Heroes of the Seven Islands

[rap2h]

Last year, I published a game "The Secret of Darkwoods" and your forum helped me improve the game. Thank you again! This post is about the new game I am developing. I hope it is the right place to post, let me know if I have to move, edit or delete my post.

Heroes of the Seven Islands is a (poorly) hand-drawn tribute to classic role-playing video games, such as Might and Magic 3-8, and franco-belgian comic albums. It will be released early 2025, the Steam page is awaiting validation.

Currently, there is a website, and a playable version of the game is on its way: https://heroes.mnstrl.org/ I would be glad to have testers btw

Let me know if you have any questions!

 

[Antimatter]

Ohh, @rap2h, long time no see! Happy to see you back developing a new game! I'm sure some of us will lend you a hand, I know I will!

Are there any franco-belgian comic albums available online (maybe in English), so that we could get acquainted with inspirations?

 

[Skatan]

Very cool style! I like it!

Just saw this on your page "Music by Dungeon Synth Artists", sign me up, Scotty! I'm an avid lover of dungeon synth and obscure games, haha! I'm not as active with games as I once was, but perhaps I could help somehow with testing?

 

[rap2h]

@Antimatter

so that we could get acquainted with inspirations?

Not sure you will find something online, but here are some of my inspirations:

1. Elodie Shanta. I love how she draws light fantasy (example here: http://imprimerienocturne.com/2020/01/22/cecil-et-les-objets-casses-elodie-shanta/). I decided to start drawing a game (as an amateur) after reading one of her albums (called "Resine") last year.
2. The whole "Donjon" series by Lewis Trondheim and Joan Sfar. They created a gigantic fantasy universe with over 40 volumes and 20 illustrators. It is a best seller in France, so maybe it has been translated. I took a lot of inspiration from the ones drawn by Lewis Trondheim. Here are some strips drawn by various authors: https://legrandpop.fr/avis-presentation-bd-donjon-trondheim-joann-sfar-editions-delcourt.html
3. In no particular order: Bergères Guerrières by Amélie Fléchais, De capes et de crocs by Masbou, Johan et Pirlouit by Peyo, Tintin by Hergé and every comic I got at home I guess! And also non-comics such as Bilibin for decorations.

This is an exciting journey because I try to learn drawing (and I love this) and find my own style!

 

[rap2h]

The Steam page has just been released! I hope I haven't made any mistakes

 

[Antimatter]

The page looks great! Added to the wishlist!

 

[rap2h]

I'm about to start pre-alpha testing. It's not very rewarding, the only thing I have to offer is name in credits and the game for free, unless you have a better idea (maybe I can draw a portrait). I can export for linux, windows or mac.

For my previous game, I had relevant and valuable feedback on this forum, and it really helped me making a better game, example here: https://tavernrpg.com/threads/the-s...based-rpg-released-on-march-21.252/#post-4683
Thank you again for this.

 

[Antimatter]

@Skatan was very nice to go to your Discord and ask for the download key. I downloaded the game and gave it a try.

My very first impression was: OMG, how cute and funny those portraits are.

I recognize the Might & Magic influence immediately, with options to change their names, classes, and with a chance to see all abilities, skills, and attributes. Would be great to be able to redistribute attribute points (similar to MM), and also pick skills from a set of different options (as of now, I can't do that).

The music is nice, it doesn't distract from the character creation process.

I exited Salamander Port and went to Qygor Plain. The battle immediately started, and apparently, my Barbarian was hit (as his HPs decreased). Would be great to see the combat log on the screen (maybe available as a pop-up when you click the icon of such a log). And ofc would be great to see a warning that combat starts before being actually hit.

When picking a spell to cast, would be great to see the mouse cursor change to the spell icon to understand that I'm going to attack not with a weapon but with that picked spell. And for an attack with a weapon, the cursor might change to that weapon maybe.

Would be great to be able to hover over HPs/Mana and see the numbers (would save clicking Statistics constantly).

The combat log would be especially important for situations like when your character misses. Maybe include some explanation re/%% why your character missed.

When the combat ends, would be great to see a banner "Victory" and probably more telegraphed rewards (e.g. how much XP each character received).

Regarding moving using the map, would be great to see how much time it would take to reach this or that area.

When fighting in the Forest, I noticed one enemy cast smth on their ally. Without a log, it wasn't possible to understand what was cast and to what effect.

Also, it's unclear why enemies always move first. If there is an Initiative or something involved, it should be explained. If it's based on Speed, then there should be an entry of how the enemy rolled a higher Speed check to move first.

The Spellbook should have an option to make a shortcut for the most common spell (e.g. Fire Arrow) that the player can cast without going to the book each time (e.g. by setting it as a Quick Spell and then e.g. using a Q key)

Each item in the inventory should have some description. I found this crown and don't know what it is for and why I can't equip it.

I fled from the dungeon after getting into a nasty fight, managed to learn Meditation for my Druid, and then interacted with a totem, getting permanent Endurance increase. Really neat.

Also, the sound effects are neat!

