Battlejewels Build 058 Released :)

[skeezix]

*eep*

A bit down the road I could; especially if 'harder' means 'opponents get better gear and more skill points as a crutch'

jeff

 

[skeezix]

I've updated to fix a few things:

http://www.codejedi.com/battlejewels/binar...2x-059-beta.zip

o when buying the Tomes, it deducts cash
o after successful spell cast, any selection cursor is unselected so as to
help prevent accidental moves
o inventory listing now lets you describe item as well
o opponent gear out..
- he has less 'minimum' item count
- he doesn't count your crappier items (ie: lvl 1 item when oyu're at lvl 10)
o Verified.. Sap is 2*caster-level already
o casting menu lets you have up to 50 spells or so, so now your broken
super chars from 059 can work
o treasure chest now gives you a level appropriate item (or less .. could
give oyu lvl 1-7 if you're a lvl 6)
o bonus damage due to level works right; ie: prev build it was making your
damage _less_ as oyu levelled up.. woops!
o bonus damage from gear is now correct; it was increasing too much .. a
+2 dmg item was counting for +4 sometimes .. resulting in extra-big damage numbers

jeff

 

[Super Jamie]

i finally got around to giving this game a "quick play" last night. i got to sleep at 5am

awesome game i love the mix of d&d elements with the puzzle component thrown in, very simple and effective

do you have any plans of releasing source, or at least doing a native linux port? (sorry if those have been asked before, search didn't turn up anything obvious)

 

[Fishbong]

Thanks for the 59 release! Its nice being able to see the items stats everywhere now, and my character does more damage now, too!

Another thing that came to my attention: The game seems to search for vertical rows first, and then for horizontal ones. This can be an annoyance at times, because some spells like earthwarden let you create situations in which rows of the same color are crossed like this:

'O
OOOO
'O

In this case, the vertical row gets detected first. It's getting dissolved and you lose the 4-in-a-row you'd get otherwise.
So my suggestion is to let the game first search for rows, until all rows have been found and then dissolve the bigger ones first.

 

[skeezix]

No source release at least for a couple years, but it already builds on poretty much everything.. I can make a linux binary release in a bit (Builds on gp32, gp2x, psp, pocket pc, palm, linux, bsd, osx, windows, any prolly more I'm forgetting right now

jeff

 

[Super Jamie]

hooray, linux binary ahoy!

props for making something so good, that builds on so many systems. i'm sick to death of decent sdl games which won't compile under linux

2:30am last night. damn this game hehehe

 

[skeezix]

What levels did you play? With build 059, is the difficulty about right?

jeff

 

[fusion_power]

So, after weeks with Cave Story and Advance Wars 2 I played Battlejewels again. the new 0.59 Release is nice, now we have true leveling and more Items in the shop, not to mention all these skills. Very nice. After 9 Matches I am Level 3....so it seems it takes a while for Level 99 :lol:

Game "feels" good, maybe the matches are a little bit to long because of the high HP points of the opponents and always to few Skulls ingame of course. The treasure Chest feature is great but it confuses me a little bit because Chest appears after I had made many chain reactions - ok-...but then the opponent is at his turn and always steals my hard puzzled chest...mean! ^^"" And why he can get a chest at one side of the screen, when he clears manastones at the other side of the screen? Would be cool if I puzzle a chest, I am able to get it.

But more trouble I have with the menu-controlls, the selections of various menu points are not very accurate and even the speed is always different (ingame to, by the way). You can move selections with push AND release the stick, but moving selection by release is very annoying. Selecting a menu point, a item/spell...etc. should be more accurate, please. I prefer a delay after first stick push like a keyboard-button-delay, after a short while, the selection runs automaticly until stick is not longer pushed. ^^

In buying Menu, maybe there could be a comparison of the selected Shop Item with the equipped one, so we can see, which is better. So I don't need to go all the way back in the equipping menu and look, what stats my Items have. To save Space in the buying menu, maybe only the equipped Item could appear when an Item for this body-part is selected (you select an glove in the Shop and somewhere we also see the stats of our equipped glove...if we have one. - The help window could be useful for this maybe. )

The overall help in the game is great by the way! Superb, really. I wish, someone would make a german translation.

