Incline Das Geisterschiff - turn-based cyberpunk dungeon crawler

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

I thought that the game was very simple and there is no reason for it to play as slowly as it did. It was kind of cool how moving from one tile to the next seemed to sync up with the music, but I think it should play much faster.

It's a tutorial level to give cashuls one last chance to learn how things work and it only includes some of the interactive stuff as well as a weak enemy type. As for the speed -- good call, I'll add speed settings if the pacing is too slow for you.

The enemy graphics are too abstract, I don't know what the enemy even is. I don't know what I am supposed to be. Combat is kind of a weird puzzle dance against floating mask things.

I plan to add ingame files which give some information on enemy types as well as explanation of what they are. Thanks for the tip.

Can you automate this, like in blobbers?

You mean adding a 'repeat last action' button? Never planned to, but should be possible.

Thanks for trying and sharing your thoughts.

Now, moving on to DavidBVal's comment.

You need to put a "press enter" at the bottom of the "transmissions" window.

Good call.

Also I guess it's just the tutorial, but enemies barely did any damage.

It's a tutorial and that enemy type is weak by design.

Walking into locked doors shouldn't attempt to slam them on default, too easy to do it inadvertently.

You think so? Usually it stops being a problem about 5 minutes later once you get used to the controls.

And the combat options are a bit confusing. Instead of "Advance" or "stay" it should say "attack & advance", etc.

I guess I'll have to explain these too or stuff that information into the manual to keep the amount of text on the screen limited

Thanks for the feedback.

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

IndieDB mirror is up just in case.
http://www.indiedb.com/games/das-geisterschiff/downloads/das-geisterschiff-tutorial-demo

 

[DosBuster]

I like the aesthetic; however, the combat system I don't really get.

Am I doing damage to the enemy? Is there an indication of how much damage I've taken or they've taken?

Also, when you explain that you can use landmines to your advantage I would either explain how you can do this or provide a playspace for the player to figure it out.

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

Am I doing damage to the enemy? Is there an indication of how much damage I've taken or they've taken?

Upon attack a small message pops up which tells you the percentage of target's DC with tiny error.
As for the player's damage, I thought that keeping an eye on the stats box on the lower left will do the trick. Might as well report the player damage.

Also, when you explain that you can use landmines to your advantage I would either explain how you can do this or provide a playspace for the player to figure it out.

So you never managed to kill the drone by forcing it to fly over the landmine?

 

[DosBuster]

Am I doing damage to the enemy? Is there an indication of how much damage I've taken or they've taken?

Upon attack a small message pops up which tells you the percentage of target's DC with tiny error.
As for the player's damage, I thought that keeping an eye on the stats box on the lower left will do the trick. Might as well report the player damage.

Also, when you explain that you can use landmines to your advantage I would either explain how you can do this or provide a playspace for the player to figure it out.

So you never managed to kill the drone by forcing it to fly over the landmine?

Why would I move backwards in combat? The enemies are pretty weak and there's already a retreat option so I assumed that's the "run away" button, there's not much of a reason to move at all in combat.

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

Am I doing damage to the enemy? Is there an indication of how much damage I've taken or they've taken?

Upon attack a small message pops up which tells you the percentage of target's DC with tiny error.
As for the player's damage, I thought that keeping an eye on the stats box on the lower left will do the trick. Might as well report the player damage.

Also, when you explain that you can use landmines to your advantage I would either explain how you can do this or provide a playspace for the player to figure it out.

So you never managed to kill the drone by forcing it to fly over the landmine?

Why would I move backwards in combat? The enemies are pretty weak and there's already a retreat option so I assumed that's the "run away" button, there's not much of a reason to move at all in combat.

So you never tried to move closer to get a bigger to hit chance?

 

[DosBuster]

Am I doing damage to the enemy? Is there an indication of how much damage I've taken or they've taken?

Upon attack a small message pops up which tells you the percentage of target's DC with tiny error.
As for the player's damage, I thought that keeping an eye on the stats box on the lower left will do the trick. Might as well report the player damage.

Also, when you explain that you can use landmines to your advantage I would either explain how you can do this or provide a playspace for the player to figure it out.

So you never managed to kill the drone by forcing it to fly over the landmine?

Why would I move backwards in combat? The enemies are pretty weak and there's already a retreat option so I assumed that's the "run away" button, there's not much of a reason to move at all in combat.

So you never tried to move closer to get a bigger to hit chance?

I did try and move forward but then the drone just fled around the corner so I learnt that combat is faster if i just don't move because encountering an enemy was enough to drive it into range.

 

[LESS T_T]

I've yet to play the demo, but this reminds me of proto-raycasting first person games, especially mainframe ones like Spaism, Maze War, and Moria.

