The Darkness Below: a retro CRPG in the making - now available on Early Access

[newtmonkey]

Unfortunately, it wont be possible to select aspect ratio / resolutions on play the game. The game's engine is built around a "dynamic resolution" shader which renders everything in a scaled pow2 non-filtering texture on whatever resolution the end user has. Otherwise, I would be forced to those unwanted options:

• change the resolution to 800x600 (original), which is super non-compatible across all systems / OSes that I plan to support the game.
• provide a number of proper aspect ratio resolutions, that is 4:3, but showing black left/right on screen which I find disgusting if you ask me.
• play the game in windowed mode if you're after original aspect ratio.

I think the 3rd solution is the best / most compatible, especially if the end monitor is monstrous, as those are the trend now.

In that case, it would be great if the third option is a possibility (windowed mode with original AR)

 

[rusty_shackleford]

FWIW, I'd play using (#2) the letterboxing(pillaring) if available.

 

[Nikanuur]

I wonder if making the characters/architecture/trees etc. stick out a bit—similar to the way the UI elements do—would give the game view the same feel of pleasant plasticity. Is such a thing possible?
Anyway, awesomely looking game, I'll make sure to buy and share info about it.

I am not sure that I understand.
Obviously, its pretty hard to match the game world assets to the UI ones, as the world and all its assets can be pretty variant to the static UI. The UI is a lot more worked out but dont forget its 3D project to 2D; the world is 3D. It would need massive improvements to feel as pleasane / plastic as the UI. But I am not after it, honestly. There are a lot of games that provides that super polished, clean style that I am not a big fan myself. This thing can only be achieved by top-notch 2D pixeled art, in the likes of Lands of Lore I guess. However, I am after M&M in this department. Hopefully, I am on spot and understood what you were referring to

Having said that, I will never add graphics that looks ridiculous or be totally inconstistent to the UI. "Good enough" is what I am after. Don't forget that the game is a 3D one and graphics are always rotated / scaled (although, never filtered). Some assets may look totally pixeled, in the likes of Wolfenstein 3D or Ultima Underworld. It's a 3D first person dungeon crawler, can't do much if a low-res sprite splats too close in the glass I can only combat inconstistency this much and take it from there.
Thanks a lot for support, man, appreciate it

I see, thanks for taking the time to explain things. You actually led me to understand what caused the inconsistency feeling in the first place. It wasn't the content of the main view. The view frame, or the movement arrows, or the banners have a nicely hued, uneven texture. It gives a great feeling of the old, magical atmosphere. But the character frames, the text boxes, or the map are filled with an even color. That seems to stick out, as if from a different, modern, plastic design not matching the rest. Do you think it would do if those were un-evened too, maybe just purely grained so they'd give off similar old'n'magicky vibe as the rest of the UI?

 

[V_K]

provide a number of proper aspect ratio resolutions, that is 4:3, but showing black left/right on screen which I find disgusting if you ask me.

YMMV, but personally I find black bars a far, far lesser evil than distorted aspect ratio.

 

[vlzvl]

It seems I am still in the middle of process on completing this, so I wont call it a release yet; but I am close to it.

The game currently has around 6-7 maps / dungeons and content enough to spend some hours in but I still need to nurse a lot of it, fix some bugs as well and finally playtest the hell of it But its already a smooth experience, so its a good sign.

I made some breakthroughs though and decided to share one or ten screenshots, along with a pretty exhaustive changes.txt list, in the end of post. Currently, I am working the window mode of game, for everyone looking for some perfect-pixel gaming. At the moment, a windowed mode (running on 800x600, original resolution for game) is supported; although, I am working to support fullscreen borderless mode and also scaled-up windowed resolutions, while respecting aspect ratio, but still in-progress. There's a screenshot of the game running in such a window.

