Arena of Audacia (AoA) - Top-down ARPG [updated 2017-03-22]

[Ayra]

Re: Arena of Audacia (AoA) - Top-down ARPG [updated 01-04-2016]

Thanks for the update!

Already said it on your blog for the previous version, but I like this game. It's pretty simple, but it's actually quite fun. My favorite move got nerfed (noooo!) but it's honestly fair considering just how amazing it was compared to everything else. The unlock costs change is a good one in my opinion.

I'd definitively try this on android! I'd probably suck at it even more due to the controls (past stage 30 is really rough for me already), but I can see it working.

Are you planning on having an ending to the game when it's over? Like a... "Hey, I just slaughtered hundreds of guys and I'm now filthy rich. Time to retire!" thing?

 

[dienow]

Re: Arena of Audacia (AoA) - Top-down ARPG [updated 01-04-2016]

It should run on toasters.

Message, is that you? Will you finally release the UBW translation?

 

[Swerto]

Re: Arena of Audacia (AoA) - Top-down ARPG [updated 01-04-2016]

Great progress, what code base are you writing in?

Any plans to add some impregnation animations/mechanics?

What program are you making your sprites in?

 

[Yuan-Tiki]

Re: Arena of Audacia (AoA) - Top-down ARPG [updated 01-04-2016]

Okay, had a chance to try it. To be honest, of my two slightly knackered gamepads I was probably using the wrong one as the one plugged in right now doesn't have the most responsive d-pad and the movement in the game has always been a little more floaty than you might expect compared to similarly simple games.

I generally don't view that as a downside, but between that and an unresponsive pad it can make difficult situations a lot trickier. Mentally correcting for that though, I do think it's come out as more challenging this time round.

I actually ran through the first 17 or so rounds and didn't notice much impact of the stamina changes. Mostly I noticed the surprisingly polite and understated crowd noises (which I do like, but I'm amused by the how much it reminds me of golf or snooker crowds). Then I remembered to start buying abilities.

Yeah, once you start relying on those the stamina changes really swing into their own. I actually think it's hit a nice balance too, just enough to keep you thinking about it but not necessarily enough to stop you doing things most of the time. I actually got knocked down without having to deliberately engineer the situation relatively soon after starting using abilities and by the late twenties the risk was becoming an actual strategic concern, (balancing a possible heart gain by letting them get on with it against the possible damage they might sneak in whilst getting knocked down).

I only went as far as the mid to late thirties in the end, the difficulty had certainly ramped up at that point and I had other things to do. Might dip back in and see if the other pad will give me the edge needed to push into the forties but I can say it felt like the various subsystems are really starting to gel into a cohesive whole.

Any plans to add some impregnation animations/mechanics?

With rounds lasting about a minute or two, just how many rounds do you expect this to go on for that the game will require meaningful pregnancy effects? It usually doesn't even start to show for a month or two!

 

[datanony]

Re: Arena of Audacia (AoA) - Top-down ARPG [updated 01-04-2016]

i made roundsav="10.000000", beat the boss and animation isn't unlocked

You need to change roundmax=11/21/31/41 instead if roundsav. roundsav merely determines the round you start in when starting the game. Animations unlock only the first time you beat the boss, so if you revisityou wwon't see the unlock message.

... My favorite move got nerfed (noooo!) but it's honestly fair considering just how amazing it was compared to everything else. The unlock costs change is a good one in my opinion.

I'd definitively try this on android! I'd probably suck at it even more due to the controls (past stage 30 is really rough for me already), but I can see it working.

Are you planning on having an ending to the game when it's over? Like a... "Hey, I just slaughtered hundreds of guys and I'm now filthy rich. Time to retire!" thing?

The shield throw was too good because unlockable, plus you don't even need a shield to use it. I'll continue to buff the others so they see some use.

Mobile ver at this point is just entertaining the thought. I can already imagine porting nightmare. Porting sits in the bottom most of my list X(

Yup will get to doing the ending soon, although story-wise there is almost zero.

Message, is that you? Will you finally release the UBW translation?

Neveeeeeerrr. No Unlimited Bladeworks translation for you in a million years! I kid. Not Message :/

Great progress, what code base are you writing in?

Any plans to add some impregnation animations/mechanics?

What program are you making your sprites in?

I use GML for GameMaker's: Studios, whose IDE was written in Delphi. Sprites are also done via GM:S' built-in sprite editor. For larger res, I use aseprite v0.95.

No impregnation mechanics, but drawing a pregnant heroine? Colour me intrigued

 

[The Alpacalypse]

Re: Arena of Audacia (AoA) - Top-down ARPG [updated 01-04-2016]

No impregnation mechanics, but drawing a pregnant heroine? Colour me intrigued

B-b-b-b-but...I like this game. Please don't destroy my enjoyment....