 

[Zep Zepo]

"I wish I could get those 8 minutes of my life back... - 5/100" -Zetacritic.

Zep--

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

Am I doing damage to the enemy? Is there an indication of how much damage I've taken or they've taken?

Upon attack a small message pops up which tells you the percentage of target's DC with tiny error.
As for the player's damage, I thought that keeping an eye on the stats box on the lower left will do the trick. Might as well report the player damage.

Also, when you explain that you can use landmines to your advantage I would either explain how you can do this or provide a playspace for the player to figure it out.

So you never managed to kill the drone by forcing it to fly over the landmine?

Why would I move backwards in combat? The enemies are pretty weak and there's already a retreat option so I assumed that's the "run away" button, there's not much of a reason to move at all in combat.

So you never tried to move closer to get a bigger to hit chance?

I did try and move forward but then the drone just fled around the corner so I learnt that combat is faster if i just don't move because encountering an enemy was enough to drive it into range.

Guess I've got a lot of work to do to make the level demo a lot better then. Thanks for the feedback.

I've yet to play the demo, but this reminds me of proto-raycasting first person games, especially mainframe ones like Spaism, Maze War, and Moria.

Thanks. I mostly took inspiration from early polygonal dungeon crawlers (Carmine) as well a couple of favorite games.

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

I'll roll out a tiny patch in a few hours to fix a small typo as well as expand a few strings to give some additional information about the mechanics.

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

Done and done. Download here:
https://surt-r.itch.io/das-geisterschiff-tutorial-demo
http://www.indiedb.com/games/das-geisterschiff/downloads/das-geisterschiff-tutorial-demo-update
https://gamejolt.com/games/das-geisterschiff-tutorial-demo/299106

Changelog:
-- Fixed a typo in the initial tutorial text.
-- Expanded tutorial text with a few strings to provide a few additional tips and explanations.
-- Schess' stats have been tweaked.

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

Stitching a small hole in the design by replacing "Files" with an "Analyze" function, which reports stats of a target object (any interactive object). There was no way to tell the weight of the target which could result in a lot of trial and error and would end up being lethal in the long run. This function, however, won't give it away that easily -- stats are reported with random errors, just like the percentage of remaining target health after the attack, which can fuck up your planning if you don't take that into account.

 

[DavidBVal]

Done. Seems like I was just a few tiles away from completing it yesterday. Where are all those fancy places in your screenshots, the demo is super short!!!

I only met one Schess. I think he rammed me? died on his own, not sure why. I love battle logs, why don't you add one?
Landmines: in previous run I had 0% success disarming, this time it was 100%. Not sure if works as intended.

I agree that you need to speed movement up. And when you go through an open door, no need to prompt about it.

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

Done. Seems like I was just a few tiles away from completing it yesterday. Where are all those fancy places in your screenshots, the demo is super short!!!

It is very short. I'm currently working on the level demo and hoping to release it by the end of December, where you'll actually get to see a few fancy places from the screenshots.
I'm very glad I released a small demo to gather feedback, though.

I only met one Schess. I think he rammed me? died on his own, not sure why. I love battle logs, why don't you add one?

Encounter triggers are placed at fixed spots and discarded upon meeting the enemy. The default encounter chance is roughly 40% with a 20% chance of getting a false alarm, and the tutorial level structure allows you to avoid encounters altogether by simply disarming the landmines and making a safe passage this way (as well as blowing up a couple of doors). Technically it's possible to beat the level without a single scratch or without firing a single shot.

As for the death on his own Schess is a very light enemy. I guess you cornered him, which forced him to retreat and the only way to escape was through you unless you forced him to fly over the landmine.
Battle logs were never considered seriously since the combat wasn't considered as the main point of the project.

Landmines: in previous run I had 0% success disarming, this time it was 100%. Not sure if works as intended.

The chance is 50% at start. Guess you were lucky this time.

I agree that you need to speed movement up. And when you go through an open door, no need to prompt about it.

Prompts are necessary for dark zones so you don't accidentally smash a door or step on a landmine while navigating. Although I should probably add a variable to prompt that only when you're in the dark zone.

Movement was set to a comfortable pace for myself, so I guess I should add an option for this.

UPDATE:
-- Implemented a subtle feedback effect upon taking damage. Intensity is based on the amount of damage taken.
-- Analyze function now shows additional information about your target, such as the switch type (what kind of object it's connected to, a door? a dark zone generator? etc) and short bits about the enemy type (e.g. short bio of the optional boss, etc).
-- Amount of damage received from the enemy attacks is now reported.

I think I should tweak the movement speed a little bit and update a few strings and roll this out as a final update for the tutorial demo.

