this is a really great project. i love how you did the mountains - i have not seen that approach in a game before. you've really locked down the "feel". can't wait to play the full game. if there was an email list i'd join it to receive news about this project as i don't always think to come back and refresh for news. PS also really enjoying your blog.
Thank you very much for the kind words, good to hear! Glad to hear the mountains are appreciated :) The best "mailing list" is the blog which I intend to keep updating! In case I've not updated the link, this is the new/current blog location: https://byte-arcane.github.io/sigil-of-kings-website/ EDIT: yup, devlog link was old, fixed now -- new one is now more up-to-date, happy reading!
First of all, big thank you for the feedback and the suggestions, it's really appreciated!! I'll comment on everything
> Okay, I spent some time and tried to test the game. I will list the things here which are missing features and some found bugs. I'm sure you know most of the things here anyway but here I go;
Keep in mind that the build that you tested was from 1.5yrs ago, so several things have changed since. I want to push out another build at some point, but I think my priority is to make a trailer first :)
> -Diagonal attacks don't work
They worked before, but they were odd...not all weapons could reach diagonal tiles. Due to the confusion, I've now changed it and all melee weapons can perform diagonal attacks
> -Diagonal movement doesn't work if there is a collision in front
It should do now. Still can't move diagonally if the cardinal directions are both blocked
> -Overworld map's generated biomes are too small so the biome music changes too fast.
Fair point! This can be tweaked.
> -Arrow trap with a face on it is interactable with enter key for some weird reason. You can spam arrows :)
That will eventually be fixed
> -You can't clearly see the enemies and items behind the trees in dungeons.
I could increase the transparency settings, but also there is a key to highlight items/enemies, which can help
> Rather than making "another" roguelike, try to make something worthy of your developing time and make it unique so the game can be praised in the roguelike community (examples: Elona, Dwarf fortress). I will explain it starting with:
I'm definitely not planning to make "just another roguelike" :) I've thought of a niche that I haven't found elsewhere, so it will eventually materialize, but it still needs time...
> +Mapping! Oh please! There are literally hundreds of roguelikes featuring classic labyrinth system. More open areas like forests, plains, snowy areas, deserts with different flowers, collectibles, secrets, tombs, memorials please think bigger...
>
> Make. It. Open. World.
>
> Tools are already in your hands. Why not make exploring like in The Witcher 3? Why do always roguelikes have to be focused on dungeon exploring.
In my case, a "dungeon" is a multi-level location on the world map. It can be a dungeon, a settlement, some ruins, any mix there-of. What I certainly want to keep is the "discrete" nature of these locations, and not have a continuous open world. This is by design. Currently I've implemented the systems in place that can support all that you suggest, at some point (TM) I just need to add more content.
> +Randomizations.. make it extreme but not stats wise. Random factions, random alignments, random loot, random quests, random myhtic enemies that could only be found in random books telling its lair's location. Make players interact with the world more in a meaningful way because almost every roguelike in endgame becomes killing whatever enemy comes in front of the player. No purpose, just pressing the direction keys and it is boring.
> Maybe a tomb leading to a random mysterious place..
> A big ancient sacred fantasy tree holding secrets of the world's creation..
> Cursed pirates on a ship wandering on the seas..
> Let players write their own stories like in D&D campaigns.
> Let players explore mysterious places that will excite them every time.
> Like really, RPG genre lost its meaning over the years.
> How can I ROLE-PLAY when all I do is killing what comes in front.
There's lots of randomisation planned. Quests, bosses, where are the cities, how big are they, which cities are allied/enemies with which, what guilds reside in each, relics/NPCs residing in guilds, skill masters/grandmasters and where they are, what sort of quests they'll give, etc, all of these will be random. What is NOT random: what TYPES of guilds there are, what TYPES of races there are, what TYPES of quests there are, and so on. TYPES of game elements are fixed, but they are all distributed randomly in a sensible (I hope!) way.