 

[pstone]

Re: Arena of Audacia (AoA) - Top-down ARPG [updated 01-04-2016]

Just wanted to drop in and tell you that I quite like what you have made of this game. The last version I played must have been from last August. Unfortunately, progress seems slow nonetheless like many of the other promising games that are currently WIP

B-b-b-b-but...I like this game. Please don't destroy my enjoyment....

Seeing how there is currently an option to toggle adult content, maybe some more switches to toggle certain content (pregnancy, futa, etc.) could be implemented.

 

[datanony]

Re: Arena of Audacia (AoA) - Top-down ARPG [updated 01-04-2016]

B-b-b-b-but...I like this game. Please don't destroy my enjoyment....

You can rest easy. The pregnant heroine will only be a CG thing, so it won't affect gameplay (sorry preggo-fetishist). BUT I try to compromise, so I made an attempt at higher res stills. I don't know if its CG-level but have at this:

... I actually ran through the first 17 or so rounds and didn't notice much impact of the stamina changes. Mostly I noticed the surprisingly polite and understated crowd noises (which I do like, but I'm amused by the how much it reminds me of golf or snooker crowds).
Now that you pointed it out, the cheers really does sound like the polite snooker crowds. Anyway they're just suppose to be a notification ping that an event happened.

Yeah, once you start relying on those the stamina changes really swing into their own. I actually think it's hit a nice balance too, just enough to keep you thinking about it but not necessarily enough to stop you doing things most of the time. I actually got knocked down without having to deliberately engineer the situation relatively soon after starting using abilities and by the late twenties the risk was becoming an actual strategic concern, (balancing a possible heart gain by letting them get on with it against the possible damage they might sneak in whilst getting knocked down).
I hope many don't find the knockdown part too frustrating. Getting knocked down can sometimes mean end of game since you can possibly get combo-locked to death.

I only went as far as the mid to late thirties in the end, the difficulty had certainly ramped up ... but I can say it felt like the various subsystems are really starting to gel into a cohesive whole.
Awesome. I can tone down the difficulty if a large number of players find it difficult. So far I'm hearing levels 43+ are too tough because of the Champion mob.

Just wanted to drop in and tell you that I quite like what you have made of this game. The last version I played must have been from last August. Unfortunately, progress seems slow nonetheless like many of the other promising games that are currently WIP
Thanks for playing! What are some of the WIPgames you're watching out for?

Seeing how there is currently an option to toggle adult content, maybe some more switches to toggle certain content (pregnancy, futa, etc.) could be implemented.
Unfortunately there's no plans for toggles like that. The adult content toggle is merely for those who wish to play the game without the sex parts, hopefully making AoA stream-safe.

Apologies if I couldn't reply to all responses. I can only do long replies after work hours, if I'm not exhausted already.

 

[romerskie86]

Re: Arena of Audacia (AoA) - Top-down ARPG [updated 01-04-2016]

You can rest easy. The pregnant heroine will only be a CG thing, so it won't affect gameplay (sorry preggo-fetishist). BUT I try to compromise, so I made an attempt at higher res stills. I don't know if its CG-level but have at this:

If pregrenant heroine will only be a CG... I hope its animated

 

[Mistix]

Re: Arena of Audacia (AoA) - Top-down ARPG [updated 01-04-2016]

Hi! I'm just dropping by to say you're doing a great job and I hope to get my hands on this baby when it's complete
Hang in there and keep it up

 

[Yuan-Tiki]

Re: Arena of Audacia (AoA) - Top-down ARPG [updated 01-04-2016]

Got round to going back in with my slightly more broken but much more responsive gamepad. It made a huge difference, breezed through the thirties nice and comfortably. It was touch and go once or twice, but much better.

Gotta say though, 40+ hit like a wall. Felt a little bit like the fun factor simply dropped off a cliff. A lot of that is down to the champions, they're so disruptive and their knockback is severe enough that a lot of the time they're one hit kill enemies. The aggressive mix of types certainly don't make it any easier, dealing with almost everything else at the same time whilst essentially having to prioritise throwing the champions out of the arena at all costs as soon as possible.

I'd still say it's a large step forward over all, but my distinct memory of the last build was that the champions caused a crazy spike in difficulty due to how easily they threw you out of the arena and that doesn't seem to have changed. Just my personal experience and perhaps the obvious strategy is to simply grind the previous tiers until you have a bigger toolkit of higher level tricks. I'm a bit impatient for that, admittedly.

 

[datanony]

Re: Arena of Audacia (AoA) - Top-down ARPG [updated 01-04-2016]

If pregrenant heroine will only be a CG... I hope its animated

Maaaybe.

Hi! I'm just dropping by to say you're doing a great job and I hope to get my hands on this baby when it's complete
Hang in there and keep it up

Awesome! See you at the finish line!

Gotta say though, 40+ hit like a wall. Felt a little bit like the fun factor simply dropped off a cliff. A lot of that is down to the champions, they're so disruptive and their knockback is severe enough that a lot of the time they're one hit kill enemies....

I'd still say it's a large step forward over all, but my distinct memory of the last build was that the champions caused a crazy spike in difficulty ...