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

Did more work today:
-- Normalized movement speed, now I can add options to set it. Thought about putting just 2 speed presets: classic (the one I intended) and American (50% faster, reference to American releases of Japanese RPGs with increased speed).
-- Refactored ramming a bit to prevent potential future issues that could arise from the ramming loop. Schess is not exactly into ramming, so it doesn't affect the current demo in many ways.
-- Tweaked Schess' stats and AI a bit to get rid of an oversight where you could safely hide behind the corner while Schess would bounce back and forth until it gets bored and leaves you alone.
-- Expanded some of the tutorial text.

Apart from that I did extra work on the level demo, slowly shaping that level into a nice piece of work.
Going to give myself an additional day or two to double-check what can be improved and roll out the updated version tomorrow if nothing pops up.

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

Jesus fucking Christ, noticed a bug that appeared after refactoring some of the code. Fixed it, going to do more testing today in case there's anything else I've missed.

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

After some additional testing the updated version is out. Download hier:
https://surt-r.itch.io/das-geisterschiff-tutorial-demo
http://www.indiedb.com/games/das-geisterschiff/downloads/das-geisterschiff-tutorial-demo-v037
https://gamejolt.com/games/das-geisterschiff-tutorial-demo/299106

Changelog:

Spoiler

-- Tweaks and improvements to Schess' AI.
-- A few tutorial strings have been expanded.
-- Schess' bio added.
-- Additional tweaking of Schess' stats.
-- Movement speed has been normalized to allow easy tweaking.
-- Ramming has been refactored.
-- Fixed a bug where targeting system would fail if target was located behind an open or destroyed door.
-- Fixed an oversight where quick attacks wouldn't pick targets through open/destroyed doors.
-- Removed report prompts. Now they're only active when the player is inside the dark zone.
-- Implemented feedback from taking damage.
-- Received damage from enemy attacks is now reported.
-- Analyze function implemented.

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

Went overboard with lines in the new demo level, will have to simplify the tiles a little bit and redo the level from scratch since I did some changes to the planned layout to make the area a bit less linear. Also working on new enemy types to start mopping the floor with cashuls right after they finish the training levels.
Boy, this will be fun.

 

[Jim the Dinosaur]

ok I finished the (updated) demo, tres cool music, but I wasn't that thrilled at the ramming doors and stepping on landmines gameplay tbh. The demo should have the floating mussolini heads that we all consider an indispensible part of the Geisterschiff universe. The smg targeting animation and sound is cool even if I could only use it on doors. also don't make the tutorial texts freeze the game, that's unskippable cutscene level stuff mang, just let the player continue doing his thang as the text pops up.

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

ok I finished the (updated) demo, tres cool music, but I wasn't that thrilled at the ramming doors and stepping on landmines gameplay tbh. The demo should have the floating mussolini heads that we all consider an indispensible part of the Geisterschiff universe. The smg targeting animation and sound is cool even if I could only use it on doors.

You were lucky enough to never encounter an enemy?

also don't make the tutorial texts freeze the game, that's unskippable cutscene level stuff mang, just let the player continue doing his thang as the text pops up.

That would break the turn-based nature of the game. The systems are designed around the "player does something > the world responds" structure.

 

[Jim the Dinosaur]

You were lucky enough to never encounter an enemy?

apparently :aiee:, just got the "enemy found... false alarm" cock tease message.

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

You were lucky enough to never encounter an enemy?

apparently :aiee:, just got the "enemy found... false alarm" cock tease message.

Lucky bastard. Gotta set the encounter chance to 80% instead.

 

[Jim the Dinosaur]

needs 100% chance of mussolini head encounter

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

Spent more time fucking around with the scrapped version of the demo level (which turned out to be a great playground to see how I can optimize the living shit out of the line renderer) and made a few improvements to the line renderer. Here's the whole update:
-- Line renderer has been slightly optimized. Also implemented a function that removes any duplicate lines (tile edges, etc) either while I'm editing the level or on level load. This removed roughly 3.5% of lines (3214>3103) from the tutorial demo level, which isn't much, but still nice. Also squashed a few bugs in the process (nothing critical, but I made an error in the equation when I wrote the batch renderer which could fuck up the coordinates if the object scale was modified) and added a few QoL features which should speed up the level design and allow me to reuse certain simple tiles by resizing them. Also thought about adding semi-transparent lines to add extra detail to the environment, but I'm still up in the air about it and leaning towards negative about it -- at least until I get several huge dungeons up and running and get solid proof that neither the engine nor hardware are choking on them. If the plan won't work out I can easily cut the planned storyline into shortest bits and make more of an Armored Core-style mission structure.
-- Dark Zones now display a warning by showing noise on screen when you're about to enter them.

Today I'm going to add some QoL functions to the editor and go back to the demo level. After re-doing the planning I've noticed a few things I'd like to add to the interactive stuff to add some twists to the exploration.