Released The Last Librarian [Adventure]

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The world of Rosarah is secretive, mysterious, and magical. The land itself is haunted by the ancient past. Grand civilizations fell to the iron fist of the Kithen Empire. The people suffered. And while the empire fell over 1,000 years ago, the guardians who protect Rosarah are dwindling.

They are the Librarians: the guardians of ancient knowledge and history, protectors of the 8 magic spell books which were originally used by evil to conquer Rosarah. Randel is thrust suddenly into his role as a Librarian when his grandfather is destroyed by an undead monster and must unseal these spells after so many years, in order to defend Rosarah once again from tyranny.

Check Out the Game on itch.io
Check Out the Game on Game Jolt
Available for Windows. Linux coming January 2020.​

Features:

• Explore the vast and detailed world of Rosarah. The game is open-world, so you can play the way you want in the order that you want to do it. As you explore, discover tons of secret treasure, collectible upgrades, and interesting places and people.
• Learn the deep story of Rosarah, of its dark history and present trials. Encounter the villain throughout and the people who help in the fight against him. There is complex lore to find in the world, detailed characters, and a growing stake in the conflict.
• Uncover the secrets buried in the hidden Libraries. Throughout Rosarah, there are 8 distinct and varied dungeons, each with their own mechanics, multi-layered puzzles, and rewards.
• Battle 14 powerful and challenging bosses, and tons of other fun enemies, using a huge variety of strategies and magical weapons and abilities.

The game is designed to be especially challenging, a far cry from the traditional Nintendo Zelda experience. There are between 10 and 20 hours of play-time total depending on how many secrets you seek to collect, and how skilled you are.

[NOTE] There are keyboard controls (configurable), however, a controller is recommended for the best experience.

Spoiler: More Screenshots

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• Discord Server: https://discordapp.com/invite/gzwekuK
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/CloakedGamesDev

"I often stood on this bluff, overlooking the Obsidian Fortress. It is the greatest thing that I have ever put my hammer on to build. I only wish now that it had been built to celebrate the accomplishments of all of mankind, not merely the ego of a single man." - Hammer Guildmaster

 

Alright, I played for about twenty minutes today! I had a lot of fun with it! It's shaping up, for sure! =D
I was impressed with how many systems you have implemented. Inventory, cutscenes, dialog, switches, etc, etc were all there and working really well. Pretty awesome! I got in the library, hit some switches, and died. Combat is a little clunky, unfortunately, I think. The weakest part of the game right now. I'll go into that more tomorrow, though, once I play a bit longer. After I died, I reloaded and entereted the library again. Ran through the switch block puzzles, and then suddenly the game crashed when passing the switch blocks toward the top left (the ones that lead to the first long boomerang toss.) I got this error here:

Spoiler

That's when I quit playing for today, hahah!

I'll check it out more tomorrow, though. Definitely interested in playing more. Wish you had placeholder NPCs, though, even if it's just the same sprite over and over again. Talking to blue squares hurt the immersion for me a little bit, hahah. I know it's WIP, but I'm crazy. :'D

Anyway, pretty cool so far. I love diving into RPGs! Excited to play more tomorrow and see where this goes! =D

Edit: Also, when I got the library key, I equipped it right away. Since it was equippable, I figured I had to use it to get into the library. Tried it on the door I figured was the library's, but it didn't work, since you just have to press "use" on the door. Went "huh, weird. Maybe this isn't the library? Maybe this symbol is going to glow later or something?" and walked around in circles talking to villagers and trying to get an event to happen. Showed the gate guard the key a few times. Finally walked back and pressed "use" on the door and went "ugh, okay," hahah.

Yeah, stupid of me, but I figured I'd point it out, since I doubt I'll be the stupidest person who plays your game, heheh. :'D

 

@RichHopelessComposer Thanks for playing. I especially look forward to your comments on the combat when you get a chance.

One of my alpha-testers got that same crash error report, but I honestly have no idea yet what causes it. We have it on video (the way he triggered it) so I'll see later today when I have a chance if I can replicate it. Can you, if possible, give me a little more detail on that crash? Specifically, had you recently thrown the boomerang? I've got enough that I'll probably release a bug-fix of this one (1.0.1) before I continue development with 0.4.0.

