Indie Lurking II: A Madness

[oklabsoft]

Looking good! Are you still set for Winter 2017?

I am very optimistic. We have come extraordinarily far in just over 12 months.

 

[oklabsoft]

A few samples of the enormous number of character 'look' possibilities under L2's 'paper doll' system.

https://oklabsoft.itch.io/lurking-ii-a-madness

 

[ShaggyMoose]

I thought the above were created characters, but watching the GIF on the website it looks like the above are mostly due to equipped gear? If that is the case, that is awesome as long as a) there is enough visual variation in gear and b) there isn't a single common set of "best gear" that everyone ends up wearing so they look identical. This happened frequently in Ultima games and I found it ended up making the paper doll system fairly worthless from an aesthetics perspective.

 

[oklabsoft]

I thought the above were created characters, but watching the GIF on the website it looks like the above are mostly due to equipped gear? If that is the case, that is awesome as long as a) there is enough visual variation in gear and b) there isn't a single common set of "best gear" that everyone ends up wearing so they look identical. This happened frequently in Ultima games and I found it ended up making the paper doll system fairly worthless from an aesthetics perspective.

Very good point and check to both. Although character creation is classless, optimally developing characters toward a skill (or skills) requires careful choices. Since items have an encumbrance and your ability to equip heavier items is based on strength, only characters optimized so will be able to equip the heaviest and most protective gear. Also, use of some skills such as bard songs require that an instrument be equipped. There is plenty of variation among clothing items and many unique items as well... Some may be found and some may be produced but once and even these involve choice as to the item produced. Missile fire weapons are handy but are a detriment to attempt to use in close quarters with enemies as many times you will not be able to get the shot off and essentially lose a battle turn for trying. I think you will love the character development choices in L2.

 

[oklabsoft]

About 80% done.

 

[Wayward Son]

 

[oklabsoft]

Drawing ever closer to "completion" meaning a game that can be played through to end. One 'boss battle' to handle with trappings and the end game sequences which are SO important to get right here. Of course there will be all of the... You know, microissues to handle and probably farther from the goal than I think but I hope to have some select testers playing within a few months. Really appreciate the interest and support of codex members. Amongst it all I am quite proud of my soundtrack which ended up being relatively short but I think works nicely. If interested you can listen here:

https://youtu.be/XapcWAELxoI

 

[Jack Dandy]

The Darkness Below sounds very dungeon-y.

 

[biggestboss]

Moar

 

[oklabsoft]

90%... The Madness cometh.

 

[CryptRat]

My notebook is ready.

 

[oklabsoft]

Completed the end sequence today, a task I had been dreading. It came out great but needs some tweaking as far as timing and music sync. Other than that a few minor details to wrap up and then we should be starting dev play-through's and cleaning up as we go within the next few weeks.

 

[oklabsoft]

Lurking II: A Madness is now in the hands of several private testers. The over-world alone consists of 2 layers of 810,000 tiles. The Deep below is riddled with endless caverns, not to mention The Deeper and the rumored Deepest. There are nearly 500 NPCs and their dialogues make up an Open Office document over 250 pages long. There are over 300 items. Up to 12 characters can share time in the party of up to 5, being dropped and added at will at your nearest adventurer guild. Awesome OGS, spells, songs, skills, puzzles, and... excellent turn-based combat - Ultima IV as it should have been. Release is possible as soon as mid-February and Oxford just called to obtain a new dictionary definition for 'incline'.

 

[AdolfSatan]

There are nearly 500 NPCs and their dialogues make up an Open Office document over 250 pages long (...) Oxford just called to obtain a new dictionary definition for 'incline'.

I remember a company that not too long ago was boasting about having made an rpg that featured over 1.2 million words to be read. Never mentioned anything about the quality of that writing or its consistency though.
Anyone remember the name? I've got it at the tip of my tongue but it escapes me.

Honestly though, I hope you make me eat my words. Those screenshots look beautiful.

 

[oklabsoft]

There are nearly 500 NPCs and their dialogues make up an Open Office document over 250 pages long (...) Oxford just called to obtain a new dictionary definition for 'incline'.

I remember a company that not too long ago was boasting about having made an rpg that featured over 1.2 million words to be read. Never mentioned anything about the quality of that writing or its consistency though.
Anyone remember the name? I've got it at the tip of my tongue but it escapes me.

Honestly though, I hope you make me eat my words. Those screenshots look beautiful.

Thanks!

 

[ShaggyMoose]

Bring it on!

Where will the game be available for sale?

 

[k0syak]

There are nearly 500 NPCs and their dialogues make up an Open Office document over 250 pages long (...) Oxford just called to obtain a new dictionary definition for 'incline'.

I remember a company that not too long ago was boasting about having made an rpg that featured over 1.2 million words to be read. Never mentioned anything about the quality of that writing or its consistency though.
Anyone remember the name? I've got it at the tip of my tongue but it escapes me.

Honestly though, I hope you make me eat my words. Those screenshots look beautiful.

Have you played Lurking?

 

[oklabsoft]

Bring it on!

Where will the game be available for sale?

Well, as per an email I received this morning it won't be on GOG. So it will be here (on itch) if nowhere else: https://oklabsoft.itch.io/lurking-ii-a-madness

 

[agris]

Bring it on!

Where will the game be available for sale?

Well, as per an email I received this morning it won't be on GOG. So it will be here (on itch) if nowhere else: https://oklabsoft.itch.io/lurking-ii-a-madness

Dude, you gotta pay and get on steam. If you have any financial expectations for Lurking II at all, it needs eyeballs and itch isn't going to provide enough of them.

I say this out of hope for a great game, not to pointlessly criticize.

 

[oklabsoft]

Bring it on!

Where will the game be available for sale?

Well, as per an email I received this morning it won't be on GOG. So it will be here (on itch) if nowhere else: https://oklabsoft.itch.io/lurking-ii-a-madness

Dude, you gotta pay and get on steam. If you have any financial expectations for Lurking II at all, it needs eyeballs and itch isn't going to provide enough of them.

I say this out of hope for a great game, not to pointlessly criticize.

Thanks. You are probably right. I had some question about any requirements they had for integration of DRM-related material into the game code of which I emailed them a few months ago and they never responded to my question. Guess I will try again.

 

[Jack Dandy]

Also, put link to the game site in your signature, dumdum.

Never underestimate the magnitude of human laziness!

 

[oklabsoft]

Also, put link to the game site in your signature, dumdum.

Never underestimate the magnitude of human laziness!

 

[ShaggyMoose]

Also, Steam achievements and cards. Not sure what the magnitude of effort and cost is for implementing these, but they do seem to generate interest. Mostly it seems pointless (to me at least), but I do appreciate it when developers go out of their way to set challenges or encourage obscure activities through achievements. Vanilla stuff like "reached level 1", "reached level 2", "used the quit" button are pretty much just trash. On the other hand, "defeat Satan using a squirrel on a stick" is like challenge accepted!

 

[oklabsoft]

Anyone know any developers on that have a game on steam? I tried pm to one but no response.

 

[SausageInYourFace]

There are a ton of devs with steam games on here. Maybe you wanna begin with Vault Dweller or MRY, they are pretty profilic posters. But there are many more. Check the posters I stalk, all of them are devs (many dead accounts though).