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Traditional Roguelikes (Turn-based) / Re: I just released a roguelike, Silent Call 2, to XBox Live Indie Games

« on: December 23, 2012, 07:54:51 PM »

I would be honored to help you with your game and give you input, if you would have me of course. I am not a programmer, I am a writer, but I have helped a good friend with his game, and I have written a storyline and some character bios for an indie team I know. I have a mental grasp of good gameplay mechanics and how the design process works, but like I said, I know not a bit of coding. I am an indie musician as well, I do alternative rap music infused with rock elements. I am a big fan of roguelikes, so that may be of use to you also.

*Ah, I think I may have used the wrong term when I said "animation". An in-out fade transition or tile swapping effect between two or three static pictures would certainly be sufficient I think. Indeed, learning that pixel color blending trick in XNA would probably go a long way to add to the presentation of the game. You may even be able to use it for more than just rounding out the fog of war. I wish to get into this area more in depth with you, but we must find another way to communicate directly in private. I have ideas.

*Yes the control scheme feels "comfortable" after a few minutes, I don't know what it is, but it feels way better than just pressing directions to do everything. It might just be us, I don't know, lol.

*I understand that some fundamentals of the game may need to be changed in order to accommodate such a feature as a "hardcore mode" or something in that vein. A quest system overhaul would be needed, I am sure. And, Time Stalkers! That game was magnificent! Yes! That's exactly what I mean. If you want players to retain something, make it pieces of gear or a past weapon. Or, even better, make it the player's choice. A game called "Shiren the Wanderer", which is also a roguelike of sorts, allows you to store armor or weapons in a storage chest, with limited slots of course, so that a future reincarnation of yourself is able to take things from the chest and wear/use them.

*Hey man, No problem! I enjoyed the game, and look forward to helping you improve it if I can. I appreciate what you're doing here. Roguelikes are niche enough as it is on PC, let alone on consoles.

Thanks! I'm not sure I can do any more work on Silent Call... my work takes up too much time now!
I could possibly share the source code with anyone interested in improving the game

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Traditional Roguelikes (Turn-based) / Re: I just released a roguelike, Silent Call 2, to XBox Live Indie Games

« on: December 23, 2012, 07:51:58 PM »

I'm never going to play your game because Xbox Live Indie Games isn't available at all in the Netherlands, but I just wanted to say your graphics are radical.

Thank you 

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Traditional Roguelikes (Turn-based) / Re: I just released a roguelike, Silent Call 2, to XBox Live Indie Games

« on: December 20, 2012, 07:33:13 PM »

p.s. the game hasn't gotten much attention in the year it's been available; so I appreciate your time and attention now

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Traditional Roguelikes (Turn-based) / Re: I just released a roguelike, Silent Call 2, to XBox Live Indie Games

« on: December 20, 2012, 07:32:20 PM »

Hi Joe -

Thanks for taking the time to play, and also taking the time to reply

To address a couple of points:

• Yes, the lack of animation/transition does limit the game's presentation. A friend drew the sprites for me; so I only had what he drew. I suppose I could still do some blur/fade transition. I also wanted to implement some kind of curves to the edges of the "fog of war" to break up the "squareness" of the display. I couldn't find an efficient way to do this though (I would need to learn more about pixel colour blending in XNA).
• I'm pleased that you found the controls 2nd nature after some time! They're one of the parts of the game I'm quite proud of, I think they deliver casual/automated control that console gamers now expect
• The idea of being able to start at level 1 is interesting. I'd need to think more about it and speak to you more if I were to implement it. I think the game design would need some changes to accommodate this - players should be rewarded/acknowledged if they play from level 1 instead of keeping their level. Also the difficulty is balanced so that you need to be *roughly* at the right level for the quest's difficulty. You can tackle quests way ahead of your character level by constantly improving a single weapon; and hoarding potions and scrolls in the village; but quite a bit of luck is required and the game experience might become frustrating! This idea reminds me of Time Stalkers on the Dreamcast - in this game you always started at Lvl 1 in the dungeon; as the game progressed you only improved your equipment and starting inventory; you always started a dungeon at level 1

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Traditional Roguelikes (Turn-based) / Re: I just released a roguelike, Silent Call 2, to XBox Live Indie Games

« on: December 15, 2011, 12:16:36 AM »

Thanks!
Apparently it's fairly straightforward to wrap an XNA game up for Steam; but I don't know if it would do well at all so I'm not motivated to try.

If anyone on here would like a pre-paid code for a free copy of this, email me jstocks@gmail.com and I'll give you a code if I have any free

Cheers!

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Traditional Roguelikes (Turn-based) / I just released a roguelike, Silent Call 2, to XBox Live Indie Games

« on: December 11, 2011, 06:39:42 PM »

Details on XBox.com:
http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-GB/Product/Silent-Call-2/66acd000-77fe-1000-9115-d80258550a0f

It's a graphical roguelike where the 360 controller's left analogue stick is used for movement, and right stick for looking.
One controller trigger opens a list of available commands for the tile currently being looked at; the other trigger performs commands automatically based on the player's current situation.