Kitchen Utensil
Guest
All by myself, yes
That has one disadvantage: When I'm very busy in my dayjob, the development slows down.
[...]
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KickStarter Monomyth - A first person action RPG/dungeon crawler - now in Open Backer Beta
- Thread starter RatTower
- Start date
DJOGamer PT
Arcane
I beg to differ...
DJOGamer PT
Arcane
Deus Ex is better.
V_K
Arcane
...and it's called Underworld: Ascendant.
Feargus Jewhart
Savant
DJOGamer PT
Arcane
RatTower
Arcane
- Joined
- Apr 24, 2017
- Messages
- 470
Sure, can't hurt.
The "bad" news first:
I probably don't have to tell you, but the alpha won't make it this year.
The good news is:
It's on the way and it's making solid progress every week.
There are still things to create, fix and polish. I'll keep this short and snappy
Level Design:
I decided the alpha will be set in an entrance area of Lysandria. This is early enough in the game to test some base mechanics without wasting time on a tutorial (for the alpha I'll just assume people have played a video game before).
The alpha zone is blocked out and connected to some of the stuff I did before (most of those caves you might have seen in tweets are a bit deeper down). What's been extra useful here were subtractive brushes - a practice I never liked much, but for interiors with lots of secret doors and stashes they are actually quite useful. Especially if you do several iterations on a single zone. This way it's really simple getting a proper level down and then throwing in secrets here and there. If you played KF you should feel right at home.
Talking of King's Field: I gave the textures an overhaul so now the whole scenario feels a bit grittier.
All screenshots very much WIP and super secret:
The area is still missing a proper lighting and detail pass (foliage, rocks on the ground, particle effects etc). But I can only do that once I transform geometry brushes into static meshes. That is coming once I'm done with...
Quest Design:
With the zone fully blocked out I started putting together some blueprints/scripts to actually get some challenges going in the level. I'm currently filling the alpha area with small tasks which could be seen as "side quests" - though there are no quests only hints on what's going on. The big "main quest" of the alpha zone will be relatively straight forward but I'm planning at least two different ways to solve it. That still has to be done. Coding wise it shouldn't be a big problem. It's mostly design work, like spreading items across the map.
AI & Combat:
Combat is getting better and more the way I wanted it from the very beginning. I added an AI state for defense so enemies can't be painstunned and steamrolled that easily anymore.
While the AI can handle ranged attacks, that system still needs to be reworked. Slimes can hurl their acid at you and technically an archer could fire a bow, but for example, not off a bridge. They currently have to be at the same height level, which is stupid, but a quick fix to get the AI architecture down. Supportive actions still require a proper weighting technique (to figure out e.g. when to heal or use a strength spell). These things will probably require a bit of work - but they are pretty much the last thing that might be tricky. Other than that, coding activities are slowly moving away from feature implementation towards bug fixing and map scripting.
Animations are getting better. This is still my weak spot, however I reactivated root motions for enemies, which adds a lot to combat in general (with root motions enemies can for example move forward during attacks or perform jump attacks).
Also I made the player's regular slashing attack a little faster/more fluid, so together with new sounds and camera effects combat feels a lot more satisfying now.
Other stuff:
Yesterday I finally figured out an issue I had for a while with compiling and deploying the entire project. This was quite a relief actually and shouldn't just be mentioned in a sidenote, but it's not really relevant to the player and more of a development thing.
There was an old interface that caused an unknown compilation error and crashed UE4's building process. Without building, no deployed version and no alpha, so fixing that certainly helped.
Other than that, menus still need an overhaul.
Aaaand I think those are the most obvious issues I still have to work on.
I still got my TODO list for the alpha which also contains smaller stuff but that shouldn't be too much of an issue.
I still got a week of vacation in the new year and I'll probably put most of that time into level and quest design. So we'll see how much I'll get done and how much work is still required after that.
Either way it's making some very good progress and I should soon be starting a tiny closed alpha with friends and family. Then I hope we can slowly get more people involved and finally release the thing for you folks to test.
On a side note:
I've been playing a bit of Ultima Underworld 2 lately and started Wizardry 6 to get some classic dungeon inspiration. If there are any dungeons you particularly liked (game and genre doesn't matter), please let me know. I know KF, Arx and UU very well but the more research I can do on this, the better.
