[LibGDX] Mischieviots: A light-hearted turn-based 2D RPG (Download Available!)

WIP games, tools & toy projects
#1

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Hi everyone,

I’m recently new to these forums and want to share the project I’ve been working on; so hopefully it’s not too soon.

Below is pretty much my “media content” that I use to share in other sites, so if you find it’s too long winded and want something shorter or more technical, just let me know.

Thanks!

Synopsis

Follow the adventures of our not-so-heroic band of misfits in their travels around the world as they get themselves into (and out of) various kinds of mischievous and sometimes idiotic adventures!

First adventure: “The Gathering”

This is their first great adventure. It places our friends scattered all over the place and most have not yet met each other. Our “hero” finds himself being pushed toward helping out his town, since everyone else has run away or is hiding. With nothing more than pure dumb luck at his side, he decides to accept the quest and heads out into the world !

This is a complete mini-adventure containing about 2 hours worth of game play and comes to a conclusion after fighting the “final boss” at the end. You can rush to the end and get there sooner, but will likely find the fight difficult if not around level 8+ by the time you get there.

The adventure contains a single home town, forest and two interconnected caves. Each new map you visit introduces some new monsters, each being a bit tougher than the one’s prior.

The forest and first cave maps each have 15 chests hidden within them giving you all kinds of free loot! The second cave contains a small puzzle to solve and then finally the “final boss”. You can find a Vendor and Inn within the town where you can buy supplies and rest any time needed.

Download and play!
Right now you can download this for Windows (64-bit), Linux (64 bit) and Mac. Both the Linux and Mac versions have only been lightly tested, so let me know if you run into any issues with them.

Android and iOS ports are also being provided, but for now I wanted to limit platform exposure while I work out any final kinks.

You can get started here:
http://www.netprogs.com/getting-started/

Video’s and GIF’s

Lots more pictures can be found here also: http://www.netprogs.com/gallery/

First attempt at a trailer

-UkSlJW9LoI

Recent Combat Video

jnBkRhcMIhY

Getting caught cheating

http://www.netprogs.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/tavern_throw.gif(image larger than 102400KB)

When saving someone doesn’t quite work out:

http://www.netprogs.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/save_amazon.gif(image larger than 102400KB)

Some techy stuff

Mischieviots is a hobbyist Turn-Based 2D RPG project I’ve been working on part time for over two years. The majority of that time was spent building the “RPG engine” for it and has been written to allow future adventures to be created without too much additional coding effort and potentially allow for future player modding. In the last few months I turned focus onto making this first mini-adventure to show off all the major parts of the engine and provide a “proof of concept” for the larger adventure I want to work on next.

It is written in Java using LibGDX and will be made available on Windows, Linux to start with. I can also provide an unsigned OSX application bundle for those willing to give it special permissions to run. I will be releasing on Android (and later iOS) shortly also since it was designed to allow for all platforms to be used but want to limit OS exposure to start off with.

For now I’m running a closed alpha testing phase through GameJolt so if you are interested in trying it out, please let me know. If you don’t want to go through that site, still let me know, we can make other arrangements also.

I’m also hoping to have a free public release available sometime mid-december (pending a few things like additional sound effects).

Development Updates

I’ll update this post any time something visually new/fun is added to the game or any major changes. I make weekly developer note entries on my own site, but those don’t tend to be overly “flashy” and lean more toward technical changes made. If you are interested in reading them though, feel free to check them out each week on the Developer Website or follow me on Twitter.

I also post yearly wrap up blog posts covering all kinds of things I ran into during development of those years. If you’re interested, you can read more about them here: First Year, Second Year and Third Year.

Hope you enjoy!

Key features

Here are some of the key features currently available. Most of these will be expanded upon after “The Gathering” is released and I start working on the larger “epic” adventure that is being planned next.

