Print

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

[crow]

Hi everyone!

I just wanted to give a heads up about a little roguelike game I made called Voyage to Farland (more info). It grew out of inspiration from playing one of the harder Japanese "console" roguelikes - Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer.

Despite the effort to make it animated and graphical in nature, it has a fair amount of depth and complexity which I've written about on Gamasutra.

I made a new trailer recently to show the game in action and to show some of the latest sprite work coming in the next update.

A bit about the game:

You are a wandering adventurer, looking for your kidnapped sister. But to find her, you'll have to fight mask-wearing severed heads, ill-tempered "ViperBeetles" that spin and toss you, catapult-riding felines that lob items at you, plus more crazy monsters with crazier powers in a hardcore, permadeath adventure.

Features:

• 5 dungeons including 4 unlockable themed dungeons
• 4 NPCs you can recruit to help you fight, including an outcast monster
• rescue codes to save and be saved by other players
• get a pet robot you can level up
• drink monster essence to morph into the creature & use its powers
• build weapon & shield enchantments and store gear in a warehouse

Check it out when you get time! And if you're on Steam, check out the Greenlight page.

EDIT: In my reply below, I linked to this Google Drive spreadsheet with some Desura keys if you'd like to try it out! Try installing the latest sprites Mod as well, since they look much better than the older ones.

[sebcool]

Since when has this forum turned into an advertising board? I've read more posts by escaped lunatics this week, than I have the whole year.

[crow]

Since when has this forum turned into an advertising board? I've read more posts by escaped lunatics this week, than I have the whole year.

Personally, I find it rude, and if it's a non-free game they're shilling then it guarantees I won't be buying it. Wouldn't be hard for them to join the forums a month or so beforehand and make a few unobstructive posts in other topics, but they don't want to contribute to the community, they just want ad space.

And half the projects they come here advertising die before they're anywhere near completion to boot!

I've actually been a member for about 3 years now, but only made two other posts, where I contributed a bit to a thread asking about Android roguelikes & another about Shiren DS.

This is the only post I'll make about the game, and I'll let the thread die if there's no interest.

About completion - the game's already complete, but I'm polishing the graphics & UI since it seems to be so important to gamers these days (not necessarily DF fans & bay12 regulars). I'm more concerned about spreading the word than making money by posting here on the bay12 forums. I'd be happy to give out keys to everybody here if there's interest. Just let me know.

In fact, nevermind the letting me know part, here's a Google Docs spreadsheet with 20 Desura keys. Grab one if the game looks interesting to you. Just be sure to download the latest sprites Mod since they look much better than the old sprites. I'm hoping to release an update soon with the new sprites packaged in.

[choppy]

Well this looks interesting. I will try this out later ( I took XTCTV-RMUYX-EPH0K-H1RSZ-SPF8X) and as to the spaming of the boards, do not worry about it.( then again real foot in mouth move covenant) anyway I will check this out and vote on the greenlight.

[ductape]

I think i am more tired of the rudeness our community dishes out to developers who come here to share their games with us. I cruise this board nearly every single day since 2008, and honestly there is not that much spam. Whats all the hubbub about anyways?

Most of the time the game is relevant and besides, the point of this board is to learn about other games. I for one am glad to hear about new games, it's the primary reason I come here.

And besides, how is it somehow OK for a developer to post a game if first they register a month ahead and then post some comments in other threads, how does that suddenly make it OK?

I say it's OK no matter what and if the game is spammy, then the thread will die or be removed by Toady. No problem. I really dont see this forum turning into some kind of advertising platform.

BTW, game looks cool. Congratz in your progress.

[Mephisto]

Would the name of this game happen to be inspired by the old Minecraft glitch of the same name?

[crow]

Would the name of this game happen to be inspired by the old Minecraft glitch of the same name?

Hehe, not intentionally, but thanks for the link! It seems "Farland" has more lore associated with it than I realized. I learned after the fact about "Farland Story" as well. 

[miauw62]

Notch originally intended Endermen to be called Farlanders, but the latter name had too many other uses.

Either way, this looks neat. Pokemon Mystery Dungeon was one of my favorite games as a kid, so I'll be keeping an eye on this.

(Btw, don't be rude to OP. OP is responding and he's been a lurker for a while, so it's not like he signed up JUST to advertise his game.)

[sjm9876]

Gotta say, this looks pretty sweet. I'll hold off on a key until I have time to play properly though.

Oh, and I apologise for the rudeness. You've been a member for longer than me, you're responding etc....., so I don't see the problem. Hell, you've even offered up free games

[Retropunch]

I like mystery dungeon style games, and I'll definitely give this one a try!! (although I'll hold off on a free key as others may need/want it more).

I see you're working on graphics and I while I hate to criticize on a first post about a game, as you asked for it on your greenlight page I thought I'd let you know my initial impressions as far as UI/graphics go.
I have to say that whilst I am a dyed-in-the-wool DF/RL player, I do think from the screenshots that work put into them would probably help it sell/gain popularity. The UI looks kinda unreadable in some places (especially the top bar with HP/level and so on) and some sprites just look as though they don't fit together with the backgrounds/other items or sprites. Even poor graphics look fine as long as they're consistent and easily readable/identifiable.

I'd possibly suggest making a permanent GUI (around the top and bottom) so the bottom message scroller pops in and out less and the top bit is easily readable.

