Topics

1

Programming / well well well - three holes in the ground. How to combine tile graphics?

« on: July 18, 2015, 01:22:59 AM »

Hey.  In Dungeon Bash, I have various terrain that overlays tiles and his different effects.  One of these is a hole.  i.e.  you can see past the tile, but it only counts as moveable to a flying creature.  To non-flyers it is impassable.

Currently when there are a bunch of tiles next to each other that are holes, the game just shows a single hole for each tile.  What Id like to do is show one big hole in an area where there are multiple tiles next to each other that are of type 'hole'  this would look much more impressive.



In this example, there are two tiles next to each other and I show two holes.  Id rather show one bigger hole across both tiles.  In some areas I have much larger hole areas and some areas have randomly placed holes.

I sat down to draw some pictures of different configurations and realized it was a lot of work - there are a LOT of configurations.

So I was just wondering if anyone had already done this work for me?  IS there some thread or images out there that are related to solving this problem that I can fastrack, or am I on my own?

cheers

2

Design / Player goals within roguelikes

« on: March 15, 2015, 10:52:07 PM »

Im building a squad-based tactical roguelike.  (3 character team)  www.dungeonbash.com 

I feel like I have the squad-based tactics more or less in place. 

But now I feel like I need another layer to the game - some explicit player goals besides the single one - descent to level 20 to kill the big-bad.  That is the main goal, but I feel if I add fairly frequent sub-goals, they will help pull the player along by dangling that a 'just one more' type of carrot in front of the player.

What kind of short term achievements/goals do you think would be a good idea in a roguelike where the main preoccupation is squad-based tactical combat.

For context, the game is based in a dungeon (duh), and currently all items are gained only through killing monsters - there is money, no shops and no items lying around on the ground.  There is XP which results in incremental upgrading of character stats.

thanks,

3

Design / Stealth gameplay

« on: March 09, 2015, 04:56:22 AM »

Hiya.  Ive recently alpha-released another version of www.dungeonbash.com  with stealth being the focus of this release.

Id love to get some feedback from experienced roguers about this. 

summary:

Its a 3-character team based game of combat tactics.  As far as stealth goes, the light or dark of a tile directly dictates how easy it is to hide or remain hidden on that tile.  Tiles are normally quite dark, allowing medium skilled characters to hide on them.  But they get lighter due to:

1) light from torches.  obviously makes stealth harder.
2) detection skill of monsters.  Monsters emit a light that of an intensity and radius proportional to their detection skill. 
3) monster attention.  your characters emit a light that is proportional to the amount of attention they are getting from monsters, which will be either a) none at all (no light), some attention (a little light) or lots of attention (a fair amount of light).

the last one is most interesting, because once seen, it makes it much harder to hide unless you first get that character out of LOS, or in the case of highly skilled sneaks, at least into some rocks to use for cover.  It also means you want to keep your sneaks away from your non-sneaks, because the non-sneaks will almost never be able to hide once spotted, and the attention they recieve will make it too hard for sneaks in their vicinity to hide.  So it creates a nice tension between when to bunch the party for melee or split the party for scouting or ambush.

It also means that non-stealthy characters can help out others by purposely attracting attention, making it easier for the others to hide.

Cover, in the form of rocks offers a large bonus to stealth, particularly for small sized characters.  Hidden characters cannot perform any actions except wait and move, otherwise they reveal themselves.  When hidden, the first attack they do gets an ambush bonus which is a big bonus to attack skill and significant bonus to damage.

The summary is that stealth adds another dimension to the tactics, and enhances the survivability and usefulness of smaller creatures that are not great at toe-to-toe melee. 

4

Traditional Roguelikes (Turn Based) / Dungeon Bash - new release with added STEALTH

« on: March 09, 2015, 04:24:14 AM »

Hi.  This is the last major functional addition to Dungeon Bash - Stealth.  And it fits really well.

