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Author Topic: Expeditionaries (Android/iOS)  (Read 5264 times)

TTHSK

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Expeditionaries (Android/iOS)
« on: October 24, 2018, 04:47:19 pm »

I've been working on another Android game, "Expeditionaries". It's a first person rpg with crafting, strange combat, randomly generated maps/quests/puzzles and a plot about digging too greedily and deeply. Overall, it's meant to be kind of an exploration rpg - combat is there, but you're meant to wander around and poke stuff instead of mostly getting into fights.

Edit: The game has recently reached the 'initial release' state; with the initial content/plot/gameplay all present. I hope you guys have fun with it and I'm looking forward to any feedback (and bug reports :D).


iOS link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/expeditionaries/id1443982189?mt=8
Android link: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.expeditionariesteam.expeditionaries
Android opt-in beta link: https://play.google.com/apps/testing/com.expeditionariesteam.expeditionaries
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« Last Edit: January 02, 2019, 07:19:12 pm by TTHSK »
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Dorsidwarf

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Re: Expeditionaries (Android)
« Reply #1 on: October 25, 2018, 05:29:11 am »

Not my cup of tea, but I like the old-RPG aesthetic
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Paul

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Re: Expeditionaries (Android)
« Reply #2 on: October 28, 2018, 05:08:17 pm »

Tried it a bit. Keeps freezing up when trying to load missions so I couldn't get far enough to have any real feedback. What are the min reqs? I'm using a dinky LG Stylo 3 on android 7.
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TTHSK

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Re: Expeditionaries (Android)
« Reply #3 on: October 28, 2018, 06:25:01 pm »

Tried it a bit. Keeps freezing up when trying to load missions so I couldn't get far enough to have any real feedback. What are the min reqs? I'm using a dinky LG Stylo 3 on android 7.

Thanks for trying it out ^^

I'm not entirely sure on the requirements, but it runs slowly on my old Moto G 3rd gen when not in the low quality mode, and mostly fine when it is on low quality. It runs well on my Galaxy s6 Edge - unfortunately I don't have access to too many phones + not too great of a feel for how the ones I do have compare so I can't give a complete answer on minimum requirements, sorry.

Looking at the specs of your phone it should run - do any areas at all load? (the hub should be less memory intensive, but it's accessed after the first of the (skippable) introductory missions).

Ah, and I actually need to give the most recent version a try on my older phone - I may have increased the memory requirements after adding some new content.
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Paul

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Re: Expeditionaries (Android)
« Reply #4 on: October 28, 2018, 08:18:25 pm »

The initial missions loaded fine. I did the first couple, which set up the hub with the npcs. Then it tells me to do 3 random missions, but those won't load. It just freezes and even waiting 15 mins never had it leave the loading screen. I'm not sure if all types do, but I tried a random one from each dude and it keeps freezing. Managed to do one gather mission in a dungeon but that was the only one that loaded. The shops freeze sometimes too it seems. Maybe an item issue? Is there a debug log or anything I can get for you?
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TTHSK

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Re: Expeditionaries (Android)
« Reply #5 on: October 29, 2018, 12:11:08 am »

The initial missions loaded fine. I did the first couple, which set up the hub with the npcs. Then it tells me to do 3 random missions, but those won't load. It just freezes and even waiting 15 mins never had it leave the loading screen. I'm not sure if all types do, but I tried a random one from each dude and it keeps freezing. Managed to do one gather mission in a dungeon but that was the only one that loaded. The shops freeze sometimes too it seems. Maybe an item issue? Is there a debug log or anything I can get for you?

Thanks a lot for the details - I've managed to reproduce similar misbehaviour. I think it's memory related (I've discovered that items in particular were causing a build up over time, and between maps things weren't being unloaded properly). Have you tried the low quality mode? It reduces the memory used by textures and might help the missions load for now (it should be able to be toggled in the settings menu). If you feel like giving it another try later, I'll have a new version up with some fixes around the end of the week (I hope - it looks like I have to do some memory management instead of just relying on the garbage collector so it's something I have to be careful with).
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TTHSK

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Re: Expeditionaries (Android)
« Reply #6 on: November 03, 2018, 03:07:52 am »

The initial missions loaded fine. I did the first couple, which set up the hub with the npcs. Then it tells me to do 3 random missions, but those won't load. It just freezes and even waiting 15 mins never had it leave the loading screen. I'm not sure if all types do, but I tried a random one from each dude and it keeps freezing. Managed to do one gather mission in a dungeon but that was the only one that loaded. The shops freeze sometimes too it seems. Maybe an item issue? Is there a debug log or anything I can get for you?

