Remember this? https://esenthel.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=8598? This is the updated version with the name changed. After a year of hiatus and hardship, I decided to continue with a big gameplay overhaul. (Yep, just username change to make it consistent )




https://youtu.be/60qnef7uY3k
This video is kinda old and I also misspell my own game name in there.

About the game
Xecryst Remains is an Objective-Based Party-Based Third-Personal Action-RPG "Overworld Striders". Fight through randomized handcrafted stages with a freeform Action-RPG mechanic. Set in the world which government by Xecrystal energy called the Abstract. The source of economy, technology, magic, and world functionality. Be one of the mercenaries to suppress and searching for an ongoing cataclysm from Abstract imbalances.

Game Feature:

• 7 Players Party-Based with Player-like AI for all the solo player needs.
  Story and Arcade mode with shared permanent progression.
• Freeform non-magnetism melee with different wield styles, leveled projectile-based ranged attack, and ability mixed with unique targeting mechanic.
• Handcrafted 5 Regions with a procedural object and routing randomization.
• Classless customization with unlockable ability and perk.
• Upgradable Tier-based equipment.
• Carefully manage your exploration, combat, and progress the game with the unique time-scaling difficulty.
• Explore the world and experience gameplay affecting unique anomalies, time cycling, and weather.
• Good for both long and short play alike with a time-saving feature reducing most of the ARPG annoyance.

Some new random screenshot.


Well, I might not be a good graphic guy nor a writer, so I hope to make up with a gameplay mechanic instead.

You can try it right now or join a Discord.

Steam
Download: 0.96.10
0.96.20

Oh cool, lots of action, and looks like you've worked on it a long time. Good luck

Really cool to see !

gameplay looks quite interesting !

Nice! Yes, I remember playing this a long time ago

Should it be playable from Steam? I don't have a download button there.

(08-16-2021 03:36 PM)Esenthel Wrote:  Oh cool, lots of action, and looks like you've worked on it a long time. Good luck

TBH even that so much time I spent working on it, I still made things look super amateurish.

(08-16-2021 04:11 PM)RedcrowProd Wrote:  Really cool to see !

gameplay looks quite interesting !

With the time I spent trying to differentiate and still hope it is stand out enough to not be called as a cheaper clone of a certain game Risk of Rain as many keep referred to, MMORPG or Unity Prototype Asset Flip nowadays.

(08-16-2021 05:47 PM)Tottel Wrote:  Nice! Yes, I remember playing this a long time ago

Should it be playable from Steam? I don't have a download button there.

Not yet because the Store page needs a new trailer and screenshots because I'm not quite ready and kinda scare that the average Steam player and the troll nerd will eat me alive like before.

I remember playing this way back and liked it then, you've clearly put a lot more work into it and it looks much better for it.

Having looked at your Steam page you have some impressive very positive feedback from those who have tried it previously. I really wish you the best of luck with this ... great work!

[EDIT]
Downloaded and played a couple of the stages today. This is the most polished Esenthel based game I've played to date. Being not used to this type of game it really could do with some instruction/tutorial as it wasn't obvious what I was supposed to be doing initially, and I'm pretty sure I've not grasped half of what's involved yet. It appears to have a lot of depth to it.

Would be worth producing a guide or something to ease players into it who are coming to this type of game for the first time, even if it's just a written document/manual.

Very impressive though and nicely implemented!

I made a game capsule using a new update and that new TAA and I'm in awe. TAA makes every old, highly decimated ugly model looks gorgeous!

This is Steam's main capsule size.

(08-18-2021 09:11 PM)Pixel Perfect Wrote:  I remember playing this way back and liked it then, you've clearly put a lot more work into it and it looks much better for it.

Having looked at your Steam page you have some impressive very positive feedback from those who have tried it previously. I really wish you the best of luck with this ... great work!

[EDIT]
Downloaded and played a couple of the stages today. This is the most polished Esenthel based game I've played to date. Being not used to this type of game it really could do with some instruction/tutorial as it wasn't obvious what I was supposed to be doing initially, and I'm pretty sure I've not grasped half of what's involved yet. It appears to have a lot of depth to it.

Would be worth producing a guide or something to ease players into it who are coming to this type of game for the first time, even if it's just a written document/manual.

Very impressive though and nicely implemented!

Thank you for such encouragement.

I want to add a tutorial before Steam re-release as well! I want it to be integrated instead of a separate mode and also not being too oppressive. Although, I have zero ideas about this at the moment.

Edit: By the way. Do you have a specified of which part you're confusing with? I want to focus on that first.

(08-23-2021 02:26 PM)KrysleQuinsen Wrote:  By the way. Do you have a specified of which part you're confusing with? I want to focus on that first.

Not so much of an issue now as I've figured a lot more out with continued play.

