This game right here is one reason I love mobile gaming, even with two dedicated handheld systems in my possession. Definitely looking forward to this release.
So equipment is rewarded after clearing a room in a dungeon. A bit like how Warhammer Quest does it. There are loot drops as well from enemy kills and treasure chests but these are just temporary items like gold, potions and such. The sci-fi spin off will be similar in concept to space hulk. Will probably use a square grid and have more emphasis on action points and possibly a reaction / overwatch system. Theme will involve leading an elite squad through the ruins of a derelict space craft that is infested with aliens. Each squad member will have special equipment and abilities such as flame throwers, grenades, heavy guns as well as unusual stuff like psychic specialists, melee specialists and hackers / infiltrators. That's the plan. Should be do-able. The levels for chapter 1 are done. I need to just test it and tweak some elements like the leveling system as well as decide on the initial character class roster. I don't think I'll have the full 20 on release but will probably have 10 and then add the remaining 10 as I finish their abilities and fine tune them through regular updates. At the moment, some characters like the Minotaur and Centaur are really incomplete as compared to other characters. If there is a delay though, I'll let you guys know ... I want to make sure I release a quality product on release.
So the plan is just a one time cost / purchase. I will probably release a mini game (or several) with the same basic gameplay but with fewer levels and smaller roster as a free game with ads. Not really sure but if it helps bring players to the full game, I wouldn't mind. Also making a mini game from the same base code would be pretty trivial ... probably just about a week's worth of effort. Regarding price, I'm thinking of having an intro price of something like $3.99 and then gradually increase it as I release each of the two subsequent chapters? Each chapter has approximately 20 to 25 levels as well as a selection of random encounter levels for those that like to grind for random loot. So perhaps something like $3.99 or $2.99 on release, $5.99 when chapter 2 is released and $9.99 when chapter 3 is released? Let me know your thoughts.
Thanks for answering all my -and other's- questions in detail, now i am even more motivated to buy this Regarding your XP dileema from earlier, i would suggest 2 simple routes: 1) if it's relatively easy to kill enemy units and you can grind areas, give xp only per enemy kill (except the healer - per heal) 2) if enemies are few and harder to kill with no grinding areas, give xp per ability use, with bonus xp for enemy kill (look at Final Fantasy Tactics), making sure that even the units that fall unconcious retain their XP gained before they "fell". Regarding the pricing, i would say it's a good plan. This way you reward early adopters, while at the same time offering late buyers the fully complete game they waited for, at a premium price, so neither party would feel cheated. Wayward Souls did this, it was financially successful as they are already readying their next game, and i didn't see any complaints about the pricing. In, fact, i wish all games were priced like this, as i find it very fair. 2 more things: 1) i saw mention of space hulk, will you make it into a claustrophobic single file game? It didn't appeal to me, that's why i ask. 2) And lastly, i hope you will have animations for ally/ enemy skills/ hits/ getting hit. It might seem obvious, but i was gonna instabuy Swords of Anima tomorrow (another SRPG) but the characters just stand there when they get hit, without reaction, and the dev isn't adding reaction animations. That scratched it off my list.
Hi guys, I'm a little hesitant to show this as it is from an extremely early alpha build where the GUI was completely different. However, it does show an early version of the graphics, user experience and animations. I recorded it running on my old Windows Phone just to show someone ... basically a proof of concept. The game looks MUCH better now but this should give you some idea of how you can pan zoom and how the characters are animated. Subscribe to the TouchArcade YouTube channel I will post a more up-to-date video footage some time this week. I don't want to do it right now because it would disrupt my workflow a bit to make a PC build and then do some screen recording. Alternatively, I could just hand record some footage of it running on my current test device (Note 3 Android build).
Thanks ... I'll keep those points in mind. There will be a grinding area but I'd like to keep those as optional levels that can be played or not. So in response: 1) No .. it won't be single file. It will likely be more like this game where you can have corridors that are 3 columns wide and rooms that are much larger. Major emphasis will be positioning your guys in the right cover and suppressing enemy with your fire (and conversely not getting suppressed yourself). It won't be about which order you have your warriors as they progress single file through a corridor. 2) Yeah, we definitely have animations for movement, attacks, abilities, getting hit, getting killed, etc. Animations are a major element of the game's look and feel. There are actually multiple animations for each of those events for each character. Some models even have something like 9 or 10 different attack animations, if I recall. It's actually an area I may have to trim down a bit as those animations take a lot of space and run-time memory.
