Messages

1

Programming / Re: Game balance and leveling.

« on: July 31, 2013, 09:15:54 PM »

I think leveling rate is going to depend on the length of your game, as well as what a level actually gives you.  If you start with only 1 ability and gain a new one every level, you might want to have the player level quickly at first to earn a good repertoire of abilities, before tapering off so that he can't get ALL the abilities in one game.  If each level is a fairly large leap in power, maybe the player should level slowly but steadily.

2

Programming / Re: What do you think of having books sharing the information instead?

« on: July 17, 2013, 09:02:41 PM »

I think this is a great idea.  One game that had a similar system I really liked was Final Fantasy 12.  When you killed a monster its backstory and lore would be added to a journal in your menu.  If you killed a certain number of them, it would add a second page with more lore about the area in which the monster lived, a type of item or equipment it dropped, or a myth that might give clues about the ingredients to craft a rare item.

I definitely think the library should be saved in-between characters - that way, it provides a meta-advancement for the player.  If you take a long break from the game and come back, the library gives you a way to quickly remember what stuff you've discovered.

3

Programming / Re: A major decison that I need to make regarging game-play.

« on: July 17, 2013, 08:57:32 PM »

I think it's a very interesting idea.  I was toying with something similar a while back, since I wanted to make a roguelike-ish game that focused on the secondary mechanics (permadeath, random content, character progression) without using the core mechanics of combat, random dungeon crawling, etc.

Like Darren said, the main problem is the level of content you'll need.  In order for the game to stay fresh, each text encounter needs to provide a unique challenge.  The brute-force way to accomplish this is to have hundreds of unique text passages and choice branches, so that the player never sees the same one twice - but that's probably impractical.

I wonder if there's a way to semi-randomly generate the text and choices, to keep them interesting?  You would need a way to prevent the player from simply memorizing key words and picking the "right" choice for each passage.  You would have to make sure the outcomes of your choice were different every time, but at the same time you don't want to randomize them the way FTL does with some of its choices, because then the player's decision is no longer meaningful.

4

Programming / Re: Pandering

« on: July 17, 2013, 08:44:18 PM »

I think the thing to watch out for with this situation is losing interest in your own project.  If you make a game that you think other people will like, but you don't like it yourself, it's probably likely you'll get bored of the project and quit before it gets anywhere.

5

Early Dev / Re: Wizard's Peril: A Spellcasting Roguelike

« on: April 10, 2013, 07:48:48 PM »

Thanks a lot for playing and for your feedback!

I'm still working on the whole devblogging and public relations part of game dev, but I'm going to try to start a blog on the Wizard's Peril website.  I'm also going to start posting releases on RogueBasin, probably starting with the next release I make (hopefully in about a month).

I have to agree with you on the colors for the second floor, I think I'll change those to be a bit more subdued next release.  Autotargeting should be fairly simple and I'll try to put that in the next release as well.  I plan to implement re-arranging the spell bar eventually, but I might leave it until later since I'm trying to keep the interface as simple as possible while I experiment with the core game systems and mechanics.  If enough people want it though, I'll probably put in some basic commands to re-arrange the spells.

6

Early Dev / Wizard's Peril: A Spellcasting Roguelike

« on: April 05, 2013, 01:30:34 PM »

Download here: http://cavernlorestudios.wordpress.com/wizards-peril/

(Requires Windows and the latest version of .NET)

I wanted to do a 7DRL this month, but instead I decided to work on improving my January 1 Game a Month project.  Wizard's Peril is a short coffee-break roguelike inspired by DoomRL and FTL, and based around spellcasting.  You have no weapons and no melee attack - all you have are your spells.

I have a lot of major plans for expansion, including more spells, items and equipment, dungeon features, and that sort of thing.  However, I want to make sure the basics of the game - roaming the dungeon, throwing spells, and leveling up - are as much fun as possible before I start to add complexity.  The game is pretty unbalanced at this point, but it's entirely possible to win the game and I think it's at least sort of fun in its current form.

Thanks in advance for playing - any and all feedback, positive or negative, would be very much appreciated!  The game is on its second version so far and I plan to release at least a small update within the month, so your feedback will definitely make a difference!