Dwarfish Building Game

Community Showcases
1

Hey there,

I came here to get some feedback from the outside. I’ve been dabbling away in my freetime on a game after playing Minecraft / Terraria and seeing Survivors of Ragnarok. There’s something about those games that get me addicted to them really quickly. The problem with all those games is that the people I want to play those games with are not the people that would play Minecraft or Terraria online. I I thought that it’d be awesomely cool if you could just get that kinda experience in a streamlined version through splitscreen on a big screen TV.

To me, the analogy is kinda like… if you play with LEGO, you want to build a city with your friends. But I want them to be in the same room. I don’t want to be separated, I want to build a tower, a town or whatever while we’re actively talking to one another, looking at the exact same thing. Anyway, long story short, here’s a prototype I made:

Note that since this is still more of an experiment, I didn’t really create a ton of sprites yet. Most of the stuff is quickly ripped from things like Minecraft, Survivors of Ragnarok, etc. In terms of style, I’ll probably go with this kind of look, but draw all the stuff in Flash.

You can try it out here: http://www.warsoup.com/builds/sein/cavedwarfs.html

Or try the latest version here: http://www.warsoup.com/builds/sein/inventory.html

Here’s a 2Player Splitscreen Test (older build): http://www.warsoup.com/builds/sein/cavedwarfs2p.html (You can’t actually control the second player yet, was just a test to get a feel for how it could work, if the interface would still be readable enough, etc.)

You should use an Xbox Controller to play. Controls are outlined at the bottom of the webPlayer. The controller also works directly in the browser.

Would love to know what you guys are thinking. I’m not actually a programmer and this started out as just a test to learn a bit of scripting, so I can be more efficient as an artist / game designer, but I think it’s really starting to get somewhere.

2

You will get a lot of trolls moaning about it being terraria-like, just like people moaned about terraria being like minecraft, but I can say this looks awesome! love the art style, keep it up! :slight_smile:

3

I love the idea and brilliant graphics. Reminds me of old Dynabomber which might be your future inspiration (and Jardinains in that the main character is a gnome). Very cool, gratz.

4

What do you guys think about the whole controller issue?

I love playing sidescrolling games with controllers and with something like this, I think the best experience would be to play in front of a big TV with multiple people. Everybody is doing his thing, one guy is building and upgrading a tower for defense, the other person is putting another keg into the brewery for beer buffs, the next person is still in the mines mining for gold, etc. - and they’re all working together. This only works when you sort of force people to use controllers though.

Right now, the entire selection system is built around using a digipad or an analog stick. This pretty much kills the whole “Oh, here’s a link, just try it out real quick!” thing.

How many people here actually are using controllers on their PC? Even though it’s pretty simple to do nowadays, people using controllers AND hooking up their PC to a TV are probably few and far between.

5

I looked at the screenshots before reading. Thought to myself, the interface is so minecraft and i went on to read your post. XD. Personally i love minecraft too but it gets bored easily. Don’t even mention terraria, i didn’t even managed a 1 hour on that game… Just too difficult to control and i have no idea what to do.

I tried your game. Looks good, but laggy on my laptop. Frame rate of 20. OMG. And i am using my keyboards to play. No controller. I don’t even know the keys.But looks good if it is more smoother and the keys too.

6

Its Dwarvish, not Dwarfish. Read Lord of the Rings man.

7

No, Dwarfish (adj) means atypically small.

Dwarvish refers to the dwarves in LOTR, etc.

So, really, it could be either in this case!

8

Great idea keep it up

9

I’m a big fan of minecraft, And I really like your style. Though the selecting would be easier if it follows the mouse.

10

Someone got pWn3d! XDDD

11

I just updated the inventory and added a first implementation of the crafting system:

Made a quick Youtube Video about it here:

And you can try it out yourself here:

http://www.warsoup.com/builds/sein/cavedwarfs.html

Again, Xbox360 Controllers are supported directly in the browser, so don’t be afraid to use them!

12

Looking really good :slight_smile:

If you want to use some custom textures to save any problems prototyping with the Minecraft ones I made a texture pack for Minecraft HERE. Feel free to use it for your prototyping (or not at all lol).

13

I really try holding back changing any graphics or drawing / painting anything new, since I know I’d get too hooked up on the visual stuff before I’d actually know that the gameplay is really fun and working. Really cool pack, btw!

I want to get fully functioning Splitscreen in pretty soon, so I’d actually see how much fun it is to build stuff together.

14

Man, your proto looks awesome !
I 'am not a fan of games like minecraft or terrania, but I am myself working on a 2D plateformer very classic (ala Mario).
The shader you are using is exactly what I was seeing for my game, sort of old tv emulation, I love it!

15

Was this made using SM2?

16

Since your game does have similarities(perfectly fine, especially considering that is essentially what yearly releases of sports games and sequels do to their predecessors) to another popular title, you will want to be sure to give it it’s uniqueness. You have indeed already done this, but to someone skimming by or someone who may not have immediate interest in this style of game, a prominently-distinct artistic style will make it catch attention. Whatever your style is personally should dictate this ‘unique’ design. I watched a video not too long ago that reminds developers to present themselves and their beliefs somehow, in their games.

P.S. please take a peak at my post: http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/124774-Screens-of-HTM?p=839502#post839502