Hello, (blitz showcase was the only forum section I could think of that this fitted into?)
I've been working on this game for a while - it is yet another 'dungeon bash'. The main character (single player) can attack in 3 ways - with sword, with bow, or with magic. Each of those 'skills' improves with successful use, also their max hitpoint total increases based on their skill in those 3 areas with melee contributing more than ranged which in turn contributes more than magic.
I've been debating whether to go down the gauntlet route - maze like levels with treasure/goodies/exits and the object being basically to go as far into the dungeon as possible or to go down another route which is to simply have the game revolve around significant encounters - basically boss levels all the way through, with less levels the gauntlet clone but hopefully much more interesting ones. I am fairly confident I will take the second option.
The problem is that the gameplay is not that great. It plays in realtime which could be an issue for the following reasons -
1. Player has no time to think about the actions they wish to take
2. If the player is better than the opponents in melee they just stand where they are and fight with their back to the wall, if the player is worse in melee they simply run around in circles evading the enemy and taking potshots at them when opportunity arises. Magic (ie lightning strikes) seems balanced enough as the player gets limited number of attacks per level based on their skill in magic.
I'm wondering - do I go for the action style gameplay mechanic (which I don't think works with a mouse very well) or perhaps should I go down the turn based route allowing the player to plan out their attacks - which would also mean I could get away with having more attack modes/defense modes/spells and the like.
So - what would you do if you wanted to make a game like this fun?
Anyway - here is a screenshot and a movie (30seconds taken with fraps) of some gameplay:
http://home.people.net.au/~Matthew.Lloyd/lloyd/Stuff/GameMovie.wmv
(1.3MB)
Thanks,
Matt
I've been working on this game for a while - it is yet another 'dungeon bash'. The main character (single player) can attack in 3 ways - with sword, with bow, or with magic. Each of those 'skills' improves with successful use, also their max hitpoint total increases based on their skill in those 3 areas with melee contributing more than ranged which in turn contributes more than magic.
I've been debating whether to go down the gauntlet route - maze like levels with treasure/goodies/exits and the object being basically to go as far into the dungeon as possible or to go down another route which is to simply have the game revolve around significant encounters - basically boss levels all the way through, with less levels the gauntlet clone but hopefully much more interesting ones. I am fairly confident I will take the second option.
The problem is that the gameplay is not that great. It plays in realtime which could be an issue for the following reasons -
1. Player has no time to think about the actions they wish to take
2. If the player is better than the opponents in melee they just stand where they are and fight with their back to the wall, if the player is worse in melee they simply run around in circles evading the enemy and taking potshots at them when opportunity arises. Magic (ie lightning strikes) seems balanced enough as the player gets limited number of attacks per level based on their skill in magic.
I'm wondering - do I go for the action style gameplay mechanic (which I don't think works with a mouse very well) or perhaps should I go down the turn based route allowing the player to plan out their attacks - which would also mean I could get away with having more attack modes/defense modes/spells and the like.
So - what would you do if you wanted to make a game like this fun?
Anyway - here is a screenshot and a movie (30seconds taken with fraps) of some gameplay:
http://home.people.net.au/~Matthew.Lloyd/lloyd/Stuff/GameMovie.wmv
(1.3MB)
Thanks,
Matt