Please try my new retro-style RPG

Hi all,

I created a new retro-style RPG:
http://darkfire-legends.com

The graphics are really poor, but there is lots of stuff to discover: items, skills, runes, quests… Give it a try, it might be fun :-)

Creating this game is my hobby (I also got family and job). I've been working on it for quite a while and plan to continue expanding it. Any kind of feedback would be awesome!

The graphics is really poor definetly.
But who cares if it's fun. I'll try it this weekend as I have a "situation" on my work, there is not much time left for gaming till friday…

The graphics look uncool because of the Ultima VI style view (after Ultima it was abandoned and no game used it anymore IIRC). It would look better even in simplier top down view or "one-side" view (no clue how it is called, I mean something like that: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi…S_Ultima_4.png ). Of course full blown isometric would do as well, but that's quite more troublesome for several reasons

Even through your graphics are quite detailed (at least compared to my recent game ) it suffers a lot because of the view… I don't know if you are still able to change it at this stage, but I would go for it if possible.


About interface:
- intellect icon is inconsistent, it should be on green backgrounds as the rest (these small things really have impact, you should polish the interface more, especially since you spent so much effort on the monsters and other world things; the player sees a monster sometimes, but the stat icons all the time, so these should be higher priority)
- start monster names with capital letter. Sure, it would look a bit weird in the middle in the sentence, but since in like 50% cases you use it at the start of the sentence ("ants dealt X damage to you") it would be a change to better
- I would really remove all fractions from damage, "0.60 damage" is not something a player desires
- You use full hue colours for text, I'm not an artists but they told me such colours always will look bad, and I tend to agree. To put it more clear, do not use RGB(255,0,0) for red, use something like RGB(230,20,20). It will look better according to some complex colour theory Generally, I recommend hanging around artist's forums, or just reading their posts, a programmer can learn a lot of interesting stuff this way

I think the graphics are quite nice. They are thematically consistent and pretty well done. I don't mind low res/lo color depth at all. I am not a huge fan of the odd perspective, but it wouldn't keep me from playing.

Overall it looks promising.

Thank you very much for your feedback guys! Keep it coming…

The graphics… Yeah, I am well aware that the perspective is somewhat odd. The problem is that starting over would require huge amounts of time to redraw everything: Currently I have 1.051 tile images. I started this way, because i've been used to the perspective and style from an other, older game.

If I would start today I would probably go for much larger images and use a front perspective like Archibald suggested. Realistically though, chances are I might never finish the monstrous task of redrawing all graphics. For that reason I see no option but to stick with my current "poor" perspective and try to make the best of it.

After all, graphics have never been the main focus for me. I'm a programmer, not an artist - whatever I produce will probably look bad, no matter what the perspective is…

The interface is a totally different story though. I can much more easily make improvements on the interface.

Originally Posted by Archibald
- intellect icon is inconsistent, it should be on green backgrounds as the rest …

Actually, the stat icons are normally grey. They turn green after you level up and get the possibility to spend stat points on your character traits (strength, vitality, …). Intellect is not green because you cannot directly invest points.
Anyways, I think I have to make this behaviour more clear. I already thought about highlighting the tab "stats", when there are points to spend. Additionally maybe adding tooltips or a mouse-hover effect on the buttons might help.
What do you think?

Originally Posted by Archibald
- start monster names with capital letter. …
- I would really remove all fractions from damage, "0.60 damage" is not something a player desires

Good point. Actually I'm not happy with these damage messages entirely. I'd prefer health bars on the map - they just don't fit with the perspective too well. Also it's quite a lot of work.

Originally Posted by Archibald
- You use full hue colours for text, I'm not an artists but they told me such colours always will look bad, and I tend to agree. …

Probably right. I do try to use bright colors for the game, because it kinda fits with the style. Maybe I'll dim the text colors just a little bit.

I think the graphics are great for a one man effort.

The colors are alright, as far as I'm concerned. With such simple graphics it gives a little extra bit of life to the world.