For the SAVE/LOADING menus, maybe each one could get an different colour(background) like Save green and load red or so. Just for the overview.

EDIT: Game crashes when I want to see Item details in the Shop. It happend around Level 3 where many new Items were available in the shop. When pushing Y for help, entire game crashes. One was an Level 4 necklace and some other more advanced Items. I had lost a whole level because of this. (I had saved before but it seems that the save wasn't written onto SD before crash)

Question: why is the reselling price so low? Reselling price of Items should be at least 50% of the new price, I would prefer 70%. The current reselling price is ways to low. Its hard enough to make some money in the game (for my taste) so it could be interesting to have an benefit with unneeded items.

Graphic "bug": in the Character-Stats-Menu, I have so many equipped Items, that this list is floating over the frame at the bottom right. ^^""

 

[skeezix]

I think I'm capping you out aroundf level 12 right now, but it doesn't grow exponentially.. its pretty linear, as I didnt' want to screw anyone over who likes to just get levels.

As HP scale up, you shoudl deal mroe damage with spells for sure.. but for skull-damage, you can increase it with weapons and gear. Soem gear affords +damage which means .. you coudl end up clearing 3 skulls and still deal 10 points of damage; but of course it also takes away based on his armor and spell effects too, so its complex. Design wise I have tried to make it so that matches dont' increase much as you level up.. more hp, but more damage; more healing, but more anti-spells and poisons and such. You might have 300hp, but if you deal 15 pts a shot, due to your skills and gear.. it works out okay. (ie: you start at 30hp and deal 3 dmg with 3 skulls; if you go up a few levels, you might have 100hp, but deal 6 or 7 dmg pr shot .. not too far off in _ratio_)

Menus should be okay; its time based, not press/release based; if you hold, it'll repeat (in some places anyway) and such.. maybe its throwig you off (or maybe I blew it up at some point

yeah, in buying it might be nice to show your existing item 'detail' so you know; I can worry about that for "1.1" .. trying to go for "1.0" now so I can rest a bit.. worked too hard for too long on this damned game!

Translations could be a 1.1 thing too; not too hard to add.

I'll loon into your crash

Reselling should never be 50/70% since it basicly means your gold is always going up, and measn you have little incentive to 'carefully buy'; by making real cost, it does mean you shoudl think about your purchases.. you can't buy 'every shirt', but you can 'buy a shirt here, and boots there..' makes oyu think, or hold onto your gold. On the one hand, I want you to buy it all (have fun!), but it also makes it fun to if you work otwards things; if its all there, easy to get, its less fun.

(But it does have to be said.. if you sell level 2 gewar to buy level 4 gear. its onyl a tiny fraction of the cost.. so since costs go up, maybe sale value needs to go up. *shrug*)

To wit, my beta testers want me to _Raise_ prices, since things are way too cheap for them. I'm not yet sure if thats because they're careful to pick up a lot of gold, or if its really too cheap. Hard to gauge these things

As to the character screens.. soon there will be an update with a multi-tabbed character sheet so one page ofr skills, one for spells, one for equiiped gear, one for inventory, and so on.. should be nice.

jeff

sorry for my hurried reply; baby makes me hurry everything

 

[Fishbong]

To wit, my beta testers want me to _Raise_ prices, since things are way too cheap for them. I'm not yet sure if thats because they're careful to pick up a lot of gold, or if its really too cheap. Hard to gauge these things

Yup, prices are too low. you could crank them up by 50%.

 

[fusion_power]

Menus should be okay; its time based, not press/release based; if you hold, it'll repeat (in some places anyway) and such.. maybe its throwig you off (or maybe I blew it up at some point



Well, I can tell at least my menus are not ok. ^^ Selections jump like mad and somehow the whole game speed is totaly different, sometimes slow, often slower, then for a short time fast as hell...weird. ^^"
Please check the menus. This holding doesn't work well by the way and the action is done by releasing Stick for sure. (I really must have an wrong version 0.5.9 ^^"" )
For Example on Start, when I want to go to the loading screen, the menupoint always jumps over this, even when I just do a very quick stick push. More gentle menu controlling would improve the game greatly.