So, enjoy some pics for the moment an bear with me, as I am finalizing this:

Links

• https://vlzvl.itch.io/the-darkness-below
  
• https://rpgcodex.net/forums/threads/the-darkness-below-a-retro-crpg-in-the-making.118437/page-9
• https://www.rpgwatch.com/forums/showthread.php?t=37837&page=4
• https://www.patreon.com/thedarknessbelow
• https://facebook.com/groups/1534627476758967
• https://www.facebook.com/groups/479061603460354
• https://discord.com/invite/XerEseQ

Also, check this pretty massive changes.txt list (for those read such things)

PATCH v1.2

• added: characters now get 2 skills from Weapon,Armor or Magic skills and 1 skill from Misc skills when they start randomly (balance).
• added: dungeon items which are placed on same quad are now sorted by depth in intuitive way i.e. armor above sword, boots above cloth (better look).
• added: when an item is bound to mouse and the inventory screen is shown, the eligible slot(s) for the bound item are highlighted on character's equipping slots.
• added: increased maximum spell number to 280, 40 spells per element, 8 spells per expertise per element. Hopefully, the majority of them implemented in the final game.
• added: 18 initial spells, equally shared between initial casting professions, clerics & wizards.
• added: new type of spell: directional ray-like, useful for laser-like spells that extends from caster to target for a small duration of time, like D&Ds ray of frost.
• added: ability to cause damage against all targets, instead of only a single target (previously), for some spells (party) and actions (monsters).
• added: new town textures and multifloor capability, allowing a bigger variety on town levels.
• added: new NPCs and portraits, more to be added as the content keeps built.
• added: different foot walking sound effects per terrain type (hard, grass, snow), increasing the immersion.
• added: showing different color filters on character portraits having a condition i.e. a poisoned character will show a greenish portrait, along with poison symbol.
• added: variant sound effects for weapon when they hit/miss, increasing the immersion.
• added: improved editing in custom tile editor, as the only editing was done directly in XML files. Much required for content production.
• added: shows a full body, animated NPC in center of an event, if there's a portrait associated with the event, improving the immersion and interaction overall, together with event background (inspired from ROA - Star Trail).
• added: in events, buttons like 'back' or 'exit' to be differently colored (red), effectively making them distinct to other available options.
• added: implemented all shop types, fully tiered (4 levels), with a matching soundtrack per shop, as well their associated owner(s). Buy and sell is implemented, as well as shops dealing with specific item types i.e. weapons only.
• added: three (3) new spells for higher expertise (adept, master & grandmaster) to further develop the shop/vendor feature.
• added: weapon slash effect to all weapons, similar to spell effects, increasing the immersion.
• added: magic effect on staff when a spell is prepared
• added: a lit candle in the 'character generation' page, increasing the immersion.
• added: removed the old, featureless planes of existence and added 8 inspired ones, with enough lore and purpose in the game. More to come. Check the Rulebook for more details.
• added: character generation step by step, adding to previous 'prebuilt characters' mode.
• added: minor improvements in all gui buttons
• added: all initial shops / vendors, 10 in number, have been fully implemented.
• added: implemented 'special' and usually more powerful actions to monsters that can be used sparringly by chance. Think of those 'recharge' actions on D&D, which allows the bosses to kick butts more efficiently.
• added: completed the game's introduction sequence, which shows when the player clicks the 'Start the Game' button from title screen.
• added: rumor tables have been implemented, on per-area basis. Those rumors are shown as available options on regular buildings, providing information, directions and hooks, in the same way used on pen & paper RPGs.
• added: fully implemented skill masters, from teaching the skill to advancing to 'Grandmaster' level. Skill masters can be found about anywhere but mostly in civilized regions and their number varies to population.
• added: fully implemented NPCs to hire. They are usually wander around civilized areas (villages, towns etc.) and provide their services (weapons, spells or skills) for one-time payment and daily wage. They can be dismissed anytime.
• added: monsters and NPCs are now shown appropriately on map. Monsters are only shown on minimap, based on visibility. This will help when battling numerous monsters. Showing all NPCs will also help when you're in need of one.
• fixed: bow arrow animation was not shown up, either in battle or not, by both characters and monsters. Now all spell-like animations triggered by item use are shown properly.
• fixed: spell sound hit effect not working on all spells and when the caster is a monster.
• fixed: allowing ranged items such as bow/crossbow to throw arrows graphically, even when there are uses left
• fixed: allowing cure spell to be used on a dead character
• fixed: revamped floor textures and reduced repetitiveness
• fixed: crash when the party tried to move beyond normal boundaries of a map. Usually borders on map are covered by obstacles i.e. trees, but this was still a bug.
• fixed: the system was heavily refactored once again to reduce technical debt and making it more flexible & performant
• fixed: cursor changes incorrectly when there's a doortown in game window. Now it changes when the cursor hovers the doortown rect.
• fixed: potions are now fully targetable items i.e. the user may select a character target, other than him. For example, a character can use a 'Potion of Cure Paralysis' on another paralysed character.
• fixed: implemented a better fps mechanism, which guarantees a stable ~60 fps across all supported systems by game's engine (Jolt3D!).
• fixed: multiple orientation levers couldn't be placed on same square on tile editor i.e. not possible to place a northern and a southern lever on same wall square.
• fixed: removed music volume toggling between map and buildings/shops, given compatibility and overall quality degradation over multiple sounds heard. Now a single 'background' audio plays always on full volume, set on options.
• fixed: greatly improvement of performance, in-game and engine.
• fixed: clerics are not able to use bows anymore
• fixed: a nasty crushing bug in combat system
• fixed: massive improvement to spell system. Now all spell attack types are fully pseudo-3D and not 2D, giving space for bigger sprites and increased immersion.
• fixed: reach mechanics is now working for all items, weapons, spells and monster actions. A short-reach weapon (i.e. dagger) won't be able to reach a back-row monster; however, a long-reach halberd, a bow or a spell will.
• fixed: entrances and exits to dungeons are now more immersive. Specifically, exits are now showing a part of the "outside" i.e. some forest or similar, in the likes of Lands of Lore.
• fixed: added active skill checks, along with the passive ones. On active checks, a roll is made and skill expertise bonuses are applied against the challenge expertise difficulty, making the final outputs a lot more random than passive checks.

