HTML5 Towers of Powers

[darthlupi]

Story thus far...

..The Powers are something that you have always understood as means to protect. When at age 4 your daughter manifested power beyond that of any other, even the King, you knew all of your powers would not be enough to protect her.

The King has sent his Silencers to put an end to the threat that your daughter poses to his rule and the kingdom. Knowing your child is doomed you place curse of the Genie on her, force her into a bottle and flee with all the speed you can muster to the Towers of Powers.

Legend has it that if you can survive tests of the Powers, the Powers themselves would grant you anything. The Powers and their tests are your only hope to give your daughter the normal life you always dreamed for her.

Link to Demo

• http://towersofpowers.com/index.php/demo

Feed Back I am REALLY hoping for.

• Does it play better with a single player unit to control or multiple? What seems more fun?

Game Status

• Early Alpha

Game Play
Note: There are currently only two spells. The rest of the keys are dedicated to jumping.

• Use the mouse to move, select players and trigger spells.
• Press Z X C To select Players.
• Press V or Right Click to trigger spell of selected player.

Next Major Todos

• Complete Spells
• Complete Bad Guys
• Introduce Traps and Obstical
• Introduce Spell Leveling
  • Spells will be selected between levels and you can level a spell using your earned Level Points.
  • Each level will consist of 5 Sublevels and a boss.
  • You will reset the level points between each level allowing you to reconfigure our spells
  • Spell AMMO will play a HUGE factor in your success

Target Platforms

• HTML5
• Android
• iPhone

Target Release Date

• Feb 2017

 

[chorrus]

Hi!

I've been playing a few levels and looks very interesting, good luck with the project!

I personally would like to have the possibility to move with the arrow keys or making the player move when the left button is pressed instead of released, I think it would be more dinamic. Anyway it's just my opinion, just have it in mind

 

[darthlupi]

Thanks for the interest in the project.

So I whipped up a demo of movement with the just pressing the mouse vs releasing it. It feels like sacrificing control for instant movement.
http://towersofpowers.com/01_project/towers_and_powers_2/
I've also update the demo in the main project with some bug fixes for the auto jump and some small tweaks and effects. Nothing to write home about. YET!

 

[darthlupi]

I've updated the number of units that the player controls to three! I really like the feeling of rushing around the battle field now!

Spoiler: Click to see image

It gives a nice frantic and fun feel to the little dungeons!

 

[darthlupi]

I've added some SWANKY new spells. I currently have 4 of the 15 total I plan for game. This is not including the wands.


Flamy's Flaming Beam of Flames:

Rolling Pain:

Water Slash:

 

[FredFredrickson]

I really like this so far!I can't believe I didn't notice this before!

This is a sweet little game, man. Really like the graphics (those chunky pixel particles always get me) and the controls, once you get the hang of them, feel good. I expected to have to move my guys around in a traditional way, with arrows/buttons, so being able to just click, see the path, and watch them move was refreshing.

I was a little confused about the monsters - whether they spawned infinitely, what I had to do to stop them, etc. Similar to the doors, although I figured that out pretty easily. Obviously a proper release will explain everything more thoroughly though, so that stuff doesn't bother me too much.

I like the strategy of it though, how you have to think about where to position each member of the troop as you make your way around a level. I found myself just placing two of them in the safest possible places I could find, and then having one guy just run around the level picking up stuff. It might be nice to have parts of the level that only one member of the group can traverse, or make it so that you have to use multiple people to open a door (one guy stands on a button in one place, another guy stands on a button in another place, a door is now open for the third guy to walk through, etc.).

Looking forward to seeing more environments, and to playing this some more as you work on it. Great start so far!

 

[darthlupi]

Thanks man! I tend to play the same way too. Keep one person moving and the others standing still for safety.
I like your suggestions! I think forcing them to separate in level sometime would be fun!
Putting traps in levels will be pretty fun too!
Fire plumes, lava filling rooms, trap doors with hidden enemies, and maybe even immortal Snake gods that roam the halls!

I keep thinking that tower defense style levels would be fun too.

The goal is to complete the challenges of the Tower's Powers, and that can really be anything that peeps dream up.

Here is a peep dreaming stuff up!

