Others here have said all I could say about the mechanics, and much more eloquently. I'd just like to add, I love the visuals, and the strange little world that the dev is creating here. I really hope it gets updated!
This with some multiplayer would be so fun to bring around! I've been having a ton of fun playing this and actually enjoy the more quiet tone of things, it'd be cute to have some minor ambience to zones instead of music though! I also like the idea that like, people actually do stick to the rules of the game despite it not being a pokemon type deal where they are sorta at the mercy of explosive dogs or flaming birds if they lose, like there's no actual risk if a city punk didn't hold up his end of the deal on a loss but he's like "Well it wouldn't be cool of me so I better stick to the honor system" lol
What a massive improvement over BDP! And I LOVE BDP! The battle mechanics are so much smoother! The underground gang is such a fun way to start! The train is so cool! That's as far as I've got just yet but I want to play all of it!
I'm sure you're working on building more content and smoothing out the content you've got already. If you're looking for suggestions:
The constantly moving sprites are a bit odd at first. I didn't notice them after a bit, but when the game first started it struck me. I don't know what your code looks like at all, but maybe the sprite animation taking place only when the sprite's speed is > 0? Idk. I'm firing blind there.
The face switching mechanic took me a bit to figure out. I think if I hadn't already played BDP I might have assumed you couldn't use the new faces yet, because I tried all sorts of buttons in the menu before I sorted out you had to have the cursor on the face you wanted to add instead of the face you wanted to replace. Not sure what the answer is there. Realized I was being dense by the time I figured it out, but just pointing out it took some experimenting.
Same topic: I think the stock would be easier to use and may give a greater sense of mystery/discovery for the player if it started with only faces that you own (or have previously owned) and new faces were added to the stock page once you pick up that new face. Or maybe they're all greyed out or something until you've found one.
One more stock menu suggestion: Categories would make that easier to navigate. Instead of scrolling through each iteration of the attack face, just have 1, and maybe an icon showing how many attack faces you have in that "box." Select it to open and then you can scroll though the different levels of attack faces?
Last one: The two different buttons to fast print text and skip text entirely was a bit awkward (to me). I'd vote for either instant print all text and have a skip button, or instant print and then skip with the same button.
Sorry for the book. I absolutely LOVE what you've got here. Hope the suggestions come across as constructive. This project is flippin' amazing! No lie! Good luck! Looking forward to buying it!
Alright I've got to highlight some more stuff I'm seeing that I love.
The movement being grid-based instead of being just free-movement is *chef's kiss*! I love tapping left and the character moves all the way over to the next square instead of just moving over a pixel or two. Such a great feature!
The taller obstacles in the map feel so smooth. Street lights for example. Being able to walk behind them, the transparency for their sprite. With a shadow below it. It's just so well done!
I mentioned the train feeling so cool. Roll City's Plaza with the cars driving under the walkway- it's visually such good story-telling and scene-setting!
And the battle mechanics all fit together so smoothly. So well though-out. I loved when I used the vampire face on a poisoned enemy that I actually took damage instead of healed! Balanced the mechanic out and just made good sense.
And the 25 turn limit fixed the ongoing battle issue in BDP. Simple, clear and more fun.
Thanks so much for all the feedback :) let me know your thoughts after you complete Roll City's content.
I think switching to have the text draw instantly might be worth doing, tbh. That would also prevent overflow issues, which can be seen by skipping unfinished dialogue too quickly...
Also, I did think about obfuscating undiscovered faces (I do this in BUMPERS & BROADSWORDS MAXIMUM) but that would be easier to do if I'd planned on it from the start (just because faking array style data is soooo much easier if you use all the memory addresses at the start). At least you can hold Up/Down to keep scrolling :P that wasn't a feature for quite a while...
I am still floored how good the visuals and overall feel of the game is!
One thing that stood out to me on a second playthrough was that there's not a good indication that battling does anything for you. I mean, it's fun to battle, which at the end of the day should be enough when playing a game. But there's no XP, or money or anything. Not sure you want to introduce that sort of mechanic, but something that helps the player feel like they've progressed even when they stop to battle someone on the train or in the city they could otherwise walk past might be fun. Personally it entices me to hunt for fights rather than view them as obstacles.
You do such a good job story-telling. Your dialogues feel good and meaningful without being cheesy. Props!
Great game i really love it but after some research i found out that there is a dice batte paradise i love you games and i really hope you can respond because i really wanna play it
This is amazing so far!! My only "complaint" is that you can't make the dialogue in a text box show up instantly without skipping it. I'd love to see a patch that fixes this! <3
By all means, such an amazing game!!!! You did all of this in GB Studio? That is an insane feat. And shows what that little engine is capable of. This looks sooo cool too. I look forward to seeing more of your games!
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Others here have said all I could say about the mechanics, and much more eloquently. I'd just like to add, I love the visuals, and the strange little world that the dev is creating here. I really hope it gets updated!
This with some multiplayer would be so fun to bring around! I've been having a ton of fun playing this and actually enjoy the more quiet tone of things, it'd be cute to have some minor ambience to zones instead of music though!
