Rune Life [Final Demo, Alpha & New Poll (12/14/2015)]

[shadowblack 103]

I just tried the latest Alpha. Since I am at the very beginning of the game I have only a few comments:

1) The first battle in the game is much easier compared to whichever-was-the-previous-version-I-tried. My Mystic kept on missing at first, but eventually got a critical and a few regular hits, and won. Good to see that even a Mystic with no skills can win

2) Please increase the character limit for character names. Currently we're limited to just 6 letters. I recommend increasing it to at least 10, maybe even 12 letters

3) In the pub, after talking to the retired adventurer, he leaves, but his move path is such that he can get blocked by the woman selling lockpicks, and you have to wait for her to move before the cutscene can finish. Since she has a custom move route maybe change it so that she can't block the adventurer's movement?

4) Also in the pub, when I talked to the hooded guy for the first time he offered me a Lockpicking set, but "forgot" to mention the price of the set. And then, after he vanished, I could not step on the spot where he was until I explored the place where he stood. It looked like there was an invisible barrier there.

 

Also, in the Traveler's Crossing Camp, in the Rest Tent the girl waking around says that I can rest there for a fee. But resting there actually costs no money.

 

Talisman of Aggression is a Shield instead of an Accessory, for reason.

 

EDIT: A bug report and a balance issue:

1) When recruiting Danny we get to choose his name, however he gets added to the party AFTER he introduces himself. At that time the game initializes him, giving him back his default name (Danny)

2) Currently Triple Attack is just too good. It costs the same as Dual Attack, but hits three random enemies. If there's a single enemy it'll be hit three times (Dual Attack will hit the same enemy twice). If there are two enemies, then either one enemy will be hit three times, or one will be hit twice and the other one once (again better than Dual Attack). What's more, Farce's Eye gives him a chance to Stun enemies, so Triple Attack gives three chances to Stun versus just two for Double Attack

 

The Dispel Herb quest is bugged - even if you have 5 or more in inventory you can't give them to Isolde's Queen because the game does not record that you received the quest, so just keeps repeating the line about needing 5 Dispel Herbs.

 

Question: Is Melissa's mystery intentionally impossible to solve? I checked everything in her house (letter, bed, empty cupboards, blank books, the stove, the dishes) but nothing happened...

Edited September 28, 2013 by shadowblack

[jobwaggon 5]

_{Thank you for this Report. I'll get on it and fix these bugs as soon as possible, I'll even post updatse as to the De bugging process. Thank you so much for doing this, I really needed help ^^}

 

_{The camp beds are different. Red beds cost money, green ones don't}

 

_{Danny thing is fixed. Also bumped up name characters to 10, I don't think people really need more than that.}

 

Triple and double attack now take more TP to use.

 

You missed one thing in the puzzle. there are 7 parts you have to observe. and that quest isn't completed yet so you won't find out what it's really about until later ;3 hehe. 

 

_{Dispel Herb quest is fixed.}

 

Talisman Fixed

 

Waitress and Old adventurer hang up fixed, now he'll just walk through her LOL

 

_{Alpha updated to fix these issues}

Edited September 30, 2013 by jobwaggon

[jobwaggon 5]

OK! Those bugs are now fixed, and if you took the time to head to the plains you can get a small preview of what's to come, the Map of The Plains, as wells as the beginning of the first stop, the ruins of an ancient tower~

[shadowblack 103]

Bug: In Isolde when you buy a house (or upgrades for it) you do not lose the money you're supposed to pay - the game checks if you have them, but does not actually take them.

 

Typo: If you try to go to the Plains after getting told to go back and get a map the text says "can;t" instead of "can't".

 

And a suggestion: Reduce the amount you make at the Arena. Currently it doubles your bet, which is great when you're short on cash, but once you start betting thousands the return is too good - even after buying the houses (and all of their upgrades) and a ship I still had over 500'000 left.

[jobwaggon 5]

I fixed the typos, it also says 'eciting' instead of 'exciting'.

