Dungeon Master Forum

Ran across this work in progress game:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGEHc3p4Fjw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqWpnF3wZGY

Hmmm, interesting! I kinda have a strange feeling that I've seen this one before. Hasn't it been discussed somewhere else on these forums? Looks very good anyway! Only the fast movement along the corridors looks quite... funny... the fast bunny-like hopping...

Maybe it has...I haven't peeked in around here in a very long time.

Thanks for finding our little game

Roquen wrote: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGEHc3p4Fjw

This is how it looks like at the moment (well, not exactly, we've already made some changes in the GUI). I know that at this point Skullstone may seem similar to Legend of Grimrock, but don't be fooled by the first impression, because there will be some major differences Just to name some:

- Game area not limited to a dungeon. Your party will have an opportunity to visit a town, where they can get some equipment, interact with the locals etc.
- A system of side-quests,
- No customizable characters: you will choose your party members form a big group of pre-defined characters, each with his/her own unique set of strengths and weaknesses,
- A different approach to real-time combat. There's been a lot of criticism concerning Grimrock's "dancing" way of fighting, which made the game more arcade than RPG. We're working on a system of special abilities (for both party characters and dungeon monsters) to deal with this issue.
- A different approach to casting spells.

Let me know what you think of it, there's still much to be done, so any feedback will be appreciated
Also visit our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/SkullstoneGame and follow us on Twitter: @SkullstoneGame

Hey, that's nice work. I know that most dungeon crawlers are a bit like Doom instead of an RPG, so my question is, will you create npcs that are interactive or will it be hack and slash and hit the lever type and solve the puzzle?

Sorry Chaos-Shaman, I must have missed your reply. Although there is very little chance that you'll find neutral NPCs in the dungeon, there'll be some interactive NPCs in the town area. They'll give quests and rewards, and in general, keep the story going The core of the game will be hacking and slashing, but we want to add as many RPG elements as possible

That is good to hear. I guess what I am trying to say is will it be able to tell a story as the game is played. It seems like you have done some work on that already. I think it is important to break away from the, enter a room, kill the monster, find the switch and then go on to the next room. It would be nice to see, enter the room, talk to the NPC, get a clue or add them to the party to complete some other part of which is from the story or if need be, kill them. Today's games are lacking the story telling part and have focused on the graphics and not giving enough thought to telling the story. Interaction is really wanted. Keep going at it.

We're still discussing on whether there should be NPCs in the dungeon, or whether we should give the player an opportunity to change party members during the game, but there's one thing for sure: Skullstone won't be based solely on lever/trapdoor/button/timing-related puzzles (one Grimrock is enough )


A couple of days ago one of our team members prepared a short video on some changes we introduced in the combat system:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUhi5vpfB1A

Some people (quite a lot actually...) complained that Skullstone will be just another dungeon crawler with "dancing" real-time combat. We wanted to show them how we tackled this issue

That's cool. This is looking good. NPC's, yeah it would be a good way to get the party involved more. Not to kill everything that the party sees is an excellent Idea. Keep us informed. That has been a goal that I am hoping to achieve as well, not too concerned with graphics, more into they NPC to help tell the story. Dancing to kill monsters really has lost its appeal. Ah, you have an accent, can't figure it out anyhow keep going at it.

Chaos-Shaman wrote:Ah, you have an accent, can't figure it out

Yup, we're all Polish At first I was to record the commentary for the video, but it was awful

And as far as the graphics is concerned... Well, some people pointed out that it's not as nicely rendered as in LoG, but we're quite satisfied with it, and it probably won't be very different from what we've got now. After all, as you said, it is not the graphics that makes a game fun.

After all, as you said, it is not the graphics that makes a game fun.

The graphics is usually easy to add later. That is a good point as there are typically sequels that come out later based on the engine using new graphics.

BEAUTIFUL GAME !!!!!!!!!!!

Hi,

Here is an screenshot of an monster taken from the game during development. You can find more of them on our FB Page

Hi,

We made a new video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-0Pv57vP7U
As you can see there are still some placeholder graphics. Mobs are weak, because we didn't balanced them, but you should see the whole idea: to keep the gameplay in classic way, with some new things.

Here are some new monsters:

flow it, looks interesting x10

The Skullstone gameplay trailer has arrived!
Dangers, treasures, and secrets of this forgotten dungeon await.

Skullstone coming Q4 2017

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnqzGANkPG8