BattleExtreme (scifi RPG)

[Hypemaster]

I have been working hard on a new game the last few months.
I had 4 goals for this game:
- minimal server usage
- unique gameplay
- scifi with little bit humor in it
- noob friendly

Unique features:
- Battlesystem with replay view
- Explore & Missions (Missions are on a 2D map where you need to fight monsters, do some missions and defeat the end boss)
- Tournaments 1on1 and 5on5 clanwars
- Class experience (explained in the game itself)
- Subleveling at max level (more about this later)
and some more stuff like crafting, etc

I would say, see and explore. I have added some basic tutorials at the start wich i call 'Todo tutorials', so do these if you can find them. Only less then 50% of the game is open (enough for 2 weeks gameplay). Atm max level is 16 but will be 30 at the end. At 30 i'm going to add subleveling system wich i will explain later here or in a new topic to see how i can implement it and what your idea about it (i dont like that there is a end level but unendinge leveling is also not something i like, this subleveling is something in between). But i'm not going to say to much atm, i want to see if people can understand how the game works, start playing and enoying it. I'm still kinda struggling with when i would release this game to public, in a week or when i made all content. So give me your feedback on this, how i can improve the game. What you like and what not.

You can find the game here: http://www.battleextreme.com/beta

To be able to do the first mission you need to be lvl 3. Normaly you get this the 2nd day playing.

[codestryke]

Cool front graphic, however, most of the text you can't read. If I fill out the registration incorrectly you can't even see the warning/fail to the left of the text box.

Once logged in I get the little story about the memory erase and heard the "Do the tutorial". Ok, umm, where? After poking around for a bit I found out I could click on the link to start the tutorial... You might want to preface the what you are doing with tutorial like: Tutorial: Use AP

It's just confusing with the paragraph saying do the tutorial but when a user looks around they don't see the word tutorial anywhere on the page or the menu.

The tutorial is nice but I'm not being dragged into the story, I'm being pushed to learn all these formulas and numbers. The tutorial is to technical, I suggest looking at wantedthegame.com and see how they do there tutorials. They lay them out very nicley and use very small maybe one - three sentences action phrases. If I want to know more about the formulas I would look for a help topic.

Is this a re-write or heavily modified version of McCodes, GamersFusion or ExoFusion? The lingo in the game is very similar to that style (ap, vitality etc). Just curious

There are a couple of other things but they are more personal preference
* I need to have my AP distribution to use armor or weapon. I can see using one stat and level but to have to have all 4 stats to a certain amount and level = Y really pigeon holes me on how I want to play my character.

* Lasers are more powerful but less accurate, guns are less powerful but more accurate.. That just didn't seem logical to me at all.

Nice start though... I'm off to work but will continue going though the tutorial.

[Hypemaster]

Cool front graphic, however, most of the text you can't read. If I fill out the registration incorrectly you can't even see the warning/fail to the left of the text box.

Yea, you right. I can see it but not that good, with other screen it can be harder. I always forgot to change it to more readable color, will try find better color for it and change it.

Once logged in I get the little story about the memory erase and heard the "Do the tutorial". Ok, umm, where? After poking around for a bit I found out I could click on the link to start the tutorial... You might want to preface the what you are doing with tutorial like: Tutorial: Use AP
It's just confusing with the paragraph saying do the tutorial but when a user looks around they don't see the word tutorial anywhere on the page or the menu.

Changed it to 'Tutorial:' now, hopefully people will find it better now.

The tutorial is nice but I'm not being dragged into the story, I'm being pushed to learn all these formulas and numbers. The tutorial is to technical, I suggest looking at wantedthegame.com and see how they do there tutorials. They lay them out very nicley and use very small maybe one - three sentences action phrases. If I want to know more about the formulas I would look for a help topic.

I will check it out and try improving the tutorials. I always have like feeling telling to much about it. I want people to understand how it works in a to technical way.

Is this a re-write or heavily modified version of McCodes, GamersFusion or ExoFusion? The lingo in the game is very similar to that style (ap, vitality etc). Just curious

I thought AP, vitality and stuff where common used terms in rpg's. I got them from other rpg's i played. I wrote it all from scratch, well i had some basic rpg code lying around where i once started on . Was from 2005 i think, but i rewrote most of the stuff.