I found the Queen, brought her the Crown, received the rewards, and went to the Tavern to train to a new level. Would be great if you could hover over XP and see how much you need to achieve the next level/which level you can achieve already.

The leveling up screen should still give you the info on which attribute does which. Currently, you can only click once and lose access to reconsider, moving on to the new character. One mistake, and the attribute score goes to a wrong choice.

My adventure came to a close when I explored (what I think) all the possible areas and ran out of money to travel to an island I hadn't been to (e.g. Fugitive Island). Would be great to have some safer options to not run out of money (by adding repeatable tasks for the captain maybe, on an island you're currently at).

Overall, a very solid and pleasant start, @rap2h! Looking forward to playing future updates.

 

[rap2h]

Wow thank you so much for your feedback @Antimatter ! There is a lot of activable lines in your detailed post that I can implement to increase the game quality, some of them without too much effort I guess.

All these feedbacks are relevant, I note everything in my backlog and will get back to you in maybe two months for a second round!

Some disorganized feedback to your post before I go to sleep:

• Having logs seems obvious now, I don't know where to place it but it should be somewhere! Might and Magic may not be a good inspiration for this, as far as I remember it has a similar problem. I have to find a way to make it easily accessible.
• Stats are not readable, I am not satisfied at all about their presentation during fights
• Yes you saw everything, there isn't currently more implemented content
• There is a serious balance problem with enemy speed/initiative. The rule is simple: the order of combat (initiative) is based on speed (first player is the higher speed, etc.). But all enemies have high speed, which is absurd, I have to fix this too.
• A pause before starting fight and after winning fight is important too! I have to find an UI for this, I already tried a few thing and was not satisfied, but the current state is broken! Fight start without a warning nor any info, and ends without any feedback to player.

In other words, I will follow (and adapt of course) your suggestions I guess!

 

[Skatan]

Hello. Tried it out twice. First with a party I made and then with a random party.

First one was minstrel, battle mage, thief and knight. Died in the second or third fight due to too many enemies attacking before my turn, ie level 1-2 enemies getting 5-6 hits in before I had a chance to do anything, even flee. I went to the same place Antimatter did, fought the single enemy, then off to the forests, won the first fight and died in the second against 2-3 small green things and 2 ghosts (?).

The second time I went back to the inn and rested between every single fight. Even having a single HP lost before a fight means you die due to enemy attacking first. My thief gets to attack early due to Speed 8 and allow me to flee sometimes. The second party skipped the forest and went to the castle, then to the ruins. Found the crown, returned it, went back and tried some more fights behind the other doors. Reached level 3. Went back to the forests again at a higher level, 3 instead of 2 previously, but died from enemy first round onslaught.

Some general feedback. A bit messy, but maybe you'll get something out of it

Graphics, style, music etc is very nice. Feels unique, in a good way. It's obvious what you can click and what you can't, which is good (ie carrots on the ground, the shield with 10 gold etc).

Barbarians and Knights skills aren't good enough. In a fight against 5 enemies my barbarian only get the chance to act once before we win or everyone is dead and if you waste that turn on Berzerk instead of attacking, you die. The alternative cost for "wasting" a round on skills pays off too low. Same with the knights Guardian skill, enemies always hit anyways so what's the point? Make it worth the while. I had Thief both times as it seems they are the only ones with lockpick. The spells are weak, I tried sorcered once and battle mage once (they had the same spells from what I could see). 1 dmg poison cloud is too low when even level 1 enemies have 15 HP. Thief camoflage is also too weak, they still get targeted. I get the final fantasy approach, but it needs tweaking. Make the leftmost character get higher chance of attacks so that we can choose to set our highest endurance/defence character there to survive the hits. It feels too random and the sorcerer or thief gets equal hits to the Barbarian, knight etc.

When leveling I didn't know how many points I had to distribute so clicked on endurance a couple of times in a row. What happened is that it moved directly to the next character and to the next so that I ended up putting Endurance on three characters in a row. Perhaps add a small delay or a "keep changes?" before moving to the next char at level ups. Or maybe add an icon showing how many points we get to distribute (1).

In it's current state I would guess adding all poitns to Speed is the way to go. Even adding Endurance, in the Statistics all characters seem to have the same amount of HP (28 before I died). better to hit often and weak then to never get to act at all. The barbarian with 4 speed got to act once while the Thief with 8 got to act three times (and enemies two times) making Barbarian a weak choice.

Some suggestions that might go against your vision but anyways, here goes:
Have some overlap on skills, ie Lockpicking on Misntreal and Thief so that even picking only one of them you can do both activities.
Have healing potions for sale in the village.

Otehr than that I think many of Antimatter's suggestion were good so no need to say them again.

Thanks for letting us try it out! It was fun and I wish you all the best with your continued development.

 

[rap2h]

Thank you for playing and for your feedback @Skatan ...

...and sorry for the totally broken balance! Reading your post, I just realized that I released this version to test the gameplay (because people have only seen screenshots by now), but I rushed the stats, without thinking that the gameplay IS actually stats in this type of game So I didn't tested what I wanted to test!

