Ok uploaded to 1.5 beta under the name : theWorst ARPG
This is solely for testing purposes. It is really unfinished, but Im hoping to get feedback on the combat atleast (is it too hard, too easy, boring?)...
Oh and if you are gona play it please do it fast. I plan to take it out tomorrow.
New test version "almost" ready. Im really dissapointed how much time Iv spent on this, yet the content doesnt really increase.
New version will include
1 new quest
2 new areas (with new monsters seen from video)
minigames against disco dave
teleport function to areas/townportal scrolls
new and improved drop system for everything
3 new armor items (not that new thou :E)
bug fixes
Im still strugling with the combat. I will try to polish the AI spawns more to make it more interesting. Also modified the spells yet again to be more useful. So depending what I will add to the next version its almost ready...or then again it might not be almost ready. Hopefully Ill get feedback storm after next test :D
Well I tested the minigames in bnet and It was to be expected that the delay is HUGE. When you can get under 0.2 reaction locally in bnet its atleast 0.4.
Since I currently used trigger events for the minigames I might as well try with Comman card to see if it reduces the delay...otherwise Ill need to redo the minigames :( (probly just reduce the speed of things so delay wont matter as much).
So Im releasing new versions soon. Its overall much better in every aspect, but still not much change content wise. I will still look for feedback once its out.
I would assume Ill leave it there for around week. Looking for bugs and how the gameplay feels this time. You can try those awesome minigames if you do not feel like fighting against monsters.
Well my map is doing super well in the arcade as in 2nd most played!!! (sad thing is there is most likely like 10 players on arcade :D, but gotta thing positive right?)
I did one test run myself and it seems to work pretty fine. Just need minor adjusting on xp gains/gold sinks/difficulty.
Meanwhile I decided to make another boring video:
This stuff has been not used for anything for a long time. So might as well show it. Original plan was to have summoning spells to add variety to gameplay, but Im not sure how well would it fit in the game.
I might add it as endgame unlockable or perhaps even some boss that would use sumomons...who knows...
Meh I just decided to go for 1st picture for now. You can decide what you think of it on next test version.
As for progress. I still have been working with the 1st town and areas. Polishing stuff up and making the changes I think might be good...
Still need to have atleast the 2nd class before next test, so you wont be too bored with almost the same content.
And need to figure out some new mobs too. "cave" and "pathway" havent got enough variety. Each area should have couple different spawns, but I really hate that there arent that many good models I can use :/.
Recently played the map and thought i should leave some feedback, since i know it's appreciated with anything you get and that most people don't bother doing this. Being a map maker myself, and someone who has followed your work to inspire some of my own projects, i hope i can give you some constructive feedback in return. Please note that this criticism is purely constructive, no matter what i may write there is no intention of insult behind my words and also that i am very ungenerous when it comes to rating.
When it comes to the maps fun factor i would rate it 3.5/5 (4/5 in Arcade because the lack of options) in it's current state. I like how the AI works, you've done a good job with that and the boss battles are interesting. Most of the hero abilities that i've tried out are visually appealing, which is an important part of gameplay to me. Abilities has to be good looking and fun to use, especially in an RPG. On these two subjects i think you've done very well.
What drags down my rating the most is the environment and UI Design. Environment in an RPG has a major impact on the gameplay, having great terrain and lighting design can make up for a lack in gameplay quality because it makes the player want to "explore the world" rather than focusing on the actual content, such as leveling and progressing in the story line. When deciding to use custom UI objects for an RPG it's important to focus on the design, i've seen a lot worse but you may want to experiment with custom made frames created in photo shop or similar programs.
To me, the terrain design of this project feels blank and boring, i wouldn't say that it's a complete failure but i think there is a lot of room for improvements. There are parts of it that i like, but most areas feels like they lack doodad and all areas lack lighting. Just adding simple things such as foliage at the side of the roads, a variation in terrain and doodad would do a lot. To clearify this, you over-use trees and rocks and you construct the playable areas by creating different shapes with these doodad types. You can variate the terrain a lot more by adding for an example water in form of a river or lake, maybe connected to a waterfall? Create height differences in the terrain (i recommend using the Raise/Lower tools rather than cliffs, and then limit these areas by "painting" with the pathing tool).
