Pandum online OPEN BETA

Showcase
#1

Pandum online is free to play 3D MMORPG based on java LIBGDX framework.
It is crossplatform, players on Android devices can play in the same persistent world than players using a laptop under windows.
Gameplay has been highly arcadified in order to also fit game pad controllers and touch screen even if you can stick to the classical mouse/keyboard.

Some cool features are :

  • In game party voice message on devices equipped with a microphone
  • In game custom avatar can be uploaded from web site
  • Arena team battle with ranking (see web site)
  • PVP everywhere (except trade zone and dungeon instances)
  • Free character skill path

This project took me severals years and a lot of hard work, so please don’t be too rough in your feedback, keep in mind this a free to play.

http://www.pandum.net/

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#2

I tried it swiftly on pc:

Good stuff:

  • all the download/login/menu stuff worked right away, no problems or hickups
  • the Framerate is smooth and the graphical design is quite good
  • no visible latency or anything

The bad stuff:

  • the file download speed varied heavily from 30KB/s to 300 KB/s
  • no indicator of whether or not the download is progressing
  • where does it save the stuff it loads?!
  • key mapping/user Interaction isn’t intuitive, just showing the key codes in menu does not help
  • there was some piece of music/effect that was louder than the rest of the game it blew my ears away ;D
  • the camera movement is kinda jittery (just enough to be noticeable) every now and then, it does not seem like it’s fps related, more like it’s the game logic not doing enough smoothing
  • the combat feels “off”. Idk how to describe it. maybe because you can only swing your weapon when you’re in range and i had no indicator of range nor any indicator of when the zombie starts attacking.
  • the lack of a manual/guide or training course, there might be one but it’s not jumping-in-da-face kind of visible so nobody will find/read it => many players leave bc they have no idea what to do and how to operate the game
  • the icons in the upper right are to small
  • the text bar is sitting to tight on the lower rim of the visible area, so that it’s not as easy to read as it could be
  • ingame settings menu?
#3

Thank you for all your feedbacks.

There is a WIP around tutorial.
Did you try skills at combat ? Would a close range ground circle for Melee (weapon) engagement be interresting ?

#4

I did try the freezing/stonify skill and got myself frozen ;D
The ground circle sounds good, a few more animations (attack/flinch/etc) for the enemies would be handy too, right now they just deal damage from one moment to another it feels kinda unsatisfying, since you cannot really dodge an attack that comes without any sign/warning.

#5

-the file download speed varied heavily from 30KB/s to 300 KB/s
-no indicator of whether or not the download is progressing
==> I’ve patched the update server and add a downloaded file name under progression indicator. Things are hugely better now.

“the camera movement is kinda jittery (just enough to be noticeable) every now and then, it does not seem like it’s fps related, more like it’s the game logic not doing enough smoothing”
==> I’ve reproduced the issue on an old windows 7 laptop (sempron 2Ghz) but it run smoothly on all of my other devices (windows 8 /i5 linux/i5, tablet android 4.x , phone android5.x ).

Can I ask you more about the configuration on which you have tested the game in order to get common points if any with my problematic device.

Thank by advance.

#6

Intel Q9650 + GTX 960 running Windows 7 64bit. It might just be vsync not being enabled resulting in minimal jitter.
It’s not like the game isn’t smooth overall :slight_smile:

Edit: tried it on android ( http://www.gsmarena.com/xiaomi_mi_3-5678.php ) today, got few things:

  • The game crashed multiple times before (black screen) and while the game was downloading, seemingly caused by touching the screen or pulling down the status bar
  • The virtual keyboard is abysmal, this is enough to drive away anybody who stayed after the first one, holy shit it’s driving me mad
  • Upper right ingame menu buttons are too small on 1080p, menus are all kinda small and tricky to hit
  • The performance was awesome and smooth though! :wink:
#7

Tkank you for your help.

==>I’ve uploaded a new APK with a fix for that point.