There's a new version up now that should hopefully help with memory issues (which I think was the case for you), if you have some time and want to check it out. Fingers crossed I've improved things enough for it to work :)
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Starver

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Re: Expeditionaries (Android)
« Reply #7 on: November 05, 2018, 09:30:10 pm »

I meant to come back here to tell you I was testing it, only just remembered. Prior to that last update I was getting it quitting on me, but it hasn't done since then.

As the drop-out (straight back to home-screen, no error-reporting dialogue presenting itself) during the Loading screen upon accepting the Find Everyone mission, I had instead had most fun walking past the rock (supposed to be possible?) to look for everyone 'out there', pulling the lever you put there then working out the combat mechanics through necessity as that whole platoon materialises in my cross-hairs.

Had some trouble trying to swap in a new held weapon (during mission/battle), but once I'd got the pistol in hand it was basically my sole weapon. It used to reload automatically when going into inventory (doing nothing) then backing out again, but the cooldown that uses movement-time to happen that occurs since the update let me go on actual missions is probably what you intended.

Occasionally the camp-ground sprites have been missing (green cross-hairs in place, for shop/mission/useless-chat purposes, but no actual figure at the nexus), but that seems to be stable enough now. The creature icons in the mission 'briefing' are obviously taken from a subset (waiting on extra art?) and that may translate to the enemies I encounter out there in the mission itself, but as I'm still grinding unupgraded mission-lists (of all kinds) I haven't encountered anything I can't out-pistol so tend not to care what is in the cross-hairs of my bespoke crafted silver-silver-(strong?)wood pistol.

I've also gone for a set of copper+darkwood tools, though only really used the pick and saw, so far. And though I can't seem to get anything labelled as heat/acid/cold/etc resistant by making it with a mixture of the requisite materials. Not sure if I'm doing it right.

Oh, and I've no idea what gas looks like, and if I've encountered it, since the first of my crafts was a gas-mask and it seemed a good precautionary element of attire. Sometimes a defeated creature leaves a sphere on it's expiry spot (as well as the reward materials that come my way) and I haven't been able to work out if it's good or bad to walk through them and disperse/absorb whatever-it-is. Must keep an eye on the whole game-display and work out what changes. ;)


One interesting dungeon-type level, BTW, spawned with all the walls shifted maybe a grid-unit. Instead of square/rectangular sealed rooms (apart from doors), there were gaps/overlaps at each corner (like an octothorne/#, but with every other point and continuation into the central square being missing.

The enemies didn't seem to mind, though, they just wandered around as much as they normally might, as I ducked in and out of the complex, tempting them out if I felt like it. (I think that that mission was for resource-gathering, rather than kills, but grinding's grinding and best to get the non-mission gathering done before triggering the end-condition! And hopefully either in the spirit of the game you want me to play or something you'll tune down when you later refine the necessary play-style to reach completion.)
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TTHSK

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Re: Expeditionaries (Android)
« Reply #8 on: November 08, 2018, 05:53:49 pm »

Long feedback! Thanks a ton for taking the time Starver.

I meant to come back here to tell you I was testing it, only just remembered. Prior to that last update I was getting it quitting on me, but it hasn't done since then.
Awesome; good to know some of what I changed helped it run better.

