Indie Dead Monarchy: Open-World | Turn-Based | Mercenary Management | RPG - Fully Released May 19th 2023

[Bantichai]

I've uploaded the file to Indie DB and it is just awaiting authorization. It's been a wild ride, learnt a lot and going to be learning a lot more. Hope you guys will come along for the run. There are still a few issues with the demo but I've listed them out on the demo page, really wanted to push the demo out by the end of this month. I'd appreciate that when you guys run it if you can give me your specs, I've got a FPS counter in the top right. Will drop the link when it goes live.

To celebrate the release of demo 0.1, I've got a screenshot of a couple new sets of armor. Mainly brigidine styled. This is where it all started, so thanks again for all the support guys!

 

[Bantichai]

Demo is out guys, please let me know what you think. Be as critical as you like because it only helps improve the game

http://www.indiedb.com/games/dead-monarchy/downloads/dead-monarchy-demo-pre-alpha-01

 

[SmartCheetah]

Downloading it right now. I'll post my thoughts after i playtest it
I saw only two downloads so far (mine is 3rd I think) - maybe you should try posting it on some turn-based games reddit?
https://www.reddit.com/r/patientgamers/ looks like a mediocre one with mixed community
https://www.reddit.com/r/tbs/ I saw few RPG's and other games in here.
https://www.reddit.com/r/StrategyRpg/ is pretty dead.

Anyway, I would try any of these. You might get some constructive feedback from Codex, but it's always a good idea to get more exposure.

EDIT: Downloaded it twice and I got "Couldnt find archives" error both times while trying to unpack the demo. Any ideas or other mirrors?

 

[Bantichai]

Downloading it right now. I'll post my thoughts after i playtest it
I saw only two downloads so far (mine is 3rd I think) - maybe you should try posting it on some turn-based games reddit?
https://www.reddit.com/r/patientgamers/ looks like a mediocre one with mixed community
https://www.reddit.com/r/tbs/ I saw few RPG's and other games in here.
https://www.reddit.com/r/StrategyRpg/ is pretty dead.

Anyway, I would try any of these. You might get some constructive feedback from Codex, but it's always a good idea to get more exposure.

EDIT: Downloaded it twice and I got "Couldnt find archives" error both times while trying to unpack the demo. Any ideas or other mirrors?

Thanks for those links SmartCheetah much appreciated! True about that, I'm trying to get in contact with some Youtubers. In any case, I'm downloading the demo now, I wonder why Indie DB would even approve the file if there was an error...

 

[Bantichai]

SmartCheetah I managed to download the demo, unpack it with winrar and it seems to be working fine. I'll try uploading to dropbox, what are you using to unpack?

 

[Turisas]

SmartCheetah if you're using 7zip you might wanna try updating that, the older versions sometimes have issues opening up .rar archives made with newer versions of WinRAR.

 

[Bantichai]

SmartCheetah if you're using 7zip you might wanna try updating that, the older versions sometimes have issues opening up .rar archives made with newer versions of WinRAR.

That could be it, thanks Turisas

 

[Bantichai]

I got support to test out the link again, seems to be working fine on their end. The demo will be seeing a lot more updates, performance will be something I'm focusing particularly in the first build, (0.1.0). I'll be uploading a new build in a couple days as well, if you find you have low FPS I recommend try Medium or Lower which has vsync disabled. I'll make a new preset with higher (full res textures) and vsync disabled in the next build.

That said, the base rig/skeleton that I am using right now has an unnecessary amount of bones, so it's making the CPU work a lot harder. I'm waiting on a 3rd party tool to update, so I can bake away the unnecessary bones.

 

[Beastro]

The swaying off all these ppl is making me seasick

 

[SmartCheetah]

I was using an ol' WinRAR. I'll try it up with new version tomorrow.

 

[Bantichai]

I was using an ol' WinRAR. I'll try it up with new version tomorrow.

Looking forward to your feedback, especially on performance and combat. I'm writing up a list of things I'll be implementing this month and most of it will be going into the demo as well. The demo is something I'll continually update with the help from the community, until it really feels solid.

 

[Bantichai]

Looking at my Indie DB stats page, two days ago the Top Referrers was Youporn, raking in a staggering 3 people. To think that Dead Monarchy has reached an audience that far, brings a tear to my eye.