Ingame, the fading Messages (the huge graphical ones) often stay to long so they hide the view of the playfield to long. (sometimes the same messages disappear instantly, like mentioned before, the whole game speed is very random)

Damage is ok now I think. I can make up to 12 Damage with 3 Skulls, not bad and this was at level 4. It depends of the enemy of course. this Healing ones (like Friar) are a nightmare. Oh, the AI is tough and mean I think, sometimes it feels like AI steals my needed Mana colour just on purpose :lol: Oh, and is there a spell which steals my Mana right from my mana depot?
But AI sometimes is stupid like Pizza. I had an Gladiator enemy with 1 life left. And what does this Honk? Uses Thrust what costs life and he was killing itself :lol:

Oh, another Idea for the Spell training ground. besides the Spell description could be displayed, what kind of Mana each Spell needs, maybe with this nice small mana graphics from the Ingame Spell-help. because I save my spellpoints for Brambles (I need one more!) And I have no Idea, what brambles needs for Mana. (Oh, and is brambles really good at all? I want to do Damage, Damage, Damage! )

To wit, my beta testers want me to _Raise_ prices, since things are way too cheap for them. I'm not yet sure if thats because they're careful to pick up a lot of gold, or if its really too cheap. Hard to gauge these things

Yup, prices are too low. you could crank them up by 50%.

OMFG please no! I find the prices ok, because of the low reselling rate and because of my lack of money-making talent. ^^ Maybe I'm doing something wrong but I only can fight an enemy OR collect Gold...and usualy I have to fight the enemy. (And I don't want to loose a single game by the way. ) 20 Wins 0 looses, nice! :lol:

 

[skeezix]

20 wins in a row.. pretty good You'd think there would be at least a loss or two in there, unless oyu always just forfeit and re-load on a lose situation

Thats why I've not raised prices yet -- its hard to tell if my testers are just fantastic players (since they've been playing so long), or playing healing classes (Friars get more cash, since they kill slower.. but they can heal forever and thus live a long time..), or just gold farmerish (people who see they're winning, so spend some time picking up gold..)

I find I'm always cash strapped, since I plan to kill and worry about gold when the opponent is at 2hp .. but then, I code more than play, so I'm actually not very good at it

I'm thinking to let the game go out as is, and worry about pricing ocne larger scale feedback comes in.

Course, I could scale the gear costs by how much cash you have int he bank, but that would be _evil_

jeff

 

[fusion_power]

20 wins in a row.. pretty good You'd think there would be at least a loss or two in there, unless oyu always just forfeit and re-load on a lose situation

Hey, you know my tactics! :lol:
Sure I forefeit and reload, I'm a baaaad looser and I always need sucess-Experiences. ^^" I first look, what enemy I'm fighting against and if its a Friar for example, I give up. Even against more easy Enemies it takes long to win, level 5 AI often has 3 healing potions and at least one healing spell. I don't want to play to long because I haven't an working Battery LED on my GP2X (because of Gmenu2X) so I usualy have the "luck" having empty batteries before I can save. ^^"" maybe you could add an working battery indicator ingame like some other games have included.

Oh, and I still want an Options menu for the future. Music on/off, Button Mapping etc. I like the ingame Musik of Battlejewels but because its only one track, it gets boring after 22 matches. :lol:

P.S.: another Program-Crash-Item in Shop is the "Alabaster Wand" press Y and enjoy :lol:

 

[skeezix]

I forget if current build has it or not, but if not.. next build does - game suspend, so you can save a match in the middle, and restart it later. Also, multi-tabbed character screens. I've just not had time to build the gp2x version the last couple days.

For healing guys .. load up on +dmg weapons

I need ot put a spell in that halves amounts of healing going on and such

jeff

 

[Alex.]