The "bad" news first:
I probably don't have to tell you, but the alpha won't make it this year.
The good news is:
It's on the way and it's making solid progress every week.
There are still things to create, fix and polish. I'll keep this short and snappy
Level Design:
I decided the alpha will be set in an entrance area of Lysandria. This is early enough in the game to test some base mechanics without wasting time on a tutorial (for the alpha I'll just assume people have played a video game before).
The alpha zone is blocked out and connected to some of the stuff I did before (most of those caves you might have seen in tweets are a bit deeper down). What's been extra useful here were subtractive brushes - a practice I never liked much, but for interiors with lots of secret doors and stashes they are actually quite useful. Especially if you do several iterations on a single zone. This way it's really simple getting a proper level down and then throwing in secrets here and there. If you played KF you should feel right at home.
Talking of King's Field: I gave the textures an overhaul so now the whole scenario feels a bit grittier.
All screenshots very much WIP and super secret:
The area is still missing a proper lighting and detail pass (foliage, rocks on the ground, particle effects etc). But I can only do that once I transform geometry brushes into static meshes. That is coming once I'm done with...
Quest Design:
With the zone fully blocked out I started putting together some blueprints/scripts to actually get some challenges going in the level. I'm currently filling the alpha area with small tasks which could be seen as "side quests" - though there are no quests only hints on what's going on. The big "main quest" of the alpha zone will be relatively straight forward but I'm planning at least two different ways to solve it. That still has to be done. Coding wise it shouldn't be a big problem. It's mostly design work, like spreading items across the map.
AI & Combat:
Combat is getting better and more the way I wanted it from the very beginning. I added an AI state for defense so enemies can't be painstunned and steamrolled that easily anymore.
While the AI can handle ranged attacks, that system still needs to be reworked. Slimes can hurl their acid at you and technically an archer could fire a bow, but for example, not off a bridge. They currently have to be at the same height level, which is stupid, but a quick fix to get the AI architecture down. Supportive actions still require a proper weighting technique (to figure out e.g. when to heal or use a strength spell). These things will probably require a bit of work - but they are pretty much the last thing that might be tricky. Other than that, coding activities are slowly moving away from feature implementation towards bug fixing and map scripting.
Animations are getting better. This is still my weak spot, however I reactivated root motions for enemies, which adds a lot to combat in general (with root motions enemies can for example move forward during attacks or perform jump attacks).
Also I made the player's regular slashing attack a little faster/more fluid, so together with new sounds and camera effects combat feels a lot more satisfying now.
Other stuff:
Yesterday I finally figured out an issue I had for a while with compiling and deploying the entire project. This was quite a relief actually and shouldn't just be mentioned in a sidenote, but it's not really relevant to the player and more of a development thing.
There was an old interface that caused an unknown compilation error and crashed UE4's building process. Without building, no deployed version and no alpha, so fixing that certainly helped.
Other than that, menus still need an overhaul.
Aaaand I think those are the most obvious issues I still have to work on.
I still got my TODO list for the alpha which also contains smaller stuff but that shouldn't be too much of an issue.
I still got a week of vacation in the new year and I'll probably put most of that time into level and quest design. So we'll see how much I'll get done and how much work is still required after that.
Either way it's making some very good progress and I should soon be starting a tiny closed alpha with friends and family. Then I hope we can slowly get more people involved and finally release the thing for you folks to test.
On a side note:
I've been playing a bit of Ultima Underworld 2 lately and started Wizardry 6 to get some classic dungeon inspiration. If there are any dungeons you particularly liked (game and genre doesn't matter), please let me know. I know KF, Arx and UU very well but the more research I can do on this, the better.
Last edited:
DJOGamer PT
Arcane
Wiz 6 is a good choice. It's ripe with atmosphere, and has some great level design.
If you are looking for good dungeon design then the first 3 Wizardry's are a must.
They are very different than the last 3 (6, 7 and 8) because those were more focused on the "adventure" aspect and more complex gameplay systems. While the original 3 Wiz's are much more simple, specially in mechanics. This isn't a bad thing, in fact this design is very much intentional. Because people often don't realize that the aim of those games wasn't the combat, quests, the party, enemies or the "adventure".
