'First' post and just released a roguelike called Morf

edited in Projects
Some of you have seen me argue with everybody in the General forums. But I thought I'd make use of this opportunity to introduce myself. I'm from Pretoria and have been developing games since a very early age. A few years ago I started taking it more seriously and I just released my first full game today.

It's a web-based roguelike and after a few seconds of playing, you'll be able to tell what the main differentiating feature is. Works 'best' in chrome and safari in that they're the only browsers in which the sounds work.

Link to devblog
Link to game

Comments

  • I really like the graphic style you've got going with this - sort of a cross between the Hack Slash Loot graphical style and the free roguelike sprites that appeared on TIGsource a while back. The walls work really well and the fight jiggle system is neat :)

    I think I got about 8 levels down before I died. The morph into the creature you've just slain system was interesting, I found myself mostly strategising about it only really when there was a druid or orc around: I'd move around so that I could take out the druid/orc last, that way I could use mana to heal up. It took me a while to figure out what the swoop ability did, only noticed it when a bat seemed to be using it against me. It didn't seem to help when I tried it around an enemy though, they still hit me anyway - I assume that it's a mobility thing then?

    I had some trouble with the interface. At first I didn't notice when weapons and armor were breaking (and I couldn't tell what the "X" stat on an item was, having a guide for that sort of stuff would be awesome, especially when you've already got mouse-over hover info, there's a ton of screen real-estate that you're not going to be using during inventory management anyway, put more info there!), then eventually when I twigged what was going on I kept wanting to click on the slot itself to equip a new item there, and I'd zoom halfway across the map instead of opening up the inventory. I'd strongly suggest making an animation for when stuff breaks AND changing the text colour for those messages. That way players will notice the breaking easier - I actually thought that each different form I morphed into had its own weapon/item slots for a while.

    Would love to see a grimoire that explained each creature and its special ability in more detail. What's next, sounds? :)
  • Thanks for the great feedback. Which browser did you play it in? Sounds currently work in Chrome and Safari due to other browsers not supporting MP3 with the HTML5 Audio tag.

    I'm actually working on a new game at the moment which I am very excited about. Details this weekend. But I will release a patch for Morf within the next few months, fixing minor bugs, enhancing the UI, doing a bit of balancing and maybe adding a bit of content as well.

    A grimoire would be amazing, thanks for the idea. The art was done by my dev partner Terri Vellmann and I'm sure he'd love doing something like that.
  • I saw Terri's blog via twitter the other day, loved the one low-pixel animated viking beard thing ;)

    Also, played in FF, hence no sounds. Bugger.

    I'm pretty sure if you fix the interface niggles you could easily get this a mention on IndieGames.com and probably /r/roguelikes would dive into it for a bit to give you feedback too.
  • I got tons of feedback from reddit and a good list of things to work on. Kind of hard to filter out comments by people who aren't interested in the genre but as always I was pleased with the turnout (6.5k plays with an average playtime of just over 4 minutes).

    Glad you feel that way about the game though, it's always nice to get compliments from someone who has 'been there'.
  • Oh yeah, you're probably more into reddit than I am ;) (My self-defense anti-procrastination reflex kicks in HARD there) Did you post it in r/roguelikes or just that SA thread? Shouldn't be too many roguelike haters in that subreddit, we do get noise from people who don't like roguelike-likes tho ;)

    It's a rad game and you've got a neat system going with the morphing. Add the juiciness!
  • When I release something big I go subreddit crazy! (I submitted to: gamedev, indiegames, indiegaming, roguelikes and webgames).

    If you'd like to see some of the feedback I got you can browse through this post.

    I'd be very happy to hear any other advice you might have for the game, btw.
  • The game has a really neat system, it can be confusing (not gonna repeat everything @dislekcia already mentioned), but I think it's definitely got enough character and charm to stand on its own!

    The graphics are top notch pixel stuff most of the time, some stuff are a bit hard to distinguish but that's pixel art for you.

    Oh, something hasn't yet been mentioned, the game perhaps just needs some leading in or reconsidering of some interface elements, they make sense after a while but that learning gets a bit confusing. For example the auto attach exchange thing confused me for a while, I couldn't figure out why the I took like 5 hits in a row. I guess generally it's just needing some prompting and polishing to make sure the player knows their options.

    The mechanics are really cool, morphing into enemies you kill is super neat and opens up quite a bit of possibilities in emergent play.

    Would love to see more!
  • @Tuism: Thanks man, glad you like it. Will definitely take your feedback into consideration!
  • By the way, is there any way you could make minor adjustments so in chrome on my ipad I can play using the touch screen? The game loads fine, but doesnt like my tapping as a "click".
  • I could but right clicking for using abilities and spellcasting would be an issue. I'm looking to add buttons for the next release to cater for that.
  • I like the shard system. And if there's a priority for interface clarification, it would be the durability of weapons and armour -- I wracked my brains trying to figure out what those numbers meant. :P

    That said, I absolutely LOVE the limited durability system, it directly combats the all-too-common problem of "find one weapon and use it for a million years".
  • Exactly my reason for implementing the durability.

    Thanks for the feedback!
  • I could but right clicking for using abilities and spellcasting would be an issue. I'm looking to add buttons for the next release to cater for that.
    you could map right clicks to double tap or tap and hold, if you can make it detect. Being playable on iPad is a BIG bonus :)
Sign In or Register to comment.