The Book of Shadows (Released 9.12.19)

[Kes]

Yes, I've used Laura's alchemy skill.  Sadly, despite all the fights I've had, I've only received 2 slime ooze so could only make one potion.

which reminds me, the description of the slime ooze in Alchemy scene has "dilluted" with 2 l's.

I can't answer your question about making a bee-line to the Tower as I haven't got there yet, and I'd like to see what the original version is like before giving an opinion.

EDIT

I went back in for a bit more.  By the end I was in quite a bad mood, as you can probably tell from the way this is written (I do the notes as I go along so that I don't forget things).

Dialogue back down in the sewer after speaking to Jarvis

Sarah: …One, we stil [still] need to talk to Savina…

Rat Island

Nest to the left, top.  After the fight it says

The next [nest] searched…

This must have been copy pasted, because it is the same typo on all of them.

There are 2 healing spells; one (Laura’s) basically looks like a suicide risk, as it only transfers HP.  The other (John’s) has a cool down period.  Really?  Only able to heal once in a battle?  Only able to cast a shield once?  Back to spamming attack then.  I wonder whether it is wise to train the player to spam attack in this way?  It is almost impossible to bring in even a smidgen of strategy which might make these battles a bit more interesting.  This was particularly irritating in the battles to get on to the rat islnd and the battle for the big rat nest. 

As far as I can detect, the glasses have as near to zero impact on the hit rate as it’s possible to get.  The character I gave them to seemed to miss with the same tedious regularity as before.

I see that levelling up does nothing for stats except a few more HP and MP.  There is a thread current at the moment discussing the question of whether increasing stats is an important aspect or not.  You might find it interesting.  Speaking personally, I’m one of the many players who gets hacked off at levelling up which basically does nothing.  It means that my abysmal AGI doesn’t improve, so the rats remain far quicker than any of the party, meaning they get their (possibly a bit overpowered) attacks in first every round, which as they can inflict bleeding and serious disease is not funny.  Neither did I find it amusing to discover only after I’d set foot on the bridge that this meant that the rats regenerated.

The icing on the cake was getting 3 characters inflicted with serious disease on the first round and then the 4th character in the second round of the second battle of the big rat heap.  As there were also 2 critical hits in that second round as well, and there had been no chance to heal up after the first fight, it seemed to me that this fight lacked any balance to it.  I have no skills, I cannot go back for more supplies without having to go through this all over again.  All it can possibly be is a hack, hack job which is stacked against the player.  I rage quit as 3 characters were KO'd.

 

[bgillisp]

Yes, I've used Laura's alchemy skill.  Sadly, despite all the fights I've had, I've only received 2 slime ooze so could only make one potion.

which reminds me, the description of the slime ooze in Alchemy scene has "dilluted" with 2 l's.

I can't answer your question about making a bee-line to the Tower as I haven't got there yet, and I'd like to see what the original version is like before giving an opinion.

I figured out why that is. I thought I had it set to a drop of 1/2 for the slime ooze on the fight, but accidentally had it on 1/12 (fat fingers). That explains the problem! I guess since I always healed in Elmwood at the church (for 25 G) and then made a run for the next area I never noticed that I was low on them as I wasn't using them.

If you are out of gold download the newest version, it will let you turn off random fights so you can get out of this mess and get to the healing crystal which will give you full health and mana. You will have to survive 2 fixed fights to get to the crystal but unless you are near KO already it should be doable.

 

[Kes]

Does the newest version have the corrected drop rate?  If it has, I'll start this whole dungeon over again from the fire, as I think that turning everything off rather defeats the point of testing it.

I'm wondering about the number of times that battles gives 0g.  I know that one of the rat nests gives some gold, but even so, I think there is a risk that players might well run short.  Given what it takes to heal up disease and bleeding, fighting battles could quickly bankrupt a player.

On the subject of drops, I wonder whether you might have to reconsider using the Victory Aftermath screen.  Unless a way can be found to stop it giving the sort of declarations that it does when you haven't actually got anything, or is inappropriate to what has been dropped, then I think it detracts rather than adds.  If you want to stick with the Aftermath screen, then perhaps if you gave 1g (or 2g if you're feeling generous) to those enemies which presently give none, then at least that solves this problem, sort of.

 

[bgillisp]

The new version does not fix the drop rate yet, I need to still upload it. However, Elmwood and the sewer maps have partial implementation of ideas, some dialogues are out of whack there. Not sure if I can get it fixed today either, will see what can be done.

