84 replies to this topic

[King Tetiro]

Legena : The New Dawn

[2] [3] [4] 

Background

For a good long time, me and my team have been tinkering around with GM to be able to ready ourselves when the big head of the team (Me), was out of university and ready to start producing the game. With university near its end, it's time to make a portfolio. As a result, Legena : The New Dawn is made. It was intended to be commercial but now it'll be freeware.

 

Story
 

Men can change themselves. Any man, any woman and any child. Tetiro Aceus, the spoilt Prince of Orenna falls victim to a series of events that his citizens suffer on day to day basis and decides to take over the throne. But he needs the help of Serat Carka the traveller, Kekira Heartwright the bartender and many other allies to overthrow his corrupt father. But it seems that his father also has allies. Some of which aren't of the normal races that inhabit the world...

 

Information and Controls

I'm guessing you're bored of the background of the project and want stuff to do with the actual game now? Well here's the information

Category: Turn Based Role Playing Game
File Size: Under 3MB (For now but we have a target to try and keep it as low as possible)
GM Version: GM8.0
Vista Compatible: Unknown (Someone clarify)
Changes Screen Resolution: 480x240 (The game will change resolution to your screen resolution proportion)

 

Most Recent Version: Demo #5 (Takes you up to the fifth chapter. That's 5/6s of the game!)

Now I assume you want to know how to control the game? Well, here's the control layout.
 

What do we need feedback on?

As the point of the topic, we need feedback on stuff. It's not like the usual topics here where you just state bugs, say if you loved it or not and so on. We have some things we'd like to know. 

 

By giving feedback, we can produce a finer quality game. So please give feedback. 

Feedback Demos

Without a further ado, here's the feedback demos. I will be keeping an archieve of the feedback demos. Any struck through I have removed.

Demo V0.05 (Added 24/01/2012) - Contains Ingame Menu System, Object Interaction, Mouse Input and Character Movement
Demo V0.07 (Added 29/01/2012) - Adds the Buying/Selling Engine. Plus an update to the Heads Up Display
Demo V0.08.I (Added 05/02/2012) - Demonstrates the game in the iPad dimensions. Analog Movement Control has been improved
Demo V0.09 (Added 09/02/2012) - Sound Effects have now been added [Found fault. Forgot to add the Text file to this version. Easy fix. Just download a previous version and copy the Text file]
Demo V0.15 (Added 17/02/2012) - The Battle Engine at 90% completion (Game Over and Player HP being less than 0 left to sort). Also feedback from TheUltimate has started being used
Demo V0.16 (Added 25/02/2012) - Player HP going no longer less than 0, Preset Battles and Enemy Health Bars
Demo V0.17 (Added 19/03/2012) - Abilities Menu, Saving/Loading, Some story scenes and the Title Screen
Demo V0.18 (Added 27/03/2012) - Game Over and Fixes
Demo V1.00 (Added 07/04/2012) - Demo #1 (1/6 of the game)
Demo V2.00 (Added 30/05/2012) - Demo #2 (2/6 of the game)
Demo V3.00 (Added 03/08/2012) - Demo #3 (3/6 of the game)
Demo V4.00 (Added 30/09/2012) - Demo #4 (4/6 of the game)
Demo V5.00 (Added 22/11/2012) - Demo #5 (5/6 of the game)
 

How can we support the game?

Well we'd love to see you following our Twitter Account
Feedback is heavily needed to make sure the quality is great!

Edited by King Tetiro, 25 April 2013 - 06:06 PM.

[King Tetiro]

And we've already had feedback from a Zelda Universe topic

just from looking at the screenshot I think one problem is that the buttons blend in too well with the environment. I thought the menu button was a sign for a shop or something at first., You might want to consider not making them in an 8-bit style or add some sort of border that makes it clear that these are buttons.

Have you tried putting all buttons on black borders outside the main screen? I always hate having to tap the screen I'm supposed to be looking at.

Me and the team agreed that the buttons and circle pad could block the viewing of the character if the character is located under the circle pad or buttons. So we've start progress on a Heads Up Display update. We'll be updating the buttons as well.



And we've also been working on the Howling Woods (Dungeon #1). Both of these things will be available in V0.06 onwards.

Keep the feedback coming folks!

Edited by King Tetiro, 26 January 2012 - 04:21 PM.

[Foxx of AK]

Yeah I tried this the other day and that's one thing I noticed. In the screenshots I actually thought all the buttons were part of the gameworld.
I like the new virtual analog much better now though.

Not really much else to the game at the moment so I'll try and check back for an update or something.

[King Tetiro]

Yeah I tried this the other day and that's one thing I noticed. In the screenshots I actually thought all the buttons were part of the gameworld.
I like the new virtual analog much better now though.

