KickStarter Code of the Savage - Ultima 6/7-inspired RPG

[Siveon]

That combat looks terrible, but as aforementioned that is Ultima. Inspired to a fault, I suppose?

 

[Atrachasis]

That combat looks terrible, but as aforementioned that is Ultima. Inspired to a fault, I suppose?

Mind you, combat was fine up to and including Ultima VI.

There's no party in this one, is there? At least in Ultima VII I could hit the Combat button, send my party members off like a bunch of homing missiles, close my eyes, and wait until everybody stopped yelling. This, however, unpleasantly reminds me of... Eschalon's combat, which is not a recommendation.

I guess if there's a demo, I'll make up my mind about the combat, because everything else looks so yummy.

 

[cyborgboy95]

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2106227726/code-of-the-savage-rpg/posts/3217125

Update 34: Combat system and Test Island, OPEN DEMO!

Hi All,

HUGE update. There is a lot to talk about, but I'll start with the combat system.

Demo download

Combat System
The removal of the scroll wheel actions in the last update has paved the way for the combat system overhaul. I feel a bit like a creative roadblock has finally been lifted, and it's a good feeling.

I left the combat system in a state limbo for a long time while I worked on other parts of the game... simply because I couldn't think of a way to make it work with the scroll wheel actions... Sometimes the solution is staring you right in the face - scroll wheel actions gutted.

Previously, the combat system was dull and tedious, but I have gotten it to the point now where I can finally say I'm happy with it. It of course needs refinement and feedback, but feel a lot better about it.

The combat system now functions a little bit like Ultima Online with a dash of Ultima 7 thrown in (without U7's famous "double-click->bad-guy-dead" lack of control).

Combat Mode

Spoiler

Combat now works by entering combat mode. As the name implies, being in combat mode enables you to attack things. When in Combat mode double clicking an NPC will attack them instead of talking to them. The cursor will turn red and the players weapon, shield and helm will be equipped and show on the player avatar. I've also created extra shield and weapon sprites that show on the players back. Enter combat mode by hitting CTRL or clicking the new combat mode button on the sidebar.

Toggling combat mode

Juice

I've added sound effects, camera shake, and an improved knockback effect to make combat feel more satisfying. I'd love to get some feedback on how this feels to you as a player.

Targeting

Now, instead of having to double-click a target each time you want to swing, you simple double-click once. It then continuously swings/fires automatically while/when in range. An animated arrow appears on top of the targeted NPC.

Targeting system

Ranged Weapons

Ranged weapons have been completely overhauled. In fact they were pretty damn broken in the previous version.

Ranged weapons now have a load/powerup time before they can be fired. They are then fired automatically when in range of the target. The shot is cancelled if the player moves. I've added a bow pullback animation.

This still has to be tweaked. I need to get the balance right to ensure ranged weapons are not too over powered, while ensuring they are not inferior to melee weapons, and thus never used by the player... Right now I think they lean towards the latter, and I'd love to get your feedback on how they should be handled.

Test Island
I've setup an island for testing the combat system and other aspects of the game. It's a microcosm of the full game. You can still get to Penthos by going through the teleporter. Buy weapons and armour from the blacksmith.

Test Island -Stop by and say hello Please don't kill me

Sidebar update
I've updated the sidebar to make it easier to know where to place items.

Demo download
I'm making this demo available to everyone as I need lots of feedback.

You can download the demo from Itch.io right here

Please send feedback in whatever way you find easiest. You can find all of my contact info and social media links on the official website www.codeofthesavage.com or just comment here.


