What ShinyBox needs to know before finishing to make DQ2

Feature Suggestions
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Recently, it has been announced that ShinyBox will make a follow up to the game, so I tought to propose things that they should/shouldn’t do

Type of game

There is not much to say here, but it is just if ShinyBox wants to take another way for their game. Their game can absolutely keep the same route though. Most of people here already know this stuff.

If it becomes an MMO, it needs at least fields, if not a world to travel. Dungeons can be accessed trough a GUI or an emplacement in the world. It is recommended to have a variety of materials/items and things to do(like perks, jobs, field cleaning, etc.)

If it becomes an Hack&/, it needs different towns or else it is boring and lacking and it can have fields(not needed to have ennemies in them) to travel from towns and/or dungeons. It could also simply be GUIs to do the job, but it is way less interesting. It can also be a GUI for an aspect and a field for another aspect of the game(Ex: Field for towns and GUI for dungeons). GUIs can be drawings of the emplacements where the dungeons are, like as seen in games like Elsword.

It can also be an hybrid.

Story

If the devs really want to add a story, it needs to be tought really well, because it is a big part for immersion, so it is better to have no story than a bad story. I would really like a story in the game though.

Quests

There are many things to talk about in here. First off, good quests are quests that let you explore. Quests should not take hours, but they should certainely take more than two steps. Good quests are always made this way and their creators would say the same. Also, quests that are repetitive or that you can do many times should not be quests. These kind of need do get separated.

Some developpers separate them from real quests by calling them things like missions, achievements(but this is not the best and most used name), mini-quests, etc.

Sometimes, they are activated in certain places, certain moments or just randomly, varying by where you are and what your level is, granting you wanted rewards like money, xp, crafting items or rarely weapons/armor.

Sometimes, it’s the complete opposite, they are done as a big list that you can clear at your rhythm and at your will. What is good about this type is that the player can choose to do a quest if he wants, giving he some freedom. As the last one, this type of mini-quest usually grants more often money, items and xp.

Quest could be started anywhere, but this is not necessary.

Flow

A summary of what flow is is when you do something that is hard to do and you have control and agility over it. It is something to target for a game and it is a good feeling for players. That is why lacks of control and unreactive characters on your character is bad and raging for players, because it cuts their flow and their immersion right out.

It is also good to have a variety of characters ranging from swift characters to characters that needs you to think with your mind fast and use good tactics/combos.

Google/YouTube is your friend

The devs probably already know this, but there is nothing to be shy of finding videos to help making game mechanics. Searching is not copying. Also it is better to take good aspects from other games than to make a mechanic that might be poor, because it wasn’t taken seriously.

Unless you have a really good idea or you are perfectionnist like me, it is not wrong to peek in other games. Don’t try to literally copy though, because that is what is bad to do.

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Thanks for the post! We always enjoy hearing ideas and feedback from our players as well.

A few months ago we posted a Google survey that allows anyone to give us feedback and share their ideas across a large range of game areas. I will spruce up the survey and repost it.

Also, a little insight into making games…it costs quite a bit of $$$.

We love RPG’s and several of us play MMO’s as well. The reality is that creating an MMO is extremely expensive. Just bandwidth costs alone can be staggering.

Since we are self funded (we don’t have investors or a publisher) we need to make sure we make a game we can afford.

That being said, I can say up that for now we are not making an MMO. We really liked DQ and the games like it. Our focus is to make games we love AND we hope our players love them too.

We totally hear ya on the multiplayer, and we hope to have some news we can share soon!

Please keep the ideas and feedback coming our way, it helps drive us knowing our players care about we are making!!

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Thanks, I will surely give more feedback, nothing to worry there :smile:

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And I would also like this idea to be seen please, even if there is some things that would need to be changed, but it would be so great that this would be added:

Also, I will buy more things in the app. Well that money will probably be used to pay DQ1, so if I get a paypal donation link or if a kickstarter is being made, I’ll give 10$. I know it’s not a lot(It’s like 2 days worth for an MMO), but for me it’s hard to put money on my paypal because I would have to buy a prepaid card in a store, etc. And I am young, so I am kind of trying to stock money right now haha.

Well if there is a kickstarter, I might give more if the prices are extremely tempting me but my big limit would be 20 bucks.

Oh and I am talking of CAD money though so it is slightly less than US money :pensive:

This is still not a lot so that is why I shout out to everyone reading this post, guys if there is a kickstarter, donate 10-20$ like I’ll do!!! This will be worthy and I know that ShinyBox will make a good game like the one we are currently playing!

