Alpha of TierraMon, my blind accessible audio game, is available!


Hello everyone!

For the #CrunchlessChallenge I decided I would start working on TierraMon, and after a month of work, there is now a playable version of TierraMon! It's not long, but it shows off many of the core mechanics that will be present throughout the game and introduces you to the world!

Here is what you can do in this version!

1. Explore 2 different levels

2. Capture up to 12 different TierraMon with around 40 different moves and 4 types.

3.  Level up TierraMon

4. Use 8 special items, all with unique effects.

5. Help me balance the game from an early stage

6. Auto save!

7. Navigate without any vision. It's an audio game, meaning all you need is headphones, a keyboard, and mouse to play!


So let's talk about what Alpha means to me! In this day and age, developers will release alpha projects as finished, use "early access" to mean anything, and released projects will be in permanent beta! So I want to be very up front with what "alpha" means!


I go by the definition of Alpha not having all the features of the completed game. So here are a list of features that are missing!

1. The TierraSmith - The ability to modify your TierraMon with special modifications that will change moves, base stats, and the like. These usually are not upgrades, but modifications. Replacing moves, making health higher, but attack lower, things like that. 

2. Tutorial section - If you press "enter" you will be told there is a tutorial in there... that is not the case yet! Since mechanics are changing at this point, I decided to hold off until everything is set in stone. But there is a readme available to check that I will update as new features are added!

3. Ability to revisit old zones - as new zones are added, old ones will become available for revisit, and on each revisit mini bosses that provide a challenge to the current party will be there, as a way to capture more powerful TierraMon, find rare items, and encourage players to revisit old zones.

4. Empowering - Also called Evolution in other games, through the missions you will have the ability to take your TierraMon to brand new and powerful forms.

5. A total of 13 missions and their bosses - As part of alpha each level will need to be reachable, and their special effects need to be working.

6. Story cave - As you do missions, new NPCs will visit your camp, commenting on what you're up too, what's going on in the world, and offering hints into what may come later. This will hopefully help players feel like they are part of a larger world!


Once all of these features are added in, then I will move on to Beta! Beta stage will be all about fleshing out the mechanics, balancing mechanics, fixing bugs, and turning a very rough frame into a work of art!


But after this month spent focusing on this project I feel very optimistic for the future of it, and look forward to all your feedback and help!


Follow @TierraMonDev for daily updates!

Files

TierraMonAlpha1.zip 36 MB
Nov 30, 2021

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Alpha 5 review:

the f1 thing worked fine, so I'm starting a new play through.

Obsidian heart:

I'm in the tutorial mission at rookie's road now. During my first fight, I pressed x and it told me my health (my Tierramon's that is) but not the enemy's health. Battle controls are a bit slow to respond, but they do work.

During my second fight in the tutorial, the x key worked fine during battle and told me my Tierramon's and the enemy Tierramon's health. Will continue to report on this issue if it keeps up later.

The x key seems to work fine in battle now. I'm on the third battle and it's reporting both me and my opponent's health properly now. Since it;s now working, I'm glad I mentioned it in case it's now a minor bug or something.

Was just thinking of something ... During fights, I still forget what some moves do, but this will fix that. If say your Tierramon uses life drain, you could have the game say that it it regained health and whatever that amount is. Your game currently doesn't say how much damage moves are doing either, which could be helpful as well. The same could be said for the enemy Tierramons too; have the game say when they do damage how much they did and if they regain health, how much. Not an actual bug or anything obviously, just things to consider adding. Basically what I'm saying here is that in order to keep me (and others who might have this problem) from forgetting what moves do and avoiding needing to report what they do in a long description, just say what a move is doing when it's used in a short-form way. You could have something like this:

Obsidian heart (my Tierramon) I choose life drain (which is already reported obviously). Immediately after life drain is used, you could say "does x amount of damage (insert damage amount here) and then gains x amount of health (insert health amount here). This could work for other moves too, such as provoking blow "raised Tierramon's attack."

Another thing to possibly add. I tend to play my obsidian heart with using provoking blow to strengthen my attacks, using life drain to regain health, and also using the aggressive move with it brawl (decreases my own health). I got to thinking that you should maybe put one of those healing things (I just passed one in the tutorial) that you walk on to heal your Tierramons in the camp. It would definitely make things easier and then you would know that your Tierramons are healed before you go out to fight anything. You could put it near (maybe due south of) the Tierramon storage thing so it would be easy to find.

