Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[kirkington]

Hey Dwarfers!

My name is Kirk and I'm making a Dwarf based RPG for iOS.  I've been working on it for almost 7 years in my spare time and I'm gearing for a 2014 release.

Check out my latest development journal: goo.gl/Y3wJct

You can follow on Twitter @Spazcosoft

I will also answer any questions on this Forum right now!

Things you might be interested in:

• Retro Stylings
• Snes RPG style gameplay with some modern twists
• Pixel Art
• Original Music
• All programming, art, music, sound effects, maps, monsters, etc designed and created by me
• Dwarves!

[Fikes]

Hi!

I am not sure iOS has been out for 7 years.

I really hope it hasn't. Turning 30 has me feeling old enough.

Anyways, I'll start in before the others, but making an account just to advertise a game you have in development is generally frowned upon. It helps ease the blow a little bit if you talk about why you are here and pretend (at least) that you are going to stick around the community for more than just saying "Click my links! Look at me!"

At the very least include a screenshot on this page. Most of us are in the habit of NOT following links posted by lunatics.

[kirkington]

Probably a good habit!

I'm here because I'm a huge DF fan and have been lurking (and playing) since 2008.  I've never posted (obv, new account, lurker, etc).  But I'm certainly not going to disappear.  And checking my numbers....  Looks like I did lie, Or count poorly: First submission to my source control was March 16, 2008, so it will be 6 years.

My most memorable fortress was called BasementLove - yup, got lucky with the RNG with that one - back in the 40d days.  I flooded it.

As to my dwarves:
pic.twitter.com/536RDmERkt - Grognar admiring some hardware

Or

BOOM GIANT BLOWN UP SCREENSHOT
"Chilling with goats"


Thanks for the reply!

[sackhead]

i love the faces particularly gronga plus the art style in general any details on what gameplay is like from the pictura all i can determine is that it has magic and party based.
also can i have more information on Gronga ikind of want to make him my forum Avatar.
if only my phone wasn't android.

[Fikes]

Alright, alright, this tread is moving in the right direction now. Tell us a bit more about the game. So far we know:

dwarves
rpg
"retro" (possible aka as bad) graphics

Still not enough to click a link (that is a lie because I did click the twitter link).

How does the game play? What is it like? Dragon warrior? Final fantasy?

[kirkington]

dwarves
rpg
"retro" (possible aka as bad) graphics

Oh yeah, Art is the area I'm least skillful in.  So far I've been happy with the results actually, but I spend an awful lot of time rage-drawing dwarf style.

How does the game play? What is it like? Dragon warrior? Final fantasy?

It's been influenced by both quite a bit.  In battle each character gives a command when it's their turn (as opposed to Dragon Warrior/Quest where you give commands and watch it unfold).  Unlike Final Fantasy the battle isn't always ticking - when it's your turn you can take as long as you want to think through the situation.

I'm trying for abilities to be more reliable - things might not be terrible effective against a particular foe but you won't get "OMG SPELL FAILED LOL" when you try to use something.

There's some homages to DF, or DF-lore, for example:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

One of the main plot area is the Fortress of Moatburdered.

And other things I won't share right now.

I'll be back posting this evening with some more screens and maybe a battle gameplay video.  I'll also try to outline some technical stuff for those interested in that sort of thing.

[Ivefan]

Well put. Unfortunately, it seems to be happening more often as of late. Perhaps we could do with a sticky thread or something, to discourage the forum being viewed as viable marketing ground?

Not really. The guys tends to get a lecture as their first reply and to be honest, most of the games are interesting in some way.
True spammers gets hit hard and the thread forgotten.

[nenjin]

Anyways, I'll start in before the others, but making an account just to advertise a game you have in development is generally frowned upon. It helps ease the blow a little bit if you talk about why you are here and pretend (at least) that you are going to stick around the community for more than just saying "Click my links! Look at me!

Well put. Unfortunately, it seems to be happening more often as of late. Perhaps we could do with a sticky thread or something, to discourage the forum being viewed as viable marketing ground?

This wouldn't work. Even nice people are going to assume that what they're doing isn't marketing. Their need to reach people and get exposure is greater than their need to respect forum culture. Especially when they typically aren't part of it to begin with.

[LeoLeonardoIII]

I noticed the orange hair on the walking sprite seems to match Grognar, who is in the left - seemingly lead - position. I liked the Breath of Fire (and other games I'm sure) feature where your lead character had a special ability and you could swap leaders to use different abilities. Such as climbing vines, breaking weak walls, shooting an arrow to hit a switch, etc.

