Drow Tactics, an SRPG

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JonnyManjiro
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Joined: Thu Jan 27, 2022 3:22 am

Drow Tactics, an SRPG

Post by JonnyManjiro »

If anyone is interested in doing a test run of beginner-style SRPG I made, I've attached a zip file with the rom to this message. Any feedback or suggestions are much appreciated :D

Here's the description I'll be posting to romhacking.net when it's ready:

Drow Tactics is a strategy RPG in which you must create a party of 3 heroes and battle through 10 maps by defeating the bosses that guard each goal. For each character, you can choose to be a fighter or a mage, and then choose 1 of 5 affinities (wood, fire, earth, metal, or water), for a total of ten classes, each with unique stats growths. Between battles you can shop to supply your heroes with restorative items or stat boosts. The game features an auto-save system.

YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQYjjuUkXRU
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pubby
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Re: Drow Tactics, an SRPG

Post by pubby »

I played it a bit and it seemed really well implemented. ​Reminds me of the game Shining Force! Nice to see this genre on the system. :beer:

I reckon the only thing I miss about this one is that it doesn't have any towns or overworld to explore; the whole game is combat. But that's a big feature to add!
JonnyManjiro
Posts: 16
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Re: Drow Tactics, an SRPG

Post by JonnyManjiro »

pubby wrote: Thu Mar 10, 2022 10:03 pm I played it a bit and it seemed really well implemented. ​Reminds me of the game Shining Force! Nice to see this genre on the system. :beer:

I reckon the only thing I miss about this one is that it doesn't have any towns or overworld to explore; the whole game is combat. But that's a big feature to add!
Thanks for checking it out :beer:

As I'm sure you suspected, I'm a big fan of games like Shining Force and Fire Emblem ;)

Also thanks for your suggestions. I probably won't add an overworld at this point, but I was definitely considering doing more with the shop, at least adding a counter with your characters and a shopkeeper, like FF1 or something.
Pokun
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Location: Hokkaido, Japan

Re: Drow Tactics, an SRPG

Post by Pokun »

Reminds me more of Fire Emblem (which of course is on the system already) than Shining Force, but I'm also a big fan of these genres.
I died on the second map, didn't expect those enemies to do so much damage. :) I see now that I can check enemy unit stats by moving the cursor to them.

I agree that the game system is very well made, just a bit unpolished. The cursor could need a DAS (delayed auto-shift) feature, especially if you are thinking of adding multi-screen maps and scrolling. The Fire Emblem games also does this (though maybe not in the first two games? I forgot).
Some messages are a bit unnoticeable and disappears fast, like the EXP message.
I don't get at all how the 5-element system works or their relation to enemies, maybe I just need to play the game more.
JonnyManjiro
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Re: Drow Tactics, an SRPG

Post by JonnyManjiro »

Pokun wrote: Fri Mar 11, 2022 3:16 pm Reminds me more of Fire Emblem (which of course is on the system already) than Shining Force, but I'm also a big fan of these genres.
I died on the second map, didn't expect those enemies to do so much damage. :) I see now that I can check enemy unit stats by moving the cursor to them.

I agree that the game system is very well made, just a bit unpolished. The cursor could need a DAS (delayed auto-shift) feature, especially if you are thinking of adding multi-screen maps and scrolling. The Fire Emblem games also does this (though maybe not in the first two games? I forgot).
Some messages are a bit unnoticeable and disappears fast, like the EXP message.
I don't get at all how the 5-element system works or their relation to enemies, maybe I just need to play the game more.
Thanks for the feedback :beer:

I could see how adding a DAS system would be nice. I've never programmed one before but I'll start thinking about how I could do it.

There are a lot of magic-users in level 2, so they were probably doing a lot to your blade users. Basically, blades do melee damage and have higher defense, magic users do magic damage and have higher magic defense. The only other difference between them is blade users have higher HP and mages have higher speed.

As for the 5 elements, I probably should include a Readme that explains them. Essentially, each affinity has a tendency to gain specific stats and not gain others. For example, metal has the highest attack but the lowest speed, water has high SPD, but low ATK. If you look at the characters opening stats you will get an idea of their strengths and weaknesses, which will be accentuated as you level up. The idea is that you can supplement the stats that get shafted by buying upgrades as you progress.

