itch.io

Hey, I wanted to update one of my old projects with some new features, so I loaded it in the editor and did some edits. I noticed some unexpected things:
1. There are exclamation marks next to all my unopened chests(see attached image).
2. When the final boss is defeated you still get the "demonic seal" text. I thought that was removed in newer versions. Do I need to remove and put the boss in again, so it doesn't show?
3. I had a loading error, accompanied by a short text in what i guess is Portuguese(sorry did not capture that)
You can find the game at: https://vm81.itch.io/the-amulet

Default -> alternative -> choice is indeed the better choice if it's not breaking compatibility.
The implementation of “✔/✖” works great, but maybe put the checkmarks in green/red too. While those are mostly universal I seem to remember some countries like Japan use both ✔ and ✖ as a negative(as in "incorrect"), so putting them in green and red respectively should help clear that situation(if it arises at all- I might be wrong about the whole Japan thing).
Anyways, great work. The engine turned out pretty nice and while some elements like the reward systems can use some light rebalancing I can honestly say I'm pretty happy with the result. It's by far the best small RPG engine out there and definitely the most user friendly one.

Fair enough. I agree with your on that one. 
Any thoughts on the "dialogue, choice, dialogue" order and  the "✔ / ✖"?

First off, great work! I was about to suggest you implement it on NPC's too, depending on how it works, but you beat me to it :).

Now, it works great for the balloon, but I would suggest you change the order of execution for the NPC's if possible. Right now the disappearing option happens after the first dialogue is complete. It should happen after the last dialogue. This way you can have an NPC talk to you(or give you a task), react to what you did and then disappear, it's a small difference, but an important one I think, since it allows for extra interaction with the same NPC.
While on the topic of NPC's, there is also the thing about the "alternative dialogue" and the "yes/no dialogue". Right now if you have all 3 the execution is Dialogue 1, Choice, Dialogue 2. But in the editor it's 1,2, choice. So I propose either fix the order of execution, so the yes/no dialogue is the last to execute or change the order in the editor to make clear things go in that order. Probably the second one otherwise it may break something.
Oh and about the "yes/no dialogue"- I know I was one of the people suggesting it in the first place, but I think  it turned out a bit too limiting the way it is. What I suggest is changing it to more general sign of acceptance/denial. Something like ✔ and ✖ (or 👍 and 👎), while keeping the green and red border of the buttons intact. It shouldn't brake any existing games and would open possibilities for(slightly) better dialogues and quests in future.
So to summarize:
Balloon is great!
NPC's might need a change- disappear after last dialogue.
Might want to: rearrange order of actions in the editor,  change "yes/no" for "✔ / ✖"

I'm sorry if it seems I'm just waiting for you to finish one thing to hit you with another suggestion or request. I really appreciate all the work you're doing, I just want to make sure the engine is as good as it can be. 

It seems to work fine. As for the character's limit it was not a must. Just thought it would work good with your minimalism concept :)

Proposal on fonts and text boxes

Hey guys, 

I think you really should do something about the fonts and the text boxes. A friend recently sent me a screenshot of one of my dialogues(not attached), thinking it was a bug. It wasn't but it looked like one, because the text box in mobile view shows way too little text. At the same time the text box in the desktop view shows way too much. I've attached screenshots of the same dialogue in both views, and the comparison speaks for itself. Not only the text windows are way too big, but one shows literally two words while covering the characters, while the other serves a literal wall of text(which is a bad design choice, but that's on me too).

Anyways, I would propose the following changes:

1. Decreasing the font size in mobile view to about the size of your system font(the one you use to write the "LVL1" text in the attached photo). Increasing the font size in full screen to the same font size as the system font(see above).