One of the systems which I cut short was the ability to use items other than the weapons/spells. I need a different method for those. At some point in the future, maybe 1.0.1 you'll have to equip the key to open the door. You're not stupid. That's the intended way to do it, I just haven't programmed it yet.

EDIT: Considering the number of things I'm fixing and improving without adding new areas, I will be releasing a bug-fix update 1.0.1 tomorrow or Friday. Just want to stall a little bit in case any new things are discovered.

 

Ah, played a bit more today. Got out of the town and into the open world. Having fun. Hoping it keeps going for awhile. No new bugs discovered. Still need to post a review, but I got lost programming today, and now I've got work all day tomorrow. ):

 

I'm fascinated with my short time with this game.
While my time was short it's clear there's a lot of potential here. I'm looking forward to future updates!

It was sadly cut short thanks to this random bug.


I guess a few criticisms (some of which you already like know but i'll restate anyway).
The tile art is rather inconsistent (specifically the houses) and there is only one save point I found, which led me to having to repeat some of the earliest segments.

 

Demo Version - 1.0.1
Here is a bug fixing update of the first demo. Plus a few other minor changes. This does not include any new content, but if you haven't played it yet, now is a good opportunity to play with many fewer bugs/glitches. I however was unable to solve the undefined draw instance crash. I tweaked a few things. Hopefully it doesn't show up again...

Notable changes include:
- New placeholder sprites for the NPCs
- The spirit inside Kendlith Library is now Darien Fortmoor instead
- You must equip items like the library key to use them
- The game now saves after collecting key items
- Collision system has been reprogrammed from scratch

You can download this version at the top of the forum.
Your current save file should carry over, if you are partly through playing the older version.



"The spirits have faded from this region. That is the last line of protection. I must report back. We need to get Librarians here quickly." - Micah Adran (Journal at the Palace of Water)

 

Looking good, followed for now. Will try out in a few weeks when I am home at my PC.

 

I wanted to give it a try, but I keep getting a corrupt ZIP file whenever I download. Tried on multiple browsers... Any chance you can throw it on dropbox or something?

 

Look forward to seeing what you think.

Actually, I am also getting a corrupt .zip file. Let me upload it again and see if it works for you then. (Give me about 5 minutes).

EDIT: 8 minutes. At any rate, I updated the link @Geoff Jones. Good thing someone noticed while I was still awake. Sorry about that.

 

Looks kinda cool. I'm pretty busy this weekend, but I'll be sure to give it a try when I have time, as from what I've read you have lots of different systems in the game already. I'm not sure how long I'll play for cause art and animation are a big thing on keeping me interested in a game and yours is really lacking in that right now. (I know it's placeholder but I can't help it. I like pretty things)
I wish I could spend my summer treating programming as a job, but my parents are forcing to try and get one .
Good luck

 

Thanks, I'm glad it interests you. Hopefully at the end of the summer I'll raise the money I need to get the art and animations done (somehow). I am often frustrated because I can make every part of a game by myself except the art. I could find people who would do it for free, but I've found that to be more of a hassle than anything else.

Your game also looks pretty awesome. I'll take a look when I get a chance.

 

I like it Did you make the graphics and what style do you plan for the improved version? Also how are you going to raise the money, your own pocket?

 

At the moment, nearly all of of the graphics are by me. A few sprites I used from older projects/game jams where people helped me (with permission of course). As for style... well there's a reason I'm not an artist. However I think the games most similar to what I'm aiming for is Link to the Past/Minish Cap and Secret of Mana. I think it can look better with higher resolution. But I don't know. If anyone has suggestions I'm open to it. (@RichHopelessComposer suggested a gameboy aesthetic, because it's easy enough I could probably do the sprites myself).