I also like the idea that like, people actually do stick to the rules of the game despite it not being a pokemon type deal where they are sorta at the mercy of explosive dogs or flaming birds if they lose, like there's no actual risk if a city punk didn't hold up his end of the deal on a loss but he's like "Well it wouldn't be cool of me so I better stick to the honor system" lol
LETS GO GAMBILING BUT IN POKEMON AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Made a video
What a massive improvement over BDP! And I LOVE BDP! The battle mechanics are so much smoother! The underground gang is such a fun way to start! The train is so cool! That's as far as I've got just yet but I want to play all of it!
I'm sure you're working on building more content and smoothing out the content you've got already. If you're looking for suggestions:
The constantly moving sprites are a bit odd at first. I didn't notice them after a bit, but when the game first started it struck me. I don't know what your code looks like at all, but maybe the sprite animation taking place only when the sprite's speed is > 0? Idk. I'm firing blind there.
The face switching mechanic took me a bit to figure out. I think if I hadn't already played BDP I might have assumed you couldn't use the new faces yet, because I tried all sorts of buttons in the menu before I sorted out you had to have the cursor on the face you wanted to add instead of the face you wanted to replace. Not sure what the answer is there. Realized I was being dense by the time I figured it out, but just pointing out it took some experimenting.
Same topic: I think the stock would be easier to use and may give a greater sense of mystery/discovery for the player if it started with only faces that you own (or have previously owned) and new faces were added to the stock page once you pick up that new face. Or maybe they're all greyed out or something until you've found one.
One more stock menu suggestion: Categories would make that easier to navigate. Instead of scrolling through each iteration of the attack face, just have 1, and maybe an icon showing how many attack faces you have in that "box." Select it to open and then you can scroll though the different levels of attack faces?
Last one: The two different buttons to fast print text and skip text entirely was a bit awkward (to me). I'd vote for either instant print all text and have a skip button, or instant print and then skip with the same button.
Sorry for the book. I absolutely LOVE what you've got here. Hope the suggestions come across as constructive. This project is flippin' amazing! No lie! Good luck! Looking forward to buying it!
Alright I've got to highlight some more stuff I'm seeing that I love.
The movement being grid-based instead of being just free-movement is *chef's kiss*! I love tapping left and the character moves all the way over to the next square instead of just moving over a pixel or two. Such a great feature!
The taller obstacles in the map feel so smooth. Street lights for example. Being able to walk behind them, the transparency for their sprite. With a shadow below it. It's just so well done!
I mentioned the train feeling so cool. Roll City's Plaza with the cars driving under the walkway- it's visually such good story-telling and scene-setting!
And the battle mechanics all fit together so smoothly. So well though-out. I loved when I used the vampire face on a poisoned enemy that I actually took damage instead of healed! Balanced the mechanic out and just made good sense.
And the 25 turn limit fixed the ongoing battle issue in BDP. Simple, clear and more fun.
I can't get over how good this is
Thanks so much for all the feedback :) let me know your thoughts after you complete Roll City's content.
I think switching to have the text draw instantly might be worth doing, tbh. That would also prevent overflow issues, which can be seen by skipping unfinished dialogue too quickly...
Also, I did think about obfuscating undiscovered faces (I do this in BUMPERS & BROADSWORDS MAXIMUM) but that would be easier to do if I'd planned on it from the start (just because faking array style data is soooo much easier if you use all the memory addresses at the start). At least you can hold Up/Down to keep scrolling :P that wasn't a feature for quite a while...
Thoughts after completing the demo on my GBA.
I am still floored how good the visuals and overall feel of the game is!
One thing that stood out to me on a second playthrough was that there's not a good indication that battling does anything for you. I mean, it's fun to battle, which at the end of the day should be enough when playing a game. But there's no XP, or money or anything. Not sure you want to introduce that sort of mechanic, but something that helps the player feel like they've progressed even when they stop to battle someone on the train or in the city they could otherwise walk past might be fun. Personally it entices me to hunt for fights rather than view them as obstacles.
You do such a good job story-telling. Your dialogues feel good and meaningful without being cheesy. Props!
Great game i really love it but after some research i found out that there is a dice batte paradise i love you games and i really hope you can respond because i really wanna play it
This is amazing so far!! My only "complaint" is that you can't make the dialogue in a text box show up instantly without skipping it. I'd love to see a patch that fixes this! <3
I think you should be able to press B to make the current dialogue instantly complete, then only the A button will skip to the next
Ah I see! Well then, no complaints at all here ^-^
Looking forward to the next update!!
Hello! Really liked this game, so I featured it on my site with some other Indie gems! Keep up the good work! https://erikhoudini.com/the_crypt/arcade/
By all means, such an amazing game!!!! You did all of this in GB Studio? That is an insane feat. And shows what that little engine is capable of. This looks sooo cool too. I look forward to seeing more of your games!
what a nice mechanic that if you use life steal and the enemy is poisoned you loose life
Inspired by Pokémon and its Liquid Ooze ability ;)
Wow! Battle Dice Paradise was great but this looks so amazing 😍
Awesome possum! I am "Dice"-ing to play the full version! 🥰