Wings of Albero: Alpha testing begins
by Griffin Knodle · 03/03/2008 (7:30 pm) · 5 comments
February update for 1 Year Dream Game entry, Wings of Albero (formerly Vision of the Golden City, formerly formerly Last Ancient, both ideas being saved for later). It's entered alpha testing as of this weekend. Alpha testing is open to the public. (Links below.)
The game is an action RPG, short and simple. I'm looking at 5-6 main areas, a couple new enemy types each, a couple of bosses, a couple of player ability/item upgrades. I'll be going for polish rather than length.
This first alpha release is still missing most of the content, and has some serious gameplay issues. If you're not up for such a rough draft, you may want to wait for the next alpha release in a week or two. I'll be very grateful for any feedback.
Alpha testing page, including instructions and other important info
Direct download for alpha (Windows): WingsOfAlbero.zip (2.49 MB)
Development blog still at same place
Latest video: Clips from Alpha #1
The game is an action RPG, short and simple. I'm looking at 5-6 main areas, a couple new enemy types each, a couple of bosses, a couple of player ability/item upgrades. I'll be going for polish rather than length.
This first alpha release is still missing most of the content, and has some serious gameplay issues. If you're not up for such a rough draft, you may want to wait for the next alpha release in a week or two. I'll be very grateful for any feedback.
Alpha testing page, including instructions and other important info
Direct download for alpha (Windows): WingsOfAlbero.zip (2.49 MB)
Development blog still at same place
Latest video: Clips from Alpha #1
About the author
#2
03/04/2008 (4:57 am)
I watched the video: sweeet! I love a good Zelda/Secret of Mana game! I'll be checking the alpha demo out later. (hopefully) -- Did you make this game in TGB?
#3
03/04/2008 (12:41 pm)
I had a good time trying this out. It has a ton of potential. Great work so far.
#4
Just realized that I commented on your initial design blog, and its really cool to see this project matured! I also realize that it is made in TGB now, no need to answer that question yourself.
EDIT:
Just played the demo, and I must say that I am really excited to see a game like this made in Torque Game Builder. The movement is really smooth, and its the first time that I've seen such strong RPG elements in TGB. I really liked the fact that there was leveling up, magic, and scene transitions. Awesome. I also noticed some great potential for parallax scrolling, send me an email:
syreal[at]syrealgames.com
and I'll send you a link to a very informative thread on parallax scrolling.
The major issue that I see in your game is the mundaneness of combat. All you do is walk into things. I hope you plan to work on that; combat that surpasses Secret of Mana would be really exciting to see in a 2d game.
Keep up the good work.
03/04/2008 (12:48 pm)
Griffin,Just realized that I commented on your initial design blog, and its really cool to see this project matured! I also realize that it is made in TGB now, no need to answer that question yourself.
EDIT:
Just played the demo, and I must say that I am really excited to see a game like this made in Torque Game Builder. The movement is really smooth, and its the first time that I've seen such strong RPG elements in TGB. I really liked the fact that there was leveling up, magic, and scene transitions. Awesome. I also noticed some great potential for parallax scrolling, send me an email:
syreal[at]syrealgames.com
and I'll send you a link to a very informative thread on parallax scrolling.
The major issue that I see in your game is the mundaneness of combat. All you do is walk into things. I hope you plan to work on that; combat that surpasses Secret of Mana would be really exciting to see in a 2d game.
Keep up the good work.
#5
I do need to put a slight delay on spellcasting. But only a slight one. The way magic is going to work is that you'll have a pretty small MP reserve that regenerates pretty quickly once you stop casting (it's already kind of that way, but it obviously needs tuning). The intended result is that often you'll throw a couple of spells, do other stuff, then throw a couple more spells, maybe going through two rounds of magic in a normal battle or so. Eh, we'll see how it works out.
One of my friends pointed out an issue with the magic system that I've been wrestling with, which is its implications for healing magic. If your MP recharges quickly, and you have a healing spell, then you effectively have full recovery after every battle. Don't think I want that, but haven't decided on the best answer yet. ("No healing spell" is the obvious solution, but, well, waaah!)
03/04/2008 (4:47 pm)
Thanks for the feedback, y'all. I am currently planning to keep the contact attack - no attack button battle system. It's a bit of an experiment, really, inspired by the original Ys games. I think the main problem with the combat -- which is definitely pretty much broken in this release -- is that the enemies are just acting randomly. That works better with a system where you have an attack action and enemy contact hurts you, but not at all with this one. So I'm going to do major work on making the enemies smarter and more aggressive, and we'll see how it's all working out then.I do need to put a slight delay on spellcasting. But only a slight one. The way magic is going to work is that you'll have a pretty small MP reserve that regenerates pretty quickly once you stop casting (it's already kind of that way, but it obviously needs tuning). The intended result is that often you'll throw a couple of spells, do other stuff, then throw a couple more spells, maybe going through two rounds of magic in a normal battle or so. Eh, we'll see how it works out.
One of my friends pointed out an issue with the magic system that I've been wrestling with, which is its implications for healing magic. If your MP recharges quickly, and you have a healing spell, then you effectively have full recovery after every battle. Don't think I want that, but haven't decided on the best answer yet. ("No healing spell" is the obvious solution, but, well, waaah!)
Torque 3D Owner Peter Simard
Default Studio Name
Are you planning on keeping the combat as it is, without an attack button? Is there going to be delays on spell casting? I was able to cast fireballs as fast as I could hit A.
I loved the artwork of the player, very smooth animation.