ErikH2000
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Bytten is another site like GameTunnel that reviews indie games. Bytten is definitely one of the best ones with frequent updates and lots of good content.

Steven Blanch wrote a review for DROD: Journey to Rooted Hold. Thankfully he played a fair distance into the game (level 7) and gained a good idea of what the game was about. I thought the review was well done.

The Review

-Erik

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The Godkiller - Chapter 1 available now on Steam. It's a DROD-like puzzle adventure game.
dev journals | twitch stream | youtube archive (NSFW)

Banjooie
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Pretty good review, yeah, no complaints, and no glaring misunderstandings about the game.

Chaco
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Nah, he referred to the Living Tar about midway through, so he must have at least gotten to 10.

That said, I'm kinda confused why he thought the graphics were drab.

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trick
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Banjooie wrote:
Pretty good review, yeah, no complaints, and no glaring misunderstandings about the game.

There was one error in the description of the game mechanics, actually. See if you can find it

Not that I'm complaining or anything

- Gerry

mrimer
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Nice review!

Only a 4MB graphics card is needed, not 8Mb (megabits?).

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ErikH2000
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Chaco wrote:
That said, I'm kinda confused why he thought the graphics were drab.

It's something I've had to resolve myself to since the release this year...

Although we worked hard on our graphics and made many improvements to the engine, we still don't have anything outstanding compared to other indie/shareware games out there. Sure we can pat ourselves on the back for the nice little touches and technical accomplishes here and there. And the graphics are nothing to be embarrassed about. But the best games, even at the small budget level, have more compelling graphics than DROD. The 3.0 engine will catch us up a little. I won't explain--you'll have to wait to see it.

I also believe that Mike could easily make a game that was visually impressive if he didn't have to work within the constraints of the DROD engine. The two major technical problems are small tile size and instantly showing sprites entirely moved to destination squares. We also have a problem with a lack of resources to spend on art.

-Erik

____________________________
The Godkiller - Chapter 1 available now on Steam. It's a DROD-like puzzle adventure game.
dev journals | twitch stream | youtube archive (NSFW)

Stefan
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mrimer wrote:
Only a 4MB graphics card is needed, not 8Mb (megabits?).

... and only a 200MHz processor is required.

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Mattcrampy
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I'm still of the opinion that it'd be nice if the doors weren't basically pallette-swapped yellow doors, but it's proving harder than I thought it would to draw what I actually mean.

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Banjooie
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Actually, if you read the DROD manual description, it's written vaguely enough to imply that the tar growing to fill the level is possible, so...

AlefBet
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That might explain how the reviewer got that impression while still working on level 7.

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Bytten
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trick wrote:
There was one error in the description of the game mechanics, actually. See if you can find it

Oops, that was an error on my part, now corrected and a couple of other typos have also been fixed.

I did play a couple of downloaded custom holds, in order to test the functionality of the online component of the game, and that is where my experience with the Living Tar comes from.

As for the system specs, Bytten simply used the specs Eric provided when submitting the game for review. I'm the first to admit that I'm no hardware wizard. =)

Steve Blanch

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[Last edited by Bytten at 01-22-2006 09:06 AM : typos now fixed]

Syntax
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Although we worked hard on our graphics and made many improvements to the engine, we still don't have anything outstanding compared to other indie/shareware games out there.

I'm no artist, but I have to say (as has been said numeorus times before) the graphics suit the game. I don't believe they should be improved... Imagine playing chess with knights all foamed up from a D2-E5 move.

I'll draw on 2 other games I know you've enjoyed. Firstly, Oasis. A brilliant game, but it's a whole 10x10 (12x12 ?) grid so no wonder they can add bits and pieces. Brilliant gameplay is what makes it.

And Lux. I have to admit, I played that game intensively for months, even though never having played Risk (yeah, I grew up in the mountains). Having said that, since the new gfx came into play, I'm less awed by the sheer gameplay. I just pissed off at the sprites... so I stopped playing (I was 42nd at one point to justify my passion).

Other examples of sheer genius would be Lemmings: load a bitmap, and stick some 8x8 sprites on it... most probably the most played, downloaded, hacked, cracked and patched game ever.

Doom 3 ? I spent over a grand (BGP) on a PC to finally see the most technilogical piece of art ever made with levels designed by some of the biggest creative minds. 3 years in the making and I saw the most plain, yet beautiful, disappointment.

Don't get me started on Far Cry...

All this to say... seriously good GFX are for when you run out of gameplay ideas.

The again, maybe I'm just jealous that I can't draw

Oneiromancer
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I'd say that the relative success of the Exile/Avernum/Geneforge RPG games by Jeff Vogel and Spiderweb Software also show that there is a market for gamers who value gameplay over graphics. And I've mentioned before the single/multiplayer RPG Minions of Mirth which has EverQuest-era 3D graphics (i.e. yeah, it's 3D, but it's not that impressive) and the older Mordor and Demise, which all have rabid and, in the case of MoM, growing followings.

Game on,

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Syntax
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Oh, and let's not forget Nethack with that original Ascii tileset.
I almost lost my job because of that game