Another thing to add. I was just remembering this as I talk to the Gavin guy who tells you he's expanded the camp and also mentions that you got shards and found capture stones. It doesn't get reported how many stones you get and you can't find that out until you actually capture a Tierramon. I was thinking of two things with this.

1. When you get the capture stones there, you could have the game report that like "gained x amount of capture stones."

2. Though you won't be able to equip them like with say a health shard, put the Tierra capture stones as an inventory item in the menu to access by pressing enter (the managementt menu). You could have the stones either be reported by pressing a key at that point, or have them be a separate thing in this menu. For instance, a place for equip items where you would then find stuff like health shards and empowerment shards like what you see now and then one for other items, such as the capture stones, which you would interact with only by finding out how many you have. You could also put a section here for reporting how many tierra shards you have too as currency as well here. So you could maybe put in the management menu here press 1 for equip items and then have them listed and be able to equip them, press 2 for capture stones and then be able to either press another key to report how many you have or just have it say that automatically when you choose this, and then press 3 to report your tierra shards (money). I think this would make the most sense and covers all the things I've listed in this portion that could be added to the management menu.

I was just looking at the management menu and some of what I wanted here already exists. So using the layout now, you could keep tutorial as press 1, keep equip items as press 2, add press 3 for capture stones (to report how many there are,) and press 4 for tierra shards (money) to report how many there are. I think this would fix all the issues I was having with not knowing how many capture stones and also how many tierra shards (money) you have. And then just have the game report when you gain items (like you did when you gain tierra shards in the field actually) when you gain the capture shards and Gavin tells you about it. You could have it report that last bit like when you find tierra shards on the ground. have the game say "you recieved x amount of capture stones" or "you found x amount of stones" and that should fix this issue. What I'm basically saying here is like with a pokemon game since you used some influences from those, just report when you get an item (not when you buy one, when you get it outside of that) all the time, andd not just when you pick it up. A pokemon game would say (insert name) recieved the Pokedex when you get it (and also say it was put in your bag). The bag part isn't needed here, but that's the idea.

Another thing I was thinking of was when I was equipping a health shard to my obsidian heart just now. Obsidian hearts (any way you play them I think) and also other Tierramons like Crystal heart, end up loosing health rather quickly. Health shards will help with that, but here's another idea (this'll be a bit long, just stick with me).

I saw on audiogames.net on your alpha tierramon thread that someone (forget who) mentioned mining. I was thinking that you could add mining spots in the game and have the game report them like it would report any other alert. You could then have the player walk up to them and press e to have their tierramon mine for stuff (I was thinking tierra shards as money here, but you could put in the occasional health shard or empowerment shard or something too). That way, you could gain money much quicker and be able to buy those health shards to make sure your tierramon doesn't get knocked out as fast.

The reason I mention this too is that during the first mission I remember having my tierramons fainting a lot so having more tierra shards to buy more health shards is a good idea. And I mean the first mission, not the tutorial mission.

Another thing I was thinking is that you could add naming your tierramons into the game. You could add a section in the management menu for checking your tierramon's health, moves (to review what they do,) and anything else you think is necessary there like what move type they specialize in (aggressive, defensive, etc.). With the model above, you could add press 5 to view your tierramon and then put press 1 for health and stats and have those reported, press 2 for moves and have details on moves reported, and then press 3 for move specialty (obsidian heart is strongest with aggressive moves for example).

When I was doing my first fight in the first mission I got a code error. I was trying to capture the topaz heart bod and the topaz was on very low health (and so was my obsidian heart) and I got the error. Will restart the game and try again to see if this happens again. I restared the game and it seems that the error didn't happen. I was able to fight the topaz heart bod and then capture it.

Got another code error during the next fight though unfortunately. When I restarted the first time, it took me back to camp (which was my previous location) and also took away the health shard I'd had equipped even though the battle never finished. This second time I restarted the game I kept my health shard. Don't know what's up with that. I do find it weird that I was started back at camp again with my obsidian heart and topaz heart now though when I restarted. i was at the first mission when I got the code error; it's like the game thinks I lost the last battle but the thing with the health shard makes no sense.