Change log

• Combat targeting system implemented
• Overhaled ranged weapons
• Added test island
• Added NPC stats database
• Added new MOB spawner
• Old knockback effect removed
• Camera shake added when hit
• Added current NPC target indicator
• Added NPC panic move script
• Fixed not being able to drag items to inventory icon and player
• Fixed close bag pause
• Fixed cant pickup items in combat mode
• Fixed give item script giving wrong amount
• Added different shaped target boxes for larger NPCs
• Fixed double-click set to target box and not NPC
• Added only fires when stationary
• Fixed ranged weapons not working
• Fixed blood splatter not centering around target
• Added innocent NPCs now panic or attack when attacked depending on their temperament
• Added NPC battle and panic cries
• Fixed missing and blocking attacks at the same time.
• Fixed combat blocking
• Added missiles only hit selected target
• Fixed corpse drop location
• Added combat blocked glint animation
• Cleaned up the combat script
• Added combat start/stop button
• Added weapon, shield and helm only show in combat mode
• Added weapon and shield sprites for when not in combat
• Fixed being able to drop things behind sidebar
• Fixed weapon depth draw on avatar
• Fixed 1 handed and 2 handed items
• Fixed firebomb alignment issue
• Added and improved combat system
• Fixed collision box for NPCs
• Fixed hover text crash when hovering over object close to the screen edge
• Fixed NPCs flying offscreen when changing move script
• Fixed missing object error with NPC attack animation
• Fixed teleporters not correctly freezing player
• Added goblin hurt and death sound fx
• Added bow pullback and fire sound fx
• Added bow firing animation
• Added brigand NPCs
• Added sheep sound fx
• Added/updated wolf sound fx
• Fixed miscategorized Chain leggings
• Fixed crash if insect swarm kills NPC
• Fixed crash if corpse decays before you close the container
• Fixed health bar crash after re-entering teleporter
• Fixed freezing after spell targeted
• Fixed spells double casting
• Fixed spells not working in combat mode
• Fixed spell cursor animation in combat mode
• Fixed Cursor not showing blue on neutral
• Added icons to slots on sidebar
• Removed the fist icon from the sidebar when no weapon equipped

Bugs that I know about

• Pretty much any bug related to the shop. I patched up the shop so that it's usable for the purpose of this demo, but I will scraping it and creating a new shop system soon
• Save/load not working - disabled for the demo
• I am aware that many of the spells in the spell book don't do anything yet
• I know that trees will flicker at the bottom of the screen
• I know that grass and other foliage sometimes show on the wrong depth

Thanks everyone! enjoy the demo

~Geoff

 

[Siveon]

Yeah, unsurprisingly this feels awful and dated to me lol. Double click to use items in the overworld, right mouse movement, very specific UI with an annoying pointer (you don't know where you're clicking because it's always pointing in a direction, sometimes you need to readjust slightly to click on each tab). Also there's some odd UI bit about squares that appears on your char that I'm not entirely sure what it means or does. Combat doesn't seem like much but I'm guessing spells and items and such makes things interesting.

I'll wait for when the more modern control methods are added. Everything else seems fine enough, however. I'm a bit confused on why the keyword system is there if you can't really input any keywords yourself? There's also both 1 2 3 for Spells and 1 2 3 4 for quick weapons which is also strange to me. The spells are F1 keys so they should be labeled as such (I hope we can rebind those). There's only so few quick slots but I see a ton of spells here you can cast from the menu, I suppose having few quick slots saves screen space as well as adds a sort of penalty for other spells. Auto attack doesn't start when you're attacked which is strange, I'm also still very mixed on having to double click an enemy at all to target, it's an enemy so just one click is needed.

I didn't play for very long but that's just what I thought about for around 30 min.

 

[Geoff Jones]

Yeah, unsurprisingly this feels awful and dated to me lol. Double click to use items in the overworld, right mouse movement, very specific UI with an annoying pointer (you don't know where you're clicking because it's always pointing in a direction, sometimes you need to readjust slightly to click on each tab). Also there's some odd UI bit about squares that appears on your char that I'm not entirely sure what it means or does. Combat doesn't seem like much but I'm guessing spells and items and such makes things interesting.

I'll wait for when the more modern control methods are added. Everything else seems fine enough, however. I'm a bit confused on why the keyword system is there if you can't really input any keywords yourself? There's also both 1 2 3 for Spells and 1 2 3 4 for quick weapons which is also strange to me. The spells are F1 keys so they should be labeled as such (I hope we can rebind those). There's only so few quick slots but I see a ton of spells here you can cast from the menu, I suppose having few quick slots saves screen space as well as adds a sort of penalty for other spells. Auto attack doesn't start when you're attacked which is strange, I'm also still very mixed on having to double click an enemy at all to target, it's an enemy so just one click is needed.

I didn't play for very long but that's just what I thought about for around 30 min.