As for the funds, my current plan at least, is to attempt a Kickstarter. I only need enough to cover the on-campus job I would normally be needing to fund my education next year at college. (Minus a decent amount I've earned myself and saved over the last year doing commissioned level design for people). I'm hoping at my university somewhere I can also find a pixel artist I can make friends with and convince them to work for rev-share. That's a lot more likely to work if I know them in person and can get them equally excited in what we're doing. But the primary reason I need money is the time for development. Full-time education (Computer Science) and part-time job to pay for it doesn't leave much time for game-development, but if I can cover the money I would normally have earned with a minimum wage part-time job, I can spend that time working on the game instead. If I can't find an artist then, I have a few backup plans.

I will be releasing two additional demos throughout the summer, showing certain parts of the development I get done. (I'll be making a lot of content that will be held off until the final game as well). Probably one late this month and one late next month. I'll have details on both coming at some point soon. The second new demo will launch the Kickstarter campaign.

 

For kickstarter, it'd be better to show your graphics direction, preferably the final quality, so you'll need some beforehand.

 

Yes. That is good advice. I have a plan for that too (I have some very nice friends). Worst case though, I have enough saved to hire someone to do a little bit of art for the Kickstarter. I'll be sure to do that.

 

It seems you were playing on the older version. If you want to try again and get further, the save file would load correctly with the new version. But otherwise you can wait for the next major update with new content. As for art, yeah. It is unfortunately beyond my abilities to make it much better. (But I'll keep working on it).

Can you tell me possibly where you were when that bug happened? I don't honestly know if I solved it or not, and any details might make it easier to identify now, or if it happens again on a newer version.

EDIT: For clarification to anyone else reading this, Cpaz posted before I updated saying he would try it and updated his post after 1.0.1 was posted. That's why the order doesn't make sense.

 

It crashed somewhere in the first dungeon around the left end with the blue and red blocks. It seems its trying to reference a non-existing object or an object that was destroyed.

Another quick point on the art though, since your basically going for a top-down side view ala zelda, take after that. I would go as far to say use zelda tiles (ALTTP/MC/any of the GB games) for reference since its the same perspective. I might do a mock up of what I mean specifically at some point.
Until then, best of luck!

 

Update (7/24) -
I thought I'd check in again, as I've just finished a major internal release (1.3.0) which was the first update spent mostly adding content. I have a new library (which is much larger than Kendlith Library), around 6 new enemies, and even the game's first boss fight. It includes the Misty Forest and Skull dungeon.

The next public demo will be 2.0.0 and will be released sometime mid or late August. It will feature Deep City and give you a taste of the plot of the game.



I also wanted to post because I have decided that I will be launching a Kickstarter campaign on September 1st. This will raise funds so that I can continue development on The Last Librarian throughout the next school year and summer. If the Kickstarter succeeds, the game will release (hopefully) near the end of the year in 2019. I have been preparing tons of cool rewards for backers, and also hired someone to do some concept art for what the game might look like when it's finished (so that backers aren't dissuaded by the current game graphics). You'll hear more about the Kickstarter as we get closer.

Thanks to everyone who's been interested in the project so far! It's been very encouraging. As always, if you want to get more involved, you can follow me on Twitter or join my discord server to be a part of the development throughout. (Links in the original post).

"The flight of arrows, fated as they were, to cause the stars themselves to fade. Our eyes shone, light that was hated, those too, were doomed to disappear forever." - Inscription at Rithe

 

I'm interested how'd that go. Good luck!

 

Nice game! I played until I got pass the gates where couple of flowers surprised me with a low energy I got killed.

Good luck with the game!!

 

Played a bit more today, had fun wandering around. Found the cave that's "obviously open," but couldn't go inside. Am I supposed to do something there, or is that just a joke saying the area isn't ready yet?

A review of the combat, since that's what I said I'd give you awhile ago:
The combat is okay, but feels a little weak right now. There's no one reason for this, and no one thing you can fix to magically make it great, so I'll just list all the things you could improve with it:

-Sound effects feel a little weak. Sounds like you're using bsfxr, which only really works if you're making Atari games. The sounds that come out of that thing are always hollow and unsatisfying. I'd make sounds in whatever DAW you're using to make your music instead. Mess around with samples and stuff to get good noises. Just look at your favorite games, and see what kinds of sounds they used.

-There are no hit/stun animations for enemies, and they never slow down when you hit them. It feels like you're just pushing them back rather than hurting them. No flashes or anything, either!