I get that the objective is to disable the Havester which triggers a battle phase and when completed allows access to initiate the destruction of the Xecrystal which again triggers another battle phase.

Shards are collected and used to restore your life when downed by the enemy and various loot items collected along the way.

Not at all sure yet what the coloured shielded areas are and how they are unlocked or what their purpose is. Are these unlocked by destroying the harvesters, there was a mention of barriers being removed for all maps according to the Harvester type?

Have only a rudementary understanding of what the various loot objects are and what to do with them, but I guess thats part of the fun, going through the learning curve and discovering what's useful.

The inventory allows access to all carried looted items and left click shows usage options. Items can be used/equiped, assigned a hotkey etc. Right click shows stats and basic description.

Seems to be an option to lend items to others but I'm not sure how you know what they currently are equiped with and whether they'd want/benefit. I'm currently playing with a team of NPCs, maybe that's more designed for multiplayer where you can communicate with your team mates.

Just found you can see their stats and equipment between stages and there is a shop too!.

I'm guessing the research ability increases with each item found and used. It says something about increasing with each duplicate.

Not sure anymore how much should be specified up front and how much should be left to the player/s to simply discover/work out for themselves.

(08-25-2021 04:34 PM)Pixel Perfect Wrote:  

(08-23-2021 02:26 PM)KrysleQuinsen Wrote:  By the way. Do you have a specified of which part you're confusing with? I want to focus on that first.

Not so much of an issue now as I've figured a lot more out with continued play.

I get that the objective is to disable the Havester which triggers a battle phase and when completed allows access to initiate the destruction of the Xecrystal which again triggers another battle phase.

Shards are collected and used to restore your life when downed by the enemy and various loot items collected along the way.

Not at all sure yet what the coloured shielded areas are and how they are unlocked or what their purpose is. Are these unlocked by destroying the harvesters, there was a mention of barriers being removed for all maps according to the Harvester type?

Have only a rudementary understanding of what the various loot objects are and what to do with them, but I guess thats part of the fun, going through the learning curve and discovering what's useful.

The inventory allows access to all carried looted items and left click shows usage options. Items can be used/equiped, assigned a hotkey etc. Right click shows stats and basic description.

Seems to be an option to lend items to others but I'm not sure how you know what they currently are equiped with and whether they'd want/benefit. I'm currently playing with a team of NPCs, maybe that's more designed for multiplayer where you can communicate with your team mates.

Just found you can see their stats and equipment between stages and there is a shop too!.

I'm guessing the research ability increases with each item found and used. It says something about increasing with each duplicate.

Not sure anymore how much should be specified up front and how much should be left to the player/s to simply discover/work out for themselves.

Hey, thank you for the detailed explanation. Let's see if I can extract these and put them into the game. Especially the Barrier part.

There's still a couple of things not yet discovered in the Main Menu, but my main concern is during the game play objective.

(08-26-2021 05:50 AM)KrysleQuinsen Wrote:  Hey, thank you for the detailed explanation. Let's see if I can extract these and put them into the game. Especially the Barrier part.

There's still a couple of things not yet discovered in the Main Menu, but my main concern is during the game play objective.

That would be great, a basic introduction would help new players understand the goal of the game and ease them into the game play and mechanics rather than wondering what they should be doing. It doesn't need to be too comprehensive, as half the fun is discovering what's available and how that helps you and your team.

This game has great potential and I'd love to see it succeed.

(08-26-2021 10:03 AM)Pixel Perfect Wrote:  

(08-26-2021 05:50 AM)KrysleQuinsen Wrote:  Hey, thank you for the detailed explanation. Let's see if I can extract these and put them into the game. Especially the Barrier part.

There's still a couple of things not yet discovered in the Main Menu, but my main concern is during the game play objective.

That would be great, a basic introduction would help new players understand the goal of the game and ease them into the game play and mechanics rather than wondering what they should be doing. It doesn't need to be too comprehensive, as half the fun is discovering what's available and how that helps you and your team.

This game has great potential and I'd love to see it succeed.

Thank you again.

I experimenting with the way to convey the information and I think this might be a good one. By using mouse over object hint box.



I'll add this to every object you can interact with, so players know what to expect with the object. (Also, option to turn this box off)
As for the overview of the primary game objective, I'll see if I can add it somewhere beside Stage Selection UI.

The mouse over object hint box is a great idea and would serve as an effective learning tool which, as you say, could be disabled once the player is happy they know what is what.

Just a suggestion but the description of the primary game objective could be simply added to the Main Menu as a 'Game Overview' option. That way it would be available as soon as the Menu appears and prior to the player configuring the initial game session / joining a game.

That's a good idea. I probably add as a mouse hover hint or separated one, there's plenty of space in the Lobby and Game Settings anyways.