The Blacksmith's Apprentice - Version 1.5 released

[Xephyr]

I really wanna play this but I sort of want to wait until it's finished before downloading.

I don't know I might just download it tomorrow or somethin anyway.

 

[JJannem]

where the heck is grant?
i cant find him anywhere '-.-

 

[Juno]

where the heck is grant?
i cant find him anywhere '-.-

He should be in the Willow Glen Blacksmith's shop with William's father.

 

[Juno]

There's a new version available with some balance changes, as well as a new "forging" feature, which lets players make custom weapons and armor.  Check the main post for the download.

 

[Juno]

Another update, this time with new puzzles added, and I've taken some of the Doc's recommendations.  If you have already played through it you can still check out most of the new puzzles, by going to the Thieves' Caves (west of Lief's Haven).

 

[HarryE]

Nyargh! I can't solve it. The thing keeps putting out my lantern! Am I meant to just scramble in the dark til I find the exit?

 

[Juno]

Nyargh! I can't solve it. The thing keeps putting out my lantern! Am I meant to just scramble in the dark til I find the exit?

Bruno, what keeps putting out your lantern?  Is it the water trap?  For that, you need to have the Tinderbox, it can light the lantern even if your matches get wet.  If you don't have the Tinderbox, you should at least be able to find the exit, since it's pretty much straight south of the water trap.

 

[HarryE]

Ah, okay. I thought I'd have to turn it off with that panel.

I just gave the puzzles a go. Very nice work. That statue puzzle in particular was very clever. :P

 

[Juno]

Ah, okay. I thought I'd have to turn it off with that panel.

I just gave the puzzles a go. Very nice work. That statue puzzle in particular was very clever. :P

Thanks, and to be honest, it was after I played the first section of your game that I was inspired to add some puzzles to mine.

In other news, there’s a new version up, but be sure to install the new font. (Thanks, Venetia :blush.  It has a quicker-paced first section, among other things.  And second, since I respond to other people’s feedback, I thought I would respond to Doctor’s official (?) review of the game.  You can check out the full review on his thread.

The Blacksmith’s Apprentice appears to have quite a following, making my expectations rather high when I first double-clicked on that orange icon. What I was offered instead was a mixed batch; while nothing was really subpar, some areas left  to be desired, which would lead some more perfectionist players (you know who you are) to throw the game away altogether.

Nothing like high expectations to ruin something.  Anyway, I think (aka hope) most gamers can decide for themselves.

As the Blacksmith’s son, William, your goal is to run your father’s errands, romance the girl next door and fetch herbs from the nearby forest. This Harvest Moon-esque setting offers a slow pace and takes a very long time to pick up, offering some more action-starved players plenty of time to become disinterested.

I've streamlined the first 15-20 minutes of the game because the narrative was choppy, but even so, I'm not sure where the Harvest Moon comparison comes from.  The romance with Charis is a part of the story, not an "increase your heart count" side-quest... and it's not entirely without action; After all, William must gather herbs in a dangerous forest with multiple enemies, which is very different from walking around watering plants.  That being said, I did just make a change to the Gloomy Forest to make the job of gathering the herbs more… engaging.

The protagonists themselves remain exterior to most of the developing plot lines until the end of the demo, they only bear witness to the growing military power of the land and may spot one or two crystals cast by a mysterious mage during cut scenes. In fact, I’d go as far to say that the demo plays a lot like a very long introduction, having the heroes do tasks that help the player to familiarise with the world, but serve no or little purpose in the grand scheme of things. Not until the end of the demo does trouble rears its ugly head, forcing the hero out of his quiet existence and into the main plot. Most games have that done by the first 20 minutes; The Blacksmith’s Apprentice took 8 hours.

You’ve hit the nail right on the head… sort of.  The protagonists are not exterior, they are right in the middle of it.  It may seem like an introduction, but this portion of the story is very crucial and can't be skipped, rushed, or glossed over...  If this story took 20 minutes to tell, I would tell it in 20 minutes.  But the story takes longer, because it IS longer.  The first section is every bit as important as the other two (which haven't been made yet, of course).  And there’s trouble throughout the game, which you yourself mentioned elsewhere in the review.

But ultimately, that’s beside the point.  The reason things happen around the main characters that seem unrelated to them is because I wanted this story to take place in a world that actually has DEPTH.  The fact that events unfold around the protagonists that seem subsidiary is a GOOD thing.  They live in a realistic mythical world, where other people actually live, act, and make decisions.  And in turn, their decisions have consequences.  Haven’t we seen WAY TOO MANY games where the entire world revolves around one main character, and their actions are the only actions that matter?  But… it sounds like this facet of my game is being held against it.

All in all, I'm not sure what to make of this comment.  Is length of a game seen as a bad thing?  I mean, why play the game at all?  Why not just have a bullet-point list of every major plot point and read through it?

Even though the game does appear to be set in the PG-13 land of fantasy, it does brush on some hard themes on the side; for instance, one character mentions an antagonist having raped a young girl in the past. It is still too early to tell, however, if these themes will be touched again more thoroughly in the future, or if they were just there to sound “coolâ€

 

[seven]

Arthur's Field Dressing skill is back to being available in combat

To be honest I actually thought it added a bit of strategy to it. But meh, you can't please everyone!