2. Decreasing the size of the text box to show a maximum of 4 lines of text, thus making sure it does not cover half the screen. The overflow text goes to the next text box. No idea how your code works, but I think the simplest way to implement this will probably be just to put a limit to the number of characters shown in a text box to 64 or so. Note I don't mean limiting the whole dialogue to 64 characters length, albeit some character limitations(like 256 or so characters) on the amount of text you can write in one dialogue might be a good thing to discourage bad design choices(see above) and will be in line with your minimalist design principle.

3.Assigning a keyboard symbol for flow control- assigning a symbol that's not normally used in speech, like "\" to signify "page end", basically moving the following text to the next text box. It would allow for text control when needed for design purposes.

Even implementing only the first point will go very far towards mitigating the problem, but if you're looking for interface uniformity, you should probably think about implementing some version of all 3.

Revised proposal on fixing the in-game information system( a.k.a the balloon).

Right now the speech bubble( the Balloon in the Extras menu) works exactly as the Wooden sign, which makes it completely redundant. In the same time there is no method to serve one time gameplay or environmental info without crowding the map. 

What I propose is changing the balloon to behave more like the chest- activated only once, is walkable after activation. It also needs to visually disappear after activation(so it doesn't crowd and create confusion). Might be enough to set transparency at 100%. That's more or less my old proposal. The new part is to add the option to make it appear by variable(similar to how the chest may be unlocked by one), only your starting state is disabled(walkable and transparent).

These changes would allow for hints or environmental information without taking up walking space, which is already at a premium.
So for example you can create enemy taunts(like Firefrog requested) or disperse all types of ingame information about points of interest(like I did for the rat lawyer in my first game). The "activated by variable" part would allow for puzzle hints(for example what changed after you activated a lever) and custom "you defeated all enemies..." messages(yeah I know we just removed those, but they were s good idea in general, just not the way they were implemented).

That was fast!  Good job.

Yeah, I'm with you on that one. Maybe remove the "land is cleansed and your life-force swells" text too. It sounds nice if you're making a sword & sorcery dungeon crawler. It makes zero sense if you've just defeated the only two rats in a narrative rpg, that are there just to make the gameplay a bit more dynamic.

Hey,

I have a revised proposal on renaming enemies.

A few people(myself included) have requested in the past for you to implement a way to rename enemies, but as far as I remember we see the enemy name outside the editor only in the end game text, when killed. 

So I propose an easy fix- change the end game text when killed to not show what killed you.

So insted of seing "killed by skeleton" when you have reskinned the skeleton to a gelatinous cube ingame, you just get a "You Died!" text.

Accidentally it also takes care(to some degree) of the desire to be able to assign individual enemy stats: We already have a decent variety of enemies stat wise, so if one wants a skeleton with higher stats than the default ones, one can reskin the stock assets. If nothing outside the editor says that's not a skeleton, it's all fine.

It's a lazy fix, but I believe it will fit nicely with the minimalist philosophy of the engine and besides sometimes less really is more.

They seem to work as expected. That opens a few new gameplay options(pseudo fetch quests) and declutters the maps a bit. Great job!  But you know what they say- the reward for a work well done is more work :)
I would suggest you open an official "bug thread" and official "post your games here" thread.  Gamer735 is doing a good job on both fronts, but still it wouldn't hurt to have a place where to post things without spamming his threads. 

Actually I've already suggested a mechanic that does what you ask for- "change speech bubble behavior so it disappears from map after triggered". This would allow you to put a trigger(speech bubble) blocking the way to the boss, trigger it by walking into it, get your boss taunt text and then the speech bubble would disappear, letting you pass and start the boss battle. It would also be great for environmental storytelling, without crowding the map.
Hope it would get implemented at some point :)

Hey,
Just checked my list form 3 months ago and was amazed at how much things you've implemented. And yes, I know I wasn't the only one asking for some of these(most of these really), but still thanks for taking suggestions seriously.

Any chance you can implement the "end game by dialogue" and "better chests" sugestions?

