My isometric RPG

mercy Thanks! That HUD took a lot of work, and I tried quite a very different styles before I was happy. I've been working on it ever since I started the game, because for a game like this, that's how you control and interact with it, so it has to look good. Also, as an artist, I can't bear the thought of anything not looking good, lol. I had a few graphic design classes, but my major was actually painting.

I'm definitely going to put a strong effort into a trailer or whatnot. I am also going to do a very detailed illustration for the title screen/promo art.

I was hoping to get my level built with full z-sorting walls and create a new video explaining it, but last night I didn't feel well, and today I got stung by a yellow jacket right on my index finger. It actually hurts just to type. I'll get it done soon though.

mercy Thanks! That HUD took a lot of work, and I tried quite a very different styles before I was happy. I've been working on it ever since I started the game, because for a game like this, that's how you control and interact with it, so it has to look good. Also, as an artist, I can't bear the thought of anything not looking good, lol. I had a few graphic design classes, but my major was actually painting.

It shows! You have excellent color palette and clear visuals.

I'm definitely going to put a strong effort into a trailer or whatnot. I am also going to do a very detailed illustration for the title screen/promo art.

You are lucky! I'll have to pay for a really good title art.

I was hoping to get my level built with full z-sorting walls and create a new video explaining it, but last night I didn't feel well, and today I got stung by a yellow jacket right on my index finger. It actually hurts just to type. I'll get it done soon though.

I immediately slushed vinegar on my nose, when one of the beasts attacked and stung me in the face.

Music:

I'm curious about your plans. I thought doing "music" myself for my game, but it would be very primitive and Fallout 1-esque: just a few notes or synths to introduce scenes.

Real musicians, who have the education and skill to compose elaborate and enchanting pieces and who happen to love, what they are doing, instilling their soul into their creations are who I'm after.

Music emotional memory in the players mind can make your game immortal. Music can create an unforgettable atmosphere. I don't want just fitting music, like Craig managed with Telepath Tactics: he found a composer with a good price and wanted consistent score from one musician.

I want an unforgettable, not consistent score from multiple musicians. There are young "scene" people putting their soul into their music, not even knowing they created something exceptional and not putting their music up for sale. I found once a kid, who did an amazing retro track and tried to explain to him, how his sound effects truly reflect the great Commodore C64 from 1984. He didn't understand and answered with a "Sure, mate.."

I'm really thinking on making several posts to LinkedIn - I give Money for Your Game Music! - and plan to contact SoundCloud artists I liked musics from.

I came up with a title "track" list, giving the songs names in movie-soundtrack style. Its basically an MP3 playlist without the actual music. Every title describing the general feel of the music piece.

I want multiple genres represented in my fantasy RPG, like that famous XCOM-1 night music suspense track, then various "dark forest at night"-compositions to make players hairs stand on end, while they are exploring an unknown and dangerous fantasy world.

Yeah, I've held off on doing music so far because I have so many things to work on. I also wanted to get some gameplay done first. I'll be doing the music and sound effects after I get some more levels and enemies finished.

Luckily, I have been playing musical instruments my whole life, and have a few years experience with keyboard as well. I have decent recording software (Studio One 2), a midi keyboard, and some decent sound libraries, so I'm all set.

I'd like the music in my game to be subtle and atmospheric, like in the Thief series, since that was also an inspiration for my game. I don't want loud music tracks, except for maybe when in combat, otherwise, it should be fairly soft and help build tension while sneaking around a dangerous castle.

This looks really great! Nice atmosphere going on in the screens, I'm looking forward to playing.

geoff Moore Thanks! I'm hoping to get back on track with some more updates soon.

Okay, so now that I'm finally feeling better, I can get back to work. These last couple days I've been trying to catch up and get the z-sorting done for the levels. It's been a lot of work testing and experimenting. I've made some good progress though.