* I need to have my AP distribution to use armor or weapon. I can see using one stat and level but to have to have all 4 stats to a certain amount and level = Y really pigeon holes me on how I want to play my character.

Yea, i don this because with balance testing i found out that if players dont put points in one stat like dexterity they will fail. I wanted to keep it a bit noob friendly and make sure people cant make to big faults. You still have freedom in attribute points and it gets higher when going higher level.

* Lasers are more powerful but less accurate, guns are less powerful but more accurate.. That just didn't seem logical to me at all.

You think the SMG are lasers, well they use energy cell to power the bullets, making them more powerfull. They are less accurate becayse smg well have a bigger spread of bullets then pistols, wich are easyer to aim with. Thats the idea behind it.

[Nox]

Graphics:

- one thing is that the content has very graphicly intensive background below and the font is too small, barely readable for me. Pretty good though, but its the clash Graphics vs. Webdesign, the latter is pretty lacking through the whole game (padding, alignment etc)
- use padding more, let the web breathe
- don't underline text that is not link, it's confusing (just seen in now in post in forum)
- the inventory guy looks too simple or infantile so to say...it doesn't match with the image in index and generally the game's theme
- in Combat the word "back" doesn't look like link at all

Content:
The intro text seems to long for me and visually not good as well
- generally dont center text except of maybe titles, it's a typography headshot, then no paragraphs, making it just blob of text
- it is also very similar visually to the licence agreements (phpBB's etc), so people would tend just press the link and continue
Large number of spelling mistakes everywhere (will PM what I've found if you wish)
I didn't find the tutorial so I moved on
Mineral info is pretty nicely hidden
I didn't find any Logout button
Tutorial found
When distributing AP I see no point in being redirected forth and back all the time
Sorry codestryke just testing...
The gameplay is not bad, although the combat is...could be more interesting

Tiny things
- cursor over menu items after hover could be set to default as to give a clue, that the parent menu items are not links

Em...enough from me for now

[Hypemaster]

Graphics:

- one thing is that the content has very graphicly intensive background below and the font is too small, barely readable for me. Pretty good though, but its the clash Graphics vs. Webdesign, the latter is pretty lacking through the whole game (padding, alignment etc)
- use padding more, let the web breathe
- don't underline text that is not link, it's confusing (just seen in now in post in forum)
- the inventory guy looks too simple or infantile so to say...it doesn't match with the image in index and generally the game's theme
- in Combat the word "back" doesn't look like link at all

Great feedback, i will try using padding more, last weeks i only focused on the code and forgot about the layout a big but  i will try making it breath more.
The inventory guy is how you look like with armor on. I know he doesent look great but i'm not that good pixel artist. But it will look more and better with the higher level armors. It starts with the lvl 15 ones and well lvl30 one i made, i just love those, but you will see.
About the back in combat, yea i know. I made it bigger now and gave it orange color. Better now?

Large number of spelling mistakes everywhere (will PM what I've found if you wish)

Pm me yea, me native language is not english.  And i really suck in languages, i'm more a math guy. Any help is welcome.

Mineral info is pretty nicely hidden

Else it dident fit.

I didn't find any Logout button

There is none. There is a hidden logout link. I can add it if people want it.

When distributing AP I see no point in being redirected forth and back all the time

Easyer for me, it reads in the stats before it does the action of using that ap. Then it says 1 more ap then you really have and doesent show attribute added. I can do it without redirectinf forth and back if its really that annoying. Just isent high priority for me now.

The gameplay is not bad, although the combat is...could be more interesting

Ideas are welcome.

- cursor over menu items after hover could be set to default as to give a clue, that the parent menu items are not links

They are links, all menu items are links. Just made submenu for choices in the parent, so you dont need to go trough the parent page.

[karnedge]

I have to say, I do like the opening graphic. The intro text is a bit much and didn't care too much. Would be better if there was an image or two to go along with it. Other than the padding issues and that stuff, I would have to mostly agree with the critics here.

The equipment "guy" is very odd looking and definitely doesn't fit the game style or look. The tutorial is pretty nice, I like how it runs. One thing though in the Mining part it says:

Fight in the arena (wich consume energy) or Mining minerals (wich dont use energy).

But then it says:

The device mines for you when you want, it can mine 10 times a day. You only need to use 0.1 Energy every op, so like 1 Energy each day

Which is a contradiction.

