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[BeerBelliedBear]

Alpha Version 0.0.50 is available!

If you'd like to test out our game, please do!
Download

Some notes:
-Use the keyboard button and create items for yourself! (I recommend the flamethrower or machinegun and datass.)
-The player starts off with 5 of each letter, since we haven't decided how we want the initial items balanced.

We would greatly appreciate any feedback and comments on our work.
Ways to send feedback:
-post in this thread
-PM BananasGoMoo
-send a message on Steam (username BananasGoMoo)
-email BananasGoMoo here

We've been working to develop a Rogue-like, top down, 3-D, adventure game. The mechanic we are focusing on to differentiate our game is using letters collected throughout the game to spell out the names of a items, which will then be spawned for the player. The player will traverse many rooms, defeating different kinds of enemies. Each level will end with a boss. The player can collect equipment and upgrades to aid in the quest. We are using Unreal Engine 4 for development.

We haven't chosen a title yet, if you have an idea please post it. We also don't have graphics yet, so we just use the built in UE4 stuff, but we are looking for an artist to assist us (currently unpaid). Do you art? Would you like to be the head artistic designer for our game? Contact BananasGoMoo through any of the channels above.

Screen shots:

[BananasGoMoo]

Hey guys, I am the lead of this project, and we will be posting here probably about once a week to update our progress.

Thanks!

[BananasGoMoo]

So, updates for this week:

Today, I improved the options menu (I know, so exciting, right?). It now first of all actually works, and second of all, the fonts have been fixed. Normally in Unreal 4, the fonts on the dropdown Combo boxes are unchangeable, but I found a workaround online and now it's fixed. Here's a picture (Click any picture for full size):



And here are a few more images of the game, which show off different parts of the UI and how the game works:


Minimap options:




All UI elements shown:



Showing off movable UI elements:



Keyboard layout for spawning items (Typing on your real keyboard works as well):



Pause Screen:



Also today, another teammate was working on loading the player's inventory and other data through the level changes, while the third teammate was working on more AI related things (improving how our AI works, and such).

[BananasGoMoo]

So today, we made quite a bit of progress, although none of it really involves new pictures, unfortunately.

Basically, we fixed the code so now we are able to transfer data between levels, so when a level is completed, we can pass the player's stats and items into the following level.

That took pretty much all day, but it was really good to get finished.

-BGM

[BananasGoMoo]

So yesterday a lot of things got finished.

I removed all off the debug messages from the game that aren't errors, to prepare for releasing a test build. I finished up the code we had last week in regards to transferring data over multiple levels, and now it completely works. Also, we began work on scaling the game's difficulty based on the level that the player is on in the game.

Besides that, we redesigned the item spawn mechanic a while ago, and now it has been fully implemented and the old code deleted.

The reason I didn't post yesterday is because after we worked on the game I was busy the rest of the night.

No screenshots because its basically the same on the frontend.

[jctwood]

I really enjoy the concept of this game, would you be able to collect letters for say an adjective like strong sword or master sword? Look forward to seeing more.

[BananasGoMoo]

I really enjoy the concept of this game, would you be able to collect letters for say an adjective like strong sword or master sword? Look forward to seeing more.

I was thinking of adding something like that at some point, but it's not currently in the game.

[Random_NPC]

Hi, I am Random_NPC one of the developers for this game.

[Random_NPC]

No progress has been made this week since everyone was busy.

[JindrichP]

I probably don´t get the main idea. How are you going to collect letters and spell them? Are they for one use only? Is there any preset of usable items? How am I going to know which item I can use, what to write down?

[BananasGoMoo]

I probably don´t get the main idea. How are you going to collect letters and spell them? Are they for one use only? Is there any preset of usable items? How am I going to know which item I can use, what to write down?

Basically, the enemies you kill will drop letters for you to use. We also might have the player start out with some amount of letters, depending on what seems balanced. As for finding out words to spell, there are a few ways.

1) The most obvious way: just guess. There is no penalty from guessing. You keep your letters if you don't spawn anything.

2) Bosses will drop items, which is a way to indirectly find out new items.

3) Typing in a less specific name (like just the word "armor") will get you a random item in that category. This is another way to find out about new items.

4) I was thinking that maybe in the future there would be an index of all items that have been picked up ever, as a menu that you can look at at any time, but that isn't in the game at this point.

