cc6a52 No.24758
If you are interested in fun AI, then I hope that you're gonna like this game. I always wanted to have my own "offline" world to explore and NPCs to interact with, fight and chat with.
So in this game there are some monsters that don't just sit there, if they are surrounded (depending on their size) they dash, if you want to hit them they try to jump away, if you cast spells on them they try to run sometimes, they throw stuff, bite and all of that.
Parties aren't added in yet but it's there in the big list of features to be added. The NPCs are pretty fair meaning that they don't cheat to get stuff and they don't get massive bonuses or boosts, they do whatever you can do. Even when not in your area the NPCs still do their thing, buy items from shops depending on their needs, sell them, battle monster and get drops, travel, and I have a lot more to add.
They also chat depending on their gender and personality but the chat system is just at the beginning for now. I'll post progress here and make some demo if anyone cares about it.
To explain shortly, this is trying to be an offline mmorpg with AI instead of players, fun combat instead of boring grinding, and a lot of monsters that kinda do their own different attacks. I'm gonna post some webms now.
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cc6a52 No.24759
This is the world events tab that shows updates about what NPCs are doing, lines that start with a --> show NPCs in your area. The player currently have desires which tell them if they need to sell, buy, hunt or randomly travel.
I forgot to say, that the game does have a story concept, but this is not the focus at the moment, it will be added later.
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cc6a52 No.24760
And this is the second monster that is created, but not finished. It usually has 3 attacks, shoot the head out of the arm like a cannon, punch with a big fist up and down, and rise a spiky wall that will trap you, the last attack isn't done yet.
The head canon will make you lose most of your life so you'd better dodge it. I have to make it move more in a straight line for now.
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cc6a52 No.24762
Forgot to say that there is also an artist, not just me who is making this game, just in case you wanna visit this is my blog
https://etheriaoffline.wordpress.com/
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cc6a52 No.24786
Added another attack to the Titan, since he is slow, if you run away sometimes he will cast walls around you to try and stop you, they are destroyable, and NPCs also hit them.
The titan also shoots his head like a canon now, in a straight line towards you, and can also be reversed of course. The the biter poison ball also does something that makes it look not stepable on ground, it releases gas.
And is /agdg/ frozen for anyone else? I can only see updates posts if I use the catalog.
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cc6a52 No.24999
I'm sad to see this thread having no response.
progress officially acknowledged, keep up the good work.
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cc6a52 No.25021
>>24999
Thank you man, this is the first post that I get that is not mine, it really means a lot to me as I'm going through a shit situation at the moment.
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cc6a52 No.25478
Playing it right now, I'm terrible at it.
Is there any way to leave the ship area?
I like the way the game looks by the way.
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cc6a52 No.25486
>>25478
Someone commented, yes!
There is a way to leave the ship area, you get near the blue portal and keep the UP key pressed. I was suggested to make the levels switch automatically at the edge of the screen, and I'll do that, but until then you can use portals with the up key. If you are not in combat. Also the controls and movement need to be tweaked soon, so don't worry, you aren't terrible at it, just be sure to keep pressing up if you get knocked down. And thanks for the compliments.
Also... I'm trying to figure out the reason for why the game doesn't look interesting to others. Is it because it's very very basic (most features not implemented, nothing special about it yet), or it's because 2D pixel platformers feel generic now, or the game's idea is simply not that promising or interesting, I'm not totally sure. And I would appreciate you guys telling me your opinion on this.
If you keep in mind that the game's just bare bones now, do you think you'd be fine playing a finished version later in the future as a 2D platformer, or you feel that it's too generic and would really like a third person 3D version instead? I will not change the vision of the game for others of course, this is what I want to make, I'll stick to my idea. But I wonder because I'm indifferent when it comes to 2D or 3D, I just play games regardless of their view so I personally wouldn't mind it in either cases.
However I still want as many people to try it, so I would do something that would gain more attention, so any thoughts on this would be appreciated.
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cc6a52 No.25491
I scrolled past this the first time I saw it but your persistence got me to try the demo.
my first impressions trying to play it without any bias; controls were really clumsy, I don't play too many platformers but they don't usually do their best on a keyboard, having an unconventional mapping didn't help. character feels slow and stamina runs out too quickly, felt like I was spending more time waiting for the yellow bar to fill than actually fighting. I didn't get why there were so many NPCs, I couldn't interact with them and they stole all the loot, more annoying than anything. all in all, this works as a tech demo, but doesn't really pass as a game play demo.
and then I read through your small wall of text and I'm getting the sense your spreading yourself thin with this game, like you're trying to build an amusement part, but instead of one working ride, you have three half finished ones. building a fun platformer on it's own is hard enough, balancing an RPG and community simulator on top of it is way too much for one dev. I may be speaking out of bounds as I haven't finished a game myself but my understanding is that every mechanic of a game has to be able to be fun and stand on it's own, so finishing this game would be like working on three separate games at once.