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:grinning: thanks for the offer, for now just keep giving us great feedback and we will make the best games we can!

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Amazeballs

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New feedback:

@deathGG @tdaniel

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The days of good games are all but gone. Games like DQ are getting fewer and fewer. And to be honest DQ is the only one of the three worth playing that I even play anymore. The other two have been monetised to the point of oblivion. So are just utter P.O.E’s(pieces of excrement😉) . But I love what is here and I don’t think a lot of the new generation can see what that is. It’s too easy to jump on and play some mindless hack and slash that is nothing more than an endless grind for some crap loot that is the same crap loot everyone else has. PvP is a joke in 99% of games as well. It’s because these game companies have spoiled most with easy gameplay and cool graphics. Sounds great right? Not when it’s too easy and your treated more like a wallet than a person. From the first second ads are in your face offering to ruin your game. Because as soon as you spend the 150$ on the epic starter pack of godliness the game instantly turns to something that bores you more than you enjoy it. The only thing that happens is you spent your cash to put your game on easy mode and now it sucks. What we have here is absolutely beautiful. A game with deep mechanics and lots and lots of customization. A loot system that is truly random and not staged to appear so. PvP is PvP. Even though it would be more fun to play against live opponents the A.I. gives enough customization to keep it interesting. The closeness of the support team and the interest they have in the players is amazing. Your always on and always working. As a game maker(in the works!!) myself, I know there must have been countless hours put into this masterpiece. I hope whatever you do in the next game it’s as great as this one. My suggestions would be , an equipment check system. The same way diadlo stopped gear manipulation. Whenever the gear is moved it checks . Also on save it checks. If it’s perimeters are incorrect it deletes it. You already have this somewhat with the double affixes , one turns into a socket. Well it being an offline game you could have it in a file to check the stats. The codex seems like it could check in game it self. Most hackers are modding the gear with third party tools , maybe implement something that detects background apps or overlaying apps. Even an encryption algorithm with changing variables would stop 99% of it as it’s mostly script kiddies with hacked apk’s of the game. But putting them into a ban league is cool too. Like i said though, I hope whatever you do is as great as this. Sorry for the mile long post. Hope I dont get in trouble lol

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Thanks for the kind words, much appreciated!

A ton has already been said, and much more eloquently by steigerbox, about our current hack woes with Dungeon Quest.
It was important that we make our game available to as many people as possible when it came out on mobile…in 2012!

That was an eternity ago in video game years, but that is where we started! It was totally off line, we didn’t have any IAP’s or ads, and it was a very VERY simple game.

We were lucky to get enough users to give us feedback and let us know we had the start of something they wanted to see more of, so we game them more!

We did add IAP’s (in all honesty this was at the behest of some of our users who wanted a way to help support its development) and we add some Ads in the game.

We had very strict rules around the IAP’s and Ads and we made them as respectful to the user as we could, while still making enough revenue to pay for the games monthly upkeep…

As our user base grew and GREW (over 8 million downloads at this point around the world) we knew we wanted to take DQ further, but were hampered by some limitations on our end that we couldn’t work around.

We hope we make a great follow up but regardless we will keep the respect of our users in mind when we do it.

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I’ve never had a problem with iap. It’s just the way they are presented. Too many times with games it’s either A: you have to pay at some point to even have a chance at progression. B:if you don’t pay you will never be anywhere close to competitive(game found vs bought items) because you can’t find what you can buy, or C: its 600 ads to try and bleed the ad companies as much as possible with no regard to the customer at all. Dungeon Quest has never made me feel this way. I knew from the beginning that I had the same chance as everyone else. And even with iap in DQ I never felt like you could buy an unfair advantage. Cosmetic iap completely aside as they affect nothing but morale, the iap in this game are extremely tasteful , fairly priced and enough free items are given that you don’t have to buy if you can’t and still will have hours and hours of great fun. This game is definitely tasteful in its creation as well as its presentation to the client. I have never felt “Abused” by any part of this game or its affiliates. That’s what I always hope to see in the core mechanics of this game. Developers and Players working together to create the best possible experience. OK OK enough of me ranting on my love for DQ lol

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Same. And this is probably one of the major reasons DQ is so successful. You don’t HAVE to spend money on the game, you WANT to spend money, because you like the game and want to support the devs.

Judging from the amount of Skins and vanity items I see in arena, it must be working quite well for Shinybox!

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