I got another code error (same as the last two). I'm fighting a crystal heart glarold (think that's how you spell it) when it happens. I use the preparing move (to do damage when the enemy next attacks me) and the glarold uses a move and I get the error. The glarold is using punishing blow and I even tried using another move (provoking blow) and I still get the error then too. 

error:

___________________________________________

############################################################################################

ERROR in

action number 1

of  Step Event0

for object oCombat:

Variable Index [0] out of range [0]

at gml_Script_scTierraSwitch

############################################################################################

gml_Script_scTierraSwitch (line -1)

gml_Object_oCombat_Step_0

I got around the issue with glarold (and I think it's just that fight and that tierramon at this point for the error I was having). I restarted the game again after the error and fought the topaz bod again, then went back to fight where the glarold was (the second fight in the first mission). It gave me a zinia (think that's how you spell it) and I captured it without any errors.

Another issue. I used the map to get me back to camp after catching that Zinia (silver heart by the way) and it brought me back to camp fine -I did it just in case going to camp would heal me, but not sure it did-. Anyway, the issue came when I tried to walk around after that. I could hear my footsteps, but I wasn't going anywhere. I never ran into a wall and when I tried turning, nothing happened. It's like I went into a glitchy area or the game glitched when I used the map function to go back to camp.

I fought the glarold again and was able to defeat it without an error. I was using the zinia to fight with though and am wondering if this area (the first mission) doesn't like it when your starter (obsidian heart for me) fights them at this spot (the second battle in the first mission if it's glarold). Or maybe the issue is when yu try to catch the Glarold and not capture it?

I just got to the end of the tutorial. It mentions how it's the last mission and whatnot, I went forward, heard an interact thing (sign I think) and then I got the error. Not sure what the interact was since the error popped up before I could check.

error:

___________________________________________

############################################################################################

ERROR in

action number 1

of Create Event

for object oCombat:

Push :: Execution Error - Variable Index [41] out of range [34] - -5.tierraMons(100014,41)

at gml_Object_oCombat_Create_0

############################################################################################

gml_Object_oCombat_Create_0 (line -1).

One more thing to add. When your tierramon dies and the next one is sent out, I tend to have trouble figuring out which tierramon is sent out after. You could have the game say "your tierramon is down I'll send out the next one" and then say "sent out (insert tierramon name)" and it should fix this I think.

Well, that's it for now. I was able to continue after to the end of the alpha after i restarted so there's that. I've captured all tierramons in the game I can now too, so that's possible without errors too. Tried out most items and they seem to work.

Also, say when the manamon uses a lesser empower (or any empower shards) is a good idea to add. It says when they use health shards, but saying when empower shards are used would be a good idea too.

Wow wonderful feedback! Thank you so much for being so thorough! 


I'm going to have to add some of these things as features I want to add as you brought up some good approaches to things I need to add, and I'll keep on looking for those bugs! The logic for battling is really complex so I'm not shocked there are still bugs, but hopefully I'll catch them all soon with your help!

Found that annoying bug!


Soooo every time I tested, I did things the exact same way, because it's the fastest way to test. Turns out to have that error happen, you have to die in a certain scenario, after event 1, but before event 3. Anyway, I'm uploading a new version that fixes just that bug here in a little bit. thank you so much as always!

Oh, it fixes a small bug then (the newest alpha). That's good.

I was confused about that so posted another topic for it. Gonna go see if I can delete that now since it's not actually necessary.


I can't fight Tierramon at all. Sometimes the keys don't work at all and sometimes they're really slow to respond. I'm continuing with the Obsidian heart I started with before in the other alpha review and this is what happens. I can now go to the first mission that's outside of the tutorial, I pass the two signs there and then go west and try to go west and fight/capture the Bod Tierramon (the topaz heart one). During the fight, I can't do anything sometimes and the x key for checking health doesn't work at all. The battle controls only sometimes work and sometimes they're kind of slow.

Also, I don't understand what you meant about restarting the game. The Tierramon game stuff is stored on my external hard drive and nothing's installed on my computer, so the location you mentioned makes no sense to me for deleting my save file. Is it supposed to start me off where I was during the last alpha I tried too? I was using Alpha 1 and when I went to alpha 4 it started me off where i was last in the previous alpha I tried.

That is very strange that battles are being bugged! And I'll just make it a priority to make it so you can select to start a new game then!

