[Campaign][WIP] : Requiem of Hammerwatch : alpha 0.8.5 (last edition : 05/31)

[Xeronkar]

Ooooh, i see, i'll just change the bar skin without using a gate :p

[Bman255]

Hello! I just started doing a "first looks" type video series and I just did your map. I must say, this map far exceeded what I was expecting, even for an alpha. I was very blown away by the amount of custom content already included in this map. The town and shops look amazing, and I was very impressed to see an overworld. I love the concept of open-world games, so the overworld is a very nice and unique touch to Hammerwatch. I didn't have time to play past the first dungeon, but I loved what I saw so far. The one thing I noticed right off the was a text/grammar error. If you wanted, I would be happy to look over text lines for you, and give my input. The other thing that I noticed right away I found absolutely hilarious. You can simply push npc's wherever you want. This moves the model, and the hitbox for the text, but not the text bubble. This isn't really a problem, but you might want to look into making the npc's immovable in the future. Other than that, I really loved the music, sound, and overall design of the town. It looks really nice already. After the town, I had time to play through the first dungeon. I don't really have much input for the first dungeon, as I feel it was well made. The crack in the wall stumped me for a little bit, but this caused me to find the secret room. Which brings me to one thing I noticed about the first secret room. I noticed that the spawner was too close to some barrels and crates, so beetles were spawning inside of them and getting stuck. Again, this was nothing gamebreaking, but you might want to look into it. After that, I loved the small details, like the gold beetles making a different sound on death. The sound really fit the new enemy type. I felt the level design for the first level was very good, although it was a bit short. When I got to the first boss I was amazed to see it was completely new from anything I've faced. The boss fight felt really fun, and I loved the music playing during it. The boss's attack patterns felt both interesting to watch, and dodge. The only thing I noticed was the boss's damage. As a no-upgrades Ranger I was dying in 1-2 hits, but this wasn't really a problem, since it was pretty easy to dodge. Might be something to consider in the future though. In terms of the boss's health, I think it's fine where it is. The boss fight felt fun and not too lengthy to the point of losing interest. If you guys need any more suggestions, opinions, or testing I'd love to help out. Thanks for creating this awesome map!

Edit: Sorry about this being a bit long... I guess I got a bit carried away. 

[Xeronkar]

Wow, what an amazing feed back

I had the curiosity to stalk to your video, and watched it. I really appreciated, it is really motivating to see a video on what we did

Did you turn on/off something in your graphical options ? Because I didn't saw any light effect, we worked about it to indicate the right path to take in the 1 dungeon (and for other stuff too). As you can see on the first page of this thread, there is some light effects.

If you have some advices on our english texts, please report them, i'm french and have some work to do on it.
Yeah, i saw you can push NPCs away, that made me laugh too xD But I don't know if i can fix this :/

About the first dungeon, i'm working to re-think the level design about spawners et breakables, but will still in the same idea.

For the boss, damages are intentionaly high because it's very easy to dodge, and if you're playing with 4 player, it became really to easy because only one person is focus by the boss' attacks.

Anyway, thank's a lot for the time you take to record a video and give a so complete feed back

PS : I added an arena system to the right of the town since the 0.8.2, I think that could interest you

[Bman255]

Thanks for watching! My Channel is pretty small right now, but I'm hoping eventually I can bring more attention to the Hammerwatch custom maps.

I did have shaders turned off when I was playing the main campaign. For some reason I feel like it gives more of a "nostalgic" look. I'll be sure to change these when I go for a more in depth playthrough. I'll be checking out both dungeons and the arena for sure, later today.

Also... was that first boss fight music from a "Tales" game? It sounds so familiar, but I can't quite say.

I'll save a spot here, and write down anything about the text I notice:

[Xeronkar]

If you agree, i can put your video on the first page of this thread. Than could bring you some viewers, and make a better presentation for me

Ahah, could be a tales of music, but it's a Golden Sun music, adapted for the SSBB game : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eSlsV6ysY4

[Bman255]

The first part of that theme sounds so familiar, I just can't place where I heard it. Oh well, thanks for the link!

I'd be glad if you wanted to put my video on the front page, and I'd also be happy to do anything else video related if it would help out.

[Xeronkar]

So, sadly I just tried to display an embeded Youtube player, but I can't understand how. I sent an PM to Hipshot to be sure.
I think just posting a link will not attract people to watch the vidéo :/

[Bman255]

Dang... I'd say go ahead and link it if you can't embed. I've been pretty busy today, so I haven't been able to go back over the text. I'll take care of that tomorrow.

