Hi pennomi,

Nice to see actual first screenshots or orthogonal support from flare (as for me ;]).

The idea is promising. I wish you best of luck.

I made a video earlier today (by now, there's no more music but more characters have been added and an enemy).

http://youtu.be/FGAqnDXp-lA

Like I said on IRC, those look fantastic and have me totally worried =P

First quest and dungeon are live!  Some small art and animation issues to iron out, but it should be playable.

Screenshots of the dungeon and of the hero, polymorphed into a bat, flying over a pit.

makhron, nice. I was able to get the bat talisman but couldn't wear in the right hand (or the main hand). Even if I take off the sword, it goes into the off-hand.

Also couldn't figure out how to activate the bat talisman.

Lastly, is levelling up done or not as of yet ?

All of the talismans are held in the off-hand, though we might move them to the artifact slot.

The talisman does need be equipped and then dragged into the actionbar at the bottom of the screen to be used.  I should add that to the system message.

Levelling is going to be pretty strictly structured in this game - enemies don't give any XP, only quests will.  Each quest will grant exactly one level, which can be used to purchase a little extra HP, MP, or a power.

hmm... ok I was able to do all that. I got out, got the fairy flower and then got myself back into the hole/cavern.

Also the fairy flower is not in my inventory :(

Hmm.  When you click on the fairy flower, it should pop onto the ground, where you will have to click it to pick it up.  Once picked up, you should be able to pass back across the bridge.

Right now the flower is a faux-treasure chest which drops the flower as loot.  I could change it to a faux-npc that would add to the flower to your inventory automatically.

I think I can work with what you've mentioned to make the dungeon a lot less confusing.  Thank you a ton for the testing!

Also dunno if it's possible but after the treasure chests are emptied they still look locked, maybe they could be in open state. I see few chests which are locked and don't have anything or something else (maybe they need a key or something).

I'm still fighting with the chests to get them to spawn loot properly.  I'll also change them to look "open".

hmm... about your strict levelling thing. I think it's a mistake. If there is no levelling up or just a single level after quest then replayability is down to zero. Just my 2 paise.

I must say you game looks awesome!

Wow, what you have by now looks really good! Totally missed this new thread until today, though ;-)

I guess the mapping of dungeon borders is temporary? Using the Ash like that looks quite rough.

Just remember that you need either a good story or good gameplay to hold players attention for some time. This polymorph thing really makes a good base for fun gameplay, but probably you should think of more creative challenges than flying over a pit.
But, as I see how fast you're making progress, I think you'll do that anyways and it's only a matter of time :-)

Thanks everyone!

And yes, Jurkan.  I just wanted to get some gameplay out there and be able to work on the quests and technical details while the graphical details are still being hashed out.

Hopefully the storyline will be good as well.  I just pushed another update that gets the Ancient Tombstone event running (the lynchpin of the storyline in the cave), and I will likely continue to obsess over and refine the dialog, which should get more involved as the game progresses.

And, yes, the bat is only the first challenge, and some more powers should be coming down the pipes as well!

Finally, even after August 1st, I think Pennomi and I are going to continue to work on and expand the game.  We have four dungeons planned for the LPC deadline, but I think we'll have little trouble creating more content in the months to follow.

Oh, and Pennomi and I both agree that, eventually, EVERY NPC in Laurelia will get their own quest and backstory...

hmm... strange. Even after giving the fairy flower to the elder thomas I was not able to level up to level 3. If needed can send the save file to you mahron by mail.

Another thing there doesn't seem to be a way now to get into the cavern by choice again, just to make some more money (upto 100 G) and buy the better sword before going to the eastern part of map.

The transparent map that the player can see needs to be refined. I dunno if there is a high-level view from where you can see how much of the map has been discovered or not.

Xp rewards aren't implemented yet, so i'm not even sure how you made it to Level 2!  Chances are, handing the flower to the elder and completing the first dungeon will only net you the second level, anyhow.  I'm not sure where Pennomi stands, but the first dungeon is really a training dungeon, and it's only appropriate to give one level.  Depending on how the second, third, and fourth dungeons go, maybe they will each grant two levels.  Future side quests will probably grant one level each.

Over on the code page for Polymorphable, I did note that there needs to be some visual indicator that you can return to the cavern.  If you've been to the cavern once and gotten the bat talisman, you should be able to just walk off of the northern edge of the map right now to get back into the cavern.  There will eventually be a small glade at the end of that road to make everything more coherent (instead of a flower in the middle of a dirt road!)

I hope people won't feel the need to grind for the Hero's sword before progressing.  It's certainly an option, but I'll be modifying the price so that one can purchase it by the end of the game without repeating content.

