Loading screens aren't terribly frequent, just between the maps, which in most cases you'll be at for a while each time. Lower part of the town has the dock. The giant door you'll get to later. The giant arrows should still be on until you talk to the mayor the first time. When you die you lose half your gold and restart at the dock. Not so bad when you don't have much gold to begin with
Ok where is this giant arrow? I am so not seeing it. Looking at the video I took, and still don't see one. Uploading the video now. Btw, I took a few minutes just to choose my character lol. I know it's probably not a priority at the moment, but any plans to add female characters to the mix? Half my gold -- yikes! I better find a way to heal. Does leveling up heal you?
Leveling up heals you, and there are three inns throughout the world that you can stay at as well, one is in the town. Female Characters: YES. I actually hope to replace the main characters with Barbarians that are male or female and have unique looks for each of the 10 Classes sooner than later. I'd say "sometime this summer", but so often things take longer than expected, I won't say that. But I want to. Back Story: When I first started I figured I'd have a Modeler do my main characters for me. I found a local guy, met at starbucks, and we agreed on a rate and all that. We also agreed on "milestone" payments. So after the first 1/3rd, I paid him a big chunk of money and he delivered a model, but untextured. The whole thing was supposed to take less than a month, but after the first month, and first 1/3rd, he started forgetting his laptop when he went places. Eventually he asked for the 2nd chunk even though it wasn't complete, and I said no. I stopped hearing from him, and eventually fired him, losing my money. Around the same time I read from another developer the quote, something like, "Work with what you have today, not what you hope to have." I realized that I spent about 6 weeks literally working around the fact that I had no main character to test with, and I was basically being super unproductive because of it. Lesson learned, so I found some pre-made characters on the Unity Asset Store. The Barbarians had multiple skin tones, which is something I wanted, and modular armor. I wanted full armor sets, so that there'd be an "Armor Shop" as well, but that I guess is hard to do, so no one had done it, and I went with armor as a skill upgrade instead. That's actually the moment I decided the game would be called "The Barbarian", because Barbarians are what I had to work with.
Damn, that sucks. But glad you found an alternative to work with. And looking forward to seeing what you do with it in the future. Oh one other thing I couldn't figure out is how to use my skill points. I tried the menu, but didn't work. And I didn't see any other option. Also, the circle in the upper left corner -- it changes colors, but I can't figure out what they mean. I thought maybe it tells you when you're in danger (green means no enemies around, yellow that enemies are somewhere nearby, red they're on top of you). But when I go into a shop, it turns red. Here's my video. Is the giant arrow missing or am I blind? Only arrow I see is the one on the mini-map showing my direction. Subscribe to the TouchArcade YouTube channel
I'll check the video -- but I just uploaded an everyplay replay video showing the path from the start of the game. Check the everyplay link at thebarbariangame.com it should be he latest video. On my phone atm so I can't grab the link The upper right will pause the game, same place - red - will close the menu. Skill point are required to learn new skills at the training hall or spells at the magic guild.
Ok will check it out, thanks. I realized on my video that I missed some glowing green dots on the map in the very first area. So will go back to see what those were. Ah ok you might want to add an extra line to explain that when you get your first skill point, because it's not clear -- so I was looking around for a way to just use it on the spot.
Hey, I was wondering... Would it be possible to combine the Attack and Interact buttons into one? Is there any point where you would need to do both things? I understand that would mean you couldn't attack peasants, but I don't think the game penalizes you for that, anyway, does it?
Ok, so I played a bit more and completed my first quest! Also got some equipment (most of which I can't use yet) and died because I, apparently, have not yet learned my lesson about chests. I found the huge green arrows you mentioned -- I thought you meant an arrow staying on my character, pointing the way. Now I just need to find the trainers so I can use my skill points and start using some proper gear. I seem to go in circles.
The "!" button (right-trigger on game pads) will attack if an enemy is close. That way you can't run through dungeons collecting loot without actually fighting. But I wouldn't want to go the other way around, because I think it's fun to swing the weapon even if there's nothing around you. Also people love to swing at the NPCs! (The other day I saw a guy swinging them into the water, since they jump back!) I think it's a ripe area for some easter eggs in future updates! Training Hall is in the front-middle of the upper area, right by the two covered selling stalls. It also has a wooden message board out front. Walk in, go up the stairs to talk to the trainer.
