Universal Tales of the Adventuring Company - Puzzle/RPG/Roguelite

Discussion in 'Upcoming iOS Games' started by slothwerks, Apr 10, 2014.

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  1. slothwerks

    slothwerks Well-Known Member
    Patreon Silver

    #1 slothwerks, Apr 10, 2014
    Last edited: May 9, 2014
    Hi!

    For the 7DRL (building a roguelike in 7 days) competition recently, I submitted Tales of the Adventuring Company. It's a complete redo of another game I released, Adventuring Company, which I released previously on web/Android. Since the competition a month a go, I've been working on an updated version. I finally uploaded that version to Game Jolt and you can try it out in your browser:

    Play it now (Browser, Unity)
    http://gamejolt.com/games/rpg/tales-of-the-adventure-company/23973/

    It's still in development, so you might see bugs, balance issues, etc... but I'd love to start getting feedback from you guys. Once I'm totally satisfied with this first episode, I intend to add additional episodes with more heroes/monsters/etc...

    I frequently update twitter with the latest development news/new builds, so feel free to follow me there if you're interested https://twitter.com/slothwerks

    If you have a few minutes, give it a try and let me know what you think!

    Trailer


    [​IMG]

    Screenshots
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    [​IMG]
     
  2. slothwerks

    slothwerks Well-Known Member
    Patreon Silver

    Spent this morning beginning work on a couple of the upcoming episodes. Not sure yet how many episodes will be in the eventual release, but I'm aiming for somewhere between 5 and 10. The new episodes aren't up on the Game Jolt version yet, but will be in the coming days/weeks so you can guys can give it a try!

    [​IMG]
     
  3. JCho133

    JCho133 Well-Known Member

    Jul 27, 2012
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    Holy cow this looks frickin amazing
     
  4. slothwerks

    slothwerks Well-Known Member
    Patreon Silver

    @JCho Thanks for the encouragement!

    Things are coming along quite nicely, and I hope to have an updated version to the web version of the game by this weekend/next week. It will add two new themed episodes to the existing 'Undead' episode; the themes are 'Egyptian' and 'Slime/Ooze' respectively. Once I get that out, I'll be hard at work on the platform specific stuff -- Game Center leaderboards, achievements, things like that. I hope to round it out with a couple more episodes for the final release.

    Starting playing with some cool particle effects to give unique visual flair to each episode/level. Rain in the undead episode, dust/sand storm in the Egyptian episode, and bubbling ooze in the Slime/Ooze episode. It's just a visual thing, but it helps to further differentiate the look & feel of each area.

    Lastly, another screenshot preview!

    [​IMG]
     
  5. Chesu

    Chesu New Member

    Apr 17, 2014
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    I really dig that art style, particularly the character designs! How did you come up with it?
     
  6. slothwerks

    slothwerks Well-Known Member
    Patreon Silver

    Thanks, glad you like it! I'm more of a developer than an artist, so I'm glad I can create art that people enjoy :)

    The design kind of evolved over time. I'll include a screenshot below of a few different designs I tried before settling on this one. It's hard to pinpoint an exact inspiration; I follow a lot of pixel artists on Twitter, and I try to adapt styles that I like (and more importantly, am capable of). In this case, I needed something that I was stylistically happy with, but also something that I could realistically produce a large quantity of. I'd say that in general, the style draws a lot from the 'minimalist' design popular in a lot of indie games. @cgbarrett (better known as Oryx) is a big inspiration.

    I try and hide the fact that I'm only a so-so artist behind motion tweens and particle effects ;)

    [​IMG]
     
  7. Chesu

    Chesu New Member

    Apr 17, 2014
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    Ah, cool! Well, it's very unique, and adds a lot of charm.
     
  8. simplemindead

    simplemindead Active Member

    Apr 26, 2013
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    Can't wait for the update, and the release. Was happy to find out the plan's for this to just be a few dollars—without IAPs or ads. I wanted to reply on Game Jolt but it seems I couldn't reply to dev comments? Iunno, new to that site; probably just missing something.
     
  9. slothwerks

    slothwerks Well-Known Member
    Patreon Silver

    #9 slothwerks, Apr 18, 2014
    Last edited: Apr 18, 2014
    Weird that you couldn't reply on Game Jolt. I'm sort of a Game Jolt newbie myself, so not sure what's up with that. In any case, thanks for taking time to seek out the thread over here. I really appreciate the comments you PM'd as well! I plan to comment on them with a more detailed response later this evening when I have time. To answer one of your questions, yeah -- only the first episode is available right now. I plan to put up 2 and 3 hopefully this weekend and if not, by next week.

    And yeah -- while not all f2p games are bad, I'm tired of poorly implemented f2p mechanics that ruin what could otherwise be awesome games. I strongly prefer reasonably priced games that are optimized for fun instead of monetization. People tell me the model is dead, but I refuse to believe it :p
     
  10. Exact-Psience

    Exact-Psience Well-Known Member

    Jan 12, 2012
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    Wow this looks right up my alley.
     
  11. slothwerks

    slothwerks Well-Known Member
    Patreon Silver

    Thanks @Exact-Psience!

    Got a lot of good feedback from @simplemindead and have incorporated some of those changes for the latest release. Additionally, the new release includes two new episodes -- Egyptian and Slime themed. I'm aiming for ~5 episodes in initial release, with more to follow as free updates.

    Excited to see what you guys think!

    Play it now (Browser, Unity)
    http://gamejolt.com/games/rpg/tales-of-the-adventure-company/23973/
     
  12. bcredonk

    bcredonk Well-Known Member

    Apr 8, 2014
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    Was just playing this in browser and it's pretty cool. I like the different heroes and being able to swap out the leader. Maybe you could add a swiping mechanic for the ios release that will change the order of the heroes and who's leading.