> +I can't understand why developers don't integrate MMORPG features into their games. It works like a charm and keeps players busy hours upon hours. Gem cutting skills, tailoring, enchanting, woodworking, mining etc. Indie games that have only Warrior, Mage, Rogue classes are disappointing to me most of the time.
Because they make grinding an optimized way to play. Grinding is essential for longevity of MMO games, but you don't want to force repetitive actions to players in single player games to give them the advantage. At least that's what I believe. Crafting has been all the rage for a while, and I was thinking at some point to introduce some elements, but it's later on the priority list. There's definitely some level of crafting to be implemented as there are going to be alchemy-related skills, like potion or bomb making. My game will be class-less: you pick what skills you want to advance. If you want to have a look of what I've planned as a draft, check here: https://byte-arcane.github.io/age-of-transcendence/2020/01/09/skill-system-redux...
> +Speaking of skills, why not building too? Like building a garden, a hut, maybe a castle? Just why not? It is not mandatory to do these things but who doesn't want to build a good looking garden or a mansion? Actually these features would be very easy to add for a developer like you. Add new sprites and recipes and done, only thing left to do is coding a building mode screen.
This is also in the kitchen sink todo list, it's just a matter of priorities! Building your own space is certainly nice, and the tools/code are there, so I need to find a way to fit it nicely and purposefully into the game. In a game where you travel a LOT, how can you fit a personal space that you can go to? In some RPG games we have "pocket dimensions"/bases. Maybe in your hometown. Maybe, like the old Pirates! games some city governors will give you land if you complete missions for them and are in good standing
> You know what I'm trying to say here with all of this right? This is not to dispraise your hard work to this day. This is just a small review and suggestions coming from an experienced player. Most of the stuff I suggested here may be not similar to your vision and plans for the game. But, players want these features in games. Whenever a game has these features it becomes a success. Now it's up to you to decide what to do now, good luck :)
Thank you so much, I'm extremely appreciative of your comments and suggestions and I welcome all this feedback, it's invaluable for small-scale developers without many resources (or good gamer friends -- all my friends and sibling maybe played 2 minutes tops, each). Stay tuned and I'm always open for more feedback/ideas/discussions :)
Thank you! Source code I'm afraid is not available (at least for now), but a linux build could be a possibility in the future! I'm using a C++ plugin on the side, which makes it slightly trickier to port the game, and I don't have the time to maintain a linux build. But when it's near-release, I'll definitely take a look! There's always Wine, but I'm not sure how well it would work with it
Is incredibly neat, I like the style and look of it a lot. I'll definitely be checking in on this in the future, can't wait to see what things are later added.
Thank you! The releases here are infrequent, as every build would need to be thoroughly debugged, and at this stage I don't have time for that, but they will be very different from one another, there are tons of features already in the unreleased build compared to this one here. For more frequent updates, I'm posting on the devlog every fortnight or so
Thank you, I'm glad you find it fun! I keep working on it relentlessly, so keep an eye for the newer version that will pop up in a few months hopefully, with better AI, better dungeons, more enemies, better loot, a working RPG system with more skills and abilities.
I just get a black screen after the Unity logo. Found the error:
ERROR processing JSON file. MESSAGE: E:/DOWN/age-of-transcendence-win64/Age of Transcendence_Data/StreamingAssets/flyweights/gameplay/ActiveAbility.json:
Input string was not in a correct format.
Uploading Crash Report
ArgumentNullException: Value cannot be null.
Parameter name: source
at System.Linq.Enumerable.ToList[TSource] (System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerable`1[T] source) [0x0000d] in <351e49e2a5bf4fd6beabb458ce2255f3>:0
at util.Traits.InitFromJson[T] (System.String filename) [0x00006] in <cb216d07482d44869895570eabbce045>:0
at ecs.FlyweightsDb.InitFromJson () [0x0005d] in <cb216d07482d44869895570eabbce045>:0
at ecs.Ecs.ReloadTraitsAndConfigs () [0x00000] in <cb216d07482d44869895570eabbce045>:0
at ecs.Ecs.Start () [0x0000b] in <cb216d07482d44869895570eabbce045>:0
This is because I'm in Sweden, we use comma as a decimal number separator, so a decimal.parse might fail. If you force the current thread to "en-US" before loading JSON it might work.