Not really much else to the game at the moment so I'll try and check back for an update or something.

We will be working on the Buying/Selling update batch from the 28th onwards if there remains no other feedback.

I have now coloured the borders of the circle pad and buttons light blue so it's obvious what's HUD and what's not

Edited by King Tetiro, 26 January 2012 - 05:38 PM.

[King Tetiro]

Ok folks, I have today V0_07 which is looking for feedback. Not only does it bring an update to the Heads Up Display but also the rest of the rooms needed for the first official demo created and tiled along with the Buying/Selling engine



We still need feedback on the following aspects.

• How easy was it for your to understand the controls?
• What's your thoughts on the Character Movement?
• Did you find Ingame Menu System easy to use?
• Do you think that there is room for improvement for the Object Interaction? If so, what?
• Is there anything you think could be improved? If so, what?
• How do you find the Buying/Selling engine's double tap function?

Help bring the game to finer quality

[zehevi]

First, I think you should consider having the option to change the size of the analog control, as it might be too small for certain mobile devices.
Second, I'm not sure if you have noticed but everytime you move to a new area / map you need to re-click the analog in order to move again, this can be annoying once you get used to the controls.

It is a pretty well crafted game, I enjoyed watching the 8bit graphics.

[King Tetiro]

First, I think you should consider having the option to change the size of the analog control, as it might be too small for certain mobile devices.
Second, I'm not sure if you have noticed but everytime you move to a new area / map you need to re-click the analog in order to move again, this can be annoying once you get used to the controls.

It is a pretty well crafted game, I enjoyed watching the 8bit graphics.

First : I've done my research and apart from the iPad (because I haven't found a screenshot of a game on iPad using the analog control), this analog control will fit on all devices (Gotta remember, the screen will always be scaled to 200% size for phone devices. Thank you mike for making that possible lol)
Second : I'm trying to figure out where in my code the circle pad gets de-activated. I hope to have the problem fixed by the next version.

I appreciate the feedback. I shall get working on the second bit of feedback right now. Keep the feedback coming folks!

EDIT: The Analog control problem is a thing of the past. You can continue moving from room to room. You will see it from V0.08+

EDIT 2: I've been researching iPad games with analog controls and the analog control is only at most 4 pixels smaller. I think it's fair to say that there won't be a problem. However I will be releasing a V.IP.0.08+ that is at the scaleable screen resolution of the iPad. This will allow you guys to give feedback on the location of the analog control.

EDIT 3: Texture Page Usage Update. So far we've only used 10.8% of the texture pages available (8900 8x8 blocks out of 81920 8x8 blocks) and this is counting almost all of the sprites that we have at our disposal) It's fair to say our objective of keeping to all of the sprite limitations is going great!

Edited by King Tetiro, 29 January 2012 - 09:53 AM.

[King Tetiro]

No Version updates just yet because the next stage is Music and Sounds but there is a Sound update. Our epic composer has already made 16 of the 40 8-Bit sounds! In only 1 week! Wowsa! Whatever he's taking to make fast progress I want it!

And in other news, all the Enemy Battle sprites are now done! In only 3 days as well. There are 100 enemies you can fight...once the engine is done...

And a final bit of news, I've been doing the Battle Interface design in terms of the screen. I've been doing formulas and stuff to make sure it not only works for iPhones and Androids, but iPads as well.

Keep the feedback coming folks!

[King Tetiro]

No version updates this week, I'm still awaiting music and sounds.

On the plus side, 98.25% of the graphics have been FULLY sprited. Only 2 sprite sheets are left. Overall, we've used 19.99% of the 5 texture pages we can use for the mobile phone games. 0.01% under our target limit. We did it folks! (Yup! An entire RPG graphics in under 1024x1024 sprite sheet )

Soon, we will be revealing the Project's real title. Along with the game's logo.

EDIT: Been programming the drawing of the Battle backgrounds. It's hard making it fit the graphics style and the battle style of the 8-Bit RPGs

Edited by King Tetiro, 04 February 2012 - 01:48 PM.

[King Tetiro]

Ok folks, I have uploaded a new version. This version is in the intended iPad screen resolution (512x384) (Hence why there's an I at the end of the version (V0.08I) )

The following things have been done

• Enemy Sprites have been added *
• NPC Sprites have been added *
• Logo sprite has been added *
• All areas which will be available in the free mobile phone demo (Once GM Studio is out) are available for you to roam (Except for the Hallowed Woods and the Castle Dungeons. They are blocked by a barrier.)
• The Analog control has been updated

* = You can't see it right now. But it's there in the source file I have.

