Mines of Morgoth v0.76

[getter77]

"v0.76 released.

New stuff : better AI, a whole range of spells with proper balancing of damage for the more clever monsters.
All monsters up to level 10 are now in the game.
I have also moved over to the open source installer program from Nullsoft."

www.minesofmorgoth.com

I'm not this guy, but I should think he would be quite welcome here if not already lurking---assuming he knows we exist here.   This game is shaping up rather nicely it seems and now has me all curious about Moria and such....

[mariodonick]

Ah, months ago I have noticed that game. Thanks for the info and in general your efforts to motivate developers with their projects.

[Krice]

It's interesting, but has some poor game design. When you start the game you have to buy stuff from shops and wander around in the city, then die quickly in dungeon and start all over again. The walking animation makes moving around slow and the town's scale is rather big. Those things alone can make the game feel quickly worse than it actually is.

[mariodonick]

Perhaps the movement animation is slowly because it's written in Visual Basic 6.0 ... although DirectX seems to be required. Perhaps the author will optimize it in the final version.

However, I would be happy if it could be played in 800x600, 'cause the default resolution does not fit my netbook screen (1024x600).

I think the start of the game is rather typical, seen esp. in games that follow the Moria-path (e.g. Angband, Diablo 1, LambdaRogue and probably some others). It can be indeed annoying, as I recognized yesterday, while preparing my "Playing LambdaRogue" series in which I want to walkthrough the game with the same character. Being inattentive for just one turn can be the death, and trying to start with a nearly same character again is not that enjoyable.

[getter77]

I'll try and summon the author here when I get home tonight or some such and perhaps wranglings can then be better understood and wrought.

Still, this IS a demo afterall...so I expect much to change as it hits.  Especially since v1.0 is meant to be the real release of sorts, so since this is .76....

I quite liked his little about section that explains his affinity with Moria and all.  Nifty.

[noodles]

Hi, I'm the author of Mines of Morgoth and will be glad to answer any of your questions about the game.


Regarding the harshness of the game :

That's the way it's meant to be !
Tough but fair, just as the original was.
If you start becoming cocky and don't pay attention for a few turns,
you can die real quick, especially at the beginning since you are quite weak.
It gets better later on as you become more resistant/powerful.

Regarding speed :

There is a Run command to avoid schlepping through long corridors. Try it.
This command can also be used to run along the paths in the town as well.

And finally, you don't need armor or anything extra to survive the first level.
I can get to level 5 without losing a life... Granted, I know the game by heart.
It's just a case of knowing when to fall back, even going back up the stairs if
necessary to survive and recuperate.

Hope this clears up any doubts about the point of this game.
I refuse to make something that is too easy, and, to me, therefore pointless
and boring. What's more, there is a save game option in town which is not
available in the demo for obvious reasons.

[getter77]

Thanks for taking the trouble on the registering to finally make it over here noodles and get your word in.      The more lively discussion in this place the better each current and future project will likely become.

[getter77]

"16th of February 2009 :

All the monsters are now in the game. All 187 of them !
Did some more sound effects. A few more special rooms for the dungeon,
some polishing and testing and it should be ready for final release
in the next month or so."


Sounds awesome to me and I can't wait for the final release!