Lucky Day's Wizard War! for Android development thread

I've come up with some more name ideas

Wyrd Wars

doesn't have the word Wizard in it

Wizards and Warrens

has a classical "Tunnels and Trolls" type name

The Harmony among Wizards

has that ironic flair

Maze of the Wizard's Grave

actually rhymes

Reward of the Wizard's Web

alliterates

Eldritch is a good word too. Note that Wyrd and Eldritch in Anglo Saxon mean almost nothing like we think it means.

I'm leaning to one of the first two. what do you think? Maybe "Grave of the Wizard King" or the "The Wizard's Grave"?

OK, I have the finale written out. I just need to make it into a series of slides like the intro and have the options branch. I need to find good pictures too, or maybe I'll draw this up myself. I'm having difficulty this time finding appropriate pictures.

I can start the beta test now.

What I need are folks who are willing to play the game from start to finish. You don't have to finish it actually, but I'm looking for feedback to where it can be tweaked. As the developer its too easy to lose perspective and I have played the first part over and over and over again.

any volunteers?

I'm also looking for any help or ideas to promote it and get the word out if anyone can help out.

as I attempt to finish this off the Wizard seems to be attacking me from his grave. My PC kept locking up Friday with all sorts of graphics glitches.

I tested what I could at hand and determined that it wasn't the SSD. So I picked up a cheap video card today, a Radeon R6670 at Best Buy. At $69 it had 2gb over the equivalent nVidia 620's 1gb so that was a no brainer. The HDMI and Display Port outputs are a nice feature too. If I was going to pay for a decent video card on this old box I'd just buy a cheap laptop instead.

What do you know, it worked. I still got it! The city should regret they didn't hire me to do their IT. c'est la vie.

Can't figure out how it lost a lot of my links though. The files my desktop shortcuts link to seem to be missing. I must have lost my FAT table when the system was kept locking up last night.

So..I guess now I'll look for the appropriate pictures I need then try and finish this off.

I would love to test your game, I have been searching for a fun new RPG and I am very experienced, I have been playing RPG's since NES FF1 (US) and Dragon worrier.

I have a far amount of time to play and can be in contact "most" every day if necessary . just let me know what to do and I am at our service : )

Can I emulate this on PC to test?, I do not have an android phone and only just realized that's what it's for.
: (
:facepalm:

Hey Lucky Day, been waiting for ages to get a decent RPG on Android again. If you'd like I can test it on a HTC One S, Samsung Galaxy S and a HTC desire.

Hey Level 99 welcome to the watch

thanks for the interest guys. I'll send you a private message.

I'd be willing to give it a play through. I have an HTC EVO LTE, if that helps out.

I'm sure you know I've been paying attention to this game. If you need some beta testing let me know I run Android 2.3.3 LS670. I also have some Android development background so the emulator is installed on my PC.

ok, I'll shoot you guys a PM.

That should do for now. I'll get the beta out soon, maybe this weekend or before. I need to add a placeholder to my map first so your save game doesn't break the launch of the ending when it gets integrated.

After this round of beta I'll see how it goes and we could see if we need a second beta or its ok to be released.

The ending is going a little slower than the intro as its longer and has branches. I have the first branch finished and have a few more to go and then it needs to be integrated into the app.

hey beta-testers. I'll get the file out shortly. It seems Windows nicely took out those corrupted files called jre7 and eclipse (I've been working with Gimp so I didn't notice anything this past week). I have the source code but I don't want to send out a file unless I know it starts properly.

thanks.

Bob

I sent you a PM. Please send me your email address if you're lurking.

testers, if you managed to download it or have problems let me know.

post all comments here. no worries about spoilers - just wrap them if you think its necessary.

thanks

PS - please, please comment even if you stopped playing the game for whatever reason. I've had that happen with testers before on NWN and had no idea what happened. thanks.

Installed it today. I'm sure I'll play it a bit tonight and give you my thoughts after a week or so of playing.

I'm testing using a Galaxy Nexus which has a 4.65" - 1280x720 screen using Android 4.3 stock.

I haven't gotten far at all but here are my initial thoughts.

I may be missing something but it doesn't appear that I can get out of the opening room. It seems that I can go through the door but it also looks like I appear in the far side of the same room from the door. I looked at the map before and after the door and it seems like I'm stuck in the same room. I'm not sure if I need to equip a key to get out or even how to use the keys.

The HP and Mana text and number do not fit correctly on the bottom of my screen. Maybe put the text on the gauge instead of to the left of it?

