Klepto Knight (working title)

edited in Projects
Hi guys :)

TL:DR version: Here is the very first very rough prototype of my first game, please check it out: Download Klepto Knight Prototype (windows format, iPad resolution)

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Long version: So, this started a while back at my very first Game Jam at Wits with @edg3 and @notsimon207 about a month ago, and there I learned Game Maker Lite, ran through the tutorial. From there I started frequenting this here awesome community more often, and eventually bought Game Maker Studio, asked a whole bunch of silly questions, plodded along with my concepts and grinded (ground?) some code.

And viola, this is the current rough (very very) prototype that shows you a bit of what I want to make:

TL:DR of the concept: A puzzler game that lets you match-3 loot that you get from battling nasties. Loot will upgrade as you match. The battling is taken care for you so you can concentrate on upgrading your loot!

Long version: Klepto is a fierce warrior (the knight in the title was really a cool pun that I haven't decided to keep or not yet) who has the magical Pandora's Box strapped to his back. That's a good thing, too, cos he's a kleptomaniac (gasp) of note. He is a fierce warrior renowned throughout the land, and will work for gold. Lots and lots of gold. But he needs a little help keeping his stuff in order...

You play Winoa (working name, there's 2 layers of meaning here... Can you figure it out? :) ), an adventurous girl who answered Klepto's call for a partner to battle by his side. Only her fight isn't with a sword and shield... It's with ALL the swords and shields... And helmets and potions and everything in his backpack (The disguised Pandora's Box)

None of the stuff have a function in the Prototype yet, but here's
the vision of where the mechanics will go:

1) Klepto can be equipped - with a helmet, two hands (swords and shields), an amulet, and two rings. The equipment comes from your gear. Dragging the gear to Klepto will equip it and displace whatever previous gear was in that slot.
2) A level lasts a certain distance/time. You may lose due to two conditions: 1) Your health runs out 2) You have too much stuff and you drop some. Klepto's extreme kleptomaniac will kick in and he goes crazy and you have to start again.
3) All gear upgrade exponentially as they match, creating stronger and stronger swords/shields/accessories which you equip. Think Diablo gear, with good, magical, legendary gear.
4) Pausing the game will let you look at your equipment (not the stuff in the box, that would be cheating) and unequip them (dropping them into the box)
5) Gear will deteriorate over time, and it's up to you to decide whether letting them break to free up more space to play with or repairing them (with hammers I guess) will be better for you.
6) Scrolls will be included which will magically attack monsters when used
7) Coins can be collected. Between levels various upgrades can be done. Winoa's bandana will give the players extra powers too.

I'm still trying to figure out a balance in the ways you can lose - I feel that the moment you have no more space for new stuff when they drop, you should lose, keeping it simple as in traditional tetris-type games. But there is also an option of Klepto going nuts over time as more and more stuff drop from his grasp. I *am* trying to keep it simpler, though.

Most of my time building this right now has been on how the blocks interact, and on that front I think I at least have a good feel for it. I'm undecided about having the block "picked up" as soon as you tap/click on it, or as it is now - which is that it only "lifts" when you drag off it. Also I'm undecided about snapping to nearest highest spot or nearest vertical AND horizontal spot.

Playing the prototype like this, I think you can appreciate that the game will play very differently on a touch device, as one would be much more agile and accurate with your fingers than the mouse (as a generalised norm. Nevermind those railgun pro nutters), so I'd have to test on a mobile device to correctly balance it.

Whew. Written too much. Thanks for reading if you've made it this far, please give it a whirl (Download Klepto Knight Prototype), and please keep the inputs coming :)

Thanks!

Comments

  • Hey! :D I played it a bit, and the one thing I thought might be worth pointing out is how you've got that the match-3 creates a new object that's somewhat larger than the previous objects. So in addition to new objects falling down periodically, your _existing_ stuff actually seems to get larger as you play, which resulted in fairly quick deaths for me (or what I assume would have been deaths, if I were to lose when the bag fills up).

    (Granted, dragging stuff to the top wasn't really doing anything yet I think; that could end up clearing up a lot more space I think. :))

    Excited to see where this goes! :D
  • edited
    Woot! Thanks for playing!

    Yeah there are two tricks to that, which I'll throughly have to tweak/tutorialise/something: when 3 one-block items match, they make a two-block, which means you save/get one block back. 3 two-block swords make a three block sword - so you save even more. Shields become 4 blocks from 6 blocks (2x3 blocks). Also, if you stack more than 3, either by dropping one between 2 twos, you get to kill more blocks. Stacking more than 3 also makes the resulting item stronger. The flashing countdown resets every time you add to the formation (if you played birzzle you'll know what i mean), If you're quick you can collect all of one type before it disappears. It's much easier to do on touch than with a mouse, I have to say. I've always liked the hectic type of crazy combos that require honed and practiced reflexes - started with Tetris Attack, then Puzzle Fighter... Etc :)

    One aspect of the game would be to always have rewards even if you can't complete a level, so you get to keep all your stuff's value in gold but lose out on a completion bonus or something, so you'll never be completely stuck... At least you can upgrade something.
  • Downloaded and played , I found it rather enjoyable to be honest a good start :)
  • It is looking good! There are a few things I managed to break but the important one is if you drag an object that is taller than one block and there is an open space large enough (Width wise) at the bottom of the screen you can drag it there and put the top of the block in the game area and it snaps correctly and places itself there halfway off the board. (I hope I explained that right).

    One thing that bugged me is that colours are reused, is there any reason for this? I understand you get larger swords and stuff by matching sets of 3, but if you made the swords different shades of green for instance you could much more easily find a match set of 3 on the screen, of I often saw green just outside where I was concentrating and would drag something then as I start dragging realise that the object was the right object but the wrong one for making a set of 3.

    Will give it another go this evening, will get my dad to try it aswell :)
  • @edg3 interesting feedback! I never saw that as a problem for myself, but obviously that's what playtesting is for! So you would try to match the single reds with the double reds, only to be disappointed that they don't become bigger?

    Hmmmm I wonder how I can fix that or whether it needs fixing... Different shades maybe, but in the chaos like that different shades doesn't really differentiate enough, plus I'm actually going to have actual artwork for the equipments etc (mostly in greyscale though, to make sure the colours are still prominent).

    Or somehow I can incorporate the match mechanic to match different sizes too... So 3 of anything would upgrade, not just the same size. I wonder if that would make it too confusing though.

    And yeah the thing with the top row is still buggy, I'll be writing stuff to handle objects falling out of the space later. When I decide what behaviour it should have :P

    Great feedback, thanks! :D
  • its more I only recognise a double item as double after commiting to moving a small item as im playing by colour for the most part (it is faster).
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