Escape from Dragon Mountain

A forum for discussing the modern clone "Legend of Grimrock", by Almost Human.

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linflas
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Post by linflas »

awesome ! and mouse free look just rulez ! :shock:
i have problem with movement keys (french keyboards are azerty), is it possible to choose them ?
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Relig
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Post by Relig »

Great demo. :D

The 'walking' feel is very good, but I also have problems with the movement. I have a laptop with a touch pad and to turn and walk at the same time is a bit of a challenge. I guess I'll have to use an external mouse for better game play.

I love the sound effects, and the way the screamer type monsters move and attack.

The transporters also is mesmerizing...... :shock:

Is there a full version realesed? And how much would it going for??

Relig 8)
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Post by PetriH »

Unfortunately it is not possible to change the keys in the current version but it's on my todo list now. Linflas, you could try changing the locale to "English U.S" in Control Panel/Regional and Language options, I don't know if that helps at all, but maybe worth a try.

And playing without a mouse... well, I wouldn't even consider trying it!

"Full version" will be released once it's done. I assume it takes couple of years, so don't hold your breath :)

Has anyone completed the demo yet?
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Post by cowsmanaut »

seems the monster do not yet have a distance at which they give up or a time limit after which they give up. Also, the path finding seems limited to either a straight line or right angle. still quite good.

1 detail you may want to fix is the distance you can pick up from. I found that when standing on one side of the pit I could pick up and re-throw objects at the pile screemers that had followed me there. I had hoped they would wander onto the pit when it was closed and fall.. but they were too smart for that. :)

The layout of the 4 characters at the corners seems a bit out of place.. this is a not a statement about it "not being like DM" this is a statement about ease of use. Having them along one side or the top or even the bottom would be best as it puts them all close together. That way you can grab whatever and put it in any of them quickly from habit to the top or side or whatever and then pick who you want.

A sleep icon would be good. As it is they recover at a decent pace but I would still sooner have a double speed sleep mode. :)

I like the Screamers walks, and the bats are cool too. However I don't think a bat should block my path. It's not big enough. At the very least I should be able to push it back or go "under" it.

I found in many cases I could do nothing with the club if it was in the hands of a hero. there was no bash attack.. I could throw it if I was far enough away and it was in the correct persons hand.

The buckler for some reason I thought was a floor ornament .. it fit so well with the environment that I thought I could not pick it up. Perhaps some kind of lighting adjustment as you get closer so it picks it out more.. a sort of indication that you can pic it up? Like in Diablo. Though I suppose this may not be as important..

I'm interetsted to know when things like spells and character interfaces will come in. Eating as well. Potions.. hmmm.. yes.. very exciting.

final coments.. I love the adaption of the DM map.. I recognised many details.. was quite fun! The only other thing is the falling down pits and the going down stairs. At the very least we should see the start of going down the stairs and perhaps you can then cut as you do to comming down on the other side. Do a sort of fade to black in the middle so we don't see the *POP* it doesn't feel like falling right now and the sudden poof at the stairs feels like I teleported..

Anyway.. wonderfull work!

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Post by linflas »

i did complete the 3 levels but lost 3 members !! i had already switched to US keyb before reading your post ;)
loved the ambiance, very similar to DM feeling but fighting is really hard if you want to avoid from monster hits. i was very frustated when 4 screamers attacked me ! :oops:

about gameplay, the free look mode IS really the way i'd love to play dungeon crawling games : i know lotsa clones are in square movement and i really appreciate that your game isn't ! but i think the way you made it isn't intuitive enough.

here's some stuff you could add (already done in other threads, but i guess anyone didn't understand or couldn't believe in its feasability) :

- freelook when mouse buttons are released, like quake games and WASD for movement and strafe + Q and E for turning left and right (NOT with a 90 degrees angle !)

- by pressing space bar, you go in "pointer mode" (this is the actual way the game is), only the keys are for movement and you can left click wherever you want to pick objects, go into some inventory, etc.. in this mode, you still have free look if you right click and move the mouse.

- the "pointer mode" becomes a "lock mode" if there's a monster in a reasonable distance : A and D keys are now used to strafe AROUND the monster because your team always looks at the enemy.

