Travis

[ON INDEFINITE HOLD] Pub Crawler

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I wasn't completely sure that I would have time to make a game this time around, and that uncertainty remains, but I'm going to try goshdarnit!!

 

I am basing my game on Nick's endorsement from Episode 3: Finding and frequenting your neighborhood bar. Whether it will make for a good game or not, I decided to do an NES-style mashup of Wizardry/Dragon Warrior (Quest)/the Mac Venture Games. Is this too ambitious for this jam? Probably so, so I am going to adapt as I go. I will try to cut things down to their essence as far as battle/item systems go. Also, I am not sure yet if the game will involve one trip to the bar or let you come and go several times until you can "conquer" it. This whole thing is being developed very free-form, so I just don't know.

 

So far, I have created the basic layout of the screens and started coding up a system to display each space on the map in the "corridor" view window. I also set up the system to display the text character-by-character at a reasonable speed, as shown in my one lowly screenshot so far.

 

neighborhoodbardoor_001.thumb.gif.bbab0cd2756c706d8a03a1ba29bf8fb5.gif

 

Hopefully I can get about done with the mapping/viewing system tonight and then on to movement. 

 

 

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I really like the look of that style of old rpgs/adventure games. If there were multiple bars to visit you could call it a bar crawler :P (one bar is enough, just had to make that dungeon crawler joke)

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5 hours ago, atte said:

I really like the look of that style of old rpgs/adventure games. If there were multiple bars to visit you could call it a bar crawler :P (one bar is enough, just had to make that dungeon crawler joke)

The joke was worth it!

 

I am sitting down to work on the walking (i.e. crawling) mechanics now, and I am tempted to make it procedural... I really don't have a solid plan here.

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I hashed out the basic movement and corridor viewing last night, but had a couple of weird bugs I couldn't figure out. One problem was due to a bug in new versions of Unity and luckily I could work around it. The other bug was... embarrassingly dumb on my part. So it goes. 

 

Here is a gif of moving through a two-square, straight hallway. What a place to explore!! I am hoping to fix up all my art as I go, but we'll see what takes priority. I at least need to make some floor/ceiling images for turning the other directions. There will at least be some doorways here and there, and hopefully some stuff on the walls, etc. to change it up even if I don't have different materials and stuff.

 

It is kind of killing me to not have a transition in the movement and turning, but I guess this is the way things were. It just feels so rough from a more modern perspective. 

 

NeighborhoodBarFirstMovement.gif.aa937bf2a5074c114a4fbb6460604a12.gif

 

Tomorrow I hope to start on having the map populate as you move through the bar. Should be a fun problem!

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Looking good! Yea, turning in some of these old style 3D games were a bit jarring. Maybe you could do something with a screen transition? Like a directional blur or screen wipe to imply turning.

 

Or a popup icon for the direction like these:

turn_icons.PNG.853cfaf1bf2460b410cc5e8eb78640e8.PNG

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On 7/18/2019 at 3:01 PM, RKSanders said:

Looking good! Yea, turning in some of these old style 3D games were a bit jarring. Maybe you could do something with a screen transition? Like a directional blur or screen wipe to imply turning.

 

Or a popup icon for the direction like these:

turn_icons.PNG.853cfaf1bf2460b410cc5e8eb78640e8.PNG

 

Thanks for the icon idea. I was checking out some similar things on... some games. I don't remember which now because I have watched quite a few. Anyway, I basically used that idea in a way that Wizardry does, but I'm only showing forward, back, turn right, or turn left. Thou shalt embrace the tank controls in this dungeon!

 

In addition to that, I have done a lot to rethink the way the whole thing is presented. I now split the side walls into two pieces, showing you the current and next tile. This seems pretty consistent with most dungeon crawlers. This took several revisions and thinkin' sessions to get to this point. I think I am happy enough with it for now. I have to actually make a game at some point.

 

In the gif below, it shows movement through the thrilling three-square-ninety-degree bar! I still need to change the floor/ceiling graphics when you face other directions. That will help with orienting the player a lot. I just was on a coding spree and taking a break from making those sprites (that I am not real happy with). 

 

NeighborhoodBarRefinedMovement.gif.ef638fde4e9ac2a9e50fdc0672ffed7a.gif

 

I have the compass arrow rotating over in the map panel, but the next big thing I will do is get the auto-map working. I would also like to add more of a transition for your movements, but I think I need to leave it alone for now.

