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Cipher
- Joined
- Jul 10, 2014
- Messages
- 912
Am I the only one who dislikes the AI-generated stuff?
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The Secret of Darkwoods - Open-world illustrated text-based RPG
- Thread starter rap2h
- Start date
No, you are not the only one. As the developer, I'm mixed too, I am not an AI advocate. When I started the game 7 months ago, I see the brand-new image generation tools and just thought: "wow, a new tool that will help me illustrate a text-based game". Now, my opinion is more contrasted.
One of the things I'm excited about is that the game is very popular with blind gamers, several people have already finished it and some visually impaired forums discussing it.
One of the things I'm excited about is that the game is very popular with blind gamers, several people have already finished it and some visually impaired forums discussing it.
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Cipher
- Joined
- Jul 10, 2014
- Messages
- 912
Pretty awesome that you can develop a game in 7 months, some studios can't do it in 7 years. :D
toro
Arcane
- Joined
- Apr 14, 2009
- Messages
- 14,098
I put an hour into the game.
I actually like the AI art but my main complain is the balance.
You can grind quests and max your attributes and skills. Once you reach that point the game is mostly a cakewalk.
Considering the procedural quests I have no idea how the progression can be slowed down.
I actually like the AI art but my main complain is the balance.
You can grind quests and max your attributes and skills. Once you reach that point the game is mostly a cakewalk.
Considering the procedural quests I have no idea how the progression can be slowed down.
toro Thank you for your feedback and thank you for playing. The difficulty is hard to balance I think. Some players are struggling to progress, I don't know how to manage it well... Maybe I should have made various difficulty levels. About your game, if you want more challenges, maybe you could try to advance in the main quest before doing side quests, then start side quests when enemies begin to have higher stats. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed your hour into the game 
The Secret of Darkwoods has been updated
- Music: show track and artist name in the menu - the game features 1h49 of Dungeon Synth by 9 artists
- Text: 25 city descriptions rewritten - should be better now!
Anomander Rake
Savant
- Joined
- May 4, 2017
- Messages
- 631
Hey,
first of all, thanks for your game. I’ve enjoyed it! In fact I was really looking forward to your release, because I kinda like the games where there is a mix between narration and rpg elements.
This is the screenshot you were looking for:
I’ve got many things to say, where to begin? I’m wondering if you will keep working on this game, because I think right now is a 6.5, but it could easily reach a 7, 7 and a half if you added some “refinements”.
Know that I’ve played NO reload, so I just started the game and if I died I would start the game anew.
The number of times I’ve played are two: first try was a failure (I don’t remember what I did wrong); second time I just finished the game.
I will tell you everything in bullets points. There will be a lot, so bear with me. Know that I’ve also read some of your post in the steam forum, so here it is:
1) I enjoyed the music; I thought that some songs did definitely match the “feel” of the game and I would look forward to hearing them. There is a particular track that I think it’s good and it is the one that you can hear inside the dungeon (right now to find the name I went into the “Citadel of the Undead” and I’ve done it. To be perfectly sincere, I think that if you listen to it too much they start to get “redundant”. I don’t remember exactly if they “change” the moment you find an enemy, but all in all, it’s fine.
The music you hear when you reach other places, such as cities (e.g Maerglen) reminds me of Expeditions Conquistador. That’s very much a plus. And that song is cute.
2) The game has almost no bug. I was able to play it from start to finish, without particular issues. The only things I’ve found “annoying” was that going to some places the buttons wouldn’t work, but luckily it was only for “secondary” places. For example, load this savegame: [I will send it]
and go to the forbidden Mangrove. The button to go inside the Mangrove won’t work.
3) you've said that the art is AI made and I think it shows. No scenery or npc struck me as particularly beautiful. They were not bad, but there is something missing for my taste.
4) The side quests were fine; I have a few things to note:
5) Balance is fine. I think that if people keep reloading, of course they can say game is easy. Truth be told, I had to grind quite a bit (not a lot, because that would have annoyed me) to ensure my victory (victory being never to restart the game because I died). I was level 16 when I beat the final boss and for a moment I thought I wouldn’t be able to do it.
Now, the suggestions – it will be probably quite a list of them, but that’s because I liked your game and I feel like it should be worth “expanding” it a bit.
9) Do the following items exist?