Xp rewards aren't implemented yet, so i'm not even sure how you made it to Level 2!  Chances are, handing the flower to the elder and completing the first dungeon will only net you the second level, anyhow.  I'm not sure where Pennomi stands, but the first dungeon is really a training dungeon, and it's only appropriate to give one level.  Depending on how the second, third, and fourth dungeons go, maybe they will each grant two levels.  Future side quests will probably grant one level each.

 

I was able to do xp level up without going to the first dungeon. There is one level up you can do straightaway. I haven't been able to figure out where the save file is kept otherwise would have sent it to you.

This is only what I found :-

~/.config/polymorphable$ ls
keybindings.txt  mods.txt  settings.txt

There is neither a .flare nor a .polymorphable in my /home/$USERNAME directory.

I also have flare (the RPG game installed) and that one does have the flare savegame. I know that because of these lines in it.

campaign=ak_intro,ak_ukkonen_defeated,ak_ukkonen_search,ak_ukkonen_reward,ak_tome_found,ak_tome_reward,ak_key_search,ak_key_found,ak_key_reward,ak_temple_search,ak_temple_sealed,ak_talisman_search,ak_talisman_found,ak_talisman_reward,ak_maddox_search,ak_talisman_used,ak_maddox_defeated,ak_maddox_reward,fr_welcome,fr_rilrak_search,fr_rilrak_defeat

Also the date on the savefile is around 6 months back. I played flare sometime back.

 ~/.local/share/flare$ ll save1.txt
-rw-r--r-- 1 shirish shirish 953 2011-12-12 23:16 save1.txt

I do see a save directory but that has *.dat so that can't be it.  The save file of polymorphable should have something distinguishing it from flare.

SAVE FILES
==========

Save files are stored in one of these places:

$XDG_DATA_HOME/flare
$HOME/.local/share/flare
./saves

As can be seen above, I have tried all the places. I don't see/have a ./saves location.

Over on the code page for Polymorphable, I did note that there needs to be some visual indicator that you can return to the cavern.  If you've been to the cavern once and gotten the bat talisman, you should be able to just walk off of the northern edge of the map right now to get back into the cavern.  There will eventually be a small glade at the end of that road to make everything more coherent (instead of a flower in the middle of a dirt road!)

That makes lot of sense if you are able to do that.

I hope people won't feel the need to grind for the Hero's sword before progressing.  It's certainly an option, but I'll be modifying the price so that one can purchase it by the end of the game without repeating content.

That would be cool if you are able to do that, thanx.

Polymorphable saves should be in ~/.local/share/polymorphable.  We need to update that README file to be specific to polymorphable.

so it is. Well it seems I didn't level up but I did get the power or whatever because my health went from 10 to 12.

$ cat save1.txt
name=laila
permadeath=0
option=female,head_long,female02
xp=0
build=2,1,1,1
gold=7
equipped=100,0,200,0
equipped_quantity=0,0,1,0
carried=1,2,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0
carried_quantity=7,4,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0
spawn=laurelia.txt,91,2
actionbar=-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,1,200
transformed=
campaign=elderintro,battalisfound,evil_unleashed,cavernexplored,flowerfound,juggsearch

makhron,

with the latest git the girl potraits are gone, I did see the log where you said there could be bugs, I saw the first of them. Lemme know when you have solved it.

Shirish, we didn't intend for all the extra portraits to stick around.  We hope to eventually have customizable hair and face, but it'll still be pixellated.  

Aside from that, have you encountered any other bugs?

cmake and the g++ compiler should both work fine now

@penommi @makhron. Have mailed you a screenshot of what the issue is now. As can be seen there is a hero (instead of the heroine) and he has a pink something around him.

Second dungeon is finished, though it hasn't been extensively tested yet.

could you make the colors less loud, it's difficult to look at that/those.

Third dungeon is completed - explore a haunted castle!

*Squints at name of game*

Can't believe I didn't get that until just now. :_:

Bonus fail points for being right there in the VERY FIRST POST

hmm... few things. I get this message everytime I play.

Warning: non-continous tileset indexes in outside.txt. This may blow up memory usage.

The second thing is it's very easy to get into the dungeon even without meaning to. I started from scratch, got the fairy flower and was coming down and guess what ? Found myself back in the first dungeon.Not good :(

Hmm.  That is not a deliberate behavior.  i'll look into it later today - probably just a bug in the quest script.  It should be first dungeon, THEN pick up the Fairy Flowerr, and then be able to pass safely over the trap.

 It should be first dungeon, THEN pick up the Fairy Flowerr, and then be able to pass safely over the trap.

Maybe I was unclear. I did exactly that. 

a. I went to the first dungeon, fought everybody and scraped through.

b. Got to the other side by the staircase, got the fairy flower in my inventory.

c. Was returning back and found myself trapped back in the first dungeon.