Hey mate thanks for trying out the game. I'm the developer. The game may very well feel a bit dated... I guess I am a bit dated myself lol. I haven't kept up to date with a lot of the newer RPGs as I have probably spent less than a day playing games in the past 5 years... and when I did play a game, it would be the old classics...
I really appreciate the feedback. I can see what you mean about the pointer. Maybe its too jarring having it suddenly change orientation? It's modeled from how it works in Ultima 7 and UO. Maybe if I disable to cursor rotation when its over the sidebar or menu item that would help?
Spells and items will def play a big part in combat, as will the players stats etc.

As for the squares showing up - These are for when you drag stacks of items. Holding down shift will drag half of the stack, holding down alt will drag 1 item from the stack. Try it with a stack of gold for eg. (Similar to how it works in Minecraft.)

Good point with the spell slots as well... I struggled to find a good place to put them, as I didn't want them across the bottom of the screen taking up valuable real estate. They should def be labeled F1, F2 etc... Ill change that.

Double clicking. For me feels normal, but again I'm not familiar with the more modern systems. What would be a good comparable modern game for me to check out with controls you like?

Again, thanks for the feedback

 

[Siveon]

Double clicking. For me feels normal, but again I'm not familiar with the more modern systems. What would be a good comparable modern game for me to check out with controls you like?

You know you don't really have to go too far, but there are a few ways you could go about it. My first thought was a console-like method, so something like holding a to move left, d to move right, single clicking to interact with the world around you. This isn't the same genre but Legend of Grimrock uses this control scheme just fine. WASD focus is used in most modern games at this point.

However! Another option could be a Diablo control scheme. So click to move to where you want to go, but also single click enemies and objects to target or to interact. Now because your game is tile based there is probably a worry over missclicks of going to area vs interacting. This is when you add context sensitive mouse pointer changes as well as highlighting to distinguish whether you're gonna move or use. Something like in Baldur's Gate. Maybe you could hold shift or ctrl to make sure movement is all you could do (which is sort of a Commandos thing).

Being able to turn off or maybe toggle the directional pointer would be less jarring. It changing when you get to the inventory might also be jarring so maybe just having a button mapped/being able to change the control scheme in a menu would prove helpful. I'm not really referencing new games but they're... newer than U7 at least.

Don't take my word for it though, I'm just one guy.

 

[Johnny Biggums]

Congrats on getting the demo out. I just played it through to level 6. Since it doesn't get into the story and there isn't much questing, I'll mostly stick to smaller ideas and quality of life issues.

MUSTS:

-WASD movement is a must. My hand is tired from the right click movement
-Buying and selling one item at a time is hassle. You need to implement buying/selling multiple items. An aside here but the game economy is out of balance - it was easy to grind hides and acquire apparently powerful items early (if this was intentional for the demo ignore me)
-Impossible to loot corpses that are on top of each other
-Enemy attack animations
-Enemies should drop what they're wearing

SUGGESTIONS:

-Opening and moving through doors is inconvenient. My first idea was to make doors open automatically, but if you're against that for some mechanical reason, you could extend the close timer by 2 or 3x
-Humanoid enemies should be able to open doors
-Guards and similar characters should fight back if you attack them, and should help townspeople if you attack them. (Thanks for letting us attack anyone we want.)
-Respawn rate feels a little high
-Font is a little tiring IMO
-Although I didn't try a ranged character, I noticed in one of the videos that the constant repetition of the drawn bow sound effect was annoying.
-Combat felt too easy. Once or twice in the goblin camp I felt like things were getting dangerous, but otherwise not. Increasing the difficulty might even be a must. But then, the imbalanced economy likely contributed to this.
-Implement slow autoregen of health and mana

BUGS:

-Pause is bugged in several ways that were hard to identify exactly. (1) It seems like if you enter combat mode while paused, the game unpauses. (2) If you target a new enemy that's within melee range while paused, sometimes the game unpauses. (3) Goblin shamans seemed immune to the game pause and would keep throwing fireballs at me.
-Health restores on leveling up, but not manna
-Both spells and belt items are apparently hotkeyed to 1, 2, 3, yet when you press a spell hotkey it defaults to using your belt item
-Some NPCs wandered around in a way that was hard to keep track of. For instance, the blacksmith/merchant in the starting village (who in fact eventually disappeared)

THINGS I LIKE:

-Mostly good sound effects with GREAT attention to detail. Footsteps sound different on wood floors, cobblestone, grass, and in puddles. The deer's death croak is hilarious to me (I might be sick)
-Attractive graphics IMO
-Interesting itemization even in a limited demo
-Once I realized how to access the spell system, it made combat more interesting. I'm not sure why I had all these spells from the get-go (I would rather they were acquired through story elements and character progression), but again that may just have been for the demo.

