BioHazardX {l Wrote}:Still playing the game but I'm happy for this nice first release!
I've got only a few of suggestions to improve it a little:
1) hey, I see there some animals in this story and....why don't you add a dialogue for them? I mean when I press "F" on the cat of the village, I want it replies me with a meow like "Nyan" or with something else...It'll be funny.
2) create a simply open door transition when a character come in or go out from an house?
3) Language is auto-selected by the game for the very first time, like in "Battle for Wesnoth". Example: you are Italian and you has the OS in Italian, the game will realize it and you start to play in Italian without go to change the language from the menu.
And I'm working to update Italian translation, so wait a few days!
1) if you won a battle with some characters that unfortunately died, you can't cure them with any healing potion (both in field and battle mode, works only if you are standing in the magic source) and then if you start a new battle the dead characters won't fight because they have 0 HP. My idea is: why don't you start next battle with at least 1 HP every time, so you can have the ability to heal them immediately? And surely, healing them by the item menu;
2) you can't realize if a treasure chest was open or not. They appear all equal, we surely need an "open treasure chest" sprite;
3) in Windows, savegames of Valyria Tear are in the folder My Documents/Valyria Tear. A lot of games (like battle for wesnoth, red eclipse, me and my shadow, xonotic as examples) use the following path: My Documents/My Games/ . IMHO, it's better if VT savegames are placed in this folder with these other games;
4) Create a basic and visible projectile for the enemies ranged attacks, like a fireball or something else. But for spiders, better a "web ball";
6) Split the .po translation files in more parts: one for the GUI and commands, one for Episode 1, an other for Episode 2 etc. because if you focus all the strings in a single file there'll be always too big and a mess for the translators. (see Battle for wesnoth, it's a .po file for every single campaign);
7) adding more decorations in the forest level (like stones, wood signs, flowers etc.). Trees are enough good;
8) make less hard the first battles, against slimes and spiders, even the fenrir. IMHO they're too strong as first enemies you meet. It's only the beginning;
9) grandma house: you can't see where there is the entrance, from behind;
10) when Bronann meet Fenrir at the forest, he exclaims "what is this?" and he is looking at the east...but the fenrir comes out from the north! (just a little incongruity);
11) Finally, I don't like when the characters die, becoming a stone statue. Better a 1-2 frames of a good death animation.
2) you can't realize if a treasure chest was open or not. They appear all equal, we surely need an "open treasure chest" sprite;
That's wrong, open chests look open.
Here is the file:
https://github.com/Bertram25/ValyriaTea ... chest1.png
4) Create a basic and visible projectile for the enemies ranged attacks, like a fireball or something else. But for spiders, better a "web ball";
Planned for later as for the attacks animation, the way they'll look will be determined also later.
6) Split the .po translation files in more parts: one for the GUI and commands, one for Episode 1, an other for Episode 2 etc. because if you focus all the strings in a single file there'll be always too big and a mess for the translators. (see Battle for wesnoth, it's a .po file for every single campaign);
7) adding more decorations in the forest level (like stones, wood signs, flowers etc.). Trees are enough good;
8) make less hard the first battles, against slimes and spiders, even the fenrir. IMHO they're too strong as first enemies you meet. It's only the beginning;
10) when Bronann meet Fenrir at the forest, he exclaims "what is this?" and he is looking at the east...but the fenrir comes out from the north! (just a little incongruity);
Looks normal since, the fenrir is hidden in the trees. He just stops and wonders. Won't fix, no bug.
Please, no "More sprites" requests without having a clue of what work it is representing.
Thank you for your suggestion to improve Valyria Tear's visual art.
We love beautiful graphics and would love to add more, but our team has no artists with spare time and we have to heavily prioritize which art gets created.
If you can draw art that matches Valyria Tear's style and have the time to do so for free, please upload your art to [url=http://opengameart.org/]OpenGameArt.org[/url] and let us know about it!
As a style guide, please take a look at the [url=https://github.com/Bertram25/ValyriaTear/tree/master/img]img/[/url] (in-game art, use "zip" button to get the whole directory) and [url=https://github.com/Bertram25/ValyriaTear/tree/master/art]art/[/url] directories (layered GIMP source images and more, use "zip" button to get the whole directory) and [url=http://opengameart.org/art-search?keys=valyria+tear]Valyria Tear art on OpenGameArt[/url]. If you have art-making friends who might be able to help, please tell them about Valyria Tear!
Thanks,
I think what is meant is: chests that have been opened before don't stay open.