This time round, I'd like feedback on the User Interface and the Menu Interface for the iPad.

I'd appreciate it folks

EDIT: Fantastic news today. I've heard the first track of the game and it's very 8-bit! And its file size is incredibly small! The future of this game is looking very grand!

Edited by King Tetiro, 05 February 2012 - 08:54 PM.

[King Tetiro]

I must apologise, I put the download link in a incorrect manner. It has been fixed now.

Also, the Music implementation has been delayed until further notice due to reading the GM Mobile Phone handbook.

As a result, it means the Battle Engine will take its place in the queue.

In greater news though, the Sound Effects are 75% done! Only 10 sounds left for my composer to make. And the current file size is 881kb. If all goes well, we'll have the total file size at less than 1.5MB!

In more news, the Sound Playing engine is fully operational along with a few functions to prevent garbling looping.

Once all 40 sounds have been made and the sounds which are currently needed have been implemented, a version V0.09 will be released! After that, the Battle Engine will commence!

EDIT: I've started work on the Battle Engine whilst I wait for the last sound!



EDIT 2: Even more work on the Battle Engine.

Edited by King Tetiro, 09 February 2012 - 05:17 PM.

[TheUltimate]

Since you seem to have a nicely categorized topic, I'll leave a nicely categorized reply.

Good stuff:
=== Really smooth game engine. It's polished for a short demo, and there are a lot of places to explore. I only found one glitch with trying to talk to people. (explained below)
=== I liked the menu system. It was well laid-out and easy to figure out, and I wasn't clicking around randomly trying to equip stuff.
=== The 8-bit thing is sooo awesome! I like how it's true, old school 8-bit instead of lazy-graphics 8-bit. The graphics still manage to look really good despite the colour restrictions.
=== The attention to detail was nice

Not so good stuff:
=== Hearing that beeping sound every time I click the control pad is annoying. If you make it so you only hear it when you click elsewhere on the screen, you'd also have the bonus of knowing when you're hitting it. One thing I've noticed about touchscreen games is that you don't notice your hand shifting slightly until you're nowhere near the controls. It's especially bad for more action-y games.
=== Seems like talking to people freezes the game. I don't mean Not Responding-type freezing, I mean the HUD vanishes and everything stops, and other times, it doesn't do anything at all. Not sure whether the dialogue system's done yet, so if it isn't, just ignore this.

Suggestions and whatever:
Would there be some way to add an option to move the control pad wherever you want on the screen?
A run ability would be nice. Even after setting walking speed to 3, it still felt really slow, especially during those long stretches in the forest.
I'd like to be able to walk over the bushes and tree stumps in the town, since it's tedious going around everything.

Nice game! Hope that helps!

◊ TheUltimate ◊

[King Tetiro]

Since you seem to have a nicely categorized topic, I'll leave a nicely categorized reply. :D

Good stuff:
=== Really smooth game engine. It's polished for a short demo, and there are a lot of places to explore. I only found one glitch with trying to talk to people. (explained below)
=== I liked the menu system. It was well laid-out and easy to figure out, and I wasn't clicking around randomly trying to equip stuff.
=== The 8-bit thing is sooo awesome! I like how it's true, old school 8-bit instead of lazy-graphics 8-bit. The graphics still manage to look really good despite the colour restrictions.
=== The attention to detail was nice

Not so good stuff:
=== Hearing that beeping sound every time I click the control pad is annoying. If you make it so you only hear it when you click elsewhere on the screen, you'd also have the bonus of knowing when you're hitting it. One thing I've noticed about touchscreen games is that you don't notice your hand shifting slightly until you're nowhere near the controls. It's especially bad for more action-y games.
=== Seems like talking to people freezes the game. I don't mean Not Responding-type freezing, I mean the HUD vanishes and everything stops, and other times, it doesn't do anything at all. Not sure whether the dialogue system's done yet, so if it isn't, just ignore this.

Suggestions and whatever:
Would there be some way to add an option to move the control pad wherever you want on the screen?
A run ability would be nice. Even after setting walking speed to 3, it still felt really slow, especially during those long stretches in the forest.
I'd like to be able to walk over the bushes and tree stumps in the town, since it's tedious going around everything.

Nice game! Hope that helps!

◊ TheUltimate ◊

I have been been talking to TheUltimate to make sure these concerns are sorted. He has praised me for PMing about these concerns as well :D I do have to note everyone that the most recent version I have stupidly forgot to include the Text file. Fortunately I haven't updated it in ages so just copy and paste it from the previous version and it'll be fine

Here's a new screenshot to show progress. The Battle Engine is roughly 80% done. The Battle Actions are roughly 50% done



I am going to be looking for testers in the future once the Battle Engine+Actions are done. So keep track on that too

Edited by King Tetiro, 12 February 2012 - 12:49 PM.