ALL IN ALL:

I think you're capable of making a good little action RPG. You're clearly attentive to detail. A lot will depend on story and on populating the world with interesting things to explore, but obviously I can't speak to that right now. I think you should take a good look at Exiled Kingdoms, which is a kindred game to yours in more ways than one. See if there's anything useful to glean from that. You should also play Dink Smallwood.

 

[Geoff Jones]

Congrats on getting the demo out. I just played it through to level 6. Since it doesn't get into the story and there isn't much questing, I'll mostly stick to smaller ideas and quality of life issues.

MUSTS:

-WASD movement is a must. My hand is tired from the right click movement
-Buying and selling one item at a time is hassle. You need to implement buying/selling multiple items. An aside here but the game economy is out of balance - it was easy to grind hides and acquire apparently powerful items early (if this was intentional for the demo ignore me)
-Impossible to loot corpses that are on top of each other
-...

Thanks for trying it out. I'm impressed you went all the way to level 6.
WASD movement will be put back in The shop system is going to be gutted and rewritten. I just kind of put a band aid on it for the demo. Corpses-noted I'll add that to the list. Enemy attack animations, Maybe something similar to the player sword animation?

-Opening and moving through doors is inconvenient. My first idea was to make doors open automatically, but if you're against that for some mechanical reason, you could extend the close timer by 2 or 3x
-Humanoid enemies should be able to open doors
-....

With doors, I think I'll make them single click, and as you suggest increase the timer. Humanoids already can open doors. The ones on test island in the prison don't. but that's just a demo thing. Good idea with the guards helping innocents.
A lot of the things you mentioned about balance and respawn rates are just for the demo. I will also make enemies single-click attackable as a previous posted suggested.

]THINGS I LIKE:
-Mostly good sound effects with GREAT attention to detail. Footsteps sound different on wood floors, cobblestone, grass, and in puddles. The deer's death croak is hilarious to me (I might be sick)
-Attractive graphics IMO
...

Thanks very much! The spell system has 3 classes, and in the final game the player will start with none and have to learn each spell as the game progresses.

 

[cyborgboy95]

 

[cyborgboy95]

 

[Tavernking]

Someone on the itch.io demo comments said to make the shopkeeper unkillable, and you agreed with him. Don't do this! These games are all about freedom and choices and consequences, if we want to kill the shopkeeper and screw up the game, let us.

 

[Geoff Jones]

Someone on the itch.io demo comments said to make the shopkeeper unkillable, and you agreed with him. Don't do this! These games are all about freedom and choices and consequences, if we want to kill the shopkeeper and screw up the game, let us.

Oh yeah there is no way ill make an NPC un-killable in the final game. But in the demo when you get teleported back to town after dying, its easy to accidentally kill the merchant because you are still in combat mode. After reading his comment, I updated it so that you automatically go out of combat mode after dying. Being able to go on a murderous rampage -and ruining the game for yourself will always be an option.
Killing an NPC to get a quest item you could otherwise get non-violently is also an option in the game.

 

[cyborgboy95]

 

[lukaszek]

i got spoiled with demos, will there be one to enjoy at some point?

 

[Geoff Jones]

i got spoiled with demos, will there be one to enjoy at some point?

Yes there is one on itch.io
https://eman333.itch.io/code-of-the-savage-rpg
its a bit out of date now though...

 

[lukaszek]

i got spoiled with demos, will there be one to enjoy at some point?

Yes there is one on itch.io
https://eman333.itch.io/code-of-the-savage-rpg
its a bit out of date now though...

can one wait for lazy steam button to download the demo?

 

[Infinitron]

A quick video going through some of the spell effects in my upcoming RPG Code of The Savage.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2106227726/code-of-the-savage-rpg/posts/3268325

Update 35: Big update Demo Alpha v0.460

Hi all! I hope everyone is doing well.