I made the wall sections a bit shorter, modified the door into multiple pieces, made the doors functional (can open them), organized some new layers so certain wall sections would be properly placed without having to be sorted at all.

Here's a new screenshot showing the character using the door. I still have a few things to test and work out. Then, I'll put up a new video.

DrewMelton that GUI and dungeon texture looks sick mate... waw i want to play it... damn i love dungeon games, its my childhood thing, the diablo game types of games... man i want it so bad .... take my money let me play it pleaseee.....

Great stuff man! Really like the look of this, can't wait to check out the finished product or demo

— Thanks! It's been a dream to recreate the look of those old fashioned isometric dungeon crawlers. It's been a lot of work, but it just looks so nice, it's definitely worth it for me.

Synchronic Thanks! I'm glad you are liking it. Hopefully, I can get a demo up eventually.

I am going to finish testing the sorting and a few other things and hopefully get up a video either tonight or tomorrow.

As promised, here is the video with commentary on how I set up the levels. I talk about getting everything to work and the challenges I faced. (probably looks best in Chrome at 720p/60fps).

man it looks impressive. congrats!

— Thanks! I'm glad you like it.

I've been taking a break the last couple days to refresh my mind a little. Time to get back to work!

awesome job on the videos.. I know how much work that is! great to finally see the game in action..

I can't believe you only had 200 objects on that screen and your MEM was only 150! I'm used to my unbound layout which can be a bear..

keep it coming..

Thanks! Yeah, I'm keeping it fairly conservative to keep everything manageable. This is also for gameplay as well. The goal is not to take on large mobs, but to use strategy and plan your route since even one guard can kill you in this game (elite guards, not the scrubs).

Actually, the blasted 10,000 image limit will pose a bigger problem than image memory usage. If I so much as add one character, I get the red loading bar and have to export the project to see it. I wish there was a way to have C2 generate sprite sheets on preview.

I'll have a new update soon. I've mostly been working on tweaks and optimizations this last week.

Okay, some more updates!

• Fog of war added. Well, it only works with doors though for right now. You can see it with the small room on the left with the door leading to it. There was also a fog covering the big room the characters are standing in. It disappeared when I opened the door. This may be the only system of fog I implement, but I haven't decided yet. Fog is tricky because it has to keep in mind line of sight to enemies or objects.

• The target system has been refined. You can see a red circle under the enemy. This means I am targeting him. All attacks or arrow's fired will go towards him. I made this since there will be some areas with more than one enemy.

• I did some more optimizations and cleaning. Nothing major here, just trying to keep everything organized so I can clone objects or add new levels without much fuss.

• I made it so that when you move the mouse over icons in the HUD, it will give a brief description of what it is.

• I made some small tweaks to the A.I. and combat. You can do some hit and run techniques if you have the skill for it such as hide in shadows (and can get out of site fast enough).

• I refined the lockpicking mechanic for the doors and chests.

• There's probably some other stuff, but I doubt it's worth mentioning.

I also tried to make is so there could be multiple of one enemy on screen, but I couldn't get it to work. I got it close, but this game and the A.I. is pretty complex. I spent several days trying, but I like the system with just one enemy. I can use functions so the damage is dealt at the right time with the animation, and a few other things. I also had some issues with going back and forth between layouts with multiple copies. Overall, it just wasn't worth the effort. I would have also had to drop stamina for enemies just to do it.

Now, I will be able to add more than one enemy to an area, just not exact duplicates, which is still fine with me. This is not a hack and slash game anyway. Only some areas will have multiple enemies anyway, and they need not be clones of each other.

Anyway, now I am going to work on design rooms and areas so I can get some strategy going. For example, planning out where guards might be in relation to treasure chests, or putting thought into ways to get by guards. I want the game to be interesting and rewarding. You are a thief after all. If you had no use for your skills, it would be pointless.

I also want to build my second enemy, even though it will forbid me from previewing or using the debugger ever again (unless I delete him temporarily).