- if there are several monsters, space bar will make you switch ennemies your team is looking at or maybe you could add some icons (in the bottom or the top of the screen) you left click to select ennemy.

- another key to quit the "lock mode" if you need to run away: left control for example.

- "always run" switch (left shift ?), and stamina would go down faster if you run.

tell me what you think/don't understand.
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Post by Gambit37 »

Ooooh, I just played this and it's lovely! ;)

Haven't got very far yet, but it has a good feel to it. The lighting is nice, love the smooth 3D objects (with correct shadows!), and the atmospheric background sound fx are great -- nice and moody.

In addition to the comments above, here's a few more:

1) The party are obviously carrying some light source as the rest of the dungeon is dark. I guess in the future this will be connected to a carryable torch, and if they put it down, it'll go dark (like in DM)??

2) Not sure about screamers having their own light source. Wouldn't it be scarier if you could only see them when you get up close with your own torch?

3) Will there be other 'decorative' lights, such as braziers or torches on the walls>

4) You can attack creatures through a closed gate. This is cool, but not sure if it's intentional.

5) The screamer AI seems pretty good, but if you lure one to a gate and close it, he carries on walking trying to get through. Looks weird.

6) Not sure about the default wall texture -- looks too modern. Something older and less 'concrete' looking might be better?
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Post by Jardice »

Excellent...now to try the new version of the demo out(just found out today)
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Post by PetriH »

Thanks for the comments, keep 'em coming! And if you manage to finish the demo, please post your playing stats here.

I'll try to address a few things..

cowsmanaut, sleep will be implemented later. stairs & pits are still very much work in progress. About AI: the path finder is fully functional so the monsters should be able to follow you from a distance easily. However, I'm aware that sometimes the monsters get stuck on corners, this is not a problem with the AI but has something to do with collisions.

The layout is a bit problematic. We wanted to have the characters in a 2x2 formation, so that we could drag the portraits around to switch party marching order. If the portraits were next to each other they would allocate a large region of the screen, effectively blocking you view. Also, I like the idea that the player kind of sits in the center of the group, surrounded you the characters. But you're right in that the mouse has to be moved between portraits if you want to switch weapons etc.

Linflas, your control system sounds complicated. I have to think about it. Personally I don't like lock modes etc. because that way I feel I'm not directly in control of the party. Run mode (shift down) would be nice!

Gambit37,

> 1) The party are obviously carrying some light source as the rest of the
> dungeon is dark. I guess in the future this will be connected to a
> carryable torch, and if they put it down, it'll go dark (like in DM)??

Yes.

> 2) Not sure about screamers having their own light source.

Well I like the spooky feeling, and it kind of attaches the monsters to the surroundings.

>3) Will there be other 'decorative' lights, such as braziers or torches on
> the walls>

Most likely yes.

> 4) You can attack creatures through a closed gate. This is cool, but not
> sure if it's intentional.

Really? Have to fix that :)

> 5) The screamer AI seems pretty good, but if you lure one to a gate nd > close it, he carries on walking trying to get through. Looks weird.

Something funky there as well, going to my (long) todo list.
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Post by cowsmanaut »

I was thinking something similar to the space bar hotkey he was talking about.. howver I was goign to suggest something closer like "capslock" to switch to and from mouse look rather than holding down the mouse button. Needing to hold it down all the time put's unneeded stress on our mouse hands :)

This way you can quickly switch between them with a button that's close to the move buttons.

Also speaking about mouse movement.. anychance you could put in pen support? I rarely use my mouse anymore (carpal tunnlel) even when working in Maya or XSI.. so I'm accustomed to using it in a 3D environment. However when I try it with the pen it zips from side to side.. I'm sure you have some people at work who have tablets you could test it on. :) Or your artist at least. :)

One last comment about the hero layout is that while I understand your desire to lay them out for visual purposes.. the one thing I've learned about this is visualy pleasing doesn't always = functional. I've fought this battle with others before and always lost to functionality. It does look nice.. but when dragging things from the floor or from character to character it just takes more time to figure out who I want to give it to and then to drag it the full length of the screen. You'll note in nearly every game of this sort they are lined up at the top or side.. it's precicely for this reason.
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Post by linflas »

PetriH,

> Linflas, your control system sounds complicated.

yes it is, especially when you need to write it in english and be the most precise ;)
but i feel the same stress cowsmanaut told about, we just need some key to -switch- instead of -hold-

forget the lock thing, or think about it if you try to implement some "easy fight" mode, like autolock option in some hack'n slash games. errm yes, i prefer action games :)
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Post by PetriH »

ok, how about if the right mouse button toggled between the two modes?
So, instead of holding down the button you would click on it to go to pointer mode and click again to go to movement mode.