Might try the 1 g idea, though I'm also adding in monster drops that are relevant and can be used in a way. Those are being currently added though, so not present in this release.

The rat nest is not supposed to be winnable yet unless you are high level (it protects a powerful weapon for this area). If the characters *ever* suggest not going there, don't, unless you want a hard (and maybe non-winnable at this point) fight (for example, I can't usually win the rat nest fight until I'm level 8). Pay attention to the characters, as they do warn you about those things. Incidentally, if you win the fight with the big rat nest, then the rats scatter and you don't redo the fight. In some areas, winning these tough fights turns off the random fights, as the enemies now fear you too much to attack you. As it is, that fight with the rat nest is there because you return here in chapter 3, and it is winnable then. Not every fight is winnable when you first encounter it.

Laura has heal, and health transfer. Go one skill over to find heal, with her high MP it should keep the party's health up (the health transfer is a last resort spell, for when the MP runs out and you are desperate). Somehow you missed the heal skill on her it sounds like. John has low MP, so his heal is a backup more than anything. Sarah has the high AGL, but rats always have higher AGL than the player for a while, to simulate how nimble they are.

What do you have equipped? The glasses are +10 to hit, so it should move the default to 85% for those wearing it. I hope the game isn't cutting off to hit at 100%, else the algorithm is going to be broken and glasses will not be working right (as it goes 95% + 10% for the glasses - the default 20% for evade most everyone has. I overwrote how the engine calculates hits and misses so it goes to hit - evade = % to hit the enemy, and rolls based on that).

The stats go from 1 - 100 (buffs can take you over 100), so level up gains are 1 point usually (zero every other level on weak stats). A stat over 100 is super powerful, so the gains stay low to compensate. The equipment means more than the levels. This game is a fight for survival, against hard odds, so the early areas *are* going to be tough. Though, I am going to add in a couple of ways to full heal in Elmwood (one already exits for 25G, and a new one will exist if you have John call in a favor), but those will not be present until I redraw the Elmwood map to take in the suggestions so far. Still, if you have 25 G, return to Elmwood and go to the lady under the star sign, she will full heal the party for 25 G (and restore all MP, and cure all diseases).

Edit: Below is the *rough* sketch of the new Elmwood. The apple orchard has become a park, and is in the SW corner. The SE corner has a bathhouse where you can get HP and MP restored once for free (John is owed a favor), then at cost.

Spoiler

Lore for the town has been changed too, to reflect the high amount of grass (the high grass/low dirt is due to an Earth Mage's spell that blessed the forest. As a result, the grass hardly ever dies or withers, even under heavy traffic. The flip side is, it grows too fast, something some of the people in town will complain about). I'll be adding townspeople to comment on it throughout the day today.

The tree in the middle is supposed to be the tallest in the area, hence the higher height. If there is a better way to represent that, suggest away.

Off to work though, so that's as far as it gets until I get a break.

 

[Kes]

With the description of the game as "a fight for survival, against hard odds" things suddenly make much more sense.  I don't remember seeing that in the game description in the OP, and so assumed it was a more 'normal' fight mode.  Maybe I need to read the opening description again to orientate myself properly to it.

I was stunningly tired yesterday, and so I did indeed overlook the heal spell - my bad and I apologise for that.

Level 8 for the rat nest?  I'm only levels 3 and 4, so no wonder I got trashed.  I've cleared out the small rats nest (as you will have seen from the typo report) so I'll leave it at that and move on towards the Tower.

For the significantly taller tree, I'm not sure that the autotile tree works.  For one thing it is several trees, not one.  Have you considered using a different tree altogether there?  There are some good giant trees around (I think I have a couple) and if you have a story reason for the greater height, it might feed into that.

 

[bgillisp]

Eh, that's probably my fault. I think I need to update the description based on what you have said. Plus, I didn't find the opening areas hard, but that is hard for me to judge being as I know where everything is too.

Yeah, the rat nest is much more winnable once you get the area effect spells. The 5th party member (when you get her) has one when she joins, it helps clearing out the mobs. Also Sarah's shockwave works wonders on the rats once you learn it (you will usually have enough JP for it in chapter 2). The 6th party member also does wonders as they come with a spell that increases all stats by 3x for 2 combat rounds, use that at the right time and bye-bye rats.

