Moonring - free Ultima 4-inspired retro RPG by the co-creator of Dungeon Keeper/Fable

[LESS T_T]

Spoiler

https://love2d.org/forums/viewtopic.php?p=237371

Who are you?
I'm Dene Carter - I was one of the creators of Fable, one of the core team on Dungeon Keeper and the guy who made Spellrazor with Love a few years ago.

What do you want? I'm busy!
I've been working on a retro-neon turn-based RPG inspired by the old Ultima games and my love of old 1980s arcade games. mixed with things I loved when I was creating the world and lore of Fable.
The world map is vast, and fixed with towns and villages, and traders moving from place to place plying their wares, monsters, weather patterns and the mysterious fog known as 'Amber'.
There are, of course, deep, dark dungeons to explore (which are randomly generated using the same awesome algorithm as Unexplored).
I am currently building up the content, and a large, complex story to present it all.
There are *no* quests, only rumours and information you can pick up by talking to people. What you do is up to you. Will you merely become a trader, or attempt to overthrow the current Archon?

Am I going to enjoy it?
If you like games from the early 80s, and really loved Ultima III, IV or V (but go 'ugh' when you try to go back and play them) then this is the game for you. It's a retro game with modern design sensibilities and a friendly keyboard-centric interface.

Are you doing anything interesting with Love?
This is the largest project I've ever made, solo. There's over 100 000 lines of code already. I am using shaders to do cool recolouring stuff, I am using the SFXR library (which I have debugged and extended), and all the music is in the form of offline .mod files you can download from inside the game to keep the .love filesize down. I am using complex navigation via A*, and a ton of other cool things... well, I think they're cool, anyway.

What now?
This project is *large*. I've already released over 460 builds in the last year or so, and I'm at a stage where I'd like to get more eyes on it.
It is not finished. The actual content creation stage has only just begun, but the first dungeon gives a great taste of what is to come.
I've started a nice, little community of folks over on Discord who are popping in to share their ideas and suggestions. If this seems like an appealing project, and you want to see what a madman is doing with Love2d then please come and say 'hi' and give a build a whirl.

Early build: https://gamejolt.com/games/Moonring/565707

 

[CryptRat]

which are randomly generated using the same awesome algorithm as Unexplored

V_K

 

[JarlFrank]

>inspired by Ultima
>dungeons are randomly generated

Fuck off.

 

[LESS T_T]

which are randomly generated using the same awesome algorithm as Unexplored

V_K

Yeah, a prospect of a vast open world with Unexplored-like dungeons sounds... captivating.

 

[V_K]

a vast open world with Unexplored-like dungeons

Technically, that's what Unexplored 2 is aiming for (with the addition that the world itself is also generated). I wonder how it is doing. It's been about a year since they've gone Epic now.

>inspired by Ultima
>dungeons are randomly generated

Fuck off.

Oh come on, it's not like Ultima was ever known for good dungeons. At worst, they can't be worse. At best - if he is actually able to recreate Unexplored's magic - it'd be a huge improvement.

 

[Sacibengala]

Got me until the random generated bullcrap. We need better dungeons on these games. Personallly I liked what RoA did there. Wish it was bigger. I love dungeons.

 

[agris]

if anyone plays it, please leave an impression here. it looks kinda like SKALD, except it's free (and actually came out)

 

[Sacibengala]

it looks kinda like SKALD

What are you talking about? Everyone knows Skald will be first person 3d . He only needs to fix some stuff.

 

[Infinitron]

 

[Percolator Fish]

pedophile graphics

 

[deama]

Oh damn, was hoping for like a spiritual successor to dungeon keeper.

 

[OndrejSc]

 

[Grauken]

if anyone plays it, please leave an impression here. it looks kinda like SKALD, except it's free (and actually came out)

Character progression is done via completing tasks for each of the 5 gods and there are 5 tasks each usually netting you 2 devotion points you can spend on skills. Once you buy a skill you also increase your level and main stats. You can also get extra devotional points during gameplay. The easiest task is finding the main city for each of the god's followers, then it gets more complicated like finding each of the 5 relics for which you have to do various other stuff first
Items are degradable but it's very slow, stuff is expensive as shit, and most of the money you get initially is either from foraging harmless animals' skins or helping other travelers
The game can be quite deadly in the beginning and it's easy to get in over your head. Whenever you die you're respawned at the last autosave which is usually the last city or dungeon you entered. Lots of enemy variety from aggressive animals to mythic monsters
Lots of status effects, one of the most troublesome are clouds that drive you crazy that come and go and while there are measures to mitigate them they are costly, so you always have to make sure you aren't walking into a crazy mist cloud
Talking is keyword-based and the game autocompletes important (highlighted) terms though there is stuff you should ask about that you found out from others. Very solid note-taking system though given the amount of stuff mentioned I made a couple of my own notes to keep the main quests in mind

