KickStarter Vampire Syndicate: Gangs of MoonFall

[Demo.Graph]

The whole thing is held together with spaghetti code and chewing gum, but I think I'm finally finished.

No, you are not.
Now spend the same amount of time to clean your code.
Combat would likely be the core of your game loop. You have no right to ship shit here.

 

[Tyranicon]

The whole thing is held together with spaghetti code and chewing gum, but I think I'm finally finished.

No, you are not.
Now spend the same amount of time to clean your code.
Combat would likely be the core of your game loop. You have no right to ship shit here.

I'm not saying you're wrong. You're very right.

But I barely know what I'm doing and the entire thing is running on an outdated version of RPGmaker, so your standards for organized code are not going to be recognized here.

That being said, it should be pretty stable and any crashes will be because of the engine itself, which I can't tinker with whether I want to or not (legally).

 

[Tyranicon]

I don't know if this is an absolutely boneheaded move, but I think initiative will be governed by max Action Points (AP).

It makes sense: AP is a measure of your action speed, AP can be increased through skill tree/installing augments, and AP is intended to be the most powerful resource.

I'm excited to balance the classes around this. This entire game is one stupid experiment in many ways. Also movement isn't bound to AP but is a separate pool.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

I don't know if this is an absolutely boneheaded move, but I think initiative will be governed by max Action Points (AP).

It makes sense: AP is a measure of your action speed, AP can be increased through skill tree/installing augments, and AP is intended to be the most powerful resource.

I'm excited to balance the classes around this. This entire game is one stupid experiment in many ways. Also movement isn't bound to AP but is a separate pool.

Only other game I recall were Movement was separate from AP was Omerta: City of gangsters. Mentally proficient char(I.e. more smarts and cunning) had more AP, physically proficient dudes had more movement point. I suppose you're tying movement to Athleticism here though?

 

[Lord_Potato]

I don't know if this is an absolutely boneheaded move, but I think initiative will be governed by max Action Points (AP).

Won't it make stat that governs both APs and initiative massively overpowered? Or these are perhaps derived from several primary stats?

It makes sense: AP is a measure of your action speed, AP can be increased through skill tree/installing augments, and AP is intended to be the most powerful resource.

It makes sense, but...

I'm excited to balance the classes around this. This entire game is one stupid experiment in many ways. Also movement isn't bound to AP but is a separate pool.

...but then why separate movement fron action points? After all, movement is also dependant on speed. I know Underrail did that, probably due to balance issues, but this solution does cast your logical connection between APs, initiative and speed out of the window.

 

[Tyranicon]

Movement is separated from AP mostly for practical reasons: I hate having to waste most of my AP on melee characters simply getting them in position to attack. Logically, how fast you run isn't really tied to how many actions you can take per turn, so tying movement to AP is mostly a balance issue.

AP is also its own stat, entirely separate just like HP and Guard (Defense). The core Attributes don't do the D&D thing of influencing stats directly, but they will still come into play on how players can upgrade certain things.

Everything that has a stat can be upgraded, including stuff like critical chance and crit damage, AP pool, etc.

 

[Harthwain]

Movement is separated from AP mostly for practical reasons:

If you have separate movement and action, then I'd suggest using movement as baseline for initative, not action. That way you won't make action stat overpowered and you will simulate somebody's ability to be fast and make use of their potentially more limited action points to gain the upper hand by making smart use of their positioning.

 

[Tyranicon]

Movement is separated from AP mostly for practical reasons:

If you have separate movement and action, then I'd suggest using movement as baseline for initative, not action. That way you won't make action stat overpowered and you will simulate somebody's ability to be fast and make use of their potentially more limited action points to gain the upper hand by making smart use of their positioning.

That was the other alternative I'm thinking of.

I'll have to experiment in-game to see which one feels better.

 

[Tyranicon]

Updated combat tutorial screenshot. Very basic stuff for now.

debug move speed so I can hack and have my characters run all around the map lol.

