Battle of Mages - Indie MMO J-RPG [Open Source]

Hello,

please check out these links for more information:

Battle of Mages
Battle of Mages @ Indiegogo (Kickstarter is not available for Germany)
Battle of Mages @ GitHub

Battle of Mages @ Soundcloud
Battle of Mages @ Youtube (coming soon)

Battle of Mages @ Facebook
Battle of Mages @ Google+
Battle of Mages @ Twitter
Battle of Mages @ Reddit

 

I hope you realize, that trying to make an RPG alone requires a LOT more time than you expect? I don't want to discourage you of course, but make you aware that it is very time consuming. I'm trying to make a sort of RPG as well, but more time I spend on it, the more things I find to do.

Anyways, the project seems to be ambitious, wish you all the best and don't loose the faith.

I'll give you more in-depth feedback once I load your game and play it a bit.

EDIT:
Okay, we've played a little. I can see a lot effort put into the engine - I like the way of having multiple elements to manage, but how exactly characters are going to differ from each other? I like the particles and the whole UI (even if it is not finished yet though).

 

Character builds (skills, traits, artifacts and more in the future) as well as different character models.
I'm putting a lot of emphasis on the PvP combat with different skills builds as well as the ranking system.

I just uploaded a new version with many bugfixes. You can see my to do list here: https://www.pivotaltracker.com/s/projects/771309

 

Update 0.2.8:
- Skill charging system: Certain skills can now be charged up to level 3, increasing their damage / radius / or something else
- Orbs flying around you indicating the element you're currently attuned to
- Slightly improved help page (top right corner, the question mark)
- Ice Swords now add ice runes
- Shockwave, Black Hole and Inverse Gravity now also affect rigid bodies on the map

A list of skills which can currently be charged up to level 3:
- Fireball
- Iceball
- Dark Fireball
- Lightball
- Ice Swords
- Ice Wall
- Phoenix Burst
- Inverse Gravity
- Energy Implosion

Servers are permanently online, however you need someone else to test it with as there is no practice mode yet.

 

Really like the music, and it seems really promising. I do indeed wish you good luck

 

Update 0.2.9:
- Lots of bugfixes
- Added exit button for login lobby
- Website improvements
- There is a launcher now, it's downloadable from the website but currently only available for Windows x64 (more platforms will be supported in the future)

Feel free to test it with a friend! (Practice mode is not available yet, sadly).

 

Pretty neat, a variety for characters (gender as well) can make it give it more focus. I look forward to play it out of alpha.

 

Update 0.3.0:
- Increased visibility on cooldown timers
- Increased font size on the main menu
- Show number of skill levels in the help section
- Removed exit button from the web player
- Practice mode that lets you enter solo (type //practice)
- Matches now use the same chat system as the lobby
- Guild tags need at least 2 characters from now on
- Player country is shown in the ranking lists
- Added skill cast voices

Update 0.3.1:
- Ping is now also shown in the bottom right corner
- Rune detonation and cleansing are now shown as text (like CC effects)
- Added a few graphics settings (especially VSync)
- Bugfix: Scoreboard doesn't blink anymore
- Bugfix: Mouse lock should always work now

Update 0.3.2:
- Artifact system
- L1-L3 artifacts will be rewarded after a match
- Bugfix: Launcher will now try to start the game on the 1st monitor

Update 0.3.3:
- AoE circles showing the effect radius
- Circular placement around spawn points at match start
- Early version of the skill build system (still highly experimental)
- Textfield selection via Ctrl + A
- Bugfix: Chat should always work now

Update 0.3.4:
- Added loading screens
- Match will only start after all players connected
- Web ranking list
- Switch chat channel with /g (Global) and /m (Map)
- Colored chat channels
- Map rotation system (however there is still only 1 map)
- Input control settings have been reset for all players (required)
- Artifact bonuses are now shown in the top left corner
- Leaving guilds is now possible as long as you're not the leader

Update 0.3.5:
- Character customization (only color based for now)
- You can hover and fly now (consumes energy)
- Added an intro
- Increased character size
- Changed map chat color
- New character model
- Improved LoS algorithm
- Blizzard skill remake
- Energy Implosion has different delays for each skill level now
- Bugfix: Music switching should work without problems now

Update 0.3.6:
- Town system
- NPC system
- E-Mail is used instead of account names
- You can now view other players' profiles
- Player names need to be clean now
- Very basic gamepad support (experimental)
- First town: Nubek

Update 0.3.7:
- Fixed many bugs that arised from the 0.3.6 update
- You are able to change your password now

Update 0.3.8:
- FFA arenas
- Casts are not ping dependant anymore, no perceivable lag
- Build changes are now instantly applied and can be tested in towns
- E-Mail account activation and increased security
- Password is now saved locally (secure)

Update 0.3.9:
- Introduced 5 new lightning / thunder type skills
- Layed out the basics for VoIP 3D communication
- Popup menu when right clicking players (most of the functionality still missing, though)



I posted more information about it on my blog: Indie MMORPG Project: Battle of Mages

I am desperately looking for a 2D graphics artist who could lend me his awesome skills to make skill icons, GUI or logo design.
If you know someone who would be up for it please let me know.

