[WIP] Totemon Rumble

Kasei

The long awaited back button is here!
And Left Click For All!
Also some screenshots (How does one place these where they want in a post?)
Skills, indicated more clearly when inactive/active.
Skills rebalanced (a work in progress within a work in progress)
No retry button (worked out what is causing the bug but it's a long fix so gonna save it for sunny day)
Note this is not a traditional turn-based game, but you can't perform offensive actions during enemy turn.

........................


..... Feedback received. Thanks. Now that I've received feedback from people given no guidance, here's are the promised descriptions and a list of changes. Please read these. A minute reading will save you a restart or 2.

Instructions:

Mouse controlled (Any key on start screen or left mouse)
Left mouse selects a skill type
Right mouse selects the skill level
The yellow bars are Action Timers (AT). When yours (the one on the left) fills up/stop moving, you can act. 3 skill type buttons will appear.
Blue = Attack
Grey = Defend
Red = Sacred Art

Each skill type has abilities of varying levels. These are tiered. Attack 1, Attack 2, etc. Cheapest to use to most costly. The currency being time.
Below the buttons you will find cooldown gauges for the various skills. These work on a similar principle as the AT and will let you know which skill is ready to use. A
1st Blue gauge = 1st Blue/Offensive skill, etc
1st Red bar = 1st Red skill/Sacred Art, etc

Defend presently does not have a gauge. Working on a GUI that will allow it without cluttering the screen (Screen real estate is precious stuff)
Defend 2 does nothing.

Beat your opponent to win.




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Hi. Kinda new around here. This is my first game (the only one of 2 that made it as far as actually being compiled into an exe anyway) It was/is part of a larger project that may never see the light of day. Now that it's gotten to around this stage, I'm pretty comfortable with the mechanics and I think it's time to test it out. Feedback is welcome, even about the artwork. These aren't the final assests (wonky walk cycles, very incomplete images. WIP).

I'm intentionally leaving out info on what button does what until people have had a play-through. This is because I'd like to know how intuitive the whole thing is (if visual cues are needed for what, when etc) .

A few instructions though:

The end goal, someday, is to interact with the buttons via touch but for now you'll need to use both the left and right mouse buttons.
Left mouse to click the primary action buttons/skill type (Attack, Defend, Sacred Art).
Right mouse to select the level of the action/skill (Attack 1, Attack 2)
On the start screen left mouse or any keyboard key

Defend 2 does nothing

Please do download and play. It's only 7mb. If you manage to win, please let me know how many attempts it took to work out an effective strategy.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/7vnz2n9fbbp5opu/Totemon Rumble Prototype-Default-1.0.0.5.exe

Rigormortis

Hello, first off welcome to the forums! :)

I downloaded it and gave it a quick play. I was able to win on the second try. My strategy was to basically just spam the highest level attack I had available.

Ok, so first thing is that people never read instructions...NEVER. If they have trouble playing then they MIGHT come back to read the instructions, which was what happened the first time I tried. :P That being said, the mouse selection really confused me at the start. Having left mouse select the primary action, and then switching to right mouse to select the level of the action was completely unintuitive. I realize that this will be a non issue when it's moved over to touch, but in the mean time it would pay off to make the game as easy as possible to test.

In terms of design, I didn't really feel like there were any choices for me. I never used defend, and only used the sacred abilities when I wanted to see what they actually did. Apart from that I just chose the highest attack I had available the whole time. I did see that they regenerate in some way, but I couldn't figure out what I was doing/supposed to do to get the higher level attacks to regenerate.

There needs to be a way to cancel a move as well. If I accidentally hit attack I want to be able to go back.

Also, please let the game restart when I win or lose. :( I don't want to quit and restart every time the match is over.

Hope that was helpful and coherent(if not, just ask and I'll try to explain more better :P).

AlphaSheep

Firstly, making an installer is awesome for distributing your final game, but for testing, just a straight exe is fine.

It took me several attempts before I could win, and this was only when I figured out it wasn't actually a turn-based game. Like @Rigormortis, the strategy I found that worked best was to attack as fast as possible with the strongest attack I had available. I found defence was just a waste of time, because although my opponent doesn't do damage, I don't deal damage either, so it's basically a skip a turn move. I could get 2 attacks in instead, which is a better investment of my time. Using the sacred art was useful if I'd been a little slow at some point and found my health much lower than my opponent's. Once I found the winning strategy, I could win every single time.

