Dungeon Crawler - WIP

Hosted Games Works In Progress
#11

@OdicHastings okay I like your story so far. Just a few things, im not sure if you noticed but your first page is a wall of writing. Like, a looong one. I think it would flow smoother with a page break or two.

Also, if you go fishing the choice is there repeatedly. If you fight the wolf and defeat it it skips you straight along from having a gruesome leg wound to seeing the two girls and traveling north (with a leg wound that you haven’t patched up?)

Also I’d like to know what a Zealot is? (Sorry if miss spelled).

Also, I’d like to know what is in each direction before choosing North, West, East or South repeatedly. Something like North - towards the hill or South - Towards the river.

Keep up the good work :smile:

#12

I’m a little nervous about giving one, mainly because it’s changed a few times, hence my warning about some elements not making sense. Particularly some early scenes compared to later ones.

This, however, is what I’ve gravitated toward.

You play as Maxwell Fortin, a ‘zealot’ (Read: D&D Paladin basically) of the vaguely named ‘The Order’. He’s only just received this position, and thus must spend time wandering the land and helping others. Zealots are always spent to specific locations, and his is a country just North of his own.

The problem with this is, the countries have almost no contact with each other. The order is distrusted at the best of times in the north, and hated at worst. Effectively Maxwell is acting as an ambassador of the order.

However, shortly upon arriving to the closest town to the border, he finds that monsters have been appearing in the countryside. These creatures have been growing both in number and strength for reasons unknown, and thus he must set off to find out why.

Probably. Unless I change my mind and the focus shifts slightly. Still, basically the above. City plagued by monster problems. Fortin tries to figure out what the deal is as part of his paladin duties. And also maybe he’ll improve the order’s rep.

#13

Duly noted on the wall of text. I’ll toss some breaks before the next update, and try to clean it up a bit.

As for the wolf fight… I might cut that. I was still trying to figure out what I wanted the combat system to be when I put that together, and I’m not sure how well it gels with the rest of the combat system.

If I don’t end up cutting it, I’ll probably make it less scripted, and more like a normal fight that has some tutorial messages attached to it.

And a Zealot is basically a Paladin, hence calling for divine assistance. I’ll have to clarify their role a bit more in the story.

As for the character customization… I wanted to try my hand at making the player character an actual character. Some people prefer more customization, which is understandable, but this is what I’m going for this time.

#14

I like the fight system with exp points and nxt lv. The random fights… i get your trying to make a sandbox type system where you can choose which way you want to go but im completely lost in the forest. Sometimes a different option appears and I think yay, im out and then it just goes round and round. :cry: sometimes I end up back at the locked door sometimes back at the entrance but eventually I end up reaching “invalid go sub” error. It would be nice to know which way you’ve already traveled.

#15

where was that ‘invalid go sub’? That definitely shouldn’t be there.

There’s actually a map hidden in the comments, it was mostly for my own reference, but
I might be able to give it to the player.

I was worried navigation would be too difficult. I wanted to make a really old school dungeon crawler.
One where you’d need a pen and paper to keep track of where you’ve been. That might be a little too niche of an appeal though. It’s a pity, but that’s how it goes.

Or did you make it to the Western Cliffs? Because that area is most definitely broken.

#16

@OdicHastings I do love that whole dungeons idea but unless there is something a little different for each bit, it is a little hard to navigate. Maybe if you put that in the game description, something like “This is a dungeon style game that is best played with a pen and paper to keep track”. I dunno, there will be fans. Its best to write what makes you happy.

Im sorry im not sure where that go sub error is. I tried randomly picking at first. Then picking all south, all east, all west and all north. I’m not sure if it will come up if you run a quicktest? I don’t use go subs so im not sure if it’ll pick that up. I can see if I hit it again then I’ll let you know.

#17

Maybe the occasional land mark would help? It would spice up the dungeon a bit, and would probably do wonders for improving navigation without having to completely compromise on the exploration element.

I’ll try sticking a few in during my next update. If nothing else, they’ll add a bit of flavor.

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#18

Yes! That would be awesome. Something like your in the forest “I tore a piece of my sleeve on the tree as I went west” then if you go past it. “Hmm… seems I’ve been here before, a piece of my clothing sticks to a nearby branch”. I agree landmarks would help a great deal.

Also I found one. I think it’s a different one but it was in label Labyrinth line 1025, already returned from gosub

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#19

Oh! I know what’s happening. The game’s falling out of the map. :grin:

That line exists in the combat system. I must have put a movement option where there was no room to go to.

Like, for example, Room (5,6) Travel North → Room (5,7)

The problem in this example is that Room (5,7) doesn’t exist, so the game just keeps going down the text file till it hits the gosub based combat system.