- Gold chest armor
- Better cloaks than the one giving +1
- The sacred crown of the toad kings gives +1 DEX but also subtracts +1 Dex. Intended ?
- Precious ring of Dex, END, INT
- Diamond Axe, dagger, sword
TL;DR. Game is not bad, play it.
first of all, thanks for your game. I’ve enjoyed it! In fact I was really looking forward to your release, because I kinda like the games where there is a mix between narration and rpg elements.
This is the screenshot you were looking for:
I’ve got many things to say, where to begin? I’m wondering if you will keep working on this game, because I think right now is a 6.5, but it could easily reach a 7, 7 and a half if you added some “refinements”.
Know that I’ve played NO reload, so I just started the game and if I died I would start the game anew.
The number of times I’ve played are two: first try was a failure (I don’t remember what I did wrong); second time I just finished the game.
I will tell you everything in bullets points. There will be a lot, so bear with me. Know that I’ve also read some of your post in the steam forum, so here it is:
1) I enjoyed the music; I thought that some songs did definitely match the “feel” of the game and I would look forward to hearing them. There is a particular track that I think it’s good and it is the one that you can hear inside the dungeon (right now to find the name I went into the “Citadel of the Undead” and I’ve done it. To be perfectly sincere, I think that if you listen to it too much they start to get “redundant”. I don’t remember exactly if they “change” the moment you find an enemy, but all in all, it’s fine.
The music you hear when you reach other places, such as cities (e.g Maerglen) reminds me of Expeditions Conquistador. That’s very much a plus. And that song is cute.
2) The game has almost no bug. I was able to play it from start to finish, without particular issues. The only things I’ve found “annoying” was that going to some places the buttons wouldn’t work, but luckily it was only for “secondary” places. For example, load this savegame: [I will send it]
and go to the forbidden Mangrove. The button to go inside the Mangrove won’t work.
3) you've said that the art is AI made and I think it shows. No scenery or npc struck me as particularly beautiful. They were not bad, but there is something missing for my taste.
4) The side quests were fine; I have a few things to note:
a) You are tasked to remove a bird from a house; there you can actually give the bird “MEAT”. I was not able to find meat anywhere. Is this supposed to be a secondary ending for that “encounter” and does Meat exist?
b) I’ve found a flaming bird in one of the interest points that you get in the map. I gave him fish, nothing happened (no text screen, nothing at all). I escaped the encounter. What did I miss?
c) The alchemist that asks you to drink stuff for him – I lost one endurance point. Was that by chance, or does it always happen like that?
d) the donation text implies you’ve got a chance to be blessed by donating to the temple. Is it true or not?
e) the answer you can give to the witch for the “witch and rain” quest – does it make a difference?
f) In memoriam – it seems you can talk to the monster, but he doesn’t answer; did I miss any content or is the option just there for RP purposes?
g) remembrance’s quest – is there an evil option?
h) You can work for the dungeon master. But do adventurers appear?
i) I could do the “guard the shop” quest only once, and there you needed a lot of luck. Do I remember wrong?
b) I’ve found a flaming bird in one of the interest points that you get in the map. I gave him fish, nothing happened (no text screen, nothing at all). I escaped the encounter. What did I miss?
c) The alchemist that asks you to drink stuff for him – I lost one endurance point. Was that by chance, or does it always happen like that?
d) the donation text implies you’ve got a chance to be blessed by donating to the temple. Is it true or not?
e) the answer you can give to the witch for the “witch and rain” quest – does it make a difference?
f) In memoriam – it seems you can talk to the monster, but he doesn’t answer; did I miss any content or is the option just there for RP purposes?
g) remembrance’s quest – is there an evil option?
h) You can work for the dungeon master. But do adventurers appear?
i) I could do the “guard the shop” quest only once, and there you needed a lot of luck. Do I remember wrong?
5) Balance is fine. I think that if people keep reloading, of course they can say game is easy. Truth be told, I had to grind quite a bit (not a lot, because that would have annoyed me) to ensure my victory (victory being never to restart the game because I died). I was level 16 when I beat the final boss and for a moment I thought I wouldn’t be able to do it.
Now, the suggestions – it will be probably quite a list of them, but that’s because I liked your game and I feel like it should be worth “expanding” it a bit.
6) My first gripe is that there is a missing thread concerning the people that have tried to kill you.