I've made some big changes to several areas of the game. I also received lots of great feedback from the last demo. If you want to skip straight to the download:

CoTS alpha demo v0.460 download

Clicking and UI
I got a bit of feedback from multiple people telling me that the constant double clicking was getting annoying and after doing some testing, I completely agree... thus double clicking is no more. Now, to attack, open or interact with things it's one simple left click.

When clicking on an enemy to attack, a short drum sound is played. I'm hoping this will help prevent accidental attacking of NPCs you don't want to kill.

Also... containers now open at a fixed location on the screen instead of at the mouse cursor. They then cascade satisfyingly when multiple are opened.

Satisfyingly satisfying cascades

Spoiler

Crops

Crops have received a MUCH needed facelift. The original sprites were among the first I created for this game way back when development started. Now they at least resemble what they are meant to be...

I like to a bit of randomness to the way the sprites are shown, so that patterns are not as easily noticed.

Main menu/Save game system
I've gutted and re-written the main menu with a much more functional save game system. There are now multiple save slots. Each slot shows a small screenshot of the saved game as well as date/time info.

I've fixed many bugs and issues related to the save game system. There are still some that need squashing, but it will get there...

Open the menu by hitting [ESC].

Enemy NPC movement AI
I've updated the NPC enemy movement AI. Ranged units now try to keep a safe distance from the player while also remaining in pursuit. Melee units no longer line up single file waiting to attack the player, like a bad action flick from the 80s.

As you can hear in the video, I also updated the arrow sounds effects. I always like to have some variety in each sound, so there are 6 variations of the firing sound effect that play at random.

NPC Dialog/Frames/UI
The dialog now window has a fancy background, and I have added frames to NPC portraits. When in a dialog, the background fades to dark making it easier to focus on the conversation. NPCs will have different portrait frames depending on their social status, job etc.

Magic system
The magic system received a lot of attention this update.

Spell effects now show up on the stats page of the sidebar (try casting infliction on yourself).

Most of the spells now actually do what they say they do. (some still don't such as Charm beast, curse). Death grip now functions as advertised.

Spell damage now gets a bonus from the players INT attribute. Mana regeneration has also been added. The speed of which is also dependent upon the players INT.

I adjusted the look of various spell icons so that they more closely match the discipline they are part of. As well as improved sound effects of some spells.

I added an new spell "Burning Redemption" which cures the player of all negative effects at the cost of a small amount of health.

Lots of backend streamlining of how the magic system operates.

Combat system
Player stats now play a part in combat. STR adds a bonus to melee damage, and DEX adds a smaller damage bonus to ranged weapons. DEX also gives a small bonus to swing/firing speed.

The balancing of these bonus's will obviously need to be tweaked as the game evolves.

I also added an indicator on the stats button when the player levels up to remind you to increase your stat points.

Bonus's and resists now correctly display when hovering over an item. Elemental resists now also show on the sidebar stats page.

The Lich on Test Island is now a bit more of a challenge

Change log

• Re-wrote the main menu
• Removed double click, now single click to interact
• Removed the tops of clouds, only shadow shows now
• Fixed broken save game system
• Added multiple save slots
• Fixed NPCs doubling up when game loads
• Added save game screenshot
• Revamped crops
• Updated arrow fire sound fx
• Added art for dialog
• Added rustling sound when walking over crops
• Added fade to black on dialog
• Added frames for NPC portraits
• Updated protection spell sounds
• Fixed stats page text orientation
• Added "playereffect" to save system data
• Added torch ignite and douse SFX
• Modified colour of Divine Protection spell icon
• Added divine protection effect animation
• Updated many spell sound effects
• Added burning redemption spell
• Streamline enemy ranged attack script
• Fixed strength spell crash on save
• Fixed loader not initializing
• Added effects objects and timers to save system
• Add ranged enemy now keeps distance from player
• Fixed enemy ranged attack timing
• Cleanup texture pages
• Added scarecrows
• Fix objects blinking at edge of screen
• Added strength spell effect
• Fixed dialogue text going outside the dialogue window
• Fixed saved items duplicating on load game
• Fixed save system not initializing loader
• Added spell effects to save system
• Fixed health bar crash
• Fixed NPC not grid snapped on load
• Fixed corpse loot container changing on load
• Fixed NPCs not setting correct sprite on load
• Fixed start game crash from menu option
• Added screenshot utility (F10)
• Added fade from black on load game
• Added mob spawner data to save game system
• Fixed leg armour amount value being undefined on load
• Fixed near enemy check crash
• Take-all now closes the container
• Added image orientation to save game
• Revamped enemy chase AI
• Fixed enemy freezing on load game
• Fixed NPC getting stuck on rails in combat mode
• Fixed enemy lining up horizontally when attacking player
• Quick spell slots now show F1, F2, F3
• Fixed stat button orientation
• Fixed bonus stats not showing on hover over item
• Disabled combat mode when teleporting to test town after dying
• Spell effects re-written and enabled
• Fixed crash on block shine object
• Added STR, DEX, INT effect on damage and mana regen
• Added gradual mana and health regen
• Fixed avatar not updating when holding unequipped item
• Containers cascade on screen when opened

