Oooh, you had me at "Magic Candle"! I spent so much time playing Magic Candle II - it was just so amazingly deep, so many things you could do in that world.
That's what I'd like to go for. To offer depth in choices and in conversations. Currently I'm trying to realise this through:
-choices based off character class
-choices based off character stats / equipped items
-options based off character reputation
-options and consequences through character actions. (simple example: if you kill the cook's cat, not only will all nearby guards try to arrest you, but throughout the game cats will hate you, and will either run away from your character or act hostile. Which may lead to different outcomes at certain quests - which, silly as it sounds, may depend on cats)
-regardless of the above, character dialog will always have a rough good/neutral/evil selection of choices. The above simply add more options/ opportunities
So, hey, this is very neat! I got through the quest to clear the nest in the cellar, got outside, got the quest about the fountain, and then couldn't find the fountain. This has neat adventure game vibes to it; I'd love to see more little descriptions and such. Feels like, even without any combat, you could have a nice vehicle for a story-driven game there, too - maybe a mystery, or some such.
The well is in the lower right corner of the keep's courtyard. I agree it is a rather simple looking sprite, which may be easy to miss. Might have to make it more recognisable. Also, adding misc descriptions is on the to-do list. Similar to how the starting room has every object be interactive, with an appropriate action or description.
Oh, and I feel that the combat is a little jank. I actually think it feels a little out of place. I might replace the combat system altogether. Perhaps even with dialog-driven combat.
By the way, there's little hidden details everywhere. That initial rat you killed in the cellar? Did you feed it to the cook's cat? You can recruit the cat this way, and have him assist you in clearing out the cellar.
The initial "cutscene"/quotes/etc - those are unskippable, right? I couldn't, anyway, and I'm pretty sure I tried every key. That was truly painful and I almost didn't make it past them.
Oof! Thanks for telling me. Yes, they are unskippable atm. But I didn't realise how big of an issue that was. What I can do for the next version (at least!) is make them progress much faster. I agree, they are too drawn out! Consider it taken care of!
I almost wish the game was tile-based and the speed of the movement just depended on moving from one tile to another so you could cover distance as quickly as you can press wasd. The smoother movement didn't seem like it added to the gameplay (maybe I'm missing something - I mean, enemies move in real time, but that doesn't seem very key) but it made it feel slow to get anywhere and a bit awkward trying to line up with things. I guess put another way: if there was a way to move somewhere really quickly (maybe when there are no enemies around?) that would be amazing.
That's an excellent and fresh perspective: to move quicker when no enemies are about. See, the game had faster, instantanious tile-based character movement. But I reduced the speed and made travel smoother, because I wanted to add a level of difficulty outside of combat - because in certain situations, outmaneuvering enemies is a valid strategy (quickly going around a monster, before he can catch you!). So, I felt I had to make a choice. But actually having character speed be dependent on context might be the solution! Non-combat instance: quick movement. Combat intance: slower movement, dependent on character class (thief quick, fighter/cleric average, mage slow).
I liked the writing, and the setting (I mean, hard to go wrong with that!), and it felt surprisingly immersive. Also: neat character selection thing! In my mind, my character was sleeping off an epic bender Also, I think the interface was intuitive - I didn't have any trouble with it.
Haha! To be honest, I secretly envisaged my character sleeping off a wild night myself! Character selection originally had over double the amount of character class choices. But I limited it to these four (fighter/cleric/thief/mage) until I have these fully realised. Deviations off these character classes will be added later (Ranger/Paladin/Druid/Bard), since these will largely share dialog options with the original four classes, and thus will be easier to implement. Their skills will be vastly different though.
Question: you say the interface was intuitive. Were you also ok with the choice in UI colour/contrast?
Definitely something that's going to be as good as the content that's in it - which it sounds like is what you're going for, so, *thumbs up*. Very nice overall!
Cheers! Your comment makes me want to dive right back in and make a better product. Also, be sure to check out that well! That quest is the meat of the demo really. Also, the outside world is accessible, but doesn't feature a lot of content. Though, I did implement some neat ideas here:
-Moving over the world map isn't any slower, but it does take health away, forcing your party to consume supplies. Travel over the world map moves time along, which can cause your party to be locked outside a nearby location at night, forcing you to find/make camp.
-Encounters will be both fixed and random. Random encounters on the world map happen every so often, and feature creatures native to the (invisible) zone you're in. The further you travel (especially off-road) the more dangerous the creatures. It has long been a pet-peeve of mine in many RPGs that the further you travel from your starting area, the more difficult opponents become. Regardless of how developed/inhabited an area is. I actually want to make travel along roads and near towns safer than travelling the wilds. Regardless of where you are in the world.
-Hunting and foraging are skills you can learn to actually make exploring fun and viable. Hunting is implemented to an extent. You'll have to learn that (and making campfires) off several NPCs in the keep's courtyard. It will allow you to kill and skin/butcher deer, for example.
Thanks for trying the demo, Alex!