Indie Sonucido: The Mage - A turn-based Dungeon Crawler

[Moaning_Clock]

After spending a few days with playing games (AoD and TJtA), I had some ideas I want to implement in the game which will spice it up a little bit more!

I also made the decision to stop updating the Godot Engine (at least for now) since it has only slight advantages but hidden risks attached to it i.e. I get a nice small improvement but maybe the game breaks.

If you make a game in a relatively short time frame (1 year or less) and don't really need a new feature, it's often better to skip new Engine versions until it's more or less done and update the Engine after release if needed.


Small teaser for the next demo update:
- Mouse Input for everything (leveling and language selection)
- Solving the UX problem of the dialogue

These are the last hurdles that a smelly thirteen year old more casual player can actually enjoy the game and I can get filthy rich make everyone happy.

 

[Moaning_Clock]

Ayo PompiPompi what do you think?

 

[Moaning_Clock]

I will release the new demo update tomorrow. It's complete, I just need to test it a bit more to make sure everything works as intended.

All of the big issues are addressed now which doesn't mean they are perfectly fine but it's a lot better than initially. Although the coding is sloppy, the game is very stable, almost bug-free and runs fine on a wide range of hardware. The game is getting better and bigger every day!

 

[Moaning_Clock]

I think the UX problem regarding the dialogue should be fixed now! Demo updated!

Just this last bit was really frustrating.

Could you try it again maybe?

Full Changelog

- Language Selection and Leveling are now available for mouse input
- Added UI buttons for the dialogue (mouse input) which should make the game a lot more accessable
- Added a missing word in the German translation
- Made the soldier slightly easier to kill

 

[PompiPompi]

Sure, I will try it tomorrow.

 

[Moaning_Clock]

thanks!

 

[PompiPompi]

Finished the Demo, now that I knew better what to do it was easier.
Also, not sure what the strength potions do.
Are they temporary strength or permanent?
It also confused me because I was sure the red ones are for health, and the blue are for strength.

Spoiler

Also, the door at the end opens after you kill the soldiers, but there is no clear indication that it's related, I just assumed it is.

 

[Moaning_Clock]

Thanks for the feedback! I mostly wanted to ask you if the dialogue UI buttons make the dialogue easier and directly understandable since this was the most frustrating part.

Are they temporary strength or permanent?

Temporary +3, but the player can see it only when he has his inventory/character screen open

It also confused me because I was sure the red ones are for health, and the blue are for strength.

Yeah, I like red for strength and green didn't fit the style of the game, so I did go for blue.

Also, the door at the end opens after you kill the soldiers, but there is no clear indication that it's related, I just assumed it is.

It isn't. You simply hit the door once and can go through it after that. Most playtesters got it right away so I didn't bother.

 

[PompiPompi]

Thanks for the feedback! I mostly wanted to ask you if the dialogue UI buttons make the dialogue easier and directly understandable since this was the most frustrating part.

Are they temporary strength or permanent?

Temporary +3, but the player can see it only when he has his inventory/character screen open

It also confused me because I was sure the red ones are for health, and the blue are for strength.

Yeah, I like red for strength and green didn't fit the style of the game, so I did go for blue.

Also, the door at the end opens after you kill the soldiers, but there is no clear indication that it's related, I just assumed it is.

It isn't. You simply hit the door once and can go through it after that. Most playtesters got it right away so I didn't bother.

Well it's kind of big "story telling" or throwing you out of the atmosphere of the game in the very last moment of the game.
Like "Ok this door thing make no sense, but because it's a game, I know the coder wanted me to open it"

 

[Moaning_Clock]

Well it's kind of big "story telling" or throwing you out of the atmosphere of the game in the very last moment of the game.

I never got that feedback, dunno if most players really bother so much. And doors are fairly common, it's just the end of the demo, not of the game after all. Maybe I throw in a sound - that would be an easy fix.

Do you think the UI buttons help in the dialogue? If you don't take any action they are also named (Attack and Leave)

 

[PompiPompi]

I wasn't sure what I was able to click and what not.
I am not sure as it looks just like icons and not clickable buttons, or have no button feedback.

What I mean about the door, is that it unlocks after you kill the soldier.
Which is kind of nonsensical.
For the very least you can do it open on it's own when the soldier dies.

Before fighting the soldiers I tried to open the door. And saw I couldn't.
Even having things like "The door is locked" "The door is unlocked" would be better.
But I think, the best minimal effort is to just open the door(make it "disappear") when you kill the soldier.
That way, the player knows something changed.

There is no indication that the door turned from locked to open.
It's kind of odd.

 

[Moaning_Clock]

I am not sure as it looks just like icons and not clickable buttons, or have no button feedback.

Mhm - I'll keep an eye on it and ask the other testers in the next big testing phase.

What I mean about the door, is that it unlocks after you kill the soldier.
Which is kind of nonsensical.
For the very least you can do it open on it's own when the soldier dies.

Before fighting the soldiers I tried to open the door. And saw I couldn't.
Even having things like "The door is locked" "The door is unlocked" would be better.
But I think, the best minimal effort is to just open the door(make it "disappear") when you kill the soldier.
That way, the player knows something changed.

