Heart of the OHR Contest 2018

Make games! Discuss those games here.

Moderators: Bob the Hamster, marionline, SDHawk

User avatar
Mammothstuds
Slime Knight
Posts: 103
Joined: Sun Mar 22, 2015 8:02 pm

Hanu in Hell

Post by Mammothstuds »

Here's a first look at the game
Attachments
Hanu in Hell.gif
Hanu in Hell.gif (4.36 MiB) Viewed 4916 times
User avatar
Pepsi Ranger
Liquid Metal Slime
Posts: 1457
Joined: Thu Nov 22, 2007 6:25 am
Location: South Florida

Post by Pepsi Ranger »

Spoonweaver wrote:I present my argument in screenshot form.
I'm still a bit hesitant on this one. BUT, Rygar NES is a side-scrolling RPG that works really well as an RPG, and happens to be one of my favorites of the day, AND I can be swayed pretty easily with the inclusion of various growth stats like:

defeated blobs: 25! (current rank: blob splatterer)
defeated slimes: 16! (current rank: slime spreader)
defeated goo: 2! (current rank: goobie)
spells cast: 39! (current rank: magic man)
money spent: you're a bum!
current level: arbitrary! but we'll say 6!

and so on. FYI.

And, for those who don't remember, Rygar has an experience system that makes him stronger the more experience he gains, allowing him to defeat enemies with fewer hits the more "stamina" he acquires. The system caps at 4095 stamina points, but taking on any low- to mid-range enemy at that power typically means a quick annihilation for that enemy, including bosses. You had to grind for about three hours to get there, but once you got there, you were well on your way to the final levels. It was too bad you couldn't save your progress, however.

EDIT: On second look of your screenshots, I have a question. Am I to assume that the health and mana bars "level up" through the same concept as that of Zelda, or more recently Terraria, where you grow your capacity through discoveries or stat gains? If so, then I think that's good enough for me to qualify. However, if "increasing the bars' length" is the same as refilling energy, then I'm not as easily convinced.
TMC wrote:Fnrrf: Wow, you sure juggle a lot of games. Looks like it'll be a very solid RPG. But how are you going to track damage taken, MP used, skills used, etc? Setting tags seems pretty crude since they can only count once per battle. With item costs which count these things? That doesn't seems practical for damage though... but I guess you could count uses of healing items, and final HP after the battle, instead. Maybe you should request a feature! (Pepsi wanted that anyway...)
I assume you mean global variables in battles, where the game can track each enemy hit? Yeah, I'm still waiting for that (ten years later). I haven't worked on Powerstick Man in two years, and I probably won't as long as that feature remains missing. (Among other reasons Entrepreneur related)
TMC wrote:Pepsi: So... are you entering?
Do I ever?

I don't know. Maybe? I have a game I started last November that could be converted into an RPG once the core mechanics are in place. I also have two additional story ideas I'd like to make into RPGs before I consider myself spent on new IPs for the OHR, not including the half dozen already conceptualized throughout the years. I also occasionally think about starting up on Tightfloss Maiden again, as that would be the likeliest candidate for rereleasing, but I also think the work and time I'd need to put into it to be satisfied with it would exceed the window.

Right now, I'd say unlikely, but that could change. I might also bring Powerstick Man out of hiding, if I can get it to a state I'm happy with. Plenty of options, but not plenty of time. I wouldn't hold your breath.
Last edited by Pepsi Ranger on Wed May 30, 2018 7:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Place Obligatory Signature Here
User avatar
FnrrfYgmSchnish
Metal Slime
Posts: 741
Joined: Thu Jun 18, 2009 4:37 am
Location: Middle of Nowhere

Post by FnrrfYgmSchnish »

Fnrrf: Wow, you sure juggle a lot of games.
Heh, yeah... kind of a bad habit I've always had (at least I've gotten away from the other bad habit: starting to work on ideas for sequels, and sometimes even the game files for them, before even finishing the first game!)

