I just wanted to say this while I remembered: Okay, so I've been trying you and Mrs. Madgarden's idea to dive in to the dungeon without rerolling and then seeing how far down you can get and let me just say that, THAT is WHERE IT'S AT! I mean this is simply amazing gameplay design right here guys. I am having a blast. Morik14 just made it to lvl 13 (which is as far as I've ever been actually) and hes currently huddled on the temple with very little in way of spells or potions and a fyre drake breathing down his neck, haha. Legend is SOO much more intense when you play it like that and the superlatively crisp game design really shines too. I use all my items and spells as the perilous situation requires. I'd like to add here if I may, that the macabre shield is one of the most useful tools for this playstyle, since the only humanoids that can initiate an attack when wielding it, are warlords and dark warrior/werecats and I dont tangle with them anyway, as I'm lvl 7 haha on floor 13. Anyway, when I discovered that lizardmen are repelled by the macabre shield, THAT was priceless I've kinda developed a specific pattern and strategy for surviving a long time on these mad dash runs to the bottom, and that is basically to loot all of the first 4 floors, then make a b-line to the nearest crypt and hope you find the secret door that holds a macabre shield. Then map it out and grab all the swag from the metal chests, then rinse and repeat that way you only have to worry about avoiding the creatures. The beautiful part about keeping the macabre shield at your disposal is that it hardly gets damaged since fighting is a rarity for when you really get cornered. Okay, well other than that, you're free to explore and map as much as you dare! Try it out and tell me what you think, peoples! Cheers!
I love reading how other people make their way through dungeons. One of my favorite combos is the temple or dragon scale shield and the bug tooth amulet.
DisconnectD, juicy beans and/or bacon. Hmm. Well, what do you know so far? And have you told anyone else? *readies henchmen*
Haha, like I said before, I've seriously read every post on this thread. I am just being a greedy, frothing fan. Well, let's see: I know about the change in A.I, where npcs are going to not just focus on the hero. (ridiculously excited for that game changer) I know you have plans to make all of the non-interactive things, interactive. Umm, I know about strategically bouncing shots with wands I also saw you mention characters getting new skills and stats, so does that include the original hero because unfortunately I won't be able to buy the DLC for a while. Basically I would love to hear a little more about any of those things, or something about new spells or items perhaps? :shrugs: WE ARE AT YOUR MERCY, SIR! Bring on the henchmen, son.. didn't you hear? I got the screaming shield so they can't touch this, & if they do, I'll just use a wand of teleport on them lol. On another note... Keep up the damn fine work! To Mrs. Madgarden: I thoroughly enjoy sharing such things and also very much love hearing other's crawling experiences & strategies as well. What is your husbands favorite strategy, hmm? P.S: When I come back from errands, I'll play more of Morik the 14th & let you know how it goes, Rachel.
obviously Madgarden's fav. strategy is to kill you dead quickly and laugh maniacally at you when you whine about it. Ah the perks of being the DM. Or at least that's what he use to do to me. oh, you mean what is fav. strategy when he is playing the game? I dunno! I've never asked. I do know that he's designed everything around the fact that he wants to be able to play and be surprised by something even though he's done all the gut work to it. And that happens often so, his strategy is working in that regard, IMO.
Haha, yeah I've definitely caught on to his strategies from a DM perspective. CURSE YOU, ****ING KILLER WASPS!!!!! Erherm.. as I was saying, haha. I was actually asking about his own play philosophies, but what you said about how and why he designed things to surprise even him is very telling and it also says a great deal about the design and programming, if even after testing for hours each and every day, things still happen that he doesn't expect. That is beautiful. No wonder the game is so much fun. I think you guys really have zero'd in on that "it factor" that keeps people coming back for more... brutal, unforgiving punishment mostly ending in death, but MORE MORE MORE of it because the flawless design makes the abuse worth it!
Mrs. Madgarden, Care to share any other fun or cool strategies that you employ? Or certain playstyles that are the most entertaining for you? When I play games I like, I eventually focus on creating a game within a game, like for this game sometimes, I am the devoted treasure hunter and try to find each and every secret door, etc. What is YOUR favorite thing about SOF? You too, Madgarden: what are you most proud of in your game?