Tablet support might be feasible, I'll add it to my todo list, but it has a rather low priority I'm afraid..

cowsmanaut, would you like to sketch out the layout you had in mind?
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Post by linflas »

> ok, how about if the right mouse button toggled between the two modes?

yes of course, it will be more natural to everyone
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Post by twinfalls2 »

First attempt: The demo doesn't execute.
Rant ON
I am fed up with annoncements about great softwares......That are likely to run only on the developper's box and his bests frend' s...those telling it's great.
The "modern" graphic card is the classic unacceptable excuse.
Rant OFF
What OS ? What graphic card ? was that tested.Who has run the demo.
BTW I have few hundred puters to try it, just in case it's worth it.[/size
]
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Post by cowsmanaut »

you're the first to not have it work Twinfalls. If I were you I would have saved the ranting untill I had gotten some feedback from the creators try to help my solve the issue.

Typically, this sort of thing can be any number of issues. It could be annother peice of software that conflicts with this.. did you have anything else running?
it could be a driver glitch.. do you have the latest drivers for your hardware?
it could be hard driver error.. have you done a scan lately? done a defrag?
It could be a bogus download.. perhaps the download was faulty and now it won't work. try grabbing it again.
after that you can look into things like if it's not compatible with your OS.

Just one more thing.. for you to expect a small group making a game for free should be able to test on a mutitude of different platforms and set ups That's just plain nuts!! Do you know how much that costs? right now it's what they are tryign to do.. putting it out to us to test for them. They are not going to have big studio budgets and to admonish them for not doing what a big studio does is both ignorant and unfair. This is a free game that they are sharing with us. They don't have to accomodate anyone if they don't want to and they write it for whatever software/hardware combo they have at hand. so try to be a bit more polite in the future please. save the rants for the big companies whome you actually *PAY* to do what you are suggesting.
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Post by Paul Stevens »

You're the first to not have it work Twinfalls
Well, that's not quite true. I tried -window -lowres and
such combinations but it just dies an "illegal operation" death
after announcing that it is running in lowres windows mode.

But you get what you pay for and I simply forgot about it.
My impression of these things is that they demonstrate a
lot of flash and once the eye-candy has been seen by everyone
the project will probably fall out of sight. Once the fun stuff
is complete. The dirty work of making it work for everyone
is not the fun stuff.

I have a couple projects like that myself. :(
twinfalls2

Post by twinfalls2 »

Well,
thanks to the last two posts, I see I am right: ranting.

NO, I will not go about checking about my personal box about bits and pieces. This jazz, I can get from any computer shop.

I only care about running it on ANY box that comes at my hands, I did tell you I have hundreds to choose from....Most of them are in good, up to date shape, as good as those I have at home.

It is a recurrent case, Meg's of zipped software that doesn't run.
With the usual excuses.

HAS IT BEEN TESTED for Internet users ??????


BTW. With reasonnable testing, I publised software that proved to have NO BUG.
see http://twinfalls.free.fr
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Post by linflas »

:shock:
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Post by beowuuf »

You have developed tested software, so surely you can understand what ways work and don't for someone to report how demos handled. Your tone comes across as antagonistic. Surely simply suggesting what you would expect, on what specs, and offering the evidence it is possible as you have done, would have been easier. And much more likely to yield the positive result you desire.

It is being tested just now. The readme offers many caveats and no firm assurances such as specs. One is that the designers expect it only to run with the 'modern' card. That is their choice. If you feel this is a lazy choice and that it is easy to implement the code to have it run on a range of lower boxes, then a persuasive argument is always best. A rant just raises hackles. An offer to check on a wide range of boxes if the designers try to do this is a generous offer. An offer to check it 'if it is worth it' is more likely to raise hackles and not be accepted as genuine.
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Post by PetriH »

Well, well.. I know it is frustrating when a particular game or app doesn't work even if it works for others. The hint in the readme file was not meant as a (bad) excuse but more as a warning that it may not work on some systems. And indeed the game has not been fully tested.