Phew, that's it for the moment.
Hopefully, its to your liking.
Please, do post a comment or three on anything about it.

Thanks

 

[Acrux]

vlzvl I really enjoyed this demo and after the last update in December, I was pretty excited to try out the release in the new year. I've been dissapointed since it sounded like it was almost ready.

Are there any updates almost half a year later?

 

[vlzvl]

vlzvl I really enjoyed this demo and after the last update in December, I was pretty excited to try out the release in the new year. I've been dissapointed since it sounded like it was almost ready.

Are there any updates almost half a year later?

Hey thanks,

I am really sorry for the postponement of short release but a lot of stuff happened in the last months, job, housing stuff and also some major life ones. I also had to dig deep with the enormous feedback from last demo by all lovely people that played it and this took a lot of time to organise and work the majority of it. Some of this feedback took quite long to get addressed.

Then the usual lot of bugs emerged, editor had to get improved, working on engine, implementing all required features and doing frequent refactoring. Then after a while the game's quality was simply increased and just had to keep going till it felt "ready" again.

I am quite sure that this delay is worthy of the final result. Things simply "get into place" a lot nicer now and feel more consistent, which is a must for a game of this scale. Its just the added content and needed immersion that keeps me busy for implementing things here and there.

Content wise, there is already a village, a town, a forest, a desert and two dungeons and I am about to complete two more areas and be done with the final demo of The Darkness Below. The full release (much later) will still start with the same content, so this is effectively the "short release" that I promised half a year ago; this is the real game, just shorter but fully-featured and this is where this delay came from. My plan for now is to give a big-enough short release and fully-featured, so I can work on full release behind the scene right after.

There were a lot of fixes and new stuff was implemented like letter boxing or quick battle shortcuts (in the screenshots below). I wont even try to post the changes.txt but its an extensive one.

I am not that good on talking about it so let me show a screenshot or five:

I was hoping to release all that with the coming short release / final demo but it takes a long time so here it is
Hopefully, you can spot all micro-details here and there, some of them were really worthy the time implementing them.

Regarding the "when", I guess its safe to say "soon"; I am finalising and / or nurturing the current content to my liking but don't really want to rush it as this version will be the last before the real thing and don't plan another in-between update (I am sure I said that again but the game really contains the majority of the features now).

Hopefully this answers some questions about the game, enjoy

 

[Lagi]

Play demo. Beautiful graphics.
Movement feels great.
I kill 2x snails and quit. Party seems super incompetent, 4 people trying for 5 rounds kill a snail with all spells they ve got, and knights are useless.
Clicking twenty times per combat on each wand and then on spell with mouse is wearing. It need key shortcut, like Z left hand X right hand, and confirm spell with number 1,2,3... .

 

[Eisen]

Are all the assets you used free?
EDIT: I mean, did you use free-licensed assets and/or you did all by yourself?

