Gandalf? Mordor, is it left or right?

Submit your own resources!

Matthew Langley   (Mar 16, 2007 at 17:53 GMT)

Very awesome, would love to see this style of game in TGB :)

J.C. Smith   (Mar 16, 2007 at 18:04 GMT)

Ahh flashback's of the Bard's Tale. =) Looks nice.

Channa Langley   (Mar 16, 2007 at 18:23 GMT)

Looks really good, looking forward to seeing where it goes.

Pat Wilson   (Mar 16, 2007 at 18:24 GMT)

David Higgins   (Mar 16, 2007 at 18:29 GMT)   Resource Rating: 5

@James, nice mock up -- mind if I email you?

James Rozee   (Mar 16, 2007 at 18:37 GMT)

Thanks everyone for the encouragement! This style of game has always been my favourite and you will see lots of influences from Bard's Tale, Lands of Lore, Eye of the Beholder, and many others that were my most often played games from that era.

@David: Go for it! My addy's in my profile. :)

Matt Huston   (Mar 16, 2007 at 19:25 GMT)

Used to play a lot of the games in the style, Eye of the Beholder Series, Pool of Radiance and Might and Magic.

Mario N. Bonassin   (Mar 16, 2007 at 19:53 GMT)

I was thinking of doing a game of this style too. But mine was going to have a random dungeon creation element. Like at this link

http://www.aarg.net/~minam/dungeon.cgi

This is the site he used to get algorithms for his app.

http://www.astrolog.org/labyrnth.htm

the TV show Survivor used the program Daedalus 2.1 to create some of there mazes.

James Rozee   (Mar 16, 2007 at 20:07 GMT)

@Mario: I have the exact same code with the same idea in mind. ;) But that would only be for the first version. Dungeon Hack use to be like that but I got bored with it pretty quick because it had no story.

So after the first version, I'd probably sit down and design the world and make the game more than just a hack and slack concept -- either by enhancing the random generator or by make a completely static world with interactive NPCs. However, that tool would most likely be useful for getting started.

Neo Binedell   (Mar 16, 2007 at 20:18 GMT)

Eye Of The Beholder! I just started replaying them all again in DosBox (got them of an abandonware site).

Strangely enough they are still just as much fun as in yesteryear.

I was reading a post yesterday of someone who took a quick stab at this kind of engine, just can't remember
where it is... ;d

James Rozee   (Mar 16, 2007 at 20:26 GMT)

@Neo: It's probably this one: www.garagegames.com/mg/forums/result.thread.php?qt=59094 . David Higgins is working wonders with the idea. :)

Neo Binedell   (Mar 16, 2007 at 20:32 GMT)

Ah yes, thats the one, I actually searched for it using Davids name but no cigar... then started to doubt my memory ;p

James Rozee   (Mar 16, 2007 at 20:38 GMT)

*chuckle* Welcome to my everyday life. ;)

Nauris Krauze   (Mar 16, 2007 at 23:28 GMT)

The GUI doesnt look too appealing for a casual game, imho. But the two characters in the upper row just rock.
I think casual RPG would be awesome. There have been couple of tries (Aveyond and Cute Knight come in mind) and, from what I hear, theyre doing quite well, so there is an audience for that kind of thing too.

David Higgins   (Mar 17, 2007 at 10:20 GMT)   Resource Rating: 5

@Nauris, I don't actually see a "GUI" ... I see a place to place the GUI -- Cute Knight is definately within this 'genre', however, Aveyond has more of a Final Fantasy/Secret of Mana gameplay ...

@James, again, absolutely stunning ... can't wait to see what you do with it ...

@Neo, CRS is a common ailment of mine too ... ;)

Oliver Rendelmann - DerR   (Mar 17, 2007 at 13:00 GMT)   Resource Rating: 5

Hey! Cool to see someone else trying this. Good luck with that project. :) Making the art look right can get very frustrating for this type of game.

James Rozee   (Mar 17, 2007 at 20:17 GMT)

@Nauris: Could you be more specific by what you mean? Is the interface too complex, too detailed or just too gritty? I haven't designed for a casual game before but I know RPGs by their nature, are hard to make into a casual game. To me, a casual game is a game that you can play for a few days and come back a week later and not have to worry about where you were at or a game that has a short play time and high replay value.

Aveyond and Cute Knight did do well. I was speaking with Amanda about Aveyond and I also spoke with Big Fish Games about Cute Knight. And there is definite appeal to their audience in these types of games.