Saw the typo too, though the rat nest is moving with the sewer redraw, it might get the axe. We will see if I still have the space for it.

I *thought* that tree did look out of place, nice to know I wasn't going crazy. The tree is supposed to be the source of the earth spell that is affecting the area, and extends down into the caves below the town. I may just go with standard height, since it is already tall due to it crossing three maps (once I redo the area you are in now).

Edit: Here are all the changes made since the last download, for those following along. These will all be in the next download once I have the new maps working for players.

Spoiler

-Slimes give 1 more EXP point each, and sewer slimes give 1 more JP.

-Skeletons give 1 less EXP point. This is to better match the EXP rewards of the more difficult monsters in the areas where skeletons are random fights.

-Added a treasure of 10 slime oozes to be found in the same place as the treasure chest. Still looking for a good graphic for it (right now it is a potion bottle).

-Slime ooze drop rate is 1/2 on all but sewer slimes.

-Elmwood re-drawn to make it a forest town. Plans are to redraw the underground caves next (2 levels exist to those). The bank, guardhouse, and tavern will all move to underneath Elmwood and will be part of the map (yes, this does mean the current sewer map will eventually let you walk into those places. Hope the bank customers don't mind the smell!).

-Laura's face image has arrived, and will be visible in new games in the menu. Plans are to put the new face image in all conversations once all chapter 1 characters face images arrive. For now, she will be added to all new conversations going forward, and the edits will be later.

-Added ability to turn random fights off. This is *not* how the game is intended to be played, but you can be the judge on whether to have them present or not now. Consider it a get out of jail free card in case you get stuck in a dungeon and your only save is deep in the dungeon.

-A bathhouse was added to Elmwood. The bath will give you a boost to stats for many steps (exact number TBA, 250 will be used in initial testing), and recovers all HP and MP.

-Added ability to rest in the inn in Elmwood now. No idea why I still didn't have that in the game.

 

[Kes]

After fight with Kevin

Eric:  Hey, it [if] you wish, …

When they get to room 718 and we have the conversation about showers, everyone leaves the party.  However, if Eric enters room 718 instead of going to the showers and clicks on the book, Sarah shows up in the dialogue, even though Eric is there on his own.

The two sets of drawers in that room are actually on the wall, not the floor – you can see the carpet meet the wall.  Shift-clicking the carpet at the lower wall edge would help.

After the shower, the dialogue:

Eric:  So how is this going to work wtih [with] 4 of us, and two beds. (In addition to the typo, perhaps it would be better to be consistent – either 4/2 or four/two, but not mix them.)

If you choose to stay with Sarah, in the conversation

Sarah: …and since I can sleep about ahywhere [anywhere]…  (though again I would put …I can sleep just about anywhere)

Sarah…and John will try and seduce a summer students [student]

When they get to the cafeteria next morning

Sarah: Good Idea. I’ll come with [you].

Now that I’ve got to the Tower, I don’t think it would be a good idea to cut the sewer and go straight there.  There is some character development and interaction within the group which I think would be difficult to replicate in just a couple of scenes.  Also, it would be helpful to have had some experience of fighting with this group before hitting the monsters on the way to the override (at least, I’m assuming that’s the way it’s going to go.  I’ve stopped at the beginning of the section after Laura has been arrested.)

 

[bgillisp]

Ok, good to have another opinion on that. My thought was to have the group joke about you going to see Savina directly instead of waiting for the meeting, but probably won't put it in.

Thanks for catching those! I am still in debate on whether to let you go into 718 or not after the others leave, so haven't fixed the inside events yet.

Yep, you are to go find the overwrite (override? Maybe override would be better). This party is a little tougher to use due to the loss of Laura (less healing), but as you will soon see I put in a couple of things to try to offset that. Keep a save before going up just in case I'm off on this!

Any lag in the tower too? I have an anti-lag script to try and keep the lag down (due to the high number of door events), but haven't heard from others if the tower is lagging or not.

How did the Kevin fight feel for you? I was worried it was too hard with him having the heal and barrier spells, so it is good to hear another has beaten it successfully.

 

[Kes]

For the Kevin fight, I thought it was fine.  I have adjusted my expectations based on the "a fight for survival, against hard odds" and so went into it with a different mindset.  I took Kevin down first, so he had less chance to use his skills.

 

[Timaeos]

Great game!

