Weapons and "armor" questions and suggestions

[Haxial]

I just got done playing the demo for this game and I have to say that I am very impressed with this game. I can see why this game is getting such positive reviews on Steam and this game shows a lot of potential and promise. Keep in mind, as I write this post, I do not own the full game and if I am writing about something that has already been added to the game or if a mechanic is different from the demo as compared to the full version of the game then I apologize and feel free to correct me. With that being said, I have read all of the information provided on game put out by the devs on Steam and on their official website, as well as many reviews, and multiple forum posts. So, I think I understand the game, it's features, and the mechanics fairly well.

What I want to touch on in this post is something that I think can add a lot of depth and "feel" to the game. The one detail, a fairly small detail (a large task to implement, though, as I understand), that I found interesting to be left out is the developers decision to only allow customization of your head / headgear. Whereas in many newly developed RPGs (*good* RPGs - such as this one) the developers see the importance to the depth that character customization adds to a game. The two things that I think this game is lacking (as far as character customization is concerned) is allowing for different "armor" types to be equipped and shown on your character, and having your equipped weapon(s) be shown on your character.

I think this detail is important to a game like this because it creates a more meaningful relationship between the player and the in-game character. It is important to players to see a developing character that changes and reflects the player in-game. While you can see this development happen in the game, in terms of skills, I feel there is a lack of development showing (literally showing) on the character. Players want to see the new flaming sword they just spent 10 hours grinding for as they walk about; rather than only seeing it when they swing the sword. Players want to see some badass armor or outfit that they spent their entire day off collecting in order to reflect how much work was put in to find the armor; rather than everyone looking roughly the same.

Similarly, players often like to show off their items to other players: "What have you collected in Secrets of Grindea BRO?", asks my friend. Well how convenient, I needn't reply to my jabroni friend because he can see me wielding the Crimson Sword of Ultimate Chaos and Death in my very hands! Given that you ARE a collector in this game, what better way is there to show off the items that you have collected then to have loads of armor and weapons to choose from that appear on your character as you strut around?

Ultimately, this long post is designed to be seen by the devs as my feedback / suggestions. I think all weapons should be shown on the character as he / she walks throughout the land and fends off evil so to display the hard work each and every person has put into finding their gear. I also think that armor / alternate garb (clothing) would be a no-brainer; and this should also be displayed on the character to show off how baddass each individual is.

I have seen other posts on this forum referring to wishes of added armors and whatnot but I figure it doesn't hurt to bring it up again so the devs can see that the fans want it. I know there aren't a ton of weapons, currently, but I assume it is in your game plan to add more to the game as it progresses?

Moreover, this is an awesome game and I am likely to buy it in the future. I really enjoyed the demo and I look forward to what the game has in store for the future. What's more, if I see this post responded to by the devs or if I hear that these "features" may be added to future releases of the game I am most definitely going to purchase this game because that would show a level of dedication to the fans that most games lack in this era of gaming.

Thank you for reading my post,

Haxial

 

[loobiedoobie]

This has been discussed quite a few times as you said you've seen but this is what really puts it in perspective

This is probably the one feature people have been asking about the most, and since it is purely cosmetically animations it all falls on my table.
I think it's hard for people to grasp how much work even a slight modification of the sprite would involve, so I decied to count the amount of frames the main character sprite has right now. I ended up with 1365 unique frames, which includes all facing directions (down, up and the sides). Since the game is still in beta, there's still a lot of animations missing, so the final number of frames would probably end up closer to 2000.

Doing a modification to the sprite means modifying all of the hand made 1365 frames, one by one. It is possible, of course, but it is incredibly time consuming.
Adding armors and other visible gear is also tricky because of the way I have constructed the sprites. The body does a lot of twisting and turning, meaning you could not just place a static armor sprite on the character and have it look good. You would have to actually animate the armor sprite itself, which also would be extremely time consuming, especially considering you would probably need to make hundreds of different gears.

When we started this project I chose to focus more on detailed and fluid animations than customization, because of my love for well animated games. A game like Terraria for example has taken the other route, with very simple clip doll animations that opens up the doors for very easy customization. You can't have both, without having a huge team behind you and/or a lot of cash. Neither of which we have at the moment!

I'm not saying different body types or character modifications are out of the question, but it will probably be the very last thing I add to the game.
Hopefully this clears things up a bit. I would love to have this feature in the game myself, but I would also like this game to come out before I turn 60 ;D

and this was april last year so there's been more stuff added that would have to be changed so as much as it is cool I'd rather wait for the game to be more done/finished before Fred puts in that insane amount of time

 

[Haxial]

Thanks for the reply. That makes sense. Personally, I have experience programming and I have single handedly designed small games of my own when I was younger. I truly understand the difficulties that a small change can bring; ESPECIALLY when certain systems are already in place. However, I know that there are ways around systems that are already in place but some major creativity can be required on those projects. I agree, though, that polished mechanics and smooth animations are very important and I can understand why something, such as animation customization, might be far down the list (if even on the list) for the developers.

It is something that I like to see in all of the RPGs that I play, though, because I think it is the ultimate way for players to express their play-style and show their achievements to others. So, I really hope for this well put together game that it is in store for the future. I'm sure the majority of people playing the game would appreciate the added detail.

 

[GarlicJelly]

They actually added customization for Weapons and Shields.