You meet them, they escape. Okay, but where did they go? Also it’s kinda odd that they don’t even show when you do the final siege at the castle. It’s said you went against the king and you were punished for this very reason. But maybe there are others in the order that shared your same idea, that the king is evil, or that the king shouldn’t rule anymore.
In fact I would have loved a secret ending where you were a puppet master, ruler of the order, and actually put a puppet on the throne OR that you changed the order from what it was.
7) There are references about a disease spreading in a village; it would be cool if it was some experiment by the kings to make new undeads. What if the order above was the “maker” of the disease? Maybe the king ordered them to do so. It would be also a cool way to find them.
8) There is a general lack of evil options; people continuously ask from you to give them stuff, but you cannot fool them in any way. And when there are cool options (such as saving the undead queen) it would be cool to use them – for example, what if the undead queen attacked one of the castles ? It would be cool to indirectly kill one of the nobles and also actually raze their castle for riches or artifact.
The dungeon master – what if you could ask his help for something? There is a moment when you’re asked to find an automaton manual. What if you could deliver the Dungeon master the manual? I’m sure he would be a better ally than the merchant guild (especially if he gets to pump out automaton for himself).
What about joining the king if you got a bad karma? If you did evil things, maybe you could help him against the envoy besieging the castle.
Suggestions:
You write in the steam forum that Luck is almost useless. I think luck could be made useful in the following instances:
- get an improvement by drinking the alchemist potion;
- getting a blessing by the Gods when donating to their temple, especially if you donate higher sum; higher sums -> lower luck needed.
- the blue hat giving +6 luck seems a bandaid to avoid people putting points in luck. And it actually clashes with the fact that the guy having the hat just died. I would make luck more useful, rather than this.
- The ring of queen crapulax is pretty good. I would make it a nudge stronger, but also improve the luck needed, rather than just putting the hat on (as I did).
- Luck should also impact on the encounter you have; when it came to bandits, they got strong too fast and even at higher levels I always escaped them because the game text would suggest they were strong – and I risked my life way too much against them.
- I think in the play dishonestly option in the taverns, it should be luck + intelligence.
Qol changes:
- it would be cool if the already selected options could grey out. Useful especially when exploring dungeons. Don’t know how feasible it is.
- It would be cool if after levelling/resting, by checking the map, you could get highlighted interest points for stuff that “generated”. I had to go to the “spot” I would be expecting new content in, rather than the game pointing me something would happen. This gets (unnecessarily) annoying; and it was also needed because I had to grind (and grinding was needed to play no reload).
- it would be cool if after reaching certain levels, merchants and everyone else start selling higher levelled stuff (I’m referring to bystanders that you can ask for items. It’s not that great to find still tier 1 stuff when you are higher levels.
- note that I never bought stuff from alchemist because I was too lazy to actually learn the ingredients. I would prefer if you could simply buy the ingredients for a potion, rather than having to select them one by one and having to remember them (but that’s me being, as I said, lazy)
You meet them, they escape. Okay, but where did they go? Also it’s kinda odd that they don’t even show when you do the final siege at the castle. It’s said you went against the king and you were punished for this very reason. But maybe there are others in the order that shared your same idea, that the king is evil, or that the king shouldn’t rule anymore.
In fact I would have loved a secret ending where you were a puppet master, ruler of the order, and actually put a puppet on the throne OR that you changed the order from what it was.
7) There are references about a disease spreading in a village; it would be cool if it was some experiment by the kings to make new undeads. What if the order above was the “maker” of the disease? Maybe the king ordered them to do so. It would be also a cool way to find them.
8) There is a general lack of evil options; people continuously ask from you to give them stuff, but you cannot fool them in any way. And when there are cool options (such as saving the undead queen) it would be cool to use them – for example, what if the undead queen attacked one of the castles ? It would be cool to indirectly kill one of the nobles and also actually raze their castle for riches or artifact.
The dungeon master – what if you could ask his help for something? There is a moment when you’re asked to find an automaton manual. What if you could deliver the Dungeon master the manual? I’m sure he would be a better ally than the merchant guild (especially if he gets to pump out automaton for himself).
What about joining the king if you got a bad karma? If you did evil things, maybe you could help him against the envoy besieging the castle.