Regarding controls, I didn't like that you want me to jump from keyboard to mouse after the main menu. The fact that the mouse did nothing at the main menu had me thinking it would be a keyboard only game. (I always read instructions, but I read them second and play first.)

I was very confused as to when I was allowed to move at first, and it was quite frustrating when I couldn't and didn't know why. I noticed that I couldn't move while my opponent was moving, so I thought for a while the game was turn based. This made the first couple of times I played feel very unsatisfying and unfair. After a while, I started just spamming whichever mouse button until the game let me do something, and only when I realised I could make two moves in a row did I figure out that it wasn't actually turn based.

At first I thought the green bars at the top were health bars that hadn't been implemented yet until I finally connected it to my opponents moves. I'm not sure, but I feel I might have made the connection faster if they were vertical, and maybe narrower and at the sides of the screen, filling upwards. Also, maybe grey out the buttons while the move timer thing is charging up. I'd suggest both darkening them or tinting them grey, and lowering their alpha value while they are disabled.

Kasei

Thanks for the feedback guys. Main post now also updated with descriptions, New build link etc.

Changes:

Action Timer Bars now narrower and colour changed too. Vertical bars would be a problem for later updates (there are MUCH bigger animations and sprites planned) Does the new setup improve things?


Skills rebalanced. Attacks 2 and 3 initially dealt equal damage (3 also had a status boost bonus)
Attack 3 is now stronger but the status bonus has been removed. It was actually a status bonus borrowed from another Totemon's move-set but WAAAAY over powered here.

All buttons except Defend 2 now have skills.

Battle-Turn implementation tweaked.

@Rigormortis
Congrats on the quick win. And thanks for the feedback on the strategy guys; it exposed a problem in the Battle-Turn implementation. I'm going to assume that in order to spam Attack 3 (and 2), you'd get into attack mode, wait for the bar and unleash. Correct? (The player shouldn't have the luxury of doing that. Now fixed)

Choices? Please elucidate. Why did you never feel you had to use Defend? Is it because your strategy on second try was so effective (negating the need to pursue any other options) or because you being a gamer, are geared toward Attack (it's always the easiest option to reach in most games)? Mind you, the defensive skill you have equipped would not have been particularly useful against this AI. It may prove effective against future opponents.

Being able to unchoose an action is definitely in the works but I am leaning towards keeping it as it is. You see, right now it forces the player to stick to his guns and to make sure he chooses the correct skill at the right time. Like in a real fight; commit or fail. The same kind of logic is why I'm currently keeping the left right mouse setup; avoids accidental presses.


@AlphaSheep. Thanks for the heads up but GM:S doesn't give me the option of just making an exe (or I can't find it) Also the exe once unpacked is larger and would likely require the other files (all in all waste of data) Also , apologies but Restart buttons are a no go right now. I'm probably messing up something very simple but implementing them is crashing the game.

A temp solution to making Restart less of a grind; is put the short cut in uncluttered space on the desktop or it's own folder and keep it open. I KNOW it's a grind but please bear with me until I have time to resolve; the core game play is my primary concern.

Please download new build and advise on how many tries and anything else you'd like to add.

Note: You should still be able to win easily enough but the reason why will be a little different. Please let me know what's changed in your strategy.
The AI is not intelligent so once you find a winning plan it should work consistently.

Things to do in next couple of updates:

Second Stage and Opponent/Boss
Improved AI
Restart and Retry buttons
Element Type bonus.
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Skill acquisition to upgrade skill-tree in next battle.
Char select screen with new char

Karuji

@Kasei little guide for how to change GM:S so you don't distribute installer ;)

Kasei

@Karuji. Awesone. Thanks. What are the benefits of distributing exe instead of installer?

AlphaSheep

It's just quicker and easier for other people (and yourself) who want to test out your game. It cuts out the install step, and I don't have to worry about uninstalling it when I'm done. A little test level like this is not something I'm going to keep coming back to like a full game. Also, testers can keep a couple builds next to eachother to compare without having to worry about changing the installation directory each time.

Karuji

@Kasei what AlphaSheep said, but also when you are iterating on a game it becomes a pain that every time someone wants to give you feedback they need to install the game.