Also, when you work on different areas of the world, you want to create different landscapes and choose a lighting setting that suits this landscape (or simply create your own lighting). Maybe you start in a forrest, and as you progress you travel though a desert, followed up with a large cave and end up in a snow environment. Use different titlesets, you can variate the original titlesets in the editor and use frames from any other titleset you are not restricted to just the textures of one titleset, however you can only have (i believe its) 8 different terrain textures in the same titleset.
When you design a new area, choose a fitting theme and then design the content after the theme you choosed. All monster models and abilities should be designed as if they lived in this type of enviorment and the quests can be designed after the areas as well. Ideal zone creation to me is where everything lines up perfectly, where the monsters and their abilities feels realistic in the environment that they are placed in and when the quests assign you to do something that is "logical" to that spesific environment.
Note that lighting can be set individually between players in patch 1.5, this is HUGE for RPG maps where players are in different areas of the map in a multiplayer game.
Going on to difficulity, i find the game to be a bit unbalanced, but i have not done a lot of testing so my opinion may be incorrect. The gaps between the difficulity levels are too small in my opinion. Also, it feels like the game is way harder to play single player than in a group, is this intended? In group play i find the map to be too easy, the single player experience feels a bit right, maybe a bit too hard based on the level restrictions you set on the different areas. I do not have a lot of experience with multiplayer, i just played with two players once for about 30 minutes and that was way easier than my single player experience.
I would suggest that you tune the game based on the number of players currently in the game, an easy way to do this is to use stacking behaviors that increase by 1 for each player and are given to all monsters to increase their health, energy and maybe damage. There is a possibility that such a feature already exists, but as mentioned i lack multiplayer experience and couldn't really see a difference in health from single player to two player.
The spawn locations could use some work, both for the combat zone and resurrection. You may want to add some sort of checkpoint that allows the player to ressurect at the last checkpoint every time he/she dies. Or add a system where you can set your ressurection point to a set area, and change it any time, and the hero will revive at this point every time until the revive point is changed. Both of these systems should be individual for each player.
When it comes to monster spawning these are a bit predictible, they seem to spawn on four different spawn locations that are set, rather than having a random spawn and more possible spawn locations. I may be wrong here, i did not pay too much attention to it :). If i am correct, i would suggest experimenting with additional spawn points and have monsters spawning randomly from one of these points (In combat only!). I think monster spawning should be a bit unpredictable, but not "random" to a point where all monsters can (assuming the numbers hit right) spawns from the same point.
World spawns on monsters are set to certain locations, i think this is okay for a map like this, but it is predictiable and i guess boring. However i do not have a lot of suggestions to solve this at the time, i ran into design problems when i experimented with a similar thing myself and ended up using set spawn positions to avoid the monsters just randomly spawning across the area or "wandering" too far away from their original location. I think the ideal thing would be a "wandering system" where all creatures walk around but doesn't clump up with eachother, while still covering most of the zone and also has a random re-spawn between a set number of spawn points.
When it comes to game bugs i find some, i assume some of them occured when patch 1.5 went live.
While inside combat and defeating all enemies you sometimes get stuck in the combat arena, spell usage and saving is disabled at this point.
Rapid Fire (Fire Mage spell) - Doesn't always trigger the spell effect when used, the "ability" always runs since energy is removed and cooldown runs.
Mutadrink (i don't recall the exact name, it's the one that heals % hp and energy instantly) does not work at all.
Mana/HP potions can be used even when at full health or energy, assume it's intended but i really don't like this =D
Bosses/Units with movement abilities can get stuck on cliffs and move outside a combat zone, this may be the reason why you get stuck in combat?
Opening Cinematic does not always complete and can get you stuck, forcing you to leave the game.
Blacksmith in the second city does not open the dialog when you step over the becon. Not yet added?
That's all bugs i can recall on top of my head.
I've not read through all of this, since i don't have time at the moment, but i will edit it when i come back. Expect typos and maybe some strange sentences :)
Hope you appreciate this feedback. Regards Infernium
Edited, fixed some typos and re-arrenged some text.
New video
My motivation has almost hit the wall again :D. But worry not! Next versions is "almost" ready.
Its still not as good as I want it to be, but I doubt Ill be able to make it much better.
First I thought "its fine to have auto attacking monsters", but its really not. For some games it works, but in my map feels a bit lacking.
