Post by Rehcub in The Mystical Stones Demo comments

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few things:

1. show a tool tip when the player is close to an interactable and schon the key i need to press to interact. i needed to try a few key befor i found the right one.

2. the music is a bit to loud i think. Also it hicks when i move to a different screen.

3. Is it normal that i move faster after the first fight? and sync the walk cycle to the speed.

4. not everybody (including me) wants to read throw a bunch of text at the beginning so make it clear to them what they have to do.

sorry if this sounds a bit harsh, but i just tell you what i think and what i think you can improve.

freeya3 years ago

1) My project isn't polished yet, I plan on adding what the controls are at the beginning of the game, or a way to find out what they are. This is my first project, ever, and I'm still learning how to do things.

2) I can adjust the music volume, and I'll have to see why it hicks when you change screens, I think I know why and that's an easy fix (though I'll have to fix it on 40+ maps).

3) No, this definitely isn't normal and I need to figure out why it's doing this (it's literally random).

4) The text at the beginning (I'm assuming you mean inside the house where you start), is the intro to the story. Right now it's mostly "placeholder text", on my to do list is having an opening cutscene which better illustrates the intro to the story, and then the beginning text will be lessened.

I appreciate the feedback! I don't consider it harsh, no one has brought up any of these issues so I was unaware of them (except the moving faster after a fight, I haven't figured out what's causing it yet).

I'm uploading a newer version today, which I recommend you try, as it fixes some issues with Chapter 2.

freeya3 years ago

The text at the beginning, if you meant the library instead, it only needs to be entered for the town to be left, I need to have that better explained in game so the player doesn't necessarily think they have to read every bookshelf (which I actually recommend for new players, as it's a LOT of useful information and I plan on adding more as I further polish the project).

Rehcub3 years ago

The text part is debatable, you have in the corner a "chat" window. I would put something like "Go to the library" for example in there. so you have the next"waypoint" or thing to do always on the screen. or in a later stage add a little quest tracker. something like this.

I released my first project a month ago so i know where you at. So good luck on your journey. :)

freeya3 years ago

Well this is meant as more of an "old school" RPG rather than the ones now where you're told exactly what to do each step of the way (and in some cases, guided to each objective). The idea behind visiting the library, is to encourage the player to learn more about the game before they leave town.

There actually is a quest tracker already built into the template I'm using (it's in the main menu), although visiting the library isn't considered a quest.

I did find out what was causing the music issue (I had it resetting to the beginning each time, and I had a 1 second fade in, which I cut in half). I've also lowered the volume from 100% to 70%, with you mentioning it being too loud, I realized myself it was too loud (I tested 80% first and it was still a little loud). I lowered both the city/field music and battle music.

freeya3 years ago

I uploaded a new version which incorporated some of your feedback (and also several bug fixes I had been working on).

freeya3 years ago

I didn't figure out what's causing the random speed up after battle, but I have put in a fix for the next update I put up.

Rehcub3 years ago

Music is better much better.

But now i have another thing. I would make the spawnrate of monsters lower or/and let them not spawn everywhere. In my head monsters should not spawn on the main road or when then very very rarely.
About the text/quest thing again. I mean i ran about 20 min around and didnt even find the sword. give me a hint somewhere in the game and not only once at an npc which i can easly miss. The shield was ok it is the only bush that is different but i did not find any other hint for the swort. As a dev you know these things because you made them, but it is easy to lose the perspective of a new player.

btw i think you do not use the normalized dir for movement (mabye i am wrong but it feals like it). so when you move diagonaly you are faster.

freeya3 years ago

Things like the music, I didn't put much thought into how they sound or feel, because I'm so used to how the defaults are (which is what it originally was set to). A lot of things in my project are still going off the default template values or settings, I've been slowly adjusting those as I either get to them, or as a result of feedback like yours.

The road actually does have a lower spawn rate of monsters (The road itself is a 6% chance per step, while the field is a 10% base chance, which lowers the more enemies you fight while on that map, to a minimum of 6%). Spawn rates I've adjusted up/down since I've started the project, and I may end up lowering them slightly again. Although one thing which I definitely am going to do (once I figure out how to), is to have a delay between random battles (right now you can literally take 1 step and have back to back battles, I've had as many as 3 back to back to back from testing). I think putting in this small delay will give the intended effect of a slightly lower spawn rate.

The Long Sword is purchasable at the weapon shop. :) (The Leather Shield is purchasable at the armor shop, but it's easier to find it) The shops are labeled with icons denoting their purpose (Rainbow Town has a weapon, armor, and item shop).

I've thought about making movement the 4 cardinal directions only, instead of allowing for diagonal movement. I'm sure it's possible for me to make it so movement is only on tiles directly, as well (though I'm not sure how to script this yet). These are both possibilities to make movement simpler/more streamlined.

freeya3 years ago (1 edit)

I solved the battle delay issue, the built in "delay" script wouldn't work with my random battle script so I simply put in a "delay frames" script into the random battle script. This should reduce random encounters a little bit overall. This will go up tonight in my next update, which I'm hoping to have a prototype of Chapter 5 done (along with further music fixes).

One other tidbit about the "roads", they also have a lower chance of having 2 enemies spawn at once (33% vs 40%), and there's a higher chance of weaker enemies (the first road for example has a higher slime spawn rate than the fields on both sides, 70% vs 60%). These have been a part of the project for awhile, as I thought the same way you did, roads should be less battles and easier ones.

I really appreciate the detailed feedback, it's helping me to improve areas I haven't put much focus on yet. And as you said, as the developer I know everything and it's VERY hard to have the perspective of a new player (although when I play tested 2 of my caves last night, I forgot where everything was so it was like playing as a new player, was great for testing).

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