I wrote the engine so that there can be chapters where the players get separated also.

 

[TDSrock]

The visuals here look interesting. Putting this post here mostly to remind myself to check out the demo sometime soon!

 

[darthlupi]

I fixed some bugs, added the ability to have scrolling foreground effects, and I fixed the spell buttons not showing up in the HTML 5 demo.

Boom they are back!

HTML5 interpreter is less forgiving of horrible slop syntax then the windows version it appears.

 

[darthlupi]

Freeze suckas! I can now create slightly believable Popsicle baddies using MAGIC.

 

[darthlupi]

Dude, had a great night of refactoring some scripts and reduced the number of places edits are required for adding new MAGICAL MAGIC.
That is magic in itself. The magic of saving time, BOOOOYYYYY.

Check out the spells:

Spreading the love:

Chilly old ice blaster:

 

[ParodyKnaveBob]

Very fascinating, I love it. The smart point-and-click movement AI, the various visual effects (including mere atmosphere), the audio, good stuff. I got to around level 3 or 4 or so, and the game ended itself, I expect intentionally. I doubt I'll play much more of it since it's way too much action for me to handle well, but it says a lot that I enjoyed it despite being more frantic than my taste.

Unless!

While typing this post, I recalled and realized something. 1. In the game Super Smashed Bros. (a fifteen-year-old Super Mario franchise parody by TatsuSoft for Windows, free nowadays), I enjoy the fourth level ("Prison Style"), a parody of an old Game & Watch title where you control two characters independently, simultaneously, to frantically move objects up a conveyor belt. 2. In the game Perfect Dark (a fifteen-year-old FPS classic by Rare for Nintendo 64), you can change your CPU-controlled comrades' AI states live during battle (hold A for the quick-swapping menu and press Z a time or two), and I enjoyed this very much, including a one-shot-kill challenge where you must protect your easier AI ally against a harder AI opponent. "So, what's the difference?" I pondered -- and answered. Gradual pacing.

Would you consider your game starting with only one character to control in order to get used to what in the world you're doing before adding a second, and then a third? I believe I'd find this more enjoyable, and I expect many others would, too, just from my experience and study of players. In fact, (and I'm suddenly remembering a game my family and I designed together, heheh,) you might start each one in a level to oneself, just so the player can get used to differences in each character's health and ability (abilities? .. it felt too frantic for me to want to experiment very much, thus I didn't use any ability to any real effect until maybe level 3, and only then it was only action 1 (via right-click)). Then, let's just say you skip two-at-a-time and go straight to three-at-once. Depending how confident players feel against enemies by this time, perhaps your first room could have minimal or even zero enemies -- or perhaps enemies could come from one side of the room while the door is on the other, therefore letting two characters idly shoot while the third gets to the door, thereby teaching the player how nicely that works.

In fact, lemme play one more time, just to see what experience I gained from the first attempt and my new recognition about franticness. ~~ Okay, tried the B-key action. I'm not sure when that would be useful really. Otherwise, I had a slightly better grip on things, but it was still too immediately toomuchgoingonatonce in level 3 -- and the lady died in level 2. Otoh, (as far as your general audience enjoying,) I'm sure there are hardcore people out there looking for a tough challenge while sitting in the doctor's office waiting room, tired of all the easy casual games on mobile. $F^ }

Keep up the good stuff, and regards,
Bob $:^ ]

 

[RichHopefulComposer]

This looks pretty cool. Deserves more attention than its been getting. I like the art!=)

 

[darthlupi]

"So, what's the difference?" I pondered -- and answered. Gradual pacing.

I think you have some GREAT ideas there Bob!

I can definitely slowly introduce multiple characters. That idea fits PERFECTLY with the story line. The other two characters are the apprentice and the older daughter of the main character. They are uninvited tag alongs, so having them pop in one at a time is brilliant.

I have also been considering removing any manual fire from the game. I think switching characters and manually firing spells is what makes it difficult.
The player interaction would be limited, but allowing each player to have two spells to choose from should be give some more decision making.
This will be more apparent as I start making the defensive and healing spells.

Your feedback has me pumped to code some stuff.

This looks pretty cool. Deserves more attention than its been getting. I like the art!=)

Dude, thanks. I love your art, so there!