 

[Harthwain]

Updated combat tutorial screenshot. Very basic stuff for now.

Not going to lie, I like the visuals very much.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Updated combat tutorial screenshot. Very basic stuff for now.

Not going to lie, I like the visuals very much.

Same. Leagues better than the sprites.

 

[NecroLord]

Updated combat tutorial screenshot. Very basic stuff for now.

debug move speed so I can hack and have my characters run all around the map lol.

Looks pretty dope, my man.

 

[Tyranicon]

New version of demo is now available: https://amemoryofeternity.itch.io/vampire-syndicate-gangs-of-moonfall

Added the combat tutorial. It's very basic, pretty short, not balanced and is using placeholders, so don't expect something too mind blowing.

Would appreciate your thoughts.

 

[Peachcurl]

Looks good. Some issues I noticed:
- dialog selection markers still look a bit unclear (is the upper or lower item selected?)
- maybe add a text prompt after ending turn? something like "click/enter to end turn".
- some text to explain initial placement may be necessary in the tutorial (like the double click, right click...)
- the "double-zoom" at the beginning of the fight (if intentional) feels a bit weird to me... maybe do something like a fade-in instead?
- needs animation speed setting, or the ability to skip animated movements entirely.
- is it possible to have stationary camera, instead of following characters/selection?

 

[Tyranicon]

Looks good. Some issues I noticed:
- dialog selection markers still look a bit unclear (is the upper or lower item selected?)
- maybe add a text prompt after ending turn? something like "click/enter to end turn".
- some text to explain initial placement may be necessary in the tutorial (like the double click, right click...)
- the "double-zoom" at the beginning of the fight (if intentional) feels a bit weird to me... maybe do something like a fade-in instead?
- needs animation speed setting, or the ability to skip animated movements entirely.
- is it possible to have stationary camera, instead of following characters/selection?

Thanks for the comments. I'll definitely polish up some things as development continues, and add more options.

Right now I'm focused on big picture things, the next big hurdle will be the so-called "vertical slice."

For this, it'll mean a story mission with lots of dialogue, c&c and combat.

 

[EvilWolf]

The music is really good, my only gripes would be, as Peachcurl alluded to, more visual feedback on facing selection at the end of a turn instead of just the arrow, and smoother action selection to target selection: it seemed that I had to double click to get certain actions to initiate.

 

[Demo.Graph]

Tyranicon, how are you going to implement "A thinking opponent"?

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Tyranicon, how are you going to implement "A thinking opponent"?

Train Chatgpt to play the game and turn it into an always online thing.

 

[BruceVC]

Looks good. Some issues I noticed:
- dialog selection markers still look a bit unclear (is the upper or lower item selected?)
- maybe add a text prompt after ending turn? something like "click/enter to end turn".
- some text to explain initial placement may be necessary in the tutorial (like the double click, right click...)
- the "double-zoom" at the beginning of the fight (if intentional) feels a bit weird to me... maybe do something like a fade-in instead?
- needs animation speed setting, or the ability to skip animated movements entirely.
- is it possible to have stationary camera, instead of following characters/selection?

Thanks for the comments. I'll definitely polish up some things as development continues, and add more options.

Right now I'm focused on big picture things, the next big hurdle will be the so-called "vertical slice."

For this, it'll mean a story mission with lots of dialogue, c&c and combat.

Tyr I have an arbitrary question, a while ago you posted some images of Vampires and there was really hot Egyptian vampiress, I think she was Egyptian?

Is she a character or NPC in the narrative or was that just art?

 

[EvilWolf]

Looks good. Some issues I noticed:
- dialog selection markers still look a bit unclear (is the upper or lower item selected?)
- maybe add a text prompt after ending turn? something like "click/enter to end turn".
- some text to explain initial placement may be necessary in the tutorial (like the double click, right click...)
- the "double-zoom" at the beginning of the fight (if intentional) feels a bit weird to me... maybe do something like a fade-in instead?
- needs animation speed setting, or the ability to skip animated movements entirely.
- is it possible to have stationary camera, instead of following characters/selection?