 

I'll fix the house thing, I can't believe I never noticed.... probably because I'm cheap. Same thing with the arena, I'll reduce it once you bet a certain amount.

 

OK so, once you bet 1000 or more, you only get 150% return,

 

and once you bet 10000 or more, you only get 120% return,

 

as opposed to the original 200% return.

 

House actually costs money now, but the master basement only costs 40000 as opposed to 60000.

Edited October 3, 2013 by jobwaggon

[jobwaggon 5]

Hey everyone! Guess what?

This game now has it's own Face Book page, so get on and Like us!: https://www.facebook.com/RuneLifeRPG

 

It also has it's own site!: http://jorgewaggoner.wix.com/runelife

[jobwaggon 5]

OK little update, I'm almost finished building a new town, as well as a farm and a set of ruins. You'll see your first interaction with the Mystic's Union if you go the right way, and you;ll hear mentions of the Empire's capitol city Schederzade~

NOTE! The update won't be up till the town is finished!

[jobwaggon 5]

OK, Update has been fixed

Edited October 28, 2013 by jobwaggon

[jobwaggon 5]

If anyone would like to try the latest Alpha and give me some feedback that's be great. I've made some changes to the beginning as well, I don't think it's anything major, but if you're interested you should check it out.

 

In my next update I'll be adding new looks for your character, based on the answers they give in the beginning of the game.

Edited November 20, 2013 by jobwaggon

[Jared 0]

If anyone would like to try the latest Alpha and give me some feedback that's be great. I've made some changes to the beginning as well, I don't think it's anything major, but if you're interested you should check it out.

 

In my next update I'll be adding new looks for your character, based on the answers they give in the beginning of the game.

 

Overall, I think everything in the beginning is better than the version I played a few weeks ago. I'll put the good parts first, and the things I didn't like so much afterwards.

There was a little more explanation about the story (although that's still pretty thin, not gonna lie). I really like the combination of Skyrim and Zelda music that you keep adding, even if it's not exactly original.    

Being able to turn lights on and off by examining them is a really nice touch, although it doesn't seem like it applies to many lights I've found. and with some things, like the fireplace in the MC's house, you can light a fire but not put it out. Great idea, just needs to be implemented a little more thoroughly. It's the little things!

There's definitely more things to interact with. Digging through cabinets, dressers, etc. is a nice touch, but I feel like there should be a consequence. Bounty system, inventory limits, etc. I pretty much ran around picking everything up whether or not I actually needed it. I also found out if you examine a cabinet during the day, it marks it as looted so you can't come back and loot it that night. Probably just a bugged self-switch.

 

 I'm gonna nitpick a few things, though, just so you'll have something to improve.

 

I picked agility/assassin for my class, and I didn't have a full health/magic bar. Fully heal the player after messing around with classes, since adjusting max HP and stuff doesn't restore health or anything. Not a major issue, but it just looks cleaner if you heal the player.

I think some dialog boxes could be more consistent. For example, the messages about your equipment was a little messy. The first message was on a faded background at the bottom, and the next message reminding you to equip the items was on the normal message box at the top of the screen. Make both of those on a dark background at the bottom and the entire scene will flow much better.

Some dialog feels clunky. In the first town/first scene where you meet your buddy, the box in front of the tent says "Box is blocking the way." It's not wrong, but it just seems weird to refer to that one box in such high regard. It's just a box. haha. In your house, when you check the far right cabinet, it says "you steal found curry powder." Steal found? These are probably just minor typos that will be fixed, but just letting you know where a few are. (a few others include misspelling "vegetable" in the description of turnip and cabbage, misspelled "concern" on a note in town, etc.)

In your house, storing items in a closet is cool. But with that default script, the first tab in the menu says "bank" and that seems like a weird way to refer to your underwear drawer.

Some battles still need some tweaking. The golden rabbit in town could never do any damage to either of my party members, but that little bastard could take a serious beating. Chompy globs, on the other hand, are pretty tough to bring down for being some of the first enemies you see.

