM »

Dude I am SO looking forward to playing this.  This and Konjak's The Iconoclasts are my two most anticipated games right now.
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« Reply #10 on: November 23, 2013, 11:48:13 PM »

Really impressed with the art, love it! I'm looking forward to seeing some gameplay footage or a GIF Smiley Great work!
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« Reply #11 on: November 24, 2013, 03:34:15 AM »

I really like the graphics, specially the environment. And the game story seems interesting. I'm looking forward to see in-game videos. Since you say you are at 40% , I guess that you are saving some stuff that is already in the game to show in the next weeks. So, I will be watching the thread ! go on! Smiley
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« Reply #12 on: November 24, 2013, 04:30:46 AM »

Glad to hear Jonathan Geer was aboard.  Droop
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« Reply #13 on: November 24, 2013, 09:30:46 AM »

Wow, this looks really good. Very nice art direction. The story sounds interesting as well.
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AlonsoMartin
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« Reply #14 on: November 30, 2013, 11:12:53 AM »

Got a bit of a development update today.



Finished an "open" dungeon, complete with a boss and a mini-boss. The distinguishing feature of this dungeon is that it's centrally located on the world map, and after you complete it, it opens up and becomes an important traversal point. The rest of the dungeons on the game are on the map's border, so this dungeon/location is unique in this regard.

Also just finished polishing of a test build to get out to some testers, and looking forward to getting some feedback on that. It's always good to get some outside impressions and some helping hands for finding game-breaking bugs. If anyone here wants to talk about potentially testing the game, shoot me a PM and we'll talk it over.

Next goal is the road through the desert to the city of Blivek. Updates coming soon, hopefully.
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AlonsoMartin
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« Reply #15 on: December 20, 2013, 10:34:13 AM »

It's been a rough few weeks! I had to move to a new apartment in the middle of releasing a build for beta testing, and almost caught a cold. Wasn't very fun, but things are a lot calmer now that I've been back to work on the game full time.


The story/plot was well received, which was something that was bugging me in the back of my head. There's been a lot of feedback form the testers, and fellow dev Sean from Even the Ocean was kind enough to try the game out and has given a lot of helpful comments and impressions. I was able to pick up a lot of tiny details from watching a few video play-throughs he made of the game. Text feedback is definitely helpful, but nothing beats watching someone else play through your game: you can spot the smallest design errors, see what immediately needs fixing, etc.

Do any of you guys ask video of your testers, and if so, can you recommend any strategies to make the exchange more productive? Would appreciate any thoughts or ideas.

As far as the whole testing process goes, the main issues revolved around some game-mechanic comprehension and the early game’s difficulty curve. The game is not designed to spell out every aspect of the engine to the player. I’ve always liked games with mechanics that are never explained but seem to be working in the background. Or, for instance, I find it rewarding when I discover a mechanic I could perform right from the beginning of the game. However, essential mechanics should almost always be explained in some way, and I missed doing this with a couple of things.

One of these things was the level-up system: leveling-up increases your magic attack and your defense, but nowhere is this ever mentioned. Originally, you could only level up from level 1 to 10, so any level ups would change your stats right away and you’d definitely notice. However, long ago I went back and made the game support levels 1-99, so the effects of leveling-up weren’t as clear now.


To fix this, I implemented a small stats window in the inventory screen (pictured above) to show the player her/his growth as she/he levels up. DEF and MATK increase automatically at different intervals, and they now clearly tell the player something’s happening. However, now that there are clear stats, it seems a bit counter-intuitive that the player can't interact with stats other than using accessories (all those +0's are accessory/equip modifiers for stats). I think SOTN did this too: let the game handle stat growth, taking the trouble of worrying about this from the player's hands, so perhaps it's a good thing.


Another thing that popped up from a couple of testers was the length of the introduction. Right now, it takes about 30-35 minutes to get down to the actual game world. You do get control of the game from the start, but go through several cutscenes and a small dungeon to get to know the story, characters and game world. I've shaved off several bits of this 'intro segment' over the months, but it seems like it might be a bit too long still. Considering this is a story-driven game of sorts, I'm not sure if I'd be harming the game by cutting out more stuff.

The other option that's come up is to make the intro dungeon longer so that it feels like a full gameplay segment, and then the remaining part of the intro will feel shorter. I'm all for doing this last, except that it would take some dev time to make it. I'll have to design this first and see if it's worth doing. Any ideas are appreciated.

If you've read up to here, sorry for the long post! I'll make the future ones shorter Smiley.
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OniWorld
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« Reply #16 on: December 21, 2013, 05:16:37 AM »

If you've read up to here, sorry for the long post! I'll make the future ones shorter Smiley.

Don't you dare! I love reading long development updates like that, especially combined with those amazing GIFs. The game is looking beautiful.

As for the tester issue, you could always ask the testers to record themselves on webcam while playing. Most people probably won't feel comfortable with this, though. At the very least I'd say maybe a gameplay video and commentary even if its just for internal use. Most people write up text feedback after playing, and forget some things. It's impossible to get as good as watcyhing someone play in person, though.
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AlonsoMartin
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« Reply #17 on: December 21, 2013, 01:50:48 PM »

If you've read up to here, sorry for the long post! I'll make the future ones shorter Smiley.

Don't you dare! I love reading long development updates like that, especially combined with those amazing GIFs. The game is looking beautiful.

As for the tester issue, you could always ask the testers to record themselves on webcam while playing. Most people probably won't feel comfortable with this, though. At the very least I'd say maybe a gameplay video and commentary even if its just for internal use. Most people write up text feedback after playing, and forget some things. It's impossible to get as good as watcyhing someone play in person, though.

Thanks, I'll do what I can to keep them long and interesting then. There's definitely a lot more stuff that would make great gifs.

Those are all solid ideas about testing and testers. When it comes to getting video of their playthroughs, anything's better than nothing, so I'd be more than happy with some webcam footage if that's the only thing they can provide. I do agree people can be shy about it, and setting everything up for recording is more laborious than writing something down. There is actually a list of questions I try to get people to fill out  after they've had some time with the game, but the response rate hasn't always been great. Footage has definitely made up for that, though. I'll keep your suggestions in mind as we move forward.
« Last Edit: December 21, 2013, 02:37:33 PM by AlonsoMartin » Logged

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« Reply #18 on: December 21, 2013, 04:00:06 PM »

The backgrounds are so hyper detailed and amazing, i have no idea how you could have the time to make a decently long game this way.
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« Reply #19 on: December 21, 2013, 06:21:50 PM »

mind if i test on my mac?
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