Hey EruditeFigglebottom, thanks for the encouragement, but I indeed stopped developing this game since quite a while. I had written a little postmortem regarding why I stopped it; http://hgamesdev.blogspot.com/2019/01/this-is-end.html
Maybe that will interest you! Cheers and enjoy other games! ๐
Hey, just want to say that as someone not usually into the ASCII look I like what you've done with visuals of Dungeon Mercenary. Understandable if you move on, though I think you could go further with Unicode characters (walls โขโ โฉ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ฎ๐ฎ, enemies โ โ๐ท, character ๐ฏ , etc โโ๐ฒโโโฟ๐โโธพ๐ฑ) or even color unicode ๐๐๐๐๐บ๐ช๐ชจ๐. Maybe even some simple combinations (2-3 layers, auras etc)?
Simple polygonal art could also be mixed with this and go a long way. This is possible with tilemaps (using scenes) in Godot 4.X but the main issue would be lack of AA in the web(+mobile?) export or tilemap clunkiness.
Back to your games, I think the biggest issue with UI is mouse-hover descriptions being too overzealous... making enemy descriptions on right-click so you could add pathfinding (when not interrupted) would help. I would probably also make the forge able to merge items per-type (equivalent to melting non-equipped+applying in one step) and also make spells not take (normal) inventory space (or allow them to be merged/recycled in a similar way).
Personally I would like more options/opportunities and especially more slack when it comes to inventory management, as combat will still be the biggest factor.
Unicode characters can go a long way indeed, but... you need to have a bitmap font that has all the ones you want to use :-) The one I used for Dungeon Mercenary was quite complete w.r.t. to others that were available, but it was really years away from the font you have in a browser.
Interesting point about the too many hovers. I had never thought of that.
Thanks for your feedback, very much appreciated ๐
Yeah, I see. I did some basic font tests in Godot, desktop exports seem great for basic unicode characters as system fonts have it. Web exports don't seem to allow any fallbacks, manually downloading Twemoji.Mozilla.ttf gives what I expect for color unicode but doesn't provide the basics except for some that got upgrades. These are vector and I can use multiple fonts (and a custom font providing just what's needed might even be a good option), though using a label in a tilemap is actually a bit clunkier than designing a polygon (for repeating tiles). But it could work (far easier to get the visuals than the rest of a game), though I'm not really a developer.
For some context on my previous comment, I've had a few runs where I get a lot of the same type of equipment but none of it is really better (unforge-able or I'd need to backtrack), which I guess is a common roguelike frustration. I have made it to level 7 a few times, but it's a bit unfortunate that data (scores, achievements) is lost as soon as the page is refreshed. On the pixel version, lacking permadeath is somewhat of a hinderance when I start dying in the 2nd dungeon sooner than the initial death.
Who knows, maybe I'll do another game one day. After Rogue vs Evil, I had planned to stop, and finally I published https://smelc3.itch.io/pixel-card-wars
All my games were dragged down by a clunky UI (UI is hard!) Maybe one day I'll do a UI-less game, such as an infinite roguelike without levels (infinite flat map?). But it will be using another tech than Rogue vs Evil, because I always like to learn something new ๐ธ
Shame. I've just also tried Dugeon Mercenaries and I like them both and think they are great first releases. Personally I'd take these tile graphics and slide them over the other game and try re-release :)
That is why you can find a number of games with these tiles.
Rogue vs Evil is kind of Dungeon Mercenary with tiles :-) although I simplified some mechanics (I removed runes combination for example) which were too hard to describe with text.
Seems a lot like Dungeon Mercenary, but a bit stripped down. I really liked Dungeon Mercenary; the rune system is pretty cool. I'm glad you kept that. I read your blog post about stopping development, and I think that makes sense, but the games were still cool, though.
Thank ChilliTech. Sadly this game did not receive enough positive feedback for me to pursue its development so the last update is likely the last. Thanks for leaving a comment!
I have read your recent blog posts. Truth be told I figure that game development would be tough for an unknown person to set out and create an audience. I have followed several game developers on many websites and most of them struggle with gaining enough popularity. Eventually most just stop pushing out any content. From what I have observed the hardest part of game development is gaining an audience and maintaining that audience. I have followed another game developer called Matt Roszak(KupoGames) for years since I save his game more then a decade ago on a flash game website. He takes years to develop his games but I still check up regularly on his Deviant Art profile.