Keep up the good work!

[Goron]

(flaming removed)

[Robsoie]

To avoid problems, i think a game developer that want to use Bay12 boards as an advertizing platform for his commercial game should secure Toady's permission first to do so, having created a new account or even being an old member with thousands of posts.

After all, Toady is paying for the board hosting/bandwidth, using -his- board in order to make money without his approval sounds really rude.

With a permission system, hostility/negativity problem would be solved.

[crow]

Thanks for the kind words guys! Greenlight has been stressful, due to early comments like saying it looks like a "broser" (sic) game. Many of those gamers seem to play military themed FPS games exclusively and I guess they want to keep anything outside that genre off of Steam. So finding a community that's more open to a turn-based game is a great feeling.

I see you're working on graphics and I while I hate to criticize on a first post about a game, as you asked for it on your greenlight page I thought I'd let you know my initial impressions as far as UI/graphics go.
I have to say that whilst I am a dyed-in-the-wool DF/RL player, I do think from the screenshots that work put into them would probably help it sell/gain popularity. The UI looks kinda unreadable in some places (especially the top bar with HP/level and so on) and some sprites just look as though they don't fit together with the backgrounds/other items or sprites. Even poor graphics look fine as long as they're consistent and easily readable/identifiable.

I'd possibly suggest making a permanent GUI (around the top and bottom) so the bottom message scroller pops in and out less and the top bit is easily readable.

Keep up the good work!

You're spot-on about the UI. On some floors with light backgrounds it's very hard to see. There's even a snow-themed floor and the light yellow text is barely visible against the white background. Unless you're near death, when the text turns red. 

I may do something cheezy for the next update, like paint a semi-transparent dark band underneath the stats at the top.

About the sprites that don't fit, it would help me out a ton if you could describe a few (e.g. ghost, nosferatu, beetle, "boxer" whichever) and let me know why they don't fit. It's probably hard to believe, but I've been working on the game so long that I'm immersed to the point that I can't really see it with fresh eyes.

I finally bit the bullet & started reworking most of the sprites. They'll still be quirky, but I'm trying to remove the jaggies & general ugliness that even I can see. (link is to an imgur album with some examples of the improvements)

Anyway, thanks for the feedback. It's really helpful!

[Retropunch]

About the sprites that don't fit, it would help me out a ton if you could describe a few (e.g. ghost, nosferatu, beetle, "boxer" whichever) and let me know why they don't fit. It's probably hard to believe, but I've been working on the game so long that I'm immersed to the point that I can't really see it with fresh eyes.

For the UI - I'm not a fan of the message box jumping in and out and feel that UIs look a lot better when permanently framed. The new sprites look a lot better so I'd definitely go through as many as you can and re do them (nosferatu for instance)!

To be honest (sorry this sounds like a harsh criticism), I guess my main issue is that the sprites and backgrounds can be a bit jarring. I know it's sort of the 'style', but the sprites being 3d-style with 2d style backgrounds don't seem to fit together in my eyes.
I'm sure it's probably too much work to redo the backgrounds, but maybe you could add some shadows on the sprites to make them look as though they're actually 'interacting' with the world if that makes any sense? These could be permanent shadows/drawn in if your engine is difficult to do real shadows with.

Unfortunately, I think that's what a lot of people mean by browser-game style - graphics seem to be what most people are bothered about, which is a real shame. Spending some time on the art is most certainly the way forward - maybe even finding an artist would be the best option as I'm sure if this game looked like Don't Starve people would be going crazy for it!

Again, I'm sorry for the criticism, and it looks fantastic from a gameplay front, I just feel that it's something which is preventing you from reaching the fame and sales you deserve.

[crow]

Unfortunately, I think that's what a lot of people mean by browser-game style - graphics seem to be what most people are bothered about, which is a real shame. Spending some time on the art is most certainly the way forward - maybe even finding an artist would be the best option as I'm sure if this game looked like Don't Starve people would be going crazy for it!

Again, I'm sorry for the criticism, and it looks fantastic from a gameplay front, I just feel that it's something which is preventing you from reaching the fame and sales you deserve.

Hey, no need to apologize, this is all good feedback and helps immensely to get an idea how players approach this and other games!

The shadows are a great idea that I've actually explored a bit. It's crazy to admit, but I've tried them with one family of creatures and should probably add subtle shadows to all the sprites. Here's where I've been experimenting with shadows for the ToyRobot NPC and Evilbot monsters:

It's more subtle in the newer "After" sets (the shadow's directly underneath the "head"), whereas in the older versions, the shadow was off to the left which flips to the right when the engine HFlips the sprite (saves 12 frames of animation) -- but I was worried that would look odd.

About the "broser" comment from that one guy, I sort of just assumed any 2D game that wasn't a "shoot-everything-I-wanna-be-Rambo-FPS" kind of game would get called "broser" (or maybe he's saying Voyage is a game for bros!?) 

Anyway, I'm hoping players give me credit for the level of animation I've built into it (20 to 60 frames for each creature) to give that Mystery Dungeon-ish illusion of walking/movement. Especially, since many roguelikes use static tiles for creatures. But perhaps the screenshots put them off -- I need to go through and swap out the old shots with new ones from the latest graphics set. So much to do...

But huge thanks for the feedback. It really IS very helpful!