[Feedback] Rage of Magic II - Open Beta Fighter!

[Evanstaul]

Finished Windows bug fixes, please test the new version, thanks!

Rage of Magic II is a fantasy anime-styled side-scrolling beat-em up game with features like full screen super attacks, combo moves, power-ups and lots of enemies. I've finished the changes from the closed beta test. Now I'm releasing an open beta for everyone to try out! It's available on PC, Mac, Linux and Web! Please download it and let me know what you think!

Website: www.rageofmagic.com

Download Now!

• Windows (21MB Exe) - Joystick support, no Java required, NT/XP/2K Only.
• Mac (21MB Zip) - requires Java 1.4
• Linux (21MB Jar) - requires Java 1.4
• Online! (7MB Applet)- requires Java 1.4

Screenshots:

• Splash Screen
• Main Menu
• Player Select
• Gallery (Wren)
• Arena Mode
• Nag Screen
• Arcade Mode: 1 2
• more screenshots and movies ...

Closed Beta Changes (Initials of Tester):

• All spoken dialogs fit in one box (ALL)
• Controls changed back to normal ARROWS and WASD (LJV)
• Player 2 is defaulted to all NUMPAD keys
• Chapter progress shown between levels (LJV)
• Tutorial and Practice improved, shows all keys exactly (ALL)
• Easier to skip movies press ESCAPE (BF)
• All "Buy" changed to "Get" (BF)
• All "Register" changed to "Upgrade" (BF)
• Action-packed final nag screen (BF)
• Level 2 made slightly easier (BF)
• Level 4 made slightly easier (LJV)
• Clerics HP and healing power increased (IM)
• Thomas HP increased, attacks strengthened (IM)
• Thomas protection missions made slightly easier (IM)
• Azrael and Wren super and panic attacks strengthened (IM)
• Fixed Lucette panic attack penalty (IM)
• Fixed trial continue bug (IM)
• Checks to see if more than one instance is running.
• Tutorial always at startup, unless disabled.
• Added new final big-boss character!!

Known Issues:

• Backgrounds too repetitive ($$$)
• Increase resolution of sprites, some sprites ugly ($$$, too late)
• Mouse support (too hard, not yet)
• Voices are not good (my voice!)
• Sprites sometimes jittery when overlapping
• Mac can’t do 512x384, centers on 640x480

Thanks,
T.Suriyathep

[Ricardo C]

Love the artwork! Will download later today

[jeb_]

Aww... I thought it was the classic "Rage of Mages" game, such a disappointment!

[whisperstorm]

You're kidding right? This game is great! Two thumbs up!

[Savant]

The tutorial told me to press [A] to continue. I was unable to figure out what [A] meant so I had to quit out (tried every key/button I could think of). Looked cool though.

[Evanstaul]

[A] means the letter "A" on your keyboard.

If that isn't it let me know if the game has keyboard or control problems.

[Evanstaul]

Wow, after hours of hard research and trial and error, I finally figured all the problems related to Windows and Java. The game only supports Windows 2K/NT/XP not 98/Me. It was bad luck having this issue in open beta, but its ready for another round of testing. I hope its finally resolved. Thanks very much!

Windows (21MB Exe) - Joystick support, no Java required, NT/XP/2K Only.

[AnthemAudio]

Ok....now it works. Great game, already burned through my hour! All I played was Arena. I figured it would be more fun that just the practice mode then I got stuck playing through that.

I didn't mind not being able to grab, though it would have been cool to just do some basic "hip-toss" kind of throws.

Are you intentionally going for retro audio? I think it works well, thought I would consider going with a higher bit-rate for the music. The lo-fidelity of those loops just grates on my ears after a while.

And the attacking dialog needs to be more exciting! Though it did kind of fit with the old Japanese translation technique.

Look me up if you ever want to upgrade your voices. Sounds like a fun project to get in on!

Good luck!

Tony

[Zero]

Hey Evan, Shadow Jen here.
Played the trial and I liked it. Gameplay is much more swift and the battling is more intense now. No problems reported with the windows version. But when you play the Brunette Amazon Arena Stage, it loads the Redhead Amazon Stage and vice versa. Other than that, fantastic. Can't wait for it!

Shadow Jen (Now Zero)

[Zero]

There's another thing I found. Dunno if it's fixable but this is it :

Playing multiplayer. When you try to move left or right and the other player has just done so, you're not able to move. It seems to be when the same command for different characters is used. The game doesn't pick up the other movement and only lets one player move. This happens when moving left and right. Things like strafing/dodging and attacks all work. But just this left/right business.

[Evanstaul]

I heard a similar complaint, I think it has to do with your keyboard. I've tested two players moving all around and it seems to work completely. I have a Microsoft keyboard, if that means anything. If you still think its a problem try to describe step-by-step how I can see the error you're seeing. Thanks!

[arcadetown]

Wow, after hours of hard research and trial and error, I finally figured all the problems related to Windows and Java. The game only supports Windows 2K/NT/XP not 98/Me.

Just wondering, why not 98/Me? Probably not a huge issue as those are getting less and less every month. Yesterday's OS type report for site usage below. But can the game check for supported OS types and display a friendly error message if not supported OS?

Also, I thought you were using Excelsior Jet so why was Java 1.5 neeed?

: 1430152: 1416319: Windows XP
: 58720: 56885: Windows 98
: 58839: 55384: Windows 2000
: 21103: 20934: Windows ME
: 907: 902: Windows NT
: 380: 369: Windows 95

[Jesse Aldridge]

I liked it.

One minor thing: I kept waiting for the tutorial to end and take me in to the main game, but it seems you have to manually quit out of practice mode?

Also, I didn't think the cut-scene dialog was very good. I'd say either make it more interesting or cut it down like arcadetown suggested.

And it's kind of annoying when you knock something into the air and it knocks you down on its way up.

I thought the difficulty was good. I died three times before I got to the end of the demo and felt like I improved each time.

And the demo cutoff point is also good. I really wanted to go after those big purple ogre things.

Not sure if I would buy it or not.

[Evanstaul]

Great I'm glad everything is going well with the Windows version. I will be doing research now on the selling and marketing aspects of it. I hear good things about Mac sales so hopefully I can get some sales from there.

@Anthem: All the audio is cheapo 8000Hz to save space and compatibility. If I make another game I will raise it to at least 11000Hz. And yes, I really wish I had the time and money to do throws, that usually is one of the most fun things in beat-em-ups. I made cool bonuses to compensate.

@Zero: Hey Shadow thanks for trying it out. I will fix those amazon colors!

@arcadetown: I don't use Excelsior because it made the game about 40MB (plus it costs $900+), it was cheaper and smaller bundling the actual JRE (stripped) and using Molebox on it. The Molebox support team fixed my problem, but then it doesn't work on 98/Me. I would have to get support help from them again. But ya I am disappointed that I lost those platforms, because it DOES work without it being Moleboxed.

@Jesse: If you pressed ESC while the tutorial was happening it would quit all the way. But if you wait till it gives you manual control its practice mode. Also the cut-off, I found the best point to annoy people and right before fighting the boss, was a great time! Dialog maybe a bit campy.

[Zero]

As you know I'm using the Windows version of the Trial, and there is one slight thing.
You're given an hour to play the game, see what's there and get the most out of it. My time period ran out a while ago, and I'm still able to play the trial. This could stop people buying the actual game and wait for some crack of it to appear on limewire or something. I dunno, maybe you want to fix it?

Zero.