Knight of The Rose Chapter I-Squire

[omerpaz]

Knight Of The Rose shows the epic tale of two brave warriors that saved their land and nation from complete destruction, challenging the gods themselves to rise against them.

This game is a MONSTERPIECE of mine, and has TONS of awesome features that make this game a one of a kind!

I am currently finally publishing the first chapter, after years of on-and-off work, and I really hope you guys will like it

Spoiler

Year 10,000 BD.

When the world was still young, Aeldor, one of the greater Ancient Gods, was banished from their heavens, and became a Fallen Ancient. He took the rule of The Abyss, and started making his creations, then unleashed them upon the earth. Horrors have raged freely in the world of Sylvarrah, the beloved creation of the Ancient Gods.

Aeldor, together with his minions-Countless hordes of goblins, orcs, trolls, drows, and other creatures which their nature is dark, declared war against the ancient gods. In the head of his army, was the Bamiath, Aeldor's most horrible creation, a mighty titan, possesing powers almost equilevant to the ancients themselves. Aeldor rose the land of Tura from the depths of the ocean, and gave it to his minions, as a favour to them, yet also to give them something to fight for.

The war almost destroyed Sylvarrah, after the Bamiath was unleashed, raging, killing and destroying everything in its path.

Year 0 AD.

After seeing they will not be able to defeat Aeldor before the world will end, the Ancients were helpless. Giving it a last, huge, desperate effort, The ancient gods have rapidly casted an enormous spell. Unleashing unimaginable ammounts of energies, they have managed to seal Aeldor into three seals, one in the land of Tura, one in the land of Igaia, and the last one, which also contained the Bamiath, in Theltos. The Bamiath has fought the Ancients back, causing a disruption of the energies, which created a massive energy explosion, seperating Igaia and Theltos with a new ocean, The Adaar Ocean. The Ancients have lost most of their powers as a cause of the enormous powers they have unleashed, and were forced to leave Sylvarrah, yet they managed before to bury the seals under the bones of the world itself, thinking nobody will ever dare opening them.

Even the gods were proved wrong.

Year 215 AD.

Somewhere around the mines of Aegos, in the land of Igaia, a group of Orc slaves are assigned to work there.

In the depths of these mines, Arais, an Orc slave, just digs in the wrong place. He accidently breaks a small crack in the seal, and Aeldor is unleashed once again.
He takes control of Arais' mind, and gives him the rule of the Land Of Tura, where another seal is hidden, and then, after opening the seal, he raises the armies of Tura once again.

Year 235 AD.

Arais declares war against the free nations of Igaia in the east, and sends a massive force through the sea to capture them by surprise.
His armies, consisting of goblins, ogres, trolls, orcs, turenian humans and drows, and some of Aeldor's abominations, raid the coasts of the state of Adel in west Igaia and swiftly get the upper hand.
The knighthood of Igaia, which is called the Knighthood of the Rose, manages to stand up against the might of Tura.
The war reaches a dead end, and thousands of lives are lost each year.

Our game begins in the year 239 AD, as the game's protagonists, Lance and Thomas, escape their village after it is destroyed by a turenian force.
There starts their journey to the knighthood.

Spoiler

Note that much more features will be added in future chapters, but meanwhile, this is what the game offers:

-Approx. two hours of gameplay.

-Lots of massive army fighting, with a very realistic atmosphere.

-Side-view Battle System (With individual animations).

-Visual Equipment System, also in the battle scene.

-A minigame in which you ride on a horse and cut everyone in your path.

-Pretty good mapping.

-Quest screen which is the first script I ever wrote!

-Horse-riding system, with changeable speed, level and horses!

-Two secret maps where you can find treasures and valuables.

-Ten different types of enemies (However, in future chapters more enemies will be added).

-An advanced visual-equipment system.

Spoiler

The army of Telander marches to the north.

On the way to Rohym.

The keep of Fort Telander.

Mount Aral, where the orc slave are stationed in for mining.

A house in Rohym Town.

