The Secret of Darkwoods - Open-world illustrated text-based RPG - Released on March, 21

Urdnot_Wrex

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576
Feedbacks are positive currently! A few months ago, it was actually mixed. The game has been greatly improved thanks to testers (including @Urdnot_Wrex). It's still a small game, but it seems like people enjoy playing for a few hours.

As for me, I'm currently a bit exhausted (I try to answer all feedback and discussion, my keyboard will be broken soon), so I will wait a bit before releasing it on other platforms, maybe one or two months. My plan is to release it on itch and GOG. About GOG it seems harder. I sent them a mail at the very beginning of the dev and they politely refused.

Congratulations on the achievement of having released your game and getting such positive feedback!

I haven't had the chance to play the full release yet, because RL is going a bit crazy around me these days, but I haven't forgotten my promise to write a Steam review too once I do.

You deserve some rest now, enjoy having crossed the finish line!
 

Urdnot_Wrex

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576
I have been very busy lately but this morning I felt like doing something relaxing for an hour and looked into the full version of Secret of Darkwoods for the first time. I must say, I am impressed. I don't know how limited the playtest version was compared to the full one, maybe I simply died too quickly back then to explore more, or maybe a lot of the areas weren't accessible back then, but now the game makes a lot more sense than before.
Also, @rap2h , the adjustment to music volume makes a lot of difference for me. What before felt very dominating and intrusive is now a really nice and atmospheric ambient music, and I have seen from various situations now that the music smoothly changes for random encounters, swamp, combat, town etc... very nice!
The automatic adjustment when things like tavern background noise appear makes a big difference too.

I felt so bad for criticizing the music of all things, which was practically the main creative aspect of the game, and I'm happy to realize now that it was really just a matter of volume. I don't know Dungeon Synth, at first I thought it's too synthetic to fit the atmosphere, but it blends in very smoothly.

And I salute your way to promote the artists and at the same time criticize the way Steam doesn't allow links to their work.

Screenshot (173).jpg


The "talk to a random stranger" minor quests still aren't my favourite aspect of the game, for example even in one hour play I had the same "random" face appear three times in different towns and there are still some writing inconsistencies, but with the whole game world open now, it doesn't matter as much as before. They are, after all, just random side quest givers for extra XP, money, loot or whatever.

I initially criticized too that you often need a certain item or skill to solve a random quest that was only available through a different random quest and therefore it was impossible to meet the requirements, but now I see it's possible to learn skills in various places and on various occasions, and the game shows the requirements you must meet for something.

I'm not sure if that was the case in the test version, but now it's often also possible to leave places quietly once you realize you don't meet one of the possible requirements for a solution, or at least the skill check for running away is often much lower than the other options. That's a nice touch in an open world without level scaling.

Another nice feature: The explanation of skill checks, because some people might have no idea what the dice mean:

Screenshot (187).png


Plus, if there's a skill check that's doomed, like 3 vs 2D6+2, it helpfully writes "always fails" in bold letters next to that choice so that everyone knows at the first glance that choice is a no-win pick.

Here's my adventure sheet:

Screenshot (188).png


I didn't have any skills at level 2, later I learned stuff like Herbalism, Lockpicking, Climbing, Persuasion from various people for a small fee, although for some I had to spend attribute points at level up first to be able to learn them. I could only learn novice level skills for now, the upgrades require more attribute points, so while I learned everything I could at this point, I suppose later it's important to focus on some preferred skill lines first according to the attributes you want to boost.
In many quests there are multiple ways to solve them, using tools (yeah as an experienced adventurer of course we know to buy a torch, shovel or rope when a trader offers them, even if we have no idea yet what we might do with them) or skill checks with either strength, dexterity, luck or speed for example.

I later got a ring of speed from a bandit encounter, for example, which greatly helped when I had to flee somewhere or dodge and fight back.

Speaking of which, it's cool that random travel interruption can be a bandit, but also a one time occasion travelling merchant who sells something rare for a good price!

(Oh and one minor "bug" report for possible adjustment: If you equip an item in the inventory, it still says "equip" afterwards. The box next to it makes it clear which one is actually equipped, and equipping one automatically unequips the other one, but it would still be better to have it change to "unequip" once you're wearing something. Also, if you sell items, you can sell the ones you are currently using and the store window doesn't take that into account, so you have to be careful not to accidentally sell the armour and weapon you're currently using)

I have to go do something else, but more feedback and screenshots, especially on quests stuff, will follow.