 

Hoping to get through with the movement/mapping today so I can start laying out the bar and working on all of the menus I have ahead of me for encounters. Yikes!

 

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This is giving me some real hard Ultima nostalgia! I think the arrows are a good add and yes, tank controls are the way to go. Looking great!

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I really like being able to see the next tile! The pop up icons help a lot. They make me think of a rally racing game  :lol:. Very untapped market: Rally Pub Crawling.

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1 hour ago, RKSanders said:

I really like being able to see the next tile! The pop up icons help a lot. They make me think of a rally racing game  :lol:. Very untapped market: Rally Pub Crawling.

Yeah, I think so. They could use some more flair, but they are better than what was in Wizardry on the Apple II at least :D

 

I threw together some floor/ceiling tiles that look OK (not good) and got the auto mapping working. Now I have started on getting the encounters into actual encounters. I have a long way to go on the code to get them to actually work (and if enough time, fun?).

You can see the auto-mapping and the start of an encounter in the gif below. I will openly admit that I am kitbashing and overpainting the character sprite work of better artists than me. I think they be different enough from the originals to not be obvious, but a super fan might notice some of the borrowed elements. At least that is the plan so far -- again, only have this one guy, so we'll see what happens.

 

Thug.gif.a86e068c5127cc9cf829511087484a30.gif

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Aw yeah, dungeon crawling goodness! I loved these games as a kid (and more recently with Legend of Grimrock 1/2) so I'm super interested in giving this a shot once it's done. Looking great!

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I scrolled down to look through the pics first, as you do...and thought "classic dungeon, great! Wait, what's the theme again?" then scrolled up and saw it was supposed to be a bar and laughed. Perfect setting for a dungeon crawl!

 

Please continue with this! I need this game to exist! 

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Thanks for checking this out, @phill & @z_bill!

 

Progress has been slow, but my current goal is to get all of the systems working by the end of the weekend and then do sprites, music, and other CONTENT before Showcase Weekend. I am half-way done with implementing the encounter system as you can now pick any of the possible options in an encounter... The options just don't do anything yet! That is next on the agenda.

 

5d3cc31d03546_BattleMenus.gif.5dce841df7ffd158d473c18888bb1079.gif

 

I have sketched out some other bar patrons, but have yet to make them actual sprites. Same goes for the bar's layout, title screen, etc. I just haven't had much time, but that's fine. Hoping to update here again before the end of the official jam at least.

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Didn't get as far as I needed to over the weekend, but still think I can get this hashed out before Showcase Weekend!

 

I got the character creation screen all set up and saving your stats to head into the bar. I was hoping to add a couple of ways you could tweak your character instead of just a total random reroll, but I am already late, so this will have to do for now. 

 

I hope you can tell enough what each of the little plots stands for on this screen. I guess if not, refer to the manual that came packaged with the Game Pak.

 

Reroll.gif.7b2d4cb670982d24e03fec4dbd264780.gif

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Well, I was hoping to have something presentable by Showcase Weekend, and I realized on Wednesday night that it just wasn't going to happen with the time I had left. I think I am about half way done with the getting the project to an acceptable state to release. So, I decided I need to shelve this until... Wizard Jam X? I still like what I had going, and I liked my basic "battle" system. I could just tell I might have had time to get it coded up, but no time to tune it at all, and it will definitely need some tuning.

 

I just didn't have the time this jam to actually put in big chunks of work like I needed to.

 

I did learn some things, though:

1. I like making RPG battle systems, even if they're ridiculous. The jury is still out on if I like to fine tune them and make them fun.

2. I was never good at pixel art, even when I was spending a small amount of time working on it -- which was a long time ago.

3. Old school first person dungeon layouts are trickier than you would think. I only got one set of "art" together and figuring out how to fit everything together made my brain hurt.

4. Laying out UI with giant chunky 8-bit text is super challenging. I think I got it somewhat passable, but parts are still somewhat goofy.

As a parting gift, here is the somewhat improved thug seen in the screens above after I up-rezzed him to fit in the corridor better (he is scaled large above before I cleaned him up). Still needs a few refinements, but he was almost done.

 

Thug.png.f1f588cbc0f8eb22a72c07a7aaaa17b3.png

 

Thanks for reading, and maybe we'll pick this back up next time.

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