The creep in the bar that sells lockpicking kits still kinda sucks. He doesn't tell you how much the kit costs.

 

I'm also not sure if I got the full version or not? I tried to go north from the camp and it forced me to save and quit. I'd like to keep playing if I could. haha.

[jobwaggon 5]

 

If anyone would like to try the latest Alpha and give me some feedback that's be great. I've made some changes to the beginning as well, I don't think it's anything major, but if you're interested you should check it out.

 

In my next update I'll be adding new looks for your character, based on the answers they give in the beginning of the game.

 

Overall, I think everything in the beginning is better than the version I played a few weeks ago. I'll put the good parts first, and the things I didn't like so much afterwards.

There was a little more explanation about the story (although that's still pretty thin, not gonna lie). I really like the combination of Skyrim and Zelda music that you keep adding, even if it's not exactly original.  

Being able to turn lights on and off by examining them is a really nice touch, although it doesn't seem like it applies to many lights I've found. and with some things, like the fireplace in the MC's house, you can light a fire but not put it out. Great idea, just needs to be implemented a little more thoroughly. It's the little things!

There's definitely more things to interact with. Digging through cabinets, dressers, etc. is a nice touch, but I feel like there should be a consequence. Bounty system, inventory limits, etc. I pretty much ran around picking everything up whether or not I actually needed it. I also found out if you examine a cabinet during the day, it marks it as looted so you can't come back and loot it that night. Probably just a bugged self-switch.

 

 I'm gonna nitpick a few things, though, just so you'll have something to improve.

 

I picked agility/assassin for my class, and I didn't have a full health/magic bar. Fully heal the player after messing around with classes, since adjusting max HP and stuff doesn't restore health or anything. Not a major issue, but it just looks cleaner if you heal the player.

I think some dialog boxes could be more consistent. For example, the messages about your equipment was a little messy. The first message was on a faded background at the bottom, and the next message reminding you to equip the items was on the normal message box at the top of the screen. Make both of those on a dark background at the bottom and the entire scene will flow much better.

Some dialog feels clunky. In the first town/first scene where you meet your buddy, the box in front of the tent says "Box is blocking the way." It's not wrong, but it just seems weird to refer to that one box in such high regard. It's just a box. haha. In your house, when you check the far right cabinet, it says "you steal found curry powder." Steal found? These are probably just minor typos that will be fixed, but just letting you know where a few are. (a few others include misspelling "vegetable" in the description of turnip and cabbage, misspelled "concern" on a note in town, etc.)

In your house, storing items in a closet is cool. But with that default script, the first tab in the menu says "bank" and that seems like a weird way to refer to your underwear drawer.

Some battles still need some tweaking. The golden rabbit in town could never do any damage to either of my party members, but that little bastard could take a serious beating. Chompy globs, on the other hand, are pretty tough to bring down for being some of the first enemies you see.

The creep in the bar that sells lockpicking kits still kinda sucks. He doesn't tell you how much the kit costs.

 

I'm also not sure if I got the full version or not? I tried to go north from the camp and it forced me to save and quit. I'd like to keep playing if I could. haha.

 

You got the demo version my friend, you'd want the Alpha version. I fixed many of the spelling errors, though if you get the Alpha an their still there please let me know. The guy with the lock-picking set does tell you how much gold it costs in the alpha. I fixed the class HP/MP change thing in the next alpha because I hadn't noticed it ever XD, sorry about that. and I'll go check my events to be sure about the spelling and things. and don't worry I fixed the event timers. I also took out the storage because I couldn't find a script that gave the right kind of inventory limitations that would grown as the character leveled up, so I took it out. As for the message screens the second is like that because people always forget then during their first battle they get prissy because they die and don't do damage because they don't have anything equipped, so I put in a more noticeable message, it's about practicality in that case, not flow.