The tutorial says that you get 10 Ops for mining but after 4 mining attempts, I was told: "You don't have any operations left!"


Oh and why does the chicken have bare hands... and how do I know its a he? haha

[Hypemaster]

What is wrong with the equipment guy? Is it his head or his clothes?

I fixed the text in mining tutorial part. It should be 'Fight in the arena (which consume much energy) or Mining minerals (which use very little energy).'
And you should get 10 ops at starts. You used 5, i found it, you get only 5 at start with 10 every day. Some little typemistake. Thanks for noticing it.

The reason chicken has bare hands is that monsters use same battle engine as pvp. If nothing equiped then you use bare hands. I'm going to make that monsters have weaponnames of their claws etc. Just havent got into it yet.

[jannesiera]

As for spelling:

'Fight in the arena (which consume much energy) or Mining minerals (which use very little energy).'

Shouldn't this be:

'Fight in the arena (which consumes much energy) or Mining minerals (which uses very little energy).'

?

[Chris]

Like: The front page, really amusing, dunno why... maybe these redish-orangish colours? The layout inside the game is pretty decent as well.
Dislike: Combat. Why I am forced to wait looking at these letters exchanging virtual punches? Boring. It should be instant and quick, also the menu on battle page is missing.

[Hypemaster]

Yea i wanted to force people looking it, making it like in real that it takes some time to fight, like hoping you can win and make that finishing strike.
Menu missing on battle page is because well you cant do anything else when in battle, so why need the menu.

If people want it i can make  a button or something to make battle quicker, or in settings for people who dont like it, not sure. Or making it faster and more intresting.

[jannesiera]

Yea i wanted to force people looking it, making it like in real that it takes some time to fight, like hoping you can win and make that finishing strike.
Menu missing on battle page is because well you cant do anything else when in battle, so why need the menu.

If people want it i can make  a button or something to make battle quicker, or in settings for people who dont like it, not sure. Or making it faster and more intresting.

I think it would be best to make a whole "fight game". Where you have to decide next move etc. If you can make this a very intresting mini game that would be a great feature and more depth to your game.

For now I think a "skip battle" button for when you're in a fight would be handy.

[Hypemaster]

Good idea, just need to think it out. How i could do that.

Only problem is, then both players need to be online. Or only one can decide it. But then i can maybe make you can add some tactics when your not online wich does the actions for you and when your online you can choose using tactic of making manual on the fly. hmm... just first idea

[jannesiera]

Good idea, just need to think it out. How i could do that.

Only problem is, then both players need to be online. Or only one can decide it. But then i can maybe make you can add some tactics when your not online wich does the actions for you and when your online you can choose using tactic of making manual on the fly. hmm... just first idea

I think, when you have enough players, it would be cooler to play against an online player. Especially if you add a chat . Then you could make it so that even when loosing the loser can get enough reward. And maybe, when you could make it a really cool minigame, thay will just play it for the fight itself. I think at that point you'll know you have something really good going on.

So, what I mean, is that it's very hard to make an intresting, cool and original minigame. Do you know about Naruto arena? You should really try it out. That's original and fun to play, and not hard to learn. A game like that would work great as battle engine, but it's extremly hard to come up with.

[Hypemaster]

never heard of Naruto arena. But i'm working on it, buts hard to come up with a good and fun system minigame for battle., but it needs alot of players else the system sucks. Getting alot of players is hard.

[karnedge]

What is wrong with the equipment guy? Is it his head or his clothes?

He doesn't fit the rest of the site. You have fairly descent graphics like for the Exploration and the login graphic... but then you have this tiny lil pixelated guy that isn't very detailed at all and is really tiny.

[karnedge]

I got the Theif's thingie for the Mission, and when I go to the mission and run simulation... It will say something about 3 potions then I'll click [start] and FF will give me this error:

Redirect Loop
Firefox has detected that the server is redirecting the request for this address in a way that will never complete.

[jannesiera]

never heard of Naruto arena. But i'm working on it, buts hard to come up with a good and fun system minigame for battle., but it needs alot of players else the system sucks. Getting alot of players is hard.

Another thing I wanted to add is that you can manipulate the mechanics of your minigame by creating items which have special abilities (instead of just + 5 strength etc.). Like for example:

Chain:
* + 5 strength
* Both gladiators are bound by a chain and can only use close range weapons for 2 turns

And more intresting stuuf like that . Offcourse this are all ideas you can use or don't use as much as you want, because your game will become a LOT more complicated (to balance and create).

