I have at least 4 threads on the game - on ToME forums, Roguetemple forums, Angband forums and here - and have been getting bits and pieces of it in all the places mentioned, so I know there's some interest.
However, this thread seems the quietest and I began to wonder whether it made sense to keep posting here.
And now getting to the crux of the matter - first off, thanks for the excellent feedback, Retropunch.
***
You could also try giving a list of 'recommended combinations' in the race/class screen in a similar way to DCSS does, as playing as a paladin with cure light wounds makes things a lot easier.
The game already does it in a way, by highlighting the favored classes (bonus to attack and hp) and/or recommended classes (high attributes). However, making another highlight for cleric or paladin is trivial.
-The player needs to be centered, or at least centered when you drop down to the next level. I've got quite a big monitor and starting right at the bottom right or wherever seemed strange.
Noted but don't know how to make it centered (off-center starts happen if the stairs get placed at the sides of the level).
-Firstly, I'd try to do a bigger contrast between background and sprites. I'm unsure of the best way to do this, maybe you could somehow darken/lower the contrast of all the floor/wall tiles or something. It just sometimes feels a bit difficult to differentiate between terrain and creatures.
Noted, will tweak the darkness/contrast of the floor/wall tiles.
-A lot of the levels seem very, very small. In my last play through I landed on a second level which was all of 8 walkable tiles (including two with stairs). I'm not sure if I was supposed to search/dig/what, but having such a small area seemed strange.
-Your map gen seems to leave it without a wall on the outside edge. Although you can't walk off the map or anything, it looks very strange.
ToME level generator sometimes throws such duds. I've seen a player report a 2 walkable tiles level in stock Tales of Maj'Eyal. Been researching level generators for several months in order to improve this, however, not confident enough in my coding skillz
.
-Sometimes when autoexploring monsters will sort of flash a bit. This didn't seem to happen all the time, but definitely did with hobgoblins.
An engine problem. I've noticed it in stock Tales of Maj'Eyal too and have asked around on ToME forums.
-Notes/Lore (when you pick up parchment) need to be able to be exited with either space, enter, by clicking and also escape. This goes for a few of the other menus and message boxes. Click to close also doesn't work on message boxes unless you click the top bar.
Good point, but I'm not sure if it can be done gracefully in T-Engine (I've already tried to give help double keybindings and ran into some trouble).
-Conversely, when leveling up, you can quit out of the level up screen without choosing your upgrades. I'd make it force you go through each step individually - stats -> skills -> feats or whatever, just make sure the player does it!
Planned already.
-It's also confusing having the list of feats you already have on the left hand side as it makes them look selectable somehow - I'd put a header over them and not let the player scroll over them.
Good point, will do it ASAP.
I'm unsure if this is just that I needed to eat more though.
This. I probably ought to add more foodstuffs as well as implement ranger foraging.
-Pressing the 'L' key (lower case) seems to cause an error.
Noted, will disable it until I work out what's going on.
you've still got the problem of a much too steep difficulty curve in some cases. In my last play through I wandered down into a fire elemental and some other nasties on the first room of second floor (with the first floor seeming to be just two rooms) and died pretty much instantly.
Heh, I know
It used to be worse - when the modules contest kicked off in November 2013, DG complained that he ran into a CR 14 golem right at the start.
Since then, I've implemented filters which forbid enemies with CR higher than character level + 3. Should I lower the threshold even more?
I also plan a distance parameter so that you don't get a monster spawning on top of you.
P.S. If you know Lua/T-Engine, you could help out, especially with the level generator. The game's code is easily available and open.
Author
Topic: Veins of the Earth beta 13 "Anyone can be a winner" released! (Read 31890 times)