Super Dungeon Master: Quest for the Firestaff

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boyflea
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Super Dungeon Master: Quest for the Firestaff

Post by boyflea »

Christmas 2016, Steam had another sale. I was scouring for soemthing that would help me program again, and I sort of needed an inspiration.
So... I buckled and went JRPG. (forgive me).

Well, I've a suspicion I'll upset two or three online forums: yes, I've just remade Dungeon Master in RPGmaker.



Thing is, I do love Dungeon Master, but it is a lousy interface to tell a story.
That said, JRPG games are a billion cutscenes and not a lot of action - ... so also threw in a bit of mad dungeon dashing, like Gauntlet.
And I like a challenge.
'Don't do it Dave' is of course, the natural response.

Too late: I sorta have: I've got the main dungeon down, just bug-checking it. I hope to share with you guys soon.

meanwhile: check out my promo video: be honest, do you think I've lost the plot? :)
https://youtu.be/fo-YIAMXoak
The stonework walls? Pristine. The floor? Level. The waterworks? Flowing. Central heating? The Dragon in the basement was grumpily heating the pipes. Lord Chaos consulted the blueprints again, looking for the bathroom. #playmygame!
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Re: Super Dungeon Master: Quest for the Firestaff

Post by boyflea »

The stonework walls? Pristine. The floor? Level. The waterworks? Flowing. Central heating? The Dragon in the basement was grumpily heating the pipes. Lord Chaos consulted the blueprints again, looking for the bathroom. #playmygame!
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Re: Super Dungeon Master: Quest for the Firestaff

Post by Sophia »

Viewing your "Noticeboard" (which as far as I can tell is just a feed of this forum) while logged in forcibly changes my viewing style for this forum to mobile. This involuntary switch to mobile style persists even after I leave your site and come back and view this forum normally.

Please fix your site so it doesn't mess with people's forum preferences.
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Re: Super Dungeon Master: Quest for the Firestaff

Post by boyflea »

oh my word - sorry, just was just a bit of fun - did not mean to cause harm to the forum. thanks Sophia, deleted those links.
The stonework walls? Pristine. The floor? Level. The waterworks? Flowing. Central heating? The Dragon in the basement was grumpily heating the pipes. Lord Chaos consulted the blueprints again, looking for the bathroom. #playmygame!
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Re: Super Dungeon Master: Quest for the Firestaff

Post by Sophia »

Thank you.

Anyway, the game itself looks rather fun. There was an "Overhead DM" project on this forum some years ago but it was abandoned, so it's neat to see someone taking up something similar.
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Re: Super Dungeon Master: Quest for the Firestaff

Post by boyflea »

Thanksyou Sophia; have looked at the other thread and that looked so good: well, my little exercise is fun and kept simple so I will release it asap (the main quest is playable, start to end). As I say, just something small, seemed the last attempt was far more professional. :)
The stonework walls? Pristine. The floor? Level. The waterworks? Flowing. Central heating? The Dragon in the basement was grumpily heating the pipes. Lord Chaos consulted the blueprints again, looking for the bathroom. #playmygame!
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Re: Super Dungeon Master: Quest for the Firestaff

Post by boyflea »

As an update, still bugfixing this, an dhope to share a link in a couple fo weeks time. Thanks for all the positive feedback so far.
The stonework walls? Pristine. The floor? Level. The waterworks? Flowing. Central heating? The Dragon in the basement was grumpily heating the pipes. Lord Chaos consulted the blueprints again, looking for the bathroom. #playmygame!
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Re: Super Dungeon Master: Quest for the Firestaff

Post by boyflea »

v1.0 finally launched.
http://dungeonmastercom.weebly.com/

and links:
you can grab a standalone version here, with all the files and the ability to review in RPGMaker:-
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ao4n6wwqb4ndj ... P.exe?dl=0

hope people enjoy it.
The stonework walls? Pristine. The floor? Level. The waterworks? Flowing. Central heating? The Dragon in the basement was grumpily heating the pipes. Lord Chaos consulted the blueprints again, looking for the bathroom. #playmygame!
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Re: Super Dungeon Master: Quest for the Firestaff

Post by Seriously Unserious »

OMG it's been AGES since I was last here. Kinda sad to see one of my old online communities dwindling away like this, but your project looks interesting, boyflea.

How's it progressing and do you need any help with anything?
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Re: Super Dungeon Master: Quest for the Firestaff

Post by Seriously Unserious »

I found a bug with the non-RPGMaker install file. Every time I try to install the game, the installer goes unresponsive after a few seconds and I can't get all the files extracted.

