Messages

31

Chit-Chat / Re: Stencyl merchandise?

« on: June 04, 2020, 07:25:19 am »

Looks like the idea is getting traction!
But it's the owners of the Stencyl IP who need to handle this:
- I doubt that the Stencyl logo is free to use by anyone for whatever purposes;
- The designs may end up being very different, which is not good for the product image;
- The Stencyl team is not going to benefit from the sales unless it's officially their merch.
Anybody knows whom to ping personally?

32

Chit-Chat / Re: Castle Pals console launch!

« on: June 03, 2020, 05:05:33 am »

Well done!
Wondering if Stencyl would ever add a possibility to build for consoles directly...

33

Chit-Chat / Stencyl merchandise?

« on: June 03, 2020, 04:50:50 am »

Hot drink mugs, T-shirts and possibly hoodies with the Stencyl logo.

Suppose many Stencyllers will buy these to use at home, workplace or industry events. 
As I understand, this can be set up via any print-on-demand service in half an hour.
The black / white colours of the merch are the easiest and safest options.
The "Stencyl" logo as in the Stencyl website header. White logo for black colour of the merch, dark grey logo for the white colour of the merch.
Mugs in two sizes, t-shirts premium cotton, in standard sizes, the print-on-demand websites have them all available.

Benefits:
- Sense of community for the game developers
- Extra publicity for the engine
- A bit of extra cash for the Stencyl team

34

Chit-Chat / Re: How do you store backup of your files/system etc?

« on: June 03, 2020, 03:46:39 am »

I store backup files in a separate folder that's synced with Google Drive.
I typically export one backup for each build version I make, so I mention the build version + describe the main focus of the build in the backup file name. E.g. "Fireside Hero_optimisation_pointer_collider_improvements (0.9.9)"
Once in a while I move part of the backups (which are very unlikely to be ever used) to a local folder. If I'm running into disk space issue, I'm going to delete those.

35

Windows / Mac / Flash / HTML5 / Re: Fireside Hero - a turn-based strategy / RPG

« on: May 08, 2020, 02:03:31 pm »

Wrote a little devlog on Gamejpolt about the original concept from a year ago. There's a 30-second video of the first prototype gameplay and a poll. I'll appreciate your opinion! https://gamejolt.com/games/firesidehero/489536/devlog/how-it-started-minesweeper-on-parchment-nu9fvhhh

36

Windows / Mac / Flash / HTML5 / Re: Fireside Hero - a turn-based strategy / RPG

« on: May 05, 2020, 01:08:30 pm »

Thanks! Not sure the endorsement makes any difference commercially but it was definitely a big encouragement.

37

Windows / Mac / Flash / HTML5 / Re: Fireside Hero - a turn-based strategy / RPG

« on: May 05, 2020, 10:17:17 am »

Fireside Hero has got a Steam page Just the right time to add it to your wishlist!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1306950/Fireside_Hero/

38

Windows / Mac / Flash / HTML5 / Re: GoldSpace (Working title: Space Pirate)

« on: April 24, 2020, 03:31:06 pm »

Hi Sebastian,
Just played one and a half levels of Goldspace.
What can I say - a wonderful experience!

I loved:
- Automatic actions (hacking, lockpicking etc)
- Destructible environment
- Artwork
- Animations
- Music
- Dialogues
- Easter eggs (nod to Doom

What I thought could be tweaked (only minor points so far)
- Navigating the Main Menu with arrows (in addition to WASD).
- Use Esc to get back to the root screen of the main menu.
- Maybe show controls after start of a new game, not before the main menu? It's very easy to skip the splash screen, then I explore the menu and clean forget what I saw just before it.
- The Credits screen is illegible due to overlapping text strings.
- Maybe don't reset the main music theme when I get back to the root of the main menu from a submenu.
- When the Shop window is open, use Esc to close the shop window first (not open the main menu), or add a big on-screen button for closing the shop window, which could be selected by arrows. I saw a red cross in the top right corner but I couldn't figure out how to press it.
- Separate the icon of the weapon from the life bar by more space or a vertical line of sorts. Otherwise (especially with the green colour of the health bar) it looks like charge level of the weapon. Or at least maybe make the health bar orange?
- Enemy AI: I noticed the guards simply follow a direct line to the player, which means they'll hit the wall and start to slowly slide against it (which means I can safely kill them while they are moving from around the corner). Do you have issues implementing the AI Tools extension? It has a choice of pathfinding algorithms that create a hashmap with tile coordinates for an actor to follow. I used it in a scrapped RPG prototype and it worked fine.