So Ill let it be for now. Perhaps Ill try to make more interesting AI even for normal monsters. Lets hope it will slowly turn into a stellar RPG
Ok uploaded to 1.5 beta under the name : theWorst ARPG
This is solely for testing purposes. It is really unfinished, but Im hoping to get feedback on the combat atleast (is it too hard, too easy, boring?)...
Oh and if you are gona play it please do it fast. I plan to take it out tomorrow.
Last call to test it out! I might let it out for tomorrow too or not...
Already made couple fixes, but I could still use the feedback. It doesnt have too much content but 15-30mins of gameplay atleast.
AI concepts.
It feels a bit hectic but also sort of a nice challenge. Still im wondering if I should add more survival spells or not.
I might do something along lines what was in earlier version (blink and shockwave knockback as universal learnable spells)
slice a rock minigame
No idea how much the delay on bnet affects that. But whatever...
@zenx1: Go
lol nice.
more silly minigames (and improved the earlier one)
(bad recorder thou)
Looks nice :)
I like the jumping mini game.
New test version "almost" ready. Im really dissapointed how much time Iv spent on this, yet the content doesnt really increase.
New version will include
Im still strugling with the combat. I will try to polish the AI spawns more to make it more interesting. Also modified the spells yet again to be more useful. So depending what I will add to the next version its almost ready...or then again it might not be almost ready. Hopefully Ill get feedback storm after next test :D
Well I tested the minigames in bnet and It was to be expected that the delay is HUGE. When you can get under 0.2 reaction locally in bnet its atleast 0.4.
Since I currently used trigger events for the minigames I might as well try with Comman card to see if it reduces the delay...otherwise Ill need to redo the minigames :( (probly just reduce the speed of things so delay wont matter as much).
So Im releasing new versions soon. Its overall much better in every aspect, but still not much change content wise. I will still look for feedback once its out.
Ok new version is uploaded on Arcade 1.5 beta.
under the name "magic rpg"
I would assume Ill leave it there for around week. Looking for bugs and how the gameplay feels this time. You can try those awesome minigames if you do not feel like fighting against monsters.
Well my map is doing super well in the arcade as in 2nd most played!!! (sad thing is there is most likely like 10 players on arcade :D, but gotta thing positive right?)
I did one test run myself and it seems to work pretty fine. Just need minor adjusting on xp gains/gold sinks/difficulty.
Meanwhile I decided to make another boring video:
This stuff has been not used for anything for a long time. So might as well show it. Original plan was to have summoning spells to add variety to gameplay, but Im not sure how well would it fit in the game.
I might add it as endgame unlockable or perhaps even some boss that would use sumomons...who knows...
Strugling with terrain.
I wonder if any of these is usable...its just not quite what I would want, but I do no posses skills or ideas to improve it.
@zenx1: Go
Throw in some rocks, and use game view when you're taking screenshots for display >.<
Meh I just decided to go for 1st picture for now. You can decide what you think of it on next test version.
As for progress. I still have been working with the 1st town and areas. Polishing stuff up and making the changes I think might be good...
Still need to have atleast the 2nd class before next test, so you wont be too bored with almost the same content.
And need to figure out some new mobs too. "cave" and "pathway" havent got enough variety. Each area should have couple different spawns, but I really hate that there arent that many good models I can use :/.
Until next time...
Ooh, but I thought that gates were better for the mood. Oh well..
Recently played the map and thought i should leave some feedback, since i know it's appreciated with anything you get and that most people don't bother doing this. Being a map maker myself, and someone who has followed your work to inspire some of my own projects, i hope i can give you some constructive feedback in return. Please note that this criticism is purely constructive, no matter what i may write there is no intention of insult behind my words and also that i am very ungenerous when it comes to rating.
When it comes to the maps fun factor i would rate it 3.5/5 (4/5 in Arcade because the lack of options) in it's current state. I like how the AI works, you've done a good job with that and the boss battles are interesting. Most of the hero abilities that i've tried out are visually appealing, which is an important part of gameplay to me. Abilities has to be good looking and fun to use, especially in an RPG. On these two subjects i think you've done very well.