To save you all the re-reading- "end game by dialogue" is a way to set a dialogue with an NPC as an end game event via a variable dropdown. Basically give you the dialogue text and then end the game. It would be huge for narrative games.

As for the "better chests" I suggested to have an option to unlock a chest via variable, the same as you can disable traps, open doors etc. It would be great because if you want to put a chest, unlockable when you finish a dialogue or beat a boss right now you need to waste at least 4 map tiles to put it in a room with a door(if you use a corner) otherwise it's up to 8, depending on the placement. That really wastes a lot of space which we don't have, since-small maps. I can live with small maps- there are some ways around that, but wasting space is not a good thing when you go for minimalism.

I'd also like to suggest you think of implementing an optional "wall of text" screen at the begining. Right now you go from title, directly into game. All the setting details, story and controls have to be explained on the itch page, which is not great. If you give designers a way to put in an optional screen of text between the title screen and the actual gameplay that would go a long way towards making things look more professional. Doesn't need to be star-wars like scrolling text either, just plain old text.

Edit: fixed some mistakes

Hey guys, just submitted a request for itch.io to add the engine to the engines list. Probably not the first to do it, but I figured it won't hurt the project.

Great job! I tried something similar for the 2nd TRS jam, but couldn't pull it off

Thanks man, much appreciated!

Thanks for playing the game and finding the cat :) There is no special dialogue for finding it, because of the one special dialogue(one dialogue triggered by variable) limit. I wanted the female scientist to thank you for finding it, but it is what it is...
 The other item in the closet was supposed to be a bucket(reskinned armor). Not my best job.
BTW I've updated my game from the previous jam with some of the new mechanics, so if you decide to revisit it at some point you'll probably like the results.

Yeah same here. Kinda bummed  the thumbnail does not correspond to the content

Thanks! If you liked that one might want to check my game from the previous jam. I updated it a few days ago to add some of the new engine mechanics

Way too meta for me, went over my head

Yeah, what Owltears said ;) Graphics should carry functional info(easy to spot what's what), narrative info(tell the story of the setting) and aesthetic info(keep to chosen unified style). Yours are great on narrative and aesthetic, but fail at functional level. That being said, I still like it :)

Always surprises me how much content you manage to shove in those little levels :) Oh, and nice cat!

Hi guys, another suggestion. You may want to think about allowing more than one alternative dialogue on per character. This way characters will be able to react to your binary choices and the dialogue skill might actually become useful

Yes and no. You can't start the game with a fixed skill at level 1, but you can rearrange the skills so you can get the skill on level 2 and then use the TESTING menu, to start the game with level 2 character. Theoretically you should have the skill. Haven't tried it though.

Sorry guys, but dividing the screen is not a real solution. A screen size of 8x8 tiles is just too small for that. Sure you can do it technically(I have done it on some screens), but it results in unremarkable levels, that look like series of corridors. 

Now, if you have an option to choose 2x screen canvas size(16x16 tiles per screen), that would fix that problem perfectly:

You won't have to add extra screens, keeping the existing 3x3 map grid(which I really like) and people will have enough space to make bigger games(if they want). It would be a win-win situation.


PS:
If you think 16x16 is too big(Whimtale uses 15x15 for comparison), perhaps try 12x12(1.5x default) tiles canvas? I'm pretty sure that size will make everyone happy.

I think leaving it as a drop down menu is actually the best way to do it. 0.8% looks ok on pc and 1.2% is ok on a phone, so  it's all around a winner implementation. Let people decide what's their preferred deployment platform. Once again great work!

Nice one! Again! 
Too bad the engine allows for only 3x3 maps, but great nevertheless.

The development of the engine is nothing short of incredible!
That being said you might want to dial back the strength of the breathing animation a bit. Right now it stretches the image way too much.  The movement should be subtle, otherwise it becomes uncanny.
Anyway, keep up the good work!

Great work man! Really like your demake series.