 

[bgillisp]

For the Kevin fight, I thought it was fine.  I have adjusted my expectations based on the "a fight for survival, against hard odds" and so went into it with a different mindset.  I took Kevin down first, so he had less chance to use his skills.

Ok, good to know. That fight has been changed since someone else tested it, so it was hard to know if I had balanced it decently. I figured since you do get a full heal before the fight, it can be a little tougher.

Also, based on your feedback, you might be interested to know I added a healing crystal to the start of the sewers too. That way if you get stuck before you even get to Elmwood, you can be fully healed.  

Great game!

Thanks, though it is really raw. I'd call this an early access version if it were on steam...*really* early access. Final version is probably not going to be out until 2016 or 2017. I'm just glad we now have someone who has released a commercial game critiquing it, so it can get improved!

Edit: More updates for the next upload: AGL of rats have been lowered so that Sarah usually goes before them (and sometimes Eric). Slimes have had similar AGL reduction so as to allow Sarah go before them. More powerful monsters will still go before you, so watch out!

Working on the redrawn maps for KC and Elmwood now, so a new upload will be after those are complete and ready for release.

 

[Kes]

I was looking mostly at background stuff, so not much game play to report on.

The description for the skill Flies! reads “…until the fllies [flies] leave.”

The description for the skill Missle Shield – for both the name and in the description shouldn’t that be Missile?

The description for the skill Fog is a bit confusing.  When it says “making it hard for anyone to see.”, does that ‘anyone’ include allies or is it just enemies?

The description for the skill Shocking Cloud reads “…that shocks then [them] over time…”

The description for the skill Hurricane reads “Extreme winds assult [assault] the…making missle [missile] attacks…”

The description of the skill Swarm of Flies needs a full stop at the end.

The skill Electocute should be Electrocute.

The description for the skill Smoke Screen reads “Creates a smoke scree [screen]”

The description for the skill Improved Feint reads “…lowers the enemies [if scope one enemy, then should read enemy’s, if more than one should read enemies’] defense.”

The description for the skill Buff Thief reads “Steals the enemies [if scope one enemy, then should read enemy’s, if more than one should read enemies’] buffs…”

As these are just one person’s skills, I think you would need to go over all of them for typos.  I noticed that John’s Improved Defense skill refers to “one allies defense” instead of “one ally’s defense”.

I’m wondering about some of the skills, just how attractive they will be.  I noticed that the first Protector skill that John can learn is Defense Block I, which costs 400JP.  All it does is block 15HP damage – already enemies are regularly dishing out 50+ and that can only go up.  Of what use is blocking 15?  I honestly can’t imagine many players bothering with it.  Certainly I’m not going to.

I also notice that a significant number just talk about “attempting” something, which presumably means that there is only a percentage chance that it will work.  When it’s something like “Hide” I find that surprising.  Given that the characters do not have much MP and it is taking a long time to get the JP for these early skills, I think it would be fairer to the player to give at least some indication of what the chance is.  High? Low? Somewhere in between?  Again, this is a skill I’m not going to bother with if it is just going to be another wasted turn.  My own opinion is that a dev should not give players many wasted turns.  Players won’t use that skill.  If it is attempting a debuff on the enemy, for example, then let it also do reduced damage so that it isn’t an empty turn.  There are too many of those already with the low hit rate.  To add to it would be deeply frustrating.

I think Sarah’s skill ‘counterattack’ is a waste.  What player is going to use a turn for this when all it will do is give Sarah an attack if she is hit, but otherwise she does nothing?  If you want to give her a bit of counterattack, then maybe add a percentage counterattack state rate to her in the actor’s tab?  Grawin in Common Man had it as a passive state.

One of the Victory Aftermath screens has Phoenix saying

“No monaterball [monsterball] cards?

There does seem to be some lag in the Tower.

On the way up, I stop off to check room 718.  I still get the dialogue on the book.  I think I saved the time I got it when I was checking before the showers, in which case it needs a self switch.

Next floor up, we have the conversation about Salazar.  I then scan the directory on the wall and it tells me that I don’t recognise any names – but shouldn’t Salazar’s name be there, in which case I would recognise it.

I can walk over all the target dummies.  Perhaps make them impassable and have an event ‘below characters’ for the one I come up underneath?

Still in the Forest room, heading off towards the Fire Room and Ice Room, the battleback is of a palatial sort of room – perhaps something a bit closer to the visuals of the map would be better?

