RPGDX > Forums > Projects / Screenshots > Escape from the Dungeon

Mattias Gustavsson · Posted: Sun Mar 22, 2009 7:34 pm Post subject: Escape from the Dungeon

I've posted about this game before, mostly asking what to do with it. I've finally decided where to go with it, and I'm making great progress now:

It is a turn-based dungeon exploration game, and it will be called "Escape from the Dungeon". The back story is this: three adventurers (a man, a woman and a dwarf) have been split up while exploring a dungeon, and the player controls all three (can switch at any time he like). The three characters start at different positions in the dungeon, and you simply need to bring the three together and hit the nearest exit.

I think this is going to work great for the game, and just deciding on this one thing (the objective) have given me a lot of other ideas too, for combat system etc :-)

It's great to be back working on this full on :D
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DeveloperX · Posted: Sun Mar 22, 2009 8:12 pm Post subject:

SWEET!
I can't wait to play it man :)
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RedSlash · Mage Joined: 12 May 2005 Posts: 331

I remember this! Looks good :) Keep us posted.

Hajo · Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2009 9:26 am Post subject:

That's some quality artwork. I've already noticed the screenshots in the other thread, but was too lazy to answer. But they are amazing for sure :)

Mattias Gustavsson · Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2009 1:59 pm Post subject:

Thanks :-) It always makes me happy when people find something to like about the art :-) Just trying to do my best with the tools I know how to use - but still consider myself just a programmer who spends more time on his programmer art :P
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www.mattiasgustavsson.com - My blog
www.rivtind.com - My Fantasy world and isometric RPG engine
www.pixieuniversity.com - Software 2D Game Engine

Hajo · Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2009 2:52 pm Post subject:

Verious · Mage Joined: 06 Jan 2004 Posts: 409 Location: Online

The screenshots look great. I really like the style you have chosen.

Will the character portrait orbs serve as the characters' life meters? For example, will the color behind the characters' portraits drain as they take damage like the life an magic orbs in Diablo? You could also adjust the characters portraits as the characters take damage like in Wolfenstein.

Verious · Mage Joined: 06 Jan 2004 Posts: 409 Location: Online

Mattias, I just tried to run the walkaround demo, but I am experiencing a weird skewing issue with the screen, see the following screenshot:

If it helps, I did not experience this issue with the following games:

I noticed Escape from the Dungeon fills the screen, but does not run fullscreen (whereas I think all of the other games I tried ran in fullscreen mode).

Mattias Gustavsson · Posted: Sun Mar 29, 2009 4:48 pm Post subject:

Verious · Mage Joined: 06 Jan 2004 Posts: 409 Location: Online

I tried ALT+ENTER, it didn't seem to make a difference with regards to the skewing issue.

I look forward to the new demo.

Mattias Gustavsson · Posted: Sat Apr 04, 2009 12:00 pm Post subject:

And here's the new prototype:
http://www.colossusentertainment.com/forumref/eftd_0_1.zip

The controls are cursor keys to move, TAB to bring up the map. 1,2,3 to change character (or click their portrait)

The main addition to this is the ability to control three characters, have them meet up and walk together, but I've also added some minor things like doors (at the moment can only be opened from the other side) and a little intro.

The characters start some distance away, and sometimes it's a bit tricky to find a way to bring them together. There's no monsters yet, and there's not even an exit for you to find, but it'll all get added in due time.

As always, any feedback/thoughs on this is greatly appreciated
_________________
www.mattiasgustavsson.com - My blog
www.rivtind.com - My Fantasy world and isometric RPG engine
www.pixieuniversity.com - Software 2D Game Engine

Verious · Mage Joined: 06 Jan 2004 Posts: 409 Location: Online

The new version works great. I am able to play on my Virtual PC.

The graphics look great and really have a consistent feel throughout. I also like the way the players walk and group-up when they reach the next room.

A few thoughts, take 'em or leave 'em:

If your engine supports mouse input, it would handy to be able to click on the character portraits to switch between the characters. It would also be helpful if you could click on the edges of the screen to walk in that direction.

The map makes the game a bit too easy. To increase the challenge, each character should have their own version of the map, which only shows the areas they have explored. Also, the player should only see the location marker for the currently selected character. The location marker should be positioned in the center of the map screen and the map should move instead of the location marker. That way, you don't know which direction the other characters are in. When the player gets within a few rooms of another characters they should call out to the player. The volume of the sound file and/or the message could vary based on the distance.

EDIT: I just noticed you can click on the characters, but the coordinates are off when in full screen mode. In window mode, the bottom edge of the screen is cut-off by approximately 25 pixels (and the window cannot be resized, which is probably by design).

See the following screenshots for reference:
Fullscreen Mode
Window Mode

Mattias Gustavsson · Posted: Sat Apr 04, 2009 3:46 pm Post subject: irel

Mattias Gustavsson · Posted: Sun Apr 05, 2009 5:20 am Post subject:

Hey verious, I just wanted to ask.. what was performance like when you ran the game through VirtualPC - Did you notice it being slow or jerky?
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www.mattiasgustavsson.com - My blog
www.rivtind.com - My Fantasy world and isometric RPG engine
www.pixieuniversity.com - Software 2D Game Engine

Verious · Mage Joined: 06 Jan 2004 Posts: 409 Location: Online

I didn't experience any noticable or obtrusive performance issues when running in the Virtual PC, but my machine is moderately powerful:

Windows Vista Business (Host Operating System)
Windows XP Professional (Guest Operating System)
Pentium D 3.0 GHz (Dual Core)
4 GB RAM (only about 3.3 GB is usable because I am currently running a 32 bit OS)

Keep in mind Virtual PC does not support multiple processors, so the game was effectively running on a single core and my Virtual PC is only allocated 768 MB of RAM.

My new quad core machine should be arriving this week. I'm planning to install Windows Vista Business 64 bit as the host OS. I'll retest once I get everything up and running, but I anticipate it will run even smoother since the new machine will have 8 GB of RAM and I will be allocating more memory to the Virtual PC.