ClaFan - Classic Fantasy ver 1.17

[NickyP]

1.17 Download
Download: http://www.mediafire.com/?d9e89vdpbj2reae
Lavalit Download: http://lavalit.com:8080/index.php?action=downloads;sa=view;down=271

1.0 Download
Download: http://www.mediafire.com/?sxo81186b7ebohl
Lavalit Download: http://lavalit.com:8080/index.php?action=downloads;sa=view;down=257

Changelog:

--1.17
-Updated Dragoon; now has 3 hit Attack combo, a mid-combo Chain move, and pressing Down-Down-Attack activates a new move.
-Updated Archer; now has a mid-combo Chain, and pressing Down-Attack in the air will shoot an arrow downwards
-Added Black Mage; uses offensive magic. Can't fight in the air
-Added White Mage; uses defensive magic. Can't fight in the air
-Added Summoner; can call upon NPC monsters to fight. Can't fight in the air.
-Added Hero; an overpowered version of the Fighter. Will later be an unlockable/secret character.
-Added middle bosses. Some stages from the previous release may have one!
-Added 3 new quests.
-Added new enemies, bosses, NPCs, music, etc
-Added character descriptions in the Character Select screen.
-Changed Dragoon's color palette; now resembles FF4 Kain
-Changed MP bar overlay; now it's not confusing to determine how much MP you have left.
-Changed non-knockdown attack physics to make juggling enemies on the ground much easier.
-Changed the BGM for towns.
-Edited the HUD; moved the number of lives you have to under the players icon.

--1.0
-Initial release

So yeah, this is my latest project. It's heavily inspired by Pierwolf, so a big special thanks to him! ClaFan is a semi-open world beat em up, much like Pierwolf's K&D: Endless Quest. It's just a 1.0 release now, but there'll be plenty of new stuff in the future!

Enjoy! Be sure to read the readme for controls and stuff, though it's all fairly self explanatory.

[Hardak]

Cool.

[Bloodbane]

 You finally released this Nick!
 I'll download this and if I have time, I'll add something to this demo. It's same stuff I shared to Pierwolf.

[Bloodbane]

 Impressive as before Nick!

 My complaint is that bosses lifebar shouldn't be ontop of text dialogues.
 I'm suggesting you to use delay entity (read tricks and tutorial section) to give some delay after defeating boss.
 something like this:

group 1 1
at ...

spawn boss
coords ...
at ...

spawn delay
coords ...
at ...

 I think you need to remove 'wait' at end of levels to avoid arrow SFX played after defeating boss.

 It is great that you have various heroes with their own abilities. Gives gret replayability value! I ought to try the demo again with other heroes (I only use Knight).
 Makes me wonder if you have hidden quests or branching quests system. something like, if you do these quests, you won't be able to access the others.

 NPCs are great addition, it's surprising that they can heal you mid way.

Spoiler

That slime boss suprised me. This reminds me to Secret of Mana slime boss and Lufia 2. Great boss and challenging!

[zankurous]

This is the kind of game that make me wonder why action RPGs are not made following the mold of beat-em-ups, because this game is excellent!

There are many things to like in this mod (the game speed, the retro look, diverse characters and the quirky dialogue just to name a few!)

I canŽt wait to see what else you have in store for ClaFan, so IŽll be sure to be on the lookout for any updates on this gem. Congratulations Nick for this awesome project of yours and keep up the good work!

By the way, works great on the PSP with the latest OpenBor Build so thats another plus! 

[NickyP]

I'm glad you two like it! 

The next version should have the Black and White mages playable, some new quests, and a new kind of stage that should be a little different from the usual!

[rafhot]

did have inspired by castle crashers to do your game?
i liked it

thanks for share

[Pierwolf]

downloading now, NickyP! i'm curious to know what you've made so far! 

[shulbocka]

I was not expecting this game to be as good as it was, and I thought it was going to be awesome. You are doing a great job on this so far, and I'm looking forward to seeing the new stuff you said you have coming. Keep up the good work man, and please, whatever you do, don't not finish this.

[nedflandeurse]

I like the idea!!
Very good one!

Only one thing to update visually:

Characters sprites clash with the background
It can look better with appropriate background color... (8bits)

[NickyP]

Thanks guys! 

I made some adjustments to Dragoon and Archer and balanced them out a little; you can see the changes here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jk2zu1dYE1g

I made Dragoon a less technical character by giving him a normal 3-hit combo, and by adding a mid-combo Chain that launches enemies up and does a 6-hit combo in the air. I've also added a mid-combo Chain to Archer; she shoots an arrow that penetrates enemies and launches them.

That's all for now. Next I'll be working on some interesting new types of stages.

[NickyP]

Oh, sorry for the double post, but I thought I'd address some of your thoughts!

My complaint is that bosses lifebar shouldn't be ontop of text dialogues

Hm. Maybe I can put boss HP above the HUD, but right below the playing field? I'll mess around with it...

did have inspired by castle crashers to do your game?

Nope! The original idea for ClaFan was to be a remix of Final Fantasy 2 on the NES. This is why Firion, Maria, and Leon are playable characters in this game (renamed Fighter, Archer, and Knight respectively). The main inspiration for this remade FF2 was Guardian Heroes, and I was going to make this a mod with branching paths, deep character interaction, and diverse movesets. Then, I played Pierwolfs Endless Quest mod... and I loved it. I wanted more gameplay and games like that mod, so I converted my FF2 mod into what you see today!