EDIT: Sorry about the double posting, for some reason there was no "Edit" button for my last post. Probably a bug with the new php version or theme.
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Re: Super Dungeon Master: Quest for the Firestaff

Post by Chaos-Shaman »

Happy to see you are still kicking around SU. There are some of us still goofing with DM.

The edit button goes away after 15 minutes, after that it is permanent.
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Re: Super Dungeon Master: Quest for the Firestaff

Post by boyflea »

HI again: I've updated the download link: not sure why you are seeing that, so have just posted as a standard .zip file instead.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/fru7lh9e4yrsq ... 1.zip?dl=0
also added on mini-ste too:

also fixes a minor menu bug and fixes credits.

bless you for your time! :)
The stonework walls? Pristine. The floor? Level. The waterworks? Flowing. Central heating? The Dragon in the basement was grumpily heating the pipes. Lord Chaos consulted the blueprints again, looking for the bathroom. #playmygame!
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Re: Super Dungeon Master: Quest for the Firestaff

Post by Seriously Unserious »

Chaos-Shaman wrote: Fri Jun 02, 2017 4:17 pm Happy to see you are still kicking around SU. There are some of us still goofing with DM.

The edit button goes away after 15 minutes, after that it is permanent.
Yup, still alive and kicking. Been busy on RL projects for the last few years, but starting to recapture some recreational time to get back into my old hobbies again. That 15 minute disappearing act never used to happen when I was last here, that's definitely new -- at least to me.
boyflea wrote: Fri Jun 02, 2017 4:37 pm HI again: I've updated the download link: not sure why you are seeing that, so have just posted as a standard .zip file instead.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/fru7lh9e4yrsq ... 1.zip?dl=0
also added on mini-ste too:

also fixes a minor menu bug and fixes credits.

bless you for your time! :)
Awesome, thanks, I'll give the new download a try.
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Re: Super Dungeon Master: Quest for the Firestaff

Post by boyflea »

Thanks! Having timed myself a few runs, and knowing the puzzles, it is completable in about 2-3 hours: but have snuck in a heap of secrets to keep people coming back (I hope anyway!) - still have to see how easy it is to do a zero-kills Tiggy speed-run... . Might add in a couple of killer PCs as a 'kid's mode' version too. Anyway, making these things is like owning a shed: you end up pottering instead of working, :).
Thanks again for your support!
The stonework walls? Pristine. The floor? Level. The waterworks? Flowing. Central heating? The Dragon in the basement was grumpily heating the pipes. Lord Chaos consulted the blueprints again, looking for the bathroom. #playmygame!
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Re: Super Dungeon Master: Quest for the Firestaff

Post by boyflea »

VIDEO WALKTHROUGH COMPLETED:
And so I finally did the full walkthrough, and timed the whole main game at just over three and a half hours, and an hour for extras. (seems the in-game timer is a 'bit off' :) ) - playlist here:https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... YgqTD0w66Z

I AM INTERNET FAMOUS:
This experience has taught me a few things about distribution, so wanted to just leave a note:
Currently, this fan-game has been posted on itch.io, steam, rmn (rpgmaker network) and a weebly-site pwoered by dropbox.
Links posted on various forums and videos added to youtube.
It is terrifically difficult to get an audience, though all of these repositories are showing a trickle some downloads: about 30 after a few weeks - and that'll probably be it :)

THE OBVIOUS CONCLUSION?
I am glad to see new games posted here on the forums and wondered if there were better ways to promote fan-made games: something that would drive forum site-traffic up and provide proifle to content. Well, until GG launches RTC for Steam, I guess that's all I can note here: not that surprising, and wish I had firmer conclusions from this six-month experiment -

...but aside form all that, I've had fun making the game and learned a lot of new things, (though I am pretty sure I have messed up how I get from The Void to Pain Rats in my game version :) )


thanks again. hope the migration to the new forum goes well.

DAVE
The stonework walls? Pristine. The floor? Level. The waterworks? Flowing. Central heating? The Dragon in the basement was grumpily heating the pipes. Lord Chaos consulted the blueprints again, looking for the bathroom. #playmygame!
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Re: Super Dungeon Master: Quest for the Firestaff

Post by Seriously Unserious »

Hopefully I'll be able to try it out soon. Been having all kinds of trouble with the previous download links, trying it from your RPG Maker page to see if that one will work for me.

@boyflea - If you need some help getting found more, I'd be happy to give you some help as my time allows. My RL job is in marketing and web development, so I could do a lot to help you with your website and while social media is not my specialty, I'd be happy to share what I can with you on that and see if it helps you gain more traction. Just PM me if you want to talk.
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Re: Super Dungeon Master: Quest for the Firestaff

Post by boyflea »

Thankyou SU - well, here's the basic .zip file with everything you need in it...
https://www.dropbox.com/s/taqe5zfev74ut ... P.zip?dl=0
if you are still haiving issues with that, then I'm stumped! :(

it has been weird just trying to find ways to promote this game: Steam, itch-io, RMN etc are all nice, but difficult to manage them all.
Steam workshop is getting me the most action, as this is for RPGMaker devs.