A secret cave. There will be many hidden places like this throughout the game, usually cosisting treasures and valuables.

An example of the horse riding system. You can see here Lance training at horse riding.

Download: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/88621929/KOTR2.exe
and you will need to download the OldTypeFaces font: http://www.sendspace.com/file/n15ocq
(To install, put it in C:\WINDOWS\Fonts ).

 

[omerpaz]

Thank you all for commenting.

 

[coyotecraft]

I warned 25/26 civilians. I couldn't find the last one. I left town and went north and got a missing graphic error and had to restart. Talking to the hooded man also give you a missing graphic error if you lie and say yes. I don't know if that's why I can't find the last person. I did found a side entrance building; so maybe there is another one hidden like that.

I think you need to step back and look at the pacing of the game and cut all the things that are unnecessary. A long history lesson at the beginning of the game followed by running through huge maps as two boys and looking for 26 npc that as far as I can tell don't play a big role but you spent time writing individual reactions about the town's evacuation. I was already 30mins into the game and I don't know anything about the characters except that their dad died. So far no battles, no money, no items.

edit: Cutting might not be a good word. But I think you could present things more efficiently.

 

[omerpaz]

Thanks for the bug reports, will be fixed.
Battles, money, and items come right after this quest.
Save more often.
There are 26 NPCs to be warned, guaranteed. Try talking to the sheriff in the southern part of the main part of Rohym. Try warning the vendors, people in the streets, in the cabin in the south district and in the town hall-these are the less-checked NPC's.
I understand you didn't enjoy the game so far, hope it will change as you continue playing (If you will). The rest of the game should be much more action-packed, and I will try and build the second chapter according to your critique-More battles, money and items, focus on main storyline and necessary quests.
How did you like other parts of the game, such as the mapping and storyline?

 

[coyotecraft]

The maps were really spacious. Lots of locked doors. The town and interiors could be smaller. I noticed the interior rooms must be on the same map. The insides of 2 houses were right next to each other despite the houses being a couple maps apart.

 

[coyotecraft]

Think I put about 8 hours into this game. I write in a notepad as I play to record any bugs or poor design, I'll PM it to you. Can't say I would recommend anyone play it as it is now, I had lots of rage moment from constant game overs and game freezes. The Battles are difficult, but only because missing an attack pretty much decides the outcome of the battle, something you have no control over. For the first half of the game all you can do is attack because trying to heal will just get you killed. Defending is useless and you can't escape.

The maps are too big or should I say excessive? Maybe all the locked doors are places you'll visit in chapter II. Battles are fickle and need adjusting. Collecting herbs and killing Gnolls have little relevance to the story or character development, it's just an excuse to advance time.

There is a story in there somewhere. 2 brothers lose their home, they help evacuate a town, join the army. I can't describe their personalities very well. Thomas seems to know just what to do in every situation. Lance has potential to be a character you feel sorry for. Becoming a squire getting ordered around and separated from his only family when they join the army. But neither express how they feel, only that they want to fight against the invasion. I think the information in the prologe could be weaved into the game differently and used to develop the character's. Show that they know what it is they are facing rather then assume they know the history and evil god behind the army.

 

[omerpaz]

Okay, I pretty much get what your'e saying.
About the battles, I kind of disagree with you. If you look more carefully, at least in early levels, enemies like bees and bats hit you for about 30-50 HP per hit.
But, red mushrooms heal you for 80 HP and yellow mushrooms heal you for 150, so I really just see this as a different style of battle. Slash deals more damage to bees, stab deals more damage to bats and wolves. After buying a shield everything becomes much easier, as it provides you lots of defence.
About the character development I will PM you as this is kind of a spoiler for future chapters.
About the gnolls and herbs, I think of these as more of "training missions" for the brothers to gain experience and level up, as they will fight against the turenian enemy at the chapters to come, so they will need that experience.
I understand what you are saying about the information in the prologue and everything but unfortunately there isn't much I can do about it right now.
I will, however, try and implement what you said in future chapters.