 

The Golden Rabbit is supposed to be a hard battle, and as for the chompys I've tried with several classes and never had a problem. Have you made your own equipment at the smith?

 

And yes, the demo is rather clunky, it's better in the Alpha, and it'll be much better in the next Alpha I put out, as I've made many bug fixes (Not to say there aren't any left).

 

Thank you for the feedback, it's valued very much,a nd please try the Alpha and let me know if it's any better.

 

PS there is a bounty system type deal, once you steal too much the guards will come after you.

Edited December 2, 2013 by jobwaggon

[Jared 0]

Well crap! I'm downloading the alpha now, and I'll update in a bit.

 

edit: Here's a suggestion to avoid confusion like what happened to me. Label the demo version 0.1, the alpha version 0.2, etc. I think demo sounds like it would be a more up to date version than alpha (when I think alpha, I'm assuming way earlier than demo stage) so if you label everything with version numbers, it'll guarantee everybody gets the right version.

Edited December 2, 2013 by Jared

[jobwaggon 5]

Glad to hear it, I hate the thought of my Demo being so crappy, but it's just the demo. I'm actually thinking of deleting it and just say 'play the Alpha, it's better, and you'll get to try more stuff'. The downside is, the next Alpha that's released everyone will have to start a new character because new variables are being added in.  

[Jared 0]

I think you should delete the demo. It would make things less confusing.

As for having to start over new characters with new alpha versions, that's to be expected. If I'm playing alpha software, I don't expect my saves to transfer over, I don't expect things to always work flawlessly, etc. It's pretty much a given that if you try out a game that early, you're going to be on a bumpy road.

[jobwaggon 5]

It's just that some people complain the Alpha is too large, and insist that I give them something smaller to try, so I made the demo as a small trial to let them get a feel for it and if they like it they can try the whole thing.

[Jared 0]

Played through the alpha, and some of the issues are cleaned up, but there's still a few that should probably be fixed.

 

There's still an issue where if you try to steal something during the day, the container marks itself as empty so you can't come back and steal from the same container at night.

 

Battles are still very hit or miss. The golden rabbit fight was definitely tougher since it has a lightning spell, but the rabbit's normal attacks do 0 damage, and the hit rate for everything still seems like it's about 50%. Constantly missing and then having an enemy do 0 damage is just frustrating. Cobras also do 0 damage but have what appears to be a 100% chance to poison you. And although poison at least wears off after battle, you may want to throw some free antidotes along that first road. I've tried crafting better equipment, but crafting materials aren't clearly available, and levelling up is just a slog. I think enemies should give out just a bit more experience, and probably less gold. Excluding the insane price of the house in Von Krowne, items are dirt cheap.

I really like the variety of enemies. There's a lot of potential with so many different models, so that's a plus.

I also got absolutely demolished by a hare and a raccoon. 

 

I broke a lockpick trying to pick a tent flap, too. I remember that from an earlier version I played. It's just... weird.   I can't seem to pick many locks outside of Hearthmet, either. How exactly is lockpicking calculated?

 

I like the environments, and I think the mapping is decent enough, but some places you should be careful about making them *too* large. The felicity inn, for instance, is excessively large, especially for a side-of-the-road inn. There were a ton of bedrooms and not a whole lot going on (at least that I could find). You could easily trim that down to three or four bedrooms across a single floor with a nice cozy bar. On the flip side of that, some places like Von Krowne could definitely stand to be expanded and fleshed out. For a major city, I thought it was kinda small. No houses or anything much beyond the castle and arena. I couldn't manage to get enough cash to buy any houses.

Basically, the towns look really nice, but they still feel kinda empty. Toss in some mundane side quests, give some villagers some patterns, etc. 

 

The left merchant in the part of Von Krowne with the well was half-broken. You should probably keep your merchants from wandering around behind a counter, because they can move into a spot where the player can't talk to them. 

