So recently, my computer died, and that left me without the distraction of the internet. So while I waited for my new computer to come in, I got this game idea you see here. The game is a puzzle game. The goal is to defeat enemies and gain the requisite Experience points to defeat the demon and advance to the next level. Attempt to attack the demon without enough Exp, and he destroys you. Defeating the same type of enemy multiple times in a row nets multiplied Exp. A few gimmicks in later levels and maybe a puzzle mode, but that's the basics of the game.

My new computer came in a lot faster than expected, so I only managed ten levels before I was once more presented with the distractions of the internet. Had the computer taken longer to come in, I might've gotten far enough in the project that I'd easily consider finishing. But now, the fate of the game is in limbo, and I've decided to give this video as a presentation to see if anybody would've been interested in the game.

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That's way cool, Draygone!

interesting, this has potential.

I'm impressed.

That's one of the most original game ideas I've seen for RM. Good job.

It looks pretty awesome. I say go for it. ^^

I love the use of custom sprites. If you find the time, you should continue this. Though I'd probably put more priority on SR.

But still, this is really good.

Upon request, I have decided to release a gameplay demo. This demo features the main mode, as seen in the video, and a more in-depth"puzzle mode", which requires guiding enemies around obstacles and into just the right positions to obtain a perfect score.

PLEASE NOTE: I originally had no intention to release a demo, so much of what you'll see in this demo is unpolished. But it's the gameplay that counts, and that is intact. At least aside from out of order puzzle levels. Hard placing those from easiest to most difficult when you already know all the answers. Anyway, sorry that the presentation of this demo release mostly sucks.

(See original post for demo.)

Okay, I just finished all of both modes.

Both are extremely complex in make... and it's amazing what you've done here. This is TAKE level. And I mean that.

The normal mode got a little tiring until it changed worlds and started putting logs in the way to change up things a bit... but what really got me was the puzzle mode. It was just great.

I would be sitting there looking at patterns trying to figure out how to get max points... counting in my head exactly what would be the best thing to do.

You, sir, had a few tricks up your sleeve. But it made victory all the more sweeter.

I can say that I played 5 levels of Main Mode and, so far, consider me impressed. This is one badass game you could have here.

The only problem with Main Mode is that there's no variety at first. It just looks like stage 1 over and over again. No disrespect, though, because I really liked what I was playing. The score bar was awesome, too, by the way.

I'm sure you would have added more detail before a final release, anyway.

Puzzle Mode, on the other hand, is made out of f*cking win. Dare I say, you could make the entire game out of just Puzzle Mode. And not just "good for RM" good. It's good, period. Major props to you on that.

I know you're working on Slayers' Reign some, but after that, finish this game. Seriously.

Actually, to be honest, I haven't worked on Slayers' Reign in a while. I'm not even sure where I left off last. And when my computer died, I guess it should've been the perfect opportunity to work on it some more, but I didn't feel like it, and I somehow got this idea instead. If this gets finished, it'll get finished first. The good news is that this type of game is actually simple enough (at least after the mechanics are down) that putting it together shouldn't take exceedingly long, aside from a single level of the main mode taking an hour to plan, arrange, and test.

I must say, though, I didn't expect responses like yours. Considering the opening menu is a black screen with the character in the middle of it and most of the puzzle levels didn't have the level/score bar in place...

I am aware that the puzzle mode is in a different league from what I presented in the main mode, and I actually considered it just being the puzzle mode, the whole game. But I think the main mode does hold promise once the extra stuff is added, and I do intend (if I continue) to shorten the areas from their current 10-level length.

i got a chance today to play through the whole thing in its entirety and i have to say that it was well done and reminded me of intelligent qube and the way it was designed for levels.

when i hear about a new and interesting project i like to think first on how it maybe coded or what process would be used to make it function. in this case my hypothesis was correct, so kudos to dray for building it the way i thought it would be made - not many people have used the game limits in this manor.

pros: -the puzzle design is defiantly superior over the main levels, its much more original and a lot more fun.
-the scoring was fairly good and the graphics where well done, little touches like the flashing level and countdown intro event where good as was the concept behind the reapers.
-"dashboard" of the player was well thought out, including a quick escape function.

cons: -as ix mentioned, the main levels are atrociously boring.
-the main boss and in many times the monsters itself took a very long time to arrive.
-scoring was not always accurate or wasnt used properly at times.


recommendations: -use shorter distances for the descending monsters so the wait times are not so high.
-ensure the score system is progressive and rewards the player for doing better then the "bare minimum."
-add extras like a reset, possible monster speed up (quick close up instead of slow), or overall score keeper.
-break up the music and level design a bit more.


overall i think it was very well done for a quick tech demo and i look forward to a full game. though this project didnt teach me anything new regarding game creation, it did open my eyes to some mini game ideas i had previously over looked. certainly an innovative idea.