Suggestions:
You write in the steam forum that Luck is almost useless. I think luck could be made useful in the following instances:
- get an improvement by drinking the alchemist potion;
- getting a blessing by the Gods when donating to their temple, especially if you donate higher sum; higher sums -> lower luck needed.
- the blue hat giving +6 luck seems a bandaid to avoid people putting points in luck. And it actually clashes with the fact that the guy having the hat just died. I would make luck more useful, rather than this.
- The ring of queen crapulax is pretty good. I would make it a nudge stronger, but also improve the luck needed, rather than just putting the hat on (as I did).
- Luck should also impact on the encounter you have; when it came to bandits, they got strong too fast and even at higher levels I always escaped them because the game text would suggest they were strong – and I risked my life way too much against them.
- I think in the play dishonestly option in the taverns, it should be luck + intelligence.
Qol changes:
- it would be cool if the already selected options could grey out. Useful especially when exploring dungeons. Don’t know how feasible it is.
- It would be cool if after levelling/resting, by checking the map, you could get highlighted interest points for stuff that “generated”. I had to go to the “spot” I would be expecting new content in, rather than the game pointing me something would happen. This gets (unnecessarily) annoying; and it was also needed because I had to grind (and grinding was needed to play no reload).
- it would be cool if after reaching certain levels, merchants and everyone else start selling higher levelled stuff (I’m referring to bystanders that you can ask for items. It’s not that great to find still tier 1 stuff when you are higher levels.
- note that I never bought stuff from alchemist because I was too lazy to actually learn the ingredients. I would prefer if you could simply buy the ingredients for a potion, rather than having to select them one by one and having to remember them (but that’s me being, as I said, lazy)
9) Do the following items exist?
- Gold chest armor
- Better cloaks than the one giving +1
- The sacred crown of the toad kings gives +1 DEX but also subtracts +1 Dex. Intended ?
- Precious ring of Dex, END, INT
- Diamond Axe, dagger, sword
TL;DR. Game is not bad, play it.
Thank you for your feedback, it means a lot to me! 6.5 (hopefully it's 6.5/10) is quite good IMO, so I consider it positive!
Let's go for the spoiler answers!
About the music, I suggest that you go to see all the Bandcamp of the composers, all their music can be listened for free (all links are clickable): Percidae, Hjartans, Bounce Castle, Alloch Nathir, Kasriel, Erang, Black Rose Tomes, Infernal Symphony, rap2h
- I will make a second post about your suggestions right after this one
- Since your feedback is really accurate and useful, I would be glad if you post it on Steam (if you are comfortable with this), since it could improve game visibility and help players understand the good and bad points of the game
Again thank you see you in a few minutes for the second part!
Let's go for the spoiler answers!
First, congratulation on your stats. You have visited almost everything and done all the quests
About side quests, all my answers will be disappointing. I would have loved to make a better game, there is missing content everywhere and replayability is almost inexistent. Everything you pointed out is legit and is just "missing". Otherwise, it would have been too long to develop. Even a small "fetch" bland side-quest took me 8 hours to develop. Since I make this game for 6 months on my spare time (500+ hours total), I cut content everywhere, the project was way more ambitious.
No secondary ending
About side quests, all my answers will be disappointing. I would have loved to make a better game, there is missing content everywhere and replayability is almost inexistent. Everything you pointed out is legit and is just "missing". Otherwise, it would have been too long to develop. Even a small "fetch" bland side-quest took me 8 hours to develop. Since I make this game for 6 months on my spare time (500+ hours total), I cut content everywhere, the project was way more ambitious.
No secondary ending
I may have missed finishing this almost hidden part (the flaming bird is a kind of an easter egg, asked by a player on discord)
No :'( :'(
No
Noooooo
No, missing content
No. this quest has been written by an actual writer, I hope you liked it!
No.
Yes, you need a lot of luck if you want to loot the shop. It may be possible to win by equipping luck items.
About the music, I suggest that you go to see all the Bandcamp of the composers, all their music can be listened for free (all links are clickable): Percidae, Hjartans, Bounce Castle, Alloch Nathir, Kasriel, Erang, Black Rose Tomes, Infernal Symphony, rap2h
- I will make a second post about your suggestions right after this one
- Since your feedback is really accurate and useful, I would be glad if you post it on Steam (if you are comfortable with this), since it could improve game visibility and help players understand the good and bad points of the game
Again thank you see you in a few minutes for the second part!