If you have problems running the demo and you'd like to help me debug the game, then please at least tell me some concrete information, like what happens when you start the exe (any error messages?), and what graphics card you have? Also knowing the OS (win2000 / xp?) would help.

I suspect your problems have got to do with bad OpenGL drivers. The demo requires some standard OpenGL extensions which are not available on older graphics cards and drivers. Any nvidia card from Geforce2 upwards and ATI cards from the same generation should be ok.

"HAS IT BEEN TESTED for Internet users" .. isn't this what we are doing here?

"I publised software that proved to have NO BUG" .. don't want to argue with you but it happens to be impossible to prove that a program of moderate complexity has no bugs. This is also known as Turing's undecidability problem.
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Post by cowsmanaut »

ok .. getting grumpy. so here's MY rant..

let's put this to plain logic.

1. this is an UNFINNISHED PROJECT

what does this mean.. IT MEANS YOU CAN NOT EXPECT IT TO BE PERFECT!!

2. this is a small group of people with full lives working in their spare time on a free game.

what does this mean? IT MEANS THEY DON'T HAVE A LOT OF RESOURCES AND AREN'T BEING PAID ANY MONEY TO GET ANY EITHER!

3. I again say this a is a free game and Paul said it himself.. "you get what you pay for"

how should one take this? YOU SHOULD REALIZE THAT YOU ARE NOT PAYING THEM TO DO THIS THEY ARE DOING IT ON THEIR OWN FOR FUN.. IF YOU WANT TO PISS ON SOMEONES WORK GO FIND SOMEONE YOU ARE ACTUALLY PAYING! THEN YOU HAVE AT LEAST SOME RIGHT TO WHINE

There is no excuse for you to be off ranting and as Fuzzface said "Antaginising" people who are obviously giving of their free time and effort for nothing in return. It simply pisses me off.. and it's not even my work!! However, I have been on the receiving end of crap like this in the past and that's why it leaves a sour taste in my mouth.

Let's put it annother way. Let's say you volunteer somewhere.. you're doing work in your spare time for some place out of the goodness of your heart. Then, the guy you are volunteering for comes up to you and starts yelling at you saying your not putting enough effort into it and not spending enough time doing your job. nit picking on little details and then he points to one of the people he's paying and says he's twice the worker you are blah blah blah..

How would you take that?... just food for thought. (hint.. personally, I would quit.. after I gave him a peice of my mind)

My final statement is that I'm in no way involved with this project.. my views are not that of the developers of the project.. they are my own and simply based on previous experience and thus tainted by those experiences. if I've offended anyone else then I'm sorry.

While I may sound a little peeved.. I'm not trying to be an ass.. I don't think I'm asking much either.. just simple courtesy.

You are within your rights to be upset about it not working.. what you are not within your rights about is to lash out at the creators unless you want to make a sizeable donation to their efforts. (assuming they would accept it)

ok.. I'll shut up now.. (I'm calm.. breath.. breath... )
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Post by linflas »

:shock: << coulnd't breath since twinfalls' post

i feel better now 8)
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Post by Jardice »

I kinda wish I knew what kind of computer Twinfalls was using when he tested the new demo. I was able to run this just fine on my comp. and was able to run the old demo on my 500mhz computer (at a good amazing speed).

Of course posting editing software for a game that was tested more thoroughly(sp?) on more computers by a larger company that petriH's team demo doesn't really win me over.

About the demo though everything so far seems to be ok. I get killed alot but that's a good thing(to me anyways since it's a good skill builder). I have a few suggestions though:

1. Have it to where, if possible, you can somehow trick the enemy in to falling into a pit, they don't have to be instantly killed but it would be a good addition to player stratagey.

2. Unless you already have a much better idea, some places for resurection of characters, or recruting new char. when old ones get killed.

That's about it for me for now....I have more but they're illrelavent and are mostly for personal reasons.

