Universal Templar Infinite crusade - Mix of RPG, rogue like and strategy elements.

OK, folks - I'm back with impressions.

This is a fun little game where you primarily battle creatures, and the overall game is a grind: when you die, you spend gold collected on permanently improving your character for future attempts. The goal of the game is to kill some special creatures that occasionally appear. You get gold for moving along, killing enemies and selling loot that you find. Gameplay is straightforward - just tap an ability to use it, or the sword to attack.

The tutorial is interactive, well done, and essential for learning how to play the game. A one-screen 'basic instructions' for reference would be very handy, saying shields block physical attacks, barriers improve HP and block magic, only one barrier per turn and that all actions besides the sword DO NOT allow the monster to attack back.

The game is very random, you will spend some time learning what creatures use which types of attacks and what items do, which is probably the most interesting part of the game, which again is primarily a grind to beef yourself up to take out stronger creatures. The progression reminds me a lot of Earn to Die (which I'm replaying at the moment since the sequel came out, and I never played through the extra content they added to it after I finished it the first time...)

As for improvement, the biggest problem with the game IMHO is the graphics. You've got some lovely pixel art there that is getting blurred when scaled - you either need to turn off filtering, or re-scale graphics yourself w/out filtering so those pixels stay nice and sharp. Some of the backgrounds vary as well - seems that some are getting filtered/blurred. I'm running this on an iPhone 6 Plus, so that may be part of the problem. I'd be happy to provide screenshots and/or test out beta builds if you are interested.

 

Haven't picked this up yet, is this basically infinite play if I'm reading this right? What kind of updates will you be adding?

Derp moment, I saw the future improvements on the first page, my brain has now caught up with my typing.....

 

One word. Awesome. Downloading, playing after dinner!

 

Thanks again for the code! I really do like this charming game.
I like the old school vibe, the roguelike and rpg elements. I see in a post above you still have lots of great plans for this title.

Despite the retro feel, the graphics/animations are the weakest parts. The blurrines is a little annoying but I can get past that. I'm always wishing though that when I use the sword, my character would actually go up to the monster to hit it. It always feels strange that wether I use my sword or bow, I never move...
That's really my main gripe with the game.

Otherwise, this really does ooze old school charm and is pretty fun to play. I like the strategy of which weapon to use at which time and the roguelike aspect always makes the game more intense.

Can I ask if you're already goingto add GC leaderboards to consider GC achievements as well? I'm silly like that and just enjoy getting extra rewards when playing my games!

Otherwise, keep up the great work. You can see this game is a labour of love

 

When I first started playing this, I must admit that I found it hard to get into and understand what it was about. It was only after I watched the tutorial a few more times and put a solid hours playtime in, that I appreciated for what it is.

The more you play, the more powerful your character gets and allows you to progress deeper into the game. I feel that this is a very satisfying progression system and makes you want to keep playing. The variety of monsters and backgrounds on offer is impressive.

I quite like the graphics as they suit the game to give it that real old-school vibe to it.

My only criticism of this game is that it's quite hard to understand at first. It may be useful to have an option where it explains what your items/powers do as your playing the game. Just basically explaining what they are, as I had to do a few try's of the tutorial to get a grasp of them.

Also Gamecentre would be much appreciated, such as achievements and leaderboards. This would defiantly keep me playing in the long run.

Hope more people take notice of this game.

 

Hi i would love to check it out and tell my friends. we have been designing games and love seeing different ideas. this game sounds cool. Congrats on publishing your game : )

 

I'd like to try this one out if any codes are available still. Always had an interest in the Templar. Good to see updates are incoming. Game Center sounds like a fun addition. Always good to see leaderboards and achievements IMO...

 

Game Impressions

So bought and downloaded the game yesterday, have given it over an hour of gameplay. So first impressions:

A tutorial!! While for games this isn't always a must, it does help people who may not play a game they can't understand. Tutorial was quick and interactive, letting me know what exactly to expect and how to play. A little more indepth on leveling skills, but otherwise good.

Graphis/art: Dev I know your going to update, but at this point going to talk about how the game currently is. Which is rough, both the characters and background are either over pixelated or kind of washed out. Which is a pity, I feel like were missing out on some cool art. Also no real animations, not a deal breaker for me. Dev has stated this will be improved over updates.

Gameplay: My favorite part! Think of it as a endless runner dark souls RPG endless. You randomly get paired up with an enemy in some random environment. If you win you move on, if you dont...well you die. But alas, not all is lost, except all those weapon and armor upgrades. Whayever money you made on your run you can spend on health, skills, magic, or the very much needed the identifier (probably not its real name), which lets you see what the creature is and HP. Useful to try and run or gun (well sword anyways). You'll also come across random loot and equipment that may or may not be booby trapped, but could positivelly boost your stats. Eventually through multiple multiple deaths you'll run into a boss, which will probably kill...over and over until your skills are on par. And thats the game, I could potentially be missing futher gameplay that occurs later, but there you have it.

For the stat connoisseurs who love to track everything from rats killed and poops taken, your covered. During gameplay touch the screen and see all prior actions. After death you'll see how far you've gotten, what killed you, and other highlights. Leaderboards and game center are in the works but not in the current build.

Boy, if I was you I would have skipped to the bottom here, sorry for all that above. I'd currently recommend this game for short jaunts on the bus, during a break, or sleepless nights. Its a fun, grinding RPG, You'll keep at simply because its fun and doesnt stop. If the dev could add random quest I could see this staying on my Ipad for awhile. Worth the asking price.

 

Ok I've been able to play for about a day now, so here's some early impressions. Understand that so far I've only played on an iPad 4, so ymmv... The tutorial is a nice touch, certainly goes a long way toward explaining the meat of the game without keeping you from the action for too long. The graphics work for me, yes they could be cleaner, but I remember a time when this kind of pixel art was a technological marvel so it has a certain nostalgia for me. The game itself is great for short burst gameplay, easy to pick up, knock out a crusade or two and be on your way. There is a minor, but noticeable increase in almost all abilities as soon as you increase them, which is great at providing a feeling of progression even when random chance is against you. I'll update after playing more but right now this has a lot of promise.

 

i would like a code if possible... thanks a lot!