Battlejewels Alpha 1 Released :)

[skeezix]

BattleJewels

One parts gem-swapping puzzler. One part Streetfighter. Two parts RPG with levelling up, gear, spellcasting.

Whats not to love?

Screenshot is here:
http://www.codejedi.com/battlejewels/scree...ls005alpha1.jpg

Details are on the website -- its a simple game at its heart, but you can really get into the details with spell casting and grinding levels and gear if you like; or jus tplay it like Bejewelled and let the opponent kick your rear

http://www.codejedi.com/battlejewels/
[cut]
(Okay, the AI is a little smart, but he's playing handicapped this release. Don't worry, I'll give him fireball soon enough..)

For the trivia guys.. I actually started this _before_ Puzzle Quest hit the DS and PSP. you can tell since is been out only a month or so Its a little like PQ, but its got very different flavouring since its not a quest game.. its more a street figher and Magic:The Gathering style game than a WoW-inspired-game as PQ is.

So get your puzzle gem-swapping helmet on, since a KnobGoblin is going to smack you upside

I'm dizzy-tired from sleepdep, feel free to upload it to the repository ED

Download:
http://www.codejedi.com/battlejewels/binar...5-alpha-001.zip

See the website for details of whats included and not included, and how to play; theres a lot more to come in coming updates, but this one should be pretty playable as is.

jeff[/cut]

 

[slaanesh]

Hey... This is just like Puzzle Quest...



Looking forward to trying this! Great stuff. If the game plays like Puzzle Quest, I think this is going to be a winner, as I'm hooked on that game.

 

[Trip]

You said KnobGoblin *snigger*
Looks like an amazing game. I hope it plays as good as it looks
Cheers..

 

[skeezix]

Its first alpha so is missing some of the stuff like pretty dialogs (spell casting screens are ugly etc), but the main playfield is gorgeous (cheers Stephen!)

Once I add the levelling up and spell picking its really going to flesh out I think, as theres only 4 spells in right now (and 2 classes).

All the mechanics are in.. gear, casting, skills, etc.

PQ is awesome, but I think BJ looks better (!!)

They've got an awesome quest system I'd never even thought of, but I want a quicker game; more action, faster, less grind. I try to make it so things happen more often, and you can do crazy things like damage-over-time bleeding and such. Quests are cool, but and add to long term interest.. but I'm interested in making it fun and fast, and still RPG growth. Save and load will go in and all that, but no making oyu run all over the country.. its just fight/fight/train/fight/store/etc

But thats why its here.. lets get some feedback and see what you think.

Please let us know

I've been dreaming up this game system with colours and what spells and skills and such or awhile, but until its in action its hard to tell

jeff

 

[slaanesh]

You must have been annoyed then when Puzzle Quest came out?

Here's a great toon from the Penny Arcade ladz re: Puzzle Quest.

 

[___]

PQ is awesome, but I think BJ looks better (!!)

indeed... h34r:

well, good news. I love how many polished homebrew apps are popping up lately. I am already hooked on blockdude2x, now how will I fit this in?

 

[Tobriand]

Looks brilliant... I douibt I'll get to play it before the 12th, since that's my next long journey, and atm, I'm hooked on Planescape Torment again, but will definitely throw on my SD before I get on the train!

 

[EvilDragon]

Whhooooa, awesome first release!

A commercial-quality homebrew game, very very nice!

 

[lubidog]

I am utterly addicted to Puzzle Quest, thanks to Fishbong!

So this is fantastic! Many thanks and all that.

 

[baalim]

ah ah, i'm glad to see you return with another project (outcast being one of my top five applications on gp2x) !

thanks.

 

[mikeful]

Controls feels little slow and unresponsive but fun and good-looking game anyway.

 

[skeezix]

Controls feels little slow and unresponsive but fun and good-looking game anyway.

Right now it waits for the joystick to be clear before doing a move, so its 'clunky' to move across the whole board. I'm going to add a repeat so if you hold the joy then it clicks along a couple squares per second or something.. I think it'll feal better then.

Anyone with gameplay questions or thoughts? With no (yet) built in help I imagine theres a lot of mystery yet

jeff

 

[Faugh2]

The control feels a little slow and I think it'd be helpful if it was clearer what the opponent did. Like if the opponent's selected pieces would light up or something, because otherwise things just move about real quickly and you don't always catch what happens. Also, some descriptions of spell-effects would be awesome.

Great game other than that, though! I love Bejeweled, so this is a real treat.

 

[skeezix]

The control feels a little slow and I think it'd be helpful if it was clearer what the opponent did. Like if the opponent's selected pieces would light up or something, because otherwise things just move about real quickly and you don't always catch what happens. Also, some descriptions of spell-effects would be awesome.

Great game other than that, though! I love Bejeweled, so this is a real treat.

The opponent does do the 'move pieces' animation, but it might be too fast to see. (I just did some graphics optimizations so it runs pretty fast now )

I might add another animation in that just blinks the matching pieces, perhaps.. or slowing down the move-anim might be enough?

We definately need some animation for spell results; if you do a 'lunge' and it clears a 3x3 grid of bricks, it'd be nice to see all that happening rather than they just vanish

Lots to do yet

jeff

 

[bomb_dog]

Wow! Looks really nice. Goes a little quick to see what the opponent did though. Looking forward to watching this progress!

 

[Troy the Great]

Looks really great. Definitely going to give it a play.

 

[Faugh2]

The control feels a little slow and I think it'd be helpful if it was clearer what the opponent did. Like if the opponent's selected pieces would light up or something, because otherwise things just move about real quickly and you don't always catch what happens. Also, some descriptions of spell-effects would be awesome.

Great game other than that, though! I love Bejeweled, so this is a real treat.

The opponent does do the 'move pieces' animation, but it might be too fast to see. (I just did some graphics optimizations so it runs pretty fast now )

I might add another animation in that just blinks the matching pieces, perhaps.. or slowing down the move-anim might be enough?

We definately need some animation for spell results; if you do a 'lunge' and it clears a 3x3 grid of bricks, it'd be nice to see all that happening rather than they just vanish

Lots to do yet

jeff
I think the pieces blinking would work well.

Yeah, spell animations would be great!

Can't wait for the next release, good luck!

 

[skeezix]

Next alpha should be pretty slick; added another class (Druid, the 'green mana' class) which focuses on a little manipulation and healing. Has a very expensive yet low damage spell, and a healing spell of medium cost, and a spell to convert mana colours on the board so he has a chance to get all the mana needed for casting. Pretty fun class to play since you're mucking with the board and such, but can be slower to win since less direct damage.. and yet, can heal, to survive longer.

AIs can now pick a class, and will actually use the spells of that class; in fact, AI knows enough to pick mana he needs, and to damage player when player is lower on life, and will even try to grab mana the player needs, once in awhile. Not really smart, but not totally handicapped now.

In fact, while trying to win, the AI actually just beat me once.. woowoo

Druid versus Druid is slow (damn heals!), but Druid versus Warrior is pretty interesting .. in the end he out-damaged my healing, so maybe class imbalance, or maybe he just creamed me.

I should work on the whole store system soon, so you can use the gold to actualy buy stuff.

This is turning good!

jeff

 

[Sphinxter]

You must have been annoyed then when Puzzle Quest came out?

Here's a great toon from the Penny Arcade ladz re: Puzzle Quest.



Penny-arcade rocks!