Dungeon Bash is a tactical squad-based game where you control 3 characters in a team.  Until now, it was best to keep that team clustered together for mutual support - particularly for a team member to act as the focus point for a monster attack while other team members flanked that monster.

But with stealth tactics added, it is better if the stealthy character keeps away from non-stealthy team members, as they attract monster attention that will make it much harder to hide.

Heres a summary of what was added for this release.  Go to www.dungeonbash.com  to download the game for your mobile.

IN THIS RELEASE (A13-I11)
- STEALTH:
- light levels in the dungeon now reflect detectability of that tile for stealth purposes - the light level is an indication of:
   a)  torches - actual light that makes it easier to be detected.
   b)  monster detection skill - shows how well each monster can detect enemies in its vicinity.
   c)  monster attention.- characters attract monster attention, indicated by lighter tiles around noticed characters, and those closest to monsters attract more attention.
- rocks provide good stealth bonus for medium creatures and great stealth bonus for small creatures.
- hidden characters get an ambush bonus in the form of 3x attack skill for one melee attack.
- characters automatically hide when they descend to the next level, although they may be discovered instantly.  Their first action still gets an ambush bonus, however.
- the ‘stealth’ button will be deactivated if the character is unable to hide.  Hiding takes one turn and gives a slow bonus.
- any action other than normal movement reveals a hidden character - the character must ‘unhide’ to charge, but the charge still gets the ambush bonus.
- melee damage is a little more dependent on skill and less dependent on hit-points.
- creatures without hands can only carry one amulet.
- inventory tab shows capacity when selected.

5

Traditional Roguelikes (Turn Based) / [DUNGON BASH] squad-based tactical roguelike major new alpha release

« on: January 12, 2015, 11:22:56 PM »

New release of Dungeon Bash available, with much functionality added:

* some creatures can now fly
* added rough terrain (bones, mud and rocks) that slow down non-flying creatures entering that tile
* added holes - impassable to non-flying creatures. Lethal to get knocked or fall stunned into.
* added charge effect that allows some creatures to move and attack on the same turn (in a straight line)
* added knock back effect that pushes back a creatures 1 tile when hit.  If a non-flying creature is pushed into a hole, they die!
* creatures knocked back into a wall take damage.  If knocked into a creature, they both take damage.
* effects of equipping items on character stats is shown on screen without having to look at the effects tab.
* new items based on flight, knock back, charging and resisting knockback abilities.
* have adjusted all creatures stats to reflect new abilities and revamped their abilities for more diversity.
* have added some  new creatures and removed some that were too similar to each other.
* made character illumination fade smoothly while moving.
* modified guaranteed starting creatures, including guaranteed swarm of crazed minions on level 5.
* fixed numerous bugs (thanks testers!)

Q) Would it aid the number of test players significantly if I offered this game as a HTML5 version too?  Im getting very little feedback, and I would really like some from experienced roguelike players - but perhaps the majority of those are PC-based?  I could go to that effort, but the mouse control feels a little clunky (it is designed specifically for touchscreen), so it would need a control system revamp using keys and mouse.

If you already played a previous version, I think you will be pleasantly surprised at the improvement.  Let me know!
Join the testing at www.dungeonbash.com

In the next release, I will add:

1) STEALTH
2) DASH ability
3) COVER
4) additional UI functionality to improve game->player info transfer.

6

Early Dev / Dungeon Bash alpha test released to IOS and Android - free to download and play.

« on: July 12, 2014, 08:33:53 AM »

Hi, I have this squad-based tactical roguelike available for download.

Can you imagine leading an acid blob, an elf and a minotaur into combat?  Or perhaps a pit-viper, a zombie and a slime demon? 
 
Dungeon Bash puts the player in control of a team of three adventurers, randomly selected from a list of over thirty radically different creatures, each with their own strengths and weaknesses.

Please go to www.dungeonbash.com    to join the IOS or Android alpha test.