There are some gameplay videos (one of which is rather funny) on the dev's website. Looks to play a bit like a traditional roguelike but the sprites and look of the game are quite fresh. I'm going to go ahead and buy this one on faith...
I know, it looks really weird. But if you strip away all the funky art it starts getting really familiar. The creatures look very odd and you can hit them with spells, arrows, or just melee them with your sword. The coins you see on the floor is gold you can pick up to get gear. The hearts or green chuzzle looking things you walk over to replenish life ( zero life equals faceplant/dead) and energy (for attacks). You have treasure chests which can have potions and scrolls or other things I have not run into yet. So far, the pattern of gameplay is to move so many spaces to run over coins, treasure, healing/replenishing. Try to sneak on monsters to get max damage on them and keep on running around looting the rooms. You have switchs to open doors and walls you can destroy to progress. When you get to the end you hit a flag pole finish area and you clear that area. You can then use any XP you gained to skill up or use gold to get gear. After that you can replay the same level or progress to another one. The art is really out there but make no mistake, this is one hand game. Easily hold your iPhone in one hand to do all the movement. So really short summary is you are going in dungeons looting stuff and killing monsters while making your way to the goal flag. The stuff you see on the ground are monsters, healing spots, coins, treasure boxes, XP stars, arrows, magic scrolls. If you decide to get this game there is a tips section which breaks the game down pretty good and there is not too much to remember. It took me seconds to pick this game up and play after breezing through the tips. Hopefully this helps. I admit I was a little wordy.
Hey all, I'm the developer of Dungeonism. Thank you all for the interest in my game. I'm happy to answer any questions. Common ones that seem to be coming up a lot are about iPad and Android support. Strangely, I didn't give the iPad a whole lot of thought while I was developing the game, and in retrospect I definitely should have. When I did think about it, it was just about how I'll need to change the UI around to make use of all that extra space. That's on my todo list now, but I can't make any guarantees on timelines. If you've only got an iPad, I'd recommend holding off until I update with that support because -- as was pointed out -- playing iPhone games on an iPad is a pretty crappy experience. I can make even fewer guarantees about Android except that I guarantee I want to make it available. I developed Dungeonism in cocos2d-iphone, and I know there are libraries out there to help with porting, but I don't yet know how time-consuming that is. -Jeff Fal
Game Impressions Long time lurker...had to come out and post about this game, so enjoy my rambling impressions! -There's elements of Rogue type gameplay here, some of the dungeon elements are random I do believe with regards to chests, loot, enemies. -No permadeath, you die you can restart at the beginning of the dungeon with the same equipment, stats etc. -There is equipment you can purchase between levels, I'm also hoping you can find them in chests as well. -Spells can be found and or purchased, usual RPG fare: Fire, Ice, mine laying spell, these are just the 3 I've come across. -Tons of great flavor text, whether it's the enemies, dungeon elements, description of the dungeon before you enter and when you defeat the boss. -Lots of great enemies: Imps that shoot arrows, goblins, rats, summoner boss that summons rats, bats etc. -There appear to be different themed levels, I just finished the forest map with 5 maps, though I beat the boss of one dungeon to unlock the Moors map, but it seems there's more forest maps to play through. -There is some type of auto leveling dependent on how you kill your enemies, sword, arrow or magic. -Gameplay is turned based dungeon crawl, killing enemies, managing your health and energy along with some basic pressure switch puzzles. -Controls work well, tapping and dragging to control and attach etc. -Graphics are fresh, modern, clean and BEGS FOR IPAD RESOLUTION (That was me begging for it please!!) -Great game, totally worth your $2 if you are a fan of Rogue type games, dungeon crawlers etc. Some suggestions for the dev:Instead of dragging at the edge of the screen to move my view of the upcoming dungeon, how about using a 2 finger drag, it's too easy to accidentally move when I'm trying to see the imp shooting arrows at me. Also, the tutorials are great, but they seem very random. If I continue on to the next dungeon after finishing one without exiting to the main screen, I don't get to see them. But I've noticed if I exit out and go back to the dungeon select screen it shows some great tips/tutorials like how to power attack and flank, stuff I wouldn't have found in your tips area. Great game, hope that there's some iPad support soon and lots of updates! Good luck!