"corridors that are 3 columns wide and rooms that are much larger." Hmm, like Warhammer Quest! And yeap, i managed to see the animations even from this short low quality gameplay! Personally, i will be very happy to pay you on day 1 for your work, and hopefully give you incentive to bring us all 3 chapters
This looks great. My only concern is that things might be too small on the iPhone 5? There seems to be a lot going on there.
Wow, this looks great! I'm definitely in! Price seems very reasonable. A TB dungeon crawler is pretty rare.
I think the only problems will be the inventory and shop / vendor interface as some of those details will be hard to see on a small screen. The rest of the interface should be fine though. I'm going to play around and make sure that it's playable on the iPhone 4S as the absolute lowest end. That should mean that everything will be playable on the iPhone 5 and above.
Thanks ... I love good TB games myself. If this works, I intend to spend a few years making games with this engine. I've actually written rules for a tabletop wargame that was highly praised and I would love to port that over as well. So I'm hoping to use the code (with some obvious updates / tweaks) to do the following types of games over the next couple years: 1 - More medieval dungeon crawlers (some mini games that will be free with ads and probably one more major game). Each of these will be in a unique setting and have unique playable characters and enemies. 2 - Sci-Fi Shooter set in a derelict space craft. This will be a major release of the same scale as this game as opposed to a mini game. 3 - Large Scale medieval battle game where each unit represents a regiment of soldiers and the objective is to build a mercenary army and win a military campaign. There would be slower infantry units, faster cavalry, skirmishers, artillery, flying monsters and such. 4 - Large Scale Sci Fi battle game ... similar to number 3 but with spaceship battles, large scale ground battles with tanks / infantry / aircraft and finally some levels at the infantry skirmish level. Anway, those are the plans if this initial game works well and is successful. If not, I guess I'll make an infinite runner or something.
Wow, thanks so much for all the detailed responses, to everyone! It means a lot when a dev takes the time to respond to everyone. I wish you the very best with this release. Hopefully it is successful so you can pursue your ideas (that 4th one especially! ) If not, I bet you could make a pretty damn good infinite runner
Thanks ... though I'm not sure I could make a decent infinite runner. I think doing anything well requires some interest in the particular action and infinite runners don't really get me that excited. Still ... never say never. Quick update ... I've coded the updated XP system and leveling system. Going to test it and see if it works as intended. Is there interest in me showcasing some of the character classes and their abilities in more detail? There are several character classes that aren't that well defined such as the Minotaur and Centaur. I'd love to get some community input on what kind of abilities they should have and what their play style should be. I think the centaur will be a fast archer / spearman that will ideally fight at range with both spear / bow but also have some ability to charge in and do some extra damage as they enter melee. However, staying in a protacted melee would be bad for him. For the Minotaur ... my current thoughts revolve around something like "Hulk Smash". So if you guys have some better ideas ... that would be great.
Here's the Minotaur in the character selection screen. I wrote a brief bio on the character class. Any thoughts on the writing style? Good, bad ... ugly? In general, it should be a big melee fighter. It's armed with a big double handed hammer though I could change that to an axe or some other weapon if you guys think that would be better. Any ideas for it's abilities? I was thinking of a creature that can strike the ground and damage / debuff all surrounding enemies within a certain radius? Some type of attack with its horns would be cool .. but I don't actually have such an animation in the model at the moment. Also thinking of giving it a ranged special attack where it throws a big boulder at the enemy. Short range attack but does damage over a wide area and so can hurt multiple enemies. Any other ideas?
This brought to mind the Minotaur boss from Godfire. He hits the ground with his weapon and also does a charge attack. Would actually be pretty cool to have control over a beast with those abilities.
Well, as a greek, for the centaur i would say you have it spot on with archery, and if you can, add something of a "sage" / natural healer" role. For the minotaur, traditionally they have axes, 1handed or 2handed. They are very tough with health and armor, with charge and ground slam sounding awesome. They would suit the "bestial tank" role.
Yep ... though probably not on launch. I think language localization is something that will take some time so I'm going to roll that out gradually starting with Russian.
