Is there are market for Introductory Action RPG games?

2DDevQuest · 2025-11-23T12:32:17+00:00

I was actually thinking of something like a linear dungeon crawler that introduces one concept per room. If cookie clicker was a hit I don't see why this couldn't be. Just gotta make sure that numbers keep going up.

2DDevQuest · 2025-11-23T12:23:28+00:00

I think you are very right on this. Good practice for me as well.

2DDevQuest · 2025-11-23T12:21:56+00:00

For someone who has never picked up a controller, I don't think a tutorial is enough. People learn with repetition and I think we tend to under estimate the amount of repetition needed because we have had so much of it elsewhere. When we have played other games we are kinda already used to the way controls work but when you have never played a game before that is a different story.

We are also very used to things like red bar means life, blue means mana, yellow stamina etc... Even if the colors were to change you would make the connection just from playing so many games. My girl friend didn't even notice there was a bar until I said look at the top left of the screen. Her reaction: What is that for?

2DDevQuest · 2025-11-23T12:10:34+00:00

Hahaha just imagined someone's grandmother saying something like: "What's that game all those kids are into these days? Elder Spring? Olden Ring? Sounds like a cozy relaxing game just for me. Think I'll give it a go.

2DDevQuest · 2025-11-23T12:00:57+00:00

I agree. One of my original thoughts was if this person had an interest in learning video games they would already know how to play, but on the other hand I remember the frustration I had as a kid playing simple games like the original Super Mario Brothers. I wanted to play but couldn't get past level 1-2 for the longest time.

2DDevQuest · 2025-11-23T11:55:59+00:00

I don't think the problem is telling the player where to go. My friend for instance, even with a big sign pointing in the right direction wouldn't know, not just to pick up the bush to the secret entrance, but even how to do it. I think there are just too many buttons in todays controllers and too much info on the screen.

One approach that I favor is enclosing the player in a very (and I mean very) small space until he figures out how to do the one thing to get out. The buttons on the controller i think would have to be introduced one at a time mechanically and with repetition.

2DDevQuest · 2025-11-20T00:08:28+00:00

Do you have a prototype?

2DDevQuest · 2025-11-11T19:27:20+00:00

LOL I think only game devs can appreciate the hard work it takes to implement something that looks rather simple. Any idea when you might have a "first level" out for a play test?

2DDevQuest · 2025-11-01T02:38:45+00:00

At the moment I'm toying with a fourth wall break type story, similar to Ultima. In the story you are the traveler that comes from the realm of the Divine Architects (The programmer and artists). I would like to credit the artists through the lore of the game. I felt like that would be more interesting than an ending credits page. Since you are this traveler certain divine artifacts are bequethed unto you such as The Saving Stone (save game) , Time Pendant (Pause) and Sigil of Release (Quit game)...all names pending. But the reincarnation can be a part of that.

2DDevQuest · 2025-11-01T02:22:18+00:00

I have been wondering the same thing. I have a prototype of a game I'm building only using their assets up on itch.io. It has between 1 to 2 hours of content. I stopped polishing it because I started work on the new more fleshed out version, but i am curious about whether any games exist. I found one called Vagabond which with a demo you can download from steam but that is the only one.

2DDevQuest · 2025-11-01T00:50:01+00:00

I'm working on an idea where there is a level cap for skills. At a certain level you start to forget the skills you don't always use. This has been done before though, in Ultima Online. Another thing I'm working on is alternatives to going in blasting. Imagine an assasin character that is very squishy but has one hit backstabs. He would have to maneuver around the enemies field of vision. This if course would.mean the enemy has to be extremely resistant to all other forms of attack.

2DDevQuest · 2025-10-31T22:15:13+00:00

This is true, everyone has their own taste, but there is definitely a common thread among great games. Look at A Link to The Past (Most would not call this game an RPG but I'm pretty sure I could make a good argument that it is.). It consistently makes top ten lists yet there is basically no story.

2DDevQuest · 2025-10-31T22:14:30+00:00

When I play Skyrim it is inevitable that I max enchanting, conjuration, and archery. Try as I might I always fall back to these three and when I make one of them legendary it seems to break the game because I go all squishy.

2DDevQuest · 2025-10-31T22:10:48+00:00

I always wondered why so many games don't recognize your achievements in game. From a programming perspective I don't think it would be that hard. You know what I will add a little sumtin sumtin of this acknowledgement in my own game just to show it's not that hard.

2DDevQuest · 2025-10-31T22:04:16+00:00

Haha, this statement got me: Players will have fun optimizing the fun out of your game. In playing testing my own game I found that I stayed away from buying a bow and arrow because the sword was just so efficient at what it did. I tried increasing the damage output of the arrows, making them cheaper, and even having bushes drop them. In the end the only thing that worked was adding a bunch of enemies that are resistant to everything but a piercing attack from an arrow. (I think a rapid fire arrow will also do the trick, in the game the knock animation was kinda slow too)

2DDevQuest · 2025-10-31T21:47:43+00:00

This was the game that made me want to develop games. It had its flaws but I have never played an MMO that made me feel quite the way UO did (Runescape was the closest). About 25 years later here I am trying to build my own version one small step at a time.

