Author Topic: Rogue Survivor Alpha 3.21  (Read 60271 times)

Sabin Stargem

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Re: Rogue Survivor Alpha 3.21
« Reply #45 on: July 07, 2010, 07:10:34 PM »
That is fair.  Goddess knows I don't care much for inventory management, such as in Baldur's Gate II where my inventory just overflows!  I am very much a packrat, so stacking items and being able to horde stuff is a godsend to me.  However, I recommend giving CotW a spin and try it out yourself, I think it is the #1 roguelike when it comes to inventory management.  Might be my inner fanboy manifesting, though.   :)



CaptainFailMore:  The art style of those icons is similar to La-Mulana's, that is nifty to behold!   ;D





CaptainFailmore

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Re: Rogue Survivor Alpha 3.21
« Reply #46 on: July 07, 2010, 10:57:01 PM »
Actually, believe it or not, they're not in La Mulana's style.

Useless trivia time!

La Mulana's graphics really are something to behold, and not because they're flashy. Actually, it's because the creators of the game painstakingly imitated the graphical limitations of one of the MSX's video modes. The defining characteristic of this 'style' of graphics is that the original MSX could not support more than two colors in a single eight-by-one horizontal line of pixels. Transparent sprites could violate this rule, sort of; sprites were a single color, and were drawn over everything else. Some games demonstrated more colorful sprites, probably by overlapping one or more sprites to represent a single object on-screen. It wasn't a Famicom, but it could still produce some nice looking visuals for the time.

On the other hand, the ZX Spectrum was decidedly not graphically powerful. It was an inexpensive and capable home computer, not a dedicated gaming machine - but that didn't stop anyone. Gamers and game makers embraced the Spectrum warts and all, even though it could only draw two colors for every eight-by-eight pixel block, the size of a single typographical character on the screen. Transparent sprites and other such luxuries were not supported, resulting in fairly severe 'attribute clash', which had to be dealt with in a number of creative ways.

Not only that, the MSX and the ZX Spectrum had entirely different default palettes! While both featured the same number of colors, the colors themselves were different for each. The ZX Spectrum featured something not unlike the default palette in MS Paint, while the MSX was somewhat more varied and a bit more muted. See below:


ZX Spectrum


MSX

So, if you feel like splitting hairs...

The tiles I posted could have been displayed by an MSX - with different colors. However, they're meant to imitate the blockiness and vivid coloration of the ZX Spectrum.

Here are the same food tiles, faithfully rendered in MSX style:


So now that you've had your fill of utterly useless 80's computer trivia...

I'm a big fan of Castle of the Winds myself. It was my first rogue-like, before I even knew what rogue-likes were! The drag and drop 'paper doll' inventory system was easy to understand, even though the variety of items was somewhat... bland. I didn't care, I was like, twelve at the time. But let's take a look at the inventory system here: Three equipment slots total. One for each hand, one for the body. The only thing that making these slots 'real' would accomplish is that when you equip an item, it leaves your normal inventory. If you could carry anything in your hands, this would give the player a bonus of two extra inventory slots from the start, but unless the inventory works that way then I can't help but feel that these changes would just be mostly cosmetic.

I'm really against giving items specific weights and volumes unless the system is very, very simple to work with. Diablo-style backpacks and others like them (Resident Evil 4, I'm looking at you) are just a pain in the ass. (If I wanted to turn inventory management into a block puzzle, I'd play Tetris or Tangrams or something!) If at some point in the future roguedjack wanted to make the inventory account for small items versus large items intuitively, assigning a simple number from 1-5 representing item size, and then assigning a capacity number to the inventory (say 8 or 10 to start) would be the best way to go. No difficult decimal math on the user's end to tell if something will fit, just simple mental addition and subtraction. Equipped items could be removed from your inventory and carried or worn regardless of size.

With the added inventory space, time management in firefights or zombie raids would become a bit more paramount. Dropping a held item could be considered a free action (I think dropping is already, but you have to remove an equipped first before dropping it) while inserting or removing inventory items should not be; swapping a held item for one in your inventory would take twice as long as dropping the one you have in your hand and picking up another one. Reloading could take as long as swapping, but if ammo is smaller (which it tends to be) then it would make more sense to carry lots of ammo instead of a handful of loaded weapons. (But it wouldn't restrict the player's style; maybe you want to do things musketeer style and have a few loaded firearms ready.) It's a small difference, but with the veritable zombie armies that you run into after week two, escape simply isn't an option most of the time. Small details like this should in practice affect how players prepare for and approach their friendly neighborhood undead-mutant menace without slugging things down at all.

