Seline and the Tower of Strength (Beta) [RPG, Fantasy]

[Belgerum]

Seline and the Tower of Strength

A lone tower stands on the border of two nations, with a mad, bloodthirsty villain awaiting atop it's many monster-filled floors. You, Seline, are the daughter of the same villain, and destined to ascend the tower, learning of your father's past, and of your own future along the way.

Seline and the Tower of Strength is still mostly prototype. I've looked a bit at some RPG-style combat systems programmed through ren'py, and attempted to make my own from scratch. I'm trying to make it unique in a bunch of ways, so feel free to try it out!

Download the current Beta here!
(Try here if the above doesn't work)

Current Game features:

- ~30 minutes of WIP gameplay
- Battle system using RPG-style moves and stats
- Map system with simple tileset, and some basic fog
- 3 enemy types, each with unique flavor text, and a unique system for determining moves
- The battle system and the way enemies work are going to be a bit less random than most games, to promote player strategy, planning, and the use of commands besides just attacks.
- no gold or currency. Instead, you siphon enemy souls into MP when you beat them. MP is now precious, because it can only be obtainable by killing enemies, and the healing spell is your main HP recovery method.
- Some exposition to hint at the storyline I'm looking to pursue to accompany the game.
- All resources used (besides Ren'py's sample interface) were made by just me, one guy. Of course, this means the game is a bit rough around the edges, but it'll give you an idea of what my skillset is. The artwork is either photo backgrounds, or drawn with the skill of a 8-year-old. Sound effects were recorded with various objects I had on hand with a less-than-professional mic. Music is mine too, but they are placeholders taken from other projects I've helped with, so will need to be replaced with originals later.
- Note that much of the writing is still not done, and that most of the beta after the tutorial and introduction is placeholder lines that will be replaces with scenes. These will be worked in as I write, and program more content for the battle system.


Planned/Desired Game features for later versions:

- A bigger story, of course. Hoping for 4~5 main characters, excluding the protagonist.
- More exploration and story events in the tower, for 3 floors, each with 4 smaller areas and a boss at the end. Expecting semi-random events for finding chests, special enemies, traps, and reaching new areas.
- More enemies, each one with unique movesets, patterns, and flavor text. Also, variants of each enemy with various levels and stats, so the game isn't boring.
- BETTER VISUALS. Seriously, I readily admit my artwork stinks, so I will likely try to find an artist to help me if I want to seriously make this into a game worth playing.
- Better quality writing, over time. I like to look back, proofread, and edit occassionally, and I'll want to get the writing better than it currently is before going for a serious release.
- Original music score, made by me. Again, the currently used tracks are placeholders from other projects, and will be replaced with Originals.


If anyone is nice enough to play my current version, and would like to help me out, I'd love your criticism, opinions, and no-holds-barred feedback on the following topics:

- I've tried to add variety to the game, so players strategically can't just attack, attack, attack, and heal when they have low HP. The biggest manifest of that is the "charged strike" unlocked at level 5 (the biggest damage attack you can do for now, but you need to set up for it), the Pixie's ultimate technique, and the Golem's charged attack (both of which are made to force the player into defending, and deal significantly less damage when defended. Thus, predicting when the strong attacks come and when to defend becomes a part of the strategy.) Would you say that these mechanics are too complicated, or hard to work with as the player? Better yet, are they fun/interesting enough to be worth including?
- Of the three enemies, which do you like the best? Which is the most challenging, taking the level into account? When I'm creating harder, more complicated enemies later in the game, what do you think would be fun for an enemy fighting style?
(Note: If you haven't figured it out already, The bandit announces hints at his next move before making them, the pixie gives visual cues to her next move, and the Golem acts on a 5-move rotation.)
- What do you think of the lack of currency in favor of MP-on-kill? I decided on this system to try and take number crunching and micromanaging out of the game, and focus more on combat, map puzzles and storyline. Do you think this works towards that goal well, or does it sacrifice too much from the gameplay?
- You may have noticed, but most combat moves have text variations that randomly cycle. For example, the player's basic attack descriptive text is displayed randomly as one of 7 different variants. Do you like having variety and flavor text like this, or would you prefer a single statement be used, so the effect is more easily recognizable? Does the unchanging "floating text" above the character images help at all?
- The game is currently written in the first person perspective. Do you like that, or would you prefer a story written differently? (i.e. "I attack the bandit," "You attack the bandit," or "Seline attacks the bandit" during gameplay)
- Is the game lagging or taking a lot of processing time in the first map? It's been a little jumpy on my PC, due to the algorithm that generates the fog, and I just want some opinions on that, since i'm trying to optimize it.
- Do you like the fonts used for the game? If not, what kind of font would you prefer?
- Do you like the 1200 x 720 resolution for the game? If not, what would you prefer?
- Given all of the planned features above, and the direction this game is going, would you play a finished version of this game?

