Author Topic: Pearls of Wisdom (now at v1.0.0)  (Read 5552 times)

getter77

  • Protector of the Temple
  • Global Moderator
  • Rogueliker
  • *****
  • Posts: 4958
  • Karma: +4/-1
    • View Profile
Pearls of Wisdom (now at v1.0.0)
« on: July 06, 2019, 11:21:13 AM »
https://github.com/jonathanacross/pow   Win/Mac/Linux/Source

Quote
You play an adventurer, exploring levels, fighting monsters, and collecting items. The goal is to collect the eight pearls of wisdom, each one guarded by a monster deep in a dungeon.
Features

    Five character classes.
    You can have a pet, and either control it yourself, or let the computer auto-play it.
    Smart pickup and optimization of equipment.
    Socketed items allow you to customize your weapons and armor.
    Ranged weapons and spells.
    Running.
    Stores (but they don't buy items, so you don't need to worry about keeping useless items for gold).
    Variety of level styles using different procedural generation algorithms.
    World layout and levels are different every game, but there are fixed bosses and artifacts.
    No permadeath; games are saved when resting in an inn.
    Graphical interface, can be resized and use different fonts.
    Keyboard control only. Keyset inspired by Angband, but simplified.
    In-game help.

v1.0.0

Quote
Game changes

    groups of monsters
    smarter pet AI
    player can feed potions to pets
    have to return pearls to pearl room
    players have reasonable starting equipment
    tuning of spells, item pricing, stats

UI improvements

    more names for auto name generator
    auto equipment optimization/pickup
    smarter running
    updated instructions in readme

Window system refactored

    window UI is more consistent
    may be resized
    different fonts/sizes possible
Brian Emre Jeffears
Aspiring Designer/Programmer/Composer
In Training

kraphead

  • Newcomer
  • Posts: 23
  • Karma: +0/-0
    • View Profile
Re: Pearls of Wisdom (now at v1.0.0)
« Reply #1 on: July 08, 2019, 11:38:04 PM »
Beat the game, I actually had a lot more fun than I thought I would!


Beat the other final boss as well. I really liked the fact that the game was (mostly) straightforward with you, with regards to stuff like monster statistics. I wish you had included the actual, numerical benefits of each statistic, but that's a pretty minor nitpick. I also liked the gradual increase in player power - unlike something like Angband, where a couple lucky artifact drops can let you steamroll almost everything between you and Morgoth (e.g. Ringil and Cubragol).

A criticism: I feel like the early game is too unforgiving, and without prior knowledge it's kinda unplayable. You pretty much have to rush down to the lizard in the basement, avoid fighting ANY monsters, use both your potions and hope that you roll well enough to kill him. Otherwise, you don't get a pet, and without a pet the first scruffy dog you come across will maul your face off.

I also think that the enemies spike in difficulty way too hard as the game goes on. It's easy in the beginning (first couple pearls), but it ramps up really quickly over the next four or five pearls. The last 2 pearls had enemies that could nearly 2 shot me.  It got to the point that I would farm by picking an area with a portal in it, killing 4 or 5 enemies, then portaling back to a safer area to rest up in the nearest town. Over and over again. To complete a dungeon, I would dive to the bottom while fighting as few enemies as I could then blow all my consumables on the boss. I get that a big part of roguelikes is choosing your fights wisely, knowing when to run, accruing and using consumables, etc. but I personally felt that it was a little extreme. Then again, I didn't die a single time, so maybe the enemies were of an appropriate difficulty.

One more thing: I feel like characters without greater heal are too weak.

juggle5

  • Newcomer
  • Posts: 1
  • Karma: +0/-0
    • View Profile
Re: Pearls of Wisdom (now at v1.0.0)
« Reply #2 on: July 12, 2019, 03:30:09 AM »
Hi, I'm the developer of Pearls of Wisdom.

Glad you had fun playing the game, and thanks for the review and detailed feedback!

I think you're right that it may be too difficult for a player without prior knowledge to kill the lizard.  I can make that a bit easier.  While it was intentional for the game to increase in difficulty, it's good to know that you feel it's too much.   Game balance is tricky to get right, to keep it both fun and challenging.  (And I'm biased when playing, since I created the game!)

I'll also try adding some mid-level heal spell for some of the characters; I didn't give a greater heal to all the characters to add some variety between the characters.  The game difficulty also depends on what pet you choose, and your winner combination was (IMO) not the easiest.

One last thing I wonder -- did you try using the '(' or ')' commands?  These show how dangerous the computer thinks monsters are to you or to your pet, and can be useful while playing.. perhaps one of these should be on by default.