Any advice would be most appreciated, though I think this DM Forum could better benefit from your talents: the domain change means a google search still references the old link - perhaps some ideas?

Also, the reason I wrote this tribute game was really to drive awareness to this site: I think I've been a bit blunt about it - so any thoughts on a strategy? Yes, I like my creation, but really, let's drive people to the original Dungeon Master and this forum if we can. (this little fan-game is not going to do it alone of course, but perhaps we could think about a few projects on the boil and put something together to lure people in???]

Anyway, yeah: marketing stuff, it's a whole other world :). Making stuff (or telling people how to make stuff) is much more my thing, more tangible for me anyway... so yeah, on this I am making it ALL up :D.
The stonework walls? Pristine. The floor? Level. The waterworks? Flowing. Central heating? The Dragon in the basement was grumpily heating the pipes. Lord Chaos consulted the blueprints again, looking for the bathroom. #playmygame!
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Re: Super Dungeon Master: Quest for the Firestaff

Post by Sera »

im very curious... do you plan on making CSB and DM2 with this in the future? =)
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Re: Super Dungeon Master: Quest for the Firestaff

Post by boyflea »

well curious Sera, I did really like making this - and if the demand is there would love to remake CSB one day.

DM2, Theron's Quest, Nexus - sure - all options, but CSB was 'the daddy' and that had crossed my mind when making this:
given it's twisty nature a top-down version might actually make more sense for CSB

- ooo and CSB has such cool PCs,,, forgot about that! - If I ever make it, I'll be sure to include a curious dragon PC too, ;).
The stonework walls? Pristine. The floor? Level. The waterworks? Flowing. Central heating? The Dragon in the basement was grumpily heating the pipes. Lord Chaos consulted the blueprints again, looking for the bathroom. #playmygame!
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Re: Super Dungeon Master: Quest for the Firestaff

Post by Sera »

i'm flattered you would want to include me in the game, but i'll have to pass on that sadly. i don't particularly feel comfortable with the idea of having my own personal character being used for anything that isn't my own. nothing personal of course! ^_^

and besides, it wouldn't be fair on lord chaos since i am stupidly overpowered. ~_^
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Re: Super Dungeon Master: Quest for the Firestaff

Post by Chaos-Shaman »

Life has its bonuses :)
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Re: Super Dungeon Master: Quest for the Firestaff

Post by boyflea »

Good point Sera. I always felt sorry for Lord Chaos anyway, always easily defeatable by those pseky adventuring kids.
The stonework walls? Pristine. The floor? Level. The waterworks? Flowing. Central heating? The Dragon in the basement was grumpily heating the pipes. Lord Chaos consulted the blueprints again, looking for the bathroom. #playmygame!
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Re: Super Dungeon Master: Quest for the Firestaff

Post by Sera »

well, i dont think the adventuring kids would have beaten lord chaos without the firestaff and corbums. XD

either way, glad to know there "may" be a Super CSB, just need to get more encouragement from the rest! ^_^
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Re: Super Dungeon Master: Quest for the Firestaff

Post by boyflea »

Thankyou.

I think that is exactly the right word: 'encouragement'.
It may have been 'validation' or 'popularity' there for a while perhaps, but I think 'encouragement' is the right word.

So for 'Super CSB' to happen, encouragement is a good start, but mainly I will want to find a way to get excited about building a new game: Super DM did take a lot out of me, so am a little exhausted on game-making for a bit.

This excitement happened for Super DM when I saw an opportunity to help the DM Forums with a cheap gamesmaker tool - and on DM's 30th Anniversary no less!

^_^

So, on reflection, let's review the outcome (nice to get one review in, ;) )

1/ Write the Dungeon Master prequel that I'd been toying with for 10 years: SUCCESS - very very happy with how I got my narrative to fit this game.

2/ Promote the flagging DM Forums by having a hit game-title: FAIL - perhaps a little arrogant, though I do hope it has at least raised awareness of the original DM game and fanbase to others.

3/ Learn how to code again: FAIL - not really moved on much, however, was good to re-learn the discipline needed.

4/ Find means to promote the game: FAIL - learned a lot, but no - the usual 'waiting-by-the-phone' anxiety of hoping for some sort of feedback, despite posting on many many forums, etc. We've all done this - but quantity is not everything as people have been kind and seem to enjoy this project.