 

Overall, I do like the general feel of the game. It feels like there could be a lot of content and a lot of fun here (I've spent probably about two hours just wandering around between the demo and the alpha games), it just needs to be fleshed out and polished up.

[jobwaggon 5]

OK, I finally figured out the stealing thing, I'm working on it. As for battles I'll try tweaking some of the enemies stats and things, but I've made so many enemies that it could take a while to get them all just right, I don't want to crush you guys, but I don't want it to be too easy either. And there are too crafting materials available to you. Have you been to the Smith or the Mystic shop? They've got what you'll need to make your basic equipment FYI the steel stuff may have lower stats, but once you reach a higher level and can wear silver you can upgrade it.

 

The felicity in is like that for a reason, don't you worry, remember, there are a lot of quests that still haven't been built, and as for Von Krowne, it's implied that there are people who live around the city walls, like suburbs, and it's never stated it 'large and full of people' it's just got a big arena, and a large graveyard. Not to mention it's OLD. so it would have been considered large when it was made. I did put in some side quests, not a lot because I don't want a bunch of empty filler that's going to keep you busy but get you no where, and they do have patterns, I made sure of that. Did you try the arena btw?

 

Also I know it needs to be fleshed out and polished up, but I'm the only one working on it and I'm not a master coder, I recently found some new things I can do and I'm implementing them in the new cities, I'm working on 'content' but that's a general term, so why don't you shoot me some Ideas, and I'll see what I can do, and as for 'polish' I'm working on it.

 

PS Rather than change how much gold each enemy gives you, I bumped up the XP for some of the lower ones and jacked up the prices on... EVERYTHING lol. Not things shouldn't be "Dirt cheap"

Edited December 3, 2013 by jobwaggon

[jobwaggon 5]

"The left merchant in the part of Von Krowne with the well was half-broken. You should probably keep your merchants from wandering around behind a counter, because they can move into a spot where the player can't talk to them. "

 

 

Which merchant? They can all be spoken to and shouldn't be moving out of range.

[Jared 0]

"The left merchant in the part of Von Krowne with the well was half-broken. You should probably keep your merchants from wandering around behind a counter, because they can move into a spot where the player can't talk to them. "

 

 

Which merchant? They can all be spoken to and shouldn't be moving out of range.

 

Whichever merchant is in the left stand. Sometimes the merchant will wander to the left part of the stand and you can't talk to them. You have to wait for them to walk back to the right side of the counter to shop. Not a major bug, but it bothered me. haha.

[jobwaggon 5]

OK, I found out what was wrong, and fixed it ^^

[Tsarmina 2,612]

Unlocking at OP's request. Glad to see this up again!

[jobwaggon 5]

Thanks you amazing moderator ^^

 

There's a new Alpha up. Both with and without the RTP depending on if you have it or not. Also I made some changes to the types of files I used and trimmed down some stuff, but then I made new things and the data should be about the same, almost a GB for the Alpha with RTP a little less for the Alpha without. 

 

Now, for what has been added to this game hehehe...

 

Mages' Guild first quest!

Warriors' Guild first quest!

Thieves' Guild first quest!

Then next part of the main quest, finding the cartographer!

As well as a few other quests and another special dungeon. 

Not to mention, Schederzade is finally finished XD

 

Should all be functioning properly, I had my mum playing it over and over to be sure everything worked well. Serious, let me know if you find errors. 

 

And people, I'd love to hear your thoughts, review as much as you'd like ^^

[jobwaggon 5]

Okay, I switched the file sharing links to 4shared rather than 4sync because 4sync wanted me to pay and I'm just like #@%$$#

 

And I am working on new areas, but I would like more feedback on the new content before I go on making more.

[jobwaggon 5]

Redid some of the beginning of the game, it doesn't change anything major but it gives you more things in the story with some improved things, don't want to give spoilers for it, I'd rather see your responses to the changes ;3

[jobwaggon 5]

Currently working on internal improvements for the game, leveled enemies, new mechanics and such. As well as making maps for the next area you'll be able to encounter.