  • 6 playable characters with 6 more planned in the near future.
  • Currently there are 10 levels of equipment, weapons, items, orbs and spells available to play and the planned cap will be level 50.
  • Currently there are 10 various types of monsters for you to defeat in the mini-adventure. (not including the 50 “little animals” wandering around the world map). There is planned to be over 70 different monsters in total.
  • Currently there are 20 different spells available with tons more planned out.
  • Currently each character has one special attack available at level 4. There are many more being planned out for additional levels.
  • Defensive options can be used during combat also. Most characters will also have custom one’s as they reach higher levels.
  • Quest journal to help you keep track of where you’ve been and where to go next.
  • Random and Strategic monster encounters. Random encounters are initiated through “spawns” which you can choose to walk up to or ignore. You can also make encounters immediately go into battle instead through the game options.
  • Mana regeneration. It will regenerate at a rate based upon remaining Mana; the lower your remaining Mana, the slower it will regenerate. So, if you don’t manage it properly, you might have to wait for it to regenerate over several turns!
  • You are able to save the game anytime you’re not in combat; allowing you to play as little or as long as you wish and pick up exactly where you left off.
  • Multiple profiles. Shared computer/device? You don’t have to worry about that “other person” using your save file by accident; give them their own profile separate from your own.
  • Orb crafting allowing you to customize your characters.
  • Scroll crafting allowing you to customize your character spell books.
  • Customized “quick access” window that allows you to set up any of your favorite items (potions etc) for easier access to them. This helps you spend less time looking through your pack for these over and over again.
  • Turn-based combat system with two style options (active and strict turned based)
    • Strict: Each character/monster will take their turns one at a time. (default)
    • Active: Any time a character/monster is ready/able to take a turn, they will.
  • Multiple adventure support will allow us to create as many mini/main/side adventures as we want in the future.
  • Currently you are able to use our small “save service” to allow you to share game files across multiple devices.
#2

Hello! Welcome to the JGO forums.

To embed a video, you can grab the YouTube ID from the link and place it like this:
idGoesHere[/youtube ]. (Take out the empty space)

Example using your combat video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v= jnBkRhcMIhY

ID: jnBkRhcMIhY --> [youtube] jnBkRhcMIhY[/youtube ] -->

[youtube]jnBkRhcMIhY

Your project is coming along very nicely! After reading your first and second yearly wrap-ups, it is quite clear how much effort you have put into this. The technical bits and pieces of projects are my favorite parts. Keep up the excellent work. :slight_smile:

#3

Thanks for the help on the video’s, they work perfectly now.

Glad to see you enjoyed the yearly wrap-up blogs and thanks for the compliments!

#4

This looks brilliant, well done!

#5

This looks amazing… how big is your team?

2 years in? is that full time work? or a casual project?

I’m seriously impressed… this is the type of project that is how I would see the project I’m working on in my mind, and you got something that looks as good as the best on the iTunes / google store.

I’m not just jerking your chain here…

#6

Thanks!

Thanks also for the compliments!

I have a several friends/family that toss in random idea’s and help out with play-testing, but all the development is just me up to this point. I hired/purchased artwork/music/sounds from several Indie artists, but the animations of the characters were all done by me (which was a lot of fun learning).

I work full time in another Java development job so this is mostly a hobby project that I wanted to make for fun/learning purposes. I work on it mostly during evenings and weekends but sadly sometimes not much at all for some weeks. I must admit though, I’ve long since lost track of “actual” time spent :slight_smile:

#7

Thanks for the reply.

For me, I’m still aiming somewhat smaller, thinking along the lines of like ninja gaiden… but it does give me hope to see small teams (or individuals) being able to produce something of a quality that you might think it was the efforts of one of those bigger / more established studios. (That said, I’m still at a point where I’d be embarrassed to put my project on WIP)

I understand that pain of learning to draw, I’m quite terrible myself, and could see myself having to follow a similar path as far as that goes.

Same as far as keeping game stuff as more of a part-time / hobby than a full-time venture, it’s shocking how easily simple elements added to the game can soak up whole months of real time when it only really reflects what could be done in a day if that were the dedicated job, but for whatever the reason my landlord wouldn’t let me slide on rent for the many months / years it would take to dedicate to have something that would have a reasonable chance at being successful.

Keep up the good work, seeing this type of venture is a true inspiration for many, and shows what can be accomplished given the appropriate time and effort.

#8

I’m not sure what kinds of things everyone would be interested in seeing, so I’m posting today some details of the updates I’ve made recently. If you’d like to see more of a “change log” posting, let me know as I do make those on my game site each week, but could also post them here if people are interested in reading those details too.

Updated Experience Window

After some feedback from players, it was observed that most didn’t even realize that the window displayed post-combat showing their experience also allowed them to review what benefits a character gets should they level up on that last battle.