@Oliver: Yeah, I'm still juggling the art around. I haven't decided which direction is best: semi-realistic like most of AD&D games or "sort of" Anime like I have the characters above. I want the interiors to be semi-realistic and I always like the idea of toonish characters fighting realistic monsters for some reason. :) However, I wonder what most people prefer. Does anyone have a suggestion?

Leroy Frederick   (Mar 17, 2007 at 23:29 GMT)

Quote:

---

I'm no artist

---

Not so sure about that mate! Looks pretty good to me ;0)

Nauris Krauze   (Mar 17, 2007 at 23:58 GMT)

Well, personally, I dont really think there is some formulaic "casual look" one could apply to about anything, but there are some general guidelines that can prolly help. Example above seems too gritty and the texture is kind of.. too busy. I`d also go for something with a wee bit more color, perhaps.
Did a quickie mockup since it probably illustrates the idea better than thousands words anyway.



I totally dig the heroes though. They seem cute, yet not in the silly "awwww" kind of cute. Those can stand for themselves and are ready to go into that dark dungeon if need be. And that is whats all this about, innit? :)

David Higgins   (Mar 18, 2007 at 00:50 GMT)   Resource Rating: 5

The general rule of thumb for "casual" games is to know the audience for which your intend your game to be played by -- to reach a broader audience, I believe you need to take a large amount of care into things such as the interface, as well as the graphics used ...

From looking at various casual game portals, it appears that the cartoony, bright colored, shiny art style tends to draw more attention then the 'realistic' style does ...

I definitely like @Nauris's remake of the previously posted screenshot, looks more "casual" ... though, I like them both just as equally, i'm not much for 'casual' and am a big RPG fan ... so I like the grittiness that James approach brings ...

James Rozee   (Mar 18, 2007 at 01:10 GMT)

@Nauris: I see what you mean. Your mockup is definitely cleaner and in keeping with many of the casual games I've seen. Thank you for putting work into that.

One of the things that I like to do is set a theme with my interface and each element has a purpose. With your example, I find that the interface breaks the theme because none of the elements belong in the genre. So it just doesn't say "fantasy" to me. However, I do like the addition of thicker borders and the cleaner look. I'll see if I can come up with something that satisfies both ideas.

Thanks for your input. :)

James Rozee   (Mar 19, 2007 at 14:02 GMT)

This is my second attempt. I like this one a bit better but I haven't spent as much time on it as I did the first one. There are still some issues but I'll fix them later on. However, I think the background isn't as "noisy" but retains some of the gritty feel I wanted. At the same time, the look has been simplified.



I created the particle effect in TGB but this is a screenshot from my graphic app. Let me know what you think. Thanks.

Oliver Rendelmann - DerR   (Mar 19, 2007 at 14:17 GMT)   Resource Rating: 5

It looks much moodier but the lighting is a bit weird and destroys much of the athmosphere. The idea with the animated candle in the GUI is neat. Makes it seem like the player is reading an interactive story book. :)

James Rozee   (Mar 19, 2007 at 14:54 GMT)

@Oliver: Thanks. I was going for a look that made it seem like the player is reading a story. I wanted a bit of a dark fairytale look. Do you think that the burnt edge of the background scroll is making the scene too dark? I could remove it and lighten the mood some. It may also give me more "room" for the character portraits.

David Higgins   (Mar 19, 2007 at 15:08 GMT)   Resource Rating: 5

@James, I personally like all three of them so far ... but I like your latest one the most ... however, I would suggest possibly adding some form of a border around the character portraits, such as maybe a 'penned' black border that is just a bit larger then the image itself ...

Great progress with the art, keep it coming ..

Oliver Rendelmann - DerR   (Mar 19, 2007 at 15:24 GMT)   Resource Rating: 5

@James: I think the dark look of the GUI is good... many old RPGs went for a dark GUI. :) And I concur to what David said.. some sort of border for the Character Portraits would be cool.

James Rozee   (Mar 19, 2007 at 15:58 GMT)

Thanks for suggestions! I'll try a thin black stylized border of some type. Nothing too thick. Maybe a vine. But I do like this version better than the first. If I can get the lighting fixed, I think it will be what I use. Thanks again.

You must be a member and be logged in to either append comments or rate this resource.

Home | Products | Solutions | Downloads | Support | Search | About Us
Copyright © GarageGames.com 2000 - 2008 All Rights Reserved