I beat a few villages and got to level 8 with Brad Pitt. The combat is what you would expect for turn based rpgs, but got better with the auto battle feature, I'd like an option to keep it on between fights. The movement system was interesting, but it sometimes got old when I would stop before a town and get a stronger monster that would half my health before a boss fight. I also found a bug where I could no longer switch menus, caused by perhaps clicking through the skill menu and clicking training and clicking around that menu. Why did you put Brad Pit in the game? Can you get more party members? Is there equipment to find? What are your plans for the single player game past this? I've tried my hand at my own ttrpg homebrews and systems so I commend your effort and am super curious to see where this goes next. (I didn't read the manuals sorry)
Woah, thank you for playing that much! In terms of this demo's scope, Lv. 8 is actually way into the lategame, kek!
I'd like an option to keep it [the auto battle feature] on between fights
I see... an unexpected request (these are honestly the best, because I wouldn't think of them on my own, even as the demand might be out there). Engagements are indeed kinda one-note at the moment, but permanent Turbo mode may not be the best choice in future versions, when at least some of the encounters, statistically speaking, will be bad matchups against your party. Anyway, I want player choice to be king, so I will add this as an option right in the next build! Each team will be able to toggle it separately when configuring a new game session and also from the party menu in between battles.
I also found a bug where I could no longer switch menus, caused by perhaps clicking through the skill menu and clicking training and clicking around that menu
I will spend some time with the buttons on that screen and see if I can find anything wrong. However, there's a chance you're referring to intended behavior -- when the Use skill or Training options are selected, I do lock down switching between party members and screens. I think this might be good UX; you don't wanna switch screens by accident while using a skill or reading through your training list. I think that clicking the relevant button again shall fix things. In any case, I'll be investigating everything in a few days (I'm currently out of town)
Why did you put Brad Pit in the game?
Other than David Bowie and crew, none of the other featured characters are actually hardcoded into the engine. Since the beginning of the project, I've been asking IRL friends to send me themed teams of four to use as sample characters in my game. Some did. I credit these friends in the Readme file. The same dude whomst created the team with Brad Pitt also submitted Ryan Gosling, a move which ultimately granted me the great honor of appearing on post >>493606630. If I ever get to monetize the game, I might have to send him royalties... All in all, this is just a demonstration of the customization capabilities of the 18-28-38-48 engine. You can add any mugshot to the Customization folder and play as them in the game. This is ultimately a TTRPG, after all. I'm working on streamlining this customization process, so instead of using a strip of 16 characters and .ini files, you'll be able to drag a named 64x64 image into the folder and then be ready to go. I expect this change to be fully functional in DD60.
Can you get more party members? Is there equipment to find?
Currently, you can add more party members by pressing F10 in the party menu and typing a command in the console that pops up (there are templates for all accepted commands there). For example, "party\animal\Dog\8\F:Angelina" will give Brad a Lv. 8 bitch named Angelina. However, as you might have gleaned from the greyed out "Communicate" option during battle, I'm still working on the feature that will let you recruit monsters and animals by bribing them with items and manipulating their emotions (Acceptance, Anger, Anticipation, Fear, Disgust, Joy, Sorrow and Surprise) through a mini-game. I'm not a good dev, but if I'm lucky, the final result has the potential to be fire (see "Reference - Communication.txt" if you have the time). Uh, you'll also be able to forcefully catch them with special items if you prefer. It's like... Shin Pokémon Tensei. You'll be the first person to see the emotion icons. They're based on the Plutchik system. The same goes for equipment; you may add something to your inventory through the "arms\*" or "gear\*" inputs. The citadel sells Lv. 4-tier equipment, but I can't remember if I put Lv. 8-tier equipment on the shops of other cities. I think I didn't; the code is a mess rn. But of course, as development advances, you will get more equipment as enemy drops and inside metallic or red/blue wooden chests as planned.
What are your plans for the single player game past this?
Well, the idea as of now is to spruce up the basic gameplay loop with Avellone/Obsidian-type sidequests that will introduce players to the canon cast and unique mechanics and locations every now and then; ideally so much content spread across the in-game world that seeing everything in a single playthrough should be impractical. We spoke of customization earlier... all quests are customizable via .txt files, so a time may come where someone else other than me is writing new quest modules and sharing them. A man can dream. By the way, did you get to trigger "This Way Madness Lies" while walking around? I tested it from scratch once and fulfilled the conditions at Lv. 6. Um, it's supposed to be a bit of luck-based find and hit you out of nowhere, so... just curious. I also want to make a walking simulator inside the game, accessible only when a single team is in play. GMS2.3 uses matrix functions and stuff (out of my expertise) to simulate raycasting, but one day I realized during work that I could just work on a 2D version of the dungeon crawler as I try to learn the ways of the blobber.
(I didn't read the manuals sorry)
NP. But give the Readme a peek in the next DD. Ur name will be there.