Previously you had to click on their “panel” that showed the character and it would open up a separate window with details, but it was never made obvious that this could be done; so many people missed it.

I’ve now updated that window to better show all characters in one look (no more scrolling needed) and also made it more obvious that you can now step into a separate window to review details on a level up.

Here’s what the new experience window looks like:

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Updated status messages

Previously when characters are under the effect of longer term spells such as confusion, slow etc their name in their console would switch in/out with that affliction until it goes away.

I’ve now added in a small icon beside their name/affliction to show it full time regardless of the rotation of name/affliction. I’ve also added a small number over the icon to indicate how many turns (if applicable) that effect has remaining and then sort by that number from highest to lowest.

Due to space limitations though there will only ever be a maximum of 4 shown and any additional messages/icons will be displayed as the oldest are expired/removed.

Not all spells will end up in this list as some of them are designed to be “secret” making the player have to figure out how they work.

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Spell Updates: Reflect & Bounce

Originally the two spells bounce and reflect were using the same animation which sometimes made things confusing. With that, neither of them had any indication that they were currently active either.

I’ve recently added in overhead icons for both these spells and although they are still using the same animation, each one was given a separate color so you can determine which one is which just by a visual check.

There were also several bugs that seemed to sneak their way in over time since the original creation of these two spells and I had to spend some time this week working them out. I believe I’ve since resolved all the problems though and have created a couple of GIF’s showing off their new visuals.

Reflect: Causes all spells cast upon the target to be reflected back upon the caster instead.

http://www.netprogs.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Spell_Reflect.gif(image larger than 102400KB)

Bounce: The counter-attack against Reflect. This allows you to “bounce” spells off an ally and bypass reflect above. A secondary result of this also allows you to bypass other “reactive” spells such as Shell on the targets also!

http://www.netprogs.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Spell_Bounce.gif(image larger than 102400KB)

#9

Introducing Tutorials

I’ve decided that now things have pretty much stabilized in the UI that it was a good time to look into making some kind of tutorial system. I was originally thinking of making a simple set of web pages that would describe everything (and I might still) but figured having something in game would be more beneficial.

I’ve now added in a new NPC in the town that will help player “train” through various features of the game. For now I’ve just focused on combat, but will be adding in crafting later this week and add more if other area’s need it.

When you first meet the NPC, if you don’t have any friends with you yet, he’s not overly keen:

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Later though, once you’ve picked up your Amazon friend, he’s a bit more chatty:

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If you choose to step into his combat tutorial, he’ll start up a fight with some of his pets and step you through some of the basic combat steps: Attacking, Casting (heals), Defense, Skipping turn and finally running away from a fight. Each of these are step-by-step and give you time to try each one out before moving onto the next. At any point during the tutorial, you can go back and try a previous step.

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Once you’ve completed the tutorial for the first time, upon return visits he’ll start offering you additional options for further chats. This will lead you into being able to repeat the original tutorial, go into an advanced combat tutorial as well as being able to practice a bit more using his pets.

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When choosing to practice with his pets, you’re taken into another battle where you can play with all the tips you’ve learned recently without the fear of them fighting back!

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When choosing the advanced combat tutorial, you will then go through party changes, item usage (food/potions) and changing equipment during combat.

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#10

Hi everyone,

Just wanted to let you all know that this game is now available for download should you wish to check it out.

This is a “Release Candidate” of the core mechanics and first adventure “The Gathering”.

All feedback is welcome, but right now I’m mostly interested in any immediate issues, crashes or problems you run into.

Right now you can download this for Windows (64-bit), Linux (64 bit) and Mac. Both the Linux and Mac versions have only been lightly tested, so let me know if you run into any issues with them.

Android and iOS ports are also being provided, but for now I wanted to limit platform exposure while I work out any final kinks.

You can get started here:
http://www.netprogs.com/getting-started/

Thanks!

#11

Hi everyone,

I’m still plugging away at my little game, but this month marked my 3rd year in development, so I figured I’d drop by to share a new post about it.

Each year I do a blog post about all the things I learned (or didn’t) during the course of that year and talk about the things I added to the game during that time also.

You can read the full post here:
http://www.netprogs.com/wrapping-up-year-3/

Hope you enjoy!