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googa
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icon People who have finished the Beta 2.0 Version. (+4)  
I'm curious to see who's the first to finish the game.

Ps: Share your statistics with us. ( please don't lie!) :huh
02-14-2006 at 05:41 PM
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Fanka
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icon Re: People who have finished the Beta 2.0 Version. (+1)  
Yeh! I finished it and really enjoyed it! My statistics:

Total moves: 371504
Orbit hits: 19863
Secrets found 4/15
Monsters killed: 20583
Deaths: 1608
Time: 1 day, 15h, 32 min
Bruises: 23391
Rooms conquered: 445/377
Score: 70.46
Undo pressed: 7899
Moves/room: 834.84
Time/room: 5:20
Moves/sec: 2.51

I have to say too, that some of my statistics are a bit inflated, obviously the conquered rooms, but also time, moves etc. 'cause I spent time bug tracking, looking at a couple of unconquerable rooms for half an hour, leaving the game on and doing other things etc.

I'll write a small and modest review in a bit. Thanks googa for a great game!
02-16-2006 at 01:49 AM
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Fanka
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icon Re: People who have finished the Beta 2.0 Version. (+5)  
My little "review" as I promised...

Generally I really enjoyed playing WonderQuest. In terms of the DROD hold rating system I give it a rating (enjoyability) of 10 and difficulty probably something like 8-8.5. (Although it's a bit difficult to compare Wonderquest and DROD holds.) Anyway, as far as difficulty is concerned I think some rooms are very challenging (and enjoyable to conquer) and even the first levels are not too easy. However, I don't think there's any room that would keep and experienced DROD player busy for days. I'm not certain about a newbie's point of view though. Maybe a few of the rooms even in the beginning are a bit too difficult eg. the butterfly ones -I hate them by the way-, where you need to be very comfortable with the technique of "backswiping" and other skills that maybe need more time to master. However, I can see that you have emphasised much more to puzzle rooms rather than combat rooms, which are easier for a beginner to understand. Another problem is that there are a few rooms that are based on monster movement order or at least demand understanding of that.

I enjoyed most of the story. It certainly works, especially in the beginning it is very successful to create a gloomy feeling that feels very appropriate. The music, which I liked a lot, also helps for that. You do get the message you were planning to ("we all have to work together, each with his own abilities and disabilities") both through story and levels. However, I think the pet-eye part was a bit too long and maybe a bit boring. I'm not sure that this theme was actually long in the sense that went through too many levels but I did get the feeling there were too many scrolls about it. Also I have to say that I was a bit disappointed because I was expecting the pet-eye to turn into a character in another level since you had said there would be a dog!

I did enjoy playing with most of the non-DROD features you created. A few ideas were brilliant: character splitters, friendly snakes, running, etc.. There are a few things that I didn't quite like though. (Sorry if I sound like a DROD purist and, anyway, comparison is bit unfair) For example interaction of balls and lasers: since the character is the first to move, if he goes on a ray then he should die, even if a ball blocks the laser, since the blocking would happend after the death. Maybe one could say that the laser is also a monster that plays last, but that doesn't explain why monster avoid lasers. In my opinion you should need two consecutive balls to be able to go through a ray. Also, the purist inside me really hates the idea of keys, because it involves change to room state (more than conquered/unconquered) so it's not the same when you exit and re-enter.

The order that things happen is generally a bit strange. For example when a character or a monster enters or leaves a pressure square, then the doors the square controls don't open/close immediately but wait until everything else has moved. This doesn't make much sense. Also, it seems to me that the game does all moves and then calculates the "am I dead" variable. So for example you can walk onto a mimic's sword, provided that the mimic moves and you don't die (in DROD you simply can't move). This can result in strange behaviours: try level 12, 4W 4S. You can stay in the yellow door as long as you like. The balls won't push or kill you but simply go through you. This might be a bug really but a believe it's because of those strange movement order rules. Also, balls, rafts etc. combined with the movement order thing introduce a high degree of unpredictability. Another thing that has to do with room design that I didn't like very much is an abuse of the stand-on-a-closed door effect.

Of course there's room for improvements. I would like sound effects for some things, like mimic placement, when getting a key etc.. Some features haven't really been used very much and I would really like to see them in further levels. Eg. the snake-eats-food thing. Another thing that I would really like to see is each character's weapon pushed to its limit in combat. I mean combat (not puzzle) rooms that you really need eg. the scientist to kill all roaches. In most such rooms it feels that our humble smitemaster, Beethro, could do the job, except perhaps a few arrow-man rooms where he seems to be used quite effectively eg. butterfly rooms (have I mentioned how much I hate them?).

Something that one should also take note of is that for some strange reason Wonderquest uses constantly 80-90% of my Pentium 4 3.2 GHz CPU even when it is idle (but not minimised). That's really a lot. DROD almost never uses more than 30% and when idle it is like 1-2%. Might be a reason for crashes.

Once again thanks a lot for a great game, googa. Looking forward to a sequel. Keep up the good work! Have a few mod points
02-16-2006 at 03:14 AM
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googa
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icon Re: People who have finished the Beta 2.0 Version. (0)  
Thanks Fanka. I'm glad you liked it.