Well I'm not going to give away much of my juicy tidbits, other than that there are tons of new items, extended stats and skills (for everyone), and even more focus on the exploration and discovery in the dungeon environment itself. Much more logical (but mysterious) dungeon layouts. And fights will have to be better planned when there are multiple monsters around.
YAY! thanks for the clarification on the main hero's stat and skill revamp, and it sounds like you're adding group mentality to the A.I... W00T! Will the A.I creatures be pitted against each other or atleast other humanoid dungeon crawlers, because THAT would be incredible. I'm extremely excited to see what you have in store to put even more emphasis on dungeon exploration, and to finally experience the over the top thematic dungeon designs. (is it really true that the crawling will be almost infinite, as far as how far you can dive? I think I saw you mention something like that.) I know you said that there will be extra side quests, so my question is will those all be DLC or a combination? Thank you for being so kind as to answer my questions in the best way you can, btw. *drools* P.S: I bet you'll be breathing a sigh of relief once 2.0 is finished making a splash, huh?
Love the fact that you're making the dungeons more logical and mysterious, pushing more exploration and discovery - that's one of my favorite parts of RPGs and dungeon crawling. Really looking forward to this update.
Let's just put it this way. Being chased by a bunch of dwarves? Know a cave nearby with many hungry centipedes? 'Nuff said. The new dungeons can be quite deep, yes. Much deeper than the 27 floors of before. And it may be possible for the worthy to travel even deeper... Haven't decided on how to make sidequests available yet. Much stuff will be unlockable through regular play anyway. And I will breath a sigh of relief once Fargoal 2.0 is released *and* starts paying my bills... Oh hello, uh, wobblez... didn't you get the restraining order?
No, there is no NPC vs. NPC in the current version at all. The only case that one can damage another is via triggering a trap. Oh, did I mention pets? Yes, we'll have pets.
If you were ever young enough to sport Pokemon underwear, you're automatically disqualified from making disparaging comments about a roguelike.
So it's great to hear that much of the extra content will be unlockable through normal play. Any chance that the characters classes will be too? ;P I realize that you gotta pay dem bills, though, but you COULD always make it a ridiculously heroic feat to unlock them. It doesn't matter either way though for me because as soon as I find a new job I plan to buy the iPad version, (totally don't own an IPad) the new version again and all the IAPs, for support. WOBBLEZ: Yeah man, after re-evaluating the amount that I've posted since I joined a day or two ago, I agree that it's scary stalkerish, lol. What can I say though, I enthusiastically get behind games that I love, that are obviously crafted with so much T.L.C, & it DEFINITELY doesn't hurt that the main designer is extremely accommodating and eager to participate with his rabid fans.
Just out of curiosity, is the tentative release date for 2.0 still mid to late this month? Also, I gotta mention that I was surfing and ran across a hidden gem of a video showing it in action and I have to say, the subtle differences I noticed are fantastic. One thing in particular had my jaw drop, & that was watching the ranger knock an inferior skeleton down and then deliver the coup de grace. Fantastic stuff, that. I also love what you've done to the context sensitive action button, with the item's illustrated and all. You also implemented weapon changing marvelously. Like I said, everything so far is beautifully subtle. Probably my favorite tidbit that I gleaned was the redone combat animation, which I noticed when the skeleton would slash with both arms! Keep up the good work buddy, it is obviously all going to pay off big time in the end!
Here's what "Sword of Fargoal Legends" published by Chillingo looks like posted *now* live in New Zealand, as it marches its way to releases on the Mac App Store around the globe. Several more hours before it hits Europe and then on to the US East Coast! http://trbl.us/eWUAAr Cheers! Jeff
Release date will be closer to the end of February, but things are going very well at this point. Yes, (some) characters become incapacitated now when they drop below 0 HP, at which point they're easy pickings. The new combat swooshes hopefully spice things up a little. Dudes still don't move their limbs though. And yes, as for the UI we want to keep people out of the menu as much as possible... so lots of quick methods to do the most common things have been our highest priority in order to streamline the play experience.
