Pioneer- open world exploration game for Android (v22 released 18 May 2016)

[udawos]

Hi,

I taught myself Java programming basics by playing with the Pixel Dungeon source code, and now I've turned it into an Android game. You explore large map areas, climb mountains, shoot at guys and try not to die of thirst. There are numerous NPCs to interact with, forests to burn down, bears to be destroyed by and a dead city to explore.
It also has drop pods!

You can check it out here:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.udawos.pioneer
Also, you can see my version history here:
http://pioneerwiki.net/

Let me know what you guys think!

[Pavel Provotorov]

Hey, it's nice to see your game on the forums )

You have made a pretty great job with making something unique using the PD source code. I have always wanted a fallout type game on android and i see this potentional in your game. Hope it will get even better with each new update.

If you can find a spriter, then the game development will go even faster and graphics will attract new people . I still enjoy the current art style, because it has something special in it's simplicity )

Good luck

[udawos]

Thank you! I really like working on this project, and it's a pleasure to hear that people like playing it.
Finding a spriter would be great, I agree. It's also great to hear that you don't mind my current graphics. I never considered myself an artist and I had planned to make an ascii game, but it seemed such a waste to ignore the great sprite code made by watabou.

I'm also looking for input on dungeon design. Anyone who has played my game will probably notice that the dungeons are pretty lacklustre. If anyone has any tips on coding/writing good dungeons I'd really appreciate it.

[udawos]

The latest test version of the game can be found here:
https://mega.nz/#!7Z9kBJjb!U3rl0b8UEXxoEziBdGQ2V2Bt-4oKtRLXlAoOASQVZcI

My computer's power supply has broken, so now I have to wait 15-19 days for a replacement part to come to my remote location. This test version is the last version that made it off my phone.
I put the test here because it contains the shortened day/night cycle (short for easy testing), campfires for night time and an in-game map (of sorts). There are also a large amount of bug fixes, but I didn't want to upload this .apk to Google Play in the meantime because the days are too short and some simple stuff didn't get implemented (i.e. fireplace at the bar doesn't put out enough light at night).

[udawos]

I've just uploaded v11 of Pioneer to Google Play. It should be available in a few hours. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.udawos.pioneer

Let me know what you guys think! Feedback so far has been invaluable. I've worked to fix most of the bugs you guys have mentioned.

A note on the day/night cycle: Dawn/noon/dusk/night each last 200 turns. The total count of turns can be viewed under 'Heal'.

I'm working on an actual story line now, but it turns out that's...pretty hard. Harder than I thought it would be. I'm writing a Dungeons & Dragons-style module to channel the story, so we'll see how that goes.

For v12, I'm going to introduce sword fighting. I've got the code done up and it seems to work okay, but more testing is needed (it will be different from Pixel Dungeon). More dungeons will also be on the way, and my hope for researching DnD stuff is to get good at building non-randomized dungeons. I plan on implementing random encounters- I realized that d20 tables could be a really cool addition here. I'll also be getting to grips with making a more friendly UI (and making a status screen so you aren't going into the healing menu to see what time it is).

Most prominently, the new version features the day/night cycle. Monsters will come out at night and try to kill you, but they seem to be afraid of light...

!!! For some people the 'game starting bug' ("Something went wrong") may still occur. I think I have it beat, but if you get it, please let me know! If you get this bug just restart the game (once or twice) and it should run fine.

v11 changes: - added day/night cycle - fixed numerous bugs including: - game starting bug - added rough map of game world to first level - enemies (just wolves for now) now spawn at night - campfire now increases view distance at night while close to fire - move to update view distance after starting fire - added torches (can be bought from NPCs)

Regards, udawos

[udawos]

[udawos]

[udawos]

[Legend]

There is a lot of cool things going on in this. The UI still needs a little work. A tutorial would be nice. Took a bit to figure out how to reload and heal.

Also, the climbing mechanic seems a bit tacked on and not really needed. It doesn't really add anything fun to the game. It just adds an extra process to get from point a to point b. It gets annoying after a while.  I like the idea, but it could probably be implemented better.

Why can I only jump a couple of times. There is nothing that I can see that lets me know if I can or cannot jump.

[udawos]

V13 is now being uploaded to Google Play. It should be available in a few hours (5?).

UI fixes!
Climbing streamlined!
 Jumping: you can jump two squares or less at a time. I'll see about doing some square highlighting to make this clearer.

A rough tutorial is available on my website, but I'll throw one together and put it here.

What's new:
 -new NPC: The Hermit. Just a placeholder for now. Later, he will sell items and act as part of a quest.
– Hunger and thirst have been tweaked to match the day/night cycle somewhat
– added bars for hunger and thirst rather than icons so it’s easier to tell how hungry or thirsty you are. You will be thirsty more than you are hungry.
– tundra and grass northern slope art improved
– torch bug fixed
– random start crash fixed
– 20 mountain maps rebuilt. Now more mountain-y
– added red berries
– added blue berries
– berries will not respawn, since real berries only come once a season anyways
– added altars
– added life force
– added laboratories
– added shadow mutants
– added mutant stones
– added ruins to tundra levels
– climbing traps added to mountain levels

More to come in v14!
I will be adding:
– axes to chop down trees
– adding a building menu (using skins and wood for forts)
– adding beacons to summon supplies from the Federation
– adding climbing tools
– adding rope
– adding rabbits
– creating a unified underdungeon
– adding the Stone Kin
– adding the ability to look into the next map before transitioning to it
– adding magic item to help with spotting mutants at night
– adding weapon to drop fiery artillery shells on enemies
– giving shadow mutants a way of hopping up and down hills

Note:
I did skip v12 (kinda). There was an installation problem so I bumped it up one version.

[udawos]

v15 released (fixing bugs from v14)
- fixed 1000 HP bug
- fixed miscellaneous other bugs
- changed heal screen
- assorted map fixes
- shortened amount of time buttons need to be pressed to climb - I think people will be quite pleased with the difference here.

[udawos]

v22 is the current version.
I've added:
- weather effects (snow and rain)
- improvements to the day/night cycle
- numerous fixes
- a unified under dungeon
- more guns (!)
- swords

There's still a crash that some people are getting with the blacksmith. It seems to only apply to Android 4.4, but if you get this crash please report it. It will help a lot.

[udawos]

v22 also features the altar upgrade system and the laboratory upgrade system.
Use life force from you enemies to upgrade your health and use the mutant stones to upgrade your weapons at ancient laboratories.