All the classes are work in progress, and speaking of the thief, their special ability is not even implemented. Thanks to your feedback, I have some directions now. And the speed thing in particular is broken, as mentioned by @Antimatter ! But all the stats, spells and powers must be rewritten.

One thing that you pointed out makes me reconsider a choice: you have to sleep after (almost) each non-trivial fight. When I started to develop, I thought that each fight should be challenging, but in the meantime, having to sleep after each fight is a chore. And maybe I should consider a series of room with fights as something challenging in itself, no need for each fight to be difficult. I have no clear idea currently, but there is something broken here too!

Anyway, I note everything in my roadmap, each of your suggestion may or may not be in final version, but either way, it'll have given me something to think about!

You've earned your name in the credits and the game for free when it comes out! (same for @Antimatter of course)

Thank you!

 

[Skatan]

"speaking of the thief, their special ability is not even implemented"

Haha! That's funny, I tried out the Camouflage a few times and was scratching my head on what it did since the Thief still got targeted

"One thing that you pointed out makes me reconsider a choice: you have to sleep after (almost) each non-trivial fight. When I started to develop, I thought that each fight should be challenging, but in the meantime, having to sleep after each fight is a chore. And maybe I should consider a series of room with fights as something challenging in itself, no need for each fight to be difficult. I have no clear idea currently, but there is something broken here too!"

Interesting take. I don't think it's "wrong" per se to go with this, but the more general way of doing it is to kinda try and find the balance so you can squeeze through one dungeon at one run. So on the first island that would be the Ruins for example which had like 3-4 (?) fights I tried and each was tough enough for a full wipe. But you should follow your vision! To be honest I never tried the Rest option since I only had 5 carrots and couldn't see anywhere to replace them, so I did the classical hoarding thinking it might be needed later instead. I assume they would get eaten when/if resting.

If you do keep the idea that each fight should be brutal, perhaps have one icon down to the right with "Return to the Inn" which let's you travel all the way back to the inn on a single mouse click and thereby taking away the many clicks it otherwise takes?

Cheers!

 

[Skatan]

Tried one more time reloading a save from yesterday and finished the pre-alpha, well not finished but hit a hard-wall. I realized I could take out one enemy, retreat and sleep, go back and take out one more enemy, retreat and sleep, and the mop up the last three or so enemies in the ruins and forests of Azure island. So having the first island emptied I went to the next one (Bandit), fought the small fight there, went to the next one (desert?) and the last one (Corpse) but got stuck since I ran out of money and couldn't work to get enough to continue to the Elf island.

I made the mistake of buying one item, an axe for my Barbarian, that cashed me out so that was a mistake. I reached level 4. So I agree with Antimatter about some simple grind for gold other than the ship captain's 20 gold one-time since you get stuck between the cheap islands that way.

 

[Antimatter]

I had some M&M background, so I wasn't afraid of spending carrots right in the dungeon to rest (instead of going back to the inn) and noticed I could buy them in the inn when I was there, so in the beginning of the game, I bought extra 3-4 carrots. However, there is no difference (as of now) between resting in the dungeon and back in the inn. In M&M, when you rest in the dungeon, there is a chance you'll get waylaid. And when you move between areas to return to the inn, that chance is also there (perhaps). Maybe you can add some extra benefit of resting in the inn.

This brings us to the question of whether time matters. In M&M there were external factors where time mattered and sometimes the player had to pick non-ideal decisions and try minimizing resting so as not to run out of time for something (e.g. reputation drop or anything, or a special bounty reward for this or that month, months also mattered for the Grail search etc). I don't particularly appreciate being restricted by time in games though, especially in open-world ones.

 

[rap2h]

Inspired by Antimatter battle feedback (first post), I've just tried something (it's a mockup, so nothing implemented yet).

The main idea is to have a "before combat" screen with some information: you see the turn order, the difficulty (based on your level vs enemy level), the possibility to leave the combat and (imagine) you can hover over each enemy or ally to see their stats. And an "after combat" screen that adds a few rewards based on the way you managed this combat. Not sure it's good, though, still I would be glad to read your feedback.



EDIT: watching my video, I realized there is something unclear when beginning the combat, and I have a problem: I can't add a popup over the main screen because you have to see the opponents and the coming battle. But having all the information on the right panel is unusual in the game. So I am a bit lost...

 

[Antimatter]

I love it! I think having the info on the right panel is fine, especially since the right panel is being used constantly in this game.

Also, this reminds me of the following:

Disco Elysium considered Twitter its competition

Lead writer Robert Kurvitz says that players love to read, so Disco Elysium's job was creating text that was as snappy and addictive as social media.

www.rockpapershotgun.com

Disco Elysium's Text Box Design Is Inspired By How We Use Computers And... Twitter

Disco Elysium is one crazy-good CRPG. And one of its strongest points is how it lays out the text, be it descriptions or dialogue choices, that makes you

gamermatters.com

So I think your right panel works just fine.

 

[Skatan]

I think that's a great step in the right direction!

 

[rap2h]

I had two consecutive days off to program the game. I just wanted to thank you for your feedback again: I worked mainly on the start and end of battle screens and I'm happy with the result. It's largely thanks to you!