 

Update 0.4.0:
- Height voice customization
- After a match has been found, players now have 15 seconds to accept it
- Skill icon scale can be set in the options
- Experience percentage is shown as a tooltip
- Improved the scoreboard (damage numbers, column layout)
- Loading screen fades in and out
- You can see all player names in a town by holding Ctrl
- Improved performance for multiple players visible at once
- Improved skill build interface
- VoIP improvements
- Patch notes are shown at login now
- New map for testing: Alpha Tester Grounds
- Started working on friend list features (incomplete)
- Feedback system
- New skills: Freezing Field, Meteor Shower
- Bugfix: Fixed wrong audio listener position after changing game instances

Update 0.4.1:
- Lowered base move speed by 20%
- Reduced Blizzard iceball spawn rate by 33%
- Slightly improved performance of ingame GUI elements
- Bugfix: Corrected default interpolation rate
- Bugfix: Fixed flickering health bars and name labels
- Bugfix: Skill circle size on Black Hole is correct now
- Bugfix: Character was sometimes left in the "running" state, fixed now
- Bugfix: You can not use skills while browsing the main menu
- Bugfix: Name in chat on first login is now correctly displayed

Still looking for 2D artists, 3D artists and programmers.

 

i tried to register... but never got an email back from registration...

kuro@kuroato.com

 

@Kuroato: Hey, thanks for your interest! I checked the server logs:



Are you sure it didn't land in your spam folder? Several people had the problem that it got spam-filtered because it's such a short mail. I'm using gmail smtp to send out those mails and never had a problem with the ~20 registered accounts now, there is gmx, gmail, web, freenet and custom mail servers among the registered accounts. All of them worked. Should I be wrong and this is a mistake on my side, please contact me via Skype (ID: blitzprog) or Twitter because that problem would then need to be fixed.

 

Na, i checked Spam nothing.... and as yo u can see in your log i've tried to resend number of times... nothing shows up.

 

Awesome game! It looks very intetesting

Have your team thought on using kickstarter to finance your project?

Personally I would love to help your project (I'm a UI/Gameplay programmer myself). As soon as I have less workload I'd really like to send you my CV.

Cheers and keep up the amazing job!

 

As far as I know kickstarter doesn't allow projects creators to be outside USA or UK. (but maybe that policy changed)

 

@Kuroato: I'm sorry for the inconvenience, sadly I'm no mail server guru. Would you like me to activate your account manually or do you have the time to do some tests with your mail server and figure out the source of the problem with me in realtime?

@neroziros: Thanks for the kind words, it's all more complex under the hood but I didn't find the time to explain everything yet. I'll be interested in your application.

As for "why no kickstarter", it's because of the reason narwhal-ninja mentioned: Kickstarter doesn't allow citizen outside US or UK, therefore we will probably use Indiegogo in September this year if everything goes smoothly.

 

well i use Microsofts Cloud Exchange Service for my Emails so it's very odd that I wouldn't get it, I get everything else. I honestly don't have time to troubleshoot this with you, but you can activate me manually so i can test out your game. = )

 

Ok it's activated, I'm sorry for the problem, I have no idea what could be the source of it.
You'll need a 2nd person for testing as there are no bots to play against yet.

 

looks interesting!

 

Thanks, working hard on it. I'm currently very focused on getting the underlying system / engine to work as good as possible, that's why the current prototype does have neither beautiful maps nor music included.

First make a perfectly working system, then add the graphical beauty in the last phases.
That's how I like to develop projects, but it leads to the prototype/alpha looking very dull. Please bear with that ^^

 

Looks good so far and it's a pretty cool concept. I'm looking forward to seeing how this one takes shape.

 

Just wanted to let you know about the latest changes, I've invested some time into making the website look better:

http://battleofmages.com/

Kudos to our 3D artist Danila who rendered the background in Blender (though it's temporary).

There is also an AI in the game now:


(dev screenshots do not represent the quality of the final product)

The AI features:

* Threat value based targeting
* Mobs will focus low health targets in your group
* Pathfinding
* Blocks incoming projectiles when it notices them

Currently the servers are offline because I'm working on some big changes, but I can't wait to see this AI in action. It's gonna be tough to fight them, but not because of stats (those are 100% equal to player stats), it's because they actually act intelligently. I always thought AI in MMORPGs was way too simple and wanted to fix that.

It's not just always about graphics. The AI - or simply gameplay in general is the most important aspect for me.