Recently, this year I started to try and have some activity on itch.io and try and follow game developers but from what I can tell its hard to sort out anything in the chaos when it comes to searching the games here. Unless you have a really large following that rates your game well I think you might just have games lost in the number of games here.
I was just contemplating a few points after reading your game dev blog post. I have also been wondering at the feasibility of creating an online game beyond the game itself, The business of creating an audience is not a little thing.
Anyways Good luck with your future endeavors what ever they may be.
Thanks Hectic for the kind words! It is indeed difficult to maintain an audience, but what I found the hardest was to cope with the fact that there is almost no audience beyond the initial release peak. My games - like many games out there - got buried very quick :-(
Hi blascymot, thanks for taking the time to write! Maybe my postmortem post made you think I was feeling bitter, but I don't :-) I started gamedev because it was a lot of fun. I was aiming for a time consuming game knowingly (i.e. roguelike) because that's the kind of games I wanted to code, I didn't want to do other games beforehand; it wouldn't have been fun.
After three years of coding games, the fun of coding was mostly gone, I had learnt a lot in the framework I was using (and didn't want to try others as I don't have the time resource); and the reward aspect of gamedev wasn't worth it; hence I stopped developing :-) And 4 months later I do not regret it at all ^^ I've read a lot of great books thanks to stopping gamedev, I've redone HL1 solo and I'm on the way of finishing Opposing Force; things that make me happier than coding games ^^
It is not planned at the moment, although I do still support an ASCII backend in my codebase (which is shared between Rogue vs Evil and Dungeon Mercenary). Dungeon Mercenary is a difficult game to extend because of the complex runic boost mechanism. For example, having complete descriptions of the effect of runics (and of applying runics) requires a lot of code and maintenance when things change :-( It's one of the reasons you cannot boost items in Rogue vs Evil.
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Please don't abandon this!
Hey EruditeFigglebottom, thanks for the encouragement, but I indeed stopped developing this game since quite a while. I had written a little postmortem regarding why I stopped it; http://hgamesdev.blogspot.com/2019/01/this-is-end.html
Maybe that will interest you! Cheers and enjoy other games! ๐
Fair nuff!
Hey, just want to say that as someone not usually into the ASCII look I like what you've done with visuals of Dungeon Mercenary. Understandable if you move on, though I think you could go further with Unicode characters (walls โขโ โฉ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ฎ๐ฎ, enemies โ โ๐ท, character ๐ฏ , etc โโ๐ฒโโโฟ๐โโธพ๐ฑ) or even color unicode ๐๐๐๐๐บ๐ช๐ชจ๐. Maybe even some simple combinations (2-3 layers, auras etc)?
Simple polygonal art could also be mixed with this and go a long way. This is possible with tilemaps (using scenes) in Godot 4.X but the main issue would be lack of AA in the web(+mobile?) export or tilemap clunkiness.
Back to your games, I think the biggest issue with UI is mouse-hover descriptions being too overzealous... making enemy descriptions on right-click so you could add pathfinding (when not interrupted) would help. I would probably also make the forge able to merge items per-type (equivalent to melting non-equipped+applying in one step) and also make spells not take (normal) inventory space (or allow them to be merged/recycled in a similar way).
Personally I would like more options/opportunities and especially more slack when it comes to inventory management, as combat will still be the biggest factor.
Hey insomniac_lemon, thanks for the advice ๐
Unicode characters can go a long way indeed, but... you need to have a bitmap font that has all the ones you want to use :-) The one I used for Dungeon Mercenary was quite complete w.r.t. to others that were available, but it was really years away from the font you have in a browser.
Interesting point about the too many hovers. I had never thought of that.
Thanks for your feedback, very much appreciated ๐
Yeah, I see. I did some basic font tests in Godot, desktop exports seem great for basic unicode characters as system fonts have it. Web exports don't seem to allow any fallbacks, manually downloading Twemoji.Mozilla.ttf gives what I expect for color unicode but doesn't provide the basics except for some that got upgrades. These are vector and I can use multiple fonts (and a custom font providing just what's needed might even be a good option), though using a label in a tilemap is actually a bit clunkier than designing a polygon (for repeating tiles). But it could work (far easier to get the visuals than the rest of a game), though I'm not really a developer.