Thanks in advance for lending your ears, eyes, and time. I want to make something people will enjoy, and I'm only going to get there if I take steps from the beginning to ensure the experience is enjoyable. I'll try to update this thread with updates, and notes on the development when I make breakthroughs.

Updates:
10/14:
- Added additional "Retry Battle" and "Load Saved Game" options to the game over screen, so players can jump right back into the battle to try again without checking a bunch of autosaves to see which is closest to the point they made a critical mistake.
- Increased Resolution to 1200 x 720, and moved a number of things to accomodate.
- Enemies now have individual names, using a unique randomized system for each enemy type. This may or may not be utilized into the battle text.
- Some game balancing for EXP gain, and the stats for the enemies.

12/30:
BIG UPDATE, added a lot of things, including:
- basic map system with fog
- floating numbers for combat
- placeholder text for planned story segments in the middle of the forest map
- fixed some of the images for the golem
- completely re-made the bandit to be even more obvious, beginner-friendly, and negate what you've learned in the tutorial by being completely unpredictable.

1/19:
- Added a system for healing potions, and placed 5 in a chest on the forest map.
- the entire game script has been edited into first person, rather than second.
- enemies now have randomly varying lines before the game over screen.
- player and enemy movement has been animated, so that you don't just jump to the next tile instantly.
- random encounters now occur on the indoor map, but only in the first two areas.

1/21:
- A better system for randomly chosen variant flavor text is implemented, so skipping should be more consistent, and now, pretty much every line in combat has random variants. EVERY SINGLE ONE. EVEN "The attack did X damage" lines.
- There are new areas added to the indoor map, making it actually decent-sized. I'll probably plan out a second area and work more on that than continue working on this one, since it make a pretty straightforward introductory one.
- While the key in one room is unusable right now, There is a sword in another that changes your equipment.
- fixed an issue with sprites while defending

1/22:
- Made framework for a level 4 Skeleton enemy.
- Re-balanced and re-worked a whole lot of stats for game progression, to make way for higher-leveled enemies.

1/25:
- Finished Skeleton, now animated!
- Re-worked the movement system for the map. WASD now moves you in each direction, instead of turning and moving forwards only. Done in response to private feedback.
- reworked the movement pad/pause menu a bit in preparation for a map implementation of the central area. Spells and potions are now used from the pause menu when on the map and not involved in an event.
- decreased filesize a bit by condensing assets

1/28:
- new area to explore to the west, using enemy encounters of level 4 pixies and level 5 golems.
- equippable armor in one of the new chests.
-color-coded keys to go with the color-coded doors.
- Fixed a bunch of game-breaking bugs, music anomalies, and typos

1/30:
- New level 6 Castor miniboss, using the same placeholder sprites from his tutorial battle.
- Reworks to the GUI, so it's not so blatantly default.

2/1:
- More reworks to the GUI, with new graphics for HP and MP bars and clearer popup battle text.

2/26:
- hinting text for if you lose to an enemy type 3 times without winning.
- more GUI work, with new button style!
- some stat updates for balancing hit/miss chance
- fixed some story typos

4/23:
- Floor 1 Eastern section are mostly complete (for right now). Leveled up versions of enemies appear there, with different encounters based on the room you are in.
- More placeholder artwork
- added keyboard shortcuts for quick, clean combat if you don't use a mouse.
- Some debug functions and testing things can be accessed by talking to Maggie.
- PROTOTYPE MANATRON BOSS! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA (It is beat-able, but the lack of hints, flavor text, and artwork may make it hard to figure out.)