Thankfully most of them end up in the "never finished, barely started" pile that is rarely seen by anyone else's eyes, so I don't have 50,000 of my unfinished games clogging up the game list. I never delete them anymore, though, so maybe I might post them all together at some point once I'm sure I'll never finish them. XD
Looks like it'll be a very solid RPG. But how are you going to track damage taken, MP used, skills used, etc? Setting tags seems pretty crude since they can only count once per battle. With item costs which count these things? That doesn't seems practical for damage though... but I guess you could count uses of healing items, and final HP after the battle, instead. Maybe you should request a feature! (Pepsi wanted that anyway...)
Right now I do have it set up with a combination of tags and global variables -- tags set in battle, and a script adds however-many points to the matching variable after every battle and then calculates how much of an increase you get to each stat when you level up.

Now that I think about it, being able to affect global variables directly from attacks, etc. probably would streamline things a good bit when it comes to the tags for "used attack," "got critical hit," "used attacking spell," "used healing spell" and so on. I'd probably be able to change the system for HP to use hero counterattacks, adding points toward HP gain every time they take HP damage rather than just going by how much is left at the end of each battle. I'd have to rebalance the whole thing around the possibility of racking up a lot more points toward the other stats per battle, since as you mentioned with tags I'm only able to count each thing once... but I figure there's going to be a few layers of extra rebalancing involved in this system before I get to the point of releasing anything anyway, so that wouldn't be too big of a problem.
Last edited by FnrrfYgmSchnish on Wed May 30, 2018 8:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.
FYS:AHS -- Working on Yagziknian NPC walkabout sprites
User avatar
Spoonweaver
Liquid Metal King Slime
Posts: 6461
Joined: Mon Dec 08, 2008 7:07 am
Contact:

Post by Spoonweaver »

Same bar increases as zelda yes. Tim-Tim 1 even used hearts as the bar.
I had assumed you'd played the first Tim-Tim game... :(

Here's a gif to demonstrate.
You'll notice Tim-Tim's health is low and bar is at the starting position.
However, when he finds the heart potion, his health is restored AND his container is increased.

And on review of the gif, I seem to have placed the wrong treasure chest icon for after the chest is opened on this map...
Attachments
Tim-Tim20007.gif
Tim-Tim20007.gif (48.38 KiB) Viewed 4908 times
Last edited by Spoonweaver on Wed May 30, 2018 8:20 pm, edited 3 times in total.
User avatar
Pepsi Ranger
Liquid Metal Slime
Posts: 1457
Joined: Thu Nov 22, 2007 6:25 am
Location: South Florida

Post by Pepsi Ranger »

Same bar increases as zelda yes. Tim-Tim 1 even used hearts as the bar.
That settles it then. You're in. Cue the RPG purists storming the castle.
I had assumed you'd played the first Tim-Tim game... Sad
I think I had, but a long, long time ago, and my memory is pretty poor these days.

I'll have to give it another whirl.
Place Obligatory Signature Here
User avatar
FnrrfYgmSchnish
Metal Slime
Posts: 741
Joined: Thu Jun 18, 2009 4:37 am
Location: Middle of Nowhere

Post by FnrrfYgmSchnish »

Just remembered a possible bugfix/feature request I'd thought of a while back, so I figured I'd go ahead and post it here before I forget it again. Here goes: an option to hide stat increases in shops. Preferably on a stat-by-stat basis per item, just like how it works for the hero status screen.

The main use for this that I was thinking of was so that increases to "hidden" stats don't show, keeping them just as hidden in shops as they would be in the status screen (for example, in the game I'm working on now magic-defense isn't shown on the status screen since it's not a stat that increases normally, only by magical equipment and certain spells; in other games I have things like extra hits and MP% hidden, but the way the shop system is set up now they'd still show up when buying those items if I put them in a shop.)

You could also use it to replicate the system of older games which never showed stat increases in shops, in case someone wants to keep their game looking as "old OHR" as possible.