Oh - now I got you - but it isn't possible. The code of the door and the soldier aren't connected. The door opens when you hit it. Maybe you didn't hit it before or hit it, turned and didn't see it. The soldier is entirely optional.
I even tested it a few moments ago just to make absolutely sure lol.

 

[PompiPompi]

Oh heh
Why would I fight the soldier though?
lol
Just to kill stuff?

 

[Moaning_Clock]

If you can kill the soldier you understood the combat and the demo - it's an optional challenge. You can also only talk to him if you want to but if you want to fight him, you can fight him. Or ignore him completely. Just optional stuff to ensure player freedom - you'll be able to kill almost anybody in the game if you really want to!

 

[Moaning_Clock]

Implemented a new puzzle today! I have an idea for another one which will be implemented later in the game. Although I don't want to make Sonucido a puzzle heavy game (it won't be like LoG), I still like to include a few. I thought they were relatively easy but some took a while to figure them out, so this might be at least for some an extra challenge.

At the moment, I want to implement 1-2 new enemies to increase variety. I started to draw wounded versions of every enemy. I think it started with a human but now most of the creatures get a wounded look (usually a bit of blood on them) when their health drops under a certain threshold - and while I'm typing this I suddenly had the idea to include enemies who are already wounded in the game. That's such a basic thought but I never thought of it.



Working on Sonucido every day, constantly making progress!

 

[Moaning_Clock]

Added another puzzle and finished a new level! My fiancee drew two new pictures for the game and I added another wounded version of an enemy. There are still a few missing but I will add them very soon.
Since the demo didn't display the wounded graphics I will update it once again somewhen in September (likely the last time). There's also a minor UX improvement which I implemented. I will wait a little, maybe I'm stumbling over another thing I really want to put into the demo.

I'm now using Godot over a year and it really starts to show. Stuff that took aaaages to code are now implemented in minutes. The aforementioned puzzle even surprised me when it was finished since it was so quick. It's btw the first logic based puzzle in the game. It really is fun to explore different puzzle ideas (but don't worry, I won't stuff one in every corner).


851 wishlists right now!

 

[PompiPompi]

851 Wishlist? That's good.
How long has the page been on Steam?
Oh you said you participated in a Demo Festival on Steam? How much did you get from that?

 

[Moaning_Clock]

How long has the page been on Steam?

Since February 2nd, so 7 months.

Oh you said you participated in a Demo Festival on Steam? How much did you get from that?

You already asked this haha :D here's the answer

Hey, I already participated in June! Got over 3000 Demo downloads (now over 4000), had 365 wishlists before and 779 after, so +424 wishlists. Now 840. Streaming helped a lot, got one time over 2000 viewers! Also released the demo afterwards on Itch and got 50 downloads there.

How were the numbers for Golden Fall 2 at launch?

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

SC TB DC?

single-character
Turn-based
Dungeon crawler ???

nice youtube updates: (one of some on the playlist)


I hope the sound fx are nice and crunchy. Good sound is just delicious sauce inho.
Example:

 

[Moaning_Clock]

nice youtube updates

thanks! I likely post one more this month

SC TB DC?

Yes!

I hope the sound fx are nice and crunchy. Good sound is just delicious sauce inho.

They aren't as tasty as your example but I like them and at least a couple of them are recorded by myself (always like to include some custom made sounds to give the game a more unique feel if that makes sense)

 

[Moaning_Clock]

Good sound is just delicious sauce

isn't the holy sounding ahhh also in Morrowind? but I like the style of the sound design

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

Could be. I recall the creator of zorbus mentioning many "borrowed assets." Thus he doesn't sell the game.

 

[Moaning_Clock]

Could be. I recall the creator of zorbus mentioning many "borrowed assets." Thus he doesn't sell the game.

ah okay. Sometimes it's just the same sound licensed - thought that was the case here. There was a sound that was present in Rayman 2: The Great Escape and also Doom 2 for example which was really strange at first

 

[Moaning_Clock]

Working on a new NPC and implemented the first stat check in a dialogue. Writing dialogue always felt cumbersome and I suspected that my very crude system was the main culprit (which is very similar to what Bethesda uses for Quests/Dialogues) but now it got a lot easier. I think I just needed some time to grow into it or something.

Which is great news for the player since this reinforces my suspicion that there will be more (mostly optional) dialogue for the player than initially planned. This increases the localization budget but if nothing goes wrong I get some money in September due to author-related royalties which should cover the costs.

 

[Moaning_Clock]

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1535240/view/2941402621047404326

It will still take a couple of weeks until the game is released but this will likely be the last demo update. It's a short vertical slice of the game and I think people can easily decide after playing if they like it or not. If you haven't played it already, give it a shot!

There are now wounded versions for all enemies when they are low on health and I added two minor quality of life features. Especially the wounded enemies add to the combat.


Fueled by caffeine I'm adding more and more levels to the game!

2021. Sonucido.

Updated the demo again. I'm committed to release in October. A proper release date will follow!