Although if it's less about specific dwarves and more about just a bunch of random dwarves, special abilities might not make as much sense.

[kirkington]

i love the faces particularly gronga plus the art style in general any details on what gameplay is like from the pictura all i can determine is that it has magic and party based.
also can i have more information on Gronga ikind of want to make him my forum Avatar.
if only my phone wasn't android.

Dude, you made my day.  I honestly never thought someone would want to use my art for an avatar.  Feel free to use it, if you want I'll send you the raw image so you can format it however you want.

So the four dwarves are set for the game - they have their own personalities, abilities and backstory (to answer another comment here).  Grognar specifically is foul tempered and an axe wielder.  He starts the game with an Axe he made himself:

His ability has to do with his foul temper - I'll leave it at that for now.  I'll show it off later in a gameplay video.

Leo - The special ability per character is a cool idea.  I'm holding this game to a tight scope, so the world interaction is already pretty much defined, but for the sequel I'm planning the player can control a wider variety of characters with more specialized abilities, and world interaction abilities that can unlock special areas or make places more easily accessed is a great idea.

Anyways, I'll start in before the others, but making an account just to advertise a game you have in development is generally frowned upon. It helps ease the blow a little bit if you talk about why you are here and pretend (at least) that you are going to stick around the community for more than just saying "Click my links! Look at me!

Well put. Unfortunately, it seems to be happening more often as of late. Perhaps we could do with a sticky thread or something, to discourage the forum being viewed as viable marketing ground?

This wouldn't work. Even nice people are going to assume that what they're doing isn't marketing. Their need to reach people and get exposure is greater than their need to respect forum culture. Especially when they typically aren't part of it to begin with.

One of my favorite threads here on "Other Games" is the Caves Of Qud thread.  I thought it was super cool that the author stayed in touch with the community and answered questions.  I completely realize this is marketing - but I'm not out spamming every gaming board I can find.  Currently Bay12 is the only board I'm talking about The Lonely Dwarves on and I hope to have an impact like the Caves Of Qud thread - I'll be here to answer questions and contribute - if you'll have me.

[LeoLeonardoIII]

In the end, honestly, if you're here answering questions it shows you're not just spamming. We shouldn't be so quick to dismiss an author coming here and interacting with us, which is more than most people get. Heck, it's a bit like a mob of interviewers who aren't that great: it's a mix of relevant questions, feature demands, aimless hypothesizing, and unflattering comparisons with other games.

Thank you for coming in and talking with us, is what I'm saying.

[Seriyu]

While I don't want to continue an argument in a guy's thread, I do basically agree with Leo. Maybe we could make a seperate thread for this discussion? It certainly seems like a topic worth yelling at each other about at any rate.

[kirkington]

Some Screens:

Finding some treasure in a Cave




As with most non roguelike RPGs you can see everything from a bird's eye perspective.  That is, if there's light.  Dwarves carry some light with them in dark places and the light is cast in traditional roguelike line of sight fashion.

[sackhead]

looking at Grongas axe what is the item system like?

[kirkington]

AWESOME AVATAR PIC!

For items -

Items are all statically defined, anything that is equipable doesn't take damage or wear or anything like that.  (TLD2 will most likely have randomized item properties).  In this way it's a little bit closer to a Final Fantasy approach I guess, but the way to define what an item can do are much more complex.

I have an expression language that defines things like damage done.  So for Grognar's Crude Axe that is currently

[1d6 + 2] # 0.05 per {strength - 5 | max=20}

Which translates to: "A 1d6 dice roll + 2, all increased by 5% per strength (-5 meaning 5 of those strength don't get the bonus), up do a max of 20 (basically double damage).

Example:
Roll a 6 so the base damage is 8
Grognar's strength happens to be 10, subtract 5 that 25% of bonus damage

Damage sent to the opponent is 10.

Damage has an element also.  The physical element is common and what Grognar's axe does - but each item can have a list of those expressions with different elements, fire, poison, etc.

Defense against these things is broken up by element - One design decision I made was that Armor and Element Resistances aren't different concepts - You simply have a resistance to the Physical Element.

Weapons can also have effects that proc, those are varied and include things like - does poison damage over time, Weakens, Slows...

The basic design philosophy is that items should interact in interesting ways and that there isn't just one way to go through the game.


Consumable items are treated differently - they can only be stored in limited quantities on hand to make grinding through a dungeon more challenging.  So far I don't have many consumables developed but there are heal potions and mana potions.

Check out this Blog Post: goo.gl/mp6iLh - It outlines how the "icon" representation of items works.