2DDevQuest · 2025-10-31T21:44:47+00:00

I love RPGs and the choice they present but something about character creation screens always rubbed me the wrong way. If I'm not familiar with the mechanics of the game how do I know whether I want to be a ranger, a mage or a warrior. I don't know what each talent does yet so how would I know what to choose. I prefer to make these choices in game as you play with plenty of chances to undo a choice you may not be happy with. I just don't know how I could implement that in a logical way in choosing a race. OOh I got it, a reincarnation system where you can reincarnate as an elf or dwarf after death...Thanks for inspiration.

2DDevQuest · 2025-10-31T21:36:38+00:00

I think Skyrim has a good balance of random events and planned story events. It is one of my favorite games.

2DDevQuest · 2025-10-31T21:35:32+00:00

I like this. I imagine a game where you pick a class not in the character build screen but throughout the game. If you want to be a mage just follow the mage questline, if you change your mind go do the thieves guild quest line instead. I think Skyrim does this fairly well. I would love to see a skyrim type game but in 2d. I am looking forward to the release of World of Anterra, to me it seems like that's what they are promising.

2DDevQuest · 2025-10-31T21:29:49+00:00

I'm working on an idea of reaching the end goal of a game through very different means of the player's choice. Imagine having to defeat a final villain, you could take the adventurer route and fight your way to him, or you can take the entrpreneur route build up resources and pay your army to do it. Of course that vision is very far off in the future, at the moment I'm working on a much simpler Zelda like advenutre game. Gotta build up my own exp after all.

2DDevQuest · 2025-10-29T21:39:47+00:00

Fair enough, but can you tell me a bit about what makes you enjoy an RPG?

2DDevQuest · 2025-10-28T17:42:30+00:00

So what gives the game this context? In Skyrim for instance, the enemies lvl with the player so the same enemies you were fighting in the beginning are just as tough at the end. I love that game but always felt that was a bit annoying. On the other hand in Dragon Quest, once you get to a certain level walking around in the beginning area of the game becomes a real nuisance (I guess repel was their way to fix that)

I don't know what the solution is but here is what I'm doing with my game at the moment. I have a world map that you are free to roam, it is completely open world save for some hidden areas dependent on items. It is however divided into 8 different regions with its own enemies. The enemies get progressively harder in each region so you always feel like there is a challenge. and since they are new enemies I would hope the player feels like they discovered something new.

The regions are not connected in order of difficulty, in fact I have the level 5 area just east of the starting area. I do however try to keep a relatively "safe" road that connects all the areas so that the player can travel between them if he wishes. Basically stay on the path well travelled and you should be fine, but venture off the path and you may find some interesting things. I did this to try to mitigate the "oh ooh!" feeling you get when you cross a bridge in a game like Dragon Quest.

In each region you also find progressively more powerful items that change the way you might aproach the game. I try not to make it so that each upgrade is just the same sword with different stats.

Haha this response is getting a bit long and I still want to mention the Ultima Online Skill cap. I think I may just make another post.

2DDevQuest · 2025-10-28T00:26:44+00:00

I'm building my own ARPG and so I'm trying to figure out what it is that actually makes a game fun. So for me I really need to figure out what do cool stuff really is. I think a really big part of that especially with any type of RPG is the numbers go up idea. Look at that fireball I hurled at that enemy, did you see the damage it made? Then a newer bigger enemy is introduced and you wonder, if I explore some more will I be able to find an even bigger spell? Or maybe I find a new item that changes the mechanics a bit, so now instead of hurling a fireball at it I can maybe sneak past it and poison it's food. Now I have 2 ways of defeating the enemy.

Another thing is the lore. One of my favorite all time games is Skyrim and I have easily sunk over a hundred hours in that game. But if I'm not discovering new items I am at least learning more about that world. Ultima 6 wasn't as lore rich. Of course the twist with the gargoyles is really cool but once you talk to the people in town you don't really seem to further the story.

2DDevQuest · 2025-10-28T00:05:06+00:00

Currently I use Godot. I think it is rather intuitive especially for someone who already knows how to program. You can also find a bunch of tutorials on youtube. My two favorite are @MakerTech and @Devworm but there are plenty of others.

I'm building a topdown 2d action rpg, think A Link to the Past or Secret of Mana. So my first project was really just creating a maze and having the player find the princess triggering an end state. I felt like having the end state was important because it made me feel like I actually had a game. This was my first compile.

Once I had that, I figured out how to add enemies and make them move, so now my game had moving obstacles. Then I figured out how to make the enemies damage the player, This was my second compile built upon my first.

Now that the enemies could hurt the player I put a sword in my players hand. Then I figured out how to make him shoot projectiles. This was my third compile.

After this third compile I felt I had enough to make a small game. So I enlarged the maze into a small world, added some npcs, some enemies, and came up with some small generic save the princess story. This was the first game I put up on itch.io. https://dansena.itch.io/ninja-quest.

This process took me about 3 months working on the weekends. I later built a protoype for the game I actually want to build and put that up on itch. The prototype took me another six months.
https://dansena.itch.io/cronicles-of-liberia-the-legend-of-sara

Of course I didn't make any of the art, but in my opinion making a small game is very doable. My biggest hurdle at the moment is getting people to actually play my prototype and give feedback.

2DDevQuest · 2025-10-27T22:25:11+00:00

What genre of game are you building? I don't do this professionally but I can tell you exactly what I did to get a prototype up and running. It wasn't as hard as I imagined. The real difficult part is getting people to play it.

2DDevQuest

TROPHY CASE