I suppose it'd also be possible to use it to hide negative effects of equipment in a sketchy sort of shop, like some guy trying to unload a bunch of ultra-heavy equipment by emphasizing the HUGE defense gain and covering up the loss in speed or evasion or accuracy that comes with it.

Seems like an appropriate request for the contest that was started to get people making more old-school RPGs and less joke games and tech demos, I think.
FYS:AHS -- Working on Yagziknian NPC walkabout sprites
User avatar
guo
Metal Slime
Posts: 749
Joined: Fri Dec 04, 2009 9:12 pm

Post by guo »

I love that suggestion. I'd love a general set of "display x" bitsets for all menus tbh.
vvight.wordpress.com
User avatar
Mammothstuds
Slime Knight
Posts: 103
Joined: Sun Mar 22, 2015 8:02 pm

Progress!

Post by Mammothstuds »

I tend to set aside an hour or so each day to work on my game. Here's some recent progress.
Attachments
Hanu2.gif
Hanu2.gif (3.07 MiB) Viewed 4812 times
User avatar
thecrimsondm
Slime
Posts: 21
Joined: Sun Jun 18, 2017 3:39 am

Post by thecrimsondm »

Oh wow, I love seeing all these great games. Makes me feel a little shy about my own lol. Anyway I did want to mention here that I have a few games out already as part of the contest, and I am far from done. I'm still working on the craft, and so I'll be releasing at least one more before the window is up. I'll be sure to add any of the games I add on here from now on. For now here's two of the games that I'm entering into the contest.

Also I was wondering if it's important for me to add any extra tags to my games such as "HOTOHR" for this contest.

Masks: 15 Pages
[game]https://www.slimesalad.com/forum/viewgame.php?t=7730[/game]

One Pirate: Adventure in the Crystal Cave
[game]https://www.slimesalad.com/forum/viewga ... highlight=[/game]
Last edited by thecrimsondm on Wed Jun 06, 2018 6:03 am, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
Spoonweaver
Liquid Metal King Slime
Posts: 6461
Joined: Mon Dec 08, 2008 7:07 am
Contact:

Post by Spoonweaver »

You should never be shy about your games
Image
And just think of it this way. All our games are trash when compared to The Legend of Zelda : Breath of the Wild or GTA5



Oh that reminds me, @thecrimsondm
About your game [game]One Pirate: Adventure in the Crystal Cave[/game]
There's 2 versions? Which one is the entry into the contest?
Also you should add a screenshot to the gamelist entry. Just saying...
Last edited by Spoonweaver on Wed Jun 06, 2018 1:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
The Wobbler
A Scrambled Egg
Posts: 2817
Joined: Mon Oct 15, 2007 8:36 pm
Location: Underwater
Contact:

Post by The Wobbler »

Counterpoint: There absolutely are some games we should be ashamed of but you'll only really know that in retrospect (I've got a few of them myself) and many no-budget indie games have way more interesting stories and characters than the big budget AAA games.
User avatar
kylekrack
Liquid Metal Slime
Posts: 1240
Joined: Mon Jun 16, 2014 8:58 am
Location: USA
Contact:

Post by kylekrack »

Aside from some really lame spreadsheets, I haven't been able to get anything done the past two weeks or so. Yesterday I sat down and got distracted by writing Object-Oriented plotscripts... Turns out subscripts are pretty useful as fake object methods!

It's not totally unrelated from my HotOHR game. The NPCs in the town are going to have complex behavior to give the town a sense of being alive. Each NPC has a set of potential tasks they will attempt to do, like chores, relaxing, etc., and when they're idle, they choose a random task to do. The Object structure will also track how much each NPC likes the player, where they should be pathing to, how healthy they are, among other things.

If anyone's interested in specifically how I got OO to work, I'd be happy to send the scripts.
My pronouns are they/them
Ps. I love my wife
User avatar
Pepsi Ranger
Liquid Metal Slime
Posts: 1457
Joined: Thu Nov 22, 2007 6:25 am
Location: South Florida

Post by Pepsi Ranger »

I want to also remind players that officially released versions will be the most recent at the time of the contest's closing, unless otherwise stated by the author (which might be the case if an update is worse than the earlier version).

