oklabsoft

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Hello. This is developer OKLABSOFT. Wanted to put the word out about our first effort, Lurking RPG, which is available for free download on Itch.

Lurking is a cRPG in the early Ultima style. Some strengths of the game include full party creation for up to five characters, a classless skill-based system for characters, exploration and story focused in a large (300x300 tile) world with underworld and town maps, keyword based conversations with NPCs, and an open world that does not corral you along a path to the end.

Some weaknesses have been identified through player feedback: a weak combat system, a UI that is a bit rough around the edges, and some balance issues with combat.

Many who have contacted us have thoroughly enjoyed this game and we welcome feedback as we work on our sequel, Lurking II: A Madness.

It is free so please check it out: https://oklabsoft.itch.io/lurking

Thank you! And happy adventuring. -OKLABSOFT

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Hey, thx for the post. I'll check out the discussion.
 
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Love me some U3.

I'm going to check this out.
 
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Thanks and thanks! If you are able to give it a trial, my brother and I would love to hear your impressions and feedback. Feedback is difficult to come by. :)
 
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As you have identified some weaknesses, do you have any plans to fix, or correct them? That would seem to me to be worthwhile if you wish to build up a player base for your eventual sequel. I'm very busy right now, but I'll try to grab it later and take a look when some free game time opens up for me.
 
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Thanks, and that is a very astute question. The answer is a bit complicated but I will do my best. The Lurking project was produced exclusively by my brother and I with myself being the only coder. When I began, and he agreed to help me with the story, maps, and conversations... it was a 'can we actually make this happen' type of project. The end result far exceeded my expectations. We had a slow start as far as people playing Lurking and getting us any type of feedback. In the process, I learned a great deal and with the limited feedback we had started right back in on trying to make a better product in Lurking II: A Madness which is coming along very well and we hope to be able to release at least a beta before the year is up. I have made quite a few changes to Lurking and released several updated versions to address much of the feedback. The tricky part is in the weak combat and UI which is so embedded in the L1 code that improving upon it in its current state becomes very difficult. Thus, we plan to reboot the game using the new L2 engine that I have coded once Lurking II is released because at this point it seems like the most time-economical way to proceed. I think those that like open world cRPG's like Ultima 4-6 will love Lurking. I wanted to be up front about the combat (simply weak in the way that U3 combat was weak) and UI feedback to save people time and effort if that turns them off but it really is a good game and those that have played it through were quite willing to forgive the weak points (that most games have). Anyway, really appreciate the look and hope you find some time to check it out. We appreciate it!

Lurking II: A Madness Teaser #2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIlXd5SftEg
 
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Thanks for your quick response. I have downloaded the game, but it will likely be a couple of weeks before I have sufficient free time to play. I wish you all the best with your endeavours as here at the Watch we love to assist Indie developers and give them both feedback and exposure. When your sequel is getting closer to completion, perhaps we could arrange to do an interview and give you some extra publicity. Please keep in touch with us here.

I've posted your original post as a newsbit on our front page. Sorry, but I couldn't figure out how to add the picture, I'm not very technical!! :)
 
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A most sincere thanks! Would love for that interview to happen so we will get back to you when we are close.
 
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Looks great! I can definitely overlook weak combat if the exploration is well done, and it sounds like you've put a lot of work into that part of the game. I like the retro graphics as well, they look nicely done. I'll give it a go. Thanks!

Edit: just browsed some of the feedback on the itchio site. The exploration side does sound great - lots to explore and find by the sounds of things! I'll post feedback when I can (might be a couple of weeks as well).
 
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Passing by

Is it possible some pass up Lurking based on how it looks? Download/View ratio is less than 20%. Would be a shame because there is a great in-depth story with lots to do, explore and to figure out as well as plenty of cool references and humor in the NPC convos. I will have to try to do a better job at presentation on Lurking II: A Madness.
 
