7YRL: The Seven Year Roguelike - by Wanderling Games

Discussion in 'Upcoming iOS Games' started by Bronxsta, Jan 2, 2014.

  1. Bronxsta

    Bronxsta Well-Known Member

    Saw this while browsing SlideDB
    http://www.slidedb.com/games/7yrl-the-seven-year-roguelike

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    For PC, Mac, iPhone, iPad

    Old school fun meets new school flair - 8bit graphics with real time shadows, particles, bump mapping and more. Gameplay has permadeath but with progression (skills, crafted items, professions, and proficiencies), heavy crafting influence, and more.

    It's a play on the 7DRL ("Seven Day RogueLike") challenge, toned back to something closer to my own timeframes. I'm having a blast creating it, and am starting to post up on moddb in hopes of getting other folks interested and getting their feedback.



    PC Pre-alpha demo here

    [​IMG]

    - Weapons and Armor can now have up to 3 Item Powers associated with them. These powers are activated when the item is equipped and deactivated when the item is unequipped.

    - As the player plays the game, they will unlock Skills. Skills fall into one of four categories; Offensive, Defensive, Support, and Passive. The player will unlock numerous skills in each of those categories, but will only be able to "activate" one of them from each category at a time. The first categories are active and triggered when a Skill button is clicked by the player.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
  2. PeteOzzy

    PeteOzzy Well-Known Member

    Oct 30, 2013
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    I thought my Roguelike sense was tingling. This looks all kinds of lovely, especially with permadeath but some persistency. A crafting system sounds interesting too, makes it sound a bit like Heroes of Loot crossed with Dungeons of Dredmore. Whatever it plays like, I already know I'm very interested, cheers!
     
  3. djstout

    djstout Well-Known Member

    Jul 21, 2011
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    Sportscaster & football (soccer) coach
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    Looks good and colourful (kind of)
     
  4. _Max_

    _Max_ Well-Known Member

    Apr 19, 2012
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    Okey, look really interesting, looking for more info about release date
     
  5. jeffsim

    jeffsim Member

    Jan 20, 2012
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    7YRL author here

    Hey, thanks for posting that Bronxsta! I'm the developer (et al) for 7YRL and I definitely appreciate the interest.

    7YRL is a game I'm writing because I want to play this game :). Timing-wise, that means there's no deadlines (fortunately or unfortunately). I'm trying not to rush it, so I'd like to have something honestly enjoyable by mid-year with a full release later in the year. It's not for a lack of focus though - I'm devblogging on slidedb and 7yrl.com and am making pretty fast progress and having a blast.

    The code currently runs on on PC, Mac, iPhone and iPad (albeit with some rotation issues on the latter two). If you want to check it out, there's a PC demo available (check out 7yrl on indiedb). I'm also waiting for my Xamarin.Mac license purchase to go through so I'll have a Mac version out shortly. I'm honestly not sure how to go about making an alpha version available on iOS though - is that even possible?

    Thanks again for the interest! I'm a loooong time TouchArcade reader (first site I check when I need a break) and I'm looking forward to keeping folks here up to date on 7YRL as it improves.
     
  6. Bronxsta

    Bronxsta Well-Known Member

    Hey, welcome to TA. Thanks for posting here. Your game looks great, I especially like the lighting.

    I guess you could do Testflight and then share the alpha with testers
     
  7. jeffsim

    jeffsim Member

    Jan 20, 2012
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    Thanks for the pointer to TestFlight - I'll check it out and see if I can use it.
     
  8. PeteOzzy

    PeteOzzy Well-Known Member

    Oct 30, 2013
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    I definitely respect the mission brief of making a game that you'd want to play. I'm loving the lighting as mentioned, gives a real sense of ominous discovery.

    I'll definitely be one of the first to step forward if you find TestFlight to your liking, this is the first time I've subscribed to a thread. Intrigued doesn't even cover it :)
     
  9. evanac

    evanac Well-Known Member

    Nov 29, 2011
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    Seconded regarding test flight. I'd be more than happy to help. I lap this kind of game up and it looks GREAT. ^^
     
  10. jeffsim

    jeffsim Member

    Jan 20, 2012
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    You folks rock :). Names added, and you'll be the first I contact. It's still all just prototype stage, but the current demo gives a sense of what I'm trying to get to. PeteOzzy hit the nail on the head - "ominous." I'm not sure how best to achieve it and maintain the right gameplay pacing (think DC:SS), but the idea of seeing something peeking out of the shadows and thinking "gulp" was one of the first visuals I had in mind when thinking about this...

    I'm on the tail end of getting an installable Mac demo going, and should be able to get a tech demo on iPad by the end of next week if CES doesn't steal too many cycles.

    Thanks again!
     