As the drop-out (straight back to home-screen, no error-reporting dialogue presenting itself) during the Loading screen upon accepting the Find Everyone mission, I had instead had most fun walking past the rock (supposed to be possible?) to look for everyone 'out there', pulling the lever you put there then working out the combat mechanics through necessity as that whole platoon materialises in my cross-hairs.
I think you're the first person to find that :D

Had some trouble trying to swap in a new held weapon (during mission/battle), but once I'd got the pistol in hand it was basically my sole weapon. It used to reload automatically when going into inventory (doing nothing) then backing out again, but the cooldown that uses movement-time to happen that occurs since the update let me go on actual missions is probably what you intended.
It should reload automatically in the camp area (in the camp area, changing gear forces a stat 'reset'), but not otherwise - was it possible to reload in that way during a mission? During missions you can't muck around with your inventory (although you can swap items around from your toolbelt (the quick bar sort of bit) during missioins) - I should gray it out or something so it's obvious why things won't equip.

Occasionally the camp-ground sprites have been missing (green cross-hairs in place, for shop/mission/useless-chat purposes, but no actual figure at the nexus), but that seems to be stable enough now. The creature icons in the mission 'briefing' are obviously taken from a subset (waiting on extra art?) and that may translate to the enemies I encounter out there in the mission itself, but as I'm still grinding unupgraded mission-lists (of all kinds) I haven't encountered anything I can't out-pistol so tend not to care what is in the cross-hairs of my bespoke crafted silver-silver-(strong?)wood pistol.
There's an odd problem that's causing the sprites to not swap over properly when the graphics level changes that is the usual cause of the npcs disappearing; I haven't been able to pin it down. Weirdly it doesn't usually affect the enemies... And, yep, still getting art for the enemies (and some areas).

I've also gone for a set of copper+darkwood tools, though only really used the pick and saw, so far. And though I can't seem to get anything labelled as heat/acid/cold/etc resistant by making it with a mixture of the requisite materials. Not sure if I'm doing it right.

Oh, and I've no idea what gas looks like, and if I've encountered it, since the first of my crafts was a gas-mask and it seemed a good precautionary element of attire. Sometimes a defeated creature leaves a sphere on it's expiry spot (as well as the reward materials that come my way) and I haven't been able to work out if it's good or bad to walk through them and disperse/absorb whatever-it-is. Must keep an eye on the whole game-display and work out what changes. ;)
Spheres are loot - I may need to make them more obviously goodies. Should be green for items and yellow for money, but it may have odd colours if there's trouble with the shaders or similar.

One interesting dungeon-type level, BTW, spawned with all the walls shifted maybe a grid-unit. Instead of square/rectangular sealed rooms (apart from doors), there were gaps/overlaps at each corner (like an octothorne/#, but with every other point and continuation into the central square being missing.

The enemies didn't seem to mind, though, they just wandered around as much as they normally might, as I ducked in and out of the complex, tempting them out if I felt like it. (I think that that mission was for resource-gathering, rather than kills, but grinding's grinding and best to get the non-mission gathering done before triggering the end-condition! And hopefully either in the spirit of the game you want me to play or something you'll tune down when you later refine the necessary play-style to reach completion.)
Unfortunately the interesting layout only occurs because the pivot point of the wall models in that set is different from the others, so it's all slightly off <_<. It has given me some ideas, though.

And thanks again - helps so much to hear how people make their way through what's there.
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sambojin

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Re: Expeditionaries (Android)
« Reply #9 on: November 10, 2018, 07:52:14 pm »

Seems to work fine on my Oppo f1s (2gb ram version). I'll give more thorough feedback later and any potential bug reports, but hey, it works on fairly cheap Chinese mobiles, so there's that :)
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TTHSK

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Re: Expeditionaries (Android)
« Reply #10 on: November 20, 2018, 10:49:54 pm »

Seems to work fine on my Oppo f1s (2gb ram version). I'll give more thorough feedback later and any potential bug reports, but hey, it works on fairly cheap Chinese mobiles, so there's that :)

Ah, that's good to hear. Thanks for checking it out :)

The first 'beta' version went up yesterday - there's now a series of plot missions, more enemy character sprite sets (still missing some of the later game ones, so the flying wolves are still around), and an apk size that dropped from around 250mb to 110mb (after some pain with Unity's sprite atlases).