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Is it possible some pass up Lurking based on how it looks? View/Download ratio is less than 20%. Would be a shame because there is a great in-depth story with lots to do, explore and to figure out as well as plenty of cool references and humor in the NPC convos. I will have to try to do a better job at presentation on Lurking II: A Madness.

You will be surprised by how many people will pass based on looks. My game (see my signature below) you will see in the comments how I started to gain interest only after I retextured my walls.

That said, you style appeals to me. The Exult and Exult U6, for example, do not. Although both are primitive by today's standards I hold no nostalgia for U6 or U7 because it was years before I could even play them and computers had long surpassed that quality. Heck, I can't even play Warcraft 1 and have difficulty with XCom.


okla - have you tried Steam Greenlight? There's a real boom on Steam re: 8 bit games.

As well, what did you write this in. I was going to mention porting it to mobile (which is where many of these 8 bits seem to come from) but I know the whole PC system is completely different than Android.
 
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You will be surprised by how many people will pass based on looks. My game (see my signature below) you will see in the comments how I started to gain interest only after I retextured my walls.

That said, you style appeals to me. The Exult and Exult U6, for example, do not. Although both are primitive by today's standards I hold no nostalgia for U6 or U7 because it was years before I could even play them and computers had long surpassed that quality. Heck, I can't even play Warcraft 1 and have difficulty with XCom.


okla - have you tried Steam Greenlight? There's a real boom on Steam re: 8 bit games.

As well, what did you write this in. I was going to mention porting it to mobile (which is where many of these 8 bits seem to come from) but I know the whole PC system is completely different than Android.

Hey, Lucky Day. Thanks for the post. I checked out Wizard's Grave. I will probably give it a try. I don't play many games these days but I thought I had better start. I recently downloaded one 'Lowlander' on my android but was not at all impressed so your game will be a good replacement.

As far as steam goes, I just never gave Lurking credit for being steam material. Maybe I should consider a try?

Lurking was written in (here is where I get all ashamed) VB6. So, not much hope for any type of port anywhere. I see that you did all of the work on Wizard's Grave yourself... you deserve some serious credit because I know how difficult that can be. If it wasn't for my brother jumping in to help me on story and convos I don't think I could have ever finished. Graphics and music were a big challenge and it took me quite a while to get all of the place-holder stuff replaced... still a few songs that were never redone. Anyway, thanks again for the post. I think I have made some significant improvements in look and feel in Lurking II so hopefully we will have more interest and some better success.

Perhaps you (or other devs here) could also answer this... Lurking was a stealth release on itch, gamejolt, and indiegamestand in September so it really has only been about 8 months. Is it typical to take a bit longer to get any type of traction as a first release from a dev? Thanks! :)
 
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Looks great! I can definitely overlook weak combat if the exploration is well done, and it sounds like you've put a lot of work into that part of the game. I like the retro graphics as well, they look nicely done. I'll give it a go. Thanks!

Edit: just browsed some of the feedback on the itchio site. The exploration side does sound great - lots to explore and find by the sounds of things! I'll post feedback when I can (might be a couple of weeks as well).

Thank you! :)
 
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Just to answer your question from my perspective, when I watched the video I saw virtually no combat, and then when you acknowledged the weak combat in your post, that turned me off - not the graphics. I value a fun and challenging combat engine more than exploration, although both are nice to have.
 
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Just to answer your question from my perspective, when I watched the video I saw virtually no combat, and then when you acknowledged the weak combat in your post, that turned me off - not the graphics. I value a fun and challenging combat engine more than exploration, although both are nice to have.

Thanks for the post. I wanted to be up front about that combat feedback so as not to disappoint those such as yourself . On the other hand if you were to ever have some time to give it a spin I would greatly value suggestions on the combat from a player such as yourself. Even if I can't change the mechanic in L1 I have made L2 much more flexible and might be able to use the suggestions there. I am going to try to whip up a file of premade characters of different levels, items, and skill sets to post for those who might want to try out the game but not the initial grind.
 
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