5/ Rekindle my love of games - SUCCESS! - this has then lead to me enjoying reviewing a lot of fan-made games, and realising that there is so much talent out there, struggling to get even one review. People make games because they like making games - and it is easy to forget that sometimes.

^_^

So thankyou, all of you, for the encouragement. X.

Here's to a future post about a future project.
The stonework walls? Pristine. The floor? Level. The waterworks? Flowing. Central heating? The Dragon in the basement was grumpily heating the pipes. Lord Chaos consulted the blueprints again, looking for the bathroom. #playmygame!
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Re: Super Dungeon Master: Quest for the Firestaff

Post by boyflea »

Like a sore tooth, there was one last thing I did want to investigate...
Image
making things is fun, but finding out about online services has been interesting - in its own way too.
So trying something different - if it does happen (big 'if'), it'd would be a free game of course.

I'll then make a million dollars from a CSB DLC, arf, :).

If nothing else, happy to document the journey.
The stonework walls? Pristine. The floor? Level. The waterworks? Flowing. Central heating? The Dragon in the basement was grumpily heating the pipes. Lord Chaos consulted the blueprints again, looking for the bathroom. #playmygame!
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Re: Super Dungeon Master: Quest for the Firestaff

Post by Sera »

im looking forward to playing this now, hope it gets some great ratings! we'll all be here supporting it. =)
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Re: Super Dungeon Master: Quest for the Firestaff

Post by boyflea »

Why thankyou Sera! You have just made my day, ;).

As an update: found out quite a few things about SteamWorks: firstly, took me like 3 days, including artwork, to bang in and test 32 Achievements. Really simple.

In addition to the 'app' you also get a free DEMO slot to fill as well AND two further slots for TOOLS. In addition, you can set-aside Steam cloud space for saves and Workshop items: so you can host fan-made stuff too, and the calls look fairly easy.

Now this last bit is not really suitable for my effort, but imagine something like RTC / DSB on a distribution platform like Steam: core app to download, additional editor tools, modified to allow upload to a workshop. Now that could be an exciting idea, allowing more people to download Saumun's latest dungeons, or whatever...

However, that said - posting a FREE app, as this will be (This is not the 'Dungeon Masters' iPhone app after all!) - means it may be hidden from some store-views: will see how that works out.

In addition, thankfully the entry criteria for anything on Steam seems to have dropped through the floor: so while they are not looking too closely at the abandon-ware base of this game, great, meanwhile anything posted will be competing with a lot of awful things.

Still, it's been fun: and for the hell of it have started adding 'Chaos Strikes Back' as a menu option to this game ['aka Data Disk 1' :)]
That CSB map is seriously confusing, even in top-down! Still, all levels blocked out, just figuring out the first few rooms now...


So again, thanks for your support! :)
The stonework walls? Pristine. The floor? Level. The waterworks? Flowing. Central heating? The Dragon in the basement was grumpily heating the pipes. Lord Chaos consulted the blueprints again, looking for the bathroom. #playmygame!
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Re: Super Dungeon Master: Quest for the Firestaff

Post by Sera »

Anytime! in fact, youre giving me some motivation to do some DM related stuff anyway :3

also CSB, yes please! While i know CSB was confusing, i actually liked it a lot for that reason. getting back to the beginning area was a lot easier too, where i like to hoard all my stuff. Also, if you ever decide to make DM2, you will have me hooked XD.

also, i am very curious, who are the 7 new characters youve added? im too impatient to wait for the release to know XD, if you dont want to spoil it for anyone else, a PM would be fine <3
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Re: Super Dungeon Master: Quest for the Firestaff

Post by Sera »

oop, i fell a little too late for the edit option on my previous message. i didnt notice the game was available to download already outside of steam. XD

i will try this out tonight and answer my own questions! =D
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Re: Super Dungeon Master: Quest for the Firestaff

Post by boyflea »

Lol - that's fine: trying to remember, but I think I added in 6 new characters due to people on the boards (misskarna's foursome, a tg fairy and a troll -as it is my avatar...)

however, in the game, there are 4 more story-driven ones too. Would add that the stem version has some balancing fixes: yo uwoul need to be quite forgiving of its limitations though: you have to see this game from a JRPG perspective. But anyway... thanks again for the interest.

Seems my info on the sites is out of date...

as for CSB: I cannot remember it at all, so having to reload RTC again to play through the more obscure bits. DM2: I've still to complete that one myself - ;). you seem a big fan: why did it receive a lukewarm reception? (at least that is the feeling I get)

anyway, look forward to seeing more stuff from you in the future: :)
The stonework walls? Pristine. The floor? Level. The waterworks? Flowing. Central heating? The Dragon in the basement was grumpily heating the pipes. Lord Chaos consulted the blueprints again, looking for the bathroom. #playmygame!
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