Alpha review

First of all, love the music. it's very instrumental in making this sound like an actual world instead of just a flat map. It will get distracting at times I'm sure though when moving around and searching for things, so I'm glad you can pause it if necessary. Keep the music (it's great like I said,) just glad you can pause it if necessary is all. I do suggest making it so you can turn it down as well (maybe pressing tab once pauses it and then pressing tab again will lower the music a bit, then again will lower it more, then again to make it go back to normal). I suggest this cause for me playing for instance, I tend to like game music but sometimes turn it down as it can get rather loud with voices in the game talking too (though I haven't found that issue with the alpha yet). Just suggestions here.

Obsidian heart:

During a fight near the end of the rookie road I had a little issue when I tried to check my Tierramon's health. It said what my enemy's health was but not mine. It actually said your Tierramon has and then nothing and then your enemy has 30 percent health.

All of the items look interesting to buy. It's also nice to see more than just Tierra stones for capturing things as well. I'll try all of the items out eventually, but for now (first play through) I'm just starting with the stones to level up mostly. 

I had an issue with the menu for equipping things. It first said health shard 3 and then greater empower stone. The problem though was that once I was hovering on greater empower stone, I couldn't go up or down and find health shard again. I could see the health shards again once I pressed escape and went back into the menu though. Equipping the health shard itself went fine after I figured that out though. I can't actually start the first mission for some reason. I'm standing in front of the tram and the guy tells you what to do, but then when I try to press enter to go on the tram, it brings up the menu instead. And again, I'm right where I should be and can't select to actually continue. I suggest having the interact key here be a number (say 1 for example) like when you started off at rookie road to fix this. I don't know how easy that will be to fix, but since there's this issue, it might work.

I've tried to go on the tram twice now and it still won't let me do it. I'm going to try the other starters now and see if they work.

And I can't actually try out the other starters now since it auto saved. I suggest putting in a continue feature and a new game feature to fix this. Maybe press 1 for continue and press 2 for new game in the starting up screen of the game. And I would say have maybe 4 slots available for saving so that you can try out all the starters.

As I am unable to continue right now, I have to stop here.

Other than what I've said needs a little work, pretty good so far.

suggestions for improvements:

1. multiple save slots (see above for more on that).

2. ability to turn music down or off entirely if needed. Maybe add an options portion (and use maybe 3 to access it) on the starting up screen. You could have the options be 1 for turn off music, 2 for loud (what the volume is now for the alpha,) 3 for medium (slightly softer than it is now,) 4 for soft (softer than the medium, but not completely turned off). Again, this isn't actually needed, but music might get distracting at times when navigating, so that's why I put it here.

3. Since there are a bunch of things here that use numbers for keys already, why not do that with the equipment management menu? You could fix the issue I had with not finding all items to equip to a Tierramon by assigning numbers to the items in your menu such as 1 for the greater empowerment stone and then 2 for the health shard. How it would work is that whatever item is in the list would get a number associated with it such as greater empowerment shard (first item in list) would be 1 and then health shard (second item) would be 2.

4. Change option for getting on the tram from enter (for accessing first mission to continue on from camp) to a number key such as 1 for like when you went to rookie's road. Hopefully, this'll fix the issue I had with not being able to continue.

5. Not sure how the Tierramon storage works in the alpha, but maybe assign numbers to the Tierramon stored there as well. Say you have three Tierramon with you and then caught one and it's now in the storage. You could press the number of the Tierramon you want once in the storage to change out, then press enter, then press say 1 again to select the new Tierramon to change with the existing one you have with you, then press enter again to confirm it. I remember having a few issues with the storage in the previous versions, so that's why I mention this.

Look forward to seeing how this continues to develop and I did have fun with the parts I could play so far.

Thank you for all the feedback!

I fixed the bug preventing you from getting on the tram, so you should be able to play!


All great suggestions, and things I'm trying to figure out how to address. I feel like I've made an absolute mess of key standards! I keep realizing I've double bound keys all over the place. I guess now I know I need to keep a document for what keys do what!


As for deleting the game, if you go to %appData% - "local" and delete the "tierramon" folder, that will restart the game. Will add an option to redo moves soon! 

This looks good so far. Gonna check it out tonight and put my feed back either here or on the other thread I created.