Thoughts on Surlaw: Armageddon?

Make games! Discuss those games here.

Moderators: Bob the Hamster, marionline, SDHawk

Post Reply
User avatar
The Wobbler
A Scrambled Egg
Posts: 2817
Joined: Mon Oct 15, 2007 8:36 pm
Location: Underwater
Contact:

Thoughts on Surlaw: Armageddon?

Post by The Wobbler »

So now that I've updated Surlaw: Armageddon into something that resembles a playable game, I need to know what people think.

I really want to make this one good, so I need all the feedback you can give me. I need to know everything that I did right and everything that I did wrong so I can make this the best game I can, but so far I've only heard feedback from three people and it's been pretty broad.

I'm aware that there's not much to the game yet, but I think there's enough to give you a general feel.

If you haven't downloaded it: http://www.slimesalad.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=101
User avatar
JSH357
Liquid Metal Slime
Posts: 1341
Joined: Mon Oct 15, 2007 7:38 pm
Location: Columbia, SC
Contact:

Post by JSH357 »

It's not bad so far, but it's kind of hard to judge at this point. The battles are alright, but you don't get anything for winning them as far as I can tell. This is fine for the bosses (since you have to beat them to progress) but I feel no motivation to mess around with the enemies. Why are they even there? I don't really see the point of the crazy MP system personally, but once there's more meat to chew it might come off better.

The plot is OK; I'm looking forward to more. Right now, it just feels incomplete.
My website, the home of Motrya:
http://www.jshgaming.com
User avatar
Newbie Newtype
Reigning Smash Champion
Posts: 1873
Joined: Mon Oct 15, 2007 9:44 pm

Post by Newbie Newtype »

I really enjoyed it. I think the battle system you used is balanced, and not overly tedious, so you get huge props for pulling that off pretty well. (It sounds potentially frustrating to juggle getting MP and winning battles at first, but it actually isn't).

In Boston, I think it would be a good idea to make the building you're supposed to go into different than all of the others, that way you aren't trying to go into every single building after you get the human guy into your party (I forgot his name already).
User avatar
The Wobbler
A Scrambled Egg
Posts: 2817
Joined: Mon Oct 15, 2007 8:36 pm
Location: Underwater
Contact:

Post by The Wobbler »

JSH357 wrote:It's not bad so far, but it's kind of hard to judge at this point. The battles are alright, but you don't get anything for winning them as far as I can tell. This is fine for the bosses (since you have to beat them to progress) but I feel no motivation to mess around with the enemies.
Since it's made clear that the only reward is progress, you're meant to avoid non-essential battles. They can all be fought and won, but that's not the goal. They're there to provide something that can kill you between boss fights if you don't watch what you're doing.
KittenMaster wrote:In Boston, I think it would be a good idea to make the building you're supposed to go into different than all of the others, that way you aren't trying to go into every single building after you get the human guy into your party (I forgot his name already).
It is different, there are patches of blood leading to the doorway.
User avatar
JSH357
Liquid Metal Slime
Posts: 1341
Joined: Mon Oct 15, 2007 7:38 pm
Location: Columbia, SC
Contact:

Post by JSH357 »

Surlaw wrote:
JSH357 wrote:It's not bad so far, but it's kind of hard to judge at this point. The battles are alright, but you don't get anything for winning them as far as I can tell. This is fine for the bosses (since you have to beat them to progress) but I feel no motivation to mess around with the enemies.
Since it's made clear that the only reward is progress, you're meant to avoid non-essential battles. They can all be fought and won, but that's not the goal. They're there to provide something that can kill you between boss fights if you don't watch what you're doing.
I hate that kind of game design :p But it's subjective, I guess. They could at least drop disturbing pictures or something.
My website, the home of Motrya:
http://www.jshgaming.com
User avatar
Newbie Newtype
Reigning Smash Champion
Posts: 1873
Joined: Mon Oct 15, 2007 9:44 pm

Post by Newbie Newtype »

I don't think it would be too harmful to have those battles as long as it's not taken to the extreme and become an annoying thing to deal with (OHRRPGCE's "touch" NPCs are ridiculously sensitive to even the slightest of movement, so that will have to be taken into account with designing levels.)

Also, if the goal is to avoid enemies, then maybe it would help make this goal more obvious if you tone down the ability to use the healing NPC? I think a cool idea is that using it will make the enemies reappear on the map, making it continue to be necessary to avoid them.
User avatar
JSH357
Liquid Metal Slime
Posts: 1341
Joined: Mon Oct 15, 2007 7:38 pm
Location: Columbia, SC
Contact:

Post by JSH357 »

Yes! That's precisely the problem I had--the random enemies don't wear down your resources at all (in fact, they really only contribute to helping you raise MP), so the purpose is lost on me.
My website, the home of Motrya:
http://www.jshgaming.com
User avatar
Newbie Newtype
Reigning Smash Champion
Posts: 1873
Joined: Mon Oct 15, 2007 9:44 pm

Post by Newbie Newtype »

I think later on the game, as things become more difficult, they could to wear down on the most important resource: HP. Maybe they could start draining MP at more difficult parts of the game.
User avatar
The Wobbler
A Scrambled Egg
Posts: 2817
Joined: Mon Oct 15, 2007 8:36 pm
Location: Underwater
Contact:

Post by The Wobbler »

KittenMaster wrote:Also, if the goal is to avoid enemies, then maybe it would help make this goal more obvious if you tone down the ability to use the healing NPC? I think a cool idea is that using it will make the enemies reappear on the map, making it continue to be necessary to avoid them.
The healing NPC won't be in every area of the game, but as this was the first "dungeon" I didn't want things to be too difficult. There will be cost associated with using him later on, I just haven't determined what (not monetary cost). I don't want to make enemies reappear, though. I want killing everything in the dungeon to be an option, just not an ideal/rewarding one.
KittenMaster wrote:I think later on the game, as things become more difficult, they could to wear down on the most important resource: HP. Maybe they could start draining MP at more difficult parts of the game.
Later enemies will certainly be more of a hazard on your HP and MP, but later areas will also have fewer enemies that have to be avoided. I want the majority of the battles in the game to be "boss" or "mini boss" fights that you have to fight to progress.

I might make a hard mode option that removes the healing points entirely.
User avatar
RMZ
King Slime
Posts: 1695
Joined: Tue Oct 16, 2007 12:39 am
Contact:

Post by RMZ »

I thought it was really awesome how you made this one game tie into all of your other games, whether they were serious or joke games. I'm really looking forward to seeing where this will go. But, everyone is right, it is very incomplete and is tough to form too much of a thought.
User avatar
Uncommon
Metal Slime
Posts: 720
Joined: Thu Oct 18, 2007 10:58 pm
Location: Savannah, GA

Post by Uncommon »

The thing I like about the MP system is it encourages you to play around with spells, since you don't have to worry about conserving for the boss.
User avatar
The Wobbler
A Scrambled Egg
Posts: 2817
Joined: Mon Oct 15, 2007 8:36 pm
Location: Underwater
Contact:

Post by The Wobbler »

That was exactly what I was going for. I absolutely hate RPGs where you either A) Never use magic except against bosses or B) Have so much MP that you can spam your strongest attacks every turn with no consequence.

Also, I know I said that a review wouldn't be necessary at this point because another version is coming soon, but I'm going to be horribly sidetracked for the next couple of weeks and won't be able to finish the game as soon as I'd planned. If you're still interested in writing a review of the demo let me know.
Post Reply