Ok, just checked the chest implementation. It's good, but it can be better. Here's how:
Put a switch on the chest to choose whether the chest is locked or unlocked by default. If it's unlocked it works the exact same way as it does now. If it's locked it works similar to the trap- you have a dropdown to link it to a variable that's unlocking it. This will allow for a huge amount of gameplay options, like unlocking a chest after a dialogue, after a lever pull, after a puzzle or after an enemy death.
Another thing you might want to change is how the random item chest works. From a design standpoint it's very rare to use a truly random item drop, especially in the small scope games you can design with your engine. What would be very useful  is some limited randomness, as in a chest that gives a random weapon(one of the swords), a random armor(either armor or boots) or random consumable(key, scroll, potion). This way the designer still has control over the type of loot you get(for example a weapon), but you keep the element of surprise. 
Implement these things and a way to trigger ан end game state through dialogue and you'll have everything you really need.
On a totally unrelated topic, I love the trap implementation. Now this works great!
Keep up the good work!

Hey, no problem. Glad I did not scare you off with the wall of text. I have some experience helping create and working with custom small game editors(and engines) so I know how it is. I'll add three more suggestions so I don't waste a perfectly good post ;)
1. Check your new font implementation. Left you a bug report on github, but I have no idea if you're checking that. Right now the font swaps normal for capital letters and vice versa.
2. Think on implementing limited randomness- if you implement containers(chests or something similar), the logical next step is to implement limited loot randomness. Basically have an object with 3-4 empty slots to populate with possible loot and the engine picks at random from those. Leaving one(or more) empty creates a possibly for having an empty chest. 
This can be something that's calculated at game start, as in all chests are populated when you start the game, doesn't have to be done when chest is opened.
3. Think about making it possible to disable the editor menu when exporting a game. While it's nice to have an access to the editor for people who are interested in actually designing something and want to check how things are done, it's useless for people who just want to play a game and makes the game look like a forever work in progress, since the editor is always one click away.

Congrats on the milestone. You have every reason to be proud- you made something pretty great. 

Thanks for playing the game!  And thanks about all the nice things you said about the pixel art.
A few notes if you decide to replay the game at some point:
1. The HUD was a mistake- disabled it at some point and apparently forgot to reenable it. It will be fixed after the jam scoring ends.
2. If you read all the signs twice and look at their surroundings they indirectly tell a small story. It's a story about a man doing his work- painting signs. They also tell the backstory of the skeletons.
3. The ability to speedrun is a feature, not a bug- I wanted to give you a chance to play the game without taking out all the enemies, or even most of them, which you demonstrated is quite possible after you know the layout ;)

Yeah i agree with you on the HUD. Apparently I disabled it for the final release and never noticed. My bad! Feel free to enable it and play like that ;) I don't feel it's fair to fix it myself before the jam voting ends- will fix afterwards.

Loved the bee sprites!

Well, don't off him then :) It's not like you're obliged to take out every enemy. But seriously, thanks! 

Thanks! It can be finished successfully, but you need to ration your weapons right and/or do some serious backstabbing. If you're not in the mood for that just rush the final lever and run back to the cage. It's not so satisfactory, but works most of the time ;)

Sweet little game! That elf ending was sneeky ;)

First things first—great little engine! Minimalist, simple, and to the point. Love the UI simplicity!

Now, some long winded notes and suggestions:

Skills

Allow for the enabling and disabling of individual skills. This way, you can create a "do-it-yourself" character build. Rename skills to have non class related names. For example, a skill like "Fire Mage" makes no sense if you're playing as a thief. Call it "Fire Walker" and it becomes universal. Some skill suggestions below (for illustrative purposes only):

• Undying: Automatically revive once after death.
• Silver Tongue: Unlock new dialogue options.
• Backstabber: 50% chance for double damage from the back.
• Alchemist: Potions heal full life.
• Fire Walker: You can walk on lava.
• Locksmith: Open locks without a key.
• Cautious: Pass through traps without taking damage.
• Booksmart: XP scrolls give you double experience.
• Weapon Expert: Your weapons have +1 on stats.

