Descend - Old-School, First-Person, Grid-Based RPG

Discussion in 'Upcoming iOS Games' started by geppetto, Aug 15, 2011.

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  1. geppetto

    geppetto Well-Known Member

    Aug 31, 2010
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    #1 geppetto, Aug 15, 2011
    Last edited: Aug 16, 2011
    Hey all,

    My name's Steve J. and I've recently started up my own little solo games house called Geppetto.

    I wanted to take a moment to introduce my first major game release for iOS (and likely Android).

    The game is called Descend, and I've created it with a very specific audience in mind. Are you someone that loved those old classic RPGs like "Dungeon Master" and "Eye Of The Beholder"? If so, Descend might just be the game for you!

    I've worked really hard to get this thing together, and in the process I've actually made the decision to ONLY produce these old-school RPGs under the Geppetto label, so if you're a big fan of these games like I am, you've definitely got some new titles to look forward to!

    Descend is in the final days of testing and should be on the App Store within 4 – 6 weeks. Right after that I'm diving into the development of another RPG that's already starting to come together in my head.

    In the meantime, let me know about some of your favourite first-person, grid-based RPGs. Why you love them, and some of your favourite moments playing them.

    Here's a few Descend screenshots - would love to hear your comments.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
  2. undeadcow

    undeadcow Well-Known Member

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    #2 undeadcow, Aug 15, 2011
    Last edited: Aug 15, 2011
    Looks amazing! Can't wait... good luck with your development studio and future games!
     
  3. wilflare

    wilflare Well-Known Member

    Jul 2, 2011
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    this game reminds me alot of Doom or Dark Messiah :D
    my interest is piqued :D
     
  4. squarezero

    squarezero Moderator
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    That looks really great.
     
  5. geppetto

    geppetto Well-Known Member

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    Well that's encouraging so far :)

    I'm going to try and fix up those screenshots when I'm back home later today. They look pretty blurry.
     
  6. sofaking

    sofaking Well-Known Member

    Jul 28, 2011
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    just beautiful! Will there be physics and or gore?
     
  7. undeadcow

    undeadcow Well-Known Member

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    I think this is the first iOS first person dungeon crawler that allows for parties of more than one character; that sounds like a promising design choice.

    In the first picture what looks like character portraits seem too cartoonish and generic; I'd suggest making them more realistic and grittier to match the below screens.
     
  8. geppetto

    geppetto Well-Known Member

    Aug 31, 2010
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    That's a really interesting comment; generally, the first thing people praise about the game when I show it to them is the character art :)

    I've always really loved the character portraits. They were done by an excellent 2D artist named David Hattori.

    Now you've made me nervous ;)

    [​IMG]
     
  9. geppetto

    geppetto Well-Known Member

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    There will be neither - this is old-school all the way :)

    Physics don't really have a role in a game like this.

    I originally had blood spatters during the combat, but I didn't like that way they looked. I opted for simpler "stagger" and death animations and just some nice impact and "hurt" sounds. The result is good - you'll like it, even without the gore...
     
  10. venasque

    venasque Well-Known Member

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    #10 venasque, Aug 15, 2011
    Last edited: Aug 15, 2011
    The screens look great. I hope you have a lot of success with your start up and your first release.

    I actually like the character art.
     
  11. geppetto

    geppetto Well-Known Member

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    I guess like everything else it's all up to individual interpretation.

    I think undeadcow would have liked the previous portraits that I was using early in development. They were much more gritty looking folks.

    I'll try to dig those up and post them actually just for comparison.
     
  12. gemineye62

    gemineye62 Well-Known Member

    Feb 16, 2010
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    I do hope that you can bring back some of the old fashioned fun I had with games like "Black Crypt" and "Dungeon Master." It would be cool to be able to close gates on creatures and be able to shoot spells and arrows through the
    bars to hit the enemy on the other side. Please include an auto map as my days of plotting the map out on grid paper are long gone.

    Thanks
     
  13. currymutton

    currymutton Well-Known Member

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    Turn-based (EoB) or real-time action (U:UW)? Looks interesting.
     
  14. geppetto

    geppetto Well-Known Member

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    Turn-based combat. Similar to a D&D type of concept where initiative is rolled to determine order.
     
  15. geppetto

    geppetto Well-Known Member

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    As mentioned earlier, these were the original character portraits I was working with:

    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
     
  16. squarezero

    squarezero Moderator
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    No offense to undeadcow, but "generic" is one of the most abused terms in gaming forums -- it's just a way of saying that something is not to a particular gamer's taste. I wouldn't worry too much about it ;).

    That said, it might not be a bad idea to bring those particular portraits (which I agree are very nice) closer to the feel of the in-game graphics. Darken them a bit, lower the saturation, deepen the shadows: what they would look like if we were seeing them by torchlight.

    Overall, though, there's a painterly quality to both the main graphics and the portraits that feels fresh to me, at least within this genre.
     
  17. Appletini

    Appletini Well-Known Member

    Jan 8, 2011
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    The style of the original artwork (shading, detail, etc.) fits in with the rest of the game more closely, but the new portraits are more aesthetically pleasing. Maybe there's a middle ground. ^_-
     
  18. Dazarath

    Dazarath Well-Known Member

    Mar 21, 2010
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    Yes, I really enjoyed those games as a kid. And there aren't enough games of that genre available on the App Store. I'm glad to see a dev who's interested in bringing more of those games to iOS users.
     
  19. pmckean

    pmckean Member

    Jan 8, 2010
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    I'm really looking forward to this.

    Undercroft is, perhaps, my all-time favourite iOS game. I love the mechanics of The Quest, but the game hasn't quite grabbed me yet - Undercroft just tells a tighter story, I believe.

    I spent many happy hours with Eye of the Beholder II and Lands of Lore back in the day, so anything that recaptures that feel is A-OK with me. Never actually had Dungeon Master, per se, but I do realise the impact it had on the genre.
     
  20. geppetto

    geppetto Well-Known Member

    Aug 31, 2010
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    OK - I'm thinking about the artwork...

    @dazarath - some day someone is going to get the rights to port "Dungeon Master" to iOS... that's going to be a very awesome day :) In the meantime, hopefully I can at least provide something that's fun to play.

    @pmckean - I absolutely love Undercroft. My only complaint was that I quite often found myself with no idea of what I was supposed to be doing. The Quest is a different story, I thought that game was pretty bad. It's just my opinion, but yeah - pretty bad. It just felt completely wrong :(
     

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