-Death animation are weak, too. The best one is the slime....I can't even remember how any of the other enemies die, or even if the grass enemies have death animations, or if they just disappear. I just played, so that's not good!

-You hit enemies *really* far. I don't know...it just feels a little off. No real advice on how to fix it, besides "study Link to the Past and other classic games."

-No player attack animations, and the player loses no speed while attacking or anything. Just having the sword fly around in front of you feels really unsatisfying.

-Same as the enemies, no player hurt animations or anything.

All of these problems would be much easier to fix if you were using a Gameboy/NES style, *cough cough*. X'D
Even the bsfxr sound effects would feel much more in place, though I'd use famitracker instead of I was going that route.

Still having fun with the game. The engine is the strongest part. Art, music, and sound are all trailing behind for me. No antidote for those besides practicing a lot. And again, going lo-fi with the art, music, and sound would make things much easier starting out. Even with the music, you'd be able to concentrate more on writing catchy melodies than mixing and stuff. Of course, just practicing by making hi-fi stuff is fine too, though. It'll just take a little longer to get something satisfying going.

Anyway! Don't be discouraged by my long list of negatives. I'm still having fun with the game. Just needs a little more work - and whose games don't? Hahah! Looking forward to seeing more! =D

 

@RichHopelessComposer Thanks for that feedback! Yes, that's a joke that you can't go in there yet. Actually I've changed that to a distinct sprite so in future demos people don't get confused about that.

So, I had done some of those things you mentioned already, but a few things on your list I couldn't remember if I had changed already, or if they would still need adjusting. So I downloaded that version and played it, for context, and... oh my goodness, 1.0.1 is so bad. So that's a good sign because it means the changes I've already made were major improvements. We'll have to see what more I can do though.

However, there's of course several things you mentioned which I am adding to my polish list. Death/damage animations for one. I will have placeholders for those, but, for the moment I have already made the decision not to focus too much on the art myself. If Kickstarter succeeds I'll have money and make someone else do it. Also player swinging animations, while I cannot add those right now, I do want to look into what you said about the player not loosing speed... the screen-shake I've since added gave a lot to the impact, but I think I can do more with the actual movement/feel of the sword, or even windup animations of sort to give that more physicality.

In terms of audio, you're right I was using BFXR, but I have since switched to doing it myself with FL Studio, which I use for music. I'm still practicing, but the initial quality of those sounds is already better, so hopefully that's the improvement you're looking for. If you know any cool techniques that'd be nice to know, I'm sort of working from scratch with these sound effects at the moment. Also for music, that is something I'm going to be sticking to what I'm doing now as I get continually better. So far every song I write is technically better than the last, and that's a good place to be in. Might just take a while to have the next Undertale soundtrack. (I'll also go back and visit old tracks when I'm more confident that I have something to add to those ones).

 

Yep, all sounds good! Lots small improvements add up.
Unfortunately, I don't know anything at all about sound effects or music. I really wish I did, and I'm looking for someone who knows how to make sounds and stuff, too. It seems like nobody knows how to synthesize SNES style sounds at all....after I finally do my KS, I'm planning on going straight to the source, and contacting Mitsuda or Kikuta or something. Apparently they're the only sorts of people who know anything about this stuff. :'D

 

I still use bxfr for my jam games, but I often edit them a bunch in Audacity or something.
As for SNES styled music, what about SNES vsti's and soundbanks? I haven't really looked into it myself too much but I'm sure they can replicate the sound pretty well.

I still haven't had a good chance to try this out yet. I had a quick play last week for about an hour and I see a lot of potential, wanted to play the rest before I said anything but RHC has addressed most of the same concerns I had.
Honestly, though. I worry about your chances with the kickstarter. I find a lot of what I have played pretty impressive so far, but the art leaves a lot to be desired and I feel like a lot of potential backers will judge you purely on that(Not that I back anything, but I've still been personally guilty of it too).
Good luck.

 

I'm a little concerned about this too. But there is unfortunately very little I can do about it myself. I believe my project is worth backing and that will have to be enough. If not, I'm emotionally prepared to end development and work on something new. I fully expect that as a distinct possibility, but I figured that I may as well try. My circumstances and timings mean I literally have this exact moment to raise the exact amount of money I need to continue development, so not much use in worrying about it not working out.

