Okay guys, I've created this thread to do some conversing about our own projects. What's the reason we put projects on TDC? To show off? Er kinda but not what I'm getting at. Anyway, the main reason we put projects on TDC is to get some input and opinions on what we're doing. Some might say we begin to make our games to please other people too much then. Probably so, but if you're making a game to be played by other people then so be it. So on this thread, let's talk about each other's project.
Just post something about your project here! But there's a catch!
If you wish to post something you must say something, whether it be good or bad, opinion wise about the last project that was posted.
Except for the first person who post of course,as I have not posted a project yet.
So come on guys, let's show the internet what we've been working on lately!
I'm not really into posting Projects but recently I've been working on another Falafel game. If anyone still remembers the first one and has any feedback or suggestions I'd love to hear about it. Cheers! Now I'm off to post something on the top project, which is currently.. Celestia!
Well i guess you noticed my project Shields of Fate, and i must say i would like more feedback on it, feedback is very important to me, i noticed when i made a game long time ago for a competition, Breach of madness, i was able to pass all 4 levels, whilst noone else was able to pass lvl 1, after a few years i v played the game again, and couldn't go over lvl 1, it was too hard.
I would give feedback on Falafel or Celestia, but i haven't played either...
Shields of Fate is a game I can see myself being wrapped up in for hours. I've given you some feedback already about it, Don, so I won't reprint it here. But I do want to echo your comments about the game's difficulty level. I've played several times, but haven't been able to make much progress at all in terms of building up a strong character.
Maybe change up the healing potions a little bit? The typical idea for health potions and "instant heal" objects is just that: the player uses it, then is healed instantly. With your system, the character must live through another round of attacks, then the heal potion kicks in - and only if the character wasn't hit at all during that round. It seems rather difficult to run away from danger, then use a heal potion, and dodge all attacks at once.
So that's my suggestion for now: let the heal potions take stamina, but have them work instantly to restore hit points.
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As for me, I just started up a contest here at TDC as a second phase to Sketchy's TDC Engine Contest from last month. I'm looking to see if anyone's interested; entries are due 31st August. You can read about it here:
I'm also working on a Sokoban clone, but I've not posted anything about that here yet. However, I have recruited a talented artist here at TDC, so doubtless you'll hear about it when the game is in presentable condition.
I don't like instant healing potions, i mean in reality, there is apsolutely no way someone could actually drink a bottle during most kind of fights, i presume all of you were at one point in a fist fight, i mean really? can you imagine it... and swordplay and a skullcracking barbarian wielding a sledghammer at you is even less of an oppurtunity to drink or eat anything. I know it's a game and it's not real, but i never liked the healing potions in most games, I mean probably every charachter i had in diablo is addicted to drinking 100 potions each day of his life, they are going to rehab every thursday now.
Also all overturn actions have 50% chance to fail on hit. If you run till you have only 10 stamina left and then use potion, the enemy will only get maybe one chance to hit you . And i know you like rouges, you can use potions under stealth without revealing yourself .
@Nim- OMG That game is fun But I'm not sure what was happening with it. I extracted all the files from it and then I started playing, but it would freeze up on me everytime I got the ingredient 'Chili Pepper' So I couldn't get very far at all. Also, my project I talk about below is a huge updated remake, would I be able to enter retro remakes competition with it?
@Christ Street- This thread is for hyping up your own work! So just post and let the bragging comence if need be, this is a happy project-working enviroment
@Don Luciano- Shields of fate looks beautiful! It reminds me of a game I used to play on PC back in the day called 'Lords of Magic.' Only your game looks much better because it boast hexagons, and at the same time looks much free-er. I'm currently waiting for the flash beta to load then I'll give some more input. Though while its loading I must say, you were discussing instant heal life potions. Well, I haven't played the game yet to tell whether I like your potion style or not, but if it just so happens to be where the game might be funner with instant heal, I say go ahead and do it When I make games and I am stuck between the decision of realism and fun, I usually choose fun Yes I do work on several simulation games, but I really make games to venture away from the real world, so I don't like to get too realistic unless that realism makes for funner game. Any chance you could get a loading bar on this flash beta btw? It's taking forever
Now for my project talk-
I was unalbe to complete Mother World in its current form, mainly because I was trying to recreate a 16bit world from a fairly advanced SNES RPG(Earthbound), which did not allow for much creativity. I was also very unhappy with several of the flaws with the concept. So I took a different route on the project. I've got a blog for it here-
http://backroadstudios.blogspot.com/
I'm only keeping the graphic style and some of key concepts like real time and the way the NPCs work. I've decided I'm going to try and recycle the story Mother 1(Earthbound Zero) an 8 bit RPG that was never released in North America because the NES was at the end of its run at the time, and drastically upgrade it with real time and Animal Crossing features and longer length. I'm starting fresh on the Mother World engine and I've now switched the game to turn based battles that function a lot like original, you'll even be able to have multiple party members, witch a surprising jump on the original Mother World concept. This game is essential Earthbound Zero meets Animal Crossing. The battles are in the same frame as the overworld so they seem less tedious and quicker-
The main that concerns me is whether players will be able stay in the game for the long haul. See, because I am intentionally designing this game to be for casual players. If a player plays my game for 2 hours straight, that means I failed. I want people to play this game for somewhere between 30minutes to 1 hour a day. If someone only plays for 10 minutes, I have failed as well obviously. So it has to be very precise, but above all addicting. The game knows what day and time it is from your computer's clock. One example of this intentional casualism, when you start playing you have only 4 mission unlocked. When you beat all of them, you'll be done with the missions until tommorrow. When you turn on the game the next day, there will be 4 new missions. This way people play it casually. Of course there will be lots of stuff do outside in the open world , but missions are required to unlock the next town, so players won't get ahead of themselves. Do you guys think this is a good idea or that most indie game players aren't casual enough to enjoy what I'm trying to do?