[Snatsch]

Very well then. I just played the game and since it wasn't all that long I can now answer these questions.

- Do you feel like the enemy levels as displayed fit well with how powerful they are? If not, what would you do to make them more fitting?

I guess... but I have to say, that the pixie and the bandit were way to easy to defeat in comparison with the lvl. 3 Golem. You should make your enemies harder to fight to begin with but increase the level of difficulty constantly not to much at once.

- I've tried to add variety to the game, so players strategically can't just attack, attack, attack, and heal when they have low HP. The biggest manifest of that is the "charged strike" unlocked at level 5 (the biggest damage attack you can do for now, but you need to set up for it), the Pixie's ultimate technique, and the Golem's charged attack (both of which are made to force the player into defending, and deal significantly less damage when defended. Thus, predicting when the strong attacks come and when to defend becomes a part of the strategy.) Would you say that these mechanics are too complicated, or hard to work with as the player? Better yet, are they fun/interesting enough to be worth including?

Variety is always a plus in my opinion. I guess you should really try to keep that up. I very much appreciated it . Otherwise the players will either get bored or much worse, frustrated with the game, because they always have to fight but the fights don't vary. Actually... that could be a reason to stop playing the game. I wouldn't recommend that. That won't prevent the game from such a future but makes it more unlikely to happen. I mean after all you can't really make each fight different. That would be to much work.

- Of the three enemies, which do you like the best? Which is the most challenging, taking the level into account? When I'm creating harder, more complicated enemies later in the game, what do you think would be fun for an enemy fighting style?
(Note: If you haven't figured it out already, The bandit announces hints at his next move before making them, the pixie gives visual cues to her next move, and the Golem acts on a 5-move rotation.)

Well... I liked the golem the best. Because the pixie and the bandit weren't all that hard to fight... The golem wasn't that much harder to fight but at least a little. The bandit was actually also funny, when saying that he announced hints for his next moves but ... maybe you should make him lie randomly? So the player had to decide whether to follow the hints or not? I'd actually like that.

I'm not all that creative but maybe you could make a hyper-toxic bee that can attack you with the chance of either a critical hit or a side effect like poisoning or bleeding (damn those scary bees!). I also wouldn't mind a clumsy enemy that can attack himself but can also get randomly very angry so he would go berserk and maximize his strength.

Also I like hidden weaknesses and strengths so you had to think before using your spells (I don't know, maybe there's already planned something like that ).

- Is the game too difficult or too easy? Does the player level up or progress too quickly? Does leveling up increase the player's stats too much or too little? Generally, do you have any issues with the game balance?

I don't know if that's exactly true but I was under the impression that the level up doesn't take to long... Or ... as if you always had to fight the same amount of enemies... I can understand that defeating higher leveled enemies is getting you more experience but on the other side you also need more... I mean... yeah... in the beginning it shouldn't take you to long to at least level up a few levels... but I guess... You shouldn't let people level up just like that.

- Whatdo you think of the lack of items and currency in favor of MP-on-kill? I decided on this system to try and take number crunching and micromanaging out of the game, and focus more on the combat and storyline. Do you think this works towards that goal well, or does it sacrifice too much from the gameplay?

Depends... I don't think that - especially with varying and more difficult enemies - the system with MP-on-kill will be sufficient. Sometimes you need to get the hang of the enemy (if you aim for real challenging enemies that is) first ... that will cost you MP and I think it could be that you loose to much MP when that happens... Maybe you want to make an enemy that has some strengths and some weaknesses... that wouldn't be much in one's favor if one couldn't figure that out... If you'd make that but still keep that system you had to make sure to give sufficient hints at least. Otherwise you might need to give the possibility to find potions or stuff like that. Not that many but at least some of them to just support the player a little.

I'd very much appreciate at least varying equipment with side effects like getting healed a little with each critical hit or something . Maybe you don't have to buy it but you could get it in a quest (if you plan on doing those) or by exploring everything. Maybe each place had some hidden weaponry ... It's up to you .