  11. Bronxsta

    Bronxsta Well-Known Member

    Sounds like you're going for Dark Souls: Pixel Edition. That kind of dread was so satisfying in DS, so if you could capture that tone in 7YRL, that would only add to the usual tension inherent in roguelike gameplay
     
  12. Exact-Psience

    Exact-Psience Well-Known Member

    Jan 12, 2012
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    The Work-At-Home Guy
    Philippines
    This looks nice... One of the avatars remind me of Legends of Yore. In fact, i think they are the same. Shed some light on this?

    Im also hoping to be included in the testing if possible. Thanks!
     
  13. jeffsim

    jeffsim Member

    Jan 20, 2012
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    Thanks for the tip; I'm not familiar with the game but will check it out. Appreciate the pointer!
     
  14. Bronxsta

    Bronxsta Well-Known Member

    Here's the trailer:


    Not an IOS game, but the idea of being alone in a dark enemy-infested place, not knowing what lurks around the next corner or in the shadows ahead, is part of the appeal.
     
  15. jeffsim

    jeffsim Member

    Jan 20, 2012
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    #15 jeffsim, Jan 4, 2014
    Last edited: Jan 4, 2014
    Sure thing! The avatars are based on Oryx's work - I picked up a license to his spritesheets (and gave him a call-out in the comments in this slidedb news item). I love his stuff and have been a fan ever since he did the LOFI fantasy compo (see here). I even paid for his 16bit spritesheet even though I don't have a use for it yet - I wanted to support folks like him to encourage more of it (for us developers with little-to-no artistic ability ;) ). You can also see his artwork (or something very similar, I'm not sure which) in Realm of the Mad God. For something like $40 you can purchase a license and use some of his pixelart in your game. Definitely worth checking out at oryxdesignlab.com.

    For 7YRL's mobs, I start with one of his static images and create 31 others for a total of 32 frames of animation per mob (that'll grow more as attack animations and whatnot get added). You can see those in the slidedb article I linked above.

    As an aside - an equally amazing pixel artist who inexplicably allows folks to use his set of 420 icons for free is Ails. Check these out. I'm using them for the 'up close' icons in the game and am eventually planning on placing as large a pile of money as I can muster at his feet and begging him to create more ;).

    Absolutely, more than happy to include you and hugely appreciate the interest!
     
  16. jeffsim

    jeffsim Member

    Jan 20, 2012
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    Yes, exactly. Exactly. Combine that with permadeath and I'm hoping to have a game I can't put down. That feeling of running into Sigmund in DC:SS and staring at him wondering if you're strong enough to take him down; only, seeing him pop out of the shadows a couple of tiles in front of you instead. I like that idea...

    Unrelated: how did I not know about indie game enthusiast?! Welcome to my daily reading list :).
     
  17. PeteOzzy

    PeteOzzy Well-Known Member

    Oct 30, 2013
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    I noticed the Oryx sprites on first glance and it actually made me more interested - it generally suggests the creator of the game has a similar taste in games to me, not to mention that I just really like them.
    Those other sprites look pretty fantastic too, would they not dramatically change the tone of the game though? They're a little more cartoony (not in a derogatory sense) so I wonder if the suspense would be hampered somewhat. Though if it's just for close ups/inventory then that probably wouldn't be an issue.

    Cheers for the link to Ails site though, pixel art is something I do a fair bit in my off time so I love seeing some inspiration!

    Will keep following the game here and slidedb too, lovely to have a personable dev talking about their project!
     
  18. jeffsim

    jeffsim Member

    Jan 20, 2012
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    Well then I applaud your taste in games!

    You've captured in one sentence what I spent several weeks pondering. I even rewrote the rendering engine at one point to work with Oryx's 16bit spritesheets to see if that felt better (less jarring jumping between those and Ails'). The shadowing was oddly unfulfilling with the 16bit sprites though; almost an uncanny-valley like effect which isn't present with the coarser 8x8 sprites. So I stuck with 8x8 in the tilemap, but then was torn because there's only so much variety you can have with 8x8, and I've got several hundred items defined (and a crafting and progression system that's balanced around that many) so I needed more. That left me with mixing the two styles and pondering if that was going to be too jarring or 'unauthentic'. Ultimately I convinced myself that it was okay as long as I kept them separate (8x8 in the tilemap, larger in the UI) - and that I'd just try it and see how folks reacted to it. You can see it all intermingled in the videos - I think it's okay, but will likely spend much of the next six months second-guessing myself ;)

    Awesome! I love the discussion as well - the last few games I published were all done in a self-imposed vacuum, and one of my top goals with 7YRL is to do whatever I can to get more input, feedback, thoughts, and ideas well before it's "too late."
     

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