I ended up rambling a bit but I'm not trying to discourage you, what you've done so far is really impressive. but I've seen a lot of projects die due to poor scope, game or not.
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cc6a52 No.25492
>>25491
It's great that you tried it, I love any kind of honest comment that I get.
And I agree with you on the controls and everything else you said, I tweaked some things since the last time but I won't update the link until I do some major changes. For the loot, I can increase the drop protection time, and for the stamina and movement, it needs to be worked on. Other people also said that they didn't find the base game fun, and I will try my best to fix that, so it has something to stand on before piling up features. I made a mistake not focusing on the core of the game first.
As for NPC interaction, I want to make you chat with them, invite them to your party, duel or trade, though none of this is implemented yet. And you'd use this to advance in the game as you progress through the story, which is again, not in the game yet. Well it's like you said more like a tech demo, a prototype for now. There are so many NPCs because I just made a bunch of maps for testing and an arbitrary number of NPCs, I have to try to make them spread a bit.
So this is the thing that I wonder, keeping in mind that I will try to fix the core mechanics, I want to know if people lose interest simply because it's 2D pixel platformer, or just because it's not really a game yet, it's a very basic prototype and not polished at all.
From what replies I got so far, and from yours, I figure that the core game mechanics are really clunky and need to be fixed before moving on and adding more advanced features. I have an idea for what the game is supposed to be, but it's just gonna take a lot of time to make it and I want to get some early feedback, so it doesn't just sink once I finish it.
I'll try to add more things so you have an objective, make a second demo, and fix the stamina/movement and other things. And THEN after that I'll try to get some more opinions, so it looks more like a game and not a playground. Appreciate the comment and that you tried it.
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cc6a52 No.25501
>>25492
the more I read about your game the more I think you're biting off more than you can chew. a game with just one of the elements that you want to include can take a full time team years to see to completion. not to be harsh but throwing the kitchen sink at a one man hobby project isn't realistic.
given that you're willing to drop the 2D platformer portion altogether, and that AI is generally the first thing you mention when describing the game, why not put the brunt of your work into making the AI the core of the game? games like animal crossing and the sims are great at making AI interaction a blast without needing too many other mechanics to support it. even then, a lot of research, math and art assets go into making a computer program feel alive.
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cc6a52 No.25503
>>25501
I know all I described so far about the game seems like a lot and believe me it is, but I can do it. I just need years to complete it since I'm alone in this and work on this as a hobby now.
Here's the thing though, I can only complete it faster if I keep doing it as a platformer, but I don't know if people are gonna ignore it in the future just because of that. So that's why I'm willing to do 3D if necessary, to get more attention to the game, but it will be much much harder to do this all alone, overgrowth is 3D by a team and you know how much that took them...
The AI is actually the core of the game, but just like I said before I have to bounce between working on the non AI aspect and the AI. You mentioned the sims, one of the things that I am planning is to have the AI have conversations with others, including the main player, and relationships between each other. That is somehow similar to the sims, and I want to add more things related to mmorpgs, such as global chat, opening private shops, going to the arena, and growing pets. I think this is totally doable, and I have a lot more listed in my small design document.
So I know I could narrow down the scope but I don't want too because I know I can actually implement all the features that I listed, and I want to put all this effort into creating something great. My only problem is that I have no idea if people will most likely pass on it because it looks like a generic 2d platformer, it would really suck if no one would want to play it. I know how much work this, a ton of work especially for one person doing everything in it, including the assets, but I still don't want to abandon this concept at all.
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cc6a52 No.25504
>>25503
it's generally better to highlight your strengths than to patch over your weaknesses. make the parts of the game you think are the most fun, and then find like minded people. making another game find players for your core game is putting the cart before the horse.
and I'm not questioning whether you're willing to put the time in, just make sure to schedule it out. it's not uncommon for a game like this to take 5+ years to finish when it might be better to finish and learn from five smaller one year projects. having your first game be your magnum opus is ambitious to say the least. I'm assuming this is your first game, didn't see anything on your blog that says otherwise.
again, I haven't finished a game myself so I'm mostly talking out of my ass.
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cc6a52 No.25506
>>25504
I made another game which is simpler than this before, but I figured it's not worth posting. And some small games meant as tests with the help of tutorials, so I guess I can say Etheria is my second game.
It doesn't matter if you haven't finished a game, you don't have to be a cook to taste bad food. So I take advice from everyone if it makes sense. You are totally right about not making a game for other people but yourself, and I am making it for myself first, and polishing it for others later if needed.
I was just wondering if the reason for why it looks generic is because it's very very basic and clunky at the moment (I should rename this to prototype, not demo, oups!), or because it's a platformer. I guess that the only way is to find out by trying to make a 3D prototype while still working on the 2D version, and see which one turns out to be more fun. Either way... you said it, it's gonna take a long ass time.
I am probably overthinking everything right now as I haven't slept in more than 20 hours so if I said something really stupid I have this excuse, I'll just shut up for now and come ask for more feedback when I come with another version of this demo or a 3D prototype.