Interlude:
- Gold chest armor
YES
- Better cloaks than the one giving +1
NO
- The sacred crown of the toad kings gives +1 DEX but also subtracts +1 Dex. Intended ?
YES, it remove 1 dex all the time and adds 1 dex during combat)
- Precious ring of Dex, END, INT
YES, but rare
- Diamond Axe, dagger, sword
Yes, but ultra rare. A friend just got a diamond axe from a traveling merchant.
YES
- Better cloaks than the one giving +1
NO
- The sacred crown of the toad kings gives +1 DEX but also subtracts +1 Dex. Intended ?
YES, it remove 1 dex all the time and adds 1 dex during combat)
- Precious ring of Dex, END, INT
YES, but rare
- Diamond Axe, dagger, sword
Yes, but ultra rare. A friend just got a diamond axe from a traveling merchant.
Last (and longer) part
- you can loot the 3 castles.
- you can help guards to beat two poor children
- you can laugh when giving a letter to a woman whose dad is dead
- you can tell a child that his father is still alive and get cookies for your lie
Also, the undead queen not attacking the village is also missing content that I would have loved to add
Suggestions:
You write in the steam forum that Luck is almost useless. I think luck could be made useful in the following instances:
Qol changes:
Again thank you for all your feedback. I keep them and will maybe consider some in an update (it's a small game with no budget and few players, and it is almost invisible on Steam, so updates may or may not be released, sorry about this). Anyway, if I include some of your suggestion, I have nothing to offer but your name in the credits. What name do you want?
Thank you Anomander Rake !!
I love this idea!
It's an aborted idea. It was one of the first thing I wrote as a placeholder when prototyping the game.
There is a lack of evil options, you are right. Some examples you may have miss, just in case:
- you can loot the 3 castles.
- you can help guards to beat two poor children
- you can laugh when giving a letter to a woman whose dad is dead
- you can tell a child that his father is still alive and get cookies for your lie
Also, the undead queen not attacking the village is also missing content that I would have loved to add
I love this idea :D :D
Nice alternative end, you become the grand-vizir of the evil lord! I also thought about an "I don't care at all" premature ending when you leave the country during the war.
Suggestions:
You write in the steam forum that Luck is almost useless. I think luck could be made useful in the following instances:
Super cool!
Cool but do gods exist?
This part is a tribute to might and magic 6
Yes, there is no "double" test options, nor skill+test. And I feel it would have been better (like: intelligence test + perception skill)
Qol changes:
It could be feasible, still I consider it OK to just been (a bit) lost (since it's hard to create big dungeons that you can go in and out with a text-based game).
Yes, I guess you mean about the swamps where it just tells the player: "go back another day"
The traveling merchant actually sells better stuff late in the game (still random). Another missing part is that I would have loved to make diverse towns, with some towns having high-level alchemists, some other high-level weapons, and so on. And you could have asked random people about where to find the better alchemist, etc. Again, lack of time.
ok :D
Again thank you for all your feedback. I keep them and will maybe consider some in an update (it's a small game with no budget and few players, and it is almost invisible on Steam, so updates may or may not be released, sorry about this). Anyway, if I include some of your suggestion, I have nothing to offer but your name in the credits. What name do you want?
Thank you Anomander Rake !!
gamerguy
Educated
- Joined
- Feb 10, 2023
- Messages
- 165
Time flies, the game has been released one month ago
Steam requires 1 more review to reach the magic 50 reviews number that turns "Positive" to "Very Positive". If you played the game and enjoyed it, it could really help the game to write a review!
Steam requires 1 more review to reach the magic 50 reviews number that turns "Positive" to "Very Positive". If you played the game and enjoyed it, it could really help the game to write a review!
Anyway, next game will be different from the previous one.
Heroes of The Seven Islands - A (poorly) hand-drawn tribute to classic Role-Playing Video Games and Comic Albums - available in 10-12 months on Steam
I don't know where to post it on these forums
EDIT: IMGUR seems better for embedded video
Heroes of The Seven Islands - A (poorly) hand-drawn tribute to classic Role-Playing Video Games and Comic Albums - available in 10-12 months on Steam
I don't know where to post it on these forums
EDIT: IMGUR seems better for embedded video
Last edited:
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