While I like the ZzZzZz text for resting the snoring sound annoys me, I think mostly because I have to hear it multiple times to fill my HP back up.

No stats on armor or weapons so I have no idea what to equip unless I am missing an option to see them.

Again, this is about 30 minutes of testing and trying to get out of the opening room so I haven't seen much of the game yet.

Originally Posted by Toff
I'm testing using a Galaxy Nexus which has a 4.65" - 1280x720 screen using Android 4.3 stock.

I haven't gotten far at all but here are my initial thoughts.

I may be missing something but it doesn't appear that I can get out of the opening room. It seems that I can go through the door but it also looks like I appear in the far side of the same room from the door. I looked at the map before and after the door and it seems like I'm stuck in the same room. I'm not sure if I need to equip a key to get out or even how to use the keys.

The HP and Mana text and number do not fit correctly on the bottom of my screen. Maybe put the text on the gauge instead of to the left of it?

While I like the ZzZzZz text for resting the snoring sound annoys me, I think mostly because I have to hear it multiple times to fill my HP back up.

No stats on armor or weapons so I have no idea what to equip unless I am missing an option to see them.

Again, this is about 30 minutes of testing and trying to get out of the opening room so I haven't seen much of the game yet.

ok thanks. this is really good feedback.

the opening is a puzzle - kind of a cliche actually. I think Wizardry 4 was the first to use this.



is this too soon for this kind of puzzle?


my one nephew got stuck there and was content to blow things up so the same thing happened to him. my other nephew eventually figured it out because he likes experimenting but I think he's given up on the game for not being twitchy enough (for now). my nephews are great! - especially how different hey are

I could try to put more hints around instead - toasts that pop up maybe. I could put the second part of that into a later part of the level with the hints.

—

stats on the equipment: putting details on the equipment itself got in the way of the alert menus to equip them. I also thought that might be part of the strategy for the player to figure out what's useful and what's not. But even I have to consult my files for their values, so clearly I need to add this.

I guess I'll load the values in the help screen. Is that enough? I think it might be if I make the Help screen more obvious and maybe add it to the start screen.

Keep in mind that i'm 42 and am very picky with the games that I play nowadays. Its ok to not agree with me.

Nothing wrong with needing a key to get thru a door but perhaps have a message upon bumping into the door of "You need to equip a key to open the door.". Having no message and going thru the door only to reappear at the other side of the room would only frustrate me. I never liked invisible doors even when I was 15. I don't mind secret areas with a visible clue that they are there but still dislike secret areas that you are required to find in order to advance. Having to try to go through every wall to see if there's a secret area behind it has zero allure for me. I play games for entertainment and if I get stuck/frustrated I just stop playing. You have easy ways to get stuck in the first 2 rooms of the game which I wouldn't do.

well the first door says "locked" and the first monster you encounter, which should be fairly quickly, will always have a key.

what I'm going to do based on your input, and having a night to sleep on it, is



I'll add the stats to the help screen too and make it more prominent. I might add the help screen to the start menu too. that shouldn't be too difficult.

I'll play around with getting the text in the camp screen to display right concerning HP and Mana. I didn't want to mess around with fields that were that small but it looks like I'll need to.

You might remember that the text in the Combat screen are mostly images due to the fact that text does not scale in Android 2.3.3 (Gingerbread). Making those into text images should do the trick.

—

So Beta Testers

when I change level 1 and 2 you'll have to start a new game as your save games will break the change since the whole map is saved there. Will this ne too much of a problem?

going thru the door only to reappear at the other side of the room…

is this happening? the door should just stop you until you get a key. it shouldn't move you. on the other side of the door are more areas. I haven't scripted any teleportation.

Keep in mind that i'm 42 and am very picky with the games that I play nowadays. Its ok to not agree with me.

your opinion is great. I need other insight because I lose touch with the gamers side. I'm already going to make three changes based on your suggestions. I thought they were part of the design or no big deal but clearly they need changing.

I messed a bit more with it last night and I still cannot get out of the first room. I have multiple keys on me and nothing is working. I'm obviously doing something incorrect but am just tired of messing with it.

Originally Posted by Toff
I messed a bit more with it last night and I still cannot get out of the first room. I have multiple keys on me and nothing is working. I'm obviously doing something incorrect but am just tired of messing with it.

Can you post a screenshot of your map? You can do screenshots typically by holding power and volume down at the same time. If not, that's ok - I'll post a map when I get home. You've done a lot for now. Thanks! I sure hope its not the build I sent out. I'll double check when I get home tonight.

Either way I'm going to change the level.

does that help? still working on the changes. I got sidetracked today.