I was not expecting this game to be as good as it was, and I thought it was going to be awesome. You are doing a great job on this so far, and I'm looking forward to seeing the new stuff you said you have coming. Keep up the good work man, and please, whatever you do, don't not finish this.

See, it's things like that that really motivates a guy. That's really nice of you man, thanks a lot!

Characters sprites clash with the background
It can look better with appropriate background color... (8bits)

At first, I did experiment with stage sprites in Paint Shop, and tried to "convert" them to NES style. But they just ended up looking really... well, bad. I know it clashes a little, but in the end it looks much better than what it would have been.

[shulbocka]

See, it's things like that that really motivates a guy. That's really nice of you man, thanks a lot!

No problem man. It's mods like this that really motivate someone to want to make games of their own. I didn't realize you were also the same guy who made Fire Emblem: Castle Defense either until I checked out your personal site, and dude, that game is awesome too. I honestly think this one is better, but I definitely like what you did with it, and enjoy it a lot. If you ever go back to that again, I have some feedback and ideas on it as well if you ever care to hear. Keep in mind, it's more from a gameplay perspective rather than a coding one, since I don't know how to code.
Also, awesome video by the way. I like Dragoon's spear attacks a lot, but I wouldn't mind seeing at least one more variation in there (maybe an overhead, or sideways swing). If you do the thrust and then the swipe, it looks too much like you're just doing one move. A side swing in there, or even a quick kick in the middle of a 3-hit combo would break it up and make it look more interesting in my opinion.
Also, I don't know what's possible in openbor, but it would be cool if you could add a limit/gauge on how many arrows can be fired within a time frame with the Archer character. Maybe give a 3-7 arrow limit, and then have them recharge after a few seconds (preferably at least 5) of non-use. If you've played Kingdoms of Amalur, you'll know what exactly I mean. That way she couldn't spam her arrows, and clear out hordes of enemies while eating a sandwich. I know she's an archer, but it's a little too easy to annihilate everyone like that. Even guns have to reload.
I really like the overall design of the game too, but I think the menu text is a little hard to read against the white background. Maybe if you made the menu text some kind of blue, or more of a grey rather than white, it wouldn't blend in so much. Like I said man, these are just my opinions and ideas. I'm definitely diggin what you got so far, and know I will like whatever you choose to do, based off what you've already done. Good luck man, and keep up the good work. 

Holy crap, sorry for the block of text too. You can tell I like this game though, otherwise I wouldn't have said so much.

[Bloodbane]

 Nice update!

 BTW I always wanted to see Dragoon leaping high and land ontop of enemies. That's my favorite move from this class and it helps me learning one of Blue mage spells .
 I know how to make this if you're interested.

 Also, do you want me to show you how to shoot downward for archer?

[NickyP]

I didn't realize you were also the same guy who made Fire Emblem: Castle Defense either until I checked out your personal site, and dude, that game is awesome too. I honestly think this one is better, but I definitely like what you did with it, and enjoy it a lot. If you ever go back to that again, I have some feedback and ideas on it as well if you ever care to hear. Keep in mind, it's more from a gameplay perspective rather than a coding one, since I don't know how to code.

I did start on a pseudo-sequel to FE: Castle Defense, called FE: Fire Wars. It's supposed to be like a petit version of Dynasty Warriors (wide attacks, lots of enemies, taking over bases, etc). But, the lack of animations made the whole thing look a little dumb. Don't worry though, you'll still see my proposed Dynasty Warriors-petit gameplay in another mod, wink wink. Either way, PM me your thoughts for an improved Castle Defense. I'm curious. 

The two attacks now look like they could both be part of the same move, just broken into two moves. If you do the thrust and then the swipe, it looks like you're doing one fully transitioned swipe. If you had a side swing in there, or even a quick kick in the middle of a 3-hit combo, it would look a lot nicer in my opinion. The kick would be cool, cause you usually see a lot of staff fighters use kicks to fill in combos, and it would only have to be one or two sprites (which I can do if you actually like this idea, but don't want to sprite it).

For now, Dragoon is placed in the "done" category, and my efforts being used to make Black and White Mage. I'll keep those thoughts in mind though, in case I ever decide to update him.

Also, I don't know what's possible in openbor, but I think it would be cool if you could add a limit/gauge on how many arrows can be fired within a time frame with the Archer character. Maybe give a 3-7 arrow limit, and then have it recharge them after a few seconds (preferably at least 5) of non-use. If you've played Kingdoms of Amalur, you'll know what exactly I mean. That way she couldn't spam her arrows, and clear out hordes of enemies while eating a sandwich. I know she's an archer, but it's just too easy to annihilate like that. Even guns have to reload.

Bah, that's cake. I did it in my Time Crisis demo, and it worked well enough. I suppose I could implement the same tricks for Archer, but that'll be after I finish the Mages.

BTW I always wanted to see Dragoon leaping high and land ontop of enemies. That's my favorite move from this class and it helps me learning one of Blue mage spells .
 I know how to make this if you're interested.

 Also, do you want me to show you how to shoot downward for archer?

How would you make the Dragoon Jump, aside from it just being a freespecial with a high jumpframe and attackbox? Like, would you make it a homing attack or something? As for Archer, I dunno... I think it looks retarded, but I kind of like how the arrows spawn so far away from her. It's another method of crowd control, which thanks to the new shot I gave her, she's apparently the best at. I wouldn't mind if you showed us how to shoot downwards anyways, for reference.