One thing however, is that I have paid someone a bit to make two pieces of concept art at a high quality, which shows what it could look like in the game. Not quite the same as having the entire project looking good in preparation for Kickstarter. But it should give some people a little bit to grasp onto when considering backing the project.

 

Just.....redo.......your art........in Gameboy style. *collapses and dies.*

Seriously, it'll take you like under a week, and you'd probably make ten times more on KS. I see GBC style stuff getting lots of attention and praise all the time! D:

The paying for mockups might work too, but I'm not sure. It's a good plan if you really don't want to redo the art. If the game flops on KS, there's no reason to scrap the project, though! If it doesn't reach its goal, it's going to be because of the art, not because people don't like RPGs or your game particularly. Zelda-likes do great!

 

Alright Cloaked. . . let me tell you off the back. These games normally don't do it for me. I get bored easily and have a hard exploring.
With that said, I wanted to see what game you were bringing to the table and from the screenshots, I thought I'd give it a try.

Feedback:

• Talking to the NPCs and interacting with objects is easy and works smoothly. Had fun moving around
  
  Spoiler

  
• Slashing the environment is feels great and kept me from falling asleep (not your fault if I do though)
• Cut-scenes were a little confusing at first due to not being able to follow who was taking for the most part. But at the same time it was engaging enough for to actually read what was happening.
• Got lost in the first dungeon (or Library) and couldn't for the life of me could figure out what to. Probably my fault though.
  
  Spoiler

  
• The fighting is a bit strange to say the least. Not sure how to describe my feelings for it. Kind of agree with @RichHopelessComposer when it comes to that.
• The art is decent but I can't tell what you're going for. It's like strong pixel art mixed with simple line-work. . .probably didn't make sense just now. If anything it just seems to be a mixed bag.

Other than that It's a nice game so far.

 

@RichHopelessComposer You're probably right. If I had time at this point I might just do that. But, I won't just scrap development completely if it fails, I have other plans, trust me there. I suppose that I should admit though, that it isn't that there isn't anything at all I could do about the art, but that there isn't anything I am willing to do. At the moment, adding more characters and areas to explore is a more important investment of time than making it look good, whether it's financially viable or not.

@Ladi_Pix3l Glad you gave it a try even though it was different than what you normally enjoy! (That's perfectly okay, no game is made for everybody). Your feedback was excellent, and getting comments is encouraging no matter what they say. The person who is speaking during cutscenes being made more clear is a piece of feedback I've gotten many time, it's on my list to implement, but haven't quite gotten to it yet. Maybe I'll do that tomorrow.

 

Is that art posted here? It should still fit with the game, not just loading screen or something.
In any case you should keep improving the dev skills, not retiring after that

@RichHopelessComposer would something with quility of graphics like Undertale be viable today? That was back in 2013 and the trailer was good(story etc). Although even then HLD made x10 more probably because of it's graphics That's just KIckstarter though, idk about the actual players later.

 

It's still being made. It'll be ready before the KS, and I'll post it, along with new screenshots and demo here as well, when the KS launches. I'm not sure what you mean about "keep improving the dev skills"... did I ever imply I was retiring?

 

Update (8/20) -
It's been a little bit. Just thought I'd update one more time before the Kickstarter launches. I've finished the main code for the KS demo build, and after my alpha testers get their hands on it and I have a few days to fix bugs, we'll have the final demo. As I've mentioned before, KS launches September 1st. I've been pretty busy nailing down all the details, writing the KS page, programming the demo and working on the music for the trailer. Now we're in the final stretch and everything is planned, unless I missed an important detail, which I'm sure I did.



Anyways, I look forward to showing everyone the progress I've made! I'm very grateful for all the support I've gotten for this project. Thanks!