Anyways, Goldspace is an amazing game with a great vibe, which I want to play more in my spare time!
Are you setting up a Steam Early Access page any time soon? The project's at a very mature stage...

39

Windows / Mac / Flash / HTML5 / Re: Fireside Hero - a turn-based strategy / RPG

« on: April 22, 2020, 02:32:35 am »

Thanks! I might try separate tabs for the journal (monster location / monster behaviour / artifact location / peril location) - could improve UX. Anyway, I need some more player feedback to know better.

40

Windows / Mac / Flash / HTML5 / Re: Fireside Hero - a turn-based strategy / RPG

« on: April 21, 2020, 07:57:49 am »

Congrats!!!

Thanks Sebastian, it's an honour to get feedback and a word of support from you!

The game still has a long way to go (more maps, more characters, more interactive locations, easter eggs, UI polishing, performance optimisation, save system etc.) but it's time to start building a community, hence the open beta.

By the way:
- I put back the fog of war feature, with the ability to turn it on / off in the main menu. It makes the game more fun in the end (you were right).
- Getting back to your earlier suggestion to replace some text with icons: did you mean putting in place some sort of a familiar turn-based strategy UI (like in HOMM, Disciples etc) where the player would see their dashboard, switch selected hero etc, so that "buy rumours" buttons could be small square buttons with an icon of artifact, monster, etc? If that's what you meant, we're thinking in the same direction  - I've got in on my to-do list for next week.

41

Windows / Mac / Flash / HTML5 / Re: Fireside Hero - a turn-based strategy / RPG

« on: April 14, 2020, 02:40:00 pm »

Fireside Hero in early access on Itch: https://dtishin.itch.io/firesidehero
Critical feedback and suggestions welcome!

42

Windows / Mac / Flash / HTML5 / Re: Fireside Hero - a turn-based strategy / RPG

« on: February 03, 2020, 11:09:00 am »

Created a homepage for the game: http://www.tishin.me/firesidehero
But most importantly, started a Telegram channel: https://t.me/firesidehero
So if you're into strategy games and want a cosy company of likeminded people - do consider subscribing!
I'm planning to roll out fresh builds, post devlog entries and discuss new features there. Suggestions and bugs welcome, too. Keep warm!

43

Windows / Mac / Flash / HTML5 / Re: Fireside Hero - a turn-based strategy / RPG

« on: January 27, 2020, 08:54:53 am »

Fog: True that makes sense.
Icons: You know use color coding for the segments on th left (hints/status and so on). I thought diving them a bit more or adding an icon at start would make the screen easier to digest.

Cheers!

I'm actually using colour coding for different rumour classes (rumours about monsters = black; rumours about perils = red; rumours about artifacts = blue). I suppose I could additionally separate rumours about monster behaviour / stats from rumours about monster location - that totally makes sense from the mechanics viewpoint. Thanks again!

44

Windows / Mac / Flash / HTML5 / Re: Fireside Hero - a turn-based strategy / RPG

« on: January 25, 2020, 04:05:11 pm »

Very good job!
I like that you see the whole "world" infront of you and are motivated to explore.
Maybe some "fog of war" might be interesting to add.

One wish: A bit less text. maybe you could add icons in the left part under the portraits to make it easier to read/digest.

Cheers!

Thanks!
- I tried the fog of war in an earlier build and it definitely adds to the exploration part, but it also contradicts the rumour mechanic - the player doesn't know which clues to buy until the whole map is revealed.
- As for the amount of text and icons, can you clarify? Part of the rumour mechanic is interpreting the text into actual map phenomena, e.g. "evergreen plants" can be desert cacti or conifer trees. How would you make an icon for that?

45

Windows / Mac / Flash / HTML5 / Re: Fireside Hero - a turn-based strategy / RPG

« on: January 19, 2020, 05:43:32 am »

Thanks Luyren!
Good points, added to my bucket list