I have been away from Select Button for a long time. Part of that time has been spent working on my game.
The Death Of the Corpse Wizard is an almost sort of done arcade survival turn based tactical motion game for iOS, Android, OSX, Windows and Linux.
Since this is Select Button I can be more explicit about the game design. I tried to recreate the feel of late-stage Shiren the Wanderer, particularly the SNES/DS game, where the was less emphasis on leveling up items and that kind of thing.
It is written in Scheme if that means anything to anyone.
Anyone here want to do some beta testing?
Here is what it looks like:
Any bites? It is easy for me to give copies for OSX, Linux, Windows and Android. I can provide a iOS version but you’ll probably need a jailbroken device. Not sure the development platform supports TestFlight.
I can try this on a Galaxy A5. I dont have a computer so I cant help you there. Im partially familiar, I played an early version. Id be happy to help again.
Incidentally, I am uploading new versions. Give it a half hour, since my rural internet sucks. If you download a version and it doesn’t work, try again in a bit, you might have gotten just half the build.
Also, the Windows version has performance problems with logging. Go ahead and delete the log directory in the CorpseWizard dir if you encounter them. For now, you’ll need to re-delete it each run. I’ll push a fix this afternoon.
Ok so the game is fun. The aesthetic is great. I wish there was more flexibility to learn in the 150 or so turns that it took for it to get difficult. I still have no idea what some of the items do, and I have a hard time discerning what the differences between the enemies are. I think the language of the game is rather obtuse to dummies like me who don’t play these games a lot. But the pace is fantastic. Also that music is great
It is a persistent challenge for me as a game designer to balance the need to engage all players and the desire to really cater to a specific set of players (myself, mostly, and hopefully other people interested in Shiren-inflected Roguelikes).
I’ve just put up a version where you can see which skeletons have been damaged already, which makes the first 150 turns a little easier. The trick here is that for an experienced player the first 200 turns or so are there to let the player build up health and items. If you make them too easy, though, they get boring. If they are too hard, then new players never get past them.
If you could change one thing to improve your experience, what would it be?
Maybe some of the mechanics are hard to understand? Like, I had no idea I did anything unoptimal in the first 200 turns because my health was maxed and I didn’t know there were proper techniques to build up health and items. I guess I couldn’t tell that I could do it better…
Ooo… one easy thing to do is add hotkeys for each item? Or if you have them already then put a little label on each button so even if I miss the help text at the beginning I’ll have some idea what each hotkey is. Also, uh, I couldn’t tell what any of the buttons were by sight. The icons are a little difficult to understand.
Also, there will be a help card with a basic rundown of the rules and a few hints. Here is what will be in it, for new players:
you do 1 melee damage
skeletons and brutes do 2 melee damage
you get 2 health back when you kill a skeleton or a brute
bolt costs 2 health to cast
it gives you 1 health for any monster you hit, in addition to any health you would get from any kills.
so if you line up two skeletons (which have two hp) in a bolt, that bolt breaks even
if you kill two skeletons with a bolt you get 4 health from the kill, 2 from the bolt drain, and lose 2 from casting, so
you net 4 health. Obviously lining up even more monsters is even better.
Break down of other interactions:
let a monster step to you, attack it once, get attacked, attack it to kill it, get two health back. For brutes and skeletons, this is a break even interaction.
Zap a skeleton or brute from far away, then hit it when it steps up to you. You net -1 health for bolt and then get 2 for the kill, for a net of 1.
So with a solo monster, it is usually possible to net one health. With multiple monsters, it is better to try to align them for bolts. Don’t get surrounded, though. You can’t survive getting mobbed.
Other notes: Brutes are identical to skeletons except that when they are within a few squares of your current position, they will attack and destroy columns or other monsters. They, like the Corpse Wizard, absorb health from their enemies, so can become very dangerous if they store up a lot.