Room with Wendigo

“The creature now notices the prescence [presence] of…”

Stopped there, so not fought her/them yet.

 

[bgillisp]

Yeah, descriptions are still a work in progress, as you can see. The handbook is meant to give the more details (though I think only Fire and Death are done), since having only 2 lines is (in my opinion) awful. I wish there was a way to override the setting on how many lines we have for descriptions. I plan to review for typos once all skills are final, as some are coming/going as the game is made.

To answer the ones you mention: Fog affects all (you and enemies). Its meant to be a way to stop/reduce physical attacks and focus on magic for a while (handy for physical attacking enemies, not so much for magical).

Hide: If she is not hit before her next turn, her next attack has a boost to damage (50% to ATK I think, but I don't have it open now). Its like the old wizardry hide in shadows skill. However, if she is hit, it is treated as if she was 'found' and she loses the bonus.  I'm hoping to add a better way to handle that at some point.

Damage Block. Actually, since you can get NULL this way, and all skills have a 1 HP min except for that, it has a place. The exact number might change as more of the game is made too, 15 HP was based on the old attack damage formula, so it might have to be tweaked later. Also, it blocks physical and magical attacks, which can be useful. Might edit the duration so it is useful in boss battles more.

Counterattack I: It boosts the ATK, gives a high boost to EVA, and the counterattack is guaranteed. It's meant to be a set up to dodge (sometimes) and strike back if you are attacked. Handy against physical attacks and physical attackers. Also, Sarah already has counterattack as a passive state (10% chance), though I do have it set so that counterattacks occur *after* you have been damaged already (so its not the default you dodge and get a free attack, but retaliate to the attack that just hit you).

Eventually there will be skill requirements in the game, but while skills are still being entered and tested I don't have that part (for example, you will have to know Heal I to be able to learn Heal II, etc).

Also, if you are curious, the buff spells are as follows: +10 for the initial version, +25 for the more powerful version. I do plan to add the specifics, but after balancing is done. So John's improved defense is +10 to DEF, and so on. Sarah's weakening strike is -10 to enemy stats (it tries to hit with every debuff, can fail, but it is 2 strikes), and so on.

Oops...I hadn't checked the directory in a while. Thanks!

Did you check all the rooms on the way? I'm curious if you found and won the demon fight that was hidden in there.

You are at Wendigo! Good....you will soon have a use for all that JP Eric has been learning.

Edit: Also I did figure out how to turn off Victory aftermath if nothing is found at all in the battle. Took a two line change. So in future updates it will only show if gold or items (or both) were found. Might have just figured out how to set the quote too, as I'd like to be able to do that for boss fights (just to avoid the "What an easy battle" after you just fought tooth and nail for 25 rounds and squeaked out a victory).

Also added an AGL boosting accessory that you can buy or find. Now there will be a way to raise AGL more if you wish.

Also, stumbled across an autosave script today, and it works with the Yanfly Save Manager. It will be present in the next update, though now I need to add the autosave locations into the game.

 

[Kes]

The out of game Manual needs a proof reader.  Things like Missle instead of ‘Missile’ and ‘weilder’ instead of ‘wielder’.  As it’s a WIP I won’t go through it in detail.  However, you do seem to expect the player to carry a lot around in their memory.  No one is going to want to keep checking to find out that, for example, Megaphones hit all enemies.  When I had the chance to get one I didn’t because that information wasn’t readily available.  The same with the Pom Poms.  Given that money is pretty tight, no one is going to want to waste even small amounts just to find out what something is.  Few, if any, are going to want to come out of a game and open up a manual because they’ve seen something in a shop that is unfamiliar.  And if they do, immersion has been effectively broken.  Info like “Hits all enemies.” And “2 attacks in one turn” ought to be in the description the player sees in game and would easily fit.

The same applies to skills.  Just saying “Blocks 15HP” and nothing else leaves the player assuming that that is all that is to be said about it.  I don’t think keeping the player in the dark is a good idea; players should be able to make informed choices about their actions, not toss a coin and guess.  You give a lot of information in the book in the Menu – again I think not a good idea because of what I wrote above, but also because most skills will be wanted in battle.  Not remembering exactly what a skill does is fairly common, particularly as the number of actors and skills per actor increases, so being able to see what each does when it’s needed is important.  As it is accessible from the Menu, you can’t just break off in the middle of a battle to check what a skill does.  Instead they will either ignore the skill, or guess and get deeply frustrated if they guessed wrong.  Players like to feel that they have a degree of control over what happens, and for that they need appropriate information at the appropriate time.

