A nice game, but not really a RPG. We should be able to level our character how we like, pick stats and spells.
Author Comments
A roguelike adventure game!
Can you rescue your father?
Controls:
Arrows - Movement
WASD - Attack if you have a weapon (there is always a weapon at the entrance of the castle, just go up from the start screen)
Q - Activate equipped spell scroll
I - Open/Close Inventory
M - Open/Close Map
N - Mute
Hey, very nice game. I've found the 3 ways to get into the castle intriguing. Nice idea burning the dead trees with fireballs.
The biggest con: having to use a mouse in this kind of game is kind of... weird. Keyboard controls-only would work better or at least it should be an option.
I was looking for a simple game, so no level-ups was a plus for me.
As for graphics, I liked the color adjustment. The enviroment was friendly-looking (cave entrance, dungeon walls) and gave impression of what it is. I also liked visuals for spell effects (fireball, lighting) - simple, but nice looking.
Maybe green rats were kinda weird. Also, they could have eyes ;) (it's just one dot)
Oh, and I missed that the hero is simpler looking than other humans. It was the first thing I noticed and it stayed with me whole game. Was it dnne on purpose?
Overall very fun, well randomized, and I must say... addicting game :D
Greats for playable version.
Here's my story:
The first time I've played I got into the castle by the docks, got a dragon as my first boss, and after I fought for like 5 minutes thinking "now he MUST be dead!", I died. Later I've won the game by going the standard road and by cave, but I just couldn't get a dragon for a boss! I wasn't sure was he docks-only boss, and was he so OP or what. I finally went through docks and surprisingly fought him. This time I had 2 level weapon, so he wasn't THAT hard ;)
I like the graphics and simple interface. I get an Intellivision or early 8-bit pc vibe from the graphics. Is that what you were aiming for?
thinkster6 responds:
I'm no artist so I used sprites from oryxdesignlab.com . I thought the simple look fitted in with what I was trying to achieve.
Thanks for playing and reviewing!
I think the game is great, but as a hardcore roguelike with permadeath, I think it has some problems with replayability.
1) The exploration throughout the forest to find items and a different way into the castle is rather tedious to repeat again and again.
2) The lack of control over shaping our characters (no exp, no stats, no spells to learn, etc) makes playing the game repeatedly rather dull. It doesn't really feel like we're giving birth and discovering a whole new character each time we play.
3) The character randomization only affects three basic stats, it has no effect on the character's background or story as I could tell, again giving little variety to each replay experience.
4) The equipment to find isn't that varied to make up for #3 and #4. What we lack in the ability to create and evolve a new character isn't really made up in terms of items.
If it wasn't for these things hindering replayability, I think the game would be so much better as a hardcore, permadeath-based roguelike. However, without these things, I think the game would have been better off with checkpoints or something like that to avoid forcing the player to play the game all over again each time he dies.
Either we need the joy of restarting the game time and time again as found in many roguelikes or the ability to resume the game without starting over each time.
thinkster6 responds:
Hey!
First up just want to say thank you for taking the time to play the game and give me some detailed feedback!
I agree with all your points, and here is some insight into my thinking (if your're interested!):
1) Your exploration into the forest (and how far you travelled) was meant to be something that you decided on depending on your base stats. Maybe you got lucky, got some items and food and kept exploring finding another entrance or you give up and just go the main way. It was meant to be a risk/reward scenario but I think the lack of variation in equipment might have diminished its desired effect.
As for 2-4 hindering the lack of repeatability, I agree but is not something I stumbled upon while creating the game. I decided to cut a lot from the scope of the game (I was going to include branching routes in the castle and different endings depending on what choices you made), so with that cut and the lack of item and stat variation it probably doesn't encourage the player to make repeated playthroughs.
The checkpoint idea is something really interesting that I never thought about, as I had always intended it to be a permadeath-based roguelike. Maybe in the current state it might add a little incentive and keep the player playing.
Thanks again for the feedback, it has given me some interesting things to think about for current projects!
Nice game. It reminds "Legend of Zelda" a lot. Worth for new generations to play.
thinkster6 responds:
I used a few games for inspiration and old school Zelda was one of them. Thanks for the positive review!
Credits & Info
- Views
- 8,323
- Faves:
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- Votes
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- Score
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3.81 / 5.00
- Uploaded
- Mar 27, 2014
- 6:14 PM EDT
- Genre
- Adventure - RPG