I would also recommend that anyone who is sure to have a "final" version of their games online, or at least the version that will have the fewest loose ends or empty areas plaguing it by the end of the year, or simply what they know the final version before 2019 will be, let me know that they are ready for a YouTube playthrough so they won't have to wait until 2019 for player feedback.

Based on the points I made in the original post, whether these videos go public will depend on the game's content. I will record at least the first half-hour of each game and share it with the creator regardless. Anyone will be able to view them if they meet the acceptable content guidelines.
thecrimsondm wrote:Oh wow, I love seeing all these great games. Makes me feel a little shy about my own lol. Anyway I did want to mention here that I have a few games out already as part of the contest, and I am far from done. I'm still working on the craft, and so I'll be releasing at least one more before the window is up. I'll be sure to add any of the games I add on here from now on. For now here's two of the games that I'm entering into the contest.
I wouldn't worry about shyness here. Games released for this contest get played, get feedback, and become part of a family, so any one of them you submit will become an important part of OHR history, regardless of how well its received. This is my blowhard way of saying welcome aboard! Seriously, submit anything you got. The more the merrier. That said, if there's anything you want to change about a game between now and December, please do. Votes are generally given based on the most recent version of the game at the time of the window's closing. That's the intention at any rate.
thecrimsondm wrote:Also I was wondering if it's important for me to add any extra tags to my games such as "HOTOHR" for this contest.
You can if you want. I think some games have done that in the past. Would make it a lot easier to find them. But, it isn't a requirement.
Place Obligatory Signature Here
User avatar
Baconlabs
Liquid Metal Slime
Posts: 1067
Joined: Mon Nov 02, 2009 6:29 am
Location: Middlin, TN

Post by Baconlabs »

There was a bit of discussion earlier on what qualifies something as an RPG, so I'd like to go ahead and ask if what I have in mind qualifies (I'll be finishing it regardless of whether or not I can enter it into the contest).
My game (working title: Viridian Dreams) will be more of a Strategy game than an RPG. Will it count as a Strategy-RPG? I'd like to think so. On one hand, there won't be any traditional "gain experience to earn levels and increase your stats" mechanic, and you won't be rewarded immediately after each battle you get into. On the other hand, the game will be broken down into "missions", many of which will be optional, that reward the player with resources to buy new items and unlock new skills for different characters.

Basically, if you'd qualify X-COM as an RPG in any capacity, my game will qualify too.

I think Pepsiman also asked for occasional updates, so I'm going to go ahead and throw one out. I'm working on scripting an entirely new battle system, which operates on two opposing 3x3 grids - one filled with a formation of enemy units, one with player units - which allows for tactical things such as basic movement and attack ranges. It will be turn-based as well - think of a cross between Mega Man Battle Network and Final Fantasy Tactics. In its current state, my battle code works, but options are limited, so I'm still working on adding new stuff to it. I'll share a GIF when I've got it to where I want it.

Oh, and these battles are triggered by interacting with NPCs on the map. That'll probably be the one thing that I keep from the OHR's normal game behaviors, is moving around on maps. I'd like to build on that and make it something like Earthbound, where you can move in 8 directions (with larger sprites if possible) and enemies move in different ways, but that's low on the priority list and probably won't happen this year.

Still undecided about what I want as a bugfix/feature. It'll probably have something to do with sprites.
Last edited by Baconlabs on Wed Jun 06, 2018 10:53 pm, edited 2 times in total.
User avatar
thecrimsondm
Slime
Posts: 21
Joined: Sun Jun 18, 2017 3:39 am

Post by thecrimsondm »

So I added a screen shot onto the one pirate game. I still don't understand exactly how I'm supposed to add screen shots onto Slimesalad. It seems like using the 'print screen' command on mspaint, makes an image that's too large, and using Gimp to chop it down to size or resize it can make it kinda ugly. Is there an easier way to get screen shots out?
Post Reply