I’ve been working on several games, one of which is in Beta (Shadows and Eternity) and the other is in the planning phase (Monsters of Eternity, or MoE).
I thought I should start a blog of sorts, where I can discuss my progress and ask people’s opinions on certain aspects of my games.
Anyways, with that out of the way, do you guys like maps?
My second game is more of a text-based adventure game than the first, with more options to choose from, more rooms, etc. Since there are more places to go to in MoE, I don’t know if I should just have a “map” that just informs the player where the character is, or if I should have an actual map that shows where the player is.
What do ya’ll think?
Just information about the current room is fine.
Add a map, players might get lost otherwise.
0voters
I’ll add another poll depending on the majority choice from this poll.
So, the poll on the map was unanimous: ya’ll think I should add a map!
Now here’s a bunch of polls.
On the map, should I have a selection box that the player can move around so they can see the names of different rooms (which would make the game bigger byte-wise), or should I just have the name of the room the player is in as well as indicate on the map which room that is? Whenever a player wants to move to another room, they are told which rooms are connected to the one they are currently in.
Just indicate where on the map players are
Just the name of the current room
Let players select a room and see the name
0voters
There is going to be an inventory system. The game is mostly text-based. Should I have icons for the item/s the player has in their possession, or just text?
Just the text
Just the icons
Text and icons
0voters
Finally, should I have a journal of sorts where players can see what current objectives are?
No, let them figure it out
Yes, but keep it simple (just the names)
Yes, but provide some details (name, reason, etc.)
0voters
Thank you for reading this long, question-filled post!
So I’ve been making some progress on the story, and I’ve reached a point that I have questions on how to proceed further.
On the style of game, I’m feeling a bit more comfortable with MakeCode Arcade and kind of want to try something a little different from my first game.
Should I have MoE be a more classic adventure-style game with scenes, a top-down RPG where players can walk around and interact with things, or should I keep it more text-based?
Adventure-type
RPG with exploration
Stay text-based
0voters
If I go with an adventure-type or RPG, should I have the map be a menu option, or something you come across and can interact with to see the map?
Interact with the map
Map option in the menu
0voters
Finally, there’s going to be a mini-game. What type should it be? I’m thinking classic turn-based RPG, a Zelda-like RPG, or perhaps trying my hand at a Fire Emblem-like game.
For this poll, I have number ratings for each option. Please pick only one of each number type based on how much you like the idea, with 1 being your favorite idea and 3 being your least-favorite idea.
For the type of game MoE will be, I’ve decided it will be a cross between an adventure point-and-click game (minus the pointing and clicking), a visual novel, and a text-based adventure game (I swear it will make sense when I’ve designed it).
The map option will be available in the in-game menu! It can be checked anywhere in the game.
Finally, for the mini-game, turn-based RPG won! After some musing, I think this was the best choice.
I’ve been procrastinating when it comes to testing Shadows and Eternity…and have been working on Monsters of Eternity instead.
(I swear I will completely test SaE soon)
Anyhoo, a big part of SaE was, well, all the ways to die. MoE is more about exploring and problem-solving, although there will be some one-time events that occur when certain rooms are entered at certain points.
After much thought, I decided to have the game (MoE) autosave after certain objectives are completed.
I’m torn now. Should I have getting a GAME OVER if the wrong choice is chosen during these events, or should the game just be about the other mechanics, and events just provide information?
Point-and-click adventure games (like Monkey Island) are a type of adventure game. They have options for you to choose from in order to interact with parts of the environment.
I’m going to have the options for interacting, but there won’t be a cursor to select things in the scene.
While I let this story simmer on the back burner (my brain is temporarily broken from rewriting Shadows and Eternity ), I’m working on a (let us pray) simpler project. The story is simpler (so far). A lot of the pixel art is already done (I’m salvaging them from a cancelled project from four years ago). And it’s inspired by @UnsignedArduino’s awesome clicker/idle game Fossil Clicker.
(I hope you don’t mind if I take a look at your code and use it to help me create mine. I’ll give you credit, of course. )
I’m also thinking about releasing all of the old pixel art, unedited, for people to use in their projects (with credit to me and the awesome artist who made them). If I do, I think I’d provide the versions that have been reduced in size to 64x64 and maybe even 96x96. I believe I found a process to reduce the size and keep most of the quality. There’s, what, 300+ assets? I mean, some of those are just the attack and idle animations for enemies, and the others are the different stages of creatures I’m not disclosing at the moment, but it’s still a nice amount.
(Obviously I’m not using all of them in my game; that would make it WAY too big.)
Do you guys want free cartoony artwork that you would need to edit the colors of?
Yes, please! Free stuff is awesome.
No. I don’t feel like messing with that.
0voters
Hopefully I’ll have some parts of it done and can share some screenshots.
I am not gone, just been heads-down on my current game. (Still need to finish testing Shadows and Eternity, just procrastinating on that. Maybe I need to bribe myself…note to self: come up with bribe.)
I was trying to not ruin the surprise, but I remembered that this was my game DEV blog, not my finished game blog.
So…where to start…
The tentative name is “Valley of Dragons,” although that name does not resonate with me. It’s a dragon-collecting idle game. With dragons. And evil trees.
More on that later. In another post. With pictures. (Some pics will include placeholder images. Forgive me.)
It has actually led me to looking at JavaScript more, and even write parts of it IN JavaScript, NOT blocks. I’m even properly editing the Story extension to allow me to have more customization when it comes to my text.
If you knew me, you would know this is nothing short of a miracle.
Anyways, I will post some WIP pics in the next couple of days.
Still alive, still whacking away at the mechanics (slowly but surely). I’m also redoing the menu frames and such. I’ve only managed to redo the dialog box so far (you can see it in the top WIP below).
So far, I think I only have two decent screenshots. Note, these pictures are WIPs and some parts are placeholders.
Screenshots
Feel free to let me know what you think. As always, constructive criticism welcome.
As more pieces get done, and mechanics finished, I will upload more pictures. And I will explain mechanics as I finish them.
I probably won’t go into detail about the story. I want players to have a story to enjoy for the first time, after all!
), I’m working on a (let us pray) simpler project. The story is simpler (so far). A lot of the pixel art is already done (I’m salvaging them from a cancelled project from four years ago). And it’s inspired by 
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