EDIT3: Already implemented

Dialogues

Have branching dialogue options. If nothing else, at least have a ✗ or ✓ as options to answer, to create a semblance of dialogue.

Tilesets

The tileset is suboptimal. It covers just one genre (fantasy), has way too many NPC assets (considering the small scope), and way too few environment assets (even for the small scope). 

The bigger problem is that right now, it stands somewhere between symbolic and literal representation. I would propose you move further into symbolic representation, with the optional import of other tilesets (modern, sci-fi, western, cyberpunk, etc.). To do this, you will need to implement name tags in dialogue and allow for duplicate (reused) NPCs and the renaming of NPCs in a scene. I know the asset import goes against the idea of having everything ready to export in a (short) string, but so does redrawing half or all of the NPCs to get what you need. If nothing else, at least think of including tilesets for the other genres I mentioned.

EDIT3: You need about 16 map tiles per one good looking environment. 

Variables

You probably need more. 16–20 sounds about right for a micro-game.

World

A bigger world map would be nice (perhaps have a switch between 3x3 and 5x5). The bigger option would allow for  overworld, one big(ish) and one small dungeon, which is perfect for a small game. Right now, the 3x3 map is more of a proof of concept than anything really useful.

Objects and enemies

• Enemy Stats: Allow for changing enemy stats (0–9 range)—click on the boxes and write a value. This way, you don't need to use a fixed enemy progression.
• Weapon Stats: Allow for changing weapon stats (0–9 range)—click on the boxes and write a value. This way, you can easily create armor suits if needed(low attack, high defense) or different weapon kinds.

EDIT3: While what I proposed about Enemies and Swords would be a great addition, the most important addition would actually be enemy rename- even though you can reskin an enemy, right now when you're killed by one it shows the name of the enemy from the editor.

• Rename Tabs: Rename the "Swords" tab to "Weapons."

EDIT3: Add Indication of weapon durability(and attack strength), the same way enemies have indication of their damage output. The player shouldn't have to count in his head, so either remove weapon durability and make them unbreakable or put in visual indication of their remaining durability.

• Add Traps: Add a Trap—basically a static enemy that has 1 life and adjustable damage(see above) or fixed low damage(1 or 2). It can easily be bypassed by careful players, advanced characters(who can take the hit) or characters with certain skills. Great for temporary closing off parts of the map among other things.
• Add Chests: Add a Chest that requires a key. When opened, it disappears leaving one (pre set from a list) item behind.

EDIT3: Right now you can do the same with walls and a door, but it wastes way too much level estate to use it often.

• End Game: The object should work similar to gates- activated by a variable. This way you can set a specific dialog as a condition to end game(great for narrative games).  

EDIT3: The object should stay as it, but create a named variable called END GAME that can trigger an end game condition so a dialogue can act as an end game trigger.

With the above changes to the objects and the addition of the trap and chest, you cover all the basic pillars of a good micro-RPG: 2–3 location-appropriate enemies, one boss, at least one cool weapon and item, one trap, one secondary location, an element of surprise, and some story.

Ideally, you should also have one resource to dump into upgrades, so think about implementing money and traders as a resource drop and mechanic; however, you can probably skip this if you make skills a binary choice at level up. This way experience becomes the resource you dump into upgrades.

EDIT: Noticed the sign post and speech bubble behave identically- they set a variable and display information. Would make more sense if the speech bubble disappears after it's interacted with. Otherwise it just hangs there.

EDIT2: After playing some more with the engine I realized  I was wrong on some points, so i crossed some things out.

EDIT3: After doing some more thinking about game mechanics(yeah I do that a lot) I revised some of my previous suggestions to keep more in line with what I understand as the spirit of the project. Light revisions to text for clarity.