I’ll have to experiment a bit to find where the blind spot is, but I’ll have it fixed by the next update.

#20

Another option is to have some sort of map that slowly begin to be made as the player explores the wilds. Sort of like how a videogames minimap growd more detailed as you traverse the different areas in each new map. That would encourage exploration by rewarding players for their travels (in the form of a more complete map), and seeing unexplored areas on a map always incentivizes player to do what they can to visit those areas.

#21

I really like what you have so far but I agree a map would be a most helpful item to since I ended up getting lost multiple times

#22

forestLabyrinth line 1093: invalid return; we’ve already returned from the last gosub

A nifty start. However, Choicescript is extremely clumsy for doing the combat system you’ve got (in the labyrinth), you’ve got to click dozens of times just for a lowly vine monster or wolf. Also, the Divine Shield needs some kind of penalty or limitation, right now it’s a no-brainer to always use it before fights.

I’d get rid of needing a map at all. I’d just set out on your quest, have a variable number of encounters (some random encounters, some scripted locations) before you get to your goal, and some coming back. Could have the option of searching the area completely after accomplishing the goal (more random encounters, hit all scripted locations that missed on the way there). If your character doesn’t know where he’s going, he can just be searching. If he does know where to go (has a map or something), he can have the choice to head toward certain landmarks, and have random encounters on the way there. If he discovers a healing fountain on the way, for example, that can be added to his list of possible destinations.

The intro is extremely non-interactive, no real choices until you go quest for the wedding ring.

#23

Can’t say liked that little choices, but the story on its own isn’t bad. Character were likable. World interesting. However i didn’t like the Travel West Travel East options (without explanation what I get if I walk there, I liked @Silverstone ideas .). In the end I gave up in the labyrinth, gotten as lost as my character and tired from clicking with no end in sight after killing one wolf after another… By the way. Can we do something about meaningless animal killing? I don’t know, maybe skin them for pelts and cut off the juiciest meat parts. Otherwise I had the feeling that soon i will find a way back by fallowing the dead wolf trail.

I had to comment on this. Actual character? Since when a real character (not cliche) is defined by name, surname or gander?
example:
Linda was about to go in a coffee shop, but kept the door open for an old women, who said “Thank you dear” for the kind gesture. “Your welcome, have nice day”. Linda answered and went in. She greeted the waitress and ordered salad and orange juice. Linda like to believe that her body is a temple and she should take care for it. As she walked to her table, she noticed fallen piece of paper. She leaned down and picked it up. It was an old check form supermarket. Since nobody needed it, she went back to entrance to trow it out in trash bin there. She likes to be tidy and helpful.

Karl like to thinks of himself as a gentleman that’s way he often seen giving up his seat in on a buss for an old person or lady or helps out lost tourists to find the way. Karl like to eat healthy and work out whenever he had the time. If he sees a piece of trash on the road he will have an urge to pick it up an throw it in a trash bin. He likes to be tidy and helpful.

In nutshell, those are the same characters even if there names or genders are different. Name and gender is more like a candy for reader, but having an option to choose them doesn’t make this characters any different from those that have a set name and gender. (well this argument is invalid if author writs with many *if gander = “male” this text and *if gander = “female” this text.)

I’m not saying that you should give a gender and name option, if you don’t want to, it’s fine, but your argument about it, because you want an actual character is, for me at least, weird. Name and Surname is just a piece of candy that most readers want and writing $!{name} and Edward isn’t any different. I even say writing ${name} is more practical even for NPC, that way it easier when you suddenly decide to change someone name.

:smiley: Anyway, good luck with your writing. I hope that next time I try your game I won’t get lost :smiley:

#24

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/132442611/My%20ChoiceScript%20Game.html

Alrighty, we’ve got a tiny update here. A functioning debug menu has been added, but it can only jump you ahead to the start of The Ring. (Nothing’s been changed but the labyrinth, so there’s no reason not to if you’ve already played.)

I found out why you were falling out of the map. I made an indentation error, which nested that missing room inside another room. It’s fixed now.

A few oddities have been scattered around the map. We’ll see if this improves navigation at all. If it doesn’t quite work, I’ll try adding a few more. If even after doing that it still doesn’t work…

…I’ll do this.

I did actually consider doing a system similar to this, mainly because it would be far FAR easier, but I really wanted to go for making a dungeon crawler in choicescript. I knew the script wasn’t really built for it, bit I wanted to give it a shot anyways

I’m not prepared to say that this can’t be done. I think it’s possible in choicescript, and I think I can do it. But it is absolutely beyond intimidating to me. The amount of effort would be pretty huge, I’m thinking.