I take into accounts all feedback. You point out that lvl41+ may be too tough, I totally see why. As champions are pretty OP, I will increase the interval between spawns, giving more time to deal with them first before the others join, at the same time decreasing number of enemies. It's not fun if it is too unfair.

 

[RozzleDazzle]

Re: Arena of Audacia (AoA) - Top-down ARPG [updated 01-04-2016]

I completely agree that stages 41+ are way harder than the ones before and took me forever to beat them.

Champions are the axe-spinning guys, right? If so, yeah they're the assholes that made it too hard, if there's like more than 4 of them on the stage, it's game over for me

 

[datanony]

Re: Arena of Audacia (AoA) - Top-down ARPG [updated 01-04-2016]

I completely agree that stages 41+ are way harder than the ones before and took me forever to beat them.

Champions are the axe-spinning guys, right? If so, yeah they're the assholes that made it too hard, if there's like more than 4 of them on the stage, it's game over for me

Actually I call those spinning dudes as "Brutes". The "Champions" are the knights in armor.

I will tone down the Brute's interval between spins too. And also decrease the size of their hitbox.

 

[RozzleDazzle]

Re: Arena of Audacia (AoA) - Top-down ARPG [updated 01-04-2016]

Actually I call those spinning dudes as "Brutes". The "Champions" are the knights in armor.

I will tone down the Brute's interval between spins too. And also decrease the size of their hitbox.

Oh, I didn't find those that bad. They have a lot of health with shields but are pretty straight-forward and there weren't a lot of them per stage.

Btw, great game and I'm looking forward to the boss reverse rapes scenes

 

[yosd12]

Re: Arena of Audacia (AoA) - Top-down ARPG [updated 01-04-2016]

cant open galley mode ps try so hard edit almost everyrting

 

[Yuan-Tiki]

Re: Arena of Audacia (AoA) - Top-down ARPG [updated 01-04-2016]

Actually I call those spinning dudes as "Brutes". The "Champions" are the knights in armor.

I will tone down the Brute's interval between spins too. And also decrease the size of their hitbox.

Oh.

If champions come after the Brutes, then I still haven't met one then. It was the Brutes and their increase at 40+ that I was talking about in my last message, somehow got the idea that they were the new guys.

 

[datanony]

Re: Arena of Audacia (AoA) - Top-down ARPG [updated 01-04-2016]

... I'm looking forward to the boss reverse rapes scenes

Oh no! Someone remembers! Unfortunately they'll be last on the list though. After all there's still boss rape scenes themselves undone.

cant open galley mode ps try so hard edit almost everyrting

Hey yosd12, you can't access the gallery at the moment so the gallery.ini doesn't do anything. If you want to see the other animations, you'll need to edit the savegame.ini.

Go to C:\Users\YourUsername\AppData\Local\AoA_Alpha3 and edit savegame.ini. You will want to change "roundmax=51". After that just get knocked down in different directions and you'll see the newer animations.

... champions come after the Brutes, then I still haven't met one then. It was the Brutes and their increase at 40+ that I was talking about in my last message, somehow got the idea that they were the new guys.

Okay noted. Seems like there's overwhelming response on the Brute. I'll limit the numbers that can spawn at a time for them.

 

[LucaDiGreg]

Re: Arena of Audacia (AoA) - Top-down ARPG [updated 01-04-2016]

Last time I played was after the last update and I remember the difficulty spiked after wave 40, I think 43 was the exact one that saw me failing over and over and then again on the next ones. The (spinning) Brutes used to be THE pain in the ass, that was until I began facing Champions.

While most of the feedback I've read was about Brutes I think they can be dealt with easily by just pushing them off and despite their aggressive behaviour I reckon the time between attacks was long enough to time offense and defense in a viable, non-frantic manner.

The Champions on the other hand, while relatively weak and trivial alone or with little support of other enemies, they tend to be relentless in their attack pattern leaving no room for counterattacks.
It was at these moments, while bombarded by arrows and desperately dodging human-tops that my only choice was to do something hasty to break out of the endless chase.

 

[JLZeta]

Re: Arena of Audacia (AoA) - Top-down ARPG [updated 01-04-2016]

So I've been playing the new build for a while (it's a surprisingly addictive game you've got here!) and ran into a few bugs:

-Using the refresh/cooldown skill while in fullscreen mode causes the game to go into windowed mode, display a message about your skills being refreshed and then go back to fullscreen, which I'm assuming is not intended behaviour for the skill. (I've got the skill on lvl 1 btw)

-If you get revived with that Last Chance-esque skill (survive a fatal hit), your stamina bar stays at 0 and doesn't rise until you attack or use a skill; very annoying when trying to charge up the skill that gets you +1hp so you don't get combo-ed/shot/bombed to death immediately after reviving.

EDIT: So I had this long write-up on the skills, but after switching to a controller and experimenting a bit more it seems my analysis was a bit off sooooooo yeah, move along, nothing to see here....