==>Actually, I added this stuff only one week ago because the default virtual keyboard was broken on some devices (Archos). So I decided to integrate this one, theorically only made for OUYA/gamepad (android TV). I guess the main issues are the “ENTER” button not enough visible and the fact that you cannot focus another field while editing ?

==> This is a recurrent feedback I get, I gonna rethink my UI zoom ratio on big res/density screen.

#8

Here’s a screenshot:
1080 but scaled down to match the phones size

The return/shift/space/enter keys are waaaaay to small. (imagine this on a 5 inch screen, i tried to get the image to represent this)
The letter/number keys are too slim vertically.
Also, the buttons need to be hit exactly to register a hit, which makes this ten times worse.

A very elegant solution would be to not only register direct hits,
but also register approximate hits if no button is hit within the bounds of the keyboard aka lower half of the screen.
You could just loop through the keys and “click” the one with the lowest distance the the touch coordinates.

The crash problem is fixed, nice!

#9

I’ve just uploaded a new APK to production which embed an improved virtual keyboard.
I guess this is enough for now to not afraid players too much, maybe I will do more improvements in the future.

I’m focused on the zoom issue on huge/high density screens, like yours, which seems to be the next high priority point.

#10

Can you confirm that the display you get on your mobile device fit the one bellow :

#11

the phones screen is about 20% smaller in both directions (5 inch screen, 16:9 aspect ratio)
This might also be due to the different pc monitors we might use, causing different scaling.
You can measure it with a ruler ;D

#12

Ok, I’ve just uploaded a new APK in the play store, this should increase the zoom ratio on very high density screen like yours (I don’t even understand how they can put so may pixels in a such little screen :slight_smile: )

#13

Hey saw you ingame, the chat does not work i cannot see/open the text input panel because its hidden below the lower gui border.

The keyboard is a lot better now, also the networking seemed pretty smooth.

Edit: Ok here’s some more feedback!

  • the chat bar is veery small and sending messages is inconvenient because you have to open the little panel to select the one you would like to send it to. also the keyboard is not getting hidden anymore after clicking around in the gui
  • the whole ui is kinda more desktop friendly if friendly at all ;D, it needs some serious rethinking
  • you need to simplify the whole user interface, i didn’t know what to do at first, and i am still not sure what exactly i am doing.
  • it was very easy to accidentally click the home or back button because of the layout of the menu/chat/voice and fight button.
#14

[quote]the chat bar is veery small
[/quote]
==> I gonna make it more visible

[quote]also the keyboard is not getting hidden anymore after clicking around in the gui
[/quote]
==>I gonna manage that point

[quote]i didn’t know what to do at first, and i am still not sure what exactly i am doing.
[/quote]
==> A tutorial is here for that but you have to restart a character to see how it works.

[quote]it was very easy to accidentally click the home or back button because of the layout of the menu/chat/voice and fight button.
[/quote]
==> I gonna force immersive view (I didn’t do it yet because of compatibility issue with android 2.x)

#15

I tried the Android version…it looked fine so far, but the GUI is way too small for a phone’s screen. And I’m obviously too stupid to leave the starting area. Go to the south, they say. Explore the woods, they say…but somehow, I don’t know how. When I go there, a blue arrow appears but nothing else happens… ???

#16

Hi there,

just press attack button (sword) to activate blue arrow and go in forest.
I guess I need to add this detail in the instructions.

#17

Why not just make the switch when the player moves onto the arrow? Or touches/clicks on it? Attacking a blue arrow to leave an area is a bit…strange…

#18

Actually, the point is that the attack button is not only an attack button, it can be used to dash and to activate some environmental things turning blue when player is near by (like zone arrow but also some objects such graves in cemetery).

I think I gonna change icon and rename it “action button”.

#19

[quote]I think I gonna change icon and rename it “action button”.
[/quote]
Finally, I made the action button turn red and bright when a zone transportation is allowed.

#20

Gameplay trailer

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