 

Your focused man. I love it. Games coming along well, best of luck til the finish

 

We got a new graphics designer on board who goes by the nickname "Nine" (ニネ), you can see his latest artwork for assassin here:
http://battleofmages.com/classes



If you ask me, his skills are simply amazing.

Joona Lätti composed a new track called "Marketplace", check it out in the playlist here:
https://soundcloud.com/eduard-urbach/sets/battle-of-mages

Programming-wise I'm in the process of doing some major refactoring to improve code maintainability for the future. Making some parts of the code shorter and easier to read to raise the overall quality. This will not bring me any new features but it will reduce the number of bugs in the long run and it also keeps me healthy (I get sick looking at bad code, lol).

In any case we're still looking for people to join us. If you're interested, contact me!

 

Battle of Mages is now Open Source: https://github.com/blitzprog/battle-of-mages

I believe that there is rarely a reason to hide source code nowadays. This repository includes the source code but not the binary assets because I can't include them due to their licenses. However, we're still looking for help!

 

We have some new artwork from ニネ for the Samurai:



There's a lot of coding going on behind the scenes and I'm in the process of upgrading the whole account storage system. The website also received some new features, the basics of the forum are working, however since the account system upgrade is not finished yet it only works with existing accounts and only after a password reset atm.

Currently I'm coding the portals system which allows you to travel between different maps in the world.

We're still recruiting artists and developers so if you'd like to participate in this Open Source project, feel free to contact me!

 

New artwork from Nine (ニネ) again, this time it's the Magus:



The portals system is almost finished, after that I'll have to do a basic map layout of which scenes/maps are going to be needed.

 

:'( I wanted to try it but I have a 32-bit computer...

 

@melidian: I'm sorry. Sadly I will not change the fact that we're using 64-bit builds for testing. At the moment it's the development phase so we don't even have Linux or Mac builds.

Supporting Windows 32-Bit as well would double the amount of time for publishing a new version which is what I want to avoid during development. In the future when we are closer to Beta status I'll probably make both available, in addition to Mac and Linux builds.

Again, I'm sorry for the inconvenience.

 

It's fine I understood I was just sad because the game actually looked fun for being a WIP and I couldn't play haha. Best of luck to you and your game.

 

Just got a message from Danila that he's working on a new enemy type:

 

The portals system is finished, teleporting between scenes works:



There's also a draft for the Shinigami by Nine:

 

NIce work, but I have one complaint and it's not just specific to this game.

Why is it that artists think that art is somehow special and more valuable then code, and refuse to open source it as well? I see this a lot in the game industry and it's frustrating because it's simply not honest to call a game open source if it's not usable without non open source components.

 

Hi @snacktime, I fully agree with you and that's why I personally open-sourced my music.
If you want I can ask the graphics and music artists to provide the sources as well, but everyone has his own opinion about it.

The reason binary assets are not included in the GitHub repositories is because we use some bought assets which can't simply be put up on a public git repository. Please understand that this is not possible from a legal perspective.

 

This is quite interesting. I will keep an or two or tree on this project. Best of luck to you guys and gals!

 

Shinigami artwork by ニネ has been finished:



I might release 0.4.4 this weekend which is mainly a test for the map portals and makes the accounts ingame and on the website absolutely equal (unlike now).

 

0.4.4 is released now and in order to upgrade the account system we had to reset all passwords.

The scenes are basically all dummies now but you can teleport between them and it saves your position. The arena and FFA map have been changed. A very simple tutorial exists now which should show new players how to fly.

 

New scythe by "Hunter", 6k tris:

 

New track for the Endless Mountains dungeon, composed by Hakaru:

Battle of Mages - Dragon Slayer

 

Here's the new archer draft from ニネ:



The next version 0.4.5 will include dynamic map downloads via asset bundles. This has the advantage that we can update maps without releasing a new client. The bugs mentioned on the forums from version 0.4.4 should be fixed as well.

 

Update 0.4.5 has just been released.

 

Update 0.4.6 is online, it includes an Experience system and Open World PvP. You can kill other players for exp now.

 

Just logged in to say that this is just amazing , keep working.

 

New track by 月下美人 feat. Lemm, this will be used in a story scene:
Aster

 

Nine (ニネ) just finished the colorized version of the archer artwork.



High-res version (this is 2000 -> 600 downscale) will be available in the future, maybe we'll integrate it into a perk.

 

Hello everyone,

we would like to ask you - the Unity community: If our campaign started now which perk would you choose and why?

It is work in progress (and video is not available yet) and we are editing the campaign at this very moment so some things might change while you're viewing it. The perks above Founder (150$) are basically dummies.

What would you criticize? Are there some questions popping up that you can't find an answer for?
Please give us some feedback on how we can improve the campaign to your liking.

 

Danila's W.I.P. building:



We're working on update 0.4.7 atm.

 

keep up the good work, if you want to attract more users,
please upload youtube videos so we can learn what this game is about.

 

Any one have this lastest this project ?