Mind pointing out when this was the case? Catching bugs when there's a hundred enemies and several pages for each of them can prove pretty difficult.



It doesn't work like that. I've tried it. The time it takes for events to wander one step to the next to the next takes the same amount of time reguardless of their set speed.

These comments are making me rather worried about the main mode. I had ideas that I thought would result in the mode being fun, and in fact I didn't come up with the idea of a puzzle mode until after I got started on it. I mean, my original intention was creating a puzzle game similar to that of console block puzzlers. But now I'm rather hesitant. Especially being that it was my intention to have enemies and the demons spaced out like that during the initial levels, along with the zombie, shadow, and grim reaper enemies not appearing until later.

I think I should refrain from reading comments from here on. I know they're supposed to be helpful, but I don't want to become so worried that half the game is a bad idea that I don't create any of it. After all, this was meant to just be a fun side-project until I felt like working on Slayers' Reign again. And worry of what people will think is what's keeping SR progress at a standstill.

i cant even recall how many times ive had to return to the drawing board because something i did didnt work out the way i intended it. dont be worried that it isnt everything you wanted it to be, you know you have a winning idea here so all you have to do is give it some thought and develop it further.

as for the bugs i believe it was during the puzzle event where the scoring would just vanish into a single set of digits. i just wanted to test it out so i wasnt paying much attention to bug fixes (you said it was just a quick tease and would change if i remember rightly).

i have a similar dilemma with a puzzle i made. there are hundreds of pages to sift through and tons of overly complex steps. i have an error somewhere but i cant find it and it doesnt ruin anything too deeply. dont worry too much, over all it seemed to function right.

as for the monsters taking their time, i find it interesting that their speed doesnt change. if thats the case then even reducing the tile distance between them would be a novel idea.

I wanted them spread out so it'd be an easy task to pick them out as they come crawling down, eventually leading up to the far more crowded and obstacle-cluttered last levels. There wouldn't be as much a sense of "this army is getting bigger" if they all started out closely grouped together. Also, as the game progresses, the demon's starting position begins getting closer and closer to the front lines.

And yes, the reason for the scoring system mostly-disappearing after the first puzzle level is because it was rushed into demo form. I had every level after the first set on a different map so that it'd be easier to pick and choose which arrangements to set on the original map and when (switchwork would be a pain, otherwise), and it would've been a waste to use all that extra memory for the score on those extra maps.

Now, I kinda don't want to say what I had in mind for the regular mode... so allow me to elaborate some in spoiler text. Don't read

The areas are gonna be shorter. I decided for them to be shorter before I released the demo, on account how much memory it would've taken had I went with the current level lenth. But I hadn't gotten around to doing it. Was in the middle of finding out how much memory the puzzle mode would take at the time; that was going to decide how many levels in the main mode there would be. [spoiler]Originally intended 5 areas of 10 levels each for a total of 50 levels, but that would've meant an exceedingly required 170,000 memory, and I don't think splitting the main mode across memory cards would've been a good idea. So instead I'm cutting it down to 30 levels total, 6 levels in each area.[/spoiler]

The obstacles that started appearing in level 11... [spoiler]An extra one added every area. So in the fifth area, there'd be four of these obstacles scattered in front of you.[/spoiler]

The enemies... [spoiler]Start out easy with four enemies, add the zombie to the mix at level 6, the shadows at level 12 (was 16 in the demo). The grim reaper would start to appear, I'm not sure, somewhere within levels 18-20. The reaper would start out at a bit of distance, but appear fairly early by the time you reach level 30. A second reaper may or may not be added during the last levels. Depends on how difficult things are with all those obstacles, an early-arrival demon, and a single grim reaper sitting at the bottom of the screen. ...Yeah, there will probably only be one. [/spoiler]