I don't think I commented on Battlejewels yet, shame on me :unsure:

Great game Skeezix, congrats to both you and the graphics & sound artists! The complexity added by the RPG elements really make it stand out from among its match-3 cousins. I never played PuzzleQuest, making all this new to me, so thanks for bringing the concept of this popular game over to the GP2X.

My only suggestion is to increase the speed of the cursor by ~50% (autorepeat). Right now it almost feels like there's a slight delay between pressing the joypad (maybe the joypad's to blame? probably so) and getting the cursor to move.

I did not get far enough to see those advanced items crash yet, but I'm looking forward to the next build

 

[fusion_power]

Yes, the gamespeed is still an issue, but at least its playable for an beta.

Somehow I always fight enemies with much higher level than I am. I'm level 6 and had to beat an level 9 Dria...Daria...whatever. This guy had Arrow 4 which makes 20 Damage even on my high protected Gladiator. ^^""""""

Well, I've tried Brambles because "massive Damage Spell" sounded good. Uh, at the end I've spend 3 valuable Spell Points for an Spell that does 2-3 Damage. :lol: I think this spell should cost only 1 or 2 points I think. 12 green orbs is a little bit much to. Well, I hope brambles 2 is better. Would be cool, if we have more infos for the spells before we buy 'em.

Uh, other questions: I know what "Damage Bonus" on Item does, but what does the spell bonus? And how does the mana-mastery skills work? I don't see an mana bonus and I have over 10 Points in blue Mana mastery. ^^"" I thought you need less mana to do a spell but it seems to work different.

For the future, maybe you could add more Character portraits? Maybe 3 Pics per character: one normal, on bad face expression when he get hurt and one happy face expression, when he makes damage or get a free move etc... ^^

Ingame live-Exp-Counter? Could be interesting. At least an display which shows how much exp. is needed to level up, maybe in the chara-stats or so?

 

[skeezix]

Theres a level calculation function that ttries to randomise form guys your level to sometimes za bit higher; it shouldn't let them be too too high except in really extreme cases..

Hmm, yeah, for spells you need to factor its levle in; Brambles 1 is highlhy inefficient (Druid spells not meant to do anythign efficiently, but meant to do everything needed inefficiently) but relatively good damage for its level; if you saved up a few points for it, it would suck since you're a few levels higher than it; the trick there is that if it costs so much, its a spell for a class 'opposite' of yours, so hence not efficient to buy; your own class spells are 1 pt, ally class spells are 2pts, and 'enemy' spells are 3pts. So Brambles 1 is a 1 pt for a Druid, but 3 pts for a Knave .. hence, its often not worth it for a Knave to get.

The 3 pts doesn't mean its really good, just means its really expensive

Damage Bonus adds to damage dealt from skulling; spell bonus adds to damage dealt by spells.

Mana mastery both gets you more mana for a clear of that colour, and reduces damage from spells of that colour. I might make it add spell damage too, but that sounds like going too far. ie: Lots of blue mastery means you get more blue mana, and take less damage from blue damaging spells.

Character portraits I'd like, but its hard to come by artwork My artist for them is good, but very busy in RL, so slow

For in-match exp, I think you can check your character portrait, but it wont' reflect bonus and match experience.

I've so far not shown ho wmuch exp is needed to level up ... not sure if I want to.. no idea really

jeff

 

[fusion_power]

Hmm, yeah, for spells you need to factor its levle in; Brambles 1 is highlhy inefficient (Druid spells not meant to do anythign efficiently, but meant to do everything needed inefficiently) but relatively good damage for its level; if you saved up a few points for it, it would suck since you're a few levels higher than it; the trick there is that if it costs so much, its a spell for a class 'opposite' of yours, so hence not efficient to buy; your own class spells are 1 pt, ally class spells are 2pts, and 'enemy' spells are 3pts. So Brambles 1 is a 1 pt for a Druid, but 3 pts for a Knave .. hence, its often not worth it for a Knave to get.