 

[FROGANUS]

Hey Towers of Powers looks cool!

The control is a little different, but I could get used to it; the click and move scheme would probably be great for phone platform, so that's cool.

Test demos sometimes can be hectic since its just a snippet of the action, so I'd be eager to see things develop more slowly, like start with one character then move on (like you mentioned characters introduced gradually, spells that you have to earn, etc).

Since you mention the Tower itself is capable of granting power, could there be some kind of structures in the tower that are specifically for acquiring new spells? Like if you have enough xp when you get to certain areas you can cash in and power up or something? Dunno how spell/leveling is working here, just a random idea.

hope to see more, cheers!

 

[darthlupi]

For leveling I was going to use a classic leveling mechanism where each level gained will give you a skill point that could be assigned to unlock spells or stats.

I am seriously considering food and certain collectable consumable items to allow you to level up your stats as well.
I love food in games! It just makes me happy for some reason.

I am not totally sold on a method yet. I do know spells will be tied to leveling.

I REALLY like the food idea though. I can just picture the team sitting at their prelevel select camp chowing down on the magical yum yum yummities they find.

Plus it gives you something to spend money on.

There will also be limited gear - 1 item per player - to purchase.

These are stats that currently work in the game are these here:

----------------------------------
Health
Spell Power
Regen
Armor
Casting Speed

----------------------------------

What do you think of there being an immortal sales man that caters to those "daring" ( or stupid ) to make their way into the towers. Maybe there could be things you could collect for him to open up new wares? Maybe if you collect them all his true form is shown! BUM BUM BUM!

So many possibilities to make upgrades fun.

EDIT - I added a slow gradual introduction of extra players. It does feel less shocking. I love the suggestions!

 

[darthlupi]

I spent a few hours today doing some hardcore work in Evernote fleshing out some of my Design Docs:

I am at the point where I needed to go beyond my Trello Kanban methods for quick process layout and work flow and really put some text behind the game world to make it more real to me, and put numbers and stats to baddies and spells.

BTW, If you've never used Trello or a Kanban Board I highly suggest it as an easy way to move your ideas along in a work flow that works for you:

It is super easy. You just setup columns and cards and move the cards between the colums. Think of moving items between Ideas, Work In Progress, and Complete.

The end result of all of this organization was that I was able to get a cool little How Magic Works in ToP started for the players mostly because I had my thoughts organized in a way that works for me:

Spoiler: Click to see image

I'm plann an instructional screen for each of the three human schools of magic.

 

[darthlupi]

I've finished the magic explained screens, and I am pretty happy with their campy cheese ball nature.

Spoiler: Click to see images

 

[ParodyKnaveBob]

Funny and interesting. Just a warning, though. A shocking number of players abhor reading and will ignore anything that looks like a glyph (and then annoy others later by continually asking questions that could've been answered if they'd just read the stupid thing). $:^ ]

 

[darthlupi]

That is really good advice. I am going to make this PURELY informational. It will have no impact on the game what so ever. Meta data, nothing more.
Right now it sits in front of the demo just so us nerds can see it, but I am thinking it will be a little question mark bubble beside the characters in the upgrade screen.

 

[darthlupi]

Oh snap! Or cold snap. New spell.

The Frosty Glare!

 

[darthlupi]

Fireball GOES BOOM SON!

 

[Emik Vayts]

The movement style is dope I like it. Also props to your graphics everything is popping.

 

[darthlupi]

The movement style is dope I like it. Also props to your graphics everything is popping.

Dude! I love that you enjoy the movement. It was so hard for a multipath noob like myself to get smoothed out. Jumping was not as intuitive to setup as I thought it would be. It was crazy how much I overcomplicated things at first. Now, to create a level I only need to place block objects, ladders, and places where I want to allow jumps. It really removes potential for human error in level design. That and it auto tiles the majority of the level. LAZY BONE MCGEE.

Here is my latest spell! The Proximity Mime! The Fabricators take on the fireball:

 

[darthlupi]

TONS of bug fixes, new obstacles, enemy types and DREADED MENU work.

Bugs:

New Enemy types:

Obstacles:

Spell screen "progress":

Pretty menus R HARD AS CRAP.