It's still opt in right now (here) but if nothing is too broken I hope to
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Starver

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Re: Expeditionaries (Android)
« Reply #11 on: December 06, 2018, 07:33:15 pm »

Still dabbling in. Just 'unbound the tome'.  Next up: the infernal rumblings.

Did the "Trap X, Y, Z" several times*, and I think there's an error you can tweak away. Of the three creatures required and marked, often a different one of that type wanders across the zone, fulfilling that without my doing anything. Which is not the problem. The problem is that I think you've set the initial targets as immortal, to prevent failure by killing them. And so when I'm out there (resource-gathering prior to deliberately luring the last target) I find an immortal untagged creature. No loss of health however much I shoot it. Best I can do is run away and lose its scent before continuing.

Or so I surmise. And I'd just done this, the final time I tried that mission, when the last of the necessary 'captures' apparently happened on its own, with me nowhere near the area, so I obviously haven't been doing that again (maybe if I visited the 'design your own' mission-giver, down the strand and seen if he gives that type out as well… but I've not actually yet tried his adventures out).


Additional question: Are these fireproof cages I've been keeping exactly as useful as the antique (map)s I presume are just vendor-fodder?

They seem non-equippable, and had no part in the above mission. Along with many magical compasses (the first of which was prior to being mission-tasked to make one) and the demolition-charge barrels (had one of them prior to that mission got kicked off, plus the ingredients, and then didn't even get even get asked to create one) I probably could sell them and tidy up my sellable inventory further. But I've been rather conservative in regards to things I can't easily get (or make) in camp if I needed them again.

(Currently, that vendor guy on the left is level 30, though I've not yet used him to refresh all my held kit to be level 30, while not necessary. I think a requirement for the 'unbinding' mission was merely level 5 (x5), so it seems excessive to do so. Having gotten way ahead of the curve, it seems.)



* - It froze, while I was out gathering things 'off mission', several times. Music sometimes continued to loop according to current 'peaceful'/'battle' situation, sometimes it finished a cycle and went quiet. but on-screen. The thumb-controls froze in their last held offsets in x or x/y. I was wondering if it was a bad enemy-spawning attempt (wasp tree, avalanche, scattershot, that kind of thing) that triggered but didn't happen. I could switch off-game and wait and then go back to restart as if I'd never left camp, and that was the only thing it appeared I couod do.

The good news is that I think I might have worked it out. It could have been the stupid Android tendency (this tablet's version, at least) to bring up the option of the Google App from the lower part of the screen if dragged up. Unlike usually, it didn't open the App (good - I have never wanted to, and I really wish it were disableable, but it aint) but if I repeat the accidental drag-up and release I found that Expeditionaries started responding again.  And thus I finally completed that mission!
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TTHSK

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Re: Expeditionaries (Android)
« Reply #12 on: December 07, 2018, 02:37:21 am »

Still dabbling in. Just 'unbound the tome'.  Next up: the infernal rumblings.

Did the "Trap X, Y, Z" several times*, and I think there's an error you can tweak away. Of the three creatures required and marked, often a different one of that type wanders across the zone, fulfilling that without my doing anything. Which is not the problem. The problem is that I think you've set the initial targets as immortal, to prevent failure by killing them. And so when I'm out there (resource-gathering prior to deliberately luring the last target) I find an immortal untagged creature. No loss of health however much I shoot it. Best I can do is run away and lose its scent before continuing.

Or so I surmise. And I'd just done this, the final time I tried that mission, when the last of the necessary 'captures' apparently happened on its own, with me nowhere near the area, so I obviously haven't been doing that again (maybe if I visited the 'design your own' mission-giver, down the strand and seen if he gives that type out as well… but I've not actually yet tried his adventures out).
That sounds about right - thanks for the bug report, I'll get it fixed.

Additional question: Are these fireproof cages I've been keeping exactly as useful as the antique (map)s I presume are just vendor-fodder?

They seem non-equippable, and had no part in the above mission. Along with many magical compasses (the first of which was prior to being mission-tasked to make one) and the demolition-charge barrels (had one of them prior to that mission got kicked off, plus the ingredients, and then didn't even get even get asked to create one) I probably could sell them and tidy up my sellable inventory further. But I've been rather conservative in regards to things I can't easily get (or make) in camp if I needed them again.
They're required for a mission, but have no use beyond that in the current version. In the next version (should be about a day or so) it's used to update the capture/lure locations in missions that have those (and a 'normal' cage item was added as well). I uh, also stopped plot related items from spawning as rewards for the next version (although ones you already have will remain).