Keep up the good work(and no i'm not just being nice either :wink: )
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Post by PetriH »

Just to let you know, I'm now working on a DirectX port of the demo (the last released version was using OpenGL) which I hope will address the compatibility issues. At least DirectX drivers are more up to date because most commercial games are DirectX nowadays..

I estimate that the conversion will take a couple of weeks.

Jardice, resurrection and faster health regeneration is in the plans. And it is possible for enemies to fall into pits, though it is not as easy as in DM.
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Lighten up Guys

Post by SavageMind »

Hey Ya'll,

Lighten up. People are welcome to their opinion good or bad. A rant is a rant either the person it's pointed at will take it to heart or they won't. We spend too much time trying to police up people's feelings. If someone is acting like a jerk let them. Ignore them and they will go away. If the person has a valid point take the good and throw away the bad. Enough about that.

I would like to say to the devs of this game. Great Job! I have played DM since it was on the Atari PC. I have played about every translation of the game and I must say your Demo was superb. Pretty much all the tweekable things I saw have been address. I look forward to your progress in this project. Thanks for your Hard Work.. :)
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Re: Lighten up Guys

Post by Jardice »

SavageMind wrote:Hey Ya'll,

Lighten up. People are welcome to their opinion good or bad. A rant is a rant either the person it's pointed at will take it to heart or they won't. We spend too much time trying to police up people's feelings. If someone is acting like a jerk let them. Ignore them and they will go away. If the person has a valid point take the good and throw away the bad. Enough about that.
Hate to say it but from the looks of things that's just a unatainable(sp?) dream...but that's illrelavent and you made a good point.

Nice to know that there will be a resurection feature...now just to figure out how to get the mosnters to fall down pits. :lol:
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Post by Kliber »

Great concept, I enjoyed it a lot; the Ambience sound its superb; the movement of the screamers are scary, the first time I ran the game I didnt see any party (only 1 hero) or combat interface and I just run like hell from them and used the old "Door Kill" on them LOL (Very nice, I think DM its the only game ive played where you can use a door to kill something :wink: )

I though "theres something wrong" and realize that I should use the 1024 resolution (I was using 800x600).

The second time I ran the game, payed more attention to game play, nice you can throw things (killed the last screamer using this technic), the lights are great, its sorta scary to see the bats appearing from the dark, see a lot of possibilities with lighting effects in this game; the engine runs smoothly, and the walk feel its sweet.

Finished the demo in the second attemp: 43 mins 23/23 mosnters killed 5/7 treasures found

my specs: Pentium III at 750mghz
Windows XP
256 Ram
Geforce 3 MMX

Bugs: "Couldnt fit screen blahbalhsomething" both in 800x600 and 1024x768 just when executing the game, this didnt stop me for playing, but the game cannot be played as intended in 800x600 mode

In the "portal" (tranportator, warp, wharever its called) almost at the end of the level where you need to throw something timing the "on-off" of the portal, once you retrieve the axe and you walk into the portal, you appear in a glich inside a wall (all dark), but I was beable to get out of the glicht.

Very nice work, I really want to see this project in a more advanced status, good Work bro! thank you very much. :D

(sorry about my crappy english)
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Post by Guest »

The Demo won't even run for me, cause it says that the demo caused an error in <unknown> and must be shut down. Specs:

Windows ME
800 Mhz
128 MB RAM

I don't know what card it uses, can't find it in my info packet, but this computer can run games like Wizardry 8, Icewind Dale 2, Baldur's Gate 2 with the card using directX. It's not OpenGL capable though. It's definitely made before summer 2001, I know that much.
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Post by Guest »

forgot to add: I did restart the computer like it suggested but it still gives the same error when I try to run it.
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Post by PetriH »

If your card does not support OpenGL, then I'm afraid it's no go for you.
I'm working on a DirectX port though. It's pretty much done now, I just want to bash some more bugs before I release it.

Kliber, thanks for the comments! I'll fix that teleporter bug in the next version.
Ducktape

Great Demo

Post by Ducktape »

Bang it in a box Pack it & rap it.
Then sell it to me Please :D

Great Demo can’t wait for the full version

p.s.

Would be nice if you start a mailing list. :idea:
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