For updates on content that I am including in Chapter 2, I have started a SNEAK PEAK page, will add to it a few times a week: https://dungeonsofchaos.wordpress.com/sneak-peak/ Volker
I defined the following as the mechanics for resistances: each resistance impact (natural resistance and then per item) is like an additional filter that takes an effect on the damage left as follows. Example: if you have a natural resistance to fire of 10%, then you are still subject to 90% of the fire damage thrown at you. If you also wear a ring with 50% fire resistance, that halves the 90% left to leave 45% of damage. If you have a second item with another 50% resistance, that halves the 45% to 22.5%. So your total damage left is the result of mathematical MULTIPLATIONS (rather than additions). If you had no natural resistance but 3 items with 40% resistance each you would still be subject to (1 - 40%) * (1 - 40%) * (1 - 40%) = 21.6% damage. Or a more drastic example, if you have two items with 90% resistance you would get (1 - 90%) * (1- 90%) = 1% damage. The first items leaves 10% of damage and the second leaves 10% of 10%, so 1% overall. The reason why I chose this is because I wanted ONE item doing 40% resistance to be more powerful than 4 items doing 10% each. And it also seems fairly intuitive (although harder to calculate) because if you add an item with x% resistance you know that whatever related damage you faced prior to putting it on, it is reduced by x%. Other possible concepts are included in other elements of the game: % vs. undead boost for example is nominally adding up so is ADDITION: a weapon giving 20% vs. undead and a natural ('righteousness' feat) 20% on top gives total vs. undead of 40% (not 44% if the same concept as for resistances were applied). Hope that makes it clearer! It will be near impossible to get 100% resistance but at the same time anything over 80% will make you fare pretty well in a fight. Volker
When in battle, is there a way to check what abilities or spells do before using them? It would be beneficial to be able to touch and hold on an icon to see what it does. Thanks
The game has crashed three times on my IPad mini with retina. The last time was just after the battle with the skeleton wizard. The stat screen came up and then crashed to workbench. Thanks
Hi, sorry to hear that and thanks for your report. I will follow up your instance and check if there is anything odd in that fight scenario. From all other users so far I have however only one isolated instance where the current version of the game crashed, so I will have to try and reproduce your circumstances as much as possible to find the cause. To narrow the testing, can you please let me know: - did it crash upon winning a fight? if yes, upon killing the undead wizard boss or what was the last action taken? - if not isolated to that, what was the action that performed just prior to the crash? - did the crash by any chance involve very hectic pressing of buttons or targets? Thanks, Volker
I first killed the wizard boss using mostly magic missile spells. After that, I killed the rest of the skeletons. The stat screen then came up showing how much my guys levelled up. Then it crashed. No wild button presses here. Since then ,the game has crashed a few more times. I just make sure I save often. I'm not complaining, just reporting. I think your game is very fun and I hope you continue with it. By the way, any chance of being able to add notes to the map to mark areas to go back to? Eg. Chests that you could not open. Thanks
Thanks, no problem with bugs being reported. I need such feedback as me and my playtesters probably don't use the interface and play through the game in all the different ways possible, hence user feedback is quite crucial and welcome. If you notice any pattern / action that causes it please let me know. I will go and try hunt down this bug. Since it seems to somehow have cause issues later it may be related to quests tracking. did you kill the wizard before the cleric asked you to?
I killed the wizard after getting the quest. So far I have not seen a pattern to the crashing. Thanks
thanks! Means a lot to me to hear that people enjoy it. I you have not already done so, a review on the AppStore would also be greatly appreciated to spread the word.
Now that would not be retro, would it? Actually a very good idea, I would need to think how I would implement it though. I do not provide coordinates usually, and I also do not let the minimap scroll beyond the immediate vicinity (50 tiles in all directions). I would need to think of a way how to 'alert' the player on approach or something similar. If I remove some of the coding/UI complexity and make it a touch more retro: how about you can create a 'snapshot': it shows the 25x23 map view when the shot was taken, what location/map you were in and you can enter a narrative. like a log book?
There is no such functionality in fight mode at present. I considered a few options but noted from beta testers that after a short period the player becomes very used to the spells and skills available. I also could not find an easy approach to do it and decided that clicking on a player and entering the stats/spell/skills/inventory modus was an acceptable option to use (given the fight is turn based and pauses for any such checks). At this stage my efforts are focussed on Chapter 2 completion, so unfortunately I can't promise that such functionality will be added anytime soon. But I log and track such feedback and will consider it once I can prioritise it. Thanks again for the suggestion!