After getting the fairy flower even if I enter the dungeon by mistake or otherwise I should be able to get out and not by fighting all of them all over again.

Dunno if this is possible or not but it would be nice if this was possible.

That bug should be fixed now.

Nope, it isn't. I gitted upto :-

commit af92ec14045c610872377e6e83946447b1a97dd1
Merge: 9e37678 4e850d7
Author: Matthew Krohn <makrohn@.com>
Date:   Thu Jul 19 12:36:20 2012 -0400

    Merge branch 'master' of https://github.com/pennomi/polymorphable

compiled and started a fresh new game. I saved the game after I got the fairy and was in the glade. I saved it there.

I came down and again went into the hole, there is no indication anywhere to know where the hole for the dungeon is. I closed instead of saving but somehow was still saved as being in the cavern. Will be sending you my save file.

At least at my end this bug is still there.

Update: scratched your e-mail, sorry for opening it on the fora.

Btw another wishlist but perhaps this one could be on 1st august or later. Have a way in which you can have automatic names (have some sort of names in some sort of list so one can use the random names that come up.)  I know of few games where you get this facility. It would be nice if this was also possible.

Final dungeon is complete.  Polish, post-game, and packaging are on the way.

https://github.com/pennomi/polymorphable

Submitted!  We've taken a lot of time to balance and polish the game, so please, head on over the the repository and check it out!

https://github.com/pennomi/polymorphable

Clipping issues resolved!  Artwork updated!  Castle tiles refined!  Transformation system tweaked!  Bugs Squashed!

I don't mean to rain on your parade but I think you missed at least some authors in the authors text file: me (vegetables and stuff), Casper Nilsson (iron fences and tombstones) and Johann C (some rocks). Dunno if there are more stuff, but that's what I saw during my playthrough (and what I didn't see in the authors file).

I like the game though, and it's good that you had time to polish and fix bugs. Good luck in the competition.

Honestly, Daneeklu, we tried our hardest to double- and triple-check our files, and it clearly waasn't good enough.  I think that getting our attribution right is extremely important, because this game wasn't made alone.  We'll get that fixed ASAP.  I really am sorry.

Wow! I'll definitly check this out right after we finished (or at least submitted, if not finished) our game.
Can't test it any earlier, sorry ;)

But congratulations to finish so well in time (and hopefully also with a great game)!

I wish I'd had enough time to test other peoples' entries for them as well, jurkan.  I cannot wait to play all these new games, it feels like the holiday season!

HO HO HO! Merry gnu/christmas!

On tux! On Mozzila! On bestie & wilbur! *flies to the computers of all the good little free software children and hands out source code*

I'm trying to figure out what Santa Gnu leaves bad children, but all I can think of is Stallman with katanas.  http://xkcd.com/344/

Rotten eggs in a hollowed out Tivo..

Played it, loved it, I haven't finished it yet.

I still prefer to play the original FLARE, but as I finished that…

Why are the bat and the ghost so slow to move? That's anoying.

I encountered some weird bugs, like a bridge I could not cross wild I should, which I solved by going out and back of the map part.

I got the first part of the jugunaut thing, I'll continue from my saved games an other time :-)

It's weird looking without images for diagonal walking :-/

The XP system with one quest = one level is good if you're aiming for a large audience, but with FLARE system where monsters re-appears each time you leave a room, it's annoying. When playing FLARE I think "at least I'm getting XP", when playing polymorphable I'm just thinking "oh no, I have to beat them again… Let's try to avoid them".

You're not the only one to gripe about the transform speeds, and it's worth looking into speeding it up.  I wanted the juggernaut to be slow, but still fast enough to outrun bats (you'll understand why later, eh heh heh).  The transforms read directly from the enemy definition files, so if I speed up the player, I also speed up the enemies.  This isn't terribly difficult to change, but will require a couple hours of time.

Which bridge could you not cross?  I'll double-check, but the one bridge in the volcano that is impassable should give some sort of warning, then become passable once you obtain the Skeleton Key.  I should add some sort of visual cue instead of just a console message, though.

Diagonal walking would probably take a lot of work, since I don't think /any/ LPC art entries included diagonal sprites.  If people like the game enough to contribute at least diagonal sprites for the heroine, though, that'd be awesome!

I personally like having to make the fight vs avoid decision, which sometimes works out well, and sometimes doesn't.  I'm thinking of some old adventure games (Zelda) where I would frequently run through some screens and just dodge octorocs, while others I'd kill every skeleton in the room in hopes of some sweet, sweet rupees.  The goal is to see what needs to happen, such as increasing drop rates, to make that decision meaningful.

I've seen some art entries with diagonal sprites.

It was the bridge after I got the skeleton key. I got the same error at an other place, I can't remember where.