Wow, that's a little worrying.. I haven't heard of anyone having a problem at that point in the game before. All that happens is that it plays a sound effect. Does it freeze up exactly when you pick up the chilli? Well, thanks for playing. I'm glad you enjoyed it until it froze on you There are some youtube videos if you want to see the rest.
Wiiman: there are a number of different games that your schematic reminds me of, but for some reason I can't shake "Swords & Potions" from my mind. I first found out about it on Kongregate:
The reason it reminded me was that for your remake you've set a number of "missions" to be completed in one day, where as S&P has a number of days of operation for their shop freely available to the player. These days would gradually regenerate over time (1 per half hour real-time), but the player can also purchase additional hours with real-world money. Have a look at it and you'll see what I mean. But beware...the game can be fairly addicting when you first start out.
But I have a feeling your game can attract some hardcore followers, and right behind them will be requests and clamor for more quests per day. I'm not sure how you want to swing it, but there ought to be a way for players to increase their play time/number of quests they want to pursue. Otherwise I foresee you alienating the hardcore gamers at the expense of catering to casual gamers who have a lot of options to wile their free time away. Hardcore gamers and fans will stick around, while casual gamers won't feel dedicated to your game, particularly when you set a daily limit for them.
I pick up the chilli and then the text appears and it seems as though no bottun will get the text to go away. The music stopped and I don't recall a sound effect so maybe its some problem with the sound effect playing repeatedly as MMF can cause stuff such as that, but usually the game just lowers in frame rate, so maybe its something else. Probably not too big of a glitch to worry about if you've never heard of it before. I'm using Windows 7 if that makes a difference.
Also to future project posters on the topic, its not require but if you've got screenshots post 'em! That way if we're too lazy to try your game out we can at least comment on your graphics and interface and such
Oh S-M-R, forgot to comment on your project since you posted the last one before I did. I was always really interested in how that compo was going! I didn't plan on entering but now that I see your offering 1 year free on a private website I could really use that But I really shouldn't go making a new game when I'm currently renovating a project I wasn't sure what Sokoban was so I looked it up http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sokoban That looks cool! Can't wait to see your version!
You know Nim, that may be one of the few buttons I didn't press Oh well sorry about getting you worried over nothing then
S-M-R: I tried that game out! Very addictive fun! I'm going to have force myself to quit playing it... I was thinking about what you said about the missions and such. Well I'm thinking that maybe I could try and pull it off differently. Perhaps if I limited the story missions to daily basis? I only plan on 2-3 story missions in each town. This way players could go gain levels and complete all sorts of other missions while they wait on the story mission to load up the next day. Course I would have to get the level of the story mission just right so that hard core players would not be way way way above it and that casual players would not have too work more than intended. Or would it be best to have it fairly high so that casual gamers have something to do each day getting to a high enough level for the story mission?
I also like this idea. Casual, constructive. I find it hard to get interested in other people's work when I'm going at full speed on something myself.
Your Motherworld has caught my eye so far, Wiiman, if only due to possible similarities on a technical/developmental level with my current project. I can't say too much about it without testing it, such is the way with RPGs, but I like what you describe - especially having the battles directly on the game world in the style of Chrono Trigger (if I'm not mistaken). In fact, I might have enjoyed Earthbound 3 more if it were like that.
I'm not sure what to suggest for the casual/hardcore aspect with the missions per day, but I hope you reach the right solution for it. Personally I think it could be quite nice to have a game that stops me from playing when I might have carried on through the night and missed out on some sleep
So now, about my project. I'm finally going ahead and making my dream Pokemon game (I am not ashamed!). I'm going back to basics with it, original 150 plus Mew, Kanto region, and drawing inspiration from everything - the anime, the mangas (specifically Pokemon Adventures), and of course the games themselves. It might be a little corny, but I want to capture the heart of it all, to make the player feel like they're on this adventure and they can go anywhere and become 'the very best' in their own way. Ideally, I want the player to start out like Ash, and go out and get into their own unique situations on their way to beat the (actual tournament style) Pokemon League.
I'm not sure what else to say about it right now, since there's so much to it. One main factor to it all is that I've decided to display very few numbers and statistics, hopefully to have players go through and play by 'feel' rather than calculating and working out every move.
All the math and logic gets a little intense sometimes (this is also my first real RPG attempt), but I'm really glad I'm sticking with it, however daunting it is. It's something I've wanted to do for a long time