I also don't think, that you can't focus enough on the storyline and the combat only by sacrificing the idea that you just need MP and fights to restore it.

- You may have noticed, but many combat moves have text variations that randomly cycle. For example, the player's basic attack descriptive text is displayed randomly as one of 7 different variants. Do you like having variety and flavor text like this, or would you prefer a single statement be used, so the effect is more easily recognizable?

I noticed and I guess that it makes the game more personal when you have a variety of the text following an action. But on the other hand... when you don't have like ... I don't know hundreds of variants and even then, the time will come that the player has read them and will skip them without even noticing. I myself am lazy as fuck... I just try to recognize what effect my action had. Maybe you could make a mix... Like, you attack someone and there is some short message showing "no damage" near the enemy. This way you could keep your varying action messages but still make the effect easily recognizable.

- Do the sound effects in the game work well with the gameplay? Is there any given sound that is annoying, or noticeably low quality?

I like them.

- Do you like the fonts used for the game? If not, what kind of font would you prefer?

Depends on what style you're aiming for respectively what level of professionality. I'm quite fond of them but that's just me.

- Do you like the 1024 x 600 resolution for the game? If not, what would you prefer?

I'm not that picky about it. I guess it's alright.

- Given all of the planned features above, and the direction this game is going, would you play a finished version of this game?

I guess I would. Despite all the things I've said I very much like the feel of this game and the gameplay itself . I like the exploring and fighting so that's a plus. The setting seems to be interesting to but I couldn't say much about that since you don't really get to know the chars in the demo. But still... all in all I very much like the game .

I hope that my answers helped you out a little and I'm interested to see more . And yeah well if you are ever in need of help regarding art I'd be happy to help out . Even if I'm not by any means a professional yet. But also I have to say that your artwork has it's own charm

[Belgerum]

I guess... but I have to say, that the pixie and the bandit were way to easy to defeat in comparison with the lvl. 3 Golem. You should make your enemies harder to fight to begin with but increase the level of difficulty constantly not to much at once.

Tried to address this in the latest update by making the pixie a tiny bit stronger, and making the golem have less HP.

Well... I liked the golem the best. Because the pixie and the bandit weren't all that hard to fight... The golem wasn't that much harder to fight but at least a little. The bandit was actually also funny, when saying that he announced hints for his next moves but ... maybe you should make him lie randomly? So the player had to decide whether to follow the hints or not? I'd actually like that.

I'm not all that creative but maybe you could make a hyper-toxic bee that can attack you with the chance of either a critical hit or a side effect like poisoning or bleeding (damn those scary bees!). I also wouldn't mind a clumsy enemy that can attack himself but can also get randomly very angry so he would go berserk and maximize his strength.

Also I like hidden weaknesses and strengths so you had to think before using your spells (I don't know, maybe there's already planned something like that ).

I have ideas for later in the game involving enemies that lie, have harder patterns, and such, but I wanted the existing three to be pretty easy intentionally, since they're only the first few you encounter. Since the mechanics of the game are going to involve big hits, defending more often, and strategy a bit different from a typical RPG, these ones are supposed to help the player ease into the style before the head games truly begin.

Thanks for the ideas, though. I have a few fun enemies in mind, but I might also be able to work those in somehow....

I don't know if that's exactly true but I was under the impression that the level up doesn't take to long... Or ... as if you always had to fight the same amount of enemies... I can understand that defeating higher leveled enemies is getting you more experience but on the other side you also need more... I mean... yeah... in the beginning it shouldn't take you to long to at least level up a few levels... but I guess... You shouldn't let people level up just like that.

Tried increasing the EXP required for leveling, and I think you're right. Thanks.

Depends... I don't think that - especially with varying and more difficult enemies - the system with MP-on-kill will be sufficient. Sometimes you need to get the hang of the enemy (if you aim for real challenging enemies that is) first ... that will cost you MP and I think it could be that you loose to much MP when that happens... Maybe you want to make an enemy that has some strengths and some weaknesses... that wouldn't be much in one's favor if one couldn't figure that out... If you'd make that but still keep that system you had to make sure to give sufficient hints at least. Otherwise you might need to give the possibility to find potions or stuff like that. Not that many but at least some of them to just support the player a little.