I would gladly offer to write request for small art additions to already existing art (you have a spider but need bullets for it).
Did you use any abilities in battle? When a player is not able to win in a situation, it can be a balance problem but it can also be means to tell the player "try another way".
I don't think I have seen that scene, but from reading the description "walking to the right, then looking to the left and keeping looking to the left" sounds like "being startled by something and looking for it to the left and finding it" to me. If it can't be found, perhaps the player character should look left-right-left, which would indicate that there is nothing to be found?
I recently became a moderator at Freesound.org and it became useful to me to use templates to deal with common issues in sound submissions. Here's a suggestion on what VT could use:
It is very commendable that you respond to all requests but please know that this is not a requirement! At OpenGameArt there are many feature requests and many have no answers. And it's fine, since there is only one person who can really do anything (there are not many people offering their drupal skills for free on OGA ) and I prefer the admin ignores requests rather than burning out... but actually I am a moderator there too, I should probably write a sticky, explaining exactly this!
Also this makes me wonder how other game projects deal with too-many-requests.
qubodup {l Wrote}:Please, no "More sprites" requests without having a clue of what work it is representing.
Good-will suggestions can sometimes sound like demands and unfortunately (but IMHO understandably) often the proposing person is not informed of the work involved.
I recently became a moderator at Freesound.org and it became useful to me to use templates to deal with common issues in sound submissions. Here's a suggestion on what VT could use:
- {l Code}: {l Select All Code}
Thank you for your suggestion to improve Valyria Tear's visual art.
We love beautiful graphics and would love to add more, but our team has no artists with spare time and we have to heavily prioritize which art gets created.
If you can draw art that matches Valyria Tear's style and have the time to do so for free, please upload your art to [url=http://opengameart.org/]OpenGameArt.org[/url] and let us know about it!
As a style guide, please take a look at the [url=https://github.com/Bertram25/ValyriaTear/tree/master/img]img/[/url] (in-game art, use "zip" button to get the whole directory) and [url=https://github.com/Bertram25/ValyriaTear/tree/master/art]art/[/url] directories (layered GIMP source images and more, use "zip" button to get the whole directory) and [url=http://opengameart.org/art-search?keys=valyria+tear]Valyria Tear art on OpenGameArt[/url]. If you have art-making friends who might be able to help, please tell them about Valyria Tear!
Thanks,
It is very commendable that you respond to all requests but please know that this is not a requirement! At OpenGameArt there are many feature requests and many have no answers. And it's fine, since there is only one person who can really do anything (there are not many people offering their drupal skills for free on OGA ) and I prefer the admin ignores requests rather than burning out... but actually I am a moderator there too, I should probably write a sticky, explaining exactly this!
Also this makes me wonder how other game projects deal with too-many-requests.
1) if you won a battle with some characters that unfortunately died, you can't cure them with any healing potion (both in field and battle mode, works only if you are standing in the magic source) and then if you start a new battle the dead characters won't fight because they have 0 HP. My idea is: why don't you start next battle with at least 1 HP every time, so you can have the ability to heal them immediately? And surely, healing them by the item menu;
The minor elixir will do that. No, I won't set the characters HP to 1 at battle end. Later, you will be able to buy what's necessary.
2) you can't realize if a treasure chest was open or not. They appear all equal, we surely need an "open treasure chest" sprite;
That's wrong, open chests look open.
Here is the file:
https://github.com/Bertram25/ValyriaTea ... chest1.png
6) Split the .po translation files in more parts: one for the GUI and commands, one for Episode 1, an other for Episode 2 etc. because if you focus all the strings in a single file there'll be always too big and a mess for the translators. (see Battle for wesnoth, it's a .po file for every single campaign);
No, never. Wesnoth is made of several games, this one is one sole game, that doesn't make sense and make things harder for me.
Since you are a translater, can you explain what issues you run into? We might find a way to ease the task for you and other translators, without requiring core developer's time.
7) adding more decorations in the forest level (like stones, wood signs, flowers etc.). Trees are enough good;
There are stones, there won't be wood signs in lost woods like those, there are flowers. Feel free to propose a patch if you see something to add. Should be easy enough.
What would adding more decoration solve? Do you feel bored when walking in the forest? What do you think the correct feeling should be? Enjoyment of beautiful nature? Fear of being lost and surrounded by aggressive creatures?
8) make less hard the first battles, against slimes and spiders, even the fenrir. IMHO they're too strong as first enemies you meet. It's only the beginning;
I think you have to tell more about your play style in such situations: did you use potions, did you buy items, did you use a way to regain health for free? Did you use any abilities in battle? When a player is not able to win in a situation, it can be a balance problem but it can also be means to tell the player "try another way".
