The Chasm [Update Oct. 3, 2013]

[jgardner]

The Chasm is an RPG with a huge area to explore and turn-based strategic combat.

download: http://gamejolt.com/games/rpg/the-chasm/17733/

See post below for update notes.

After taking a tumble over a waterfall you find yourself alone and trapped at
the bottom of a chasm with nothing but the tattered clothes on your back.

In development, but fully playable with roughly 1 to 2 hours of gameplay so far.  
The Chasm is a role-playing game in which you explore a huge area gathering
together a group of followers along the way.  Encounter NPC's and a large
variety of creatures to combat.  Engage in turn-based strategic combat with
multiple factions.

[Opiop]

Wow really interesting art style and lighting! I love how your tiles sort of blend together at the edges, it looks very nice.

[RobinB]

Nice art, however you should consider making your terrain tiles more flat, so it matches the 45 degrees rotation effect of the entitys.

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[JESTERRRRRR]

dat ass, i mean art,

that was really good, combat could do with some variety, perhaps bonus if you get attacked from behind and ability to choose direction

sometimes when i positioned myself behind a chest the spiders all bunched and I could just kill them with range attacks

[jgardner]

Wow really interesting art style and lighting! I love how your tiles sort of blend together at the edges, it looks very nice.

Thanks!  That's nice to hear.

[jgardner]

Nice art, however you should consider making your terrain tiles more flat, so it matches the 45 degrees rotation effect of the entitys.

Thanks for the feedback.  I'll keep it in mind when I eventually go back and reevaluate all my tiles.  Do you mean to flatten out the tiles for terrain horizontal to the ground to make them more distinguishable from entities and barriers such as cliff wall tiles?

[Herjan]

This kind of flat:
http://www.twitch.tv/notch/b/311448724

[jgardner]

dat ass, i mean art,

that was really good, combat could do with some variety, perhaps bonus if you get attacked from behind and ability to choose direction

sometimes when i positioned myself behind a chest the spiders all bunched and I could just kill them with range attacks

Combat is pretty basic so far.  I'm planning on adding lots and lots of variety.   Definitely hitting from behind should give a major bonus.  Also I hope to add special attacks which require stamina and magic.  Monsters will have effects too such as an immobilizing web attack for the spiders.

Combat pathfinding is pretty basic right now too.  I plan on using A* or something similar eventually.

[jgardner]

This kind of flat:
http://www.twitch.tv/notch/b/311448724

Ah I see.  I bet that would look nicer.

[RobinB]

Yeah, currently you look topdown at the tiles, and at the side / top of chars, this gives some odd effects.
Just make the tiles instead of 32x32 something like 32x16, so the tiles or more squeezed tougether for the (looking from the side) effect.
If you want to do this easly for your game, you could just give textcoords 0, 0, 1, 2 instead of 0, 0, 1, 1 (the corners needs some hacking though)

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[jgardner]

Yeah, currently you look topdown at the tiles, and at the side / top of chars, this gives some odd effects.
Just make the tiles instead of 32x32 something like 32x16, so the tiles or more squeezed tougether for the (looking from the side) effect.
If you want to do this easly for your game, you could just give textcoords 0, 0, 1, 2 instead of 0, 0, 1, 1 (the corners needs some hacking though)

Thanks for the comments! Looks like I'll be making this the main focus for my next update.  I'm considering 32x16, 32x24 or 48x32.  I'd say I'm leaning to 32x16 (30 degree angle view from horizontal) right now since most of my mobs and vertical objects will look reasonable as they are(basically a sideview).  The main concern is how to handle this in combat.  Also considering switching from 960x640 to 960x540 so its a nice x2 scale to 1920x1080 fullscreen and since there will now be more tiles shown vertically in the screen.

[JESTERRRRRR]

honestly I had no problem with the tiles, they are what made me play it for so damn long really.

but I get whats being said, surely all you need is what Robin said, like in the first picture you'd just keep the flat big and be able to go under in (for the bit facing upwards)

[jgardner]

honestly I had no problem with the tiles, they are what made me play it for so damn long really.

but I get whats being said, surely all you need is what Robin said, like in the first picture you'd just keep the flat big and be able to go under in (for the bit facing upwards)

I see what you mean about the part facing upwards.

I've been trying different tiles sizes and I'm leaning toward 32x24.  It corresponds roughly to a 45 degree angle so horizontal and vertical should be flattened the same amount which makes it a lot easier.  Plus the change isn't too drastic, but an improvement.

[jgardner]

Oct. 3, 2013 Update:
  - Flattened tiles to better simulate a viewpoint looking down at
    roughly 45 degrees(tile size increased from 32x32 to 48x32).

  - Most tiles were touched up for the increased tile size.
 
  - Lighting, movement, and ambient sound altered for the new tile dimensions.
 
  - Some combat mob images and grid sizes were altered to work with the new
    tile dimensions.

  - Switched resolution to widescreen(960x540). Looks best in fullscreen at
    1920x1080 with no bilinear filtering.

I still have some perspective correcting changes to do for the next update.

[Troncoso]

....Why did you change the title to the date?

[Jimmt]

....Why did you change the title to the date?

Don't you know, that's what all the cool kids in WIP are doing

[Opiop]

I guess I'm not cool then

Jgardner: Sounds like its going good! I like the art concept and I would love to see this finished so keep it up!

[jgardner]

I guess I'm not cool then

Jgardner: Sounds like its going good! I like the art concept and I would love to see this finished so keep it up!

Thanks!  and... come on!  Start putting dates on your topics!  Then you can be kool too!