I'd very much appreciate at least varying equipment with side effects like getting healed a little with each critical hit or something . Maybe you don't have to buy it but you could get it in a quest (if you plan on doing those) or by exploring everything. Maybe each place had some hidden weaponry ... It's up to you .

I also don't think, that you can't focus enough on the storyline and the combat only by sacrificing the idea that you just need MP and fights to restore it.

Okay, I'll try to consider some alternate methods of healing and item uses. I don't want to go hardcore into it, and still don't think I want to have gold or currency to micromanage, but I'll try to make a system so the player isn't forced to fight for more MP if they need to recover HP. Maybe just small, medium, and large health potions you can find around. I was already thinking of having weapons and armor to find for semi-permanent upgrades, but I'll try to also incorporate individual mechanics like the one you mention. Could make the game more interesting.

I noticed and I guess that it makes the game more personal when you have a variety of the text following an action. But on the other hand... when you don't have like ... I don't know hundreds of variants and even then, the time will come that the player has read them and will skip them without even noticing. I myself am lazy as fuck... I just try to recognize what effect my action had. Maybe you could make a mix... Like, you attack someone and there is some short message showing "no damage" near the enemy. This way you could keep your varying action messages but still make the effect easily recognizable.

This is a good idea. I'll see if I can incorporate something like it into the next version.

And yeah well if you are ever in need of help regarding art I'd be happy to help out . Even if I'm not by any means a professional yet. But also I have to say that your artwork has it's own charm

Pffffffffffffffffffft I don't know if I agree, but thanks. I'll keep you in mind if I get to the point where I want an artist.

Besides all that, Thanks for commenting, and for all your compliments, advice, and such. I updated the demo with a few alterations, including a few in response to your post, and I'll post another sometime soon with a few more changes.

[Snatsch]

Besides all that, Thanks for commenting, and for all your compliments, advice, and such. I updated the demo with a few alterations, including a few in response to your post, and I'll post another sometime soon with a few more changes.

I'm happy if the things I said were of any help . I make sure to keep an eye open for this thread. Good luck and have fun with your project .

[Belgerum]

Major update posted. We now have a map for between battles! Sorta... It's not very refined right now, but I've made a new build for it, and I think it's at least good enough to be shown as better than the text-based exploration mess that was used before. I've still got a bunch to work on, but if anyone's willing to try out the new version, any feedback is appreciated.

[Belgerum]

Another update posted to the Demo in the OP. We now have potions and random encounters, the game is in first person perspective, movement is smoother, and YET MORE FLAVOR TEXT HAS BEEN ADDED

[Belgerum]

NEW ENEMY: SKELETON

I am proud of this, despite my awful art skills. Other updates have happened, and the game is nearing the point where I might want to get with a serious writer and artist, but I for one love this monstrosity I have programmed in ATL.

[sirop]

I downloaded what was on the page. Sorry if it is an outdated version.
Typos:
In the memory of the Meeting of Truce 'father' is misspelled as 'fatwher.' and before Maggie is introduced 'traveler' is misspelled as 'travelor.'
Just before the battle with Castor, Maggie says 'alreaddy' and says 'your' instead of 'you.'
During the battle with Castor he is called 'Casto' by Maggie. Is this intentional?

Opinions:
The font used for the names isn't very good. The colors and the fact that it's hollow make it hard to read. Not only that but it has strange swishes. I recommend a more simple font.
Well, at least the 'C's and 'T's are hard to read. The other letters are pretty fine.

[Belgerum]

The uploaded version was little bit outdated, and I'd already fixed a few of those typos, but thanks anyway for your interest and your help.

I've uploaded another version with some more GUI custom assets, typo fixes, and additional features like some text that shows hints if you lose to any enemy 3 times without winning, making Castor a little easier to figure out if you're having trouble.

I'm also working with a character artist to make some designs for the characters that aren't glorious placeholders. More on that after I've got enough to actually incorporate some into the game.

[Belgerum]

New update, with various improvements, another map section, and our first prototype boss!