Okay, but at least add the utility to heal a dead character with a normal healing potion by your inventory, if one of my characters die I can't heal them for a long time and I have to come back at the point where it's placed the source! And then I found no elixirs in the forest!
I wanted to said that the game is too hard for a beginning. The characters surely die after 2-3 battles against slimes+spiders if you don't heal them, and you need too many points to reach a lv.2 in the game. You also can't defend (why?), and you can go on with the game only if you go to buy a lot of healing potions.
I'm just happy if you can heal the dead players with a normal minor healing potion.
I was thinking about the future: if you only focus all the dialogues in a single .po file, with the time it'll become too big and will be hard to find some errors to make corrections. (do you imagine a file with 99999 strings?) My idea was splitting the work in more files: one for episode 1+GUI, an other one for episode 2 when it'll ready etc...
I was confusing, at the beginning of the play I didn't realize the difference between open chests and closed chests because their sprites look very similar!
I didn't want to say that the game needs a lot of decorations for the forest, just a few, like different types of coloured flowers and different stones, not so much...
If a character has HP=100% and >60%, then healthstatus is green (your status is ok);
If a character has <60%, then healthstatus is yellow (you have more or less than half health);
If a character has HP<25%, then healthstatus is red (warning: you are almost dead! Heal!)
This is only an example, developers can choose other values to color the healthstatus.
I've got a few suggestions:
1. A mini map type thing that you could place in a corner might be nice.
2. Main character sprites look nice at low resolutions, but at the max resolution the PCs are significantly pixilated whereas the enemies and background aren't. This is rather noticble on the battle screens.
3. Diagonal walking/running annimations would be a nice touch instead of the sideways moving one.
4. When I run I get this odd horizontal line that moves up my screen, slightly distorting the image. Only seems to happen when running.
5. A quicksave option would be nice. A nice one time only save that would allow you to save anywhere if you need to stop but not break the dedicated save spots system.
6. When you win a battle the XP number goes down. Maybe call it XP needed instead of XP on the victory screen to avoid confusion?
7. When you level up it says stuff like HP: 6 STR: 2..... It might be nicer/clearer if you put a + in front of the number.
8. Whenever you die you are presented with restart battle or quit. An option to immediately load the game might be nicer than going through the main menu.
9. You tend to be either trying to avoid the on map monsters or moving to fight them. Perhaps some form of initiative system so if you decide to "attack" the on map monster you start the battle with your characters higher.
10. Way to run away from monsters in battle? Probably not really needed with the battle initiation system though.
11. In the caves, the bats will get stuck at the stop of the staircase if the pursue me there, and force me to fight through them to use the stairs.
12. The respawning of the monsters is a bit sudden. I'll think I'm alone and a few seconds later I'm fighting again. Maybe a more noticible visual effect when a monster respawns? Or just don't let them respawn right next to the player?
13. Descriptions of stats/status effects/special attacks and what they do. You get the general idea but I have no clue how long they last and what affects that.
14. On level ups where a new skill is gained it sometimes cuts off the "New Skill Learned" instead saying "New Skill Lea First Aid" for Kalya level 7 (First Aid below New Skill Lea) and "New Skill Learn stun strike" for Bronnan.
15. I'm wondering how bats that I haven't damaged are absorbing my health already. Typically absorbing creatures don't do that. Are these bats like already starving?
16. On the 2nd Fenir encounter Kalya says "It flew again." The sentence sounds a bit odd (a flying fenir). Maybe something like "It ran away again" would be better.
17. At the crystal Kalya says "what does all of this means?" Probably shouldn't have that last s.
18. Levels? Game seems balanced fine but I know I tend to like my games a bit easier than most people so for me easy/medium/hard would be nice. Focus could be on balancing medium and then just have some automatic reductions to the monsters, slightly lower stats... etc.
19. Little things that could be added for a more immersive experience:
- light fireplace
- talk to animals
- sit in chair
- open the chicken pens! I wanted to set them loose on that stupid kid!
- open boxes
- catch butterflies and squirrels in forest.
- I actually wanted to play with Orlinn before he started being annoying. Maybe he could be nicer if you play with him first?
While none of these are really important, they all would help immersion and I find these sort of things really nice.
And again, I really like the game!
- light fireplace
-> Why not, I've got some sprites done by Zabin for this. I'll look into it.
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 1 guest