Moonshades

[moonshades]

Hi!

I would like to ask you for your honest opinions about a self developed game. Ony two guys are working on it, so don't expect stunning graphics. This is an old-school game, taking most of it's core elements from old classics like Eye of the beholder, Lands of Lore, Ultima , etc.

The things you should know: the game runs in a browser, so you don't need to download it or anything. Using a fairly new browser technology, it doesn't require any additional plugins, only a browser that can handle a WebGL.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WebGL)
You should use the latest version of Google Chrome, other browsers aren't so reliable if you want to try it.

This is a Pre-Alpha build a lot of things are missing and bugs can still happen, but I think you can get an idea of what we are aiming for in the full version. If you have any constructive criticism then don't hesitate, we would be thankful if you could help us out, even with your own ideas of what we are missing from the game, or what we should add to it.
If, by any chance you are experienced in gui design, modelling or animating and you are willing to help, even just a little, please contact us.

Facebook page: http://facebook.com/moonshadesgame

The server is only temporary and it's really slow so please be patient while it loads.

Pre-Alpha version: http://moonshades.ithomebusiness.com/

Contact email: moonshadesgame@gmail.com

 

[octavius]

Ugh! "Facebook" and "browser". Not excactly words to win the hearts of the Codex...
The artwork looks better than I feared, though.

 

[Angelo85]

I haven't played the game but judging from the Screens this is a Blobber. Why does a game like this need Multiplayer and "social media integration"? Just take a look at Legend of Grimrock, it was a major success without all that web 2.0 stuff.

I'd suggest to ditch the Facebook-get-rich-quick scheme and invest the development time into polishing the core mechanics instead.

 

[Mortmal]

Ijust tried it, its not a blobber, its a dungeon master clone . I dont see either why the neeed of social media stuff and multiplayer, really no reason for that . Graphically its not bad at all , i was expecting one more of those abominations made with rpgmaker and such, so its a good surprise. As for the gameplay, first problem is you cant reassign keyboard keys, so wasd movement is not too convenient on an european azerty keyboard. The character creation its nice but every characters in my group ended up with the very same skills, ive found no heal abilities either. But maybe its not developped yet. One last thing , the secret doors, i cant figure if theres something after the ressurection statue, if its under development or if theres a secret door, no marking on walls, no small stone glitch or anything .

 

[groke]

its not a blobber, its a dungeon master clone .

?????

 

[Mortmal]

its not a blobber, its a dungeon master clone .

?????

Wizardry 7 is a blobber, dungeon master is not, completely different gameplay , completely different rpg subgenre, play some classic games kiddo sometimes http://www.mobygames.com/ . If you dont like my explanation, ask mondblut he will enlighten you on why bloblers are clearly surperior rpg ,with a baseball bat.

 

[octavius]

its not a blobber, its a dungeon master clone .

?????

Wizardry 7 is a blobber, dungeon master is not, completely different gameplay , completely different rpg subgenre, play some classic games kiddo sometimes http://www.mobygames.com/ . If you dont like my explanation, ask mondblut he will enlighten you on why bloblers are clearly surperior rpg ,with a baseball bat.

Both are blobbers (party moves and fights in FPV as one entity (the "blob")). Difference is real time vs turn based.

 

[Mortmal]

Real time , more twitch based puzzles, combat and dancing around the encounters , ressources gestion ,everything is different they should not be set in the same category , and that would avoid to read people lamenting about the real time in legend of grimrock. For me the original blobber is wizardry , but we havent set a definition in stone either, nor defined this month what a rpg is....

 

[HobGoblin42]

Wizardry I is pretty sure the first party-based 3D 1st Person dungeon crawler (blobber). I can only remember one other 1st person RPG called Moria which was some years older, maybe from 1979 (Wizardry and Ultima started 1981) - but I think in Moria the characters didn't stick together on one block. Akalabeth had 1st person 3D as well, but wasn't party-based AFAIK.

 

[octavius]

Wizardry I is pretty sure the first party-based 3D 1st Person dungeon crawler (blobber). I can only remember one other 1st person RPG called Moria which was some years older, maybe from 1979 (Wizardry and Ultima started 1981) - but I think in Moria the characters didn't stick together on one block. Akalabeth had 1st person 3D as well, but wasn't party-based AFAIK.

Wasn't Moria a Rogue-like?

 

[HobGoblin42]

Wasn't Moria a Rogue-like?

Indeed, there were two different Morias - one ASCII Rogue and the PLATO version which was probably the first 1st person RPG ever:

 

[Zed]

too bad you throw away so much potential by putting it in a browser with login requirements.

 

[dragonbait]

Facebook is evil. I like evil, but not THAT evil.

As you have given a temporary link to the game on your non-facebook personal site, I figured I'd give it a try. However, your game seems to need Google Chrome to run. I'm running Mozilla Firefox and the game is not compatible. Are any other browsers besides Google Chrome compatible? For personal reasons, I will never install Google Chrome. I love games like Dungeon Master, Eye of the Beholder, Wizardry, etc., but if you are limiting yourself to Google Chrome only, you will likely find many people not even willing to try your game (however cool it may or may not be).

 

[tuluse]

It's working for me in firefox. Are you blocking a script it needs?

 

[dragonbait]

I unblocked all scripts running on the site, from facebook.com, facebook.net, ithomebusiness, fbcdn.net, googleanalytics, and the intro would still not run, however I was able to manage to get to the main site page after unblocking the scripts I just mentioned. It still gives a dropdown error message saying to use Chrome.

I can get as far as the screen below,

where it mentions that my graphics card does not support webgl, and the game is currently still in alpha state (which I had not realized) so perhaps I will try the game again at a later time when further development is reached. That said though, from what I could view, the game looks to have some potential to be a fun dungeon crawler. So kudos to the developer.

 

[Comte]

I clicked on this hoping it was about the Moonshade I know

 

[moonshades]

Thanks for the comments.

WebGL is a fairly new technology, only Chrome supports it 100% the game can run in the latest Firefox too but its laggy sometimes. ( Im working hard to make it fully compatible with Firefox ) Besides the browser it needs an average Video Card too, for example a cheap laptop GPU is not enough

About the login: The game needs to track the character progress the maps, items etc etc without the registration/login it cannot archived. Anyway the registration takes only 5 second and do not require email address anymore

You didnt missed a secret door, there was nothing more after the resurrection statue Now in alpha 2 there is And a few things changed:

- User interface improvements, like hp and mana text display, skill slot highlight, change character positions with right click on name.
- every class in premade party have unique skills.
- new mana regeneration mechanism
- new skill icons and descriptions
- new class infos
and more

 

[moonshades]

Hey folks. Giving you a heads up of some of the improvements and changes in the game:

- a whole new atmosphere, thanks to the new textures and lighting effects.
- a full set of skill animations and sound effects.
- several improvements in the user interface.
- a load of new items


For all the dungeon crawler enthusiasts, there is a map editor in progress. It will give you access to a lot of neat features, so you can create your own deadly dungeon and share it with your friends.

And remember, we will gladly take any tips or constructive criticism in consideration, so feel free to tell them.

Lastly, we are feeling really good about the progress, that has been made today, especially because we were accepted to Chrome Experiments.

Check us out here: http://www.chromeexperiments.com/detail/moonshades/