As for the EXP message, I thought all the messages were the same amount of frames, but I can check, and I can easily change the number of frames for any message.
Pokun
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Re: Drow Tactics, an SRPG

Post by Pokun »

I see, so elements has nothing to do with damage types and weaknesses?

I suppose speed helps evasion, but does it affect movement range as well?

All messages are probably going by the same speed, but the EXP message was an example when my attention was on the middle of the screen around the unit that was just killed while the message suddenly appeared and disappeared quickly at the bottom of the screen where my attention wasn't at. I'm not entirely sure it's a problem as you learn to look for new messages at the bottom when you expect them. It could be a problem if there is an important message that appears when the player isn't expecting it. Or about any message that takes the player by surprise, like for example if you were killing a boss after a long fight and he suddenly dies and you miss the EXP message (or other message) because of that, and you really wanted to see how much EXP you got for killing him.
I guess you could have the player advance the message manually with the A-button (at least for more important messages), or perhaps have the last message always stay in the message box until its pushed upwards by a new message. This is very common in RPGs and similar games as it simulates a computer terminal environment.
JonnyManjiro
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Re: Drow Tactics, an SRPG

Post by JonnyManjiro »

Pokun wrote: Fri Mar 11, 2022 5:08 pm I see, so elements has nothing to do with damage types and weaknesses?

I suppose speed helps evasion, but does it affect movement range as well?

All messages are probably going by the same speed, but the EXP message was an example when my attention was on the middle of the screen around the unit that was just killed while the message suddenly appeared and disappeared quickly at the bottom of the screen where my attention wasn't at. I'm not entirely sure it's a problem as you learn to look for new messages at the bottom when you expect them. It could be a problem if there is an important message that appears when the player isn't expecting it. Or about any message that takes the player by surprise, like for example if you were killing a boss after a long fight and he suddenly dies and you miss the EXP message (or other message) because of that, and you really wanted to see how much EXP you got for killing him.
I guess you could have the player advance the message manually with the A-button (at least for more important messages), or perhaps have the last message always stay in the message box until its pushed upwards by a new message. This is very common in RPGs and similar games as it simulates a computer terminal environment.
I was originally going to have the elements have a paper-rock-scissors style relationship, but in the end thought it would be more complex than it was worth.

Speed only affects evasion. If 2 units have the same speed, there's an 80% chance of hitting, which gets worse or better when there's a difference in speed. All units have exactly 5 move.

When I originally made the game in basic, you had to press A to advance each message. I guess I just wanted to try the auto advance system to see how it felt. As far as making important messages longer, the only case where that happens is for Game Over and Victory. One other place where I got a little lazy is, in the original basic game, there was a message when a new monster spawned on the map, but now they just kind of show up 😅
Oziphantom
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Re: Drow Tactics, an SRPG

Post by Oziphantom »

I've also be designing one of these, sadly I don't have time to play it at the moment, but when I get a chance I will explore it from every angle :D
JonnyManjiro
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Re: Drow Tactics, an SRPG

Post by JonnyManjiro »

Oziphantom wrote: Sat Mar 12, 2022 8:44 am I've also be designing one of these, sadly I don't have time to play it at the moment, but when I get a chance I will explore it from every angle :D
No worries, I pretty much stop playing stuff when I'm in the middle of making something too. I'll keep a lookout for a thread for your project if you end up making one :beer:
Oziphantom
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Re: Drow Tactics, an SRPG

Post by Oziphantom »

the "tech demo version" is here https://csdb.dk/release/?id=191262 I high recommend the 128 version as it is much smoother than the others.

I kept get lost in "how do I want to handle level ups", "how much AI can I fit in to this", "how do I want to handle sharing items". Then you add 1 idea and have to add 20 screens worth of UI to adjust and make it "nice".
zzo38
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Re: Drow Tactics, an SRPG

Post by zzo38 »

Game look OK, but perhaps including instructions (explaining the rules and calculations of the fight, and what each thing means) would be good, and don't use file names with spaces. Also, you could list all three characters on the same status screen all at once, I suppose.
(Free Hero Mesh - FOSS puzzle game engine)
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