Ritokure

So, the game is still alive after all. Ever since my last post, stuff happened and I had to take a break. Again. But, after a month, the update's here. Don't expect the next one to be much faster though.
Well, here's another update for all three of you that still care.

• Added 4 cards for each color, plus a Dark Card: Levant Vietro. That means 17 new cards.
• You can now buy 3 different Packs. "Deck Maker" on the main menu has been changed to "Deck Menu", and contains "Deck Editor" and "Buy Packs"
• Obviously, you can also start gathering money. You can get "C" by beating CPU opponents (based on the difficulty level, Health left and other small factors, around 40 C per round), getting Achievements and playing 2P duels (based on how much damage was dealt, around 10 C per round).
• Changed the number of cards you start with.
• Added 5 new, high-leveled AI decks on Quick-Play.
• Improved AI a bit.
• Shuffle Meter and AP fills slightly faster... yeah, again.
• Fixed a bug when pressing Right on Deck Selection when you had no Decks.
• Fixed a small bug when saving on the Deck Maker.
• Fixed some small typos.
• Card Changes:

Hint: Buy "Valiant Strike" if you want to get Levant's Dark Card.

Oh well. I stopped developing the game for a week or so, but I'm back at it now. Still, updates will probably be slower than before.

Hey man I was one of the 20 people that downloaded this game. Dont give up. This game is probably one of the most original non clone fighters here! It's unique I dont wanna see another unique game stopped! Pleasse keep working on this. I played the 2nd beta I believe, havent had time to come back and check out the newest one you got. In a hour or so I'll check out the newer demo and give feedback. The only problem I had with the previous game was that I couldnt find a health bar so I was just senselessly mashing until either of us died. Maybe it was just me but I think you should look into that if you havent already. And I couldnt tell if I hurt the other person with moves sometimes. Maybe a obvious hit animation, once again it might just be me!

Well, thanks for the support! It really means a lot.

The health bar, as mentioned on the new tutorial, is the green area inside the cards and AP. I tried making a more conventional health bar, but there was just not much space left. The HUD is already fairly big as of now, probably more stuff will be added later on (like a Timer), and I really don't want to fill too much of the screen with it (primarily because you also need to keep an eye on your Cards and AP), so I made it more subtle and condensed.
On the hit animation: There is one, but I also kind of suck at animating, so it's basically a single, slightly edited image. Making it a bit more elaborate would just make it silly (just look at Jackman's animation for a reference... his case is special, though, because he's supposed to be the comical character).

From what I've learned, if you're making a new plot/game, you have to present it very well to grab others' interest. Part of what might be turning people off of your game is the art.  The reason (i think) fan-games get so much attention is because people already like the concept of whatever the fan-game is based off of.  I suggest not wrapping this up very quickly, and to keep working on it and hopefully find a good artist to help you out .  Also you could post your devlogs at TIGSource too for more feedback.
http://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?board=27.0

On the art... well, I'm not going to say I'm bad at drawing stuff, but damn I'm terrible at animating stuff. I've been trying to do large character portraits for a while now, as well as extra art for each character (most of what I've been using on the cards Alt Arts), but it's not top priority.
Sadly, presenting a good plot is never easy to do in a fighting game. There's already a fairly detailed background story for each character in Documents, but other than that I'm stuck. I was planning to create some dialogue between the characters in the Arcade Mode to give them some depth, but that's also going to take a while.
Still, thanks! I'll probably give that forum a look as well.

First things first: I'm probably going to stop making this game. There's no point on keeping doing a game if no one's going to play it, and it's really obvious noone's interested. I'll try to make a few more cards and a way to obtain them and wrap this up ASAP.



So, here's the update:

• Deck Maker.
• 4 new cards, plus in-Duel effect added for each Dark Card, making the total number of cards 43.
• Each Character can now use a 25-Card variant of his deck in Quick-Play - that means when selecting Quick-Play there are 8 possible decks to duel.
• Changed how to unlock secrets - it's harder now.
• Fixed a bug where "Difficulty" in Options didn't affected difficulty on Quick-Play.
• Fixed a bug that could cause the saved Card amount to change when loading.
• Fixed a bug where the AI could jump when being damaged.
• Card Changes:

Next... probably 2 more Dark Cards, a boss, Arcade mode and I'll stop this.

...I should probably do a Naruto clone next because apparently that's what ppl like to play these days. [/sarcasm]

*sigh* OK, I get it. After seven updates and three posts, apparently my game sucks.  

Anyway, here's today's update. It's a fairly big update, but most of it is about small stuff required for the Deck Maker, so it's not really interesting. Anyway.

• The game now saves data
• "Unlockables" on "Extras" added, as well as 8 Achievements
• Changed the Card Gallery a bit. Aside from the fact it's now separated on Colors, you can scroll faster with "LCard" and "RCard" (F and H on default keys)
• Added Character Bios on "Documents"
• Slightly increased the amount of AP regenerated
• Changed Dren's Deck: -1 Jump, +1 Kick
• Changed the "Options" a bit
• Card Changes:

The rest of the Deck Maker update shouldn't be that hard, but I'm not feeling like working on it for now.

Uhhhh... Well...

OK, first thing: the game is damn weird. At first, I had no idea what purpose there is on the first screen, and once I touch the first arrow I'm thrown at somewhere apparently random and can't go back. So yeah, I walk around a bit, then got stuck and restarted. Not a good start, I'll have to say.  
So, by jumping over the arrow I start getting somewhere. There's no tutorial here, and the controls aren't easy to figure out. This is OK if you're playing on the WIP section, since there are controls on the post, but not so anywhere else. Random "hmm..." baloons keep popping out from the floor as well. Strange. Also, one minor complaint: try making the backgrounds darker. Sometimes it's hard to tell the ground and background apart.

Why does the dogs take you back at the beginning with each hit? Apparently, they can drain your whole lifebar in one hit, and that's no fun. There are plenty of things that can make the game unwinnable. For example, not talking with Beatrix before taking the Crystal won't let you take the Keycard. Jumping through the arrow will make you fall off-screen, but you won't die. If you get hit by the dog right at the room where you get the first Powerment (Empowerment?) card makes so that the card never appears again. But once I got on the streets, things got really interesting. Despite the weak start, the game later on looks great.

So, yeah. The game looks good, but there are some serious design flaws. You can use the default GameMaker Save commands (F5~F6) and the F1 help key, which I always recommend not using. The "Collection Screen" text is always cut by the Crystal display. The game also lacks a good interface, which is mostly controlled by the message windows. The game still needs a bit of work, but it's looking good for a WIP.