On the autosave script – is that Todd’s autosave?  I use it, and it needs to have an additional fix if you don’t want the number of saves shown on the save screen to go weird.

Btw, forgot to say about rooms on the way up

Room 718 – I now don’t remember with certainty, but I think the dialogue when you first search under Sarah’s bed has a typo, it might say “saerch".

Yes, I did check everything and got the demon.  However, I think the chances of players doing that are vanishingly small.  There is nothing at all on the first floor.  Having done 36 doors, the vast majority of players will assume that there is nothing behind any door.  I did, and only continued checking because I was testing and because I like to be thorough in my exploration.  I think you need to put something (even if it’s only a piece of informative dialogue) on one of the first floor doors so that reasonably astute players will continue checking.  More casual players probably won’t, and that’s fine.

When you first approach the door in the ice room it says that it is guarded by Wedigo (or something like that), thereafter it’s Wendigo.

“Wendigo and her mimions [minions] attack!”

The red orb after the Wendigo fight

“…the wards shoudl [should] reset…”

Am now at the bottom of the pit.  And yes, I got the book from the fire room.

I hope you don't find my points above about information too nit-picky, but if there's even a small chance that you eventually want this to go commercial, you have to think of things like that.  

 

[bgillisp]

Will think about the ideas on details. Wavelength gave me other ideas on that too (via a PM, though some are on the IGMC page for this same game), so I'm in the middle of implementing those ideas too.

Yep, its Dr. Todds. I had to edit it already to not let you delete or save over the autosave. I haven't touched the save counter, but it's only in the intro right now. The idea is to use it to create an autosave after big cutscenes so you have a way to not rewatch them in case you forget to save (for example, the first autosave is right after the intro is done). I'll look into the save counter and see if I see anything off on it though since you did mention it.

BTW, I just played through the intro with the changed AGL, now Eric and Sylvie go before all monsters in that zone (or have so far in every battle I've done). The party will now usually go before slimes (except John, he's slow), though not sewer slimes.  

Not a problem! This game *needs* someone to be nit-picky, and you have 2 completed games (maybe more? I only know of two, and I've played one of them and hope to try Undefeated when I get some more money and free time), and I'm rusty (started in June for the contest). I am thinking I'll hire one of the proofreaders on the boards when the game is done (maybe send them a walkthrough so they don't get stuck). I've started also copy/pasting texts to word so I can use the spellchecker on it.

Yeah, 414 was a recent add to the game. I hope to add more like that to give the players more reason to keep checking, or add a hint somewhere.  Once all the side events are entered I might cut it down to 9 or 6 doors a floor too, so there are less random doors...18 per floor was to give me room to play around as needed while working on that area.

Good. I figured the book wasn't too hard to find, though you can get unlucky and roll a really hard fight with burning flames on the way there or back. The fight is winnable (more so once you beat Wendigo), but drains your resources a lot if end up encountering them.

BTW, the pit is another map that will need a redo at some point. My redrawn Elmwood and underground caves do affect this map, as the entrances/exits have moved.

 

[Kes]

Good. I figured the book wasn't too hard to find, though you can get unlucky and roll a really hard fight with burning flames on the way there or back. The fight is winnable (more so once you beat Wendigo), but drains your resources a lot if end up encountering them.

Ha! I had 3 fights between entering and getting out.  My tactic was to use Eric's new abilities, but bearing in mind he takes more damage wearing the cloak and remembering what you said about damage block also blocking some attack, I had John inflict that first round.  It kept him alive, and his 'shivers', took out one of the fires each turn.  Bit nasty, though.

The issue with the auto save is that every time you save with it, it adds one to the total save counter.  If, as you are doing, it is only used rarely, that's not a problem.  My problem in my current project arose because it autosaves when you enter a new map - every map, and every one is counted.  So within an hour or so, your save counter is probably showing about 100+.  Now autosaves are not included in the total.

I think fewer doors would be a good move.  It would also help on the lag problem which is quite noticeable. 

 

[bgillisp]

That works, or you can also guard. Guard reduces all damage by 50% (recent add, so not showing up in the description yet...need to find a way to add that to the description of guard, will check into how to do that).