Have decided to make a major balance change to the game. After receiving a lot of feedback that ranged weapons are too powerful I did a few specific tests and found that to be correct. Of course there is not technical 'correct' in that it is a preference thing or subjective engine setting, however I looked at my game engine and it did not lower the accuracy of the attacker based on how far (within the range of the weapon) he wanted to shoot. So I will release 1.2.5 in the next few days and tweak that. It will however take a nominal factor off the accuracy if you aim for a target > 3 tiles and > 20% of your range away. Nominal deduction means that it does not reduce your accuracy to a mere fraction of what it was irrespective of the start value. Rather, if you hit for a target 25 tiles away and 25 is the maximum distance, it takes between 100 and 250 points of accuracy off your accuracy rating, depending on your difficulty setting. But that means if you have a lot of accuracy and dexterity boosts and your accuracy is as high as 400, you will still hit a target with low evasion score every single time. But to nerf your accuracy to 400 means you are not investing in anything else, quite literally. So that is an option you are able to take. But if the target is a very evasive one, you will still feel the impact matter, because a residual accuracy of ~200 only gives you a 50% chance to hit for example an assassin or fast moving animal. What do you guys think, have you grown to love your ranged attackers and would not like this to be implemented? Volker
Much appreciate the feedback! The great reception so far really drives my efforts to put Chapter2 together, have a look at some of the elements and images I am sharing so far HERE. Because I am not having/planning to expand too many technical features the time purely goes into content and story, and the MANY more locations/schemes and monsters should give a really expansive feel. Spread the word!
This looks great but admittedly I prefer to play one character not a party. I don't suppose that's remotely viable to do in this game? Either way, really good to see these kinds of games being released. We need more of them!
No, that is not feasible in this game. I also enjoy certain games that use a single character approach, but each type has its pros and cons. What I wanted to create had a lot of similarities to Ultima 4,5,6 , Phantasie III and Demon's Winter. The key feature is a tactical combat scenario: X players vs. X monsters. Outside combat, the multi-character approach of my game is really not that relevant. All the exploring and NPC storyline works as if you were a single entity. I am being asked a lot to create an iPhone/Android port, and to fit on a phone screen I would probably drop the huge arena and landscape view, and the tactical combat that comes with it, and therefore make it a single-character game. But that is miles away. Currently working on Chapter2 for this game. If you despise the handling of 6 characters in combat, you may be delighted to hear that at least for easier fights you can rely on the AUTO fight features in this game to make that a short and more cinematic event. Hope you give it a try regardless! Volker
How's everything with your game going? I play it lots. Get demolished lots. It's fun times lol. Did you do well with downloads?
1.3.0 is out with a bonus mission! Great news: v1.3.0 just got released on the AppStore which includes: 1. a bonus mission: shipwreck. is available once you have completed the orc warlord deed/quest. a shipwrecked person will appear not far from the shelter/cave. there are some insignias to be found in the ship, and a rare spell book! But watch out for a nasty boss fight... if you don't know what insignias are and what new spells got introduced and are hereby accessible in the game, read on! 2. new spells, which you can use through the insignia you find in the bonus mission: HOLY SMITE for monks , HEALING AURA for clerics (heal all players basically, but with distance impact), FIREBALL and HASTE for mages (were rarely accessible if lucky in the rich quest), FROST BALL for druid (same). 3. skills that are only available before through character creation combinations are also now usable through insignia: REPULSION for barbarians. SHADOW SHIFT for rogues. DARK CHANNELING for druids. upon popular request: 4. TALK, OPEN, USE, SHOP button now executes on first click if there is only one possible target. No change for LOOK because LOOK has a passive (ranged) and active (close by) functionality. 5. tooltips for fight actions: a ^HELP^ button is now showing in fight mode below the quickactions, clicking it will display a short description of all the skills and spells available, and a comment on weapon action style chosen. This may displace a bit off under retina, this will be fixed soon. 8^p 6. light spell lasts longer. Also, since the recent 1.2.7 update: - you can change party member positions at fight start (go to character menu -> HELP -> Party) - active player is now indicated in fight panel on right - day/night cycle is longer - many many other improvements! And Chapter2 is not TOO far away, you can see additions I make behind the scenes already here: https://dungeonsofchaos.wordpress.com/sneak-peak/ Please let me know your feedback, and a review on the AppStore is also much appreciated so the word keeps spreading. Cheers, Volker
I am happy, the downloads are way too small compared to what a developer would need to make a living of it for sure. But the several hundred people that are playing the paid version have great fun. That was my main motivation, creating a game for the Ultima fans of old like myself, and in the process learn a bit how the Mobile Gaming market works. So given the average 4.9 star rating across the world and what I have learned so far, I call it a great success. Never ceases to amaze me how unpredictable and bumpy the market is. For example for China, I saw 1 or 2 downloads a week of the free version. Yesterday I got 84. Go figure. Am always trying to correlate such spikes with some review popping up somewhere, but in this case of China I have no clue where even to look... I realised I do not have too many replayable areas in Chapter1 to keep everyone entertained until Chapter2 is ready. I hope players like you stay tuned and engaged. Let me know how you find the bonus mission that I added yesterday!
