EPIC QUEST: Jank-O-Vision Presents

Jank-O-Vision presents!

EPIC QUEST

Play it online now!

Epic Quest was the first game I started trying to make on my own in Game Salad, in 2011.

Everyone clearly says, "Don't make an RPG!", so I thought, this'll be a good idea, and went straight to it!  Surprisingly, I ran into all sorts of problems and gave up!  But I learned a bunch of stuff doing it.  

Prototype Notes

• Janky as fook!
• Saves your progress!
• Stand on an Inn to trade gold for health over time (time speeds up while resting).
• Fighting is "not very good".  Just keep clicking the enemy you want to attack (you can actually just hold the button down to keep attacking).
• You can flee, too!

My Goals with the Game

• Build an RPG like Phantasie!

Features

• A small island, and a single dungeon.  EPIIIIIC!
• Day / night cycle!  IMMERRRSSSIIIIIIVE!
• Wonderfully laid out janky resource wasting tile set!

Lessons Learned...

• Make systems that do the work for me!  Don't do all the heavy lifting myself!  
• Make a map system that uses tiles, and reads the values from a table!
• Have a UI controller, which spawns in the HUD elements and places them in code, instead of rebuilding the HUD by hand in every scene of the game!

I took these lessons and later started building a tile-based RPG world, reading it's data from a separate table, and using a small set of tiles to show the current surrounding area. 

Hopefully that game will be released into to the world for realz some time!

XP-Lore: Early Development Teaser

I haven't released a game in AGES!

BUT, I've also been teaching Game Design and Production full time.

And for the past year or so I've been working together with Pranee on an old-school RPG game which we're calling XP-Lore.

Here's a little teaser video we made recently to show where it's at.



We're both working on the design of the game.  Pranee has been creating the art, laying out the map, and she's also in charge of the core story and writing (while I'm not interfering too much!).

My focus is on building the programming elements, and generally being a nuisance.

People warn you not to make an RPG, because there's so many systems.  But hey, who listens to reason?  Not me.

There's a lot to do, but we're trying to keep it pretty streamlined, and focussed on the things we can do well without a lot of technical savvy, things like world building, engaging characters, rich dialog and surprises.

I've wanted to make a game like this since about 1985 when I first played Phantasie, and now, with Pranee's help, the dream is turning into reality.  Our own little crazy fantastic reality.  :)

Old School RPG - Progress Update!

"The town is being overrun by rats!  They seem to be coming from the dungeon to the south.  Bring back 10 rats teeth and we shall reward you with 500 gold!"

Heehee.  I'm working on an oldschool style RPG based around terrain tiles.  My plan is to build the basic system, then explore interesting ways of expanding on it with systemic gameplay and interesting systems.  

Check out the progress report video below!

Tile Based RPG - A Rough Concept

This is a rough game concept I've been playing with lately.  I've always wanted to make an old-school top-down tile-based RPG in the style of Phantasie from 1985.

This project started as a 2D top down view, but more recently I tried presenting it as a first person view from ground-level, which had been interesting.



It would be great to see some nice art in there, and then to experiment with more complex ways of blending the layers, to try to achieve a watercolor aesthetic.

One day I'd like to make a game that has the feel of a 70s fantasy film like The Dark Crystal, as if a storybook has come to life.