Thanks for the comments. I'll definitely polish up some things as development continues, and add more options.

Right now I'm focused on big picture things, the next big hurdle will be the so-called "vertical slice."

For this, it'll mean a story mission with lots of dialogue, c&c and combat.

Tyr I have an arbitrary question, a while ago you posted some images of Vampires and there was really hot Egyptian vampiress, I think she was Egyptian?

Is she a character or NPC in the narrative or was that just art?

It's a specific Egyptian-esque faction. He mentions them somewhere in the thread.

 

[Tyranicon]

Tyranicon, how are you going to implement "A thinking opponent"?

It's still up in the air. I've been talking with more experienced programmers about including a so-called "AI" model in the game, but more than likely I will write a rudimentary AI that's powered by scripts rather than any kind of real learning ability.

Like most things in this game, it will probably be handmade.

Looks good. Some issues I noticed:
- dialog selection markers still look a bit unclear (is the upper or lower item selected?)
- maybe add a text prompt after ending turn? something like "click/enter to end turn".
- some text to explain initial placement may be necessary in the tutorial (like the double click, right click...)
- the "double-zoom" at the beginning of the fight (if intentional) feels a bit weird to me... maybe do something like a fade-in instead?
- needs animation speed setting, or the ability to skip animated movements entirely.
- is it possible to have stationary camera, instead of following characters/selection?

Thanks for the comments. I'll definitely polish up some things as development continues, and add more options.

Right now I'm focused on big picture things, the next big hurdle will be the so-called "vertical slice."

For this, it'll mean a story mission with lots of dialogue, c&c and combat.

Tyr I have an arbitrary question, a while ago you posted some images of Vampires and there was really hot Egyptian vampiress, I think she was Egyptian?

Is she a character or NPC in the narrative or was that just art?

Yup, Queen Khepri is a major character. She's the Matriarch of the Sunseeker Court, the only woman-led vampire lineage (unless I add the spider-themed faction that I want to later).

large image

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Tyranicon, how are you going to implement "A thinking opponent"?

It's still up in the air. I've been talking with more experienced programmers about including a so-called "AI" model in the game, but more than likely I will write a rudimentary AI that's powered by scripts rather than any kind of real learning ability.

Like most things in this game, it will probably be handmade.

Looks good. Some issues I noticed:
- dialog selection markers still look a bit unclear (is the upper or lower item selected?)
- maybe add a text prompt after ending turn? something like "click/enter to end turn".
- some text to explain initial placement may be necessary in the tutorial (like the double click, right click...)
- the "double-zoom" at the beginning of the fight (if intentional) feels a bit weird to me... maybe do something like a fade-in instead?
- needs animation speed setting, or the ability to skip animated movements entirely.
- is it possible to have stationary camera, instead of following characters/selection?

Thanks for the comments. I'll definitely polish up some things as development continues, and add more options.

Right now I'm focused on big picture things, the next big hurdle will be the so-called "vertical slice."

For this, it'll mean a story mission with lots of dialogue, c&c and combat.

Tyr I have an arbitrary question, a while ago you posted some images of Vampires and there was really hot Egyptian vampiress, I think she was Egyptian?

Is she a character or NPC in the narrative or was that just art?

Yup, Queen Khepri is a major character. She's the Matriarch of the Sunseeker Court, the only woman-led vampire lineage (unless I add the spider-themed faction that I want to later).

large image

Give redheads pl0x

 

[RaggleFraggle]

Spider vampires would be neat

 

[Peachcurl]

Give redheads pl0x

Spider vampires would be neat

Someone asked what happened to her hair. Needless to say, those red dots in her face are not freckles.

(note: fan fiction by stable diffusion :p )

 

[Tyranicon]

Demo is now also on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1833570/Vampire_Syndicate_Gangs_of_MoonFall/