By the way, one of these days I was playing Level 5, and I realized I also hate Butterflies.
But I thing they can be cool; the problem is the way I placed them in the game. I think one or two butterflies mixed with roaches do the trick. More than two makes the gameplay too unpredictable. I think I still need to learn a good “formula” to use them. (The hand-to-hand fight against 10 or so butterflies, certainly doesn’t work ).

This game is far beyond the limits for a solo programmer-artist-writer. Only Atari games were made by one person. I coded all the game, including the UI, and I made 75% of the art. That’s not a wise idea to start a project like this, because of the lack of personnel, I can’t take care of some details.

I don’t know if I will release a sequel or a version with the editor in the future, it depends of some factors. Anyway, thanks for playing Fanka, I’m glad you liked it. Have a few Mod points back!

02-20-2006 at 03:47 AM
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eytanz
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icon Re: People who have finished the Beta 2.0 Version. (0)  
Actually, I think most of the butterfly puzzles, even the ones in level 5, are pretty good - there's often a trick to it which can be exploited (i.e., stand somewhere where butterfly movement is restricted, or get them all killed on the way to you). The butterfly room on level 8 is the exception, rather than the rule, where there's really no way to predict what to do. I'd recommend you change that one, but I think most of the earlier ones are fine.

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02-20-2006 at 05:18 AM
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kzc
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icon Re: People who have finished the Beta 2.0 Version. (+1)  
googa wrote:
I don’t know if I will release a sequel or a version with the editor in the future
Argh, say it ain't so, 'Vo! I'm about 2/3 of the way through the game now, and I've really enjoyed it. I'd almost certainly have completed it by now if I didn't have to break my Windows box out of mothballs whenever I want to play it.

The interaction of multiple characters is brilliantly conceived, and very well executed (discounting the inevitable level design issues in beta) and really adds a depth beyond that of its progenitor, DROD. I'm mildly chagrined to realize that I've become a bit attached to Jax, Sophie, et al., and that I don't want to turn the last page on them.

I believe you've said you intend WQ to be free software, but I'd be happy to support a WQ commercial venture if it would mean more turn-based puzzling goodness.
02-21-2006 at 01:27 PM
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googa
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icon Re: People who have finished the Beta 2.0 Version. (0)  
Hi kzc, sorry for the delayed answer. I’m glad you liked the game. I promised the game would be free, so, it’ll remain for free. The problem is that I don’t have time, (at least for now) to make a sequel or an editor release. Perhaps, if the donations increase, I can rearrange my agenda to continue the adventure.

Ps: I liked your avatar. It’s just a picture, right? :D
02-24-2006 at 06:48 PM
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kzc
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icon Re: People who have finished the Beta 2.0 Version. (+1)  
googa wrote:
Perhaps, if the donations increase, I can rearrange my agenda to continue the adventure.
Ah, didn't know you were taking donations. How do I send one?

googa wrote:
Ps: I liked your avatar. It’s just a picture, right? :D
A photo of Iron Eyes Cody, but it's getting a little stale. I think I'll change it to a somewhat more contemporary figure.

[Last edited by kzc at 02-24-2006 07:15 PM]
02-24-2006 at 07:10 PM
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googa
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icon Re: People who have finished the Beta 2.0 Version. (+1)  
Ah, didn't know you were taking donations. How do I send one?

You can donate with a credit card through paypal.com to alienleader-at-gmail.com

[Last edited by googa at 02-25-2006 12:21 AM]
02-24-2006 at 10:39 PM
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kzc
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icon Re: People who have finished the Beta 2.0 Version. (+3)  
googa wrote:
You can donate with a credit card through paypal.com to alienleader-at-gmail.com
Done. I hope everyone else who is enjoying WQ, and who has the means, will do likewise.
02-25-2006 at 12:51 AM
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googa
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icon Re: People who have finished the Beta 2.0 Version. (+1)  
Thanks a lot Ray! :D

Take my last mod point.

[Last edited by googa at 02-25-2006 05:15 AM]
02-25-2006 at 01:27 AM
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RoboBob3000
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icon Re: People who have finished the Beta 2.0 Version. (0)  
Finally completed! Now to collect all of the secrets!

Total moves: 354605
Orbit hits: 19880
Secrets found 6/50 (this is inaccurate, though)
Monsters killed: 15655
Deaths: 18481 (seems weird, matches the number of bruises)
Time: 1 day, 9:50:39
Bruises: 18481
Rooms conquered: 391/391
Score: 69.31
Undo pressed: 6034
Moves/room: 906.02
Time/room: 5:11
Moves/sec: 2.91



One general thing that needed fixing in the game was the explosion animation. At least I assume that's what was causing all of the slowdown. Explosions involving the Pandora's Box went slowly, and rooms with many explosives (particularly in level 15) slowed the game down to an almost unplayable speed. A simple fix for those rooms with too many explosives is to remove those unnecessary for the chain reactions, but the real goal here would be to find a way to make them not slow things down in the first place!

Otherwise, this is a great game, and the final character swapping section in level 15 was brilliantly organized. If I find time, I'll go back through and see if I can remember some of the trivial solutions I found.

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03-05-2006 at 03:19 AM
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