3? I usually get 2. Guess you were lucky

I figured that might be the issue. I think finding a way to stop that would not be too tough, I'll check into it when I'm back from traveling this weekend. I did also turn off the autosave every map, battle or menu, so it only autosaves when I call it.

Yeah, the doors come down to is this the only Magi tower, or are there several? When I made it, I planned it to be the only such tower, so a lot of rooms made sense (as there would be many students). However, if other towns have them as well, then each tower only having 6 - 10 students per year would make perfect sense. Will keep that in consideration for later in the development once the side towns are more filled in.

You don't have your current project on here do you?

 

[Kes]

No, the current project isn't here.  It might be nice to do, but that would be one more thing to keep up, and my game dev time is pretty limited at the moment as it is.  I'm giving myself a short break from intensive work on it (hence the time to do this bit of testing) while I do more tiles that I need, but then once I'm back into using all my spare time on it (I have a pretty demanding RL job as well) I don't want to be spending time updating a thread as well.  And there's nothing worse than a neglected-looking thread.

EDIT

Is the pricing of potions really what you intend?

Minor Potion 150HP costs 50 g

Potion 500HP – if the price were pro rata it would be 165g.  Even if you upped it a bit because it’s more ‘valuable’ in battle, that would still normally only take it to 200g, but you are charging 250g

Mana Potion 25MP costs 100g (gulp!  Can this be real?)

Mana in Bottle 75MP – pro rata cost 300g, but you are charging 1,000g which (unless money starts growing on trees) says to the player, don’t under any circumstances use your spells because you cannot possibly afford to restore.

The Mixed Potion has a mark-up of 50g i.e. 30% extra cost over the 2 separate.

Blended Potion- here we have the inflated 1,000g potion, plus the inflated 250g, total 1,250.  Already well over the odds.  You are charging 2,000 for this item.  It almost feels like you’re treating the player with contempt.

I could go on, but overall I think your pricing structure needs serious attention. 

Once they go into the cave, they get valuable information about what type of weapon to equip.  The player should have received that before spending money at the weapon store on gear which may now prove to be useless.  I would suggest either amending the inventory there so that it doesn’t include swords and daggers, or have the vendor warn the party and let the player choose.

I’m stopping here.  I’m getting 30-40% hit rate on these plague rats, it’s taking me 3-4 turns to kill one of them because with the price of potions I dare not use up my MP as I have no idea how big the dungeon is, and the encounter rate is quite high.  Also my guess is that the troops will quickly become bigger/more difficult so I would need to have all my MP for further in.  Maybe you need to have a look at the rat’s evasion rate or whatever is causing this.  I would also guess that as they are plague rats they will be inflicting serious disease, so the price of HP potions kicks in with vigour. 

Good luck with the further development.

 

[bgillisp]

Pricing is a work in progress as you noted. However, money does become much more common in chapter 2, so right now they are there. Some of the stores in chapter 1 have inflated prices (there's a shortage of the good stuff. I'm adding a dialogue to explain that). I think that shop has potions at 2X normal prices because they are rare there, hence the weird jump.  

You have 4 baseball bats in your inventory, so you should not be in a bad spot (Sarah found them for you a *long* time ago, this is what they are for).

Plague rats are a rare encounter here, really rare (should be set to a rate of 1, with all the other choices, it should be about 2 - 3% tops), and they inflict disease which you have another item to cure. They will probably move in location though with the redraw, as they are meant to be a chapter 3 enemy. If you meet them, you can always run, Sarah's smoke screen is a guaranteed run away.

Use your MP this time...you have a healing crystal to retreat to if you get in a bad spot. This (and all future dungeons) are meant to be a use MP as needed, there are only a couple branches (one has a good dagger), and there are healing crystals at both ends (south end has one, and there is one in the guardhouse). If you hold back on MP the dungeons will get tough quickly. In other words, you have to play it like old school wizardry...use MP, retreat if you get low or feel like you are in a bad spot.

Anyways, thanks for all you found so far on this. I know you have your game to work on too, so no offense if you stop here, you found a *lot* for me so far and over and above what any other tester has done so far for this. Maybe this is a good stopping point until the newer version comes out in a month or two (hopefully with a lot more polish)?

 

[Kes]

Well, I'm really unlucky then, because I got the rats for every encounter!

On the use of MP, the thing is you know that there are crystals ahead and only a couple of branches.  The player cannot know this, and so will have to assume the worst.

When the revised version comes out I'll give it a go and see how it is.