Naroth - 3D open world RPG

EgonOlsen · February 06, 2016, 10:54:01 AM

I finally released it: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.threed.jpct.games.rpg

Have fun!

Irony · February 06, 2016, 11:22:17 AM

Finally! Congratulations. First impression is really good, two questions though:
- Any way to invert the y axis on the right joystick? Its no flight sim

- Any specific reason why the movement with the left stick is limited to 8 axis instead of being fully analog? Feels i little stiff to me! I could get used to it for sure, just interested why you made that decision.
I will give more detailed thoughts on the game after I played for a while, these two just for the moment.

msandin · February 06, 2016, 12:04:05 PM

It's very nice so far! I second the request for inverted y axis controls, it's a highly divisive issue and I'm firmly in the non-flightsim camp after years of Quake experience back in the days.

EgonOlsen · February 06, 2016, 12:35:37 PM

Personally, I can't deal with inverted controls, so it was obviously very hard for me to imagine that anybody out there might prefer those...I'll add an option for it.
About the limited directions...in my opinion, fully analog controls make you tumble around like a drunk in touch screen controlled games...so I opted for a solution that actually mimics keyboard/mouse controls as good as possible instead of analog gamepad controls.

Irony · February 06, 2016, 02:04:53 PM

Aren't "inverted" controls (I'd say they are rather straightforward - up is up) the standard for everything that is not a flight sim? However. Having the option the change it is pretty much necessary for a lot of players I'd say.

EgonOlsen · February 06, 2016, 02:48:49 PM

Are they? I don't know, I can't stand them...so if they are standard, I've always disabled them. The new update is in the pipeline. Once Google Play has processed it, it should be online. It adds the option to invert the controls to the load/save/options menu.

EgonOlsen · February 06, 2016, 04:50:53 PM

The update should be available now...have fun with the ~~perverted~~ inverted controls...

Irony · February 06, 2016, 06:15:26 PM

Lol. I'll check it out. One tip for the play store: you should upload some screenshots in the tablet category to get rid of the stupid 'developed for phones'. They don't have to be actually made on a tablet; just reuse the same screenshots you used for the phone category like 99% percent of developers out there.
Also, I have seen one reviewer criticising the difficulty of the fights. Honestly, I was a little shocked how easily you can die on the first enemy as well. But it's a design decision and completely valid of course.
By the way, Pegi 18? How did that happen? I don't see any blood or guts... SO far

One more thing, do you really need permission for system settings? I think I have never seen it in a game and a lot of people may not like it (explanations in the store entry are usually not read). There are other ways to leave the screen on or minimize android buttons.

EgonOlsen · February 06, 2016, 07:10:26 PM

Quote from: Irony on February 06, 2016, 06:15:26 PM
Lol. I'll check it out. One tip for the play store: you should upload some screenshots in the tablet category to get rid of the stupid 'developed for phones'. They don't have to be actually made on a tablet; just reuse the same screenshots you used for the phone category like 99% percent of developers out there.
Also, I have seen one reviewer criticising the difficulty of the fights. Honestly, I was a little shocked how easily you can die on the first enemy as well. But it's a design decision and completely valid of course.
By the way, Pegi 18? How did that happen? I don't see any blood or guts... SO far

I see...I'll add the screen shots and see what happens...
The combat is not hack-and-slay a la diablo. But if people keep complaining, I'll consider to adjust it.
About that Pegi 18...I guess that comes from the fact that I had to answer the question if you can attack humans with "yes"...because you can. The german rating that it got from answering the questions is 12+.

EgonOlsen · February 06, 2016, 07:12:41 PM

Quote from: Irony on February 06, 2016, 06:15:26 PM
One more thing, do you really need permission for system settings? I think I have never seen it in a game and a lot of people may not like it (explanations in the store entry are usually not read). There are other ways to leave the screen on or minimize android buttons.

To be honest, I'm not entirely sure if that minimize thing was really the reason for requesting these permissions...

But then again, it doesn't even show this permission request to me if I install it from Google Play, so...we'll see...

msandin · February 06, 2016, 10:23:57 PM

Unbreaking the controls made it a lot less frustrating for me! I've reached level 8, have cleared a couple of dungeons, and I'm happily battling... those bigger Goblins and what my kids call the "dragon dogs". Very nice!

Irony · February 07, 2016, 11:56:09 AM

Yeah, it's like a hundred times easier now for me. In hindsight, it was simply unplayable before. Enemy difficulty seems to be okay now, even if a little more reach for the sword would be nice

Don't know why the update took like 15 hours before it appeared for me, but that's Google Play.

EgonOlsen · February 07, 2016, 12:22:53 PM

It helps to clear the cache of Google Play sometimes, if you don't see an update that's supposed to be there.

EgonOlsen · February 07, 2016, 12:26:01 PM

Quote from: msandin on February 06, 2016, 10:23:57 PM
I've reached level 8...

Do you know how long it took you to get there? I've no clue how long it takes for people to level up that don't know the game. Did you follow the main story line or are you just wandering around?

msandin · February 07, 2016, 02:22:29 PM

A few hours, at least three I'd guess, probably somewhat more. That said I don't play this kind of games regularly and I'm a somewhat conservative player. I think I went off track with the main story line when I found killing that initial insect creature (utrapi?) too hard. The combination of controls which made me do the wrong moves when things got heated and the fact that you need to learn to move backwards and time your attacks as you seem to get stunned for a brief period every time you get hit got me killed a few times. So I decided to just go explore and ended up visiting the three towns and getting as many quest as possible. My first kills were three snakes and after that I did the wine retrieval quest. It's been easier since.

I like how "complete" the game feels with a full skill tree, mini-map and map, alchemy, and lots of neat touches like the birds flying, leaves falling, book pages turning, and the characters "talking". I also like that the battles are fairly quick and that the game eschews any requirement to eat and drink which means that I don't feel stressed when I'm just wandering around exploring and looking at stuff. The sound and music deserve to be mentioned as well, I like them quite a bit. The biggest thing separating this from a fully professional product is that the models and texture are a bit hit-and-miss and not everything fits together in the way it does when you've got several full-time graphics artists producing and touching up everything. And I'm guessing the amount and depth of the content but I lack the experience of similar games to fully assess those. But complaining about that would be completely unfair for a hobby project given away for free, I thinks it's pretty grand and I fully intend to find out what happened to the guys father!