Thanks everyone, until next time!

~Geoff

 

[LESS T_T]

Steam page:

 

[Infinitron]

The alpha gameplay trailer for RPG Code of The Savage. Wishlist on steam today!

Newspost later.

 

[Infinitron]

The new cutscene system in Code of The Savage RPG.

 

[Infinitron]

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2106227726/code-of-the-savage-rpg/posts/3294632

Update 36: Cutscenes!

Hi Backers!

Before we start, a new demo is available from

https://eman333.itch.io/code-of-the-savage-rpg

This is a bit of a smaller/ more timely update, but also a very important one.


Cutscenes
First and foremost, I've developed a cutscene system for the game. I knew it was going to be a bit of a challenge to implement and implement well... but I'm very happy with the result.

It's very flexible, allows me to create large and small scale cutscenes with ease and It integrates seamlessly with the NPC dialogue system.

Cutscenes are going to add a lot of life to the game, and will be integral for its narrative flow.

Check the video below. The examples in the video are pretty basic. The system is capable of much grander scale cutscenes.

I had to rework some issues with the dialogue system for cutscenes to work smoothly. I also spent some time to fix misaligned text, and the way the system splits up chunks of text that are too big for the dialogue window. So now pages breaks feel more natural and misaligned text has been fixed... Lastly I changed the colour of the text. .. I think it looks more readable.

Main menu
The background of the main menu now has a fancy scrolling map. (bugged a bit in full screen mode)

Spoiler

Steam page
In other news, most of you are probably already aware if you follow the games social feeds, but the Steam store page is now up with a target release date. I'd tell you to wish list it, but it doesn't matter so much as backers will be getting a steam key regardless.

Check it out here: https://store.steampowered.com/app/673100/Code_of_the_Savage/


Lastly, I have been dabbling a bit with a digital painting that I may use in the games intro sequence.

It's meant to depict the day the slave traders arrive at the protagonists homeland. It's not finalized yet. The figure on the rocks needs some work.

The list

• Fixed player facing issue in prep for cutscenes
• Added camera go to script
• Added cutscene face to script
• Added NPC cutscene move script
• Corrected player camera orientation
• Added cutscene attack script
• Re-wrote display text script
• Fixed palm trees and Joshua trees not showing
• Fixed text orientation in NPCs
• Fixed quotation marks sometimes appearing on wrong line of dialogue.
• Fixed being able to click items and other NPCs while in dialogue
• Changed dialogue text colour
• Fixed a bunch of bugged NPC schedules (poor Lord Mason was getting stuck in the latrine..)
• Fixed continue text not showing at correct time during dialogue
• Added event triggers to world map
• Rain and night now follow camera and not player

Thanks everyone!

~Geoff

 

[AdolfSatan]

So.. Is the combat in this Ultima-like, or is it good?

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

I'd have to reboot U6-8 to compare. It has been a long while. Last U7 I tried was SNES because I was curious. I tried those Black Knight ultimas as well.

Time to try the latest demo.

 

[LJ40]

So.. Is the combat in this Ultima-like, or is it good?

Well, there's a video in the very first fucking post in this thread if you're honestly shit-stupid enough to ask this question.

Is there any way we can institute an IQ test when you sign up for this site? This shit is fucking pathetic.