Wow! Where did this game come from?! I just sat down and played it for about a half-hour and I think this is the surprise game of the year for me. I played it on my iPad 2 and I didn't think the 2x looked bad at all, at least not for this kind of game. Maybe the blurriness is more pronounced on the retina iPads, but for my plebeian iPad it's fine. I will also second Medic8er's suggestion for a two-finger swipe to scroll. While I never accidentally moved while I was trying to scroll, it is still a bit more tricky than it need be.
Two-Finger Scroll I'll keep in mind the swipe scroll as something that needs improvement. In the meantime, there actually is a two-finger scroll. I just don't advertise it because my goal was to keep it a one-handed game.
Yeah, I've played at least an hour or so this evening and it's grown on me even more. The art style of the Moors is just as original IMO as the Forest dungeon and there's more depth than what I originally thought as well. Some tips for other players that I've discovered on my own or from random tutorial/tips: -You can power attack by swiping your attack through an enemy. It uses up a lot more energy, but it does a lot of damage and is key for getting out of tight spots with tougher enemies. -Watch the indicator around the enemy to see if they are blocking; it'll be like a blue shield around them, or a yellow attack indicator that they will take damage, there's also a grey circle, not sure what that means. -Upper left corner is a magnifying glass icon, wasn't sure what it did at first, then realized you could switch it on and then touch anything on the screen to learn about what it is, enemy stats etc. -You CAN level up your character at the end of each dungeon, you just tap on the XP screen and the different character stats and it'll tell you how much XP you'll need to level up different areas of your character. Really liking this game and it deserves some front page love IMO. p.s. Dev another suggestion: The Basic Dungeonism tips are great, I think they need to have their own separate menu option, they teach some good tactics and I wish I could see them all. EDIT: two finger scroll FTW, thanks!
Thanks for all the info guys, I'm really enjoying this one I hope it gets some well deserved attention . I love the art, and it's very cleverly executed. Music and sound rock too. With the amount of polish this has it's obvious a lot of work went into this gem and I hope it does really well Jeff. Trailer was funny too, and I can relate to the gamer in it
Jeff, Temple of Apshai reference caught my attention. It's funny, people lovingly reference that game, and while it was one of the first roguelikes for the C64/Spectrum/AppleII generation, it was truley awful. Anyway, while everyone is focused on the lack of iPad resolution graphics for your game, my first impression was more about the graphic style itsefl. True, the graphics are stylistically simple, but I found that intriguing. I see the Apshai influence, with the big symbol-like sprites, just like those that filled up many rpg screens-of-yore. This may seem a little "out there", but if there is any intention of an iPad version, I think you could really expand the style with a modern scrapbook-like esthetic, ala "little big planet". As opposed to simply upscaling the current assets, some varying textures could really take the entire presentation to the next level. Anyway, I dig it and will add more meaningful impressions after I play for a bit.
Really enjoying this one. Importantly, the gameplay feels fresh too, not just the graphical style. Nice to see someone coming up with fresh ideas.
Ok i'm pretty much sold on this game. Quick question though: the app description compares it to pac-man. How is it like pac-man?
Lol, I think that was more of a funny remark, but you basically run over a lot of coins and other stuff to collect it, like PacMan does.
I am absolutely loving this colorful turn based dungeon crawler. It is perfect for casual one-handed play, it has customizations for the character via collectibles and in-game currency, and seems to lack permadeath (please correct me if I am wrong) thereby increasing its appeal to a broader audience. What a pleasant surprise this game is!
Loving this game. Great job! May I make a tiny suggestion? In the spirit of the light-hearted casual feel of the game, a 'save and quit' would be great if you have to leave your game before completing a dungeon.
To be honest, I was more inspired by the memory of the game than the game itself. In fact, I don't know for sure whether I actually played it myself or if I only watched my older brother play it (for hours). I'd be afraid to play it again today and spoil my vision of it.
I got a chance to put another hour or two in this game and I am still loving it. I have started trying lots of sneaking attacks and this really makes the game fun. I enjoy saving gold for the gear and XP for the stats that I want to boost. I can't say enough about the weird art of this game which really appeals to me. I enjoy finding maps for other levels and finding new spells. The first time I died in this game was the 3rd forest level towards the end. Anyways, a great game to get in and out of if you like little top down crawls with off the wall art. That's the fun of mobile games...so much originality out there.
How do you use XP to level up skills? I thought at the end of a level your skills automatically leveled based on how you played the last dungeon (used melee, sneak, magic, etc). What am I missing?
