Author Topic: Wizard's Awakening  (Read 7226 times)

Techbear

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Wizard's Awakening
« on: August 21, 2014, 08:41:33 PM »
Long time game dev; always loved roguelikes; always wanted to make one myself.

This is my latest attempt:  Wizard's Awakening, for Windows.
http://www.eochu.com/dl/WizardsAwakening-first-release.zip
Unzip the file to wherever you like; a desktop folder, or C:\games\WizAwake\, or something.  Then execute the EXE.

Use arrow keys to move, everything else is mouse-driven.

Your character has no HP, no leveling, and no innate magic.  The game is about collecting items while avoiding monsters.

All feedback appreciated!


Techbear

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Re: Wizard's Awakening
« Reply #1 on: September 11, 2014, 02:03:42 AM »
Wow, did I upload it wrong?  Can no one get it to work? :)

Samildanach

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Re: Wizard's Awakening
« Reply #2 on: September 11, 2014, 11:14:39 AM »
I've tried it but I found it extremely frustrating. My first 4 attempts all resulted in me immediately entering a room full of enemies so I could barely even move from the entrance, and got killed in a couple of turns. Once would be an acceptable anomaly but 4 times in a row was ridiculous.

I just tried it again now and although I didn't have the same problem this time, I seem to be unable to use items. I have a rod of fireball with 5 charges but nothing I do activates/uses it. I can drop it, but that's all. The other button, which I assume is 'use' (tooltips would be nice) does nothing.

This might be why you haven't had any feedback. The game doesn't seem to work. I don't like to sound so negative but as far as I can tell, the game isn't really playable in its current state. Either that, or it work but needs proper instructions.
« Last Edit: September 11, 2014, 11:16:33 AM by Samildanach »

Techbear

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Re: Wizard's Awakening
« Reply #3 on: September 12, 2014, 02:59:11 PM »
The rods don't work unless you target a monster by clicking on them.   But you're right, I didn't document that anywhere.

I'll review the game with an eye towards docs and tooltips.

Thank you!!

koiwai

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Re: Wizard's Awakening
« Reply #4 on: September 13, 2014, 06:22:41 AM »
Yeah, to use a rod, you click the left button, then click the target to cast the spell

I agree that the dungeons are a bit too random and practically unsolvable, but the initial map has several dungeons to choose from, so you can choose a good dungeon with items close to the entrance.. At least in the beginning.

My complaint is that I don't know for how long exactly the effects ("sleep", "confuzed", etc) are going to work. Since the game is 1HP style, it would help if (at least some) effects were active for fixed time (and possibly, I would like to see the counter in the number of turns). So you can be sure that a sleeping mob is not going to kill you in the next turn. Probably, the effect durations are discoverable if you play for long enough, but the player need an incentive to play for long enough )

Another thing. I did not visit a lot of dungeons, but from what i've seen, it's better if the dungeons have cycles (that is, ther are multiple ways to get from one point ot another). Since the game is kind of a stealth game, you want to be able to lure a mob into one passage, and safely use another passage yourself. On the other hand, if the structure of a dungeon is a tree, you have to face all the mobs, zap them all somehow, or just have to be super lucky to survive.

Also, btw, mobs interacting with each other and with the dungeon would be great. Say, when a dwarf and an elf mobs meet, they start arguing insted of pursuing you. Or you drop a pile of coins, and a greedy mob runs to pick up it. Or a group of bandits starts fighting for those coins. Such conflicts between mobs don't have to be the only way to deal with them, moreover, such strategies can be unreliable or somehow hard to pull off, but it would be interesting and more fun to play. Of course, it makes the behavior of the mobs harder to program.