"To defend Rosarah from tyranny, and combat the oppression of any people. To preserve the stories of the past, the fallen, and maintain awareness of the truth in our own history." -The Founding Ideals of the Librarian Order

 

Yes, stuff with Undertale level graphics would be viable today. I've seen stuff with worse graphics than Undertale's do fine on KS, even recently. Undertale's graphics were very charming, and fit the game really well. I'm pretty sure it made more money in the end than HLD, too. It was a better game, and people saw that once they got their hands on it. HLD was flashy, but not as good at all. Sorry for the late response. Didn't notice the alert for this thread.

Good luck with the Kickstarter, Cloaked! Looking forward to seeing the trailer and stuff!

 

I think one of the big things with Undertale was also the demo, it was a really unique experience and being able to see that hands-on before the campaign probably helped a bit. Definitely got me interested and that was evem before there was a Kickstarter...

Anyway, what I've played of your earlier demo was good, the game itself is pretty solid so good luck, dude.

 

Why am I just now finding this? I'm such a dork.

Best of luck, CG!! I just downloaded and will check it out soon(ish).

 

We didn't get too far as I died a lot but still had a lot of fun and can see the inspiration from Legend of Zelda. Good luck with the Kickstarter and great work so far!

Also just from us playing your game, we've entered you into our weekly giveaway! We are playing 6 Game Maker games a week and then giving away a FREE Game Maker Studio game published on Steam (Eg Hotline Miami, Hyper Light Drfiter, etc) to a developer of one of the games we play!

 

KICKSTARTER LAUNCHED
I usually try to avoid capslocks like that. But I felt as though this situation warranted it.



The original post has been updated for the Kickstarter, but here's the link down here as well: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/cloakedgames/the-last-librarian-action-adventure-rpg?ref=7xqbr1

Thanks to everyone who's played it so far and thanks for your support and encouragement.

@HayManMarc @BearlyBros I didn't actually update the demo download until just now, you can play the KS version which has a lot more stuff if you'd like by downloading it from the KS page. Thanks for the video BearlyBros!

 

This is a pretty charming game, I quite enjoyed it! Nice story also. Good luck on your Kickstarter! I'm looking forward to seeing the mockup of the new graphics!

EDIT: I just saw the mockup gifs on your Kickstarter, they look great!!

 

Thank @JacobV for that. I can't recommend him enough.

 

Yep that guy has incredible work! I see your game getting far if you're able to hire him for the art!

 

Kickstarter is doing pretty well so far!! Everyone share it, or give money if you've got it! First day is the most important one!

 

The game is looking good! Really hope that you can get this funded.

 

Made my pledge, CG!! I'm rootin' for ya, man!

Edit --- @Cloaked Games -- I think you might consider putting the concept art in the KS demo video to show potential supporters that the current placeholder art will definitely be replaced. A lot of people don't move past the video when checking these things out, it seems.

 

Good luck

 

@Cloaked Games I noticed you do not have an "Early Bird" tier where a limited amount of people get the game for a few dollars cheaper. This tends to bring in a lot of impulse backers during the vital first few days. What made you decide not to do this?

 

@nacho_chicken Because I didn't know that was a thing until you mentioned it now. That is a good idea. I can't really change that now because people have already backed the 20 dollar level. Perhaps I can make it more clear that the 20 dollars is cheaper than the final game will cost, but otherwise any other suggestions?

 

Yeah, making it obvious that the full game will be >$20 is a good idea. Unfortunately, I only have advice that is good in hindsight. Things like "study and learn from several Kickstarters in your game genre that have failed and succeeded", "put way more effort into your video than you think you need to", and "30 days is the recommended KS span for a reason; unless you have a better one, stick to it."

 

Yup. I'm learning all kinds of things, so no matter what happens it won't have been a waste.

I'm heading to bed now. I'll see in the morning, but I'm relatively pleased with the progress so far, but I'll obviously need to do some serious work to keep the momentum going. I have a few creative ideas, and I'll do some more brainstorming in the meantime.

 

So weird, I totally thought I posted in this thread before, but I guess I only downloaded and played the demo.

But anyway, I just pledged with both heart and wallet. It's the first Kickstarter I actually pledged to.
This game could really shape up to be something awesome. I really hope a lot of people see the potential.
And @JacobV did a killer job on the "what it could be" art.

 

Wait, i thought it's for pc?

 

....You can use gamepads on PC. X'D