 

[vlzvl]

Play demo. Beautiful graphics.
Movement feels great.
I kill 2x snails and quit. Party seems super incompetent, 4 people trying for 5 rounds kill a snail with all spells they ve got, and knights are useless.
Clicking twenty times per combat on each wand and then on spell with mouse is wearing. It need key shortcut, like Z left hand X right hand, and confirm spell with number 1,2,3... .

Yeah, demo is pretty old and I am about to release the final demo which has all these issues solved. Professions are now more balanced and there are tons of shops and ways to obtain items i.e. from chests, along with books that increase statistics (equivalent to liquids from M&M series).

More of it, the combat was heavily worked on and now it feels a lot faster. In addition, there are shortcuts, both by key bindings as well as icons on screens like spell/attack/cancel; although clicking 'spell' either casts a scroll/casts from wand/open spellbook for casters, there's no "prepared spell" for that matter. Clicking the right key on items still works though. Finally, selecting a spell from opened spellbook through a shortcut is a nice idea and I already added it to my /TODO list

 

[vlzvl]

Are all the assets you used free?
EDIT: I mean, did you use free-licensed assets and/or you did all by yourself?

All the assets that I am using are either CC-BY with attribution, BSD/MIT stuff or paid assets, through various sources i.e. gamedevmarket, itch.io, graphicriver, opengameart etc., along with lots of midjourney ones. Most of them I filter them myself to end up consistent with the general graphic style i.e. pixelart, which end up with similar palettes. So, I am using everything except GPL stuff and filter them out myself, is the short version. The same applies to sound as well.

 

[Lagi]

whats the point of creating rules if everywhere you make "in relation to DnD".
Combat appear to be Weapon Roll +Str (power) bonus - enemy armor = damage.
Cant await to dump Personality stat so hard.

It feels off for wizards to hold staff in one hand, and then trying to punch - which is completly pointless because they have like -3 (minus three) damage (and punch doesnt have any damage dice). i would get rid of this unarmed noob trap, that only create pointless clicking and timewaste during combat.
I understand you could put like healing poition in hand slot?
maybe let empty hand allow you to shuffle enemies in front line? after some skill check. Or just when clicked open hand, go to inventory to equip another item, after consumables are used without wasting turn for rummage in backpack. This way using all type poison/stun/invisibility potions in combat is more handy.

it feels odd, that you cannot click shield during combat. Maybe it could be some decision todo? Attack or aggro with shield to protect wizards?

anyway whats the point of not clicking all weapons during combat (casting spells are ok, because you need to select one)? shouldnt there just be AUTO combat == click all weapon buttons?

example:
you click shield (aggro) OR sword (dps) - end turn
you click mace OR throw poison potion - end turn
you click staff to cast spells OR dagger (if out of spells) - end turn
you click axe (main) OR club (better vs skeletons) - end turn. **OR** you automatically attack with both (or you can go into PC inventory).
...
this create some decisions to make during combat.

 

[Lady Error]

 

[vlzvl]

Finally,
I just wrapped up the final v1.2 version on my itch.io (https://vlzvl.itch.io/the-darkness-below), for both Windows / Linux.
It's not even a demo anymore as it lasts about ~3 hours, depending on how much of the map(s) and monsters one wants to explore / kill. And there are loads of that.
It's more of a nice "Prelude" of the coming full release, containing most of the functionality of the full game and its a paid one.
Expect to final game to be loads bigger though, but more or less with this kind of gameplay.
There was a playtesting phase as well in-between v1.1 and this one, which uncovered lots of bugs but also some great usability opportunities and quality of life ideas, and this why I had to postpone this version as much as I could because, this is it, no more versions after that.

There's an enormous changelog, grown especially after the playtesting phase that I don't even dare to post here but safe to say that no bug, at least known to me, exists in the game which was the main goal andthe game indeed had some nasty bugs. It also contains most of the functionality and its fully playable. For sure it can be loads better, and will be, it's just miles ahead than v1.1 released a couple years (?) ago.

As always, check a screenshot or three:

I also uploaded a ~1 hour video on my youtube channel a few hours ago that shows the game's introduction, character creation some early playthrough.
Lady Error posted that already (thanks!) but here it is as well =)



So, if you like what you see, grab it from:

https://vlzvl.itch.io/the-darkness-below

I also plan to add this as an early-access on Steam, with the same symbolic price and start playing with other platforms as well, along itch.io.