 

[waves of the lagoon]

Juno, I believe the depth you put into your game was a wonderful thing. For the most part, I like the doctor's reviews, but the complaint about an eight hour introduction is a little too much for my taste. That actually made this game more fun because this "introduction" could hold as a game on its own. t had an entire journey in it! But instead of just being a normal game, there are many side plots the player can only vaguely identify, which clearly will be developed in the next installment. Because of this, the player completed an entire jounry, but isn't left with a "I came, I conquered" feeling at the end. Playing this demo felt more like playing a stand alone game that finished on a cliffhanger. It had its own plot arc, which is essentially all you need for a story. If the player didn't spend so long learning the world and growing an admiration for your work, a government takeover wouldn't seem like a big deal. In summary, I feel like this is more of a trilogy. I can tell from your towns that each segment you create has a uniqe story, so I feel that this demo is basically a segment with is own storyline (trip to the Dwarves) that doesnt even have to be largely relevent to the rest of what you create. All in all, I really enjoy your style. I can see hwo the depth could annoy somoene who wnated to try various games, but it's a treasure to those who enjoy a single story they can immerse themselves in as oppose to taking in multiple less detailed games.

As far as long introductions go, the Lord of the Rings prologu covered about 70 pages in most editions. That trilogy is regarded as tremendous, so lengthy intros. can't necessarily be bad.

Also, Iactualy enjoy the difficulty you employed. It's not impossible, and it adds more challenge than typical turn based games. If you want my advice, don't change your style too drastically.

 

 

[Juno]

Thanks for your thoughts, WotL.  When the game is finished, it won't necessarily be treated as a trilogy, but in terms of completing it and releasing it, it is my plan to release it in three parts.  It probably makes me an asshole to call into question part of Doc's review, but it did seem inconsistent with his other reviews. (Perhaps aside from his most recent review of MotW Arc 5).

Also, I decided to set Arthur's Field Dressing skill back to non-combat in the most recent upload.  I was much happier with it that way and it was a very conscious decision to make it unavailable in combat in the first place.

 

[Crystalgate]

I can't say I see the game as an 8 hour long introduction. I think I already said it before, but I liked how you slowly, but steadily presented the potential trouble scenarios and then wondering when it will explode. Seeing things heading towards the fan is often more interesting than than seeing the aftermath of the things hitting the fan. I also found the task of fetching coal more interesting than the task of saving the world in most other games.

As for the battles, they have (or had when I played them) the same weaknesses as most other RPG battles have, they are to monotone. Often the problem is that the player end up spamming attack. In this game, the normal attack command is so weak that it is nearly useless and skills has to be used instead. The end result however is that instead of spamming attack over and over, I had to spam the same two skills over and over. Having, for example, Arthur using Hawk-something every turn is as far as variety and strategy are concerned, no improvement over using the attack command every turn.

 

[Anopob]

I might as well post this here. After I get to that town with a lot of Thieves in it, go to the inn, sleep, and then exit the inn, my game shifts camera to this cave thing, but nothing happens (no cinematic, no person moves or anything). What's up with that?

EDIT: Gah, nevermind, redownloading the game fixed it.

 

[Juno]

I might as well post this here. After I get to that town with a lot of Thieves in it, go to the inn, sleep, and then exit the inn, my game shifts camera to this cave thing, but nothing happens (no cinematic, no person moves or anything). What's up with that?

EDIT: Gah, nevermind, redownloading the game fixed it.

Sorry about that, Anopob.  I fixed that bug before anyone mentioned it, but not before about 7 people downloaded that version.

@Crystalgate:  You're right on about the battles.  My biggest travail has been balancing the skills' power with the regular attacks.  I can't seem to get the numbers right so that regular attacks pack enough punch, without making the special skills overpowered.  I risk greatly unbalancing the game if I try to adjust the numbers too much.

 

[Crystalgate]

I downloaded the latest version (unless you very recently uploaded a new one) and started a new game. I've encountered a problem.

Spoiler

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v141/Crystalgate/Screenies/Blacksmithstop.jpg[/img]

For some reason I can't go down, but it looks like it should be possible.

Anyway, I'm surprised it's that hard getting the numbers right. I think I'm going to take a look at what you did with the skills.

 

[Juno]

*facepalm* That's a new one, Crystalgate.  I'll have a fixed version up tomorrow.  As for getting the skill and attack stats just right, it's tough to balance them because balancing requires playing through the entire game, and that takes about... 10 hours each time.

Anyway, hope you like the new puzzles and forged items I've added.

EDIT: New version is posted.  It's bigger now, as I've included some additional music with it.

 

[Crystalgate]

New version and a new bug. I found the key to the dwarfs and used it. The game then toke me straight to the forest south of the hometown.

 

[Juno]

Gah.  Update coming momentarily...  Sorry about that.

New version posted in the main topic.

 

[Crystalgate]

I found a few more bugs, minor fortunately.

There's two in the dwarven mine. First, if you exit the mine you're not brought to the entrance of the mine, instead you're placed a bit south-east of it. Second, for two of the mine carts you forgot to re-enable the menu after exiting them. I think it's the one on the top floor going north and the second bugged mine cart is on the lower floor. You first flip the northern lever and ride the mine cart then the one you can reach from there has that bug.

I found two bugs in Willow Glen while controlling Arthur. When trying to use the stumps you once could slingshot yourself with, but it was William who commented that it wouldn't work now despite him being absent. Also, one tile at Bloomfield house is missing. Near the ladder to Charis Attic there's a tile on which the panorama is visible.

Anyway, the puzzles were nice, but I don't think I even did any forging. I always lacked materials or didn't have the recipe or something. Maybe I need to explore some more.