Top down hack n' slash inspired by Zelda and Diablo. · By
The latest development build has two key features:
- Terrain generation
- Combat
The combat feels pretty good at the moment and the terrain algorithm is doing it's job. If you find any bugs or have feedback on any of the features above, please leave a comment below!
You can download the latest version from the main page: https://8bitape.itch.io/swordsandshadows
Just played the demo and loved a lot of what is in there! The procedural cave system is great to explore. I can't wait for this concept to be expanded with more area types (forests, castles, underground, cities, etc)
I did not encounter any sort of bug in the 10 minute time limit.
I did feel the game play got stale after some time (i played it twice). There needs to be something more to the combat to add variety. I understand you only have 1 enemy type but regardless of that, the player controlled unit needs more. More weapon types, more attack options (heavy / light), or some way to control the angle of the swipe (maybe a low, mid, high attack). Something like that could really help diversify the game play and keep it interesting for more than a 10 minute rouge-like expericence.
With that being said, i think you have something great here and i can't wait to see what more development time will produce! Keep up the good work!
Thanks for the feedback! Completely agree about combat. The AI needs work so they are more intelligent, so they surround and flank you, so they can dodge attacks.
Next step is to add clear horizontal / vertical attacks which require different tactics to evade. Considering adding a ranged attack to skeletons so some of them will drop back and take ranged shots.
Different weapon types would be cool, need to think about how I will implement this though. Different weapons means more animations, which takes a bit of time to do. Maybe a double handed variant with slower but more deadlier attacks. That could be cool and not too much work to implement.
Thanks again for taking the time to play, I really appreciate it!
This is a very enjoyable demo! The polish on the combat and movement is really nice. :) The flat look and orthographic camera go really nicely together.
Some feedback on the current iteration:
Thanks for the feedback Adam! Those skeletons will stop following you if they go offscreen. You can get further away from them quicker by rolling (space bar). Perhaps this is something I can tweak. Perhaps they can slow down the further away they get as they lose interest in chasing you.
I do need to work on keyboard controls. I must admit most of my playtesting has been with an Xbox controller. My current thoughts are something like:
Mouse left click / Right ctrl: Attack
Mouse right click / Right shift: Ranged Attack
Mouse middle click / QE keys / Left and right arrow: Rotate camera
Space bar: Roll / Jump
Left shift: Lock on
The idea with above scheme is that you could play with a 3 button mouse, 2 button mouse or no mouse at all.
Would love your thoughts on this!
As for controls, something on the right side of the keyboard for attacks is definitely good so that it's not awkward with WASD. I'm on a macbook and I notice there is no right-ctrl key. On my keyboard right-shift and enter/return would seem like natural choices, but I don't know if there will be a combo that works for all keyboards!
I've implemented new keyboard controls in the latest build: https://8bitape.itch.io/swords...
If you are playing with mouse you can:
Move: WASD
Rotate Camera: O and P (or Q and E)
Attack: K
Lock On: Left Shift
Roll / Jump: Space
I've tried it out and it feels a bit better playing without mouse now. Let me know what you think!
This *should* be fixed in the latest build: https://8bitape.itch.io/swords...
Essentially it only listens to input from one connected device. Would massively appreciate it if you were able to give it a spin and let me know how you get on!