So, that's all =)
Hopefully you'll find it a way more completed attempt, as I do.

and a happy new year

 

[daivin]

The Release ! \o/

« and start playing with other platforms as well, except itch.io. »

What do you mean ? No updates on itch.io ?

 

[vlzvl]

The Release ! \o/

« and start playing with other platforms as well, except itch.io. »

What do you mean ? No updates on itch.io ?

hey thanks

I meant, along with itch.io =)
I will still continue to update itch.io, I'll just attempt to add the game elsewhere as well.

 

[vlzvl]

Hey,
The Darkness Below finally made it to Steam (early access) and the app is about to come / approved this week.
ETA for full release is set to Q3 2024.

Not much imagery to show as I am all things Steam and content creation these days, but here are a few:

Wishlist the heck out of it

links

• https://store.steampowered.com/app/2814790/The_Darkness_Below
• https://vlzvl.itch.io/the-darkness-below
• https://www.dungeoncrawlers.org/post/the-darkness-below-out-on-steam-early-access
• https://discord.com/channels/322472776562638860/1020797185639592058

Thanks!

 

[vlzvl]

The Darkness Below early access (prelude version) is out

Hit that wishlist button hard or buy it now! ETA Q3 2024

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2814790/The_Darkness_Below

 

[Nikanuur]

He's changed those portrait borders! I'm gonna buy that hard indeed!

 

[Cryomancer]

BRought the game. Good but how I can open a door with a lever in a dungeon? I literally pressed every single button in my keyboard, tried to click in lever and ... Nothing.

 

[Cryomancer]

Found how to open doors. Sadly when my mouse cursor and where I needed to click was a bit left of the screen.

Now I'm in the Tomb o the Dreamer, got teleported into a place and have no idea how to escape.

 

[agris]

Wait… is it impossible to play this on modern 16:9 screens without the image being stretched without respect to the aspect ratio? There’s no “preserve aspect ratio” option?

 

[vlzvl]

BRought the game. Good but how I can open a door with a lever in a dungeon? I literally pressed every single button in my keyboard, tried to click in lever and ... Nothing.

Hey thanks, I appreciate it

You can only open a door by clicking the lever on the right with the mouse, or clicking a key on its keyhole on the same place

Found how to open doors. Sadly when my mouse cursor and where I needed to click was a bit left of the screen.

Now I'm in the Tomb o the Dreamer, got teleported into a place and have no idea how to escape.

Hmm,
I've seen this again and was never able to reproduce it...
Can you tell me what display mode you're using ? i.e. fullscreen, windowed or letterbox?
And based on that, what resolution as well?
could you provide a screenshot as well or describe somehow, if possible, where exactly did you clicked to open the door.
I feel its occuring under specific resolution / display mode and need to reproduce it

Regarding the "Tomb of the Dreamer", you need to switch both levers to disable the electricity trap and then you walk up the throne.
Effectively, the game should stop there, after a small event... You were able to teleport beyond that to the next city?
I replied on steam discussion board as well.

Wait… is it impossible to play this on modern 16:9 screens without the image being stretched without respect to the aspect ratio? There’s no “preserve aspect ratio” option?

The game is, by default, opens in "fullscreen" mode.
Of course, this is going to stretch the game's output if the monitor is a 16:9 monitor as it wasn't developed in such an aspect ratio (game is developerd in 800x600 = 1.33 aspert ratio).

You can set the game in "letterbox" mode and select the largest resolution provided to you by the choices above, which indeed preserve the aspect ratio of the game, while providing you with the largest resolutions, based on desktop set.

The largest resolution offered is one that covers the majority of desktop, before the game starts breaching its resolution, either horizontally or vertically.
For example, on a 1920x1080 monitor resolution, the largest "letterbox" mode resolution provided will be 1440x1080 (i.e. 1.33 aspect ratio), since a larger one will go beyond maximum vertical resolution.

 

[Cryomancer]

You were able to teleport beyond that to the next city?

Got teleported to a place out of bound. So I recorded a video to show the problem. I played in fullscreen but switched to this mode only to record as I could't record in fullscreen.,

 

[mondblut]

I always wondered what Gulliver's Voyage to Lilliput RPG would look like. Careful, wizard, don't step on that castle!