[King Tetiro]

Howdy folks, today I don't bring a new version however I do bring an update.

We've been working very hard on the current section of the game and because of this, there won't be a new version for a while. As a result, the next version will have the battle system itself! Yup, we've been working on the battle actions this week and there are only 7 of them left to do and then we can finish up on the battle system. It won't contain "Game Over" scenarios as the starting menu has yet to be done but the majority of the battle system will be done by the next version. As for the "Game Over" scenario, that you will have to be patient on.

So stay tuned folks as I will be bringing a new screenshot tonight of the most recent ability in the game.

In other news, one of my mates is constructing a website for the game! So we're eventually going to have a new version of the Phoenix Heart website :D

[King Tetiro]

Ok folks, today I bring a brand new version! And the biggest update version so far. The battle engine at 90% completion!

Demo V0.15 (Added 17/02/2012) - The Battle Engine at 90% completion (Game Over and Player HP being less than 0 left to sort). Also feedback from TheUltimate has started being used

Kekira has summed up how I feel about the gruesome getting the battle engine to a decent state

And as usual, I have some things I'd like to know.

• Apart from there not being a Game Over and the Player HP can be less than 0, are there any bugs?
• What did you think of the Battle Engine?
• Do you think that the Battle Interface is easy to use?
• For enemies up to level 10, do you think the difficulty level is right?

Now unlike previous testing, I am putting a cap on what things you can use in battle.

• You may only give Tetiro a better weapon (Hammer Sword V.1)
• You can use any V.1 jewels and ONE V.2 Balanced Jewel
• For this version, only the characters available in the official demo have been set available

And I recommend trying each area with the following levels

• Hallowed Woods : Levels 1-3
• Brewery : Levels 5-6
• Castle Dungeons : Levels 7-8
• Dark Woods : Levels 9-10 (Only in this area you can equip the Hammer Sword V.1 and V.2 Balanced Jewel)
  
  EDIT: I have also put two Testing functions in.
  
  Enter : All characters level up
  Shift : Automatically triggers a battle. Won't work correctly in Colensa. But don't worry you won't get an error. It'll just enter battle but as there are no enemies, you automatically win the battle.

As usual, feedback other than what I ask for is very appreciated

Edited by King Tetiro, 17 February 2012 - 09:21 PM.

[King Tetiro]

No big news or updates today, minus the fact we've opened a Twitter account for the game.

https://twitter.com/#!/Legena_T_N_D

I was talking to some first years in my university course and they gave me the idea for this. I hope to bring the up to date knowledge to Twitter. And maybe Facebook if things go well.

Me and my team still await the feedback from the battle engine so please provide feedback

[King Tetiro]

We have a new version today with the following changes.

Demo V0.16 (Added 25/02/2012) - Player HP going no longer less than 0, Preset Battles and Enemy Health Bars

• Player HP no longer goes less than 0
• Battles are preset rather than random so you the player can trigger them
• Enemies now have Health Bars so you can tell how far they are to being wiped out

I will be working on the following next

• Graphical Changes
• Indication if the player is in an area with battles

I hope to have some feedback for the changes and the battle engine.

[TheUltimate]

Man, you have no idea how awesome it is to see that your suggestions are actually being used in someone's game. (Yep, breaking your self-post streak with style. ) Kinda weird how there isn't much feedback here. It's a pretty cool game.

I'm gonna try the new version later, probably tomorrow. Would you like me to post what I think here or just stick it in that PM we have going?

◊ TheUltimate ◊

[King Tetiro]

Man, you have no idea how awesome it is to see that your suggestions are actually being used in someone's game. (Yep, breaking your self-post streak with style. ) Kinda weird how there isn't much feedback here. It's a pretty cool game.

I'm gonna try the new version later, probably tomorrow. Would you like me to post what I think here or just stick it in that PM we have going?

◊ TheUltimate ◊

Yeh I kind of notice how there has been very little feedback. I'd appreciate your feedback on it in this topic. Hopefully it'll bring more people along.

In other news, the marketing plan is pretty much wrapped up. I've been getting designs for the game logo and music. The future looks bright.

[King Tetiro]

Apologies for the late update.

The reason there hasn't been an update lately is because I am part of the beta testing for GMStudio. So we are using Legena and my coursework to aid in the testing of GMStudio. So until the title logo has been fully designed, they'll be no updates for now.

So until then, can people please test V0.16? I'd really appreciate it?

(Uh-oh, the continuous posting is starting again lol)