At the current time, letters are one use only. Keep in mind, we haven't balanced things yet, so this may change if we feel like its too difficult, but if each enemy drops a letter, there should be plenty of letters, theoretically.

[BananasGoMoo]

Hey guys,

Yesterday, I added a new feature. It might not seem very exciting but I made a custom message box, so that it's very easy to send messages to the user, or to the debug log. Unreal Engine 4 has a message system built in, but its not very advanced, so I made my own. My other teammates worked on spawning AI in each room based on what level the player is on, and also worked on making the boss AI for level 1. As soon as we finish those two things, there should be a test build released to the public shortly after. So hopefully in the next couple of weeks? Not exactly sure yet, since the boss AI has been giving us trouble.

[BananasGoMoo]

Hey everyone,

Yesterday we worked more on the game, and have gotten a lot done. The new enemy spawning code is almost finished now, and earlier this week, the Boss AI problem had been fixed. So currently, we will have a public build after I finish the menus and after the spawning is finished.

[BananasGoMoo]

Hello,

This Friday, we got almost everything done in preparation for the first public build. The only thing left before we can release our first test build is I want to finish the keybindings menu, which has somehow become more difficult than I was expecting, mostly because there were almost no examples of it online. But I found one example, so I think I'll be able to finish it this coming week, and hopefully get a test build out as well.

[BananasGoMoo]

So, some pretty good news!

I finally got the keybindings menu fully working (along with redoing the options menu, because UE4 4.11 came out and added some nice new functions). So shortly (As soon as I build it) there should be a build that people can screw around with and test.

EDIT: Here's some links -

Link 1:
http://www.mediafire.com/download/anr33g8pqqjd958

Link 2:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bw7udGh0m-u0U3ZQQ2VfenlmdGs/view?usp=sharing

This is the first time I've built a project in UE4, so it would be good to know if it actually works.

Some notes: I'm not sure if the new options menu works correctly, it seems to when I use it, but not sure. The keybindings work fine, AFAIK. Also, there is one enemy type not working atm, he just stands there and doesn't attack.

Also, there are no graphics yet really, so we just use the built in UE4 stuff.

Other note: I think if you press either "Reset to default Debug Controls" or "Reset to Default Standard Controls" it won't show the changes on the UI until after you restart, but the keys should work.

Besides that, I started the player off with 5 of each letter, since I'm not sure how to balance it in terms of items yet. Feedback would be nice.

Also, to provide feedback, either post in this thread, PM me, or message me on Steam (same username as on here). Or email me here.

[BeerBelliedBear]

Progress! Today I did some testing, found lots of things that need fixing. I realized that letters aren't being returned to the player if they delete them from the item spawn entry bar. We will release a hot fix for this as soon as we fix it.

Changes from today that will take effect in the next release build:
The AI that just stood in place has been fixed.
Player now receives currency for killing each AI.
Add timer to projectiles for despawn.
Removed vibrating AIs.


Also, Random[NPC] created several memes for us to enjoy...
Hi Nygel.

[SoggyMonster]

hows the experience with UE4?

[BananasGoMoo]

hows the experience with UE4?

Well, personally I really like the blueprints system in UE4, and its nice how you can sorta combine your C++ and Blueprints (only partially though). Most of the time UE4 does what I want, and the staff is pretty responsive if you're having problems. The staff also does tutorials on Twitch a lot, so that's helpful.

When I say you can combine your blueprints and C++ only partially, I mean you can make C++ classes and have them appear in the blueprints system, but its very difficult having blueprints and making them available in the C++. Also blueprints are really nice because you can compile them to C++ code, so they actually are very efficient.

Also one team member has used Unity and likes UE4 much better as well.

[BananasGoMoo]

Hey guys,

So this Friday, we were doing some playtesting (well, one team member was) and he said that he thought it would be a good idea to change the controls so the game played better, so we changed it so the movement direction is independent of the shooting direction, so you can move in one direction and shoot in another now. Soon, we will hopefully release another build, and this will be in it (we also need to modify the keyboard that spawns things before we can release another build).

[BananasGoMoo]

New build today!

You can get it here or here.

In this build, you can now shoot in a direction other than the direction you face. When you shoot, you will now shoot in whatever direction your cursor is pointing. Also, we had some bugs with the keyboard, so now the keyboard has been rewritten and works much better. There have also been bug fixes with the AI item spawning.

As per last time, please report any bugs you encounter.

Thanks!