The true focus of those first games, their true enemy IS the Dungeon, everything else was just there to support it.
That's the reason why party members are "expendable" and team synergy isn't very import, there's always more adventurers to be recruited in the tavern - of course that means training them, which means more resources spent. The combat for example, is simple because it's function is to burn your resources and increase tension, and to achieve that there isn't need for a complex system.
It's all crafted to make you think twice before making a step, to sow hesitation, confusion and tension in the players.
You could also try Wiz 7, that has pretty great quests and the way you can interact with factions is spectacular. And ultimately Grimoire which is a good mix of Wiz 6+7 best qualities (the dungeons in particular are filled with secrets)
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V_K
Arcane
Bradley's Wizards&Warriors has the best dungeons ever. Aside from the varied challenges, they really nail the pacing, which is super important I think.
You could also try The Summoning for a very horizontal and non-linear take on dungeon (unless you're allergic to DM-style puzzles of which it has a ton).
IronMaiden
Novice
- Joined
- Mar 14, 2014
- Messages
- 22
DJOGamer PT
Arcane
Some Nintendo classics also wouldn't hurt. Super Metroid, Link's Awakening DX, Majora's Mask, Oracle of Ages and Metroid Prime.
If you don't have time to play any of these, then you can always watch the analysis video playlist I posted on page 9, that channel has videos like that on all the games I mentioned (except Prime) + Dark Souls and Symphony of the Night.
If you don't have time to play any of these, then you can always watch the analysis video playlist I posted on page 9, that channel has videos like that on all the games I mentioned (except Prime) + Dark Souls and Symphony of the Night.
Last edited:
BlackGoat
Arbiter
- Joined
- Sep 15, 2014
- Messages
- 505
Agreed with the Wiz&Warriors rec.
Check out Ghost of a Tale if you haven't. Came out last year. Really attractive little sneaker with tight Dark Soulsy dungeon and area design.
The Bonehoard in Thief, tho you'r probably already very familiar with that. I wish more dungeons in games felt like that
Check out Ghost of a Tale if you haven't. Came out last year. Really attractive little sneaker with tight Dark Soulsy dungeon and area design.
The Bonehoard in Thief, tho you'r probably already very familiar with that. I wish more dungeons in games felt like that
Feargus Jewhart
Savant
If you want to see fun item placement and dungeon usage, Divinity Dragon Knight Saga has some fun stuff (i.e the tower, the hidden dungeons and if I remember right the valley has a dungeon where you might lose access to areas if you do one quest too early).
Obviously Wiz & Warriors is an obvious recommendation as stated above.
Any news on the climbing mechanics, there will be only ladders, right? If there's more, dark messian and might and magic (also less so DKS)and Thief series for the utilization of height in dungeons.
Obviously Wiz & Warriors is an obvious recommendation as stated above.
Any news on the climbing mechanics, there will be only ladders, right? If there's more, dark messian and might and magic (also less so DKS)and Thief series for the utilization of height in dungeons.
RatTower
Arcane
- Joined
- Apr 24, 2017
- Messages
- 470
Climbing mechanics also include pulling yourself up on a ledge. I'm actually looking a lot towards Bonehoard, Cragscleft Prison and Return to the Haunted Cathedral when it comes to level design.
Also got Wizards & Warriors - wanted that for a while anyway.
Also got Wizards & Warriors - wanted that for a while anyway.
RatTower
Arcane
- Joined
- Apr 24, 2017
- Messages
- 470
Turbo morning update:
Main quest of the alpha area is pretty much done from a coding perspective. Only thing that's missing is an entry point for the alternative route and some dialogue.
I also added a relatively small side quest and a few secrets. Now I need to finish and polish up some rooms and work a bit on combat AI, as well as animations.
Then I'll go through my alpha TODO list and implement a couple of those things.
The way it looks right now I'm confident about that family/friends alpha in say early february.
We'll see how we'll continue after that. I might open a discord channel and do an invite based alpha test first - then make it entirely public.
