Development on Generiquest has been a bit slow since I added the last dungeon.
Since then I have rebalanced everything in the game, quests, enemies, dungeons and all player skills. On top of that I have fixed a few bugs and other issues and added one or two new features.
The reason development has been slow is simple. I got 3 new games on Friday. Hahaha.
Anyway, currently adding the Hunter class to the game, I've finished 11 of 24 of their skills.
They will get bow related skills, this includes various attacks, self buffs and increased effectiveness with bows.
They will also get trap related abilities. They get 6 types of traps all designed to in someway slow down or disable the enemy and stop it from getting to the Hunter.
They will also get the ability to summon a special animal companion. This companion will have various abilities and will grow in level with the Hunter.
However, they can only pick one companion from 4 types. A Bear which will act as a tank, a Tiger which will be a damage dealing pet, a Wolf which will be inbetween those two, and a Storm Crow, which will be a poor combat pet, but provide superior supportive and debuffing abilities.
The plan is to fully add the Hunter class by the end of Tuesday (have work tomorrow, but only for 7 hours, so I can get a bit of work done on them tomorrow).
After that the plan is to add 1, possibly 2 new dungeons by Friday. One of the dungeons is half finished, and will be for level 15-20 players. But before this dungeon is finished my intention is to add the secondary part of the underwater cave, for level 10-16 players.
After that, who knows!
I keep trying to fix a lot of small issues and add some little things to the game (I intend on totally reworking the aggro system for example), but people playing the game want stuff to do and are getting bored without new stuff. And there is little point in me fixing all this little stuff when no one is even bothering to play anymore.
After adding the next 2 dungeons I will likely work on another class. Which will bring the total number of finished classes to 6 (out of 12), then I might just give each other class a few skills (4-8), then just cram the game with as much new dungeons, quests and what not as possible, while adding a few skills for some classes when and where I get the chance. (Adding some skills is quick and easy, an attack skill is as simple as typing in it's name and a few numbers, but for skills with more unique effects they take longer. I could add all of the elementalists Lightning skills in about 10 minutes, since all they do is basically damage and the occasional stun, but adding their fire and ice skills would take much longer).
That is all for now, because I am off to bed!
I concur with Mikau. Build the game and the players will come. If they don't... I'll make them go!
People are put off by alpha stages. Take your time, do as you are now, and fix bugs as they're found. Update the hub page to be a little more appealing, and add some banners and whatnot. | |
Build the game to function first, glamor can come later. As long as your game is built properly, you can add that extra dungeon any time. However, if you build too much now before core functions are done, it can become quite tedious to try and fix later.
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Mikau wrote:
Build the game to function first, glamor can come later. As long as your game is built properly, you can add that extra dungeon any time. However, if you build too much now before core functions are done, it can become quite tedious to try and fix later. The core of the game so to say is done. All the systems the game needs are more or less in place. Except for one or two systems unique to unfinished classes that is. The problems are that this stuff all needs testing, a lot of stuff can be used in various ways, and cannot be tested without making stuff for people to test... And people to test it. | |
The game itself tends to freeze a lot. It looks really cool on the inside, you could do more as far as hyping it up goes, like give it a pretty hub icon and title screen.
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IcewarriorX wrote:
The game itself tends to freeze a lot. It looks really cool on the inside, you could do more as far as hyping it up goes, like give it a pretty hub icon and title screen. You are the only person who has reported any problems like this. Though it could be due to either my computer having been on for a few weeks now, or my internet connection. Which has an excellent download speed, but the upload speed (which is what is important) probably will lag with anymore than 8-10 people. (This is partly the reason I am not trying to hype the game too much at the moment, if suddenly 20 people tried playing it the game would lack way to much to even be playable) Anyway... I'd give the game pretty stuff, but I am not a very good artist. I think the login/title screen is pretty ace to be honest! But most people don't seem to get the humor behind it. I'll work on making the hub look better, and maybe a small website to advertise it and give more detailed information too. | |
Also, I played it but not for too long because I found myself completly lost as I began to play. Maybe you could look into that?
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DisturbedSixx wrote:
Also, I played it but not for too long because I found myself completly lost as I began to play. Maybe you could look into that? I have given new players plenty of things to do that will ease them into the game. Initially there is a short tutorial that teaches basic game commands. This expands into a few quests that teach players where important locations for getting prepared are, then points them in the right direction. On top of that there is a guide book that gives things like a detailed map with important locations highlighted and other important info. As far as I am concerned, new players have nearly everything they need to get into the game. Except for a detailed help file. If they choose to ignore everything I have added to help them then that is their problem, not mine. | |
Nobody likes a walk-through tutorial. Documents in the style of a game manual is more ideal.
I honestly skip the tutorial for the simple fact that I don't feel like talking to 12 different mobs to learn how to play the game. It takes more time wandering between the mobs following their order than it does to actually just read "push a to attack" | |
Mikau wrote:
Nobody likes a walk-through tutorial. Documents in the style of a game manual is more ideal. The tutorial is purposely made as short and simple as possible for this reason. The tutorial takes like... 20 seconds to complete. It consists of "arrow keys to move, click on NPCs to talk to them, G picks up items, and A attacks". After that the tutorial expands into several quests which will basically get you some starting equipment and skills (you don't even need to do these quests, these are the first 2 things any new player is told to do, but doing them rewards exp and gold as well). Like I said, if you don't follow this tutorial, and don't know what to do and get lost... That is your problem, not mine. I mean, it's not like it is hard to follow a 20s long tutorial, plus 2 quests that are about a minute long each. The game purposely provides you with everything you need to know about how to play the game as soon as you log in. Ignoring it then saying you didn't even know what to do is a pretty dumb thing to do if you ask me! | |
My tutorial approach will be sending a player on a quest when they make a new character, and as they go through the relatively small quest (picking up a pair of shoes from someone or something), the basics of the game will be explained as they go.
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To hell with them. You need to stop thinking about a player count, and do the game however you want, and work on whatever you want. Build the game, and the players will come.