(Currently, that vendor guy on the left is level 30, though I've not yet used him to refresh all my held kit to be level 30, while not necessary. I think a requirement for the 'unbinding' mission was merely level 5 (x5), so it seems excessive to do so. Having gotten way ahead of the curve, it seems.)
You are definitely very ahead of the curve :D

* - It froze, while I was out gathering things 'off mission', several times. Music sometimes continued to loop according to current 'peaceful'/'battle' situation, sometimes it finished a cycle and went quiet. but on-screen. The thumb-controls froze in their last held offsets in x or x/y. I was wondering if it was a bad enemy-spawning attempt (wasp tree, avalanche, scattershot, that kind of thing) that triggered but didn't happen. I could switch off-game and wait and then go back to restart as if I'd never left camp, and that was the only thing it appeared I couod do.

The good news is that I think I might have worked it out. It could have been the stupid Android tendency (this tablet's version, at least) to bring up the option of the Google App from the lower part of the screen if dragged up. Unlike usually, it didn't open the App (good - I have never wanted to, and I really wish it were disableable, but it aint) but if I repeat the accidental drag-up and release I found that Expeditionaries started responding again.  And thus I finally completed that mission!
That's... interesting. The ones where the music goes quiet are most likely crashes (as the music isn't being swapped to a new song on finishing; it'd be set to loop but there's a few combat tunes); the others could be the oddness with your tablet (I'll see if I can repro any - there are a lot of random bugs I fix as I find, too). Hopefully not enemy spawns/etc.; those just uh, give up if they can't find a good location and spawn somewhere arbitrary ;)

Thanks a lot for giving it a really good play!
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Starver

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Re: Expeditionaries (Android)
« Reply #13 on: December 17, 2018, 04:21:47 pm »

I picked up the latest update a couple of days ago. Only just opened it, when I had a moment to relax.

However you packed the graphics resources (I recall that being mentioned in a prior update, optimising for lower download size or something) might need looking at, if it isn't a problem just with my install/environment. Every time it warns/suggests that I should only download over Wifi, still (though I'm sure it's not the largest thing I occasionally need to update), and I'm not on mobile ATM.

Spoiler: Error report (click to show/hide)

I'll prod and poke it again later (when I float past some wifi), but FYI in case it's not just me.

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TTHSK

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Re: Expeditionaries (Android)
« Reply #14 on: December 17, 2018, 10:58:51 pm »

I picked up the latest update a couple of days ago. Only just opened it, when I had a moment to relax.

However you packed the graphics resources (I recall that being mentioned in a prior update, optimising for lower download size or something) might need looking at, if it isn't a problem just with my install/environment. Every time it warns/suggests that I should only download over Wifi, still (though I'm sure it's not the largest thing I occasionally need to update), and I'm not on mobile ATM.

Spoiler: Error report (click to show/hide)

I'll prod and poke it again later (when I float past some wifi), but FYI in case it's not just me.


That sounds ... very bad. It's running fine on my main test phone; hopefully it's not an issue specific to just a few devices. What resolution does your device run the game at and what quality level is it defaulting to?

Currently the game is around 130mb and has an extension file, which is what triggers the 'big download' message (apps larger than 100mb (I think) need to be split). I did get the size down to around 120mb from ~250mb by swapping to spritesheets (which is likely somehow related to the ui issues you ran into), but it's creeping up again and I think will finish up at around 160mb.

It's ... more or less expected that the game crashes after loads of enemies/loot orbs are spawned - but thanks for giving it a good stress test (and thanks again in general)!


Edit: while I remember, added the ios and non-opt-in links to the first post:
iOS: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/expeditionaries/id1443982189?mt=8
Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.expeditionariesteam.expeditionaries
« Last Edit: December 18, 2018, 02:18:43 am by TTHSK »
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