Confirmed this by changing region to UK and it worked :)
Thank you so much for sending this, and for verifying the fix! First time I get this error, it would never have crossed my mind! Next release will have that fixed
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this is a really great project. i love how you did the mountains - i have not seen that approach in a game before. you've really locked down the "feel". can't wait to play the full game. if there was an email list i'd join it to receive news about this project as i don't always think to come back and refresh for news. PS also really enjoying your blog.
Thank you very much for the kind words, good to hear! Glad to hear the mountains are appreciated :) The best "mailing list" is the blog which I intend to keep updating! In case I've not updated the link, this is the new/current blog location: https://byte-arcane.github.io/sigil-of-kings-website/ EDIT: yup, devlog link was old, fixed now -- new one is now more up-to-date, happy reading!
perfect - will track the blog then. best of luck!
First of all, big thank you for the feedback and the suggestions, it's really appreciated!! I'll comment on everything
> Okay, I spent some time and tried to test the game. I will list the things here which are missing features and some found bugs. I'm sure you know most of the things here anyway but here I go;
Keep in mind that the build that you tested was from 1.5yrs ago, so several things have changed since. I want to push out another build at some point, but I think my priority is to make a trailer first :)
> -Diagonal attacks don't work
They worked before, but they were odd...not all weapons could reach diagonal tiles. Due to the confusion, I've now changed it and all melee weapons can perform diagonal attacks
> -Diagonal movement doesn't work if there is a collision in front
It should do now. Still can't move diagonally if the cardinal directions are both blocked
> -Overworld map's generated biomes are too small so the biome music changes too fast.
Fair point! This can be tweaked.
> -Arrow trap with a face on it is interactable with enter key for some weird reason. You can spam arrows :)
That will eventually be fixed
> -You can't clearly see the enemies and items behind the trees in dungeons.
I could increase the transparency settings, but also there is a key to highlight items/enemies, which can help
> Rather than making "another" roguelike, try to make something worthy of your developing time and make it unique so the game can be praised in the roguelike community (examples: Elona, Dwarf fortress). I will explain it starting with:
I'm definitely not planning to make "just another roguelike" :) I've thought of a niche that I haven't found elsewhere, so it will eventually materialize, but it still needs time...
> +Mapping! Oh please! There are literally hundreds of roguelikes featuring classic labyrinth system. More open areas like forests, plains, snowy areas, deserts with different flowers, collectibles, secrets, tombs, memorials please think bigger...
>
> Make. It. Open. World.
>
> Tools are already in your hands. Why not make exploring like in The Witcher 3? Why do always roguelikes have to be focused on dungeon exploring.
In my case, a "dungeon" is a multi-level location on the world map. It can be a dungeon, a settlement, some ruins, any mix there-of. What I certainly want to keep is the "discrete" nature of these locations, and not have a continuous open world. This is by design. Currently I've implemented the systems in place that can support all that you suggest, at some point (TM) I just need to add more content.
> +Randomizations.. make it extreme but not stats wise. Random factions, random alignments, random loot, random quests, random myhtic enemies that could only be found in random books telling its lair's location. Make players interact with the world more in a meaningful way because almost every roguelike in endgame becomes killing whatever enemy comes in front of the player. No purpose, just pressing the direction keys and it is boring.
> Maybe a tomb leading to a random mysterious place..
> A big ancient sacred fantasy tree holding secrets of the world's creation..
> Cursed pirates on a ship wandering on the seas..
> Let players write their own stories like in D&D campaigns.
> Let players explore mysterious places that will excite them every time.
> Like really, RPG genre lost its meaning over the years.
> How can I ROLE-PLAY when all I do is killing what comes in front.
There's lots of randomisation planned. Quests, bosses, where are the cities, how big are they, which cities are allied/enemies with which, what guilds reside in each, relics/NPCs residing in guilds, skill masters/grandmasters and where they are, what sort of quests they'll give, etc, all of these will be random. What is NOT random: what TYPES of guilds there are, what TYPES of races there are, what TYPES of quests there are, and so on. TYPES of game elements are fixed, but they are all distributed randomly in a sensible (I hope!) way.
