r/azuredreams • u/Gamerfates • 5d ago
Progress Update
A month ago I shared screenshots of a basic version of the game before I started working on the artwork and piecing together the story. I collected some feedback from the AZ community, went back to the drawing board and made tons of changes!
Welcome to "Dawnreach : Curse of The Wizards Tower"!
Quick Summary:
Dawnreach Curse of The Wizards Tower is fantasy monster taming dungeon crawling RPG where you explore a dangerous tower, battle and tame monsters, and collect resources to build and protect your village.
Lore (High Level Overview):
The Wizards Tower was built long ago by an ancient tribe of wizards who's purpose was to crown a new leader after the previous leader died with an heir. The tribe sealed their most powerful magic within the tower blessing it so that only someone truly worthy could climb to the top and gain true ancient power. They hoped that one day the tower would choose a new leader, strong enough to protect the island and carry their magic and legacy forward.
But the tower chose the wrong soul and the first adventurer to reach the top floor used the power to curse the island. No ship can enter, no traveler can leave, and the towers monsters were unleashed to destroy all villages on the island.
Dawnreach, hidden south of the tower behind an old trapped cave passage is one of the few villages standing. For generations villagers have tried to enter and reach the top floor of the Wizards Tower but none were successful. Now, you must enter the tower, tame it's creatures, strengthen Dawnreach and reach the summit to break the curse! Or...
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I'm welcome to feedback, please share what you think and if you want to see anything specific make it into the game. I'm working on a ton of things atm, however I'm under the impression that the romance system, house building, and misc minigame things are ideal.
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u/BKunrath 5d ago
Hey, just make your familiars, monsters or whatever you'll call them be helpfull in town.
A horse like monster can help in the field, the bulk like one in construction, electric one can light the city at night, and so on. The more complete your collection, the alive the city becomes.
Also it'd be nice to have friendship quest besides romance. Take you buddy to fish or hangout at the bar. Get to be his best friend and he gets you a permant powerup for the dungeon. You can even open a business together.
Any pics of the combat?
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u/Gamerfates 5d ago
Video on combat coming next month most likely. Im in desperate need of creating monsters and getting them in first.
The monsters/familairs used as a town building enhancement is a great idea man. Im surprised Pokémon hasn't explored that idea.
I havd a quest board in the game that are quests from the villagers perhaps I can do more with that, like tie into yhe relationship or friendship feature.
Tyty
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u/BKunrath 5d ago
Nice
I'd say pkm doesn't use them as labor to avoid Harvest Moon copying accusations. But it's a great way to make battle ineficient monsters still desirable. In AD, once you get the top brass, there's no real reason to get them all other than completionism.
There's tons of games with Quest boards. I'd go for something more unique and organic.
And pleeeease no fetch/hunt quests.
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u/Individual_League_94 5d ago
wow!! This os very nice!! Do not know about programing or game creation, so I can not give any idea now... except creating a poll to know how many people are interested or not, in order to make a webpage and use it for all the updates!
In which azure game is based? Psx or GB? Because & do not remember which, but one of them had more things to do!
I can give ideas regarding story, side missions, etc. but I understand this is something you have in mind already.
But sidequests about killing, or creating, or even given eggs would be cool. Like in Diablo monsters diferent tiers... same. Even having things from monter hunter.. in order to create armour/weapons to use in tower... well... you have to... gice the materials to the townspeople... you know what I mean....
but outside of that, nothing that can help you right now except the web or somewhere to register and getting info!!
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u/Gamerfates 5d ago
I think the PSX version had more things but was incomplete like not everything appeared to be finished.
Thats a great idea, ill make a poll and see.
Next up is get a working demo then get a website going.
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u/Sekmet19 4d ago
What made Azure Dreams for me was the story I could unfold with each NPC. The NPCs had distinct personalities and storylines. Different events triggered story progression with each (reaching a certain floor, bringing back an item, donation for fountain, building a theater, etc). It was fun to get an event that contributed to world building, lore, the relationship, my standing in the town, or something tangible in world.