For some context on my previous comment, I've had a few runs where I get a lot of the same type of equipment but none of it is really better (unforge-able or I'd need to backtrack), which I guess is a common roguelike frustration. I have made it to level 7 a few times, but it's a bit unfortunate that data (scores, achievements) is lost as soon as the page is refreshed. On the pixel version, lacking permadeath is somewhat of a hinderance when I start dying in the 2nd dungeon sooner than the initial death.
Who knows, maybe I'll do another game one day. After Rogue vs Evil, I had planned to stop, and finally I published https://smelc3.itch.io/pixel-card-wars
All my games were dragged down by a clunky UI (UI is hard!) Maybe one day I'll do a UI-less game, such as an infinite roguelike without levels (infinite flat map?). But it will be using another tech than Rogue vs Evil, because I always like to learn something new ๐ธ
I like the art style a lot, very simple.
I see you ended development.
Shame. I've just also tried Dugeon Mercenaries and I like them both and think they are great first releases. Personally I'd take these tile graphics and slide them over the other game and try re-release :)
Thank you blightor for leaving a comment! I bought the tiles to this artist: https://www.oryxdesignlab.com
That is why you can find a number of games with these tiles.
Rogue vs Evil is kind of Dungeon Mercenary with tiles :-) although I simplified some mechanics (I removed runes combination for example) which were too hard to describe with text.
I guess I like the new graphics, but the old systems :)
Seems a lot like Dungeon Mercenary, but a bit stripped down. I really liked Dungeon Mercenary; the rune system is pretty cool. I'm glad you kept that. I read your blog post about stopping development, and I think that makes sense, but the games were still cool, though.
Thank you for the nice words xyncht! It's always nice to hear from players!
Thanks FrothFrenzy for these gentle words, they are always appreciated! I'm happy you had some fun, that's the point of gaming after all ^^
This is an awesome game, I love it!
Do you have any plans for further updates?
Thank ChilliTech. Sadly this game did not receive enough positive feedback for me to pursue its development so the last update is likely the last. Thanks for leaving a comment!
I have read your recent blog posts. Truth be told I figure that game development would be tough for an unknown person to set out and create an audience. I have followed several game developers on many websites and most of them struggle with gaining enough popularity. Eventually most just stop pushing out any content. From what I have observed the hardest part of game development is gaining an audience and maintaining that audience. I have followed another game developer called Matt Roszak(KupoGames) for years since I save his game more then a decade ago on a flash game website. He takes years to develop his games but I still check up regularly on his Deviant Art profile.
Recently, this year I started to try and have some activity on itch.io and try and follow game developers but from what I can tell its hard to sort out anything in the chaos when it comes to searching the games here. Unless you have a really large following that rates your game well I think you might just have games lost in the number of games here.
I was just contemplating a few points after reading your game dev blog post. I have also been wondering at the feasibility of creating an online game beyond the game itself, The business of creating an audience is not a little thing.
Anyways Good luck with your future endeavors what ever they may be.
Sincerely a wandering web hermit.
Thanks Hectic for the kind words! It is indeed difficult to maintain an audience, but what I found the hardest was to cope with the fact that there is almost no audience beyond the initial release peak. My games - like many games out there - got buried very quick :-(
Hi blascymot, thanks for taking the time to write! Maybe my postmortem post made you think I was feeling bitter, but I don't :-) I started gamedev because it was a lot of fun. I was aiming for a time consuming game knowingly (i.e. roguelike) because that's the kind of games I wanted to code, I didn't want to do other games beforehand; it wouldn't have been fun.
After three years of coding games, the fun of coding was mostly gone, I had learnt a lot in the framework I was using (and didn't want to try others as I don't have the time resource); and the reward aspect of gamedev wasn't worth it; hence I stopped developing :-) And 4 months later I do not regret it at all ^^ I've read a lot of great books thanks to stopping gamedev, I've redone HL1 solo and I'm on the way of finishing Opposing Force; things that make me happier than coding games ^^
i'm still waiting for dungeon mercenary with graphics
It is not planned at the moment, although I do still support an ASCII backend in my codebase (which is shared between Rogue vs Evil and Dungeon Mercenary). Dungeon Mercenary is a difficult game to extend because of the complex runic boost mechanism. For example, having complete descriptions of the effect of runics (and of applying runics) requires a lot of code and maintenance when things change :-( It's one of the reasons you cannot boost items in Rogue vs Evil.
i will check it out
and now i'm making my own dungeon crawler :)
Nice :-) Any pic of your game ?
it's on very early stages
version 0.00000000000000000000000001