I don’t know if it will work out or not, but my current intention is to limit divine abilities by making it where you can only have one active at a time. Obviously that’s not much of a limitation at the moment, due to it being the only divine ability currently. But, it may work out better once more abilities are added.

#25

Alright, the western cliffs are developing smoothly. Every room has been programmed, but the quests haven’t.

What’s here now:
Potions! You can carry three. They fully heal you.

Leveling up fully heals you.

Divine shield has been nerfed. It no longer raises armor, it now only increases your % chance of blocking.

New map concepts.
Shorcuts! You can open up shortcuts to make traversing the area faster.

One way directions. Some rooms allow you to travel in a direction you can’t come back from. For example, you could travel North, but after doing so wouldn’t be able to travel South. You’ll always be warned ahead of time if you can’t get back.

New enemies!
Massive Worm. A low health, high damage enemy. It’s also the most common encounter on the map.

White thing. Very rare, and very tough. It has a massive health pool, and inflicts decent damage. Gives a whopping 50xp upon death, but its encounter rate is only 5%. It’ll probably tie into the plot somehow.

Things I need to work on:

The main quest, obviously.

Bounty missions! The rooms containing these bounty missions are already in place, but there’s no special enemy to fight.

I need to add a ton of flavor rooms. This map is not easy to navigate currently. At all. I got lost, and I designed this map, and had a map to look at while testing it.

The first link at the top still works. The debug menu has had a new shortcut added to it, allowing you to skip to the western cliffs mission. Any feedback you have is appreciated, thanks for taking a look! :smile:

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#26

Alrighty! The main quest for the Western Cliffs has been programmed in.

We now have a boss fight added, and a new divine ability.

All I have left is to add bounty missions, finish writing the transition scenes (The part after the quest where Maxwell returns to town to talk about what happened.)

After that… I can start on the next area. I’m thinking of giving the player a companion character. Unlike Maxwell, the player will have some customization over them, and can bring them into fights. However, the player won’t have to give them commands (To limit the amount of clicking required to use them.)

The link up top has been updated if you want to try the boss fight. Bring potions!

#27

I could use the community’s opinion on something.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/132442611/My%20ChoiceScript%20Game.html

In the debug screen there’s a new option called ‘new gameplay mode’

I’ve prototyped an alternate method of exploration. Instead of moving on a grid based map, you just keep moving forward. Every time you move forward your total distance traveled increased. The more distance you have, the better chance you have of finding nice things and the faster you explore the area. However, enemies would become more dangerous, and encounters more frequent.

If you turn back, your distance meter resets the next time you set out.

As your exploration% increases you’ll start unlocking important locations. Usually something quest related. I would imagine. This prototype doesn’t have any real use for exploration, since it doesn’t unlock anything. The exploration% would never drop after being raised.

If you all think this mode works better than the current direction based grid-map, I’ll go with this. It’ll be far easier to program, so I’ll probably not be losing any time in the long run despite having to rework my current two areas.

Thanks for your time, looking forward to any recommendations you have to make.

#28

@OdicHastings I see how this makes coding a little easier and makes moving along the storyline quicker. I liked how the frequency of monsters increased the further away you get but I sort of felt like it was all one click… I pretty much spammed that click button to attack and move forward. Plus side it flows smoothly. Although I have checked out the updated version of the original planning. “West, north, east and south” and that was interesting too, but easy to get lost when out too far. I think both ways could work. I know thats not much help. Also i do really like the idea of being able to return whenever you like straight back to the inn. Very handy.

Also, with your grid type mapping, if you decide to use that maybe have an option to automatically go to places you’ve unlocked. I dunno, with your divine power and a landmark or something? Saves time, instead of always going through the labyrinth every time you need to go south

#29

Thanks for the feedback, I know it was hard to give any with such a bare-bones prototype available. I only made that thing in about fifteen minutes, so I knew that would cause some problems.

I think I could alleviate the just spam clicking issue by adding some random events occasionally… I’ll have to think it over, but I think this new system might work best.

I’m doing some major rewrites of the game, and reworking the combat system, so it’s gonna be awhile before I get another update out. Plus side is, I’ve got a much firmer idea about where I’m going with the plot, so that’s a plus. Combat system (hopefully) will have slightly more depth this time too.

Thanks for all your help Silverstone. If you’ve got your own game going or start one, you should send me a link to it. I’d love to look over it. :smile:

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#30

@OdicHastings No worries. I do really like your idea for your WIP. Good luck in the future with it.

This is my WIP. I’ve still got a long way to go and write, also I’ll be updating the link there soon. Leave me any feedback/suggestions etc.