I hear you -- it is fun swinging at peasants! I didn't know that the interact button can also work as an attack button. I'll have to test it out. I just like the idea of being able to use one button for both -- less clutter on the screen and less focus on the buttons in general. But I hear what you're saying! Thanks -- will look for the training hall. Edit: Here's some more video for those wanting to know how it plays on iPhone 5: Subscribe to the TouchArcade YouTube channel
What were the quality settings for that? the iPhone 5 is the "slowest" device the game can run on, due to the RAM requirements. However it looked like the frame rate was a bit low at times. Maybe that was the capture software. But I'd be interested in the quality settings. In most cases I'd suggest playing the game w/ Blob Shadows on a 5 or 5c. Shadows are pretty, but they take a hit on the frame rate, turning them off may actually speed up the game a bunch on the 5. I can't wait for the 6S
Ah I may have misinterpreted "Blob Shadows" as a setting. The game told me I had low frame rate so I switched from that to the middle one. I'll switch back. And my resolution is at 80%. My recording software does a pretty good job with my iPhone 5, so that's about what it played like (it did seem to mess with the audio a bit when uploaded to YouTube, though). I would record from my iPad, but both my recording software and YouTube don't play well with it. When I do manage to get a decent recording, youtube messes up the audio. :/
No worries, about the recording quality As a default I play with single shadow only. In most scenes there's really only the one light (torch spells) anyway. In some scenes it's neat to have all shadows -- the sewers for instance. But in scenes with lots of lights, it can slow things down if a lot is going on. The resolution has a bit less of an effect, maybe a few fps per 10%. For the iPad Air 1 I usually play at 70 or 80% -- the retina display still looks amazing, but it helps with the speed. The Air 2 and the 6/6+ get great frame rates at 100% w/ shadows.
I'm a PC gamer at heart so I love to see iOS games with graphic settings. A possible solution to the graphic scaling issue with different devices is to put different profiles in the settings menu. For instance iphone 6 profile where everything is high or iPhone 5 where shadows are lowered, etc, etc. it would make it so the less informed can just plug in their device model and the game automatically sets the ideal settings. I also like how the Dev has made it seem that the game and it's graphics will advance with idevice releases.
I may shut the music and try to get some iPad footage (if I can transfer the save data over). It'll still sound choppy, but less so. (Would love it if someone could shine some light on why YouTube butchers the sound in every single iPad Air 2 video I upload.)
The game should start off with somewhat profiled settings based on the device. Future devices should default to the iPhone 6+/iPad Air 2 settings. (Or, any device that the system doesn't recognize). Tech increases so fast now, it's pretty much a given that the next version of iOS devices will be a lot faster. Android will be a slightly different story. I do like giving people the choice on how they want their quality. Removing the real time shadows can have a big impact on the speed on lower-end devices, but it also changes the look of the game. Some people may prefer to have shadows on and a lower resolution on a retina device since in most cases you don't really notice the resolution shift if you're not holding it right next to your eyeball.
iOS v. 1.4.1 should be live on the store now. There's a couple tiny bug fixes in it, but this one was submitted to the store the same day we launched, so nothing major. Current users shouldn't really have any need to download it. We're submitting v 1.4.2 today, so that should be live hopefully in 10 days or so, depending on how long it takes apple to approve it. That'll have some more bug fixes that current users may wish to download.
Hey All! For the Memorial day weekend I've lowered the price of the game. Hopefully no one gets pissed off that they just got it yesterday for $2 more Also there will be a very important update that fixes a critical bug soon. It's been "In Review" by Apple all day. I'll post again when I know it's live, but it'll be version 1.4.3 - very important you update. Fixes some small bugs, adds one feature that ppl requested, with the town entrances, and fixes a giant bug that eventually everyone will get hit with (and it'll keep you from being able to move).
Version 1.4.3 is now live! For those who submitted bugs, thank you! The big critical bug wasn't found by me when I tested because I went through the game too fast. I always did everything, but I knew the fastest way through and all the secrets and got pretty good at not dying. So I never actually defeated the enemies in the overworld 3 times. On the 4th respawn (2 horus between each), the bug would appear. So please update Thanks!! Also, if you do find bugs, please let me know -- the forum has a bug section at thebarbariangame.com