What drags down my rating the most is the environment and UI Design. Environment in an RPG has a major impact on the gameplay, having great terrain and lighting design can make up for a lack in gameplay quality because it makes the player want to "explore the world" rather than focusing on the actual content, such as leveling and progressing in the story line. When deciding to use custom UI objects for an RPG it's important to focus on the design, i've seen a lot worse but you may want to experiment with custom made frames created in photo shop or similar programs.
To me, the terrain design of this project feels blank and boring, i wouldn't say that it's a complete failure but i think there is a lot of room for improvements. There are parts of it that i like, but most areas feels like they lack doodad and all areas lack lighting. Just adding simple things such as foliage at the side of the roads, a variation in terrain and doodad would do a lot. To clearify this, you over-use trees and rocks and you construct the playable areas by creating different shapes with these doodad types. You can variate the terrain a lot more by adding for an example water in form of a river or lake, maybe connected to a waterfall? Create height differences in the terrain (i recommend using the Raise/Lower tools rather than cliffs, and then limit these areas by "painting" with the pathing tool).
Also, when you work on different areas of the world, you want to create different landscapes and choose a lighting setting that suits this landscape (or simply create your own lighting). Maybe you start in a forrest, and as you progress you travel though a desert, followed up with a large cave and end up in a snow environment. Use different titlesets, you can variate the original titlesets in the editor and use frames from any other titleset you are not restricted to just the textures of one titleset, however you can only have (i believe its) 8 different terrain textures in the same titleset.
When you design a new area, choose a fitting theme and then design the content after the theme you choosed. All monster models and abilities should be designed as if they lived in this type of enviorment and the quests can be designed after the areas as well. Ideal zone creation to me is where everything lines up perfectly, where the monsters and their abilities feels realistic in the environment that they are placed in and when the quests assign you to do something that is "logical" to that spesific environment.
Note that lighting can be set individually between players in patch 1.5, this is HUGE for RPG maps where players are in different areas of the map in a multiplayer game.
Going on to difficulity, i find the game to be a bit unbalanced, but i have not done a lot of testing so my opinion may be incorrect. The gaps between the difficulity levels are too small in my opinion. Also, it feels like the game is way harder to play single player than in a group, is this intended? In group play i find the map to be too easy, the single player experience feels a bit right, maybe a bit too hard based on the level restrictions you set on the different areas. I do not have a lot of experience with multiplayer, i just played with two players once for about 30 minutes and that was way easier than my single player experience.
I would suggest that you tune the game based on the number of players currently in the game, an easy way to do this is to use stacking behaviors that increase by 1 for each player and are given to all monsters to increase their health, energy and maybe damage. There is a possibility that such a feature already exists, but as mentioned i lack multiplayer experience and couldn't really see a difference in health from single player to two player.
The spawn locations could use some work, both for the combat zone and resurrection. You may want to add some sort of checkpoint that allows the player to ressurect at the last checkpoint every time he/she dies. Or add a system where you can set your ressurection point to a set area, and change it any time, and the hero will revive at this point every time until the revive point is changed. Both of these systems should be individual for each player.
When it comes to monster spawning these are a bit predictible, they seem to spawn on four different spawn locations that are set, rather than having a random spawn and more possible spawn locations. I may be wrong here, i did not pay too much attention to it :). If i am correct, i would suggest experimenting with additional spawn points and have monsters spawning randomly from one of these points (In combat only!). I think monster spawning should be a bit unpredictable, but not "random" to a point where all monsters can (assuming the numbers hit right) spawns from the same point.
World spawns on monsters are set to certain locations, i think this is okay for a map like this, but it is predictiable and i guess boring. However i do not have a lot of suggestions to solve this at the time, i ran into design problems when i experimented with a similar thing myself and ended up using set spawn positions to avoid the monsters just randomly spawning across the area or "wandering" too far away from their original location. I think the ideal thing would be a "wandering system" where all creatures walk around but doesn't clump up with eachother, while still covering most of the zone and also has a random re-spawn between a set number of spawn points.
When it comes to game bugs i find some, i assume some of them occured when patch 1.5 went live.
That's all bugs i can recall on top of my head.
I've not read through all of this, since i don't have time at the moment, but i will edit it when i come back. Expect typos and maybe some strange sentences :)
Hope you appreciate this feedback. Regards Infernium
Edited, fixed some typos and re-arrenged some text.