Weirdly enough YoYo kinda didn't get this and initially when GM:S came out there was only the installer option, and we had to badger them for the exe option, so use it with pride :D

Kasei

@AlphaSheep and @Karuji. Thanks for that explaination. Makes sense to use exe's going forward then. If you haven't downloaded the current file please use the new link (marked as "exe file") as I've now made the change (would have saved it for new update but want to see how it works. I will be deleting the old one shortly. And Oooh, file size is smaller!

farsicon

One small tip from my side as well: post some screens to indicate latest state of your game. Not everyone will download it each time you post, but it's still nice to see progress :)

Karuji

Ye I'll throw a second to what @farsicon said. I noticed that giving people pictures and videos was a good help with getting some feedback, and promoting games on the forums ;)

Also the .exe is running too happy on my computer for some reason >.>

[Edit] Maybe try saving it as a .zip (it's what I personally use)

Kasei

Thanks. I'd figured that before I started this discussion (Been watching the Sokobomber thread) But deliberately chose not to put up any screens yet. Really need(ed) the initial uninfluenced reactions. @farsicon have you downloaded? If so I'd really value feedback on your test play.

Kasei

Too happy?

hermantulleken

Had a quick play through. Main thing is the controls and the complexity of the visual cues. Why not make everything left-click (no reason to switch mouse buttons, since you already switch screen buttons). The bars confuse me, and you need to be more explicit about the current state. For example, the switch between the first and second action is too subtle (you actually have to read to know it changed :P). Also, grey out inactive buttons more drastically (make the text a bit greyer, make the button transparent).

Edit: Do put screenshots, even a short vid. If there were more games at the top I would have skipped right over yours. Uninfluenced reactions are overrated / impossible :P

Kasei

2 Calls for more explicit cue of inactive or active buttons. Heard. Will work on it for next build. Hopefully before I go back to work next week. Thanks.

Kasei

@hermantulleken. How many tries until you worked out a win?

Bensonance

Hey I was doing the weekly roundup and just happened to have to take some screenshots.

Upload them to your Original Post!

Images and video make people more likely to play your game.

Here they are:

Rigormortis

Kasei said:

Choices? Please elucidate. Why did you never feel you had to use Defend? Is it because your strategy on second try was so effective (negating the need to pursue any other options)...

That's exactly it. I always won by attacking. Each battle was heavily in my favour when I always attacked. If it was a close battle at least once it might have made me try the other options to see whether I could optimise the outcome. I think with a game like this it's important to have the battles be as close as possible. You should only know whether you are going to win 2/3 rounds before the battle actually ends.

About the ability to "undo" a selection I mentioned. I understand that you might want to lock in selections to make sure that the players stick to their selections, but the fact that the game is not turn based is what messes with me here. If the game is turn based and I have time to consider my options you as the designer can assume that any button I press would be a considered press and could force me to carry out that action. In that way if something bad happens I'm being punished for the wrong decision that I made.

But as soon as there is time pressure and multiple menus, hitting a wrong button will make it feel like I have been punished by the game for something that was an accident. This is fine to have in a game when your playing against other people that are likely to make the same mistakes, but when I'm playing against an AI and this happens I feel very cheated.

This is all my opinion though, other people may feel different about this. Anybody else care to shed light on whether it's just me that feels this way?

Kasei

@Bensonance Thanks. Will do after I get the new update up. @Rigormortis Thanks, please try the new build if possible but I will be implementing a back button on the next update (very good and clear crit) Will also be putting up screenshots to highlight changes.

Pomb

@Kasei I Tried playing but was totally confused on what was happening before me. I was clicking buttons with the mouse I was smashing keys on the keyboard, I even tried using voice commands, alas my guy didn't want to attack :S Maybe I rolled a useless hero. What I'm trying to say is that it's not clear when it's your turn to attack, and it seemed that the buttons weren't responsive, or it's not clear when you can actually push buttons. I did manage to pull off an Iced maneuver but wasn't sure if I clicked the button to do that or my right mouse click caused that to happen.
If it's button controlled can't everything just be left click?
Not sure what to suggest right now because I don't think I got to play properly yet, but I can tell you what really got me yelling commands with more vigor was that there's no replay or continue button when you died, please put one in along with clearer instructions on what to do and I'll happily give it another go.

Kasei

The long awaited back button is here!
And Left Click For All!
Also some screenshots (1st post) see also @Bensonance's post above.

Skills indicated more clearly. Inactive/active
Skills rebalanced (a work in progress within a work in progress)
@Pomb and all who wish it weren't so. Apologies still no retry button (worked out what is causing the bug but it's a looooooong fix, so gonna save it for a sunny day) I hope you still give the current version a try as it fixes most of the other issues. And may be a while until next update (Working 8+ hour days, 6 days a week)

Note you can't PERFORM offensive actions during enemy turn (visual cues do show this).

Kasei

Testing if gif supported and update on game just because.