So far, it is a great little game and I wouldn't have minded paying €20 for it, it's definitely worth as much. Looks old-school but has a really well-done modernized interface that feels like a combination of the best of old and new

 

[Grauken]

Full map, I put it in spoilers because discovery is so much part of the enjoyment to get out of the game

Spoiler

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

Just finished that vid and I’m impressed with the stored notebook you keep in game and the conversations with NPCs. The autocomplete of words is also a nice feature. I’d still probably keep a notebook for notes unless the ingame one is just THAT thorough. A lot of little things that looks interesting. Hard to believe this is free. Some might hate the gfx but I find them charming.

Because I keep losing links:

There are two threads?
https://dene.itch.io/moonring
Love2D
Gamejolt
Softonic



I noticed on Steam there is a caption:

Requires agreement to a 3rd-party EULA
Moonring EULA

And I noticed:

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS​

• MINIMUM:
  • OS: 10
  • Processor: Yes
  • Memory: 8 GB RAM
  • Graphics: Card supporting pixel shaders
  • Storage: 800 MB available space

I have to seriously recheck the itchio link and check size. My mind wants to say itchio & mediafire are NOT the current full build game. Someone correct me on that.

 

[Atrachasis]

And I noticed:

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS​

• MINIMUM:
  • OS: 10
  • Processor: Yes
  • Memory: 8 GB RAM
  • Graphics: Card supporting pixel shaders
  • Storage: 800 MB available space

Yikes. If I feel like being particularly wasteful, I'll allocate memory for 1024 tiles * 1024 tiles * 8 Levels * 4 Bytes/Tile * one map each for terrain, objects, structures and NPCs. That's 131 MB and enough to hold all of Britannia several times over. Plus a few MB for spritesheets, character portraits etc.

How does one go for an early Ultima-like aesthetic and end up requiring 8 GB?

 

[Grauken]

I have to seriously recheck the itchio link and check size. My mind wants to say itchio & mediafire are NOT the current full build game. Someone correct me on that.

Based on the version number and size the itch.io build should be the same as the Steam build. The mediafire link doesn't work anymore

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/2373630/view/3707083046396901972

A Thankpology
Yay! And also Boo!
Hey folks,
Just wanted to send you all huge thanks for the overwhelming support despite the (ahem) vast number of teething problems.

To tell the truth, I wasn't expecting more than - maybe - a hundred or so downloads of Moonring. In addition, only two of us (me and one Discord member) have been bug-testing, so reports have been few and far between up until now.

For those thinking 'Should have gone Early Access', I tried doing that but Valve told me it wasn't appropriate. There's a Playtest feature, but I wasn't certain there were enough bugs to justify that, and who wants to test a free game when they can just wait for release, right?

Turns out there are more than a 'couple' of bugs. Gulp.

I want to assure you I read *every single* comment. I don't have time to answer them all right now (I tried at the start!), because I'm spending all my time killing the enormous bug horde and I'm only one guy. Nevertheless, I really appreciate you taking the time to tell me when you're encountering problems, and I hope to have a new patch for you really soon. I just don't want to make things worse!

I'll be working on this game until it's stable, trustworthy and the best it can be. In the meantime, please don't ask for new features. I shall cry.

Thanks again,

- Dene

 

[Sacibengala]

This guy is making it pretty hard for people that charges for games.

 

[adamantyr]

Been playing it the last week or so. Very enjoyable!

The relic dungeons are really difficult. I tested copying the saved game folder and recopying to try and restore to a prior save by force; doesn't work.

Also, food molds WAY too fast. I was also caught off-guard that we're apparently eating raw meat? A cooking system similar to Fallout 76 would not have been unwelcome.

 

[mondblut]

Hmpf. I could name plenty of reasons to like Ultima 4, but stick figure protagonist is most certainly not one of them.

 

[Grauken]

Also, food molds WAY too fast.

you can still eat it

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

We have no stick figure buttons.

 

[adamantyr]

I've spoken with the developer, we have invited him to join our next Retro RPG Roundtable, filming sometime early next year.

The developer is also working hard to patch and fix a lot of the bugs and imbalances in the game. And he is available for questions and feedback on his Discord.

 

[Nifft Batuff]

It crashes as soon I try to start a new game. At least with the version that I downloaded from itch.io.