    It's also kind of unclear as to quests and if you should or shouldn't fight a group of enemies, as there's no real reward for fighting them if they don't have the key to the next area.

    The art is nice too great game for 7DRL, thanks for the link to the browser version.
     
  13. slothwerks

    slothwerks Well-Known Member
    Patreon Silver

    Glad you enjoyed @bcredonk. Will see about swiping. The primary platform for this game will be touch devices (iPhone, iPad, Android, Windows Phone, Windows Tablet) so I'm always looking for ways to streamline that experience.

    I may change the 'side quest' text to show the current floor, and just let the 'quests' stand on their own, without a header/label.
     
  14. undeadcow

    undeadcow Well-Known Member

    Dec 4, 2010
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    #14 undeadcow, Apr 22, 2014
    Last edited: Apr 22, 2014
    I played the online edition a bit; thanks for posting that - will the iOS edition be the same or tweaked? The tile mechanics seem initially similar to Dungelot but different in that there's more focus on time pressure (limited turns) with no apparent motive to fight monsters other than to uncover the floor key. I wish the challenge varied more than just racing with limited turns, power-ups to add time might be nice and encourage exploration. Also, it's odd that after landing a deathblow against an enemy they still get one last attack against you before succumbing. I also really like the party system with each character having a different buff. Neatly put together so far with great pixel art that seems more puzzle-like than many roguelikes with an emphasis on limited moves and predicting enemy patterns instead of exploration.
     
  15. slothwerks

    slothwerks Well-Known Member
    Patreon Silver

    #15 slothwerks, Apr 22, 2014
    Last edited: Apr 22, 2014
    Really appreciate you taking the time to try it and provide feedback, @undeadcow.

    The iOS version will be tweaked, yes. I consider the web one a work in progress, so there's still time to change things. Yes, it will be similar, but I'm reading all the suggestions and doing my best to incorporate the ones that seem viable.

    You're the second person to mention the battle mechanics ("why does the enemy attack me after I kill them?"). I guess mentally, I always imagine the battle simultaneously. In initial builds, the attack animation was simultaneous, but it was more confusing to follow (visually), I thought. Changing the underlying mechanic of how battles work might be difficult (particularly with rebalancing all the encounters), but perhaps I could find some way to visually represent the fact that you and the enemy attack each other at the same time. Not sure yet, but thanks for the feedback on that part.

    Regarding exploration, I'll consider some more stuff here. I've considered various types of items in the past; they could either drop from killing monsters, or perhaps just appear randomly in the dungeon. Some ideas:

    - Healing potions (self explanatory)
    - Super healing potions (same as above, but heals entire party)
    - Weapons (increases Atk)
    - Armor (increases max health)
    - Haste/Speed potion (adds back some turns)
    - Demonic potion: (Increased ATK at the expense of max health)

    Wondering if something like this might address some of your concerns about exploration not being interesting enough.

    Keep the feedback coming guys, this is incredibly helpful for me to get outside input!

    BTW, if you (or anyone else) would like a Universal iOS build to try, please PM me (or post) your TestFlight email and I'll get you setup. It's currently identical to the web version, but also has Game Center Sandbox leaderboards/achievements.
     
  16. undeadcow

    undeadcow Well-Known Member

    Dec 4, 2010
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    #16 undeadcow, Apr 22, 2014
    Last edited: Apr 29, 2014
    Weapons and armor could be really interesting.

    The attack pattern of enemies seeming to get the last blow in even before death isn't a dealbreaker; maybe just finding some way to announce that at the start of the game (maybe suggesting enemies are so controlled by the overlord and filled with bloodlust they'll latch on and kill even in the throws of death). Looking at things from a perspective of enemies being barriers in a greater puzzle it makes sense they'd get that final blow in.

    My TestFlight e-mail is [redacted now after entering TF beta due to fear of accursed spam bots everywhere].
     
  17. simplemindead

    simplemindead Active Member

    Apr 26, 2013
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    Those items would add incentive to further exploration, particularly the haste potion. With the turn limit, there is an emphasis currently to just move on after finding the key, that is if you want to win. :p

    With the attack order, how about changing the animation to the hero moving slightly forward, followed by the enemy, then a simultaneous attack animation? It's like a showdown where the attackers dash forward, one second pause, then boom[/]—the two sides clash in an instance too fast for the eyes. Hmm.. I think I need to cut back on ninja anime's. :rolleyes: Anyways, this would more clearly show damage resolution as simultaneous while still hinting at the effect order, whereby the hero's is first, then the enemy's.

    Was going to ask about an Android build, but then I remember TestFlight shuttered that recently. If/when there's an Android build, I'm willing to test it. Too lazy to break out the ol' iPad 2.
     
  18. slothwerks

    slothwerks Well-Known Member
    Patreon Silver


    Sent! Check your email. Android .apks are actually easier for me to distribute than iOS builds. (If anyone wants Windows Phone, and/or Windows Store app I can do that too :)) Offer's good for anyone else that wants to try a mobile build instead of the web one. Just post or PM me your email address.
     
  19. bcredonk

    bcredonk Well-Known Member

    Apr 8, 2014
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  20. slothwerks

    slothwerks Well-Known Member
    Patreon Silver

    Quick note to people I added on Testflight. Still need to do the iOS build, hopefully tomorrow. In the process of fixing a few bugs :)

    In the meantime, updated the barbarian/skeleton designs based on some feedback I got. Besides bugs, also working on a couple more episodes before the eventual release.

    [​IMG]
     

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