I figured that's what happened with the bug, but I couldn't revert it back and it just ended up not letting me use any menus even after I closed and reopened it. The customization sounds cool, but I would love to see the main cast and perhaps you can make their selection big/recommended and still allow custom parties. The recruitment sounds awesome, and I look forward to any additions you make in that sense alongside equipment drops. I didn't trigger that event surprisingly, but I'll make sure I get it next time and of course I'll check out the readme. Best of luck devving and I hope to see you submit more.
players should be able to skip the text faster by pressing LMB
This is in the works. You see, in the previous build, you would get a crash when clicking the message box too fast and also while pressing RMB when presented with choices. Finding and fixing two game-breaking bugs such as these was a good enough job for a build which I only worked for two weeks, so I decided to leave the message system alone for the time being, lest I messed up something else so close to DD59. But this feature will be there in DD60, rest assured.
sometimes when i clicked with my mouse during movement below the character it tried to move to the sides instead
Mouse movement decides where you'll go by dividing the screen in a "X" shape. As you can only walk in the compass directions, the device will have to decide where you mean to walk to if you happen to click a diagonal point in the screen. In other words, if you click below the character, but just the slightest bit to the side (as the computer detects it), you move to the side. That's just how geometry works. The best I can do is adding a subtle visual effect that previews the direction you'll move to. I was already thinking of something similar purely as flair, but you made me realize that this is a QoL function that should get in at once. There's a bit of jank when moving with the mouse that you don't get while moving with the keyboard... I don't know why that is, but I'll look into this when I implement your suggestion. And also stepping back by right-clicking.
why do i have to click begin turn after selecting the attack and selecting the target? it just makes everything even slower
This being a strategy game, the player might feel the need to revise the instructions they gave to their characters before kicking off the turn, in case they misclicked or changed their minds about something. But you can also always use the Turbo button to autofight as quick as possible, with auto-targetting and no confirmation prompts. I shall add a new customization option that will let each team decide whether they want to see the prompt before starting the turn or not. Based on your feedback, I'll leave this option OFF by default.
also, selecting the enemy to attack is kind of finnicky, with the box to click on being smaller than it should be
Well, the character's picture is the hitbox. I thought that would be intuitive enough. But, in fact... there's a really, really old version of this game -- I was still using GameMaker Legacy -- where you could select any character from the large transparent border that you can see around the characters when a turn is progressing. The only problem is that the game window was only 480x360 at the time. We can work with something similar now, right? I'll do a few tests and expand the collision box if everything works out fine.
i hate to crab, but i genuinely struggle to see the appeal of this game.
Don't worry, fren. I still have a lifetime in front of me to add appeal to the game if there isn't any. It's my passion project. Hundreds of people are running D&D this Saturday morning and even playing Dokapon on Steam at this exact moment... there's still hope.
You, have a great weekend and thanks for playing Journey Zero (18-28-38-48) again.
Comments
I beat a few villages and got to level 8 with Brad Pitt. The combat is what you would expect for turn based rpgs, but got better with the auto battle feature, I'd like an option to keep it on between fights. The movement system was interesting, but it sometimes got old when I would stop before a town and get a stronger monster that would half my health before a boss fight. I also found a bug where I could no longer switch menus, caused by perhaps clicking through the skill menu and clicking training and clicking around that menu. Why did you put Brad Pit in the game? Can you get more party members? Is there equipment to find? What are your plans for the single player game past this? I've tried my hand at my own ttrpg homebrews and systems so I commend your effort and am super curious to see where this goes next. (I didn't read the manuals sorry)
Woah, thank you for playing that much! In terms of this demo's scope, Lv. 8 is actually way into the lategame, kek!
I see... an unexpected request (these are honestly the best, because I wouldn't think of them on my own, even as the demand might be out there). Engagements are indeed kinda one-note at the moment, but permanent Turbo mode may not be the best choice in future versions, when at least some of the encounters, statistically speaking, will be bad matchups against your party. Anyway, I want player choice to be king, so I will add this as an option right in the next build! Each team will be able to toggle it separately when configuring a new game session and also from the party menu in between battles.
I will spend some time with the buttons on that screen and see if I can find anything wrong. However, there's a chance you're referring to intended behavior -- when the Use skill or Training options are selected, I do lock down switching between party members and screens. I think this might be good UX; you don't wanna switch screens by accident while using a skill or reading through your training list. I think that clicking the relevant button again shall fix things. In any case, I'll be investigating everything in a few days (I'm currently out of town)
Other than David Bowie and crew, none of the other featured characters are actually hardcoded into the engine. Since the beginning of the project, I've been asking IRL friends to send me themed teams of four to use as sample characters in my game. Some did. I credit these friends in the Readme file. The same dude whomst created the team with Brad Pitt also submitted Ryan Gosling, a move which ultimately granted me the great honor of appearing on post >>493606630. If I ever get to monetize the game, I might have to send him royalties...
All in all, this is just a demonstration of the customization capabilities of the 18-28-38-48 engine. You can add any mugshot to the Customization folder and play as them in the game. This is ultimately a TTRPG, after all. I'm working on streamlining this customization process, so instead of using a strip of 16 characters and .ini files, you'll be able to drag a named 64x64 image into the folder and then be ready to go. I expect this change to be fully functional in DD60.