Sabin Stargem

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Re: Rogue Survivor Alpha 3.21
« Reply #47 on: July 08, 2010, 03:09:38 AM »
I think that time management with one's possessions is one of the most important factors in roguelikes and zombie scenarios.  Having readily accessible weapons, ammo, or just being able to ditch your heavy canned goods is important if you want to outpace the hordes.  That is why guns that use magazines are better than shotguns and revolvers, despite the relative lack of power, since you can reload quickly.  Far too often an survivor would find themselves desperately loading shells into the boomstick as zombies encroach from all sides!  Fight or flight, time is of the essence, which is accomplished through good inventory management.

By the way, thank you for the quick lesson.  An surprising but not unwelcome event.  :)  You might want to check out the Retroware TV website, the videogame historian talks about a number of consoles and games, which you might be interested in.  There is also Kirithim's "Videogames and..." series, which covers a range of topics from the Uncanny Valley to Moral Choices.  Good stuff!

CaptainFailmore

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Re: Rogue Survivor Alpha 3.21
« Reply #48 on: July 08, 2010, 10:54:48 PM »
Tile-making progress, because I'm bored:



Edit:

And the bunch from today. I'm cribbing some sprite shapes from La Mulana since it makes for an effective paper-doll.

« Last Edit: July 09, 2010, 08:09:11 PM by CaptainFailmore »

Sabin Stargem

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Re: Rogue Survivor Alpha 3.21
« Reply #49 on: July 09, 2010, 10:50:10 PM »
Now that is awesome.  I really like the Radiation Pink zombies you got there, and it is nice to see Lemeza's relatives checking out modern ruins.  It may sound strange, but I think the retro aesthetic used here are more attractive than what we see in many games.  Technological progress is good, but it takes stylization to make it worthwhile and possess longevity.

runo

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Re: Rogue Survivor Alpha 3.1
« Reply #50 on: July 10, 2010, 09:54:26 PM »
Then I see that you've come along and basically made my dream come true

I'm with this, I'm loving this game and have been having some awesome moments.
One thing I can't forget is when being chased by a group, a civilian kept shutting the door to an apartment every time I opened it to get in. I thought that was a hilarious act of karma, because often I shut others out and keep them out.


CaptainFailmore

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Re: Rogue Survivor Alpha 3.21
« Reply #51 on: July 10, 2010, 10:34:58 PM »
I've had plenty of moments like that, too.

"Oh shit, a disciple- WAIT, OPEN THE DOOR BACK UP IT'S COM- DON'T BARRICADE IT YOU PRICK."

For the record, I think it's fabulous.

Elohssa

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Re: Rogue Survivor Alpha 3.21
« Reply #52 on: July 12, 2010, 05:59:56 PM »
Thank you for this wonderful game.  I am really enjoying it, and it is shaping up to be my favorite rogue-like since IVAN.

You've managed to create a randomized game, that includes non-random elements, without feeling too scripted.  That is rare.

The ordering system is a bit clunky, but I'm sure you are working on it.  Honestly, if there was some way to manually control and lock the followers inventory, that would address most of my concerns.  Right now it's pretty difficult to convince a follower to choose the best weapon available.

The Black Ops guys totally suckered me in, BTW.  After 19 games days, I had a nice routine going, and you threw a monkey wrench in there.  Thank you for not letting it getting boring.  I can't wait to see what else I'm missing!

Keep it  up!

roguedjack

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Re: Rogue Survivor Alpha 3.21
« Reply #53 on: July 12, 2010, 10:00:15 PM »
Thanks Elohssa.  :)
To be honest once you get to the Black Ops, its pretty much all there is to it, and the gameplay is stuck in a loop.
Only thing you could do is trying to find the special trackers items, if you haven't already, especially the one which is useful vs the BOs.
Alpha 4 will have more content, you can check my blog for more information.
The gameplay getting repetitive is a major concern with this kind of survival game, I'll keep trying to improve the gameplay flow.

Civilians closing/barricading stuff on your escape route is funny. I just had a playtesting game where a fellow retard survivor kept closing doors and windows right in front of me while I was escaping. Seemed like he was actually fleeing from me  :-* Finally he got stuck along the map border and kept closing the same window I desperatly tried to get through. I was fed up and blasted the window open. I suppose he died a bit later ;D

roguedjack

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Re: Rogue Survivor Alpha 3.21
« Reply #54 on: July 18, 2010, 04:33:44 PM »
Alpha 4 up, check the new thread.