I got the Theif's thingie for the Mission, and when I go to the mission and run simulation... It will say something about 3 potions then I'll click [start] and FF will give me this error:

Redirect Loop
Firefox has detected that the server is redirecting the request for this address in a way that will never complete.

It works in chrome.

[Hypemaster]

I got the Theif's thingie for the Mission, and when I go to the mission and run simulation... It will say something about 3 potions then I'll click [start] and FF will give me this error:

Redirect Loop
Firefox has detected that the server is redirecting the request for this address in a way that will never complete.

What version of firefox you use? I have tested it in Firefox 3 and IE8 and it worked in both.

Another thing I wanted to add is that you can manipulate the mechanics of your minigame by creating items which have special abilities (instead of just + 5 strength etc.). Like for example:

Chain:
* + 5 strength
* Both gladiators are bound by a chain and can only use close range weapons for 2 turns

And more intresting stuuf like that . Offcourse this are all ideas you can use or don't use as much as you want, because your game will become a LOT more complicated (to balance and create).

Good idea, i was planning to add weapon crafting later to the game wich you can enchant weapons with special abilitys. I can maybe make something like secondary weapons/tools and for example that chain and other stuff wich you can use in battle. So like you choose normal attack with weapon or secondary tool1, 2, 3. So you equip 3 and then use one of those, wich have cooldowns. Chain for example or like something to put on your gun which shoots something to stun the player for 1 turn., energy shield which you can use to storm enemy, etc
Yea, you giving me some good ideas. Thx

[karnedge]

What version of firefox you use? I have tested it in Firefox 3 and IE8 and it worked in both.

Firefox 3.0.11, still keeps thinking its in an infinite loop, but it works fine in IE8.

[Hypemaster]

Thats weird, i also have firefox 3.0.11 and it works perfect. Very weird.

[jannesiera]

I just tried to log in, but it sadi "user not found". I'm on another computer.

[Hypemaster]

Make sure you enter your email and not username when logging in.
Then it should work.

[jannesiera]

Make sure you enter your email and not username when logging in.
Then it should work.

Ow, yeah xD.

[codestryke]

Finally got some free time and finished the tutorial

I agree with the above posts about the battle, it's neat at first, but gets boring really quick. As a suggestion look at http://www.rpgcardz.com by mobeamer. You can either watch the entire sequence, go to a round or just skip towards the end for the result. I think something like this would be a good balance between what you are trying to archive and what everyone else is suggesting.

The whole enhance pack thing or whatever it is called really needs to be toned down a bit. When I click ? as suggested all I saw was this huge list of numbers. Like Harkins has stated in other posts, it seems like I'm playing a spread sheet and not a game.

Mining you could drop the stats menu part and put a summary of that data on each page showing how many operations I have along with what I currently have mined. I'm really not sure what I'm mining other then colors and I'm not sure what I'm to use them for so I just sold them straight out for some cash. Do the prices change with the market saturation? Can I use what I mined for other things? I noticed on my equip page a summary of what I have mined is on there but the purpose was unclear. Course I didn't read the entire tutorial, like I said to much information to digest.

Like a lot of these other opened ended games I am now at a point where I cannot play. I've mined all my minerals, I've fought as much as I can and so there is nothing to do but wait. This is not a bad thing but I really don't see why I should come back to the game, nothing has pulled me in at this point. With games like this you REALLY need to have some very strong community tools available. If I am forced to wait to rebuild my energy then let me at least explore and get to know the community. Keep me in your game!

[Hypemaster]

The battle idea, yea. Will be added somewhere next week, that you can watch all rounds or go to end.
Premium packes are just an idea atm. Havent balanced that out yet, suggestions welcome.
About Mining, there are 4 different minerals. Minerals are needed to craft implants wich give you extra stats when equipped. So you need a set of minerals + implant craft kit to make it. Thats the purpose of mining, getting minerals to craft implants, or sell them to people who want to craft. The prices stay same atm. Maybe later i make it dynamic.
About the stats idea for mineral, i like it. Going to add that later.
Yea, keeping people in my games is always a hard thing. Somehow i need to find a way to keep people in the game. Thats the hardest part atm.