[Hipshot]

You can embed with the

Code: [Select]

[youtube][/youtube] tags, from now on =)

[Xeronkar]

Aaaah, great, thanks a lot Hip <3

[Bman255]

Thanks for posting the video on the front page! It's nice to see of my work make it out there.

Alright, now time for the text:

Consider changing: "I wonder what is this rune" to "I wonder what this rune is" or something similar.

                             "Against some gold, this trainer can make you feel stronger" to "For some gold, this trainer can make you feel stronger" "Feel" might               not be needed either, it could go either way there.

                             "Life is quite hard here, but I just enjoy to be safe here" sounds a bit off to me, it may just be a personal thing. Maybe "Life is quite hard here, but I just enjoy being safe." or "..., but I enjoy having a safe place to live." Others might have some input on this one.

                             "Legends talks about a Spirit Cavern" to "Legends speak of a Spirit Cavern"

                             "I never seen someone with those skills" to "I've never seen anyone with those skills"

                             "This trainer can learn you how to defend yourself and your friends" to "This trainer can teach you how to defend yourself and your friends" Allies could also work in place of friends, either one works though.

                             There's a small typo in the "arena rumor" text. "Heros" should be "Heroes" Also, it should either be "Rumor says" or "Rumors say" personally, I think "Rumors say" sounds better. Still kind of iffy on that even. I'll think about it some more.

                            "Are searching for something?" I think you guys were going for, "Are you searching for something?" here. Just a small typo.

                            "By stepping here, you proved your valor" to "By making it this far, you have proven your valor" As with the other line, something didn't sound quite right here. I'm not sure if I'm fully happy with mine either, might go back and look at it again later.

                           "Thousands years ago, gods created 3 orbs, to contain the world's corruption" to "Thousands of years ago, the gods created 3 orbs to contain the world's corruption"

                            Another "heros" typo in the same paragraph, unless this was intentional?

                          "The world's destiny only depend of you" to "The world's destiny depends on you."

Phew... that was quite a bit. I think I found all of the text up until the end of the first dungeon. I'll add in more if I see them while doing the rest of the game. Feel free to use as much or as little of my suggestions as you want. Some of my phrases may be able to improved as well. Also, would there be an easier way to look over text in the future? I don't mind searching around the game and writing things down as I go, but it did make things take a little longer.

I just had a few other things to add after my gameplay. First of all, I played again with lighting effects on, and it really makes the game look so much better. Great job with those. The other things were just small finicky things. Would it be possible to put indicators for the shops on the map, like in the main story? It's not a big deal, but it would make navigation of the town a lot easier. Also, maybe add a warp shortcut from the end of the first dungeon that leads back to town, for convenience.

How does the arena work? Is it just a one time thing right now?

[Xeronkar]

Excellent, I am working right now, but I will edit that tonight.
I think there's no quick way to resume all strings in one file, instead of doing it manually. I can do it by myself to make the work easier for you.

Good idea, I will add some indicators to the inn (the only place where i can place some).

There is already one, when you finish the first dungeon, a new bridge appear to quit the map quickly.

For the Arena, yes, it's a one time thing and will stay like this.

[Bman255]

Ahh, I don't really mind doing it this way. Just wondering if there was another way to save time.

I must have just missed the shortcut back at the end of the first level.

Maybe for the arena have a new "level" available after clearing each dungeon? I like the idea of not having it infinite though, or it would be possible to grind for upgrades.

[Xeronkar]

Hummmm... I will add some levels on the arena, but I don't know if I will unock them through the story... Especially because of the story (I will not spoil, don't worry)

EDIT : I added your corrections, thanks again :3

[Bman255]

Alright, just played through the rest of the game and I really enjoyed it. I just had a few more thoughts for the other two levels.

The second level seemed a bit easy to me. I think it was the lack of enemies. The boss seemed easy as well, as a Ranger with basic damage upgrades. It went down pretty quick, and was very easy to dodge. I haven't tried this with other classes yet, so I'm not sure if it's just the ranger or not. I liked the overall layout of the level, and the lighting effect were really neat. The only problem I had was being able to see the switches for the boss doors. This may have just been the colors on my computer, but I don't normally have a problem with things being too dark.

The third level seemed a lot better in terms of difficulty. Overall I enjoyed the level as a whole, but it seemed to get a bit repetitive. All three sections (I think there were three) of the map were almost exactly the same. It was just find buttons, kill nova, move on, and repeat. Since it wasn't too lengthy it wasn't a real big problem, but it might be something to think about. One thing that could be added is some sort of counter for the buttons. I know the main campaign uses "only x switches remain" or something similar. This wouldn't really be "needed", but it might make the game look a little nicer.

After finishing the other two levels I look forward to playing the rest of the game. Keep up the good work!