I'm not crazy about the angle but it didn't really bother me when I looked at the screenshots. My main concern for that angle though, is that if I play at that angle for too long I get a sense of vertigo. But, yeah, I agree it wouldn't make sense to change it now. Maybe in a future project you can use a different angle.

Unfortunately, I can't play it since I don't have Windows…

Graphics are very evocative of early 90s shareware games, which is good. This goes for the perspective as well.

Keep at it.

Congrats on the effort. Nice to see enthusiasm again

Good luck with your project, fiorel!

I know from experience that it takes a whole lot of work to make an RPG. Ours is finally content complete, but it's taken us years and years to get there.

It's a matter of opinion, but if you ask me, the actual contents of an RPG are much more important than graphics.

The graphics aren't poor; they're just basic. That's more than sufficient for putting together a decent game. If you ever go back and enhance the graphics, the one thing I'd suggest is adding drop shadows as that can add a lot of depth to the view. Otherwise it seems fine and there's plenty of variety to be had. Nicely done!

Thank you for all those encouraging words!

Drop shadows… yes, I think that's a good point. Actually, I experimented with shadows in the past, but couldn't get them right. Part of the problem was the coloring though. I think I need to use a semi-transparent grey, in order to make them look good.

Why is it called a "game client" ? Is this an MMORPG ?

Originally Posted by Alrik Fassbauer
Why is it called a "game client" ? Is this an MMORPG ?

Yeah, Darkfire Legends is an MORPG with simple 2D graphics. You'll find all the typcial RPG elements in the game. The playerbase isn't "massive" yet, for that reason I wouldn't call it an MMORPG (with double M)

Is the term "game client" somehow irritating? Maybe I should just write "download game"? I'm a techie, so the term "game client" seemed kinda natural to me…

This looks cool! I will check it out later tonight or tomorrow when I get some time and give you some feedback when I do.

Thanks for sharing.

Played a half hour or so tonight.

Pretty cool game you got here. My only complaint would be the lag in character movement when you press the mouse/button on the keyboard. I click where I want him to go and there's a slight lag. Made running away from a horde of red ants when I was near death pretty difficult. I did adapt after awhile though, but for starting players the movement will take some getting used to.

Overall though, I've seen very little of it, but what I saw I liked. Keep up the good work. I look forward to playing more.

Edit - Played more. I'm not too crazy about the instant respawns. I went a little to the east of the starting town and encountered some tough enemies, when I tried to run away from them I ran smack into ants which I had already cleared a few minutes prior. I mean, it's not terrible, but again, takes some getting used to. It seems like backtracking or running away from battle to survive is not really a valid option because you'll run into enemies who respawned that you already killed.

I take it I'm not supposed to be in this forest yet though, right? One person told me I shouldn't go alone and another said I needed training and skills before venturing out. So I'm going to try another direction and see if it's a bit easier.

Hi Fluent,

Thank you very much for your feedback!

Originally Posted by Fluent
My only complaint would be the lag in character movement when you press the mouse/button on the keyboard. I click where I want him to go and there's a slight lag.

I didn't experience any lag yet. Where are you playing from? The server is located somewhere in central europe. Maybe the lag is due to connection distance?

Please also check if the effect is related to depleted stamina (the green bar). When stamina runs low, the character is slowed down considerably. Resting for a short moment helps to refill the stamina bar quickly.

Originally Posted by Fluent
I'm not too crazy about the instant respawns. I went a little to the east of the starting town and encountered some tough enemies, when I tried to run away from them I ran smack into ants which I had already cleared a few minutes prior.

You are probably right about this. I set the respawn rate with more players in mind, who are playing simultaneously. I just increased the respawn duration of most generators (like ant hills) by about 30%. Not a drastic change, but improves the effect you described.

Originally Posted by Fluent
I take it I'm not supposed to be in this forest yet though, right? One person told me I shouldn't go alone and another said I needed training and skills before venturing out. So I'm going to try another direction and see if it's a bit easier.

I think at your level it's okay to venture out into the forest, as long as you don't travel too far. You needn't be too afraid about dying - the death penalty is rather harmless, especially at lower levels. Equipment will greatly help the warrior. I wish you good luck with the loot