For now, big congrats on a really nice textbook game, I'm very positively surprised after my playtest impression, I can honestly recommend this to people who like textbook adventures, DnD campaigns or just any adventuring exploration really.

Also, amazing how you folks react to feedback even shortly before release, that's impressive and shows how much ou want to grow and learn.
The few improvements that could still be made are entirely forgiveable for a volunteer team releasing a debute game for free. This game is really nicely done, gives good vibes, and I'm sure that whatever you people plan to do in the future will be even better!

Ah yes, I died to a zombie. or rather to my own arrogance, because after coming back with some more levels and skills I thought that now I can finally take it without fleeing.

Screenshot (186).jpg


I didn't save :)
 

rap2h

Habitué
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14
You did not save but there may be an auto-save! Every time you enter a town from the map. I heard some players preferred to do a first run (≈30 minutes) and then start again after the first fail when they learned the (rather basic) mechanics of the game.

Thank you for giving the game a second try and making a second review, this is really supportive! I hope you enjoyed your second run ⚔️

Also, your first feedback helped improve the game, so I guess you can thank yourself 🥳
 

rap2h

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Time flies, the game has been released one month ago :) Steam requires 1 more review to reach the magic 50 reviews number that turns "Positive" to "Very Positive". If some of you played the game, it could really help the game to write a review! Thank you again for your support!
 

Antimatter

Administrator
Staff member
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1,180
I've been playing this game today. It's so fun! I just can't express enough how fun this is. The in-game sounds remind me of Might & Magic games, especially when gaining gold or learning new skills ( @BelgarathMTH, I can recommend). The slow power creep where you get XP from reading books is so addictive. How you slowly learn skills going from one place to another, gathering money. Rolling dice. I like the music. I see repeatable stuff, but it's totally ok, as repeatable (or, more precisely, similar) quests just add to your XP, money etc. It all works together.

I've left a positive review, so you should now have more than 50.❤️

--2023-apr-27-001.jpg
 

rap2h

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Thank you for your support!

Yes, the game is more like Might & Magic 6 (repetitive game loop, easy rules, tributes to M&M lore) than like a deep text-based game: some players may have disliked it because of this I guess.

BTW, your hero is exhausted, you have to sleep (or travel more than one day) to restore your stats!
 

Urdnot_Wrex

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576
The game also gives vibes like that D&D 10min demo we played, only in a larger and more complex sense but I mean the feeling of playing, so I'm thinking @m7600 might be interested to give it a try too.
(Since we're already tagging people to summon them to this thread, I thought I might as well continue, even if it feels like grabbing their arms and dragging them here. I'm a Krogan, we do that :).)
 

Cahir

Innkeeper
Staff member
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327
I played it for about ten minutes, to see what's what. During that brief time I managed to talk with some folks in the village, took some quest, bought some axe and armor in the general store and... was slaughter by the zombie in some manor.

Definitely a game that I will try more later, as it seems it's not only heavy with textxbut also challenging.

I really like the art and music. Gives me vibe I haven't felt since M&M VI-VII and the old rpgs from Amiga era.
 

m7600

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620
Well, I've just played it, for about 15 minutes or so. I really liked it! I bought all of the stuff at the shop (except for the shield), I accepted a few quests, and I completed one of them: getting rid of the zombie. It was a tough fight! I had to run away a few times, then sleep at a room at the tavern to recover my health, and then try again. Finally I managed to kill it.

Screenshot from 2023-04-29 00-28-05.png


Screenshot from 2023-04-29 00-28-40.png


I should also say that I almost never use my steam account, so there's a lot of things that I can't or don't know how to do. For example, I want to give you a positive review, but Steam says "Your account does not meet the requirements to use this feature. Visit Steam Support for more information".

You see, although Steam is an extremely popular platform, I just don't like it, lol. So I never use my account.
 

Cahir

Innkeeper
Staff member
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327
and I completed one of them: getting rid of the zombie. It was a tough fight! I had to run away a few times, then sleep at a room at the tavern to recover my health, and then try again. Finally I managed to kill it.
Oh, so you can hurt this zombie, run away to heal, and come back to kill it, while his HP level is lowered? Or did you just mean you needed a couple of tries to kill it?
 

m7600

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620
Oh, so you can hurt this zombie, run away to heal, and come back to kill it, while his HP level is lowered? Or did you just mean you needed a couple of tries to kill it?
I hit him a couple of times but he didn't die, and he hit me back, so I ran away to heal, and then I came back and managed to kill him. I don't know if his HP remains lowered or not if you run away to rest : P
 
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