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cc6a52 No.25509
I've only watched the videos but I thought I'd comment anyway.
I think the reasons it looks generic are the level design, tile set, and background in that order.
It looks like a tech demo more than a place in an imaginary world.
The background probably isn't bad by itself, but its not different enough from the foreground so it blends together.
Although people like to hate on "2D pixel platformers", I don't think its that they actually hate them in principle, its just because there are a lot of bad games of those type because they're simpler to make than others. Graphics are important, but they need to be good-ish. Meh 3D graphics probably won't be any better than meh 2D graphics.
Others have pointed out that this might be a massive undertaking, but I'm not so sure.
Is this really that different in complexity than a game like Castlevania SOTN, but with more RPG elements and friendly NPC's?
Sure things can balloon in complexity easily, but so long as you keep mindful of what actually matters in the project, and have a minimalist outlook - cutting unneeded excess - this seems achievable.
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cc6a52 No.25510
>>25509
Hmm, I see, I have to do something about the level design. I have a couple ideas in mind so I fix the generic look, I didn't thought of this as the reason but it makes sense because after all what attracts someone to a game first is how it looks. A lot of good platformers I played had really great art, though I have to speed things up since it's taking a lot of time. When I'm done with the background and tile assets I'll try to use another style, so everything looks more "full", and I'll try to see if I can make the level design seem more connected.
I guess that not everyone hates games in this style because after all everyone loves Cave Story for example, I just thought in my mind if I'm too late for the party. But I'll try to remake the generic parts and I'll ask again, it's the only way to be sure.
As for this being a massive undertaking I also like to say that what's in the to do list for this is totally able to be completed, it's not that impossible. It gets complicated sometimes but overall it's just a massive time sink that's all, and I want to make sure I make a good first choice before doing all this. I should have known better not to release something with a 'demo' title near it, because it means a demonstration of a full game which I am far from completing. I would rename this to something like alpha or prototype but it's a bit too late now. Thanks for commenting anyway.
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cc6a52 No.25687
Fleshed out NPC behavior has always been one of the most interesting things to me. Even the simple system you have so far makes the world feel much more alive compared to most that are almost entirely reactive.
Hope you find an artist.
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cc6a52 No.26296
>>25687
I'm glad that you like the idea of it, the NPCs are supposed to sort of play on their own that's for sure. I'm thinking of doing massive changes to the game as I have new ideas, but I haven't done much at all because I've been a bit busy, also no artist yet. I'm ether gonna try my best at pixel art or try low poly 3D, depends on my free time.
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cc6a52 No.26534
I'm still here, I don't have much time to post or work on the game because I'm also learning several other things through the day, mostly work related, as well as other things. But I'm still working every day on re-designing most of the game for now, I can clearly see why it appeared a bit too generic and was hard to control and I know how to make it better.
And I ditched the previous story which I did not post with one that I really love and at the same time did some world building (concept art). Since I don't like posting about personal things/not game related on my actual blog you'll only see actual game updates there. I can make this much better, just need some time.
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cc6a52 No.27874
Since the last post I stopped working on the game due to some boring real life shit. I'm back to remaking it now, so I'll post an update in a month or two. I have some neat ideas that will be into the game in the future, and a new story.
Also I have to give some thanks to that guy who commented on my blog, thanks for caring about the game dude.
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cc6a52 No.27879
just came here, shit is good looking, keep on working, I'd give some shekel when it's done
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cc6a52 No.27883
>>27879
Thanks you for the compliments! Though I'm gonna have to replace every current sprite with placeholder stuff until I finish re-writing almost all the code. Gonna concentrate on simply making the game work now and worry about it being prettier later.
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cc6a52 No.28199
Every now and then I come back to agdg and i see this please don't give up, blog bookmarked.
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cc6a52 No.28226
>>28199
I don't know what to say other than the fact that I appreciate you people who are wondering about the game. I didn't give up, it's just that I never really properly got back into working on it, all the work on this was spread into pieces. Just the fact that some people are interested in it makes me a bit ashamed to post here in this thread and without any updates on the actual game. I'm sorry for the wait guys, it's just that I'm going through some stuff.
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cc6a52 No.28259
>>24759
Fix that textbox so its not vibrating everywhere.
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cc6a52 No.28275
>>28259
Noted. There's an easy fix for that which I'll do, the whole game has to be re-written from scratch anyway.
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cc6a52 No.28388
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cc6a52 No.28389
>>28388
Nothing. I'm either dedicating all my day working on this like I did back when I started this, or I do almost nothing until I get my financial situation fixed... or half fixed, which will take me a long time since I'm broke. Until I get back to working on this I have no new updates on the game, sorry.
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cc6a52 No.28391
>>28389
You should activate the donate button on your page and just post a little bit each day.
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cc6a52 No.28392
>>28391
I tried that, couldn't get any donations though. I suppose the game is just not interesting enough at this stage. But yes, I should post more stuff.
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