> +I can't understand why developers don't integrate MMORPG features into their games. It works like a charm and keeps players busy hours upon hours. Gem cutting skills, tailoring, enchanting, woodworking, mining etc. Indie games that have only Warrior, Mage, Rogue classes are disappointing to me most of the time.
Because they make grinding an optimized way to play. Grinding is essential for longevity of MMO games, but you don't want to force repetitive actions to players in single player games to give them the advantage. At least that's what I believe. Crafting has been all the rage for a while, and I was thinking at some point to introduce some elements, but it's later on the priority list. There's definitely some level of crafting to be implemented as there are going to be alchemy-related skills, like potion or bomb making. My game will be class-less: you pick what skills you want to advance. If you want to have a look of what I've planned as a draft, check here: https://byte-arcane.github.io/age-of-transcendence/2020/01/09/skill-system-redux...
> +Speaking of skills, why not building too? Like building a garden, a hut, maybe a castle? Just why not? It is not mandatory to do these things but who doesn't want to build a good looking garden or a mansion? Actually these features would be very easy to add for a developer like you. Add new sprites and recipes and done, only thing left to do is coding a building mode screen.
This is also in the kitchen sink todo list, it's just a matter of priorities! Building your own space is certainly nice, and the tools/code are there, so I need to find a way to fit it nicely and purposefully into the game. In a game where you travel a LOT, how can you fit a personal space that you can go to? In some RPG games we have "pocket dimensions"/bases. Maybe in your hometown. Maybe, like the old Pirates! games some city governors will give you land if you complete missions for them and are in good standing
> You know what I'm trying to say here with all of this right? This is not to dispraise your hard work to this day. This is just a small review and suggestions coming from an experienced player. Most of the stuff I suggested here may be not similar to your vision and plans for the game. But, players want these features in games. Whenever a game has these features it becomes a success. Now it's up to you to decide what to do now, good luck :)
Thank you so much, I'm extremely appreciative of your comments and suggestions and I welcome all this feedback, it's invaluable for small-scale developers without many resources (or good gamer friends -- all my friends and sibling maybe played 2 minutes tops, each). Stay tuned and I'm always open for more feedback/ideas/discussions :)
looks great found it on rougelikedev. Will there be a linux build or sourcecode? :)
Thank you! Source code I'm afraid is not available (at least for now), but a linux build could be a possibility in the future! I'm using a C++ plugin on the side, which makes it slightly trickier to port the game, and I don't have the time to maintain a linux build. But when it's near-release, I'll definitely take a look! There's always Wine, but I'm not sure how well it would work with it
thanks, looking for the build without wine ;) good luck and thank you anyway for this game
Is incredibly neat, I like the style and look of it a lot. I'll definitely be checking in on this in the future, can't wait to see what things are later added.
Thank you! The releases here are infrequent, as every build would need to be thoroughly debugged, and at this stage I don't have time for that, but they will be very different from one another, there are tons of features already in the unreleased build compared to this one here. For more frequent updates, I'm posting on the devlog every fortnight or so
Its a very cool game I mean its really fun(in my opinion)
Thank you, I'm glad you find it fun! I keep working on it relentlessly, so keep an eye for the newer version that will pop up in a few months hopefully, with better AI, better dungeons, more enemies, better loot, a working RPG system with more skills and abilities.
I just get a black screen after the Unity logo. Found the error:
This is because I'm in Sweden, we use comma as a decimal number separator, so a decimal.parse might fail. If you force the current thread to "en-US" before loading JSON it might work.
Confirmed this by changing region to UK and it worked :)
Thank you so much for sending this, and for verifying the fix! First time I get this error, it would never have crossed my mind! Next release will have that fixed
I also got this one when trying to launch it today.
Did you try the fix and hopefully worked for you too? I've fixed it locally but I haven't pushed another version since.
Yes, changing . to , in this file helped.