Currently, you can add more party members by pressing F10 in the party menu and typing a command in the console that pops up (there are templates for all accepted commands there). For example, "party\animal\Dog\8\F:Angelina" will give Brad a Lv. 8 bitch named Angelina.
However, as you might have gleaned from the greyed out "Communicate" option during battle, I'm still working on the feature that will let you recruit monsters and animals by bribing them with items and manipulating their emotions (Acceptance, Anger, Anticipation, Fear, Disgust, Joy, Sorrow and Surprise) through a mini-game. I'm not a good dev, but if I'm lucky, the final result has the potential to be fire (see "Reference - Communication.txt" if you have the time). Uh, you'll also be able to forcefully catch them with special items if you prefer. It's like... Shin Pokémon Tensei.
You'll be the first person to see the emotion icons. They're based on the Plutchik system.
The same goes for equipment; you may add something to your inventory through the "arms\*" or "gear\*" inputs. The citadel sells Lv. 4-tier equipment, but I can't remember if I put Lv. 8-tier equipment on the shops of other cities. I think I didn't; the code is a mess rn. But of course, as development advances, you will get more equipment as enemy drops and inside metallic or red/blue wooden chests as planned.
Well, the idea as of now is to spruce up the basic gameplay loop with Avellone/Obsidian-type sidequests that will introduce players to the canon cast and unique mechanics and locations every now and then; ideally so much content spread across the in-game world that seeing everything in a single playthrough should be impractical. We spoke of customization earlier... all quests are customizable via .txt files, so a time may come where someone else other than me is writing new quest modules and sharing them. A man can dream.
By the way, did you get to trigger "This Way Madness Lies" while walking around? I tested it from scratch once and fulfilled the conditions at Lv. 6. Um, it's supposed to be a bit of luck-based find and hit you out of nowhere, so... just curious.
I also want to make a walking simulator inside the game, accessible only when a single team is in play. GMS2.3 uses matrix functions and stuff (out of my expertise) to simulate raycasting, but one day I realized during work that I could just work on a 2D version of the dungeon crawler as I try to learn the ways of the blobber.
NP. But give the Readme a peek in the next DD. Ur name will be there.
I figured that's what happened with the bug, but I couldn't revert it back and it just ended up not letting me use any menus even after I closed and reopened it. The customization sounds cool, but I would love to see the main cast and perhaps you can make their selection big/recommended and still allow custom parties. The recruitment sounds awesome, and I look forward to any additions you make in that sense alongside equipment drops. I didn't trigger that event surprisingly, but I'll make sure I get it next time and of course I'll check out the readme. Best of luck devving and I hope to see you submit more.
players should be able to skip the text faster by pressing LMB
sometimes when i clicked with my mouse during movement below the character it tried to move to the sides instead
why do i have to click begin turn after selecting the attack and selecting the target? it just makes everything even slower
also, selecting the enemy to attack is kind of finnicky, with the box to click on being smaller than it should be
i hate to crab, but i genuinely struggle to see the appeal of this game. is it really a game even?
it is a game... in my mind.....
This is in the works. You see, in the previous build, you would get a crash when clicking the message box too fast and also while pressing RMB when presented with choices. Finding and fixing two game-breaking bugs such as these was a good enough job for a build which I only worked for two weeks, so I decided to leave the message system alone for the time being, lest I messed up something else so close to DD59. But this feature will be there in DD60, rest assured.
Mouse movement decides where you'll go by dividing the screen in a "X" shape. As you can only walk in the compass directions, the device will have to decide where you mean to walk to if you happen to click a diagonal point in the screen. In other words, if you click below the character, but just the slightest bit to the side (as the computer detects it), you move to the side. That's just how geometry works. The best I can do is adding a subtle visual effect that previews the direction you'll move to. I was already thinking of something similar purely as flair, but you made me realize that this is a QoL function that should get in at once.
There's a bit of jank when moving with the mouse that you don't get while moving with the keyboard... I don't know why that is, but I'll look into this when I implement your suggestion. And also stepping back by right-clicking.
This being a strategy game, the player might feel the need to revise the instructions they gave to their characters before kicking off the turn, in case they misclicked or changed their minds about something. But you can also always use the Turbo button to autofight as quick as possible, with auto-targetting and no confirmation prompts.
I shall add a new customization option that will let each team decide whether they want to see the prompt before starting the turn or not. Based on your feedback, I'll leave this option OFF by default.
Well, the character's picture is the hitbox. I thought that would be intuitive enough. But, in fact... there's a really, really old version of this game -- I was still using GameMaker Legacy -- where you could select any character from the large transparent border that you can see around the characters when a turn is progressing. The only problem is that the game window was only 480x360 at the time. We can work with something similar now, right? I'll do a few tests and expand the collision box if everything works out fine.
Don't worry, fren. I still have a lifetime in front of me to add appeal to the game if there isn't any. It's my passion project.
Hundreds of people are running D&D this Saturday morning and even playing Dokapon on Steam at this exact moment... there's still hope.
You, have a great weekend and thanks for playing Journey Zero (18-28-38-48) again.