Awww...:blink:.... good that I know this NOW....after wasting 3 Spell Points (included one 750G Tome of Craft). Well, Yes I'm playing an GLADIATOR. :lol: I wanted an good Damage Spell because with Thrust and Lunge you can't do this very good. Hmm... maybe I should fight directly but somehow I want to use all the other mana I collect.
Ok, I forget using brambles2. Maybe I can increase my spell Damage with Items but of course pure damage Bonus is more important for my chara. Hm... decissions decissions... ^^


Somehow I never noticed an mana bonus. I collect 3 blue orbs and I have 3 blue orbs in the container and so on. And I need 3 blue orbs for the smallest skill by the way. So there seems to be no bonus. (Would be nice if all this Mana-mastery would reduce the needed ammount of mana for spells )

Maybe we could add our own drawn (animated) Chara portraits? An NAME of our Hero would be nice to. Well at least the game should include Enemy Chara portraits such as real dragons and Skellys and so on.

Item graphics are not that important by the way. Even great console RPGs often had no Item graphics (Whole Phantasy Star Saga for example) To keep it simple, maybe an plain one-colour graphic of an Item could be added in the far future, just an sheme where we can see its an Sword or an Staff...

Oh, this game could be good for 2-Player Action on the new Craigix handheld via WIFi I think.

 

[skeezix]

Thrust and Lunge are quite potent actually, especially as you level them up.

ie: Thrust should be used to destroy a _skull_, so it does 3 points at Thrust 1; consider.. thats 10% of opponent level 0-1 life, in one shot, relatively cheaply.

Lunge destroys a block of squares .. as you level it up, it destroys more of an area; if you use it you can pick up a pile of mana, or destroy a bunch of hard to get skulls, and so on .. the + shape is okay, the higher leve llunge destroys a 3x3 area, so you can get a half dozen skulls in one shot, plus its own native damage.

The mana bonus should be equiv to reducing mana cost -- ie: its supposed to help you cast more. It takes a few points into the masteyr to really ramp up (so it doesn't geout out of control), but clearing 3 blue with the blkue mastery shoudl net you more than 3 mana. Do you have the right mastery?

I do need to write up the manual, which will be soon

I'd like to add naming in for 1.1

The artwork is all skinnable in fact, so if you drop a file with the right name in the right place you can change any piece of artwork. But if you have the skillz to produce a pile of portrait artworks, let me know

Multiplayer would be amazing with this; I mean, head to head PVP Down the road..

jeff

 

[fusion_power]

Cool, new release, I have to test it immeadetly.

Thrust and Lunge are quite potent actually, especially as you level them up.

ie: Thrust should be used to destroy a _skull_, so it does 3 points at Thrust 1; consider.. thats 10% of opponent level 0-1 life, in one shot, relatively cheaply.

Lunge destroys a block of squares .. as you level it up, it destroys more of an area; if you use it you can pick up a pile of mana, or destroy a bunch of hard to get skulls, and so on .. the + shape is okay, the higher leve llunge destroys a 3x3 area, so you can get a half dozen skulls in one shot, plus its own native damage.

The mana bonus should be equiv to reducing mana cost -- ie: its supposed to help you cast more. It takes a few points into the masteyr to really ramp up (so it doesn't geout out of control), but clearing 3 blue with the blkue mastery shoudl net you more than 3 mana. Do you have the right mastery?

Yes, I always use Thrust and Lunge at skulls...what else? :lol: Its funny. And Thrust1 is great for catching lonley treasure boxes by the way.
With Lunge 2 I can make up to 7 Damage at the enemy all I have to take care for is that I have more life than the enemy.

Yes, I have the right mana mastery. Blue is steel, right? But even Lunge 2 with 10 blue orbs still needs 10 blue orbs for the spell.

The artwork is all skinnable in fact, so if you drop a file with the right name in the right place you can change any piece of artwork. But if you have the skillz to produce a pile of portrait artworks, let me know

I wish, I had talent for portraits. ^^"" Well, the current gfx age great, all I want is more portraits for all the classess and enemys, not only 2.

Oh, I've made some simple Weapon graphics just as example, right out of my gp2x with the new paint program, maybe this minimalistic style could fit in the game, in the Item description windows?