Main quest of the alpha area is pretty much done from a coding perspective. Only thing that's missing is an entry point for the alternative route and some dialogue.
I also added a relatively small side quest and a few secrets. Now I need to finish and polish up some rooms and work a bit on combat AI, as well as animations.
Then I'll go through my alpha TODO list and implement a couple of those things.
The way it looks right now I'm confident about that family/friends alpha in say early february.
We'll see how we'll continue after that. I might open a discord channel and do an invite based alpha test first - then make it entirely public.
DJOGamer PT
Arcane
Man, I missed your updates...
How long, would you say that Alpha takes to complete?
How long, would you say that Alpha takes to complete?
RatTower
Arcane
- Joined
- Apr 24, 2017
- Messages
- 470
That's one of the things I wanna find out in the alpha, cause I have a really hard time estimating it.
Just going by the "landmass", the alpha is roughly as big as the tutorial of Arx (goblin prison).
The solution might be a tad more obscure though.
If you know what you're doing you will finish it a little faster.
If you really know what you're doing you will lockpick/break/open the right doors and rush through it.
Just going by the "landmass", the alpha is roughly as big as the tutorial of Arx (goblin prison).
The solution might be a tad more obscure though.
If you know what you're doing you will finish it a little faster.
If you really know what you're doing you will lockpick/break/open the right doors and rush through it.
RatTower
Arcane
- Joined
- Apr 24, 2017
- Messages
- 470
As the alpha is slowly approaching, I'm trying to tie up a couple of loose ends.
For example, I'm now actively looking for musicians.
Last weekend I spent a bit more time with the combat system, which offers more variety now.
Combat rules are now much clearer. Among other things parrying and blocking are handled differently in the new rule set.
If you hit a parrying enemy you loose stamina. If you hit a blocking enemy you loose stamina and bounce back (=pain-state/stunned for ~1.5 seconds).
Originally the pain-state would only be entered if your stamina depleted after hitting a parrying/blocking enemy.
Now shield bearers are much more dangerous, especially in combination with other enemies like archers (which are also in, but not entirely finished yet).
My current main task is (visually) finishing the alpha level.
For example, I'm now actively looking for musicians.
Last weekend I spent a bit more time with the combat system, which offers more variety now.
Combat rules are now much clearer. Among other things parrying and blocking are handled differently in the new rule set.
If you hit a parrying enemy you loose stamina. If you hit a blocking enemy you loose stamina and bounce back (=pain-state/stunned for ~1.5 seconds).
Originally the pain-state would only be entered if your stamina depleted after hitting a parrying/blocking enemy.
Now shield bearers are much more dangerous, especially in combination with other enemies like archers (which are also in, but not entirely finished yet).
My current main task is (visually) finishing the alpha level.
DJOGamer PT
Arcane
Can't wait for the full game's release.
Really good job man.
You want some ideas for shields?
A value called Deflection, the higher the value the longer the stun state. Smaller shield and shields of metal are generally the ones with the higher value (shields like Buckler), of course smaller shields are better suited for defending against small area attacks with smaller force behind them. Larger more intense attacks and even even arrows are better suited for bigger shields like heather and kite shields.
Also defending with a shield should also consume stamina, and the heavier the shield and/or the more powerful the attack, the more stamina it will consume to defend.
Also since I talked about weight, one idea considering carry weight is that the heavier a character is the more noisy he'll be.
By the way will there be any sort of "commitment" regarding the attacks - as in when a player attacks he can't move the camera, to prevent the ballerina spins like in some games?
RatTower
Arcane
- Joined
- Apr 24, 2017
- Messages
- 470
Both of these are in - currently I got stealth deactivated though. Gonna rework parts of the perception state system before I reactivate that.
About ballerina spins: Controls during attacks are not bound to the animation, but every attack slows the player down. So you can't circle strafe during attacks but you can always slightly correct your trajectory.
HarveyBirdman
Arbiter
- Joined
- Jan 5, 2019
- Messages
- 1,044
Wanna give any hints on story or premise? Going off the name, I assume it's about a tale -- maybe even the tale -- that everybody knows whether they're aware they know it or not.
Cool project.
DJOGamer PT
Arcane
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