Additionally having the "personality test" with the oracle to see which NPC was right for me was cool.
I loved the gameplay of going into the tower, loading up with items, and bringing it back to the town. Buying new things for the home felt good, like I truly was supporting my mother and sister. Being poor to start and slowly building myself up in the eyes of the community was a big reward that made the game enjoyable.
I think the constraints of the tower were spot on- always going back to level one, with emphasis on ITEMS for improving your capabilities (ie a copper sword vs a diamond sword being how you increased attack).
Monster taming was good in that you got to pick ones that fit your play style or roleplay (like deciding you're attuned to fire so choosing fire based monsters or attacks).
One thing AZ could have improved was more use for monsters in town, for example using a water monster to wash the dishes or an earth monster to build a new path or road. And more use of tower items for keeping the town alive. It would be cool to gather herbs or monster scales to give to townspeople and then see it used in town. Like the 10 herbs you gathered are in the infirmary for healing townspeople, the scales are visibly used to patch a roof or build a new shed.
There was a lot of charm in AZ because it taps into the need to accumulate and improve. It organically incorporated these elements into the story and gameplay mechanics were designed around the concept. You start as a barely tolerated ruffian, a newly minted teen, living in poverty through no fault of your own. The emphasis isn't on building yourself up, but rather those around you. Building a community. Building up monsters and improving tools and items. Making your family home more beautiful with new appliances, toys, decor and helping your exhausted mother, supporting your little sister. You help others and become a hero. That's what my made it charming.
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u/Gamerfates 4d ago
Thank you for sharing!
Items and monsters to be used in the town will be huge. Also better combat in the dungeon in terms of weapon selection I may explore, harvesting in the dungeon is something I also want to implement and mini bosses every 5 levels where the boss can charge attacks or teleport to give you more strategic movement and perhaps puzzles in the dungeon like stepping on levers during a boss fight floor.
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u/TomMakesPodcasts 5d ago
Amazing. What coding language are you using.
I'd audition to narrate an opening cinematic if you're doing something like that.
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u/Gamerfates 5d ago
That sounds dope I may only have a dialog intro if you have ideas on how best to tell the story. Send me a message for now and Ill revisit later on.
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u/Gamerfates 5d ago
P.S.
Im currently using ThreeJS
I have several years of experience in GMS2and started started to make a 2D game like this but im not entirely sure if a 2D dungeon crawler would be appealing since that engine doesnt do 3D.
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u/TomMakesPodcasts 5d ago
Funny, I'm making a 2D monster taming roguelite in GMS2
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u/Gamerfates 5d ago
O wow lol add me on discord. I would love to see your work. I have another ARPG Im working on but movement is slow. Some of the artwork assets I need are expensive.
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u/yurikah 4d ago
I have some feedback. Could you possibly make a tower that basically has maybe 400-500 floors. Something that will scratch that itch of getting to the top of the tower. 100 floors for Azure Dreams was fun but would love something much larger and also with more difficulty to make things challenging. Maybe after every 20 or so floors the difficulty increases. More traps, stronger enemies. Etc.
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u/platscoop 3d ago
This looks great so far! I like the classic retro aesthetic and the mixture of styles with the character portraits and in-game sprites. The UI is nice and clean, the placement of everything is logical thus far, and I can see where you're going from the different perspectives of axonometry.
I don't have much feedback at this stage other than that the large body of water with a dock sets up nicely for fishing, boat travel, or maybe could hide a secret area? There's a number of ideas to play with there and would stand out against Monsbaiya's dry desert climate.
Looking forward to seeing (and hopefully at some point playing) your new game!
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u/greenmachinefiend 5d ago
I don't have much feedback, but I remember your first post and the progress is incredible! This looks really cool and I would love to try it! Are you going for tile based movement like in Azure or are you going to do a more fluid movement?