 

[SmartCheetah]

New WinRAR version worked like a charm.

First of all, I've tried different resolution settings to check the performance.
1360/1366x768 on ultra w/ shadows worked fine, but the font was barely readable. I'm playing on 5-6 years old laptop and had more than 35fps.
1600x900 on ultra w/ shadows ended up with ~30fps. Font is still a little bit clunky, especially in recruitment and combat screen.
1920x1080 (native resolution) on ultra w/ shadows gave me around 20-25fps, so it wasn't terrible. I didn't notice any choppiness or anything.

I've ended up using 1600x900 on ultra without shadows. 45-55fps. It goes much lower in fights and inventory screen(At once it even dropped to 15fps when I was reading a skill description @,o)

I think performance wise it isn't that bad. Ofc it would be awesome if you could optimize it a little more in the future after all the content goes in, but on my side I had no serious problems so far.


Some initial thoughts:
- I'd love to see a button to highlight interactable objects (tent etc.) which might become much more useful in the future. Dude who lets you recruit new people should also be more visible, because I wondered for a while where can I get more people.
- Drop&drag to equip weapons and armor. I'd love to see it as an option, because I'm not fond of systems where I just click and person equips it (altough, it's pretty convenient)
I have accidentally clicked on healing tonic and repair belt and they just disappeared because of that. Would be better if I had to drag them on the silhouette.
- Combat overall is fine. I got totally destroyed in my first duel. Everything goes extra fast, so it's a pretty nice change from battle brothers. Can't wait until you add blood pools and other stuff like that. I like what I'm seeing.
- As mentioned before - UI needs a lot of work, polishing and thought.

That's a very good foundation you've got there.Especially considering that you're a one-man team. I can see a big potential.

 

[Bantichai]

Thanks for the detailed report SmartCheetah I'll be noting it all down, thanks a lot for looking at performance in particular. There is definitely a lot more optimization to do, but I'm glad it was playable at least.

1. Do you mean a button that when pressed highlights all interactive objects? that is a good idea, simple things like that get lost in translation when you focus on the bigger tasks
2. I agree it is clunky right now with the interface, drag n drop is possible. Good thoughts on the misclicked items.
3. I'm pretty nervous about combat, because it can get fast paced but also slows down against thicker armor and shields. Definitely going to be more blood in the future!
4. Yep I've got that as one of my main priorities.

Took me 2-3 years to get to this point depending on how you look at it, for one I'm relieved that you found combat interesting. I'm going to be updating the demo a lot more and polishing it up, will be adding in more features too. Do you plan to try to get to the end, stress testing the bigger fights would be valued information.

Also, could you give me your pc specs?

 

[Bantichai]

With combat in particular, I'm looking to see how you guys feel about:

1. The different weapon types, hit chances, block chances. How you do you feel about the weapons, do you think the "uniqueness" has been spread out too far, should it be condensed?
2. Combat pacing, granted there a hardly any abilities, how do you feel about it. Too fast, too slow, dumb or smart AI?
3. How do you feel about the queued actions, the 1 action per turn.
4. There is some randomness in combat, IE hit chances, block chances but they can be controlled to a degree with proper positioning or use of abilities. Thoughts?

 

[SmartCheetah]

Sorry for Polish language, but I think everything should be clear.

 

[Bantichai]

Sorry for Polish language, but I think everything should be clear.

All good, thanks for this!

 

[Bantichai]

Spent yesterday reviewing last months progress and drafting up this months plan/goals with the feedback I've currently received. Had a little downtime so I decided to play dress up. Who's that p̶o̶k̶e̶m̶o̶n̶ codexer?

 

[Jimmious]

They both look really scared of something. Especially the top guy :p
Dragons confirmed?

 

[SmartCheetah]

Looks a little bit like Bradylama.

 

[Bantichai]

They both look really scared of something. Especially the top guy :p
Dragons confirmed?

Never say never!

 

[Bantichai]

Looks a little bit like Bradylama.

Surely you can see the resemblance

 

[Bantichai]

Hey guys, so I'll be listing out the updates I plan to add to the demo this month, hopefully they all get implemented by months end but you never know what will arise in between now and then.

1. Ranged combat - shortbows, longbows and crossbows, they will all have different abilities and limitations, IE crossbows will have the ability to reduce Helmet/Armor rating from a distance.
2. Solo battles and larger arenas. I'll be moving the "official tourneys", the ones that trigger on countdown to a larger arena with a lot more space. The AI will be using the formation AI that I've been working on, the AI won't always rush you and sometimes play defensively. When you factor ranged combat as well, things will start to get quite interesting. Solo battles will provide an alternate way for training up combatants, less risk and a way to still receive food/gold.
3. Most of the bugs listed on the demo page on Indie DB should hopefully be fixed, I'll be fixing the critical ones first, IE the 0 Helmet/Armor rating bug that occurs on loading up an autosave.
4. Diagonal attacks and "smarter" AI for individual combatants. IE a combatant wielding a 2H weapon will always first attempt to engage your units on a diagonal tile. With the 1 action per turn rule in DM, this means a 2H in most cases will always have the advantage of striking first when engaging a 1H wielder, makes sense to a degree, reach advantage and all. In the larger battles, some AI will purposely flank from behind without triggering an AOO attack.
5. If I get time, I'll add in some House Stank variants for the first three helmet types.

The current feedback I've gathered currently is that, performance is decent, playable not broken but can be optimized more. For a pre-alpha, that was the best case scenario. User interface seems to be the biggest issue, so I'd like to get a better idea on exactly what aspects of the interface you guys want to see improved:

- Battle Report, the after combat UI that appears, this needs to be improved. IE fonts need to be revised, perhaps just one consistent font but not too simplistic either. Striking a balance between readability and a suitable font to match the medieval context. The report itself, should not be a list, but an overview that encompasses all related information and can be seen at a glance, IE no scrolling.
- Combatant order, I'm interested in seeing what you guys think so far after playing the demo. I'm thinking perhaps displaying a ✓ on the ground after a combatant has finished its turn, the preview log that can be toggled with C and logs in general, probably need to be formatted better as well. Anymore feedback on this would be great.

More feedback in general would be great, especially if anyone played to the end. The UI updates, might not make it into this month.

 

[Mustawd]

A few comments:

1. Hit this weird situation where I had one guy left, he was lightly concussed, but on his turn he couldn't do anything. He just stood there. Couldn't select any enemy to do anything. I letr it sit there for like a minute and was about to restart the program, when suddenly I was able to move/attack again. It was weird. Is there an "end turn" button Im not seeing?

Spoiler

2. Some of the text is cutoff on the attack descriptions.

Spoiler

3. This is a nitpick, but thought it was weird that all the UI elements aren't the same. The middle ones have that light grain texture. I personally think it looks better darker or even identical to the other UI elements.

Spoiler

4. The tree swaying is way too fast IMO. Looks super goofy. At least on my PC.

5. FPS ranged from 28-60. But mostly avg around 40-45. Didn't see any performance issues.

6. The animation swaying wasn't such a big deal as the last video I saw. Didn't even notice it.

 

[Bantichai]

Thanks for the feedback mustawd. nitpick all you want, as I do it with my own game

1. So concussion is more or less a "stun" but a stun that lasts for one phase, in the future there will be longer stun times so lightly concussed would be heavily concussed. I didn't get around to doing the tooltips for buff/debuffs, so that is my fault on that part, nor have I gotten around to do a stun animation which would probably have made it a lot clearer to you. I haven't actually done an "end turn" button, but you can use backspace or space to end your phase, another thing I'll have to note down. Bit confused though, was it the AI that couldn't do anything, or was it one of your units that couldn't do anything?

2. Ahh yep, I'll get that, it is just extra text that is unneeded.

3. Thanks for that, I'll probably just make it consistent, all feedback on user interface is much appreciated as it is more or less for you guys.

4. Another good point and easy to fix, can just turn down the wind speed.

5. 3 Questions here:

- Could I get your PC specs?

- Also at what points did it drop to 28, was it during the equipment menu and attack animations?

- What would you rate performance, obviously there is more to optimise, but was the playable enough in this current state?

6. Glad to hear it, I think it'll help in the future when I get around to add more variation/transitions within the idle animations, IE shield banging etc to help break it up.

7. Also